The Murder in DC, Thanksgiving 2025.

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There is a single fact that is undeniable in the recent death of a 20-year old West Virginia National Guardswoman, murdered a couple of blocks from the White House in Washington DC.

Odds are virtually 100% certain that she wouldn’t have been in D.C. were it not for a command decision by the President to militarize DC to allegedly make the city safe.

All other words or actions are superfluous – and there are tens of thousands of them already on record and more to come.

But if the President of the United States had not called in the National Guard, including West Virginia, and the West Virginia Governor had not answered the call, the young woman who died on the streets of Washington D.C. would not have been in harms way.

All of the rest is rhetoric and speculation, including that we have no idea at all about why the gunman, an Afghan, went over the edge.

There is a very long history which relates to the Afghanistan component of the tragedy in D.C.   There will be endless meetings to decide which facts to leave in, or take out, of news releases and reports, and which facts to make up.  Or which the consumer of the facts will choose to believe or not.

All I can suggest is to very carefully consider anything said about this situation.

I will stand with my second sentence.

POSTNOTE:  There is a huge amount to add, of course, and will be flogged and dissected from all angles in coming days.

Pretty crucial to me is our choice to invade Afghanistan after 9-11-01 on the pretext of taking out Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in. Afghanistan.  Here are  two recollections from 2002 and 2002, the second one an article I wrote at the time: Afghanistan Bombing Oct 10 2001; and Afghanistan commentary by Dick B Apr 20 2002.  But it didn’t start there, of course.  Remember “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007) about the U.S. support against Russian action in Afghanistan (1980s), or the quick pivot by our government after 9-11 to go after Iraq?  Etc.  I’ve followed this stuff for years.  More to say, all for now.

COMMENTS (also see on-line additions below):

from Larry: Thank you, immensely, Dick.

from Joyce: Remember PNAC?  [Project for the New American Century].  I am convinced that Dick Cheney saw an opportunity to take advantage of W’s ignorance and lack of interest in policy to implement PNAC; almost every upper level appointee to the W administration was a signatory to PNAC, no doubt personally selected by Cheney, and they planned to attack Iraq all along. I noticed at the time that, as soon as the war on Iraq started going south, the PNAC website disappeared. There was, of course, no reason to go to war with Afghanistan; they could have, and should have, gone after Osama bin Laden in a police action, which is what Obama did. But, W wanted to be a war president, and Cheney saw Afghanistan as a prelude to Iraq. When Iraq was attacked, many said it was because Cheney wanted the oil. Frankly, it went way deeper than that. Perhaps there’s a way to find the original PNAC website, but that goes beyond my internet abilities.

from Claude: Dick, I see no reason why this can’t be pushed out to a wider audience. It is well written even if some would disagree with the President as the cause of the death. But I think it’s appropriate to point out that soldiers with long guns in the street is no normal, nor should it become normal, in the US.


from Carol: GREAT letter to the editor, Dick.  At the time I agreed with you – but only because my cousin who lives in Czech Republic had sent out a dire warning to his cousins.  (He said I was the only one who paid attention.)  He included articles from abroad that sounded the alarm about the direction we were headed.  You couldn’t find those here…  I started realizing that only after the 10 o’clock news could you find anything on TV contrary to the “Bush party line.”  And only on page 19 of the paper…

I do think, though, that this time is different.  Trump promised to end wars – and keep us out of any new ones.  And nobody in their right mind actually blames Venezuela for our drug problem.  Plus, you don’t plan to pardon one prominent prisoner for his part in drug trafficking while on the other hand blow random boats out of the ocean.  Trump has lost pretty much all credibility.

from Fred: After sifting through the multi-versions of these materials, it appears that the US did  send diplomats to Afghanistan (in the form of bombs) their way.


from Peter:  Re: National Guard shooting, how you see it depends, like anything else, on context. To me it seems like one snowflake in an avalanche that’s now unstoppable. I say this, having watched for many years, speaking and writing about our trajectory, and how it hasn’t been changing, and it doesn’t end well. Even so, I’m still astonished: did they just…? Who even thinks like that…? Why doesn’t somebody do something? Are we all catatonic?

Sabrina Salvati breaks this down here.

 

I think she’s worth a listen. As Salvati puts it, “This one was made right here”:
– The shooter was an employee of the CIA;
– His work is reported to have been with death squads that murdered Afghanis;
– According to several independent reporters, Google searches on his name spiked during the weeks before the shooting, including a large cluster just hours before.
– Media coverage has been undiluted propaganda, in the first moments accusing “rhetoric” etc. from the “left wing”; then full-out anti-Islamic, timed and with talking points so similar as to appear coordinated, and even anticipated.
“Sabby” (Sabrina Salvati, a longtime Boston activist, journalist and documentary film maker) speculates on false flag operations. At the very least it appears that a lot of people who knew the shooter’s name expected something to happen.
I have been a fan through the Israeli genocide of Palestine, on which she has been outspoken long before October of ’23, and find her to be level-headed, even-handed and honest.
What I think: All checks on executive power were carefully, quietly, removed before the election, while we watched, some of us for years. Given the reckless destruction of healthcare and housing, among several other vital areas of civil concern, we should expect a massive wave of homelessness and hunger this year. This will be neighbors and friends with no previous experience of that kind, being jackbooted by others with no previous experience of that kind. My guess is that the new Internally Displaced Persons, regardless of their citizenship, will be tarred with the same old brush, of mental illness, drug abuse and petty crime, and the admin will make full use of the new prisons and new 45 billion dollar personal presidential police force.
There’s more, but I’ll skip it for now.


from Chuck:  This was just sent to the WPost [Washington Post] ….  I’m guessing they are unlikely to print it.

Dear Editor,

The two Wpost lead editorials Nov 28, 2025, highlighted two of the three systems causing most of humankind’s problems.  The first editorial on climate change can’t be resolved with humankind’s existing global governance system connected to our US constitutional system.

Both are founded on the illusion of independence.  This word is simply a delusional mental construct.  It reality it exists nowhere in our known universe where ‘everything’ (an autological word) is interdependent, connected and vulnerable – requiring a comprehensive global effort.  Climate change is only one of many such problems. Problems obvious to lines on a map, majority votes, militaries, or economic power.

The second editorial on the two National Guard members murder in our nation’s capital is another example of our global interdependence.  Preventing almost any murderous violence requires our understanding of the fundamental origins of lethal human behavior within our existing systems.  Again, it is our minds ignoring our interdependence.  We may never know the motive of the Afghan killer, but it wasn’t primal competition for food, a mate, or any genetic marker.  It originated in the mind. And is inevitably connected to the failed reactionary US foreign policy to the 911 ‘terrorist’ attacks – the worst US foreign policy decision – second only to the invasion of Iraq.

Terrorism is a tactic and can never be defeated by military power.  [Waging] war (instead of the rule of law) against any belief system (religious, national, ideological, race…) on makes the enemy a “warrior” in their mind.  And terrorizing any population using drones, million-dollar aircraft, or WMD – then justifying collateral damage as delivering justice, only undermines our species’ need to live by the Rule of Law…not the law of force.

We cannot keep mounting our national debt by ignoring this reality.  We must address the root cause of both violence and environmental deterioration by grasping the reality of our global interdependence.  A mental transformation that will enable humankind to amend all three failing global systems — the UN, our Constitution, and lawless global capitalism – by putting the protection of inalienable human rights and a sustainable global environment above the protection of national sovereignty and the maximization of profits.

This fundamental principle was suggested 11 years before the creation of the US Constitution – within the 1776 American Declaration of Independence.  Abraham Lincoln much later claimed it was for ‘everyone, everywhere, for all time’.  And even called it our “Apple of Gold”, and our Constitution its “silver frame”.

Until we gain the wisdom to make these vital amendments, we are failing future generations in achieving any of the seven intentions within our Constitution’s preamble.  Read these!  [here]  Then rethink each of our failing systems.

from SAK:

Perhaps because Europe suffered much more during the two world wars – aside from a whole litany of wars that never seemed to end – there seems to be a stronger trend of pacifism than in the US. It could also be that the US’ history also glorifies machismo (that’s making a strong surge nowadays as well) & the accumulation of guns? These thoughts came to mind when I saw this alarming figure that you sent:

I remember the largest demonstration ever in the UK against the Iraq war but the Prime Minister then, Tony Blair, stuck to the special relationship & pushed the country to war. Famously one journalist at the time said something along the lines of: :I don’t know what will be on Tony Blair’s tomb but it will have the word Iraq”!

The Pope happens to be in Lebanon at this moment & in his speech at the presidential palace he quoted Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers” – he is in a land that is desperate for peace!

Your piece, which obviously came from the heart,  turned out to be spot on. I don’t know how many changed their mind about the Afghan & Iraqi wars but I dare say it must be many indeed.

Hannah Arendt wrote: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”

That is precisely how the Trump & the neocons before him “captured” these people, by lying, exaggerating, and Trump so often declares this or that fake news which becomes like a vaccine against accepting facts! Thus he & others will spin the tragic death of the Guardswoman to suit their agenda. Sad.

Unfortunately many change their minds, & accept facts, when it’s late in the day. Human, all too human. I suspect enough would have changed their minds by the time the midterm elections come around & it will make quite a difference.

After all, you can fool most of the people some of the time or some of the people all the time but you can’t fool most of the people all the time. (I think the origin of the quote is French, to their credit the French weren’t fooled into joining the aforementioned wars).

Giving Thanks

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Thanksgiving was still two weeks in the future, and Christmas  a month beyond that, and no snow on the ground, but it made no difference.  A cast of 25 brought joy to a packed house at a Middle School auditorium on two successive nights Nov 14 and 15.  The case is pictured below, and all details in the link to the program (below).

Charlie Brown Christmas cast 11 14 25

Taking their bows, Nov. 14, 2025

The stage was filled with enthusiastic special people – all “A” list stars!  In the audience, family and friends.  Up on stage was my Heather, standing out in her brilliant yellow costume playing Woodstock.  Her housemate Julie, also on stage, played Peppermint Patty.  There was not a dull moment and, of course, a standing ovation at the end, and afterward the cast mingled with their admirers.

One possibly could have come to this performance in a down mood, for whatever reason.  It would be hard to maintain the mood – the stage players  – all of them – gave their all to play their part.

I’ll be watching for Charlie Brown Christmas on TV this season.  For those of us lucky to be in the seats a week ago, it will have stiff competition this year.

All best to everyone for a great Thanksgiving, and a kind and gentle Christmas season.

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Teachable moments:

A week or so ago, Chuck sent a very meaningful Thanksgiving prayer with a recommendation: “I suggest passing this prayer around your thanksgiving dinner…each person read one part: Iroquois Thanksgiving.”  [here is a verbal explanation by an elder]

Last Sunday at Basilica was the final Sunday in the Liturgical year, the feast of Christ the King.  This coming Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent culminating in the celebration of the Birth of Christ: Christmas.

There is nothing new with these.  They’ve been part of the church calendar my entire life.  Here’s what wikipedia says about Christ the King.

This year, more so than any I can recall, the word “king” has had a spotlight placed on it, much more on the temporal than the liturgical or theological sense.  “No kings” comes to mind – something I proudly participate in and support.

At Basilica, every Sunday, the handout we all receive when we arrive is what I would call a newsletter, and each Sunday it includes a column written by someone in the parish, perhaps pastor, perhaps someone else.  The thoughts are always thought provoking and I always read them.

On Christ the King Sunday, the column was written by a hero of mine, a champion of social justice, Janice Andersen.  I’d invite you to read her thoughts for reflection.  Here’s Janice’s “Choose Love”: Janice Andersen Choose Love 11 23 25

POSTNOTE: There have been several comments added to the post on Ken Burns American Revolution.  Take a look, here.  I encourage more comments to continue the conversation.

COMMENTS:

from MaryEllen: Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to you and family. The Charlie Brown performance and Janice Anderson’s essay were a great way to start the day. Thanksgiving is the best holiday!

from Lois:  The First Thanksgiving of 1621 is a foundational moment in American history, symbolizing both the challenges faced by early settlers and the importance of cooperation with Indigenous peoples. While it has evolved into a national holiday celebrated in November, the true nature of the event reflects a more complex and nuanced history than the modern narrative suggests.

Hi Dick,

I found this after a quick search and realized the symbolism part just needs a few words changed – early settlers TO “all the people in the world” and the same for “Indigenous peoples”.

My thanks to you for the wonderful thoughts of your messages and even the interesting responses of variety in positions others have of situations.

May our Minnesota winter be tolerable and we experience good outcomes to our lives as problems are solved.

At Thanksgiving 2025.

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Have a very good Thanksgiving. We’ll spend Thanksgiving with family in town; and Christmas, still unplanned.  “Over the river and through the woods” will, for us, be about three miles, and no snow, likely chilly.  All very best wishes.

POSTNOTE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 10;10 PM.  I watched the entire 12 hours of Ken Burns American Revolution on PBS.  This consisted of six 2-hour programs,  If you missed this program, or any part, here are details from PBS and/or check with your local public broadcasting outlet for other arrangements for future viewing.  Every American should take the time to view, discuss, and reflect on the meaning of this extraordinary program on the creation story of the United States of America.

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I’ve summarized here my impressions after a week of watching Ken Burns American Revolution.  What follows below, unchanged, is my Nov 14 post.  I invite you to visit the post for Nov. 19 “The Epstein Affair“; and Nov.  21 “Drones“.  At the end of the Drones post is an important update on the situation re Ukraine/Russia/U.S.

This is not a usual, normal holiday season.  My personal reflection will be on the many positive aspects of the year near passed, while acknowledging that this has not in any way been a normal year.  There is a great deal of work we all need to do, daily, to save the essence of our country, and the future of democracy in the world we all live in.  I’ll continue to pay attention and write as things come to mind.

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For more than 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s, a hobby of mine was doing a small “kitchen table” newsletter for fellow French-Canadians mostly in the Twin Cities.  For some reason a particular issue came to mind for this year, and you can read the first three pages here: Thanksgiving and Christmas Chez Nous 1993.  A photo from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19,1993, below, was one of the three pages, and is what my minds-eye saw when I got this idea for this commentary:  (For anyone interested, all of the 1000 or so pages of Chez Nous are indexed and accessible on line here , click tab Library then click Chez Nous.)

from Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19, 1993 accompanying article by Jim Northrup: “Parching wild rice in a container set near a fire: Just call it a lot of hard work.”

Thanksgiving is still almost two weeks out, and Christmas about a month after Thanksgiving, but this will not be a usual annual holiday season, hard as folks might try, in my opinion.

We’re in very dangerous times in this country of ours, and we can’t afford to look away and pretend all is okay.  But this moment seems a good time to focus a bit on an aspect of our past as we prepare for our 250th.

As days go on between now and the New Year, I will likely continue to write, so just check back once in awhile if interested.  All best wishes.

Ken Burns: American Revolution

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 10;10 PM.  I watched the entire 12 hours of Ken Burns American Revolution on PBS.  This consisted of six 2-hour programs,  If you missed this phenomenal series, or any part, here are details from PBS and/or check with your local public broadcasting outlet for other arrangements for future viewing.  Every American should take the time to view, discuss, and reflect on the meaning of this extraordinary program on the creation story of the United States of America.

George Washington, born 1732; 43 in 1775

If you were born and went to school in the United States, you learned a shorthand version of our native land.  Of course, it was not the whole story.  The shorthand version was much like the old farm postcard from before 1910.  Of course, we young scholars remembered fragments of that already much condensed version.

As I watched the twelve hour summary of our history over 6 evenings, Nov. 16-21, I mined my memory for the scraps I recall about my country.  Here is my condensed version.

George Washington cut down the cherry tree and could not tell a lie; and threw a coin across a river.  (Some myths, here).

The Boston Tea Party; Paul Revere’s ride; Benedict Arnold betraying his country; the First Thanksgiving; Valley Forge; the King of England; people that looked a lot like me did all the work to establish the United States of America.  Ours was “the land of the free and the home of the brave” – “America, the Beautiful”….

Of course, life goes on, and as time went on there were more snippets, each adding to my own knowledge:  Several trips to our nation’s capitol, visits to the White House and the U.S. Capitol, the sites of Boston, Lexington and Concord, Colonial Williamsburg, Philadelphia, on and on.  Each visit expanded my knowledge a bit.

Slaves, Native Americans, Quebec (supposed to be one of the original states.  My Dad is 100% French-Canadian, which makes me half French-Canadian), the role of France….

These and many, many other fragments of information were like fashioning a puzzle out of many pieces.

The pieces are not all glorious, for certain: the Civil War; the refusal of the new United States to recognize the slave revolt which led to an independent Haiti in 1803, right after our Constitution was ratified.

Endless pieces.

What Ken Burns and crew endeavored to do, and did it masterfully in the series, was to make a portrait of America more consistent with the actual history as it really happened, with the glorious and the shameful; the personal virtues and the failing of human beings in what was a very long and difficult struggle.   (The Tea Party was not immediately followed by a festive Thanksgiving Dinner thrown by grateful natives.)

Old North Church Boston, June 1972 (Dick Bernard). (“one if by land, two if by sea”)

 

Tom Bernard at Liberty Bell, Philadelphia June 1972

independence Hall (Pennsylvania State House) Philadelphia old postcard from Busch farm from early 1900s.

Constitution Hall, Philadelphia PA 1972

 

Give yourself and your family gift:  Make it a point to not only watch the entire 12 hours, but to talk about what the revolution means in context with today.

POSTNOTE Nov. 23: This post from Heather Cox Richardson dated Nov. 22, seems pertinent to this conversation.:

COMMENTS (more below):

from Chuck: Thanks Dick.  I suggest passing this prayer around your thanksgiving dinner…each person read one part: Iroquois Thanksgiving.  [here is a verbal explanation by an elder]

from Michael: Hi Dick. This is the best article ever written about the US Peace Prize.  NOTE: Michael is founder and director of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation.  I am a supporter of this foundation, and a friend of Michael.

from Claude: Dick, this might also be relevant to this point in history.  NOTE: Claude is a good friend and long time advocate for international cooperation.

from Larry: Am currently watching, Dick – DVR’d all the episodes, taking ’em one by one. Excellent Ken Burns film! Again!  LG

from Norman: We did as well and I agree that it was outstanding!

from Jeff: watched the first 8 hours…yes, good,  MAGA would not like it.

from Ruth: My superficial impression based on the visuals is that George Washington was a great general.  He had the advantages of knowing the landscape and geography.  British generals and officers were possibly more experienced in terms of training and tactics, but probably did not understand distances and geography in North America.  The Revolution might not have succeeded if French and Spanish had not got involved to defeat their British enemies.  European conflict was transferred to North America.  I missed the part about Benedict Arnold invading Canada and Quebec.  Have read about that.  I will have to see that part again.  Fell asleep a few times and missed the good bits.  I liked his criticism of American Indigenous and Black slaves who tended to think they were better off with the British than the Americans.  They lost their lands and human rights along the way.  He was honest about that.

from Robin:  Totally agree this is a stunning and eye opening series. A new perspective on the creation of our republic.

Wonder if it would contain a number of topics to be subjects of a discussion for a future MAP meeting.

from Bob: My biggest take-away was how our nation has destroyed our indigenous folks and the black Americans.
And the current administration is just making that worse.I think we should get all of Congress, the Executive branch, and the Supreme Court and lock them in a room to watch the entire series.


from Jeff: After watching the 5th installment this old American historian (M.A. Oregon 1978)  comes to some conclusions I have gleaned over the years, and some that reflect perhaps the more negative “woke” view of some of US history.

aa) America is and always has been a conservative country, its founding story and its “revolution” is the result of propertied classes seeking to protect their property and privileges and to avoid taxation and administrative controls and restrictions on growing their fortunes. (in other words it has more in common with the English Cromwellian revolution than the French Revolution)
bb) My synthesis of American history particularly up to about Teddy Roosevelt is controlled by:  Land speculation, resource extraction with no limits, slavery, and genocide.
cc) Within the story are alot of high ideals, and grand words, and obviously bravery and sacrifice, but essentially done in service to aa and bb.
My good wife and by genetics our kids, are descended from several male ancestors who were veterans of the Revolution.

from Ruth: What I don’t like about Washington is that he married a wealthy woman and used her money to buy Black slaves and Indian land.  I have read quite a bit about Thomas Jefferson and his Black slave concubine or whatever the right word is.  She was his wife’s Black sister.  Wife’s father was a slave owner and had Black children with a Black slave woman.  This just about turns my stomach what those women went through.  It is so hard to reconcile a hero like Jefferson with him keeping a Black slave, his wife’s “sister”, who looked like Martha Washington, but she was a “little bit Black”.  Yuch!  What was he thinking.  She was his prisoner!  Suffered from his daughter who was jealous and would not acknowledge that Jefferson let this Black woman, his wife’s sister, to run his household.  Bad for the family after he died!  Not a hero to me!  I think he had abouut 7 children with her and did not free them.  But he turned a blind eye when they escaped and “passed” as white.  Why did he take her back to Virginia and slavery?  He loved Monticello more than her. He put her and her children back into slavery.  yuch!

from Dick, some scraps in reflection:  I am a casual historian and geographer, with a college major in geography.  Throughout life, I’ve picked up “scraps” whenever and wherever I can – roadside historic site signs are like a magnet.  Like with a rag quilt, random pieces can make a coherent whole!  That’s the beauty of Ken Burns work.  Taking many difficult years at the time of formation and making them into 12 hours of civic engagement 250 years later is a real chore.  And he did it.

My ‘research’ after the film has been minor.  I think the colonies had about 2 1/2 million people east of the Appalachians at the time of the Declaration of Independence.  England had about 8 million population and already a worldwide empire.  (The twin cities where I live are over  3 1/2 million; Minnesota nearing 6 million).

George Washington lost more than he won, but he was a gifted leader; when the chips were down, which were often, enough volunteers showed up to advance the cause.

The novice leaders modeled their new system on the English, because they were mostly English.  They understood the system.  Most, but not all, did not want to have a king.  To study them one has to be very aware of the circumstances of their time.  The results speak for themselves.  So far we’ve been fortunate to last for 250 years, warts and all.  That history is in serious jeopardy now, and “we the people” have to be the volunteers to save our past and assure our future, just like those volunteers did during revolutionary times.  Somehow they all had the stamina to last it out.

Finally, I’m very aware of the Canadian/French/English component of this particularly since my Dad was 100% French-Canadian, and I have spent more than 40 years delving into family roots and stories.  My LAST French-Canadian ancestor arrived in Quebec only two or three years before the English defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham in 1759.  This was 16 years before Lexington and Concord and the like.  At the time, the area that is now Minnesota was by and large considered part of French Canada.  In 1818, the U.S. – Canada borders were set.

The treatment of the natives and the slaves were inexcusable – the nature of war, I suppose, and the attitudes prevailing then.  We cannot undo the past; the worst we can do is to try to continue  the sins of the past.  The best, working to make things better for the future, rather than revert to old, failing ways.  It’s up to us.

from Jim: Well, I wish I could be as confident about America’s future as other commentators are. First off, we are constantly told a rather one-sided, pleasant history of America. The history of the real America takes some digging or luck in what you read.  For example, did you know that Charles Lindbergh, yes our Lindbergh, twice led a coalition to Nazi Germany to ask how that government could be replicated, at least in part, in America? Lindbergh was an ardent supporter of eugenics, a seudo-science theory that white people were genetically superior to all other races. Though eugenics may have started in Enland, American philosophers were it’s strongest supporters. Hitler’s government adopted eugenics as justification  as you might expect. Lindbergh and followers also demanded that Roosevelt surrender on Germany’s terms when Hitler’s Germany declared war on America. Fortunately, Roosevelt ignored that advice.
But these are just a couple of examples, there are many others (like holding on to slavery for forty years after all of western Europe ended it). To really understand America, we must balance the good, which we hear about constantly, with the not-so-good. It’s that balance that might lead to a better America.

 

 

 

Drones 2025

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November 21 Fred sent a note with link to a most interesting post he’d read about Drones and the future of War.

Fred: “[My] friend sent this Noah Smith article along:  “The future of war is the future of society”.
Smith effectively makes the case that massive drone warfare is inevitable. Even worse he says, “drone technology is in its infancy.” Sure hope the West will be able to match the Chinese will to dominate. His brief summary of the history of turning points in human warfare is also quite interesting.
We just gotta get past the Epstein case and the Tariff War and we can start getting ready.”

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Dick: I’d urge you to read this article, and if you wish, afterwards, read a few personal comments by myself, including my note that I’ve long had a general interest in Drones, generally, and first wrote about them here in the Spring of 2009, 16 years ago.  Caveat: I’m no expert in most anything, certainly not drones.  Still you might want to read that first post before proceeding.

My response to Fred continued: I stirred up a lot of dust with another post in December 2011.

 

In all, my archive says that 22 posts have at least mentioned the topic.
Fast forward to today, absolutely nobody is safe in the era of drones (which I presume are what is blowing up the boats off Venezuela).  Scary times.
Sometime in these past 19 years I remember a movie whose “star” was a mini drone masquerading as a bird which blew up some terrorist in the room of a house.  Yes, it was just a fictional movie, but very plausible.

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Speaking only as a citizen, it is a given that the technology of war is being perfected at an accelerating rate, from the ancient sticks and stones to ever more sophisticated technology we all have heard about.

POSTNOTE: Thanksgiving week seems to be an important week in the history of Ukraine/Russia/U.S.  Heather Cox Richardson summarizes in her usual expert way, here.   She shares some important information with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and communication technology is itself a weapon…character assassination is a weapon of choice in this day and age).

I am skeptical that, short of a mistake or misappropriation of something like a nuclear weapon and its launching code, armageddon is on the near or even far horizon.

Today, we are a global society, and have been such for a long time.  If China becomes the dominant world power, is it to its advantage to disable our economy, which is a very significant part of the total world economy?  I think not.  This applies more broadly: the rich control more and more of the wealth everywhere.  Does this help increasethe strength of the consumer network, which fuels the economy and most enriches the already rich?  I think not.

Drones can be personalized down to specific targets, such as small boats on an ocean.  I live in a community of 83,000, and if a drone was used to take out someone, say the mayor, would this win the war for hearts and minds of the rest of the population?  I think not.  It would very certainly be a disruption, but would it be beneficial to destroy all of the disrupters…or would it create a critical mass of the community arise to quell the threat?  I think so.

Advanced weaponry, of course, is a boon to the economy.  Note the little article in my college newspaper in 1961,


Lots and lots of people earn their living making sophisticated weaponry, and whole communities directly benefit.  Is this a problem?  Yes.   Is it fatal?  No.  People can be redirected to employment that is of benefit to all.  But this is a choice hard to make especially if those who benefit by the old ways feel threatened.

I could go on and on.

This is not to say that drones are not a problem.  They are.  But neither are they the ultimate end game.

Best we figure out how best to work out problems, which will always exist, and avoid selecting or enabling those who might want to make life more difficult for the peaceful majority.

1978 card from Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

 

The Epstein Affairs

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PRENOTE: I have watched the first six hours of the Ken Burns series on the American Revolution.  For sure, I’ll watch the 12 hours.  It is an outstanding primer for the 250th anniversary of our stressed nation.

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November 18, 2025: The votes have now been taken in House and Senate and the results sent to the President for his promised signature.

The games begin.  I’ll amend this post as more information is published.  I will be surprised if the requested documents, including names, ever see the light of day beyond what the Epstein estate has released to Congress.

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In the interim, for anyone interested: while I don’t pretend to know how this sordid affair will play out in the end, I do remember another dramatic time in our political history: the Bill Clinton impeachment in 1998-99,  Most of you who are on this list remember the political street theater then.  You can use your own memory to fill in the blanks.

I decided to dust off the two documents I saved from then:  I offer them for your own reflection.  I am not equating Epstein with Clinton.  The issues are very, very different.  Here are the two Clinton era documents: Bill Clinton 1999 Rev. Miller; and Bill Clinton 1998 Lieberman

What I am asking folks to think about is how to approach the incessant discord to come, the moralizing, the recriminations, the lies, the everything.

I’d especially recommend the public sermon by Pastor Miller, who I think was, at the time interim or visiting pastor at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul.  (I’m not Presbyterian, and I’ve never been in House of Hope, but the sermon was intended to get around.)

PS:  I have written and mailed, on November 18, my own letter to my two U.S. Senators Klobuchar and Smith and Congresswoman McCollum, and included a copy of the above two documents.

Thanksgiving

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PRENOTE: Tonight Nov 14 8 p.m. CST on public radio and television, the Minnesota Orchestra will be live.  Details here [Minnesota Orchestra] including program notes.  Also TPT.org .  We saw this concert in person Thursday afternoon.  Excellent as always

Don’t forger, Ken Burns 6 part series on the American Revolution starts on PBS on Sunday.  Check local listing.  I think, must watch.

Re Armistice Day post, especially read the postnote at the beginning, and the comments at the end of the Nov. 11 post.   There are also some additions in the originating post.

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In anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas….

For more than 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s, a hobby of mine was doing a small “kitchen table” newsletter for fellow French-Canadians mostly in the Twin Cities.  For some reason a particular issue came to mind for this year, and you can read the first three pages here: Thanksgiving and Christmas Chez Nous 1993.  A photo from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19,1993, below, was one of the three pages, and is what my minds-eye saw when I got this idea for this commentary:  (For anyone interested, all of the 1000 or so pages of Chez Nous are indexed and accessible on line here , click tab Library then click Chez Nous.)

from Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19, 1993 accompanying article by Jim Northrup: “Parching wild rice in a container set near a fire: Just call it a lot of hard work.”

Thanksgiving is still almost two weeks out, and Christmas about a month after Thanksgiving, but this will not be a usual annual holiday season, hard as folks might try, in my opinion.

We’re in very dangerous times in this country of ours, and we can’t afford to look away and pretend all is okay.  But this moment seems a good time to focus a bit on an aspect of our past as we prepare for our 250th.

As days go on between now and the New Year, I will likely continue to write, so just check back once in awhile if interested.  All best wishes.

 

Armistice Day 2025

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POSTNOTE: Kathy highly recommends a two hour program at Carnegie Hall about WWI.  This is excellent.  I watched it on Thursday.  I’m not sure that the link will work for everyone.  The title of the PBS program is American Heart in WWI: A Carnegie Hall Tribute – The history of the Unknown Soldier and veterans Day.

I attended the event at St. Joan of Arc on Tuesday morning.  It too was excellent.  Photo of Larry Johnson below.

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PRENOTE: If you read nothing else below, at least read today’s Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American in its entirety.  We – all of us – ARE the government we like to criticize.  DO SOMETHING.  And watch and reflect on the meaning of the Ken Burns 6-part special on the American Revolution which airs beginning later this week.  Check you local Public Broadcasting Station for details.  We sink or we swim together.  All is NOT okay.

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97 years ago, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an Armistice ended WWI.  It’s now called Veteran’s Day in the U.S.  No matter – in most of the world it is Armistice Day and continues as an aspirational goal for world peace.

I’ve made a habit of recognizing this day – see NOTE at end of the post.

I want to call attention to three items this day.

1) in Minneapolis there will be an observance, as detailed by my friend Larry Johnson:

Every year on November 11 St. Joan of Arc Church (SJA, 46th St. and 3rd Avenue in south Minneapolis) holds a special Armistice service at 11.  For many years Veterans Day was called Armistice Day because the armistice formally ending World War I was signed at that 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918.  For many years bells rang 11 times at that time on November 11, and it was not uncommon for even the President to say things like, “We’re gathered to honor those Veterans who have sacrificed, sometimes all. There is no greater tribute we can pay than to work diligently to end war so that fewer need to make that sacrifice in the future.”
Some of us, Veterans who believe in nonviolence, ring Armistice Bells at the SJA service.  One Veteran tells his or her Armistice story.  THIS YEAR THAT WILL BE ME, and I’d be honored if you were able to be there.  On my own each year, I walk to the service, and some of you have walked with me.  You’re all invited.  This year it’s just a mile, leaving from Seward Coop  on 38th and 3rd Avenue at 10:15.  I’ll be in the little eating area at Seward (N.E. end of the store) at least by 10, ready to walk out at 10:15.  Good idea to let me know if you’re walking so we know to look for you.  Otherwise it would be great to see you at the church at 11.  [pdf of program: Armistice Day 2025 at Joan of Arc]

Larry Johnson tells his Armistice Day story at St. Joan of Arc Nov 11 2025

2)  Larry’s newspaper column in the October 23, 2025 SunPost publication is about Armistice Day and his long term passion in behalf of veterans.  He discusses Armistice Day and also an important initiative, the Veterans Resilience Project.  Check it out.

3). In addition, I’d recommend to readers a recent blog I noted in the website of the French-American Heritage Foundation.  It speaks for itself, here.  The column is about an American soldier, Alfred LaGrandeur of Somerset WI,  who arrived in Europe about October 1, 1918, a month or so  before the Armistice.

Alfred had no way of knowing when he signed up for service “over there” , that he would be in France essentially for postwar duty.  That is the lot of the soldier.  You serve as assigned.

The aspiration of the Armistice Day peace in 1918 has never been realized,  Unfortunately, the terms of settlement between victor and vanquished in 1918 essentially acted as fuel for the fire of WWII, which began with the humiliation and financial depression of Germany in the 1920s, and burst into flame ignited by an enraged WWI veteran named Adolf Hitler.

This is a good day to remember and reflect.  Every human generation has had to deal with the evil reality of war – ever more dangerous, including our present civil war among neighbors in our own country.  We may not be shooting each other, but the net result is the same as 1861-65.

In peace.

NOTE;  By my count, there have been 18 November 11ths since I initiated this blog in 2009.  On 12 of these, I’ve blogged about Armistice Day on the 11th.  On four others I’ve deviated by a couple of days.  These posts were: Nov 9, 2013, Nov 8, 2018, Nov 10, 2020 and 2023,  I missed Nov. 11, 2021, since we were in New York.  Armistice Day is important to me.  (My habit of recognizing the day long precedes 2009.  The others are not recorded for posterity.)

COMMENTS (more below)

from Peter:  my first public demo was 1958, Ft. Detrick, MD, where I met Albert Bigelow, skipper of “Golden Rule,” a small ketch he had just sailed into the bomb test area near the Marshall Islands. Coast Guard towed him to Hawai’i before they got very far.

This started a lot of things, including, I think, the early test ban treaty.
A few years ago the VFP found her and hauled her up off the bottom, and rebuilt “Golden Rule” to sail again. The film is her story.
At that demonstration, Margaret Rawson, who became a mentor of mine, had organized the little band of Quakers in Fredrick, and her husband, she later told me, was head of development in the fort, for biological warfare. The head of the based went to his office and said, “There’s a bunch of commies out at the gate, do you need an escort home?” To which the man replied: “Nah, my wife’s out there with ’em, they’re all coming over to dinner later. Would you care to join us?”
When I told the Golden Rule project about being ten years old and meeting Bigelow, they made me an organizer, and I ended up as an associate member of the Vets for Peace, of which my dad was a charter member. I now volunteer with the Uranium Weapons working group. And I can tell you, we are all in terrible danger, not just from the loonies who have got hold of these things, but from the radioactive materials and wastes they keep making more of, and tossing about the landscape like confetti.
Here’s a picture of Dad, doing what he loved best, with two of his friends from the Philadelphia Orchestra…

Vietnam War Protest ca 1968 Philadelphia PA, the Golden Rule

New film about the Golden Rule from the project is accessible on YouTube here.  More about the project here.

from Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, a history of Armistice/Veterans Day, here.

from Fred: I haven’t forwarded an American Heritage for a while. This is an exceptionally good one. It honors the US Marine Corps on the occasion of its 250th birthday by detailing a number of great battles.

from Kathy: American Heart in WWI: A Carnegie Hall Tribute  Nov 11th Channel 2. [link is at beginning of this post]. I did not know Quentin Roosevelt was killed during World War I. If you can access it is well worth  watching.

from Dick, a few closing comments: As noted, I’ve done something on Armistice Day almost every year.  This year the post brought diverse comments (above and below) that add significantly to the general conversation.

I am not a scholar of note on the topic, but over the years I have picked up numerous bits and pieces about the tangled web of WWI and II, and war generally.  A visit some years ago to the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis’  brought some valuable insights into the origin of WWI; most recently, viewing American Heart last night (see Kathy note above) was extraordinary look at WWI from the minds eye of the United States.  In between, of course, came the monstrosity of WWII and the relationship to Adolf Hitler and Germany to both wars.  (I was always curious about what the First and Second Reich’s were, related to the Third Reich of the Nazis.  If you don’t know, it’s easy research.)

Seems to me, lust for power fuels wars, and must be facilitated by people already in power, and lusting for more (or defending selves from losing power).  The victims are the ordinary people who in all the numerous ways die or are damaged by the wars, often as seemingly willing accomplices.

We won’t end war.  It seems a permanent part of the human condition, imprinted in our DNA.

But what we can do as individuals is to dampen the enthusiasm for war, one person, one act at a time.

Work for peace.

 

The Path Forward

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Today is my youngest Childs 50th birthday.  Happy birthday, Heather!

Heads up: A week from today public television will begin a six part, 12 hour, Ken Burns series on the American Revolution.  Check with your local public broadcasting schedule.

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It was a good night for my (Democrat) side on November 4.  My initial thoughts including vote totals are here.

Having said that, the narrative the days following, from people who know the terrain of elections from long experience, has been uniform:  It is no time to rest on your laurels.  The next and even more important election is November 3, 2026.  The prudent person engages NOW, and stays engaged every day.

Engagement doesn’t have to be dramatic.  Endless organizing anthems I’ve heard over the years emphasize “the power of one” – you and me – individuals wherever we live; being part of our community.

Elon Musk and I are equals.  He may have a trillion dollar contract, and the megaphone of “X”, but he and I each have a single vote when the time comes to select our leaders.  His ultimate objective apparently is Mars, for some odd reason.  Have a good trip.  (Here’s a bit about the realities from NASA.)

Personally, I think the 7+ million involved in the “No Kings” demonstrations should be the big story going forward.  These were real people, everywhere, showing up to express concern.

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POSTNOTE: A note about realities.

The U.S. from our beginning has been a competitive sort of place.  In recent history competition seems to have gotten more ridiculous than ever.  We are in a continuous internal Civil War, as deadly as the historical one, 1861-65, except the weaponry is different – killing the opponent by disinformation.  Institutional character assassination, as it were.

Having a divided country might seem like fun to some.  It certainly doesn’t make us stronger, rather it weakens us.  The usual metaphor I use is a bird – which to fly has to have co-functioning and equal left and a right wings that must work seamlessly together for the bird to even fly. Coordination depends on a ‘head’, which for us are leaders at all levels of our society.  For good or ill, we choose the leaders.  We need each other together, sharing responsibility.  Period.  Absent that we become weaker.

Of course, there are endless “yah, buts”, but I think the analogy holds together pretty well.

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The game of winners and losers is not quite as simple as it might seem.

Yesterday for some reason I was thinking back to the “good old days” of WWII (I was only 5 when the war ended, so, no, I’m not an expert!).  First, World War II helped get the U.S. out of the Great Depression, as I suppose it helped Hitler get revenge and bring prosperity to Germany after World War I.  I suppose that is a “benefit” of War.  But war also had a huge cost beyond $$’s, and WWs I and II are huge examples of the failure of war as simple win/lose proposition.

I have an interest in history, and a thought that came to mind yesterday was “The Battle of the Bulge” which is pretty generally acknowledged to be one of the largest and bloodiest single battles fought by the U.S. in WWII.  It is memorable, certainly, but not quite as often remembered officially.

You can easily access the details of the Battle of the Bulge yourself.  The battle went from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945.  The Germans threw everything at the Allies in a final, and failing, offensive. In the end, the Allies prevailed, albeit at great cost.

About three months later Hitler died in his bunker, at age 56.  Three weeks after that, Germany surrendered.  Victory had been sweet f0r awhile – by 1943 the tide turned.  The cost of war for the Germans was immense, and recovery slow.

My mother was 100% German ancestry.  Her German relations were farm people maybe three hours from “the Bulge”, and at least four men from the family were drafted into German service, and refused to talk about their experiences afterwards.

In 1954, an American relative visited kin in Germany, and below are two evocative photos from the time.

Below is same viewpoint different photo.

I was to this farm, in 1998, and I’m quite certain one of the girls is the relative I stayed with in the 1998 visit.  Today, the farm  is a prosperous place, a dairy operation, more or less a suburb of Essen in the Ruhr Valley, not far from the Rhine and close to the border with the Netherlands.

Memo to extremists: There’s a cautionary note from the post: winning and losing are uncomfortable and absolutely certain companions.  Winning is never permanent; losing seems always a companion – the next step.

It is by no means unusual for desperate reaction when confronted with an uncomfortable truth, as the Nazis were at the end of WWII.  They threw all they had at the enemy, which of course was not enough; the Germans, generally, paid an extremely heavy price over many years.  This same reaction is always a possibility in our present national situation.   The only difference will be the kind of weapons used….

Best we figure out how to live and work together for a better world.

The task is up to all of us.

COMMENTS:

from Norm:

Again, Dick, just some suggestions as I am sure that you have more than enough issues on your own to blog about.

response from Dick:  Thanks, Norm.  You and I would agree, I think, on a couple of broad observations: 1) there are an almost infinite variety of issues attracting attention of potential voters anywhere; and 2) you and I and most everyone else are mostly interested in a society that works fairly well, and 3) that government is essential to all of us, even as we complain about this or that defect.  In short, we are a big family, with all the complexities that involves.  Our Democratic Party seems to try to do the family model, and thus has all the raggedness of any family!

Ironically, about the same time as your comment ‘crossed my desk’, came the Paul Krugman conversation linked below, which is a great conversation on issues and polling and Nov. 4.  I hope you can access it, and that you check it out.  Thanks again.

from Paul Krugman: his column/interview on Nov. 4. which came today is long, and very interesting.  Take a look and decide, here.

from MaryEllen Nov. 11:  Part of my reaction to the vote to end the shutdown is to see those Democrats and that Independent as people who care more about ordinary citizens (who need paychecks and food and jobs reinstated) than about ideology. From my point of view, Republicans lost this round. Big time. Ordinary people vote. I think we are all glad this shutdown has ended. The fight continues.

Election Day 2025

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POSTNOTE NOV. 6: SD47 and ISD #833 vote totals Nov. 4: SD 47 and ISD 833 Nov 4 2025 (My state Senate and local School Districts)

PRENOTE: Check out the link here. For your calendar, if you wish.  I plan to sign up.  No cost, open to all.  I’m a longtime member of the sponsoring organization, though no longer active.

 

6:50 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 4:  In my corner of the world, as I write, we are voting for a new Senator in our local Senate District, and for four local school board members.

This is truly an off-year in the normal scheme of things.  I’ve voted, and expressed my preferences to those in my orbits.  As is my personal practice, I’m writing this before the polls close here.  I know who I think will make the best legislator for our district.  We shall see.

Whatever the outcome, the people who have the right to vote will decide, by their action or inaction.

This afternoon I had a short visit with the cashier at the local McD’s.  She’s in my age group, and she volunteered that she wasn’t sure she was going to vote, but she asked her friend for a recommendation, which was given, and she’s voted, I would guess.

I didn’t ask, and she didn’t volunteer, who she voted for or why.  Neither did she.  Probably neither of us will bring up the topic when we next see each other.

You all have your own stories, I’m sure.  I have my own.

As is usual, I’ll note how many could have voted and how many actually voted, and who they voted for.  The numbers will probably be known by tomorrow morning, unless they’re close calls.

The voting process, as usual, was honest and very civil.  And I would suspect this is true everywhere.  This does not stop the accusations at a distance that there is fraud.  It seems like these are always leveled at places far away, with not a scintilla of evidence.

The TV folks watching New York, Virginia, New Jersey and the like, will report on the crucial races.  As usual, they will pick two or three voting on both sides who’ll very briefly say why they voted the way they do.  It is easy to become cynical.  The folks have a lot of air time to fill to be covered by advertising dollars, and that is the media’s need.

Whatever, that single vote that I cast for five different people today is the most crucial vote, as is yours, and yours and yours….

I’ll fill in the blanks as I know them.

In an hour or so I’ll go to the post election watch party.  I’m never good for more than an hour or two there – past my bedtime! But at minimum want to express my thanks to the candidate I supported for legislature today.

All of us are the future of this country.  This election and all that came before nnd come after wherever they are are equally important.  Voting is our most crucial job.

10 a.m. Wednesday Nov. 5, 2025

After publishing the above I went to the post election watch party for my preferred candidate, Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger.  There were perhaps 100 of us crowded into a restaurant room.  I’ve been to lots of these events over the years, and they’re all the same – no one knows the outcome for sure until the returns come in.

Last night, they came in: 13, 527 for Amanda, 8,383 for her opponent.  61.69%.  There were 59,440 potential voters.

What happened in my community yesterday was replicated in thousands of ways across the country from one-on-one conversations to the 7+ million “No Kings” participants.  We experienced what can happen when politics truly becomes local.

Senator elect Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger speaks Nov. 5, 2025.  WCCO-TV, local CBS affiliate, used film of Amanda’s talk.

This morning I learned that the four school board members I voted for all won very convincingly.

It was a good night…at least for my side.  Amanda was my state legislator.  She has been a stellar representative.

Overall, last night here and most everywhere seemed to be a demand from we, the people, for a return to sanity.

I live in a middle class community.  Most would consider Woodbury relatively prosperous, a community well positioned for the future.

I’ve lived here for 25 years, and I’m aware of my town, and politics generally.  And my sense has been and remains that the general public is not anti-government, nor does the average person have an inclination towards being better than his or her neighbors.  The body politic, it seems to me, depends on and respects government to be both regulator and protector of the common good.  And further, we, the people, are not troubled by differences of opinion, which are a feature of everyone’s life.

All the rest is argument.  And the specifics of all the other elections, yesterday, anywhere, have their own analyses.

A LAST WORD: At the post-election gathering I found a chair next to a local activist I’ve known for years.  In conversation I said “I won’t ask your age, but I’m 85, and I remember how astonished I was to learn, more than a year ago, that both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were younger than my oldest son.”  My friend said she was 86.  I think we both agreed that this is now the time for the younger folks who will in the long run be most affected by what is happening now.

Early Wednesday morning came an e-mail from another friend to two of us, all three of us senior citizens.  Here’s exactly what he said: “My message/warning to National dems regardless of their politics take a look at the 3 big winners, Spanberger, Sherrill, and Mamdani…..all of them under 60 

Sherrill:  53 years old
Spanberger: 46 years old
Mamdani: 34 years old
one of the answers to their problems is staring them in the face….but will Schumer, Pelosi, et. al. get it? it is called a “fresh breeze”.

My response, most certainly we all ‘get it’.  Letting go is more difficult, of course.  This is how life has always been.  The only difference between us and the youngsters is that we’ve had more years to experience more things, and make more mistakes.  People like Amanda are ready to take the reins.  Time to let them do so, and give them whatever support we can.

POSTNOTE:  Within the last week I did listen in full to a very interesting podcast from Paul Krugman.  If you can access it, I would really encourage listening to a very stimulating conversation with Jacob Silverman, author of the book “Gilded Rage”.  Here is the link.  It is lengthy, but well worth it.  I’m a subscriber to Krugman.

Here is the link to my earlier comments on this election.

COMMENTS:

from Norm (from another Twin Cities Senate District:

Congratulations to you and your senate district for electing a DFLer to replace Mitchell to assure that the DFL retains its very slim control of the state senate.
St. Paul has elected a Hmong woman as its next mayor.  That is good to see as the Hmong seem to be very good citizens who seem to understand good government as a facilitator and not as a source for creating dependencies.
On the other hand, while Frey won the first round, the use of RCV [ranked chance voting] in the Mill City and the agreement of the three candidates running against Frey to gang up on him using that process may well result in the election of the what a country candidate with all of the baggage that demographic has accumulated with the massive frauds involving millions of taxpayer dollars may bring to that office.
NYC elected its first Muslim mayor meaning that donnée will already be working on plans to send the Marines in to overthrow the choice of the voters.
On the other hand, that new mayor elect has promised all number of “free” stuff for the residents which no doubt attracted votes to his side.  It will be interesting when push comes to shove and the new kid on the block tries to find a way to pay for all of that “free” stuff that he has promised in order to win the election.  Will the taxpayers be happy paying for all of that? A good question to be answered in the next year or two.
Same with Fateh if wins via the problematic RCV.
Many of donnée’s candidates lost last night, some of them badly.  I don’t know if those losses are a reflection of concerns and disgust with donnée’s policies and actions or just a reflection of local issues.
No doubt, the political pundits will have a field day trying to explain what those results mean, of course, but…