One or two readers might be interested in my position on the current matter in Washington.

Here is the relevant part of a single page letter I hand-delivered to the office of my Congressperson on September 2, 2019:

“IMPEACHMENT: (SUPPORT) I strongly believe that the House of Representatives needs to deal aggressively with the impeachment… issue.  It is an extraordinarily difficult political situation, I know.  On the other hand, it is probably the most important single issue that this country has ever had to confront concerning the rule of law.  What makes this even more difficult is that the radical right has become expert in the business of assessing guilt by accusation: to be accused is to be guilty, it seems.  Our legal system, while more cumbersome (things like rules of evidence, etc.) can be unwieldy, but it sure beats dictatorship.  I subscribe to the philosophy that the Force of Law is far better than the authoritarian preferred Law of Force [see POSTNOTE]. 

I strongly supported Robert Muellers approach to the complexities of the issues, and Speaker Pelosi’s approach as well.  The Mueller Report lays out the evidence, which I think has to be pursued, regardless of the risks.” 

(At the time I wrote the letter, I had no idea about the much more recent Ukraine issue.)

In 1998, I expressed concern in impeachment of another president.  I sent a copy of this letter to this list in a prior post, sharing my feelings about Bill Clinton in 1998: Clinton Impeachment001.  (I was and remain a strong supporter of Bill Clinton, as I was and am a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton.)

The U.S. does not have clean hands in the matter of interfering in the politics of other nations.  There have been endless examples, here’s an informal and short list: Iran, Haiti, Middle East, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Philippines, Central America….  Some of these I have closer interest and a bit more knowledge.  Here’s something I wrote about Haiti back in 2006, for instance.  Of course, it is customary to blame the President – if of the other party – but it is never that simple.  President Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) is revered as a Progressive (national parks and the like), was also an expansionist.  President are often shaped by events over which they have little control or sometimes even pre-knowledge – they take someone’s advice.  On the other hand, we, the people, have the ultimate responsibility.  Ours is, after all, a democracy….

But, in the current American situation, as a noted Presidential historian stated on live TV this morning, #45 makes his predecessor Presidents “look like Boy Scouts”.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m (depending on one’s word of choice) a “globalist”, an “internationalist”, a supporter of the United Nations…and a “patriot” who loves my country, and deeply respects the rights of the citizens of other countries as well.

In this country, at this moment in time, I feel the obvious intention of the current Republican regime is to make people like myself permanently irrelevant in public policy.  We are not the enemy.  In fact, without us, this democracy is in peril.

Yesterday we met with our friend who is now 93, and today flies to her native Germany.  She grew up in Hitler’s Germany, and wrote a very well-read book about her experience from 1926-47.  Her trip to Germany is occasioned by the translation of her book into her native German, and its introduction comes next week at the famed Frankfurt Book Fair.  A week from now she’ll speak to book sellers and film makers who might have a special interest in her book.

I asked our friend how she would deal with questions about U.S. politics (she’s lived in Minnesota since 1947).  She’s certainly been thinking about it.  Her opinion is her own to be shared in some way by herself next week.  The one fact she mentioned is that 1936 was probably the single good year for Germans in the time of her years in Nazi Germany.

My only advice to everyone: pay very close attention.  Our country is at stake….

POSTNOTE: I think I first saw the use of the words “Force of Law, or Law of Force” in a poster made by my friend, Dr. Joe Schwartzberg in 2008.  Here is that photo, one of 30 in his series.

Joe Schwartzberg died a year ago, but his work continues.  Here is his website.

The “Force of Law” vs “Law of Force” is, in a way, presuming a world that works rationally,  presumption of shared power.  What happens when one side intentionally works to pass laws which disempower the other “side”, and in addition, attempts to control the composition of courts which interpret those laws?  Over the arc of history, there have been many schemes to empower one side, and disempower the other.  In the longer term, they never prevail, regardless of the weapon.  Still, lessons seem never to be learned.

One of the organizations in which I am most active is Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS) (formerly called World Federalists), whose members advocate for a community of nations which are subject to rules and merit respect.   There are about 193 of these nations, ranging from the very tiny to the immense.  The United States has always been the big dog in the arena, by virtue of being on the winning side in WWII, and having economic dominance (we have about one-fourth of the global wealth with less than 5% of the population).

On October 23, I will have all of Joe’s posters on display at an important gathering at the James J. Hill House in St. Paul.  Consider attending.  Here are the details: Flier Oct 23rd event JJ Hill House-v4.  This is a reservation required event.

COMMENTS (more at the end)

Pre-note:  I post all comments, without editing, not violating requested privacy.  Occasionally someone will ask that their name not be used.  In most cases, I only use first names, or the first letter of a name, or rarely “anonymous”.  Every comment is monitored by myself.  I don’t mind differences of opinion.

Yesterday (Sep 30) one of the first comments came as one of those lovely “forwards” that cast aspersions on Muslims in the Twin Cities – the topic was a YouTube video that implied that the Mall of America was overrun by violent Somali Muslims, and went on from there.  I’m not sure why the sender – who I know well – even sent it on, though there were a series of question marks preceding it (???????????)  It even had a video for proof.   The sender of the forward lives hundreds of miles from the Mall; I live 15 miles or so from the Mall, and on rare occasions go there (I’m no shopper.)

The smear of Muslims was, of course, false in its implications.  There had been a violent incident at the Mall, and the perpetrator was apparently Muslim, so that part was most likely true.  On the other hand, Mall of America remains immensely popular.  Its website (as of yesterday) claims 40,000,000 visitors a year; I once heard that every day it has over 100,000 people on premises, making it one of Minnesota’s largest cities.  It is very rarely in the news, and on those rare occasions the problems are dealt with.  There is no oppressive presence of police, though it doubtless has security befitting the large number of visitors every day, most of whom are not regulars, people like myself.  But in the world of truly fake news, bits and pieces of propaganda whir around on this and many other topics.  So, on we go.

I won’t give the video additional publicity by passing it on.  The person who passed it on, passed it on without additional comment (unless the ?????? was a comment).  Doubtless, it can be found on the internet.  But it doesn’t represent any semblance of the truth.  I solicit more comments.

from Brian: Dick, thanks for sharing.  In my youth I had to deal with the perfidious lying mass killer LBJ.  Trump’s not nearly as [b]ad, trust me.

from Dick, to Brian: “Good to hear from you.  I really do want to hear more specifics about your two sentences.”  When Brian gives specifics, I’ll post along with a specific response.  I specifically referenced today’s Just Above Sunset.  I also recommend  the City Pages article mentioned in my response to David, below.  I gave Brian my personal experience during the LBJ times, as follows:

Brian in response, Oct 1:  Now my response to you,Dick.  So…okay.    First of all, thank for the update on Peg [mutual friend]…she’s such a great people photographer.  And also wow! You do have a history with Vietnam and LBJ, too!

from Joyce:  “This is excellent”.Answers to Impeachment Objections from The Weekly Sift

from Judy:  As usual, Dick, your insights, and comments lift up truth and justice.  Thank you for taking the time to address such urgent issue.  Impeachment, a necessity!!!

from R or M (both have same e-address, conveyed as received): DICK—HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU BE A HILLARY FAN???????AND A DEMOCRATE IN THIS DAY AND AGE???????? NANCY P. ???JOE BIDON????AND IF YOU CAN NOT SEE ALL THAT TRUMP HAS DONE IN HIS SHORT TIME —-YOU HAVE TO BE??????? HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO CLEAN THE SWAMP —NANCY AND ALL
THOSE [???????] I HOPE THEY KEEP RUNNING AT THE MOUTH—–TRUNP WELL WIN IN A LAND SLID——I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU ARE FOR –EMPEACHMENT———JOE AND HIS SON HAVE RIPPED OFF BILLIONS —-I COULD GO ON —BUT HEAR IS WHAT YOU DEMOCRATS NEED TO REMEMBER [ IF WE EVERFORGET THAT WE ARE ONE NATION UNDER GOD —THEN WE WILL BE A NATION GONE UNDER–RONALD REAGAN—–]DO NOT SEND ME ANYMORE OF YOUR SHIT —-GOD AHILLARY LOVER —-I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU???????????

from Dick:  It’s more or less a free country, yet.

from Carol, Oct 1: It never ceases to amaze me how many of those hate-filled anti-Democrat/anti-Hillary/anti-Obama, etc. ranters can’t spell their way out of a paper bag – including the names of past (or future) presidents.

A suggestion: If you want to be taken seriously, ditch the caps key and all the !!!!!!!!!!!!! and learn some spelling.

from a true believer in belief:  I believe that the accusations against Trump are the very things that the Democrats have done or are doing.  It’s been confirmed by the UK leader that Hillary rigged the 2016 election & /or solicited support from them and the Russians.   I am against Impeachment of Trump;  Obama  Brennan, & Hillary committed serious impeachable offenses and they were given a pass.   Darleen

The 75th year of the UN is 2019-2020.

On October 23, at the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue, is a very special event.  Details here: The Future We Want001.  Make it a point to attend.  Reservations needed.  Best advice: reserve soon.  Space is limited.  https://www.globalminnesota.org/event/the-future-we-want-the-un-we-need/.

RELATED NOTE: You may have already seen a clip of the powerful address by a young student at the UN today.  Here is more from Dennis Dillon:

If you haven’t already heard Greta Thunberg’s entire address to the General Assembly today, here’s the link to it on the UN website: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1047052

I’m sure you will very much appreciate listening to her every word (it’s under 5 minutes), and hearing that she pulls absolutely no punches.  Her essential point is ‘shame on you all for taking advantage of the youngest generations and relying on them to have to try to spur us adults into action.’  I’m sure you will be moved by what she has to say.

Taking to heart what she has to say is a first step for us all in trying to practice nonviolence against the violence we are waging on our own planet.  

I viewed the new film “Official Secrets” on Saturday afternoon at the Edina Theater.  It is a film that is engrossing, and its topic is the run-up to ‘shock and awe’ in Iraq which began about the first day of spring in 2003 – a day that should live in infamy for all of us.  Coleen Rowley had an excellent letter on the film in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune (3rd letter in the queue).  I also referenced it in my 9-11-01 post last Wednesday, with link to the John Rash column.  I’d urge everyone to see the film.  Just remember the name, “Official Secrets”.

Why title this post “Drones”?  We’re in an age where headlines substitute for “information”, which often is disinformation, spoken in headlines.

Why “Drones”?  The same weekend as I saw the film, the apparent drone strike in Saudi Arabia has been front page, and who to call to account for it.  Best advice I can give is to believe nothing from official sources…or even supposedly informed opinion.  The film deals a bit with this rabbit hole.  Caveat emptor.

Most of us have a long history with drones, even if we didn’t call them by that name: my first memory is of a guy on my walking route to the overlook of the Hull-Rust-Mahoning iron mine in Hibbing, back in the 1980s.  I’d often see him there, flying his radio-controlled model airplane.  Some years later, similarly, when I’d be driving in from Apple Valley to Mall of America area, I’d see another guy playing with his model aircraft over a pond beside 77.  His small aircraft had pontoons – a bit more risky for a hobbyist.  The history of drones goes back much further.

Of course, now drones are military grade, and very effective.  And our national delusion was that we are the only ones who can develop and use the technology.

I took the risk of weighing in on the issue of drones some years ago.  The evidence stays on line, here.   Actually, as you’ll note, I’ve written about this issue several times.  The one I’d point to first is #488.  There are plenty of comments, and a followup “chapter two”.

I think my main rationale back then was that, at least, drones were better than ‘shock and awe’ tactics such as we used with catastrophic results in Iraq and other places; better than ‘nuking’ somebody as well.  The issue is very, very simple,  and extraordinarily complex, especially in an age of disinformation and deception at the highest levels.  .

Of course, I don’t know who authorized or pulled off the recent drone strike.  I’m not going to attribute guilt in any particular direction.  But history did not begin with the drone strike on Saudi Arabia.

See the film, think, feel, get involved.

For sure, engage in 10 Days Free from Violence, beginning Friday.

And put on your calendar October 23, a special event at the beginning of the 75th year of the United Nations.  Here is the program: Flier Oct 23rd event JJ Hill House-v4.

And the upcoming Human Rights Forum Oct 28-29 at Augsburg University, Minneapolis.

COMMENT:

from a long-time friend who prefers to speak anonymously: “Interesting article on 9-11. And in reference to your Drones discussion, I think that we are seeing the consequences of the Balfour Project.  I think I shared documentation relating to that with you [see below].  If not, let me know and I will forward it to you.  I believe that pressure from the Religious Right in keeping with the objectives of the Balfour Project is what prompted Trump to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Agreement.”  [here is the article referenced, which I received in March of this year: Lord Balfour Project Lecture.  The lecture is academic and lengthy, but very interesting.  My friend also wrote a summary essay about his knowledge of ISIS.  The two pages are here: The Origins of ISIS_Abreviated]

Habitat for Humanity Construction Crew September 11, 2001, lunch break on the porch.

September 11, 2019, is the 18th birthday for a large number of Americans.  I have not yet come across specific data on how many new 18 year olds there are today.   My best guess, based on the information I can find, I estimate that these new 18-year old adults number about 10,000, and are at the pinnacle of about 75,000,000 people who have joined the U.S. population since September 11, 2001.  Here’s one of the sources I’ve relied on.  The U.S. census office is most reliable.

Between 2001 and 2019 the U.S. population increased from about 286 million to 330 million….  Eighteen years earlier, in 1983, the estimated U.S. population was about 236,000,000.

I have personal feelings about 9-11-01, which I’ll share at the end of this post.  But this particular moment in history I’ve been thinking about these new 18 year olds, who are the vanguard of the post 9-11-01 generation who inherit what we’ll leave behind.  Until today they can blame we elders for stupid decisions.  Now, they’re voting age, and will, like everyone else, decide how or whether to participate in this democracy; and if they decide to vote, whether or not they’ll be informed at all, or will vote for more than just one or two offices.

It is hard for me to relate to the feelings of these young people as their adulthood begins,  I was young once, as well.  On my 18th birthday, I was a senior in high school, 61 years ago, in a tiny town.  I was born at the end of the Great Depression, and right before WWII began for the U.S.  My mentors, in those first eighteen years, were people who in one way or another were impacted by both the Depression and the War.  There were no sit down lectures.  They had lived both.

So, I’ve decided, in this musing, to invite us all, individually, to reflect on this new group of 18 year olds including their nearest preceding similar group – those born in 1983, who turned 18 in 2001; and on ourselves as well.  It’s our shared past, and their future….

We have grandkids in both pre and post-9-11 cohorts.  How are things different for this new generation, than they were for the generation immediately preceding them?  What challenges does this crop have to confront as new adults, which differ from the challenges of their predecessors?  Or of people of my cohort (18 in 1958)?  Or yours?

I’ve started my own list.

For just a single example: I came across an e-mail I wrote on October 17, 2001, weeks after 9-11.  This e-mail was not about 9-11; it was written when I was editing a newsletter for a cultural group of which I was a member.  I had edited this newsletter for 16 years at the time of my e-mail, and it wasn’t until the very end  that the words ‘e-mail’ or ‘website’ were even mentioned.  Oh, there was e-mail, and websites, but they were not common knowledge to the masses at the time.  We sent the newsletter by U.S. mail.  In the e-mail, I said “I have done nothing further on the Web-site idea but it is still a doable idea…So few of our members are on the internet that we couldn’t forget about other kinds of communications….”  We really had only the most vague ideas about this future means of communicating.

It wasn’t until 2004 that “Facebook” appeared; 2005, YouTube; 2006, Twitter.  By now those websites and e-mail are old-hat for the young.  We’re in the wild-west when it comes to communicating between generations, even within our own generation.

Another: These new 18 year olds haven’t had to go to war…yet…but they registered for Selective Service when they applied for their Drivers License.  (There was no such requirement to register to vote at the same time.)

Their previous cohort shed lots of blood in the Iraq War; a legacy war of 9-11; one in which we are still engaged, though there are plenty of efforts to dissociate Iraq et  al  from Afghanistan (where the bombing began in October, 2001, and the killing continues today.)  Far more of our young died in Iraq, than died in the 9-11-2001 attacks; and infinitely more innocent Iraqis and others have died in the middle east as a result of our military adventure, for which 9-11 created a pretext, and which has become a never ending war.

I wish the new 18 year olds well.  “Party hardy” today, if you wish or can, but get engaged in your own future.  It is your life that is at stake.

Photos of World Trade Center New York City, end of June, 1972, by Dick Bernard

9-11-01 FOR ME:

I was participating in a week-long Habitat for Humanity build-in-progress in Minneapolis.  Our turn began on September 10, 2001.  The morning of 9-11 I was driving across the Mississippi River bridge when the announcement was made that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers.  I didn’t pay all that much attention.  At the build site, later, someone brought a radio, but I doubt any of us had any idea of the immensity of the day until we arrived at our homes later in the afternoon, and saw the news on television.  9-11 brought many unexpected volunteers.  By the end of the week, we had more volunteers than we could use.

I wrote about my reflections on the day a short while later: Post 9-11-01001

A photo I took at our site on or near 9-11-01 leads this blog.  Several times I’ve driven by the completed house in past years, including most recently on September 5, 2019 (below).  The owners of the home have taken very good care of it.

September 5, 2019. “Habitat Home” in south Mpls, which was under construction, Sep 11, 2001

Today, September 11, 2019, I’m going to pay especially close attention to how 9-11-2001 is ‘spun’ by media and others (one of which, of course, is myself).  The matter of Afghanistan, which was our first response to the 9-11 attack, continues as the longest war in which we have ever been engaged.  Lots of effort is expended to somehow detach the reality of all of the other conflicts which, in reality, we began in response to 9-11-01.  Let’s hope that this cohort whose vanguard turns 18 today, has a life worth living in the coming years.  We aren’t giving them a head start….

POSTNOTE: Expect a followup to this post in coming days.  Your contribution to that post is welcomed.  Deadline: this weekend.  Online responses continue below.  A comment via e-mail from yesterday, from Len: “If you want to read a good rendition and perspective on the events of 9-11-01, I recommend Sott Pelly’s book “Truth Worth Telling”.”

POSTNOTE 2, Saturday Sep 14: There has been several comments, presented below.  These will be the ‘followup’ referred to above.  It goes without saying that 9-11-01 was an emotional time.  What was to become this blog began with “P&J” (peace and justice) on a daily basis, sometimes more than once, sharing feelings from an e-mailing list.  Some years ago I gave the first 100 P&J’s to the Minnesota Historical Society.  Perhaps someday someone might want to open the box to see what people had to say ‘back then’.  In the interim, here are four items from the first six months, from the evening of September 11, 2001; September 17; October 8 and April 22, 2002: each is a single page, and speak for themselves. 9-11-01 Aftermath001.

This week, I noted that the news media basically left un-noted the certain outcome of 9-11-01: the pretext for the War on Iraq.  A notable exception I noted in this mornings Minneapolis Star Tribune opinion section, a column by John Rash, which speaks for itself, and is about a movie opening this weekend, “Official Secrets”, which I certainly plan to attend.  Here is the link to the column.

We Americans had a choice to make after the tragedy of 9-11-01.  We made what is always the simplest choice: to find a scapegoat and go to war.  In many and sundry ways, we are still paying for our misadventure.  When will be learn…?