The Paris Olympic Games 2024

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Today is the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.  From now through August 11 we can experience the world’s finest athletes.

Merci to my friend, Christine, in Paris, for this gift. I believe Christine is volunteering at the Olympic Games. Here is the source of the gift.

I basically walk every day at the local indoor soccer field – 4 1/2 rounds to a mile.  (I generally do 11 rounds.)  Thursday morning I passed Jack, one of my fellow walkers, who is 90,  and we jawed a bit, as acquaintances do.  For Jack, the walking is apparently essential to save his legs – doctors order: move those legs or lose them.

Truth be told, that for each of us at that walking place each day, just showing up and finishing our self-imposed goal, is winning.  Sometimes it’s boring; sometimes, you just don’t feel up to it…you know the drill.  But, as habits go, there could be worse. For me, the usual these days is a 19 minute mile; four years ago it was 17.  There are colleagues much swifter, and others much slower.  No matter.

Some of the walkers are running; others go about ten yards and have to rest.  On and on.  The perimeter of that soccer field is our ‘track’.  From 7-10 a.m. there’s a little community in that space: a small flock of us after 7 a.m; another coming about 8 and so on.  Varying ages.  Mostly in the senior category.

This time of year there are assorted other activities going on.

Thursday, there also was a gaggle of toddlers with their parents – probably two or three year olds,  ‘practicing’ soccer.  Discipline is not their strong suit.  The instructor was working at enticing them to play along for maybe ten minutes, then they could have ten minutes to run around.  A tyke wanted to go home; a couple of others were headed somewhere, randomly; another was closely inspecting one of the marker cones in their corner of the field.   Of course, at their age, kindergarteners are mature!

Towards the other end of the field were a bunch of kids who appeared to be middle school age doing some kind of. conditioning for something or other.  They mostly seemed task oriented.

Outside were some youngsters coming in with huge duffel bags – the ice hockey neophytes.

None of those youngsters could relate to we old-timers; all of we old-timers have some vague memories of what it was like to be a little kid!  The beat goes on.

And of course we cannot forget those, old and young, too,  who cannot even walk for assorted reasons.

As I was finishing my walk this morning, about 8 a.m., the background music came across the Public Address.  It’s one of my all-time favorite songs, and indeed I had been thinking of calling it up before my walk today.

Here it is.  Take the time to listen and make it part of your day, today and every day.

POSTNOTE: As I prepare to click ‘publish’ on this comes the news about the disruptions in France preceding the opening of the games later today.  This is a story just developing, so I will not get into any of the argument.

There have been three additional posts this week: Yesterday (July 23); Joe’s Speech (July 24); Learning from an anniversary (July 25).

I will be offline Saturday through July 30.  My next commentary on politics will follow the Democratic Convention later in August.

4 p.m. CDT Sunday, August 11, 2024: Just watched the closing ceremony in Paris.  It has been a spectacular games.  Hope that it can be replicated in our national and international conversations going forward.  Congratulation, France and Paris!

A look back: a couple of snapshots by my brother-in-law Mike Lund in 1972, at the Munich Olympics and at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  Mike died in 2006.  Here is video of lighting the Olympic Flame at Munich in 1972.

Munich Olympics 1972 (photo Mike Lund)

Eiffel Tower Paris 1972 (Mike Lund)

Paris July 26, 2024 (screen shot opening of summer Olympics)

Hiroshima, et al.

Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

Minnesota Primary Election is August 13.  Information including sample ballot accessible here.

This post, here amended, was first published July 25, and is about peace and the realities and consequences of war.  See especially #1, programs for next week.  Golden Rule, #2, and #4, #5  & #6 are new additions to the original post.  .

  1. Hiroshima/Nagasaki: August 6, 1945, the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima,  Japan.  Four days later was Nagasaki.  I’d invite your attention to the first section below about the annual Hiroshima Nagasaki Time of Remembrance August 5-8, 2024, in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It begins Monday.  The details are here: HiroshimaNagasaki_2024 rev2 .  This program has been ongoing since 1955 when St. Paul and Nagasaki became Sister Cities.

Directly related, two years ago, the St. Paul Civic Symphony premiered a new work commemorating HiroshimaNagasaki, August 6 and 9, 1945.  Orchestra member and former colleague Christina Clark sent the links with this explanation: “Hello – we performed this piece in May 2022 and finally finished editing the video clip of it with interviews as well as a video of  the entire piece.  Hope you can find time to listen to both (the interview piece is about 7 minutes, and the piece itself is about 20 minutes).  The piece commemorates the horrors of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the internment camps here in the US, and the rebirth of hope and life after these events.  At our final concert this season…, we played the 2nd movement again and gifted a tribute box to Takayuki Miyanishi, who is visiting here from Nagasaki.  Takayuki-san is the leader of the Nagasaki Symphony Orchestra and the sister city committee in Nagasaki for the St. Paul-Nagasaki sister city relationship.  It was great to see him again – most of us last saw him in 1998 when we traveled with 60 players and 40 family members for a week in Nagasaki with their committee and orchestra.   Work for peace.  Christina & Harley

Of course, the issue of war and looming Armageddon will probably never end, but the conversation is essential if we are to survive as people worldwide.

Hopefully adding to the conversation, a short while ago I came across a newspaper column I’d kept from 1985, talking about a Japanese American interned in rural ND during WWII.  The commentary is from the Grand Forks Herald, by Chuck Haga, and is the story of Harry Hayashi of Carrington ND: Hayashi Carrington WWII.  You will find the article enlightening.

In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I wrote an op ed which was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Aug. 6, 1995.  You can read it here: Atomic Bomb 1945001.  At the time I wrote the op ed I didn’t know that another close family relative, August Berning, had been a Marine Captain, part of the deadly Okinawa campaign which ended a month or so before the Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

2.  Golden Rule:   Two years ago the Golden Rule sailboat embarked from Minneapolis beginning a ‘grand round’ of the midwest and eastern United States, lobbying for peace, and anti-nuclear.  It completed its mission.  This summer its route is the west coast of the U.S.  All details are in its informative and attractive newsletter which appears here.). GoldenRule(3)2024 

Golden Rule is a serious project and deserves your encouragement and financial support.

3.  A Wake-up Call:  If you have any doubt that fascism can’t happen here, devote serious time to listening to Rachel Maddow’s Ultra podcast, now in Season Two.  I have listened to all of the episodes in both years (I think the total so far is about 13 in all, and I believe they are all still accessible).  Now playing is Episode 7 focusing on Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy of Wisconsin.  The series is absolutely chilling and eye-opening, beginning with the 1930s through the mid-1950s.  Each episode is roughly 45 minutes.  The last segment of this ’round’ airs starting Tuesday, August 6.  There are several upper midwest collaborators: Charles Lindbergh, Wild Bill Langer, and the like.  Our country had a very near miss with a fascist takeover…and we’re confronting the same right now.

4.  Book Recommendation: On our long weekend out I started Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book “An Unfinished Love Story, A Personal History of the 1960s“.  This is  a very interesting book, an insider account primarily of the JFK and Lyndon Johnson years.  Dick Goodwin was a speechwriter and in other ways integral part of both administrations, and Doris Kearns, who became his wife, later a Pulitzer Prize winning author, was part of the White House team especially for Lyndon Johnson.  The book is heavily sourced, and of course, both Doris and Dick were in the thick of some extraordinary years.  I noted Amazon has near 3,000 reviews and the books rating is 4.8 of 5 stars.

5. August 1, the Prisoner Exchange: As I was updating this post, and all day today, the news has been about the negotiated prisoner exchange involving a number of countries.  The news will fill in all of the details.  Personally, what I thought about was the difficulty of diplomacy and the utility of decent relationships and necessity of negotiations to craft agreements which are never perfect, especially among enemies with long histories.  It is considerably different than a passionate argument among friends over coffee.

Deals such as today’s percolate slowly and quietly sometimes over years, and when they happen often catch us by surprise.  Whatever one thinks of this deal, or that, who/what was won/lost, the fact of the matter is that in one way or another we are all part of a massive community encompassing an entire planet, divided into a complex network of states, led by a diverse lot of leaders who have achieved their position in all sorts of different ways.

Pick 10 random folks you know and see how hard it is to come to consensus on any most important issue.  It is a wonder that our system of nations works at all, but as the agreement that came to fruition today shows, it is possible to solve problems without missiles or bombs.  We need to practice this personally and wherever we live.

6.  Personal Political Opinion: If you know me, or follow this space at all, you know where I stand politically.  I will go into more detail after the Democratic Convention (August 19-22, Chicago) and on or before Labor Day (September 2).  The election is Tuesday, November 5.   In the interim, I will continue writing on whatever happens to be of interest.  Have a good August.  YOU are “politics”, period.  We all are “politics”.  Get informed and involved.

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7.  Gaza/Israel/Hamas: The Minneapolis StarTribune gave an entire page in the Thursday STrib about Prime Minister Netanyahu at the U.S. Congress [July 24].  That is only the beginning of news which continued as he visited President Biden and Vice-President Harris, etc., etc.  I do not pretend to have any new insights.  However, recently I came across an old file of mine, from 2008-09, labeled “Gaza”, relating to troubles there in 2008.  This was 15 years ago.

At the time I submitted a personal opinion op ed to the Star Tribune, which was not printed, but I did keep a copy and informed others about it at the time, and more recently as well.  FYI, here is the personal opinion at the time: Gaza 2008-09.  I make no pretense, then or now, of being an expert on the tragedy which is Gaza, except that it is a tragedy, and it will never be solved if either or both ‘sides’ assume they will win everything in the long term.  This is more a congressional than a presidential issue.  The U.S. policy is very long-standing and not necessarily productive or correct.  Just my opinion.

[See comment from SAK below]

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8.  Finally, a German witness to the ending of WWII: Tuesday’s post included a brief comment from myself: “…today we lunched with our 98 year old German friend,  days ago returned from several weeks in her home country.  She’s extremely concerned about our country, as are her native countrymen and women, should the previous president be returned to office.  More later on that.

Here is the “more later”.

We had a very good visit with our friend, which verified what I say above, and which included something I was aware of from earlier conversations, but not to the extent revealed at our lunch.

Near the end of the war, as an 18 year old in 1945, our friend was assigned to be a typist in an office in a city about 70 miles from her home.  Basically the pool she was in was simply relaying coded messages – it was a steno job.  She was fast and accurate.

During her just concluded visit she went to the city and saw the actual building in which she worked, and the ‘three windows’ to the outside.  The outside landscape included the local  Dom (Cathedral).

She remembered that one of the stenos was removed summarily for presumed spying for the enemy.  She left and was never seen again.  Someone else, apparently connected with the local church, told someone they needed to look out for themselves because time was short for the Reich.  The individual  was arrested and summarily and publicly hung in the yard in front of the Dom.

The war ended shortly thereafter.  She walked the 70 miles home, hiding in the woods and nearly starving.  She wanted at least to be home.  Her father, who was not a Nazi, had been conscripted.  They last saw him months before, and never heard from him again.  They presume he was killed or died, probably in Russia.

Her memory of 80 years before was powerful and concise.  Since I had heard parts of this message from her in previous years and in writing in her book, she came across as credible.

I’ll never see ‘three windows’ quite the same again….

COMMENTS (more below)

from SAK: Many thanks I really enjoyed that “Hiroshima” page & intend to reread it more carefully: so much there from books to music & articles about the past & present. Thanks again.

Recently I happened on this page which is about the countdown to Hiroshima.

Towards the bottom one finds “Newer Post” & by clicking that one can move forward one day at a time to that fateful day.

You also mentioned the Gaza war. That links with an article I found by a French philosopher, Paul Ricœur. He was influenced by his Christian upbringing as well as by Christian & non-Christian philosophers. The article is available here in French: Perplexités sur Israël. I have translated it to English, by using translation aids but then correcting some errors etc.  Here: Perplexities 1958.

What links it with Hiroshima is the following line – keep in mind this article was written in 1958, plus ça change!

Such are the frightening prospects of the Jewish-Arab conflict. If we are not careful, it is from there that the spark of nuclear war can start.

from Harley:  Dick, thanks for this.  I read your blog post about Hiroshima/Nagasaki.  The only time I have gone to Japan was on the opening of the Nagasaki Concert hall in 1998.  I went with Christina and my mom and daughter.  As you can imagine, it was very moving.  We also went to our homestead in Kagoshima and met our relatives too.

My mom was incarcerated during the war.  She went in at age 14 and got out at 17.  She settled in Minnesota, not being allowed to go back to the west coast while the war was still on.  She spent her growing up years in the camp.  I still do not know the full effect of that experience on her.  I never will.

Joe’s Speech

Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

We watched Joe Biden’s 12 minute or so speech from the Oval Office tonight.  I don’t plan to add anything to the hours of analysis.  Joe contributed immensely to this country in his over 50 years of public service; and his greatest contribution was that of being a positive role model.  He has about six months left in his term and will make good use of his time.

Joe Biden July 24, 2024

It was my privilege to see him speak in person, twice, in the twin cities.  Both were during his time as Vice-President, in 2010 and 2012.

Thanks, Joe, for what you’ve done and will continue to do.

POSTNOTE; Overnight, Heather Cox Richardson summarized the President’s speech as any I will see.  Here is her Letter From An American.

 

 

Yesterday

Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

Yesterday, brings to mind The Beatle’s, Yesterday.

There is no adequate way to recap the four days between Thursday July 19 in Milwaukee and yesterday.

Last evening nine of us had a regularly scheduled Democrat conversation group (“Coffee and Conversation”) at a local book store.  Among those attending was a local Legislator, a County  Commissioner, a City Council member, vice-chair of the local Democrats, and the others.  Larry, the convener, brought up the topic du jour.  No one really took the bait, the interest was in more local issues.  This does not connote lack of interest or disapproval.  Not at all.  The political process is working as it is supposed to work.  The rest you will get endlessly on the tube and the internet.  We were just local politically active citizens.

I had brought along a handout, which I have shared before at this space.  It isbelow.  My later 1980s view of the body politic which is all of us, unedited over these past 35 or more years.  Everyone took their copy.  I think it is worth everyone’s reflection, and if my rendition is inaccurate, please comment.  Here is the pdf of the below: Political Scrum original 1987.

There is no rocket science involved here.  As I observed to the table group, even we “birds of a feather” would/could have lots of disagreements about lots of issues.  The need of any society is to work things out.  Unfortunately, the easy way for media and political operatives is to cast everything from the “hard left” and “hard right” perspective, hardly representative of the whole….

Most all of us at the table with me would likely agree that President Biden has been an excellent President, and that Kamala Harris is a. worthy successor, as appears almost certain, as I write, today.  This morning on NPR, I heard J.D. Vance in Ohio advancing a counter narrative.  The current president, Joe,  is the worst ever in all of history, and the successor candidate, Kamala,  is a million times worse than he was.  Off we go.

Enjoy the Paris Olympics which have just begun.  A fellow walker who’s a native of France was saying this morning that the swimming competition will be in a pool in a barge floating on the Seine.  What a deal!  It is hard to imagine, but I’ll look for it!

Of course, there’s a similar political scrum in France, and Europe has similar problems to deal with, as we do.

And today we lunched with our 98 year old German friend, days ago returned from several weeks in her home country.  She’s extremely concerned about our country, as are her native countrymen, should the previous president be returned to office.  More later on that.

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President Joe Biden, Sunday

Vice-President Kamala Harris Monday at the White House with the nation’s top athletes

POSTNOTE: I will be doing more items on politics in the political season.  The next scheduled post will be following the Democratic Convention in August, but likely there will be unscheduled ones in between.  Check this space once in awhile if interested.

COMMENTS (more at the end of this post):

 

 

A Week

I have followed but seldom watched the Trump Coronation festivities in Milwaukee, since there has been four years of campaigning already.  There was no package to unwrap, so to speak.  We know the positioning.  In a little over 100 days we’ll know about the vote.  As is always true, we will get exactly what we deserve, by our vote, throw away vote, or non-vote.  Everyone eligible to vote is ‘counted’ one way or another.

Here is an important commentary filed by Heather Cox Richardson on Thursday night, the end of the Convention.

I’ll click publish on this on Friday morning, July 19, and there’s a lot of chatter swirling around in this rough draft of history.  Trump has made his speech, the billionaires are lining up to donate their millions, we Democrats have our own dilemma, and our own convention is a month from now.  There is the usual cacophony masquerading as wisdom, soon forgotten.  I am very mindful that traditionally campaigning begins in earnest after the conventions and about Labor Day.  I do not recall ever a circumstance where campaigning has gone on continuously, as it has since 2020.

Earlier this week I saw a cartoon that pretty accurately reflects Democrats and Republicans as I’ve come to see them.  Actually, I’ve thought the same for a long time, and like it.  Democrats reflect the real and often messy world of the vast majority of the population.  I see that as a strength, not a weakness.  Democrats have to work things out.  Autocrats don’t.  Here’s the cartoon:

from Reform Austin July 8, 2024

Here’s how the last post began: “Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.  That will be my mantra beginning every post between now and Nov. 5.

Thursday morning I made a list of events, and activities by myself, in the week preceding.

Last Saturday it began with the near miss of assassinating the former president at Butler PA.  At the end of the July 12 post, are my own comments at the time.

(See “SOME QUICK….”  below for some personal memories I’ve added today about security as I’ve seen it evolve, personally).

I’m saving my newspapers and look each day for whatever is said about the shooting.  The story is evolving, as are all the political stories.

Thursday’s paper reports that President Biden has come down with Covid, so this will be another piece of fodder.  Last week I wrote a brief letter to the lawmakers in my orbit who will have some say in the final outcome of who the Democrats endorse for President in August.  I said: “I remain a strong supporter of Biden/Harris.  If the decision is made to change course, I think it is time for the Democrats to consider actively a “Team of Rivals” approach which was apparently Abraham Lincoln’s strategy to deal with division.”   Here’s my current MN Lawmakers list: MN Lawmakers Roster (2) July 9, 2024

I don’t invest my life in this political decision, I’ve done what I can.  In my opinion, President Biden has done a great job, and history will verify that.

I did look back at the Minnesota Presidential Primary on March 5, in which I voted for Joe Biden.  Here’s the result of that “Super Tuesday” vote in Minnesota: MN Presidential Primary March 2024.  People seem to have forgotten about that election, which was official, with lots of notice.  (There is another Minnesota Primary on August 13.  I’ve qualified to be an election judge if needed for that election.  No assignment yet – I asked to be on alternate status.  Here are the candidates on my ballot: MN Primary August 13, 2024).

In the end analysis, each and every one of us is personally accountable for the results of any election.  That’s the bottom line.  There is still over 100 days to show up.

A BIT OF PERSPECTIVE IF YOU’VE GOT THIS FAR: There are about 1,000 billionaires in the United States, some of these mega-billionaires.  They aren’t all Republican, though many are, and for them, a million dollars is chump change.  Against them are over 244,000,000 potential voters on November 5.  The richest billionaire and the poorest citizen each possess a single vote….  All is not lost, unless you give up.

POSTNOTE: Here’s an interesting commentary from Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the political usefulness of crises by authoritarians.  I believe that autocracy is a looming threat to everyone of us.

FINALLY,  SOME QUICK PERSONAL MEMORIES ON SECURITY FOR VIP’S:

Unfortunately, to be in politics has always been a risky business, though most especially now, in the time where ordinary people can be armed and extremely dangerous.

I did a quick list Thursday and was surprised at the number of high level political folks I’ve been in the same room with at one time or another.  It’s been more than a dozen.  Here are four of the most memorable.

1.  Dwight Eisenhower. I was probably between 7th and 8th grade in 1953, and we were in Minot ND the day President Eisenhower flew in on then-Air Force One on business probably relating to the under construction Minot Air Force Base.  We were standing on the sidewalk outside the then brand new Empire Theater, and the President came by in an open convertible, in my memory like John Kennedy in Dallas ten years later.  I don’t recall any nervousness at all around us.  Just an important guy in a convertible.

2.  Gerald Ford.  Probably in the summer of 1975 I took my 11 year old son and a couple of his friends to see Gerald Ford when he came to Minneapolis for some event.  There was a meet and greet across a rope line at the Marriott in Bloomington (a single strand rope if I recall correctly).  There was Secret Service, but we were very close to the President.  Below is the picture I took.  My sons hair is barely visible in this photo, which I took.  President Ford is surrounded by three Secret Service.

Gerald Ford Aug. 19, 1975, Bloomington MN.

3.  In June of 1990 Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev came to the Twin Cities for a day, and I raced around to catch a glimpse, which was a success.  My best photo was when they took off from the Twin Cities airport in the Russian Air Force One.  I was easily able to take photos close to Gorbachev at two other locations during the day.  This is not to suggest there was lack of security – at the same time, it was not oppressive.

Gorbachev’s leaving Minneapolis June 4, 1990

4.  George W Bush.  Sometime, probably the summer of 2005 or 2006, I heard President Bush was coming to town and would be arriving at Twin Cities airport in later morning.  I thought maybe I’d have a chance at a photo of Air Force One landing, and got my gear together, went out to Ft. Snelling, and walked towards the fence on the north edge of the airport.  I was by myself, and just had my camera bag.  I noticed a helicopter overhead, didn’t pay much attention to it, and soon a police car came up and told me I couldn’t stay there.  I’m sure the folks in the chopper were secret service or police.  I walked back to the car, and as I was driving out, in the rear view mirror, Air Force One roared by, landing.

I could list at least several other similar happenings.  I was a completely benign observer every time I went to these events, and so were any others I saw.  But this is not always true, and that is why there is so much sensitivity to security at events like the one at Butler Farm last Saturday.  Somehow there was a major breakdown in communication at the event.  Maybe some day there will be a more complete story.  An innocent bystander was killed, and others injured, so it was not a victimless event.  We need to learn from this.  Though there will never be a risk free environment for anyone in public, especially these days.

THE OTHER VIP’S WITH WHOM I’VE AT LEAST HAD A CLOSE CALL, TO THE BEST OF MY MEMORY: Nelson Rockefeller, Valley City ND 1960; Jimmy Carter, Minneapolis, 1978; John Kerry, Minneapolis 2004; also John Edwards; Barack (twice) and Michelle Obama (once) ca 2008; Joe Biden, twice, Minneapolis and St. Paul, post 2009; Kamala Harris, Minneapolis 2022; Bill Clinton, Minneapolis 1996; Al Gore, Eagan 2000; Walter Mondale, rural St. Paul, early 2000s.  With each there is a story, well remembered.  Maybe some other time..!

COMMENTS (more at end):

from Michelle: Thank you Dick

from Rich: Hey, Dick, I wanted to share that I was also near the Empire Theater on that day. President Truman also visited Minot, probably for the same reason. On the ceremonial side of it all, my father’s college band was present on both visits to greet the president. This was “a beginning” for Minot. In the days of our youth the Cold War was a reality.

Additionally, for me these days, I believe we are living in a more pivotable historical period than we realize. Recent events have caused me to revisit the candidate George Wallace assassination attempt on May of 1972. Similarly volatile rhetoric preceded a shooting.
I listen to Mvt 4 & 5 of Mahler5 on MPR. It was better than the news. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Enjoy our beautiful summer.


from Brian:  Interesting your comments about security for VIPs!  Reminds me of when I worked with WOCCU in Bolivia and one time  First Lady Hillary Clinton came down to see what we were doing.  (Helping credit unions help poor indigenous people.)

Louisa was asked to be Hillary’s personal escort in La Paz and nearby.   That was interesting!    At La Paz airport our plane was right next to hers!    When she left we had a “wheels up party”, meaning since all went well, the wheels of her plane’s landing gear got sucked into the body and she was gone–whew!
Thanks for sharing!

from Brian, 1996, photo does not include Hillary, but from the same time as mentioned..

response to Brian from Dick: Your comment reminds me of a comment by Nelson Rockefeller in Valley City ND in June, 1960.  Here’s the newspaper account: Politics 1960 vs 1996001.  See the top of the second column.  I had an actual copy of the newspaper article, and my recollection was the incident happened in Venezuela, the motorcade being egged or such at some point.  I no longer have the newspaper account, from the Fargo Forum, but official archival material suggests that my account and Gov. Rockefellers, relates to a visit by Eisenhower to Latin America in Feb. 1960. Here.  [POSTNOTE July 31, 2024]: I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s, excellent  An Unfinished Love Story, about the 1960s, and on page 104 she comments on a planned trip by JFK to Caracas and Bogota in December, 1961: “During a goodwill mission to Venezuela [in 1958], Vice President Richard Nixon’s motorcade had been attacked by a crowd shouting anti-American slogans.  Before the motorcade made it safely to the embassy, Nixon’s car was rocked back and forth, its windows smashed.  The prospective trip, the State Department officials and the Secret Service warned, was too dangerous.

from Christine in Europe:  I read with much interest your last note. I am very much interested in politics over the world, as you know.

Just for saying, I also had some unexpected opportunities to meet some US candidates over the years
– Bill Clinton in London
– Barack Obama in Paris
– Al Gore in Copenhagen
And not a candidate but an important person,
– Nancy Pelosi in Copenhagen with Will Steger
Today, I am having training for the Olympics where I will be working from Saturday morning (27th July)

from Dick: Christine, and Brian, and infinite others we all know, remind us that we are part of the world, not apart from that world.

The Coronation, July 15-18, 2024, Milwaukee WI: A Look Back to 2016 and 2020.

Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV.

There is much content to follow.  Your choice, as always.

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The title of this post concerns the Republican Convention beginning Monday in Milwaukee, and anticipates the expected outcome.

Succinctly, this year for the first time in my adult life, I am urging every voter to cast their ballot for their Democrat candidates.

What is now the Trump Party, includes over 120 elected Republican legislators who actively promoted a challenge of the 2020 Presidential election, including Cong. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota.  (Cong. Jim Hagedorn was in this cadre, but died in 2022.)  The former Grand Old Party now consists of those who have left the current party, or been forced into exile.

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In the 15 years I’ve been writing these musings, I’ve gotten into the habit of writing opinions from the heart based both on facts and feelings, often before some scheduled event. I try to think things through.  I’ve done lots of these – 2,017 at last count – and they’re all archived and easily accessible by word search and by date, and I access one or another quite often, there are 7 in this post alone.

We’re completing eight years of the Trump hurricane, and watching the end of a political party, the GOP,  as it was once correctly called, the Party of Abraham Lincoln.  And we’re within sight of the loss of our Democracy, to be replaced by a Project 2025 autocracy.   Anyone who thinks this through even a little knows this is a looming catastrophe if Donald Trump gets the keys to the Oval Office.

The temptation when being being buffeted by a storm, is to seek shelter till it blows over.  This is a storm where the wreckage may be permanent.  It is time to pay attention, and no time to hide out.

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I offer the following many links as possible guides to your own thinking.

This post is about July 15-18, 2024, but first…

Here’s what I wrote about the 2016 Republican National Convention after the first night.  It was my only post specifically about that convention (though I gave it space on July 22 as well). At the time of that election I didn’t pay adequate attention to Donald Trump, who I knew basically as “The Apprentice”   (I have never watched an episode).  I knew of Trump Tower, and that Trump had zero experience as an elected official anywhere.  He was an entertainer.

All the character issues were yet to be exposed.

Four years later was very different, of course.  Here’s the last of five posts (August 30, 2020) I did during the time of the “T” Convention August 24-27, 2020.  Here are the other four in 2020: August 24; August 25; August 26; and August 27.  Note that all of these were posted several months before the 2020 election and, of course, before January 6, 2021.

This year, 2024, most recently, are July 1, July 4, July 6, and today.

I’m glad I archive these posts.  I’ll repeat this process next month, right before the Democratic Convention.  I’m just an amateur writer, but looking back at the past notes is sobering…and I’m already worried about the state of our democracy if the lawless coalition bent on control of the U.S. happens to win on November 5.

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Other recommendations.

I’d also recommend reading this editorial from the Philadelphia Inquirer, reprinted as an editorial in the July 8, 2024, Minneapolis Star Tribune.: Mpls Star Tribune July 8 2024.  (I’m a long-time subscriber to the STrib.)

I subscribe to three on-line commenters on history and law who I consider extraordinarily credible.  Here are recent posts from each, all pertinent.  Most particularly in this election season, they are worth your subscription, and they deserve support: Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American; Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse; Jay Kuo: The Big Picture and Status Kuo.

POSTNOTE July 12: The above text was complete yesterday afternoon (July 11) before the President Biden news conference, which I watched in its entirety, and the release of the approximately 5,000 word editorial from the New York Times about the Trump candidacy for President.  I thought President Biden with a fine job with the news conference; the NYT editorial is powerful.   Joyce Vance, today, provides a link to the editorial, and summary comments.  Heather Cox Richardson features a very interesting part 1 of a two part interview with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, here.

FINAL THOUGHT: I post to about 600 folks.  I have no idea who, if anyone, reads any particular post.  But I do know I’m read, based on people I hear from, not only from comments.  I suggested to a friend recently that an informal personal gauge for myself is that if one in a hundred gets something out of a post I write, it’s worth it.  You apparently are the one for this post, so thank you.

What we have become accustomed to in this country – called “the American way of life” or however stated – is under active attack by weapons like lies and power and control strategies from a stinky band of skunks.  There is no passive way to deal with filthy politics, in which we are awash, and this is not an ‘everyone does it’ fantasy.  This is a fringe of one side of the ideological spectrum that saw an opening for power and control, and are bent on exercising it with all of the weapons in their arsenal.  No holds barred.  I don’t get hysterical about things.  What we’re approaching now, with Project 25 and the like, is getting very close to the edge.  I urge you to not only get engaged, but to share these posts if you think they are useful.  Again, thank you for reading.

PS: a particular message to the other side, the one that buys the premise that there are winners and there are losers, and the losers best suck it up.  It doesn’t work that way…for either the winners or the losers.  Any kid who’s ever played ‘king on a hill’ and won the hill learns soon that getting the hill has its own perils.  A functioning society has to figure out how to work things out for all sides.  Probably the best example of winning is Nazi Germany, where the promise was a 1,000 year Reich, which ended up at the end of 12 years with an entire society crushed, which – good for them – was helped out of its pit by things like the Marshall Plan.

POSTNOTE JULY 13: Joyce Vance on ‘Christian Nationalism’; Heather Cox Richardson on going back to White Male Privilege.

COMMENTS (more at end)

from Patsy: Amen to ” This is not a routine year.”  Thanks always for your thoughts.

from Joyce: Very well stated, Dick!

from Joni: I found the NYT editorial interesting and very unsettling. Your choice of the word “catastrophic” is spot on as well, and I wish with my whole heart that I could disagree or find some evidence to support thinking otherwise.

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from Dick: July 13, 9 p.m.: at about 5 p.m. I received a phone call from a friend that Donald Trump had been injured in a shooting in Pennsylvania.  I was not home at the time.  This entire evening has been consumed by reporting o various kinds, including already the rumors that the Biden campaign was responsible.  As time goes on we will find out what is real.

from Jeff:  Since you again have pondered these things and are a Catholic, the whole thing does spur the question of the morality of tyrannicide, a much debated issue amongst the Greek and Roman philosophers and the HMC over the centuries.

The question in less direct terms is would killing Hitler in say 1931 or 1932 have been morally right?  The inevitability of
hindsight makes it difficult.
I remember in my graduate student days, one class I was a grader for, which was American History 102 (post Civil War to present), the prof gave each grad assistant the opportunity to give one lecture. Mine was on the period in the USA from 1939 to Dec 7 1941.  I had a lot more emotion and exuberance in those days and definitely put my imprint on it, pushing the students to question why the USA didn’t intervene despite the political opposition to a European war,  my stance was moral rather than historical at times.  ahhh the early 20s of our lives…


The other side of the killing Hitler is a good thing coin: the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started WW1….just starting to consider the chaos that Trump being killed might have created.  Civil War?  several Oklahoma City events?  cities being captured by militias and declared separate from states and nations…..things much worse than January 6 to be sure.

These are really difficult times.  What worries me is with SCOTUS, a GOP Senate, and Trump in power, I do not think our calcified democracy could withstand it.

response from Dick: Indeed, this situation begs lots of serious conversation about our own societies contradictions.  Indeed, at Mass this morning the pastor decried the violence very carefully: a Catholic congressperson in attendance going to Mass, speaking of the reaction of his children who were there, apparently; a reporter reporting on the screams of children;  an Army Chaplain Priest whose talk is about “moral injury” – how the world is and should be.  No mention that I recall of the role of a deadly weapon, though the same priest had talked passionately about this topic just weeks ago.

I often think of the quandary of Hitler and his ilk.  I think of the initial assertions made about who did the deed at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City – initially the suspect was somebody Middle Eastern looking, as I recall, and of course turned out to a white military veteran who’d been a Boy Scout.

I think even more about the fact that character assassination is as much killing as physically shooting someone; it is a weapon of choice in today’s politics, as is lying in all of its many forms, sanctioned as freedom of speech.  These have been very useful weapons, and I don’t expect that to change post-shooting.

The suggestion, from an apparent schoolmate,  was that the young man who presumably did the shooting was a loner and bullied in school.  And, of course, already there is strategic political thinking – the Democrats must be to blame.  There is a lot to be contemplated, for sure.  It was a huge shock to get the news yesterday afternoon.

We live in a powder keg with the open access to weapons: that is a crucial bottom line.  There are nuts in every age in every place, but only in our country can they be armed and extremely dangerous legally carrying weapons of war.

POSTNOTE July 15: Overnight from Joyce Vance, here; and from Heather Coxx Richardson, here.   I encourage your subscribing to both of these credible sources of information.  I will probably not further append to this post, there the news about the Butler PA incident will doubtless continue.

POSTNOTE July 20: See new post here.  Generally I post once or twice a week.  The next scheduled post specifically on politics will be right before the Democratic Convention about a month from now, but almost certainly I will have some commentary on the political atmosphere between now and then, so check back once in awhile..

 

Dean

Monday I took a short trip east to a memorial service for Dean, who died recently at age 89.

It was a nice service, a good showing of Dean’s friends and relatives.  A beautiful day all around.

I hardly knew Dean.  He was the guy who checked folks in at the local health center when we came in to walk in the morning.  The indoor walk became a habit for me after heart surgery in 2018.  Dean was the usual greeter until he retired last year.  Cancer was winning the race.

He would be like most service people we all meet every day, and take for granted.  I knew only fragments of his life.  His wife died a year before he did, and she had a rough road at the end.  He was a farm kid, had been in the Army, worked in security positions most of his work life, had great-grandchildren.

We all have Dean’s in our own lives.  Mostly we take them for granted, but if they happen to disappear for whatever reason there is a little vacant space in our lives.

I last saw Dean on his 89th birthday about two months ago (photo below, he’s at left).  He was going downhill rapidly, and wanted to come back to the health club to, I suppose, say farewell by his presence.  There was birthday cake, and coffee, and conversation, and then he was taken back to his nursing home.

After Monday’s service, the group gathered at graveside.  Taps was played, and two young military men did the presentation of the American flag in recognition of Dean’s status as a veteran.

I didn’t stay for lunch – I hadn’t seen anyone I knew there, and I really didn’t know much about Dean either, except that Dean in his quiet way exemplified the best about what I would call ‘community’.

Dean is at peace, and the world is a better place because he was here.

POSTNOTE July 10: This morning I learned that, in fact, 7 of my fellow walkers were at the service – they were simply sitting in a different part of the church, and after the graveside service, I had passed on the lunch and came home…..

The Joe and George Show

POSTNOTE July 7: Previous directly related posts June 27, 28, July 1, 4, 6.   The U.S. road ahead is politics, and I am going to try to restrain myself.  Absent some legitimate ‘crisis’, my next politics centered post will be the day before the ‘Republican’ convention (July 14); the next the day before the Democratic Convention (August 18 ); the next perhaps the week after the Democratic Convention (August 22,  before September 1).

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Some random thoughts a week after the debate.  First, mark and visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV.

I watched the interview of Joe Biden with George Stephanopoulis on Friday evening.  Mostly I ignored the analysis, which is as valid or invalid as my own.

As with the debate a week ago, I am glad that this interview was held, and that it was pretty no-holds barred.  It is good that we the people, who are the ultimate judges could watch.

The real value, I think, is that we, the people, are being forced to confront our own role in the future of our own country.   The the ball is in our court.  Ours is not a frivolous or optional task. There is no one-size fits all resolution even within the political parties.

The politicians, as has always been true in our democracy, ultimately are responsible for the tough question of who will actually be on the ballot Nov. 5.  Theirs is and has always been a crucial and immensely difficult job.  The first of the two national conventions begins in about a week.  Watch, listen and learn….

Personally, I am not enthusiastic about a second ‘debate’.  I don’t see it as constructive.

There is no question in my mind that the coming months will be brutal, just judging by history.  ‘m guessing it will be even worse than “normal” past years, with more and more sophisticated misinformation and disinformation.  I hope I’m wrong.  One absolute truth in my opinion: Dirty Tricks and the like will be sown to disrupt and confuse.  Resist.  This is why I repost the below Draft which gives you at least some real data to begin to refresh your own memory of past presidential campaigns.

My one judgement is that the two candidates represent remarkably contrasting philosophies  with a drastically different view of our future.  As I’ve said before, I will not comment more about this until after the Democratic Convention in August.

A summary of the past:

 

Working Draft about Presidents since FDR prepared by Dick Bernard Feb 1, 2024  Here is the pdf of the same document: Presidents since FDR DRAFT Feb 1 2024

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A brief reflection: The Bananas and Despicable ME 4….

The Stephanopoulos interview was sandwiched between two other duties the last 24 hours.  Right before the interview, I went to the store to pick up my daily essential: bananas.  Then, today, I took my daughter to a movie she wanted to see, Despicable ME 4.  In perhaps a weird way, the three events make a good sandwich about us, we, the people.

The bananas I found at the supermarket were uniformly ripe, which made them a poor choice for a household which consumes two bananas a day.  On the other hand, I have yet to see a variety of bananas that matures one each day.  Just doesn’t happen.  Some times they’re too green, sometimes too ripe, sometimes just right – at least for day or two.

Yesterday a lady was ragging on a stock boy who happened to be refiling the banana shelf with bananas.  The product was unacceptable to her.  He tried to explain that that was all they had at the moment – he was the one who had brought them from the stockroom.  She was on a roll, wouldn’t let go.  I picked up a bunch, and when I left he was still her target.

I thought to myself, this was nutty behavior.  When I was a kid I don’t recall ever seeing a banana, much less a full service super market with thousands of choices.  We need to get a grip.  We are, mostly, hugely privileged.

Today, daughter Heather wanted to go to Despicable Me 4, so we went to the 10 a.m. show.  I was aware of the Despicable series, from having taken her to one another time.

Despicable 4 was an entertaining film, basically a French production.  It reminded me a bit of the old Roadrunner cartoons, and others of the same genre, though much higher tech.

The good folks win in the end of the kid films, and probably it is all good clean fun for the kids, and even some morals of the story for the adult supervision in the theater with the little kids.  We are in a different time in history, that is for sure.

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It is hard, these days, to get some kind of perspective.  In between, before and after, every day there are lots of things to observe, some good, some not so good, that are useful to assess as we cast judgement on the present, past and future.  What we all have to be is engaged in seeking those who are best fit to lead our complicated nation in tomorrows complicated times.  This requires wisdom of all of us.

COMMENTS (more at end):

from Tony: Thank you.  I really like Joe Biden. This is so hard..  We cannot allow Trump to win.  It’s so painful but I think Joe needs to retire. Kamala, rightly or wrongly, must retire as well. She is too unpopular.   I feel terrible about this, but Trump must be stopped!

from SAK:  Many thanks for the post – I agree with so much of it including the banana bit & Tony’s comment.

France has voted & Tony would be pleased that many groups got together to block a party similar to the one Trump is leading – is there really a Republican party worthy of the name in the US anymore!? There are a few individuals but why have so many Republicans in Congress become so obsequious to Trump?

I received this link from a friend who tries to be objective & usually votes Democrat.

Jared Golden might indeed be considering his own future (election prospects). Do politicians these days actually believe J. F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”? Here is the man himself proclaiming that.

Jared Golden should become a turncoat & follow Trump who certainly thinks more of what the country has done & will do for him & his ilk.

In the same inaugural address Kennedy also said: “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.”

Now is Trump a threat to US democracy? Seems like it – of course the Supreme Court will vote 6-3 against such a hypothesis! And there are those, like Jared Golden, who will say the US has survived a civil war . . . what an argument!? Would he welcome a civil war? What if that civil war had gone the other way, say after some foreign powers intervened on the side of the confederacy? Trump has already proven that he is a threat to democracy & not just on January 6th but by constantly attacking most of US’ institutions & by nominating Supreme Court judges who ignore the will of the majority – I’ll be brief & not get into the abortion issue, the immunity puzzle & even worse the Chevron ruling which basically gave the finger to experts on behalf of corporate profiteering.

There are others who are tired of good old Biden & will work for an alternative although it’s late in the day – they should have started the day Biden was elected & he should have led the search for a successor but power is magnetic – as your draft detailing how many vice presidents went on to become presidents shows as well. Jared Golden is not honestly & benevolently seeking for a good alternative but others are. They might still be able to convince Biden to abandon the quest. The problem with liberals is they do not have the will to power, almost by definition, unlike the Republicans who will sacrifice even the country to attain power – surely many in that party do not approve of Trump & yet they campaign for him all the way. The Democrats made a similar mistake in nominating Hilary Clinton against Trump. At the risk of irritating some who accuse me of bringing up UK politics too often, the Labour party there has acted in a similar manner while the Conservatives have sacrificed the good of the country on the altar of power. This time though Labour coordinated their campaign with the Liberal Democrats to make sure they get a majority. In France as well this time various shades of left & center coordinated their campaigns & withdrew candidates in favour of others to block the far right. The left-leaning liberals are learning.

As J.F.K. said in that same address, history will be the judge . . .

All the best.

overnight from Heather Cox Richardson: here

 

July 4, 2024

POSTNOTE July 8: see postnote July 7.

Today is Independence Day.  Here’s the Library of Congress history about July 4.

I have an affinity for history, and over the years, in travels here and there, it’s always been my inclination to stop and look at placards and stop in at museums of one sort or another, to get a taste of history wherever I happen to be.  Over my life, I’ve made 49 of the 50 states and have seen a great deal in person.  (It appears I’ll miss Alaska,  but no matter).  There’s a lot of history packed into this country’s 248 or so years.

Flag over Ft. McHenry MD ,July 1999, by Dick Bernard

For some reason, this day my mind zeroes in on  ‘Star Spangled Banner’ fort (Ft. McHenry) made famous by Francis Scott Key, which I visited 25 years ago this summer.  (Photo above).  Mostly it rests quietly in outer Baltimore harbor. Here is the map of the area.  In recent months Francis Scott-Key bridge, a couple of miles further seaside, was taken down by an out of control container ship.

Today I’ll take the easy route and just present the history of Ft McHenry as interpreted by its proprietors.  I’ve “been there, done that”.   As the saying goes, in a lot of ways, if you’re seen one fort, you’ve seen them all.  But they’re all unique in their actual history.  Here’s a story of Francis Scott-Key.  As you can read, history is complicated….

America is an exercise of now 248 years, of we the people building a country, now including 50 states: our United States of America.  What our forefathers have fought for, over the last near 250 years, is now at risk. At this July 4, the project begun in 1776 is in very real danger of collapse.

Civil War veterans at O’Fallon IL 1908, from my post for July 1, 2024

Here are some sobering thoughts to consider in coming days and weeks.

Here is my own post, “Joe“, for July 2, 2024.

Heather Cox Richardson‘s Letters from an American dated July 3, 2024.

Joyce Vance‘s Civil Discourse dated July 4, 2024; Joyce also posted overnight on a Congressional review of the dangerous 2025 initiative which is being rolled out by the far right.  Here is that column.

If you worried about disinformation before, my prediction is you’ve seen nothing yet to compare with this years firehose from the Radical Right, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), the new terror.  Here’s a little primer from June 2: Disinformation StarTrib June 2 2024.  Know the original source and authorship of anything you receive.  If you can’t validate it, dismiss it.

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AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO CARE:

Wednesday evening after I had prepared today’s message (the portion above the photo of the Civil War soldiers), I received one of those ‘e-forwards’ that became ubiquitous during the good old (and vicious) days of misinformation and disinformation. in the T-Party and MAGA days.

I have never blocked such information or its senders – they’re often nice people who I know personally, and I want to know what’s out there>. For a long time the garbage essentially disappeared. It appears to be back again, a resurrection as it were.

You will notice that my source of information about Francis Scott Key and Ft. McHenry is the National Park Service, and about Independence Day itself, the Library of Congress of the United States.  Plus, I actually visited the place in 1999.

The item in question (below) is a YouTube video about ten minutes long which has apparently been viewed millions of times and came to me from a reliable source I know well and respect.  It is inspiring.  However, I took particular interest in it because it is about  Francis Scott Key and the events at Ft. McHenry, which topic I had been drafting hours before receiving the content you see above.  The video has the clear implication that we are and were founded as a “Christian” nation, a favorite false trope commonly shared.

Like most such items, the narrator and audience in this forward are not identified, but seems to be a preacher in some large church somewhere.

The video slant clearly seems  “Christian”,  as the word is defined by somebody, and it is also disinformation, as is pointed out in the important note included with it at YouTube – be sure to read that note, it is easy to overlook  Below is the link, and with the above caveats I encourage you to take the time to watch it.  In my opinion it is one of the ‘cannon shots’ that we will be subjected to over the coming weeks.  We are in a war for the future of our nation.

If you wish, here’s the video, which I have watched in its entirety:

Caveat Emptor.  To be forewarned is to be fore-armed.  Best advice going forward: accept nothing at face value, especially if political in any way, verbal, audio, video, in writing makes no difference at all.  Everything from an unknown source has to be suspect, until more is known about the product being sold..

POSTNOTE July 16, 2024: I came across the tourist brochure I picked up at Ft. McHenry in July, 1999.  It was 18×24 printed both sides, glossy paper.  Here is the pdf of the portions which included text: Ft. McHenry MD.  Here’s what I wrote to my friend who sent the video in the first place: I haven’t been able to get the Star Spangled Banner piece out of my mind since July 4.  First, I don’t seem to find any evidence that there were any civilian casualties at Ft. McHenry, and only a couple of military. The big battle was at Bladensburg in what would now be suburban Washington DC.   [It was] over 30 miles from Ft. McHenry – a long distance in 1814.

I easily found the brochure I got at Ft. McHenry in July 1999 – I tend to keep that kind of stuff.  It is 18×24” printed both sides, most of one side being the flag.  Attached is all of the text on the brochure.

COMMENTS:

from John, driving across Utah July 4:

Utah country road July 4, 2024

from Claude: That’s a great video and now I have shared it.   I found it compelling. It’s true we have become the empire we fought against but we wanted something different than a kingdom with an upper crust of royalty. Our election situation is so ironic.

response from Dick: Claude, who I’ve known for years, my generation, probably as if not more ‘progressive’ than I am, sort of threw me for a loop – his response to the video seemed much different from mine.  Therein lies a learning opportunity, maybe.

I. too, thought the video was powerful.  But there were a couple of perceptions advanced in the video that turned me off.  First, it’s been watched millions of times and arrived at least ten years ago and even the originator noted in the notes accompanying it that its version of history was slanted.  And of course, it focused on “Christian” – a quote attributed to George Washington that George Washington never made.  Ten years ago would be 2014, during the Obama years and during the always aggressive times of the Tea Party soon to morph into MAGA.  It is likely that the video was produced sometime in the early anti-Obama years.

It was also in the time period when the so-called White Christian Nationalist bunch was sharpening its swords and some were revising history to make us a  white Christian country, which we were not founded as being, and which is not supported by the Constitution.  And then there is the matter of what qualifies as “Christian”.  In my growing up in 1940s and 50s Catholics hardly qualified as Christian to some.  The Catholic/Lutheran and Protestant Ten Commandments are worded somewhat differently.  The Jewish Ten Commandments was dismissed.  Nowadays Christian Nationalists are much of the oxygen for the so-calleed conservative support for the ex-President.  Who qualifies as “Christian” defies an easy explanation.

Having said this, Claude and I and likely the person who sent me the video would get along just fine in a conversation, but the polarities remain, and have to be dealt with, one piece at a time.  I’m glad Claude was complimentary.

Joe

Thanks for stopping by.  This message is for you from me.  IMPORTANT NOTE: Between now and the next post on this topic, probably shortly after the Democratic Convention in August, I will continue blogging on miscellaneous topics.  Any random comments from readers on politics in the upcoming two months will be appended to this post, so check back once in awhile if interested.

In todays background, is news about the Supreme Court Immunity decision. Today’s Supreme Court ruling in its entirety is here.  That is an equally essential issue for another day.  This brief post intends to continue the discussion on the ‘debate’ of June 27.

My two posts about the “Debate” on June 27 are accessible here.  I said in the June 28 post, and I reiterate, that I “resist jumping to conclusions“.   I’ll say more on national politics after the last national party convention in August.  I am, as I say at right, “a moderate pragmatic Democrat” who believes we all matter, not just some.  I am a Joe Biden partisan.

Below is a photo I took of Joe Biden, October 5, 2010, in St. Paul.  He was in St. Paul to support the candidacy of Mark Dayton for Governor.  Dayton went on to be a two-term Governor.

I watched the debate last week in its entirety.  The debate was essential, as was the outcome. We all saw, side by side, two totally opposing views of America as an idea.  There were no filters.  A bonus – I mean this sincerely – is an opportunity to recognize and deal with our near universal stupidity in thinking we can rely on electing one person as President of 330,000,000 people, who we can then blame for everything real or imagined – in the instant case a poor performance in a single 90 minute ‘show’ on a specific day.  “The show must go on”, the saying goes.  Any outside circumstances be damned.

I proudly supported Obama/Biden in 2008 and 2012, and Clinton/Keane in 2016, and Biden/Harris in 2020.  There is nothing, including a difficult 90 minutes on the 27th, that changes my mind about supporting Joe Biden again in 2024.

This is an opportunity for an essential national dialogue for every single one of us to consider where we fit into this picture.  We cannot delegate this to, or blame, someone else.  This is our issue to manage constructively, or to lose everything.

Oct. 5, 2010 in Sr. Paul, Joe Biden in support of candidacy of Mark Dayton for Governor. (Photo Dick Bernard)

Here and here are two analyses of the Trump firehose of lies in the recent debate.  We seem inured to the lies….  Even worse is the conservative game plan  – “2025” – should Trump win.  Here’s a readable source critical about this plan.  None of this is hidden.  “2025” is what they intend to do if in power.  It’s an immense blueprint for taking over, no holds barred  At minimum scroll through these.

On November 5, the American people – all of us – will decide on the states and country we wish to be going forward.  This is not a business-as-usual election; I hope we-the-people don’t approach it the way we often seem to, collectively. which is “oh, what the hell – doesn’t make any difference”.  This is my only appeal.  Go into this with your eyes wide open.  A decision once made cannot be reversed.

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Finally, July 4 comes on Thursday.  This holiday has a storied history in the United States of America.  It’s meaning, and the internal threats our country faces, are in more stark focus today than ever.

A friend sent me a photo of some old Civil War Veterans last week, and it is too good to not share.  The back of the photo indicates it was taken by a photographer in O’Fallon IL (east of St. Louis) in 1908,.  We live in the country these folks fought to preserve.  Remember that.

I am reminded also that our Founding Fathers sought to protect us from another king….

God Bless us all.  Have a great 4th.  Feel free to comment and pass this and other posts along as you wish.  The future of this constitutional democracy is in our hands.

COMMENTS will be added here as received (more at end of post):

Two very important commentaries about Supreme Court overnight, July 2: here and here.

from Larry: [We] graduated with you in 1962 from [college].  We are both concerned about the outcome of the election.  I agree with you – we’re the ones who count.  I’m really worried that Biden is not up to the task, especially for another four years as president. Thanks for your enlightening blogs.

from JoAnn: Thank you, Dick.  Your message is very (!) important and timely.  Keep up the good work.  [from Dick: the message JoAnn refers to is a brief letter to my own list, which you can read here: Letter from Dick July 1 2024]

from Marion: Dick,  I’m with you. That the Kappan accepted for publication in September an article from a 97-year-old may explain my view of the relevance of age.  The title I submitted: Simplify Schooling: Respect the brain’s organizers of information. Its message is genuinely revolutionary but highly unlikely to be seen as such.

response to Marion from Dick: I’ve been honored to know Marion for the last 27 of his 97 years.  He’s on my list, and he received the letter referred to by JoAnn.  His column will be the 5th published by the Kappan over the years.  He is a class act.  Here is his website.

from Brad: Yes voting is all we have left after our Supreme (?) Court’s decisions recently, and especially today’s misguided and incredibly scary decision re presidential immunity.  It is so reminiscent of the Nixon presidency but so much worse with our county’s democracy now on the line.  Voting.  I am remembering my first vote in 1972’s primary, as a freshman in college.  I met and campaigned with Dr. Spock of the Peace and Freedom party.  I was very compassionate about both gay rights and the end of the Vietnam war.  To me, he was the solution to the upside world of the era.  It seems so much more is at stake now – religious freedom, individual rights, environment safety, and especially the rule of law.  All dangerously in jeopardy of eroding or disappearing.  Voting. We must vote, encourage others to vote, and be proactive in driving a vote that ensures the integrity of our US President.

Keep believing in the positive.

from Jeff:  Spot on.   [from the post, above] “A bonus – I mean this sincerely – is an opportunity to recognize and deal with our near universal stupidity in thinking we can rely on electing one person as President of 330,000,000 people, who we can then blame for everything real or imagined – “


from a friend sent to White House June 30:  Mr. President, I voted for you. I had planned to do so again. I believe that you have done an outstanding job for our country – THANK YOU. I tried to ignore the rumbling that said you had lost your edge. Some of that was downright cruel – and untrue. However, on Thursday night we could all see in real time that there is a huge problem. After that debate, I was literally shaking and crying. We were discussing how we could leave the country, as we no longer believe you can win.

I have watched this play out in family members – plus have observed elderly patients where I worked. Something is seriously wrong, and it makes no difference that the following day you appeared fine. That is how these things go. PLEASE withdraw for the good of the country – but also, for your own good. Leave on a high note! You are not the only Democrat who could beat Trump – even at this point in the campaign season. In fact, many are saying you may be the only one who CAN’T.
That debate performance was excruciating. There is no coming back from that. Please be honest with yourself – and us. Jill looks at you with the eyes of love – but not necessarily objectively. Others may be trying to prop you up for their own purposes (think, Reagan).
WE CANNOT LOSE THIS ELECTION. That is a legacy, trust me, that you do not want to have. I don’t believe I can in good conscience vote for you. I likely will not vote for the president at all, unless something changes. And that makes me sick at heart.
The country will always owe you for what you have accomplished – inc. once defeating that monster who was yelling at you that night. Please agree to pass the baton while there is still time. I beg you.

from Mary, July 2: a point of view from Politico, here.

from Dick:  I read the article and responded to Mary as follows: I printed out the article and read it.  I personally didn’t find much of substance.  We’re old, not much news in that!

I think the conversation is useful.  Nov 5 is of huge consequence for all of us this year – my opinion, of course.  It will be Trump and whoever the Democrats decide next month, and that isn’t my department.  Whoever they decide on, along with state legislators, Governors and the like, will be of huge consequence to our kids and grandkids generations.  If we were just looking at this from our own point of view, it really wouldn’t make much difference…we don’t have a lot of time left anyway.  But I do worry for the kids.  Thanks much for the article.  I’ll add the link to it in the comments section of the July 1 post.

response from Mary: Couldn’t agree more…..”we vote for who we get and we get who we vote for”   However-no need to waste minutes, hours, days and months living in fear of outcomes!

from Jim: We totally agree!  Every vote is important, but even more so this year!