A year ago, I wrote here about attending one of my favorite events in Southern California, the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest, which I first went to about 30 years ago when they took over the athletic field at UCLA.  They've relocated to other venues over the years, and I haven't gone on an annual basis, but they seemed to have finally settled into what is known as the Paramount Ranch, in the middle of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, about 30-40 minutes to the north and west of Los Angeles.  It was an inspired spot for the event, not just for locale's natural beauty but also that it was filled with structures making up a Western town that was used for filming movie and TV Westerns over the years, perhaps most notably on the long-running series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.  Rather than putting everything on the Main Stage, the structures throughout the Ranch (slightly more substantial that just the fronts or "shells" found on most movie lots, since filming would take place inside them) let the musical performances and various competitions branch out, and arts & crafts booths filled the "streets."  Since they've settled there, I've made the drive out a bit more often.  It's a wonderful place for it all.

Sadly,  last November, when the California Wildfires broke out, the Paramount Ranch was almost directly in the center of the Woolsey Fire, and the area was wiped out.  I wrote about that here.  But the show (or in this case, festival) must go on, and event organizers worked with the Park Service (which emphatically wanted them back), and the 2019 Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest -- the 59th annual -- took place this past Sunday.  And I made sure to go, not only to offer my support, but see how the place handled the changes forced upon them.
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I took a bunch of photos as I explored the area.  Below on the left, you can see the Western town last year with the buildings in the background and vendor booths lining the streets.  To the right, that's the scene today, with much of the area fenced off, the tree denuded, and rubble surrounding it.
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This is a closer look at the damage, along with the remains of those burned-down structures which haven't yet been cleared away.

Remarkably, though, two of the buildings survived.  I don't have a clue how.  And happily, one was the most iconic structure on the Ranch, the "church" on the outskirts of the Western town.  And there's no sign of damage, though perhaps it got repaired and painted over.

By the way, though a lot of people brought pets to the festival, that's not a dog in the center-right (aligned in front of the door).  That's the animal which belonged to fellow seated -- his pet goat.  It was well-behaved and seemed to be enjoying the music and having a fine old time.

And this below was the other building that survived the massive fire -- the Railroad Stage.  Again, how on earth it's still standing I don't begin to know how.  And it too looks pristine, and in fact was in such good condition that they held one of the competitions there, for cowboy singing.

As I wandered through the grounds, I made a few observations.  The first was obvious, how burned out so much of the area was, like this eucalyptus tree -- though as you can see, it not only wasn't killed of, but the leaves have started to come back.

The other observation was that if you hadn't been to the Paramount Ranch before (and didn't notice the blocked-off remnants of the destroyed buildings), you might not know how badly it had been destroyed.  While you can of course see in the picture below the burned-out shrubbery in the foreground and off to the left, the surrounding area in only four months has already started to come in green and almost lush.

And though longtime visitors could see and feel what was missing, a lot of crafts booths returned (though not as many yet as before), and the main park itself is surrounded again by forest land -- some of the lower vegetation has grown back, and a good part of the surrounding forest was spared.  So, for all that was no longer there, there was still the sensibility of being in a festive bowl of beautiful nature.

The festival wasn't as crowded as in the past, and while a bit of that may have been because some people weren't sure if it would be going on this year, I suspect most was because it was raining in Los Angeles that morning and drizzling and chilly out on the Paramount Ranch grounds -- though by about 11:30 in the morning it turned into a pretty nice day.

And the show did indeed go on.  Which was a joy to see. The crafts booths, food trucks, and main stage, but also -- even though they had makeshift stages and not the buildings as in the past -- areas for the side competitions,  performances, and jamming.  Here are a few, brief videos of all that, about 30-seconds each, starting with the Main stage. 

(Fun note: near the end, you'll see two young girls walk in front of the camera.  They had just performed in competition right before this current musician, so I thought it was very thoughtful of the one girl to clap for the fiddler during his performance.)

Though it may have been more than a bit barren compared to the past ("a bit more" being the polite term), this side stage was set up for bands to put on secondary performances, and in some ways the makeshift, vagabond quality of the tent added a great deal of charm.

They even still had their Dance Stage back.  It's not anything as part of the competition but more for entertainment and demonstration.  You should be able to make out the woman clog dancing off to the left onstage.

Finally, one of my favorite parts of the festivities is always the Jamming area -- where musicians just gather randomly and begin playing together.  This video is a little longer than the others above, about 2-1/2 minutes, but you get a sense of how one is encircled by so much music all around you, jamming anywhere you look, and there was a lot more off in the distance, as well.  And as the video moves about, taking it all in, it ends up right back where things started -- which is when I thought of the legendary folk song, "Will the Circle be Unbroken?"

It was wonderful to see the Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest back -- and for all that's missing, the circle went on.

Sunday night's main story on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver dealt with the Green New Deal. It wasn't so much an in-depth analysis, but took a more focused look at certain aspects of it -- including an effort to clear up some of the Republican mis-representations of it.  The piece isn't as substantive as some of their others, but it's thoughtful, very enjoyable and often very funny.
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Tuesday was one of those days.  I don't have it in me to choose which One Thing Only to write about, so instead I bring back the Morning News Round-Up and offer just some random comments about stories that broke only yesterday, as well as thoughts that other news items provoked.


So, Jared Kushner had his top secret security clearance lowered today, which means he's been operating at a level beyond what is safe.  Or to put it in terms that Trumpets would understand -- for the past year, Trump "put us all at risk."  A major story related to this broke late Tuesday about how at least four foreign countries (that we know of) specifically singled out Kushner to exploit him. But to make matters worse, there is no word from the White House that Kushner's responsibilities will change, and that he will continue to oversee the Middle East, China, Mexico, and Canada, as well as be in charge of digital communications.  It's profoundly difficult to imagine how someone can be in charge of any of these area, let alone all of them without having full access to top secret intelligence.  Not to mention without having any experience.  But apparently not only did Trump "put us all at risk with Kushner, but he continues to.  Oh, and another thing it's profoundly difficult to imagine -- that Robert Mueller hasn't been deeply investigating Kushner for, among many other things, his unreported contacts with foreign leaders while discussing his business interests, which are in serious trouble.


Only one year into his administration, with investigations piling up around him, Trump announced his "re-election campaign," which seems mostly a way to raise money and to seem unconcerned that the ground is collapsing underneath him.  And in making the announcement, Trump hired Brad Parscale, the digital media director of his 2016 campaign, to run his re-election campaign.  This may mean little to most people, but it's worth noting a few things.  First, "digital media" is one of the areas under investigation by the Special Counsel for its seeming ties with Russia.  And also, just six months ago Pascale signed a $10 million deal with CloudCommerce -- which is a shady penny stock company that has not turned a profit in 20 years yet has spent over $20 million of investor money and had a top executive caught in an FBI bribery sting, later convicted of a felony, but still advising the company.  Oh, and yes, Trump only knows the Best People...


The Special Counsel's office has proposed dropping 17 charges against Rick Gates following his guilty pleas  last week.  While that might sound nice of them as part of the plea deal, it should terrify the administration since it suggests the investigation has gotten significant evidence in exchange for Gates' plea.  Prosecutors don't just randomly reduce charges so much unless they get something highly-valuable in return.


Because there were SO many other huge stories yesterday, it knocked THIS *huge* story off the main news -- but in the coldest time of the year, mid-winter in February, temperatures soared above freezing at the North Pole.  How adorable it is that Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Accord -- the only nation in the world who is not a member. The Only Nation in the World.  And let's repeat something else, but it bears repeating.  And shouting.  The North Pole is Above Freezing in February!!!


At her press conference yesterday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders echoed Trump's several tweets trying to pawn off blame of the Russian attacks on President Obama.  That's like blaming FDR for World War II because he didn't stop Germany before it launched its attacks.  What it also does is ignore that Trump isn't acting to stop Russia which is STILL attacking.


Related to this, now that Trump has acknowledged, however lamely, that Russia did attack the U.S., what should not be forgotten is Trump's earlier statement that Putin had told him that Russia didn't do this, and Trump said he believed him.  I hope a reporter questions the press secretary about this discrepancy and dangerously-poor judgement.


Last week, Tucker Carlson did a major "expose" on "Fox News" about how supposedly CNN had scripted the words of Colton Haab, one of the survivors of the Parkland high school massacre shooting.  It turns out, not a shock to most rational people, that the story was untrue and that Haab's father admitted to re-writing an email. But almost more than that, what a dismally-weak, indeed smarmy "correction" by Tucker Carlson when he said on his show yesterday, “For the sake of honesty and full disclosure to which we are committed, we have to tell you there is no evidence as of right now that CNN tried to give Colton Haab a scripted question, and we wanted you to know that.”  Excuse me, but..."Right now"?? No, there is NO EVIDENCE, period. Carlson got the story totally wrong. And further, he offered no apology.  As co-proprietor with Nell Minow of the Apology Institute of America, I will add that this gets an F. It really can't even be called an apology, because it not only doesn't apologize but Carlson doesn't even suggest he was wrong. Just that he reported something that turned out different.  So far.


And all that was only yesterday.  Just yesterday.  And I'm sure I'm still leaving out a lot.  We're at the point when we'll start longing for the Good Old Days of last week.

This is an absolutely fascinating, 4-minute video produced for the TEDed by the Sustainable Human organization.  It tells about how re-introducing just a small number of wolves back into Yellowstone National Park, so much of the ecosystem changed for the better.  "How Wolves Change Rivers."

My favorite thing in it, just because it shows how good this is, is that you're watching this absolutely intrigued by the tale, and then at about the 3-minute mark the narrator says, "But here's where it gets really interesting."

Wait, hold on, you're saying it wasn't "really interesting" before??  It was remarkably interesting before!  But the thing is -- he's right.
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​Syria has officially signed the Paris Accord, joining the environmental body last week.  What this means is that the United States is now the ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD who hasn't signed 

In other news, CBS reports that "An iceberg the size of Delaware -- the largest ever recorded -- broke off from Antarctica."  

​Really.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled website.  Brought to you by Bounty, the "Quicker Picker-Upper."  

Bounty, the official paper towel of the United States.  As America continues to dig its way out of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in order to re-build Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico, the first time in recorded U.S. history that three Category Five hurricanes reached land, Bounty is there, ready to soak up as much water damage as possible.  Now, in easy "Tossable" size!

This is just jaw-dropping breathtaking -- not only the responses, which is of course the main point, but the stunned, bewildered reactions from the senators (who clearly know their subject) questioning the nominee.

The video comes from last Thursday, when Trumps pick to be Environmental Adviser, Kathleen Harnett White, testified before the Senate Committee.

Take a deep breath first and perhaps a drink of water to get comfortable.

As I said the other day, this is not about her, nor about Trump -- it is about Republicans in the Senate, who will vote whether or not to confirm this person.  This is about the Republican Party, it's on them.
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I've never watched the NBC show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, which is basically a short of documentary of survival trips the host takes with celebrities.  But the promotions for the program this week certainly caught my interest -- hiking through the Alaskan Wilderness, his guest was President Barack Obama.

I recorded the broadcast and finally got around to watching it last night.  And it was extremely entertaining.  The reason the President got involved, which gets explained several times, was to draw attention to the issue of Climate Change, made notable in the show as they hike to a major glacier, which has had some notable melting since Mr. Obama became president.

At the very least, what is so fascinating about the episode is that you see a President of the United States in an environment unlike any you've seen before.  And not just for a brief clip, but for an hour broadcast.  When you're alone and hiking in the middle of the wilderness (or as alone as one can be with a presidential detail), you're alone and hiking in the wilderness.  There's no relying on charm and a quip to deflect attention and move on.  When you start a campfire with a flint and grill salmon that was left half-eaten by a bear, that's your lunch. 

All in all, it was quite a treat.  I can't embed the show, but click here to see it -- with included commercials -- loaded on the Time Magazine website.  (It might be worth your while to check your On Demand listings for NBC if you have that service with your DVR.)