Briefly

If you happen to be around Minneapolis MN on Sunday afternoon, August 1, 3 p.m., join the group at the opening of the Angels Unawares sculpture being displayed during August at the Basilica of St. Mary, downtown Minneapolis.  All of the details can be accessed here. This is an event honoring and respecting immigrants everywhere, and from every era.  We are a nation of immigrants.

August 1:  I was at the opening.  Beautiful day, impressive.  Three photos:  The sculpture will be at Basilica the month of August.  Link in previous paragraph has more details, including Green Card Voices exhibit in the the church, all day through August 26.  Janice Andersen of Basilica wrote a very relevant column in the Sunday newsletter.  You can read it here: Janice Anderson Aug 1 2021

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And, congratulations to Suni Lee, St. Paul, child of immigrants from Laos, winner of the Gold Medal in the gymnastics competition in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.  Before she won, I had never heard of Suni, though she graduated from high school this year perhaps five miles from where I type; and grew up on the east side of St. Paul.  Like most Minnesotans, I have known of the large Hmong community in Minnesota for the last 45 years.  My elected state representative is Hmong.  The Hmong are a valued part of our community.

Gold nuggets,  like Suni, and Simone Biles, world class gymnast and a true profile in courage for her own actions the last few days, are great examples for all of us.

POSTNOTE August 2: Suni now has three medals.

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Thanks to Joyce for sending on a thought-provoking article in Rolling Stone about Policing in the United States: “Race and White Supremacy in American Policing”.  This article provides much food for thought.

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Check back at this space once in awhile.  There will be at least one subsequent post in the next few days.  you can easily request notification of new posts – see end of this post for the check box.

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UPDATE ON JANUARY 6, THE 2020 ELECTION: Just Above Sunset July 30, 2021 Requesting Simple Lies.

COMMENTS re Rolling Stone  article:

from Dick: myself and one other initiallly received the Rolling Stone link from Joyce.  All three of us had similar observations, and all had family members who were or are part of law enforcement.  It becomes a ‘sticky wicket’ translating generalizations about police down to specific family relationships, as you can imagine.  But the general topic explored in Rolling Stone, pretty specifically about Minneapolis PD, is important and relevant.  Minneapolis, regardless of current progressive reputation, does not have a positive history.  There is a lot of change that is needed.  There is a lot of good, too, that police do.

from Fred: The Rolling Stone piece was damning with the Mpls police, along with others, coming out as the bad guys. Attempts at changing the culture have not worked. Even the tens of millions paid out to victims of brutality have not yet made a difference.

from Carol: When the Minneapolis police come up, I always have to throw in my cousin’s son, who was a police officer there for years (Inc. their horse patrol).  He died in his sleep in his 40s.  And I know he would have been appalled by the George Floyd murder, and all the rest.  He was a sweetheart.

Before his death, he was patrolling my son’s district in So. Minneapolis.  John’s kids called him ‘Officer Scott” and loved him.  John said he attended a neighborhood meeting right after Scott died, where the people didn’t yet know he was gone.  They read a letter there from a woman praising Scott for how he de-escalated a “domestic” situation he’d been called to.

We need way more like that, and clearly no more like Chauvin…

from Joyce: I knew a lot of police when I lived in NYC; I had cousins who were cops, and many of my coworkers there were married to cops. They were extremely racist and homophobic.

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from Fr. Harry, about Campaign Nonviolence, details here. “Please register. They are our partner.”

July 20 was the 52nd anniversary of the first Man on the Moon.  It was Sunday, July 20, 1969.  I remember the event well.  I wrote about it at this space two years ago.  You can read that here if you wish.  It was a big deal.

Our society likes to remember anniversaries.  A 52nd anniversary is something rather odd.  July 20, 2021, seems to have been an exception: the occasion was the launch of Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, and three others, in a few minute joy ride to the very edge of space.  It occupied a small amount of time, but was riveting.  A sort of latter day Kittyhawk flight.

The initial narrative has been, that this was a billionaires plaything.  If you’re the richest person on earth, why not?  The space race was a province of government – something to be very proud of – and now private business is taking it over.

There were a couple of breaks in the clouds between fantasy and the real world.

At the conclusion of today’s program from Texas, Jeff Bezos announced a $100 million dollar award to a man well known to progressives: Van Jones.  And the rhetoric was the kind we like to hear about saving the earth.  We will learn what this means going forward.  Count me among the hopeful.  (He also awarded another $100 million to chef Jose Andres.  This is talked about in the same article linked above.)

The announcement seems to have been something of a surprise, and elicited some discussion on line.

We saw Van Jones some years ago when he was largely unknown.  It was June 8, 2008, in Minneapolis, when Barack Obama was just becoming well known and some months before the 2008 election.

Here’s a picture:

Van Jones Minneapolis, June, 2008.

His was a very stimulating talk.  Fast forward, he was appointed into the Obama presidency, but didn’t last long.  I felt he had and has an excellent message, and he certainly was identified by both Obama and by Bezos as a leader.

Interestingly the day previous to the flight MSNBC’s Ari Melber had a long interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, on the general topic of wealthy people and things like the poverty and expensive job rides to near space.  The discussion was thought provoking and is accessible here (about 9 minutes).  Tyson gives some things to think about.

Economically and otherwise, I can’t grasp how I’d use a million dollars or anything close to it.  For Bezos $200 million is more like petty cash than a lot of money.

On the other hand, the gifts were, in my seeing, extremely significant and unexpected gifts to deserving recipients, to be used as Jose Andres and Van Jones decide.  $100 million is a bit better to launch something, that passing the hat for a spare buck here or there!

My guess is that the two men with progressive values will allocate the money wisely and for the greater good.  It will be interesting to watch.

POSTNOTE July 23, 2021: Just Above Sunset on the upcoming January 6 hearing: Ending the nonsense.

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Published July 21, 2021: Some quick thoughts on the latest piece of breaking news today.  I’d like to see comments.  I may add thought later as well.  Take a look.

Heads up – I will probably do three other posts in the next three days on assorted topics.  I’ll not publicize them to the list, but take a look if you wish.  Thereafter I’ll be out of area and off computer for several days next week.  Have a good one.

A 1905 poster of the U.S. presidents in front of the U.S. Capitol. The last president pictured is Theodore Roosevelt.

Every day, most every day, these days, there is some piece of “breaking news” or other.  My apologies if I use the wrong nomenclature to describe the groups proposed to fact-find January 6, 2021.

Today is no different.  Today’s House Republican leader pulled his five nominees for the bipartisan committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, because the designated evil one vetoed two of the five nominees.

Previously, of course, Senate and House Republicans were against a non-partisan commission to investigate January 6. The House Republicans were against the bipartisan committee even though the proposal had all the components required by the minority leader.  One House member, a very conservative Republican leader, has bucked her caucus on this immediate issue….  All the rest plays out in the media.  I don’t need to embellish.

Today is another occasion for me to brush off a tactical organizing outline which was used against an organization in which I was a leader back in 1974, 48 years ago.  We were then, and remained, the majority group, but 1974 was the first time we faced a challenge.

A person who’d been involved in the opposition back then, gave me his notes on “organizing tactics” in about 1989, and the one page piece of paper pretty succinctly describe what is happening today, big-time, in particularly “conservative” political organizing.

I could simply offer the one-page pdf of the tactics used, but that by itself would deflect from the issue in today’s Congress.

There were 17 points on the sheet, most of which could apply here.  I pick the ones on the page that most jump out at me today.

“Our job is…organizing…we exist to organize.”

“If it won’t get…votes, then don’t do it.”

“Don’t try to solve the problems…Take advantage of and create problems….”

“P.R. everything – disrupt – confuse – challenge – display anger.” (This is what I emphasize, today.)

“Target unpopular [leaders of the opposition]”. (The corollary, of course: do everything possible to make them seem unpopular.)

“Look for corridors to organize.  Expressways connect major towns and cities – you should do the same.”

“Find the angry people, the disenchanted.  They will be zealots for our cause”

“Look for the charismatic leader, preferably male, white….”

“Blame [the other side] for every current and historical problem.”

“Talk to as many…one-on-one, as possible.  These individual “hits” are crucial.”

“State the problem, blame the [other] and promise the opposite.  Offer nirvana.”

“Publish everything – spread lots of paper around.” (Of course, this was years before today’s technology.  It was harder and more dangerous to lie back then.  Pieces of paper were evidence.)

“Try to get the [opponent] to react to defend themselves.”

“Always stay on the offense – never defend a charge or challenge…Always move quickly from issue to issue.”

“Brag about other [places] where we are the representative.  Do it with mirrors.”

“Challenge to an election at every opportunity.  Keep the situation disrupted and the [people] split.”

“Spread the battle cry, “Give us a chance, just give us one chance”.

In 1974, we were blitzed with all of these tactics and, frankly, we were clueless.  In a moment of desperation, one member – it may even have been me – suggested that we go on the offensive, rather than staying on defense, as we had been.  It was an inadvertent act of genius!

We were ripe for being defeated that year for reasons that had nothing to do with what we did.  If you reread those tactics, they are exactly the same as relied on now by the T-party.  Most everybody wants something for nothing; but something for nothing is utterly without value, as ultimately we all have experienced in our own lives.

In 1974, the election was held, and my recollection is that we won with 60% of the vote.  It was a large unit with many work sites – probably well over 1200 members.

I didn’t learn about the specific tactics (above) till 15 years after the election.  Read them again and internalize them.  They are and should be weapons against the people who now rely on them, again….  Back then, the tactic worked…for awhile.  Then it didn’t….  Keep that in mind.  You can make a difference.

Expect to see the picture which leads this post quite often.  It will probably be connected with a blog about the January 6 hearings, or similar.

My opinion about what Nancy Pelosi did?  I surely understand what she did.  In personal experiences in my work life, I had no problem with differences of opinion…I really had no choice.  But today is a different day especially from media standpoint.  People can choose, and do choose, where to get the messages that validate their point of view.  Only Nancy knows why she made the decision.  The Republicans decided to exclude themselves and so be it.

COMMENT:

from Peter July 21:  Not a long comment, but just this: as a student of Japanese strategy
for, gosh over thirty years now, I know that strategy and the sword are one.

This came home to me again when our next headmaster gave a talk on a
coaching website about our late Sensei’s book, “The Way and The Power.”
He described a negotiation in which, each time the opposition raised an
idea, they were attacked personally, ad hominem. Again, and again, and
again. No counter-argument, just dismissive and disdainful insults.

He was making the point about strategy, which is a word found on most
business cards and web landing-pages in Washington, DC, these days. That
audience is prone to mystical beliefs about strategy, that it is a Force
for Good, or at least confers some kind of mojo.

That was when I realized (not for the first time) that this is exactly
what the sword is all about: regardless of whoever has a grip on the
handle, the blade will cut whatever it touches.

Context is decisive. When winning is all, we tend to bend ourselves out
of human shape, and assume the shape of whatever it is we think we’re
struggling against.

Just dedicating our lives to winning may, as somebody recently wrote,
get us a bed in a fantastic nursing home.

Today I ushered at church – first time since March 15, 2020.  It felt good to be so engaged.  “Normal” is returning, though still the Mass has live and virtual components.  There was a good attendance in the pews; and a pretty sophisticated virtual system which, I noted, utilizes six cameras – sort of an on-site TV studio.

I took a photo.  The Facebook production was quiet, efficient.

Basilica of St. Mary, July 11, 2021.

Today’s scripture readings might be uncomfortable for the comfortable, which is most of us who have the most in terms of temporal riches.  The U.S. is a very rich country, where the gap between rich and poor has grown almost exponentially in the last few years.  (The readings were Amos 7:12-15, Ephesians 1:3-14 and Mark 6:7-13.). In the Catholic tradition the homily focuses on the Gospel from the New (Christian) scripture.  Today’s Gospel was (my interpretation) about hospitality – who deserves it.  Everyone.  Father Tasto was masterful in his treatment of the topic, as he always is.

Our American society, super wealthy compared to the vast majority of societies world-wide, tends to prize winners, who control most of the things we value.  The rich get richer, obscenely so.  It’s “too bad, so sad” for the losers.  In the Gospel context, essentially Christs ministry, of those who have the most, the most is expected,  to the benefit of those who have the least.  This seemed to be the message yesterday, and is not a comfortable one.

Basilica of St. Mary, in my 25 years as a member, has always had a very strong focus on social justice and peace.  If you’re looking for a faith home base, check us out.

After Mass, those who wished could stop by for some ice cream from the Habitat for Humanity group, marking 25 years at Basilica this year.  Here’s the flier for this years build Aug 2-6 in suburban New Hope: Basilica 25th anniv build 2021.  In earlier years I was active in the Basilica program.  At home I dug out some old pictures, this one from April, 1999.

April 1, 1999. Basilica group, Habitat for Humanity.

Also, my friends, Rich and Donna, advised me of a special event at Basilica and around the world, called Angels Unawares, calling attention to migrants everywhere.  Details are here, regarding the Basilica of St. Mary programs beginning August 1.

Regardless of your ‘brand’ of faith, there are many ways to be engaged in the matter of justice and peace for all.

POSTNOTE:  Not directly related to Basilica, but relevant: Another organization I’m part of, Citizens for Global Solutions MN, sponsors an online film discussion group most Third Thursdays.  This months offering is the documentary: “THE WALL: Raw Stories From 2018 Minneapolis Homeless Camp”, a documentary from 2018″.

Two big international stories today.  About the best I can do is provide a little information you may not see elsewhere.  I recommend reading the April 26 letter on Haiti linked in paragraph 3 below.

HAITI

This day, Haiti found its way onto the front page of American news.  Unfortunately, Haiti on the front page is often bad news…for Haiti.

The news was the overnight assassination of the current President of Haiti, and the political and other turmoil in that impoverished country which I’ve visited twice, in 2003 and 2006, and about which I have fond memories.

It happens that in late April, 2021, a friend who’s an advocate for Haiti, forwarded to me a letter signed by over 50 U.S. Congresspersons, directed to the U.S. Secretary of State, concerning the then-present political conditions in Haiti.  It is public record, and you can read it in its entirety here.  At the very least you get a better idea of the back story of what happened last night.

Next Thursday July 15 a Massachusetts group is sponsoring a webinar on Haiti.  If interested, details are here.

My friend, Lydia, has sent links to a couple of perspectives about the current situation in Haiti.  You can read them here and here.  Mark forwarded a commentary, here.

I retain a web presence about my personal experience in Haiti if you wish, here.  I am not an “expert” in any sense, but I took my experience in Haiti as a significant learning opportunity.    From the very beginning of its existence Haiti has been exploited as a resource, and one of the earliest slave states.  When its slaves revolted successfully against France in 1804, it was marked for its later history, both by France and the youthful (and nearby neighbor) slave state of the United States of America.

As noted below, Haiti is a small country in land area, but densely populated.  It is less than an hour plane ride from Miami Florida.

AFGHANISTAN

After 20 years, the United States is finally (I think) pulling its troops and military presence completely out of Afghanistan.    It is our longest war, beginning with bombing strikes in October, 2001, a month after 9-11-01.

The bombing of Afghanistan in October, 2001, is the primary reason I became a peace activist.  I could see no good coming out of this “fools errand”, which seemed mostly to get revenge.   A few months later a column of mine was printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. You can read it here: Afghanistan column 4-2002.  By the time of the column, unbeknown to me, our national policy was pivoting towards Iraq.

(I feel no particular pride in being correct in my instinct in 2001, but I was in the very small minority of Americans, then.  The vast majority approved of the bombing: Afghanistan Bombing Oct 10 2001.)  We share responsibility. This was an un-winnable conflict from the beginning; we aren’t the first losers.  Yes, those who pull the plug on this dismal war will probably be labeled  losers.  It is a lesson once again we have to learn.

The objective is to have the U.S. out of Afghanistan as a military presence by Sep 11, 2021, two months from now.  There are many issues to be resolved.  Pay attention and be engaged.

Here’s a 1977 Map of Afghanistan from Encyclopedia Britannica.  Afghanistan is a large country.  Here’s a summary from the CIA Factbook.

Postnote July 10: “Ending this now“is a good summary, up to today.

POSTNOTE July 8: Yesterdays mail brought one of those rare pieces of “junk”, which turned out to be very interesting to me, and that I’d like to share with you.  It was for a museum I’ve been to several times, once with my father, and if your appetite is a bit whetted, take a look at the contents, Truman Library Fundraiser, and if you’d like to consider contributing, here is the form: Truman Library Fundraiser (2)  Here is the website for the Library and Museum.  I had last visited there in the summer of 2009, so I must have been on a list of people who stopped by….

I’ve nearly completed the new book, Preventable, by Andy Slavitt.  I urge everyone to actually read it in its entirety.  It covers the macro of the Covid-19 pandemic we’ve all lived through; it’s up to each of us, at our micro position, to think about how we fit into the future, as part of the problem, or part of the solution.

POSTNOTE July 9:  After my first trip to Haiti in Dec. 2003, I set up a website page, which included the above map, and the below Timeline, which is also included here as a pdf: Haiti Timeline.  The original timeline had an error which is corrected on this timeline.

Haiti Timeline with thanks to Paul Miller, 2006