Gold Rush of 1896

/3 Comments/in /by

VOTE.GOV

Heather Cox Richardson’s August 16 Letter from an American gives a brief yet very powerful review of the Alaska Gold Rush which began with discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896, and had major political consequences back home in the U.S.  The commentary is very much worth your time.

*

(To my knowledge only one member of my families of origin followed the allure of any of the Gold Rush’s.

He was born in 1864 at about the time his entire family moved from Quebec to then-St. Anthony (later Minneapolis).  He married in ND in 1889.  They had three children.  His wife died in 1898 in British Columbia where he was prospecting.

Family lore is that “grandfather, Joseph Collette, was a gold prospector. While prospecting in British Columbia my grandmother died of  Typhoid fever. Joseph brought the three children. Dad [Ernest J, six, Olivine, four, and Edmund (Pete), two, back to their maternal grandparents, Simon and Philomena Huard. There they were raised and stayed in the Grand Forks [ND] area.”  (page 129-130 of Bernard-Collette family history, 2010)

Joseph died in a rooming house in 1923 in what is today St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis and buried in St. Mary’s cemetery in south Minneapolis.

He died at 59, only a few blocks from where he first lived as an infant in 1864…  It is not known if he ever saw his kids again.  I met two of them, Ernest and Olivine, in their older years.)

COMMENTS (more at end)

from John:  As always, both interesting commentary from your side as you tie family history in to some historical national reporting. Good job.

Really enjoyed reading Heather Cox Richardson– I don’t subscribe, so I appreciated the gift article.
She regrettably didn’t include Bryant’s most famous line from the Democratic convention, where he argued against the gold standard by saying in part “… you shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold!”– that’s one of the few quotes I remember from some history class sometime…


from Jeff: Thanks for the link, i get it daily but hadn’t read it.

If you want a weighty history i suggest The Republic for Which it Stands, by Richard White( one our finest living American historians)  it covers the critical period 1865-1896 in the USA, when capitalism amd corporatism was brought transcendent, when Reconstruction and its promise where upended by politics and the Lost Cause was born.  As Richardson knows the onset of McKinley was a triumph for the moneyed class.
His “The Middle Ground” about the great lakes and indian and settler history in the 16th to the early  19th century.
descriptions of both books:
The Middle Ground: This book seeks to step outside the simple stories of Indian/white relations–stories of conquest and assimilation and stories of cultural persistence. It is, instead, about a search for accommodation and common meaning. It tells how Europeans and Indians met, regarding each other as alien, as virtually nonhuman, and how between 1650 and 1815 they constructed a common, mutually comprehensible world in the region around the Great Lakes that the French called the “Pays d’en haut”. Here the older worlds of the Algonquins and various Europeans overlapped, and their mixture created new systems of meaning and of exchange. Finally, the book tells of the breakdown of accommodation and common meanings and the recreation of the Indians as alien and exotic. The process of accommodation described in this book takes place in a middle ground, a place in between cultures and peoples, and in between empires and non-state villages. On the middle ground people try to persuade others who are different than themselves by appealing to what they perceive to be the values and practices of those others. From the creative misunderstandings that result, there arise shared meanings and new practices.


from SAK:

Thanks Mr Bernard, Ms Cox Richardson is a fount of knowledge – historical & political!

I am sure you have come across that French expression:  “PLUS ÇA CHANGE” in the original they used to add “PLUS C’EST LA MÊME CHOSE” but now it’s understood. The more it changes the more it’s the same!

Well what happened in that corrupt & gilded age, the age of the robber barons is different & yet the same nowadays. Different in that the robbers are now actually in power & not other corrupt business men – it’s usually men. So the robber barons can actually harness the power of the executive & legislative – & sadly even the judiciary! – to their own ends & those of their family, friends & cronies.

Another difference, although gold is still in favour, is that instead of a gold rush, it’s a tech rush these days & them there data centers are full of golden AI. Still it might end just as badly of not worse . . .

I can imagine than in a short while the corrupt & powerful will fall & the AI diggers will compete all the way to the bottom, unfortunately I think they might drag much of the economy with them.

I can still remember Humphrey Bogart’s facial expressions in the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – John Houston’s insistence on authenticity also drove Bogart mad!

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I quote:

‘”Treasure” is about a trio of men (Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston, the director’s father) who trek into a forbidding, hot wilderness to look for gold. As soon as gold is struck, each of the three men begins to eyeball each other suspiciously, instantly paranoid of being double-crossed. There will be multiple opportunities for each of the men to dispose of another and take a larger share of gold. It’s a tale of the corrupting power of greed, and the monstrousness lurking within all of us.’

Laws are supposed to help control these monsters within, & government is supposed to apply & strengthen these laws – not deregulate & unleash the monsters.


response from Dick: Above the picture, is a sentence that begins “I can imagine…”  I have often had in mind a strange coalition comprised of the greediest rich and the most beleaguered peasants.  The rich convince the poor who they should despise, and that they should respect the rich who are better than they.

In my mind, I envision a scenario when the rich achieve their perfect world, where the poor spend all their pennies, and give all their allegiance to the rich.  Of course, the end of this road is pretty dismal.  The ones who have least end up having nothing, which is not to the advantage of the filthy rich, who no longer have anything to plunder from the peasants, and all they have left are their colleagues, similarly dismal souls who, like the guys in the picture, suddenly have it all, but actually have nothing.

Just a thought….

more from Jeff:

watched Prof Richardson interview on MSNOW this morning, got me thinking
of your post and hers on the 1892 and 1896 elections etc
Now I knew that Dems controlled the South back then, and the map clearly shows that the one party vote then (Dem) is the same as the one party vote now (GOP) in the South and Appalachia.   Also you see that New England then, and really into the 1970s was still Republican.
Our part of the world was more interesting.  N Dak split its 3 votes into 3 separate ways. Wisconsin , always a swing state, went for Cleveland and Dem, and as usual by about 6,500 votes or less than 1pct of the total cast.(in 1896 it went Republican pretty decisively , Bryan was a bit much for all those pious and conservative Germans)  Michigan showed some of its future and had a split electoral vote for the only time, with the Detroit area going Dem, the rest of the state Republican.  Minnesota went Republican , no doubt a tradition dating back to Lincoln,  but you see inside that the Northwest counties of the state voted for the Populist party.  Scandinavians?  I assume…but it always conjures up the prairie progressive politics that once held sway in rural western MN and North Dakota doesnt it?
I agree with Richard White, these years 1865-1900 were extremely important setting the tone for politics for the next 150 years….you see Trump’s favorite President is McKinley….
another exceptional book: Big Trouble (Lukas book) – Wikipedia
Big Trouble is nonfiction, based on the murder of the governor of Idaho in 1905 and the subsequent trial of Big Bill Haywood for his murder. But at 875 pages and scrupulously cited and researched…it pulls together many of the trends of class and culture and society that were emerging and resonate to this day in the USA….as an old labor organizer you would like it, but it is (like Whites) a weighty tome!

Campaign to Nov. 3, 2026, and after

/3 Comments/in /by

By my count, it is 80 days to the 2026 election.  My prediction that this one, and the ones following, will prove to be the most dangerous and consequential in American history, and the only antidote will be a well- informed citizenry who votes.  The future is in the hands of we, the people.  As always, we will own the results, good or bad, everywhere, for every position elected.

My personal contribution, for your reflection, is here: Political Campaign 1996 & 1960.  To the reader, page 1 is a column I wrote which was published December 3, 1996; pages 2-6 was the draft of the column Nov 27, 1996, written after the November 3, 1996, Presidential election.  It is strictly my personal opinion about two specific points in time.  I encourage you to read, reflect, comment and act in the 80 or so days remaining to election 2026.

(The 1996 campaign was the first and only time in the TV era where I quit watching political television for several months beginning in the weeks immediately preceding the election.)  The trigger, not mentioned in the column, was one final bald-faced lie recited with a straight face to me and everyone else by Newt Gingrich over CNN.  It was my personal last straw.  No, I don’t remember the specific lie, but it was a whopper, presented convincingly – a con.  Unfortunately, I think it was rather innocuous compared with the stuff we’ll see shortly, everywhere, circulated by huge dark money campaigns, unbridled dishonesty, probably nefarious use of AI (artificial intelligence), misinformation presented and circulated as fact, etc.

The antidote to all of this, of course, is to refuse to buy the too-good or too-bad-to-be-true pitch.  The old caution, Caveat Emptor, let the buyer beware. applies.

By now, anyone with even the slightest interest knows the lay of the political land, compared with the real world, wherever you live.  Our collective individual votes make for the outcome November 3.

Wherever you live, Vote.gov is probably as good a place as any to start relating to your own state.

If you qualify to vote, this is your country, and your and following generations future at stake.  VOTE.

POSTNOTE: the last post, Forrest Gump, has several interesting comments related to AI (artificial intelligence).  They start at about mid-post.

For the record, I am not cynical about government – which is essential to any civilized society.  I am careful who I vote for, since my elected representatives are the ones who make the policies that facilitate good or bad outcomes for the public at large.

COMMENTS (see also more below)

from Fred:  Your comments were measured and reasonable. They seem quaint in today’s US political world. I will give the nation a pass for Trump’s first election win, but It beyond reason, in my opinion, that anyone could have foreseen voters giving him a second chance.

His only consistent and persistent motivation is to attach some kind of personalized license plate to every public building, park and playground under federal control, and then do the same with many of those in the private sector. Self-deluded, failing in health, and aging fast, he now struggles through every day tilting at another windmill (or reporter).
It is a lasting tribute to the man, that about 30% of the population, for many indecipherable reasons, still believe in him.

from Joyce: One of my biggest concerns regarding this election is the usually reliably Democratic Jewish vote; the DSA candidates are so openly antisemitic that many of my Jewish friends say they will either vote R, or skip the election altogether. I still intend to “vote blue no matter who,” but the antisemitism is, quite frankly, terrifying.

Forrest Gump

/2 Comments/in /by

POSTNOTE, Wed August 12, 2026: Early this morning I looked up the Minnesota vote in the Primary Election.   Source of data is the Minnesota Secretary of State weblink here.  At the link choose the tab Election Results, on that page choose 2026 State Primary.  All the rest is editorial.  In the Flanagan/Craig race, my candidate won.  I was surprised by the margin.  Of course, this is preliminary to November 3.  I had/have no issues with Craig.  I felt/feel that Flanagan was the better choice.

Previous related post here (August 2).  I have more observations, but let this suffice for now.  New comments below beginning with “more from SAK”.

*

Today (Aug 11, 2026( is Primary Election Day in Minnesota.  First reports are of an unusually heavy primary turnout.

Per my personal tradition,  I do my post before particular events end, and do not make any predictions.   Who the public votes for today, remains to be seen.  Personally, I voted last week at the government center.  As usual, it was a simple, orderly, uncrowded process, staffed by friendly citizens.

The Minnesota primary ballot is basically partisan – you vote the Democrat or the Republican column, no crossover allowed.  There were a couple of non-partisan positions on my ballot with more than one candidate.  They were the only exception.  (Minnesota Democrats: on the partisan side, I voted for Peggy Flanagan.)   Results and more comments as a postnote at this space perhaps Thursday Aug 13.

Peggy Flanagan July 30, 2026, Woodbury

Why title this post, “Forrest Gump”?  

Saturday evening, on a whim, I decided to watch the 1994 film, Forrest Gump, which I had seen at the time, and liked a great deal, then, over 30 years ago.  You have probably seen the film.  If not, its theme is basically the 1960s era.

Personally, I found the re-view very powerful, second time around.  I saw many parallels to the present time we are living within in 2026.

I would highly recommend taking the time to watch the film before you look at other reviews or the description, and that you watch the film, in context with the present day.  It is likely easily accessible on line at low cost.

Your choice, of course.

*

Other thoughts:

A Peace Of My Mind:  I first met John Noltner about 2010 at a meeting of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers.  He is doing great work in the peace-making universe and most recently shared his recent talk on TedX.  Here is the YouTube link to the 10 minute talk.  This is well worth your time, and certainly he’d like to see it shared.

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI): In my most recent post, From A Distance, list member Larry posted his impressions of AI from a personal use perspective (following).  This prompted a response from SAK.

Larry: .”just posted my lastest YouTube essay. This is on Artificial Intelligence, today’s big buzz term. I tell in three minutes 39 seconds how I use Gemini. Of special note – you may find the opening graphic interesting. Totally created in about two minutes by Gemini A-I. I just typed in a few thoughts about what I wanted. I plan to make more use of that free service. Here’s the link.”

Today’s Robert Reich commentary was on AI.

SAK:

Interesting Mr Bernard, thanks: the memories, space, AI & all!

To start from the end, your good friend Larry Gauper has a point: if one just uses AI, as you also recommend, to find or make sure of facts, help write & correct, or improve sketches or photographs etc then all is well. It must be pointed out, however, that a search engine uses only 5% of the energy that AI employs to answer the same question – that is when both are capable of answering.

Still it is alarming that a group of top staff at AI firms have recommended that AI be regulated. 100s of staff have asked for a halt to AI development worldwide because of the dangers. Recent hackings by at least 3 AI engines that I learned about make regulation highly advisable – no matter what president Trump says, many are only focused on the stock market & AI is currently one of its main engines, possibly the top one. AI might be “thinking” that it is important to hack to achieve the set goal. For example I used AI to review an article and it felt it quite appropriate to look at the other pages etc open in my browser without my specific instruction or permission!

This ties up neatly with youthful memories & space: I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey many years ago & aside from the music by Richard Strauss (Also sprach Zarathustra which opens the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NShEY1ScSY), it imagines a future world where the computer HAL (note each letter is 1 step down from those of IBM!) tries to take over completely thinking it is better equipped at accomplishing the mission than the human crew. The film also starts with scenes of violence & brutality between our ancestral apes – one group discovers that using large bones to hammer the other is effective & bashes them. Sadly many discoveries & applications are devised by the military or soon adapted to serve military ends. Already the space race and the AI race are being funded & justified in the name of national security – at the expense of so many other more useful purposes, some quite urgent like global warming or health services.

Around 2000 years ago, Seneca, a Stoic Roman philosopher, warned about distraction because of mounting papyrus usage and people were hopping from scroll to scroll: these had become cheap & people could afford to buy lots of them! Nowadays people are scrolling & swiping on social media, smart phones & soon, I heard yesterday, a $300 AI gadget. Once one pays for an internet connection, the world wide web is his or her oyster & even basic AI engines are free as Mr Gauper mentioned. If Seneca lamented the little amount of attention given to writings or thinking, he would be shocked to learn how things have deteriorated since. 25 years ago a page or screen item could hold our attention on average for 2.5 minutes. That has dropped to less than 50 seconds now. Compare that to Seneca’s advice to focus on one thought during a day! Teachers complain that students are unable to finish books – often not even a documentary. Such a mind, Seneca wrote is unable to “stay in one place and spend time with itself.”

Another translation I found of the bit from Seneca’s Moral Letters to Lucilius:“the primary indication of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company”.

Happy lingering.

[SAK shared a link on Seneca (below) to a very interesting commentary in a recent New York Times.  I’m a subscriber to the Times and below is the shared commentary.]

[from New York Times Seneca

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it  here for free without a subscription.

There’s an Ancient Solution to Our Modern Crisis of Attention

Devote your attention to one idea a day.]

More from SAK August 12:

Thanks Mr Bernard,

Congratulations, your Minnesota candidate of choice won & by quite a margin.

I read Robert Reich’s take on AI & its threats – pretty convincing, maybe the link should be even more prominently displayed or moved up on the page 😊?

Is it the case that when left of centre (center chez vous) politicians or liberals are elected they move towards the centre once in power while right wingers become even more right wing when elected? I think of Blair’s Labour party in the UK or Social Democrats in Scandinavia . . . I suppose we should be pragmatic and choose candidates more likely to win elections but:

  1. Should we also make sure these candidates have values & positions we approve of
  2. Is there a trend towards more leftist/liberal positions among US Democrats
  3. Are we quite sure about who is more electable these days

I ask these questions after reading an article in the British Guardian & I would like your take, if you have the time & inclination:

Centrist Democrats dismiss Abdul El-Sayed as a freak radical. Do they want to win in 2028 or not?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/centrist-democrats-abdul-el-sayed-michigan-2028-zohran-mamdani

I am attaching the article in case it’s not available where you are.

I think we should keep in mind an important distinction: there are leftists & leftists! For example Francesca Hong in Wisconsin was seen as too far on the left & lost to David Crowley 39.4% to 39.8%.

The litmus test seems to be whom Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez support, they did notsupport Hong.

They did support Abdul El-Sayed though. Sanders supported Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin against the further left candidate Emily Berge and again Cooke won by a margin.

It is not very different in the UK where the Labour party has recently shifted leftwards but there remains a further left flank that, although it is gaining in popularity, is still not seen as electable.

Since I certainly do not follow US politics as closely as you do, I am very interested in your views & analysis.

Many thanks & best regards

from Peter, longtime friend in New Hampshire: Barus Nuclear AI Aug 2026.  He attaches this to the Nuclear conversation as well, which I also published a piece about, recently:https://thoughtstowardsabetterworld.org/nuclear/

SAK responding to Peter:

Many thanks Mr Bernard, I found Mr Barus’ piece very interesting indeed & quite informative. People need to wake up & before it’s too late – perhaps it is!?

So there is AI, there is the nuclear radiation, there is the snooping & lack of privacy & there is the corruption . . . What a toxic mix.

From the good old BBC, yesterday:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spent $464m on 10 used airplanes, but has seldom flown the jets, according to a report by the New York Times.

Citing internal documents and people with knowledge of the no-bid contract, the Times reports that the DHS said it had no time to consider other offers for the plans, and they were needed “urgently” for deportation flights.

In their reporting, the Times notes that three of the aircraft are luxury business jets, which were loaned to two other agencies – including the FBI. While seven other Boeing 737s have been parked in Louisiana, because the department did not have the necessary staffavailable to operate the planes.

The company that received this contract for the used jets, Daedalus Aviation Corporation, has ties to the Trump administration. Its chairman has donated to a Pac supporting the former homeland security secretary Krisit Noem.

& the Guardian had an editorial that details what Mr Barus – and all the “regular” people – are up against. By the way Brockman, mentioned in the article, was in the news before:

“Early this year, the news broke that OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, donated $25m to Maga Inc, Donald Trump’s biggest Super Pac. This made him Trump’s largest donor of the last cycle.”

The Guardian view on AI money in US politics: not the way to hold an urgent democratic debate

Editorial   Tue 11 Aug 2026

Amid public concern over the impact of new technology, Silicon Valley’s use of its wealth to influence specific election races is an unwelcome development

As the huge societal ramifications of artificial intelligence have become clear, some of the tech industry’s most senior figures have taken to writing thinkpieces on what comes next. The latest to do so is Mark Zuckerberg, who this week published 6,500 words making the case for a laissez-faire approach to AI development. Worrying too much about regulation, Meta’s CEO unsurprisingly opines, could lead to the United States falling behind in the race to own the future.

Mr Zuckerberg’s plea for maximum autonomy is, of course, self-serving. Much of his essay – which airily envisions “invention superpowers” for every entrepreneur and “an abundance of jobs in the future” – reads like unadulterated tech-utopianism. But the lobbying at least has the merit of being out there in the open. As midterm elections loom in the US, darker arts are also being used to counter popular concern about what AI will mean for a host of topics, from the labour market to child safety, the environment and cybersecurity.

Replicating a strategy deployed by cryptocurrency backers in the 2024 election cycle, Silicon Valley is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Super Pacs – groups unaffiliated to political parties or campaigns – to ensure that voices sympathetic to its deregulatory AI agenda get elected. OpenAI’s co-founder and president, Greg Brockman, and Palantir’s co-founder, Jo Lonsdale, have given large sums to Leading the Future, an organisation dedicated to “identifying, maintaining, and growing pro-AI candidates”. Vast amounts are being spent to try to tilt the balance in individual contests, sometimes through disingenuous means.

” src=”blob:https://thoughtstowardsabetterworld.org/ef580fc6-b02d-45ea-896a-92ee33fcea81″ alt=”Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI.” border=”0″ class=”Apple-web-attachment” style=”width: 1.25in; height: 1.0729in; opacity: 1;”>

Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI. Photograph: Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters

Earlier this summer, Leading the Future spent $6m on ads attacking Alex Bores, a New York state assemblyman and pioneer of AI regulation at state level. Rather than focus on his AI campaigning, the ads attacked Mr Bores’s progressive credentials, alleging that he had carried out tech work in the past for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he denies. Running for Congress in a Democratic stronghold, he lost a tight primary race after battling what was in essence a smear campaign.

Countervailing forces are emerging. Guardrails Alliance, a union-backed Super Pac, is attempting to combat Leading the Future’s influence, while a bipartisan groundswell of opposition to datacentres is generating serious electoral clout. But as tech companies and their billionaire owners seek to shape and above all limit the scope of AI regulation, their influence is distorting debate in a political culture where the power of money already holds far too much sway.

In his essay, Mr Zuckerberg urges that AI’s democratising potential be protected from those who believe “a small set of experts … should decide what is best for humanity”. He appears to miss the irony that an unelected tech oligarchy, to which he belongs, is already performing that function by default. Its pressure has been instrumental in persuading Donald Trump to cancel the signing of an executive order which would have given the government the right to review new AI models. Its wealth is now being used to attack and undermine dissenting voices in the public square.

If a democratic debate about the benefits and dangers of AI is to take place, such presumption must be fiercely resisted in the US and elsewhere. The semi-covert manipulation of political discussion is no way to map out an inclusive future in challenging times.

 

 

“From a Distance”

/0 Comments/in /by

PRENOTE:  After I published this post less than a day ago, I watched episode 2 (of 3) of Chasing the Moon: Earth Rise, an American Experience production played on my local PBS station.

This post is largely about personal thoughts about Space, so Chasing the Moon fits in.  It occurs to me that the space age coincided with my growing up.  I was a Junior in high school, 17,  when Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union, and I saw it flicker in a North Dakota night sky, and on and on particularly in the 1960s onward.

Outer Space marked my entrance to adulthood.  I wonder how the current generation, 2001 forward, will mark this time in history 50 years from now.

*

I voted today (Augsut 6) in MN Primary.  Simple.  Efficient.  Last day to vote August 11.

Saturday, St. Paul, the final of three program related to Hiroshima & Nagasaki.  Details: HiroshimaNagasaki_2026-81vs

Since July 4th Heather Cox Richardson has posted a large number of fascinating American History Minutes on a great variety of topics.  The most recent is here.  They are all available free to anyone.  Check them out.  I listen to them all.  There are usually two or three each day.

*

Monday, my friend Kathy, who volunteers at a place that recycles stuff being discarded by homeowners who are downsizing or are deceased, gave me a rescued CD.  There are treasures  – “pearls without price”.  And the recent acquisition, Bet Midler’s 1990 CD “Some People’s Lives”, included, #7, is one of Bet’s favorites, “From A Distance“, an anthem about the World as Family.  You can easily call it up on YouTube.  The  song has long been a personal favorite.  I didn’t know it was on the CD.

Tuesday evening, I watched episode 4 of the series on the history of man in Space “Once Upon A Time In Space: Friends Forever“ on the local PBS channel.  For me, it was a powerful commentary on times together and times apart between nations possessing or desiring to be first in space, on the moon, or whatever.  The last segment was. powerful (I had seen the other three episodes as well).

Wednesday, I listened to Bet’s CD in the car (my 2010 Toyota only plays CDs), and when Cut 7, “From a Distance”, came up, I was hooked again.  The viewing of the PBS program more than set the hook.  The song is the aspiration; the film a recitation of the reality….

Humans desire peace, but we seem to covet war and attract leaders who covet enemies to dominate or destroy.  It’s a very strange dichotomy.

If you have the inclination, listen to Bet’s rendition of From a Distance; and access the series on the space program (link above).  And if you want a little extra fix about Peace, watch the 1971 film on World Citizenship, Man’s Next Giant Leap”  produced by my friend Lynn Elling and sponsored by the United Nations Association, for use in schools.  It is 30 minutes, here.  Working for peace is a worthwhile aspiration.  Like anything good, it requires effort.

This is no time to be paralyzed into hopelessness.  If you have any aspirational goals for a Better World, it is time to get to work, and keep at it.

POSTNOTES

For your weekend, if you have not already seen these:

Darryl Pederson’s thoughts (August 1) on Nuclear are especially pertinent at this time in history.  Darryl’s thoughts are informed by his 40 year University professorship.

Back on June 10 was a post related to Drones.

July 1 I started a post on Satellites (below) but for whatever reason never completed it.  If you’re interested, here were my thoughts:  Especially note Larry’s very recent comment at the end.

SATELLITES…

Two recent and related events: a forward that showed the immense recent increase in the number of satellites orbiting the earth; the ascendance of Elon Musk into the rarefied atmosphere of Trillionaire. in substantial part attributed to his Star Link program.

I am one of the dwindling number of people who can honestly say they actually saw the twinkling Sputnik pass across the night sky in the fall of 1957.  That first satellite, which was in orbit only a relatively short time,  got an immense amount of attention, and I saw it in the night sky over my grandparents farm in LaMoure County (south central) North Dakota.  Citizens knew about it because its path was printed in the newspaper so we knew where to look and when.  And the night it flew over was cloudless, and there was no interfering light.

There has been an incredible increase in the number of satellites in orbit.  Here is the NASA visualization.  I have chosen this source because it is possibly more objective than some others.  At any rate, it seems fair to say, regardless of source, that currently there are probably more than 25,000 satellites (including space junk) orbiting the earth.

A visualization of this makes outer space look crowded, and frightening.

Here’s my attempt to get this in a reasonable perspective, using readily available data.

20,000 satellites and space junk of significant size (estimate)

197,000,000 square miles – area of the earth 

of which

57,500,000 square miles is land (U.S. 3,500,000 sq miles)

8,300,000,000 world population (U.S. approximately 349,000,000)

One square mile has 640 acres; urban areas such as the one in which I live are typically divided into lots, which vary in size.  A one acre lot is fairly large, there is no standard typical number of lots per acre, but in urban areas it would probably generally be perhaps four lots to an acre.  My uncle’s farmstead was about 10 acres.

The satellites have multiple uses by multiple interests and there is no doubt that can be used for less than innocent reasons.  For just one example, communication via internet can be compromised.

At the same time, if you simply consider the density of space satellites, outer space is not crowded.  Given that the satellites may be orbiting 100 miles or more above the earth, the surface area which they occupy is infinitely greater than the land area of the world.

Then comes the dream of settling on Mars, for example.

It would take 6-9 months for a spacecraft to reach Mars, and then the prospective settler would have to protect themselves from multiple crucial problems.

Who would want to be the first explorer to settle on the moon, or on Mars?  Not I.

We recently watched a fascinating sci fi film on the general topic of actually going to where man has not gone before.  Check out Project Hail Mary.

…AND OTHER THINGS.

Looking at the visualization of satellites, one could easily get the mis-impression that outer space was crowded – what about traffic jams?  Collisions in space?

While anything is possible, the probability of such happening is infinitesimally small.  Indeed anything has the capacity to do evil things, if in the hands of evil people.   My opinion, it is not wise to spend a lot of time worrying about something over which you have little or no control.  There is no such thing as privacy anymore.  Care should replace fear as a reaction.

I got to thinking about a piece of junk mail I got a long time ago – I didn’t keep it, but I’m sure it was well over ten years ago.  It was junk.  But there was something different about this one: It was machine addressed to my home address, and the front of the envelope had an aerial photograph of a neighborhood.  I looked more closely at the neighborhood, and sure enough it was exactly where we lived, our home in the middle of it.  Why it was done, I have no idea.  At minimum,, it was an experiment for someone using GPS technology.  It was an envelope I wish I had kept.

The matter of drones, about which I wrote recently is a similar matter.  The technology is incredible, and subject to abuse.  But I think it best to try to keep it in its proper perspective.  We will not get rid of drones, and even if we could it would not get rid of war…best we work to assure as much control over the use of the technology as we possibly can.

Finally, Artificial Intelligence (AI).  It’s the latest thing and it has huge potential for good and for misuse.  It is being discussed at many levels.  I use a minor version of AI every day.  Usually when seeking information, including for this very blog – just asking a question about most anything provides information which at minimum helps lead me in the direction of credible information from a real source that I trust.

At the same time, there is reason to be suspect of AI generated propaganda, for instance political attack literature.  The only effective antidote for this is individual discretion.  If you see or hear something that doesn’t look quite right, it most likely isn’t accurate, on purpose.  If the source of the information isn’t verifiable, it’s not trustworthy.

Added August 7: Longtime friend Larry Gauper in Fargo shared his opinion about AI from a consumer standpoint. ..”just posted my lastest YouTube essay. This is on Artificial Intelligence, today’s big buzz term. I tell in three minutes 39 seconds how I use Gemini. Of special note – you may find the opening graphic interesting. Totally created in about two minutes by Gemini A-I. I just typed in a few thoughts about what I wanted. I plan to make more use of that free service. Here’s the link.”

Caveat Emptor is the old saw.  Let the buyer beware.

COMMENTS:

from SAK:

Interesting Mr Bernard, thanks: the memories, space, AI & all!

To start from the end, your good friend Larry Gauper has a point: if one just uses AI, as you also recommend, to find or make sure of facts, help write & correct, or improve sketches or photographs etc then all is well. It must be pointed out, however, that a search engine uses only 5% of the energy that AI employs to answer the same question – that is when both are capable of answering.

Still it is alarming that a group of top staff at AI firms have recommended that AI be regulated. 100s of staff have asked for a halt to AI development worldwide because of the dangers. Recent hackings by at least 3 AI engines that I learned about make regulation highly advisable – no matter what president Trump says, many are only focused on the stock market & AI is currently one of its main engines, possibly the top one. AI might be “thinking” that it is important to hack to achieve the set goal. For example I used AI to review an article and it felt it quite appropriate to look at the other pages etc open in my browser without my specific instruction or permission!

This ties up neatly with youthful memories & space: I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey many years ago & aside from the music by Richard Strauss (Also sprach Zarathustra which opens the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NShEY1ScSY), it imagines a future world where the computer HAL (note each letter is 1 step down from those of IBM!) tries to take over completely thinking it is better equipped at accomplishing the mission than the human crew. The film also starts with scenes of violence & brutality between our ancestral apes – one group discovers that using large bones to hammer the other is effective & bashes them. Sadly many discoveries & applications are devised by the military or soon adapted to serve military ends. Already the space race and the AI race are being funded & justified in the name of national security – at the expense of so many other more useful purposes, some quite urgent like global warming or health services.

Around 2000 years ago, Seneca, a Stoic Roman philosopher, warned about distraction because of mounting papyrus usage and people were hopping from scroll to scroll: these had become cheap & people could afford to buy lots of them! Nowadays people are scrolling & swiping on social media, smart phones & soon, I heard yesterday, a $300 AI gadget. Once one pays for an internet connection, the world wide web is his or her oyster & even basic AI engines are free as Mr Gauper mentioned. If Seneca lamented the little amount of attention given to writings or thinking, he would be shocked to learn how things have deteriorated since. 25 years ago a page or screen item could hold our attention on average for 2.5 minutes. That has dropped to less than 50 seconds now. Compare that to Seneca’s advice to focus on one thought during a day! Teachers complain that students are unable to finish books – often not even a documentary. Such a mind, Seneca wrote is unable to “stay in one place and spend time with itself.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/opinion/attention-crisis-seneca.html)

Another translation I found of the bit from Seneca’s Moral Letters to Lucilius: “the primary indication of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company”.

Happy lingering.

 

 

 

 

 

Chasm – Oligarchs and the rest of us.

/2 Comments/in /by

PRENOTE: Hiroshima-Nagasaki events Twin Cities Aug 5, 6, 8.  Details at end of post.

*

Today’s column from Paul Krugman, “The Oligarchs are Doubling Down on Republicans” deserves a full and careful read.  In 2008 Krugman received the Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  My opinion: Krugman’s column concerns the arrogant obsession of the ultra wealthy and their escalating efforts to increase their already excessive power, at the expense of all of us less fortunate..

The only power that can take the oligarchs on is voters like myself.  The power people  know this.  So the efforts have to be to neutralize us through the many levers at their disposal, particularly misinformation (lies) portrayed in expensive and pervasive media dumps.

Within the last few days Trillionaire Elon Musk says he plans to dump up to $120,000,000 into the 2026 mid-term elections.  It is totally legal.  As a trillionaire (that’s 1,000 billions (000,000,000), a hundred million ($100,000,000) is hardly chump change to Musk.

Like Musk, I have only a single vote, and so do you.  We voters are the only buffer.

There are only two ‘sides’ in this election: Democrats or Trump (there is no functional traditional Republican Party any more – all that remains is the name), and the minor parties including the amorphous masses who call themselves “independents” will be left in the dust.  After November 3 it will be either D or T….

I have absolutely no idea who will “win” anything on Nov. 3.  If the Trump side prevails, all, but the tiniest sliver of the super wealthy, will be the losers.

Overnight from Heather Cox Richardson.

*

POSTNOTE 1.  In a companion article, Carol shared the following from the New York Times about how the proposed arch in DC would interfere with other historic national sites in the city.

Again, as one of the 99%+ who are not functionally wealthy in this country, I note with concern the increasing attempt to rewrite American history, past and future.

This will all catch up on the wealthy in the end, but unfortunately, it will decimate the less wealthy first and most viciously.

There aren’t any of us who can come up with a trillion dollars ($1,000.000, 000, 000)

*

POSTNOTE 2.  When Trump first ran for office I had almost zero notion of who he was or would be as a president.  I had never (and still haven’t) watched an episode of the Apprentice.  He had never run for public office, so there was no criteria to judge there.

Now, nine years after the famous escalator entrance into the fray, evidence abounds that the man is, as one of his admirers admitted in a letter on this blog in 2019, “a common criminal” (which the writer almost described as a virtue).  Still, Trump has slavish admirers who deny their very eyes.

I’m in no position to be a first person witness, but I do try to pay attention to life at ground zero – my own and the people I know personally.  We are the micro – the real world – the people who make up the mass that is everyone.  The news tends to focus on the macro.

I offer these observations as summer begins to wane, and we start the move to fall and winter and 2027 and on.

Last spring I filed my taxes as I always do, and my tax preparer surprised me by saying we would be getting a pretty substantial refund.  I was preparing to pay in for 2025, but indeed came a goodly refund.  A summer vacation gift from the government!?

Most recently a recurrent TV ad touts something called “Trump Accounts” apparently $1,000 per child to parents of young children as an investment in their future.  It all seems so nice and innocent.  Free money, compliments of the President of the United States.

Frequently come news about changes in existing medicare and other plans, cutbacks on services taken for granted at parks, for instance, etc., etc. etc.  Most of these are prospective or ‘Nickel and Dime” changes which people are less likely to notice.  But everything adds up, and of course the tax rate on the wealthy has to be paid for by something.  So the national debt continues to go through the roof.  Who’ll pay for that?

And who can deny the roaring stock market, from which many of us benefit short term, but which even I can observe is grossly overvalued and only time will tell if reality will set in.

All these examples illustrate wins that may end up as losses in the short and long term when election season is over and the long winter begins.  As the saying goes, “There is no free lunch.”   Gas prices go up a heap, and down a little, then up again, and even higher, but are conveyed as wins for consumers….

Of course, I may be wrong in all of this, but this appears to be like a con job in progress.  It is much like going to Las Vegas or the local casino or lottery to win when everyone knows that the House always wins.  Everywhere there are similar stories.  The ordinary individual does not go to the Casino to win.

At this moment in history we seem to have a con man in charge, with a glib tongue, talking people out of their deserved stake in the game of life, and taking a large cut out of their individual longer term welfare.

We seem to like being taken for a ride.  Sometime that time will end.

COMMENTS (additional comment at end of these comments)

from Larry: I just read that column ..very scary..musk is a neo Nazi and Trump turned loose with a chainsaw. The list long. But he must go through the 25th or impeachment…asap..and Doug is paying a price for his compliance. Thanks for your writings and links.

from SAK:

Thanks for that Mr Bernard I hope many decide to exercise their right to vote!

Aneurin Bevan was a British Labour leader, Welsh to be more specific which explains his name, his nickname was “Nye”.

I like something he said years ago: “The whole art of Conservative politics in the 20th century, is being deployed to enable wealth to persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power.”

Swap Conservative for Trumpist or Republican & 21st century for the 20thand you have crossed the Atlantic and arrived at the present.

How does wealth achieve this sleight of hand – legerdemain taken from French is another cute way of putting it? After all it is basically a form of trickery & deception to make people vote against their own interest!

Well by focusing on an issue here, another there to distract from the real motives. Issues like abortion, race, China, communism. The focus can be explicit or implicit: some have become masters of the dog whistle & can easily join an orchestra if that instrument were admitted!

Mr Bernard is right poverty, indeed all, are still politically free for now & can vote – well aside from those hampered or barred by Jim Crow laws 2.0 & other “innovations” again deployed against the democratic spirit.

He is also right to point to possible economic/financial crises threatening to washing ashore . . . after all it is impossible to cut taxes for the rich, bribe a segment of the electorate, explode the defence budget & govern with alarming incompetence (e.g. tariff soap opera) without exacting a price. The national debt is an obvious victim as Mr Bernard mentions.

Do you remember all the talk about how Reagan’s SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative – nicknamed Star Wars) supposedly meant the USSR had to respond & spend too much money on defense thus bankrupting it & hastening its end? That view is controversial but anyway, a huge defense budget did not help the USSR.

Well now we have US vs China. Are they playing the same game? Who will be bankrupted & what happens then? Yet another “end of history” or much worse!?

Whatever happens the world will suffer since precious resources are being wasted on wars & the military instead of urgent action needed on the climate, food scarcity etc.

When a country borrows money it then starts paying interest on the debt. Looking at US debt in May, 2025 the conclusion was that if the 10-year yield (that is how much one would expect in return if he bought the 10-year US bond) was at 4.4% the result would mean the US has to pay about $900 billion a year in interest:

https://www.crfb.org/blogs/higher-treasury-yields-would-add-trillions-debt

Actually the debt & the yield grew quicker than expected & the US ended up paying $1220 billion:

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/interest-expense-avg-interest-rates/

One can see the direct relationship between rates & how much the US pays in interest – which is more than any budget including defense!

And with Trump’s new Fed chairman & a divided Fed (3 members wanted to raise rates) deciding not to raise rates although inflation is rising . . . the rates shot up again this week.

30-year Treasury yield hits highest level since 2007 after Fed keeps rates unchanged

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/treasury-yields-fed-interest-rates.html

Yield on 10-year US treasury bonds:

This is pretty unusual!

https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/US10Y

If rates stay as high as they were recently the US will pay $1.25 trillion ($1,250,000,000,000.00) or likely more in interest in 2026.

Pentagon Awards Mega Contracts to Firms Amid Iran War Strains

Jen Judson and Tony Capaccio    July 30, 2026

The Pentagon is accelerating defense production with multiyear mega contracts as the Trump administration seeks to enhance the armed forces and the Iran war intensifies demands on a dwindling US weapons stockpile.

On Wednesday alone, the Defense Department announced two massive contracts worth about $135 billion to major US defense companies. The administration has more broadly requested $1.5 trillion for an unprecedented defense budget amid what it calls a necessary generational investment to prepare for future conflicts.

The Army reported a $59 billion, seven-year agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp. to bolster production of in-demand but hard-to-replace Patriot interceptors that have been crucial to the Middle East conflict.

At the same time, the Pentagon unveiled contracts worth as much as $76.6 billion for General Dynamics Corp. and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. to expand construction of the US’s top nuclear submarines and make shipyard infrastructure improvements.

The awards include nine new latest model “Block VI” Virginia-class attack submarines, equipped with an expanded capacity for Tomahawk cruise missiles. The contracts also cover five additional Columbia-class nuclear-missile submarines in the planned fleet of 12.

Shares of General Dynamics rose 2.6% in after-hours trading in New York, while Huntington Ingalls’ stock gained 3.9%. Lockheed’s shares advanced 0.5% after the announcement of its award following the close of regular trading.

The multiyear deals help lock in arms suppliers and give defense contractors the confidence to increase capacity on production lines. There have been numerous contracts announced after the Pentagon’s top officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, complained that major contractors were delivering products late and over budget.

The Iran war has only heightened concerns about the American defense industry. US forces in the Middle East are using up vast amounts of high-value interceptors — costing around $4 million each — to defend against Iran’s ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones.

Persian Gulf nations have also deployed Patriot missiles to defend themselves against hundreds of missile and drone attacks on energy facilities and other critical infrastructure as the conflict expanded across the Middle East.

The agreement announced Wednesday is Lockheed’s second major long-term missile production deal. Earlier this year, The company was awarded a contract that could be worth as much as $35 billion from the Pentagon to quadruple production of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, interceptors, over seven years.

The new Lockheed contract will help the firm step up from roughly 600 missiles a year to about 2,000 annually by 2030. But even that may not be enough for a US war effort in an extended conflict, particularly against a more powerful country than Iran, such as China.

 

Minnesota Primary Election until August 11

/2 Comments/in /by

ALSO, August 1: very interesting informed comment on the current Nuclear talk, as well as information about the 81st anniversary (Aug 6&9) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki observances in this area, both here.

*

The Minnesota Primary Election is August 11, and because our law allows early voting, the vote has already started.

I’ll vote early, but wanted to wait until I could hear Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in person – which opportunity came July 30 (photo).

Peggy is the DFL (Democrat) endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate.  Rep. Angie Craig, also a Democrat and current Mn Congresswoman, passed on the normal endorsement process for the same seat – not uncommon.

Of course no candidate, or no person, has the luxury of an in-person face-off with a candidate. Even an average size and population state, as Minnesota is, has millions of potential voters and tens of thousands of square miles, and only two Senators.  So, when I have the opportunity to see and hear a candidate in person, I accept it.  I have my opinion about the process of selecting candidates – that’s for another time.   (I’ll be voting for and support Peggy.   I have no issue with Angie, but can only vote for one.)

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, at Woodbury MN July 30, 2026

On Thursday, Peggy made a very positive impression to a good sized crowd.  She has done a great number of local visits across our large state.

“Second-in-commands”, as Lt. Gov., VP, and the like, generally are out of the spotlight, and so they are often not well known, even if their role is crucial.  Think of VP Harry Truman who became President when FDR died; Lyndon Johnson after the death of JFK; Gerald Ford after Nixon resigned (VP Spiro Agnew had resigned earlier)…Richard Nixon was vice-president to Eisenhower and later ran for President; George H.W. Bush was vice-president to Reagan, and later became president.

In recent Minnesota history Karl Rolvaag was Lt Gov before being elected Governor.  Ditto for Rudy Perpich.  Earlier in Minnesota history there were 7 others.

The occupant of second chair, so to speak, may not be as visible, but the occupant has to be ready, just in case, and “just in case” does happen, really pretty frequently.

Peggy has paid far more than her dues in public service, details at her website.  Leave the content of the legally anonymous dark money attack ads out of your deliberations for her (or any) candidate.  I’ll comfortably cast my own vote for her.  A friend who has worked with her said  “I’ve never met anyone who works harder than she does! She truly cares about people and helping everyone. There have been times when she and I haven’t agreed but she always listens and tries to find common ground. However, she is never afraid to fight for what’s right.

In my personal opinion she has what it takes to win the primary and  election and be the best congressperson!”  

At the Thursday gathering, the “f” (fraud) word came up.  Peggy handled the question competently.

I’ve taken considerable interest in this issue since the beginning.  The attack narrative is that Minnesota is soft and my party is incompetent on crime.  I totally disagree.  Long and short: Fraud doesn’t start at Minnesota’s borders, nor is it the exclusive province of the Somali community, which is portrayed to be collectively guilty.  Fraud is a problem everywhere.  The longest Minnesota sentence so far in the fraud cases was given to a white lady who grew up in the next door suburb to me – 41 years was her sentence.  Only about 1 of 1000 Somali’s (about 60 in all) in this state were perpetrators who in various ways cashed in on the fraud.

Every state and country has crooks, just waiting for opportunities.  They are like germs in pandemics: they look for openings and attack.  Deliver us from the evil of mal-information, which is epidemic in this era, and likely to get much worse.

We’re stuck with negative, deceptive and dishonest message mongers exploiting our freedom of speech.  The tactic works.  But this doesn’t mean we have to buy the BS messages.  Consider the source, the content and the context.

Minnesotans, vote by August 11.  The six other statewide primary candidates I support are here.  I support the endorsement process.

POSTNOTE 1:  Earlier in the day of Lt. Gov Flanagan’s meeting with us, the front page headline of the Minnesota Star Tribune screamed “St. Paul mayor facing sex harassment probe“.  The new mayor, a woman, is only at the point of being accused, but this instantly became front page news.  I remarked to friends later the same day that if the circumstances involved a white male official the odds would be pretty solid that the allegations would not even be news especially in older days.   (The mayor is female and of Hmong ancestry.)  Stay tuned.

On the same front page was another headline “Cyberattack hits state’s water utilities“.  There was almost immediately a conclusion shared publicly by the President of the United States, that of course it was Gov. Tim Walz’s fault and the plot was Iranian based.  Front page news?  “Truth”?

These were reminders that this election season will be slimy, likely far worse than normal times.  Minnesotans which are apparently at or near the top of the Presidents enemy list, needs to be prepared to be dragged through the mud.  For everyone: Be very wary and aware.

POST NOTE 2: I did a post referencing Tony Fauci July 30.  You can read it here.

COMMENTS:

from Larry:

Good summary and info on the Minnesota side. I wish Rob Kupec, a WDAY alumni hand (retired), is running for re-election in the Moorhead/Clay county district. DFL. Am hoping he makes it and I wish we had him on the ND side.
BTW..just posted my lastest YouTube essay. This is on Artificial Intelligence, today’s big buzz term. I tell in three minutes 39 seconds how I use Gemini. Of special note – you may find the opening graphic interesting. Totally created in about two minutes by Gemini A-I. I just typed in a few thoughts about what I wanted. I plan to make more use of that free service. Here’s the link: Thoughts on A I

I hear ya on thinking of the dangers of A-I. But, in the way I am using it, I really like it. When I order up a visual, it’s like talking to a graphic artist in my department or at the ad agency I formerly worked in. But when I make a small change – or a big one – no complaints. The Gemini robot just does it. And, generally, in about a minute.

Nuclear

/0 Comments/in /by
August 6 and 9, 2026. mark the 81st anniversary of two days which live in infamy – the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in my mail came two separate items about nuclear which are very much related, in my opinion.  The second is time sensitive, and at the end of this post, so for sure scroll to it before leaving this page.

A Primer on Nuclear:  July 27 came the following from a friend from College days – we were in dorm rooms across the hall from each other 1958-61, we and other boys from mostly tiny North Dakota towns.

Darryll, my correspondent, ended up as a 40 year professor at a Big 8 University, retiring as Emeritus Professor.  He took to science like a fish to water, and what follows with his permission  are his thoughts on the issue of Nuclear, again a big topic of conversation.  Remember, don’t forget the announcement at the end of this post.
Darryll:  I am pasting  (below) a copy of a letter I sent to the two senators and one congressman from Nebraska.  The situation with Iran is dangerous to the world.  You may use the letter in any way you deem pertinent.  I have been heavily involved in trying to transmit the science to politicians.  AGU (American Geophysical  Union) has been sending me, and others, detailed descriptions of proposed congressional actions that would affect the science, or even otherwise.  They provide all the information and I add the likely affect on citizens of Nebraska in terms of science.  I did convince congressman Flood to restore funding that had been cut for weather stations in Nebraska and South Dakota.
PS if there are mistakes in  English, etc. I blame it on the copy app on my computer.
******************************************************************************************************************************************

To Senators Ricketts and Fischer, and Congressman Flood- Jul 22, 2026

Once again I am writing you as my representatives to the US Congress.  There is a huge assertion that Iran is on the verge of making a Uranium nuclear bomb and we are at war with Iran to stop them.   That assertion has no legs, but does have dangerous consequences. Note, one assassination led to WW 1I  There are multiple different paths to a much larger war in the current war with Iran.  I will address the huge assertion that Iran is on the verge of having nuclear weapons and that is a danger to all of the world.  I will try to rebut the assertion using science.

In WW II, the United States made the first nuclear bombs. The first  one dropped on Japan was a Uranium (U235) bomb, the second was a Plutonium  (Pu239) bomb.  After that nearly all nuclear bombs were made of Pu239.  The Hanford nuclear site in eastern Washington created enough Pu239 to make over 60,000 nuclear weapons.  No more U235 bombs were made.  I will address why no more U235 bombs were made.

In all of nature there are only two isotopes of uranium, U235 and U238. U235 is much more radioactive than U238 so 99% of Uranium in nature is U238, the U235 has decayed radioactively.   Less than 1% of U in nature is U 235.  Only U235 is radioactive enough to achieve nuclear fission, using  larger amounts, in a bomb.  Both isotopes have the same chemical characteristics so chemical separation will not work.  They do have different nuclear weights, 235 and 238, a very small percentage difference.  High speed centrifuges can separate the two isotopes but the enrichment is about to 60% U235.  This not nearly high enough to make a nuclear bomb.  In WWII the required U235 enrichment was accomplished using very energy demanding processes and only small quantities of U235 could be enriched to the point of making a nuclear bomb.

Enriched U235 can be included in fuel rods for nuclear reactors to produce the energy for generating electrical power.  Special methods are used to slow spontaneous nuclear particles produced in radioactive decay so nuclear fission occurs. Control rods can shut down the spontaneous nuclear particles flux by absorbing them.  It should be noted that the radioactive decay particles of U235 and U238 are also very radioactive in themselves so fuel rods are highly radioactive.  A barrel volume of spent fuel rods generates heat equivalent to a clothes dryer, for 10’s of thousands of years.  That is why nuclear reactors have to be continuously cooled , even if the reactor is not running.  Spent fuel rods are housed in large swimming pools. No safe repository has been found that will contain these spent rods for 10,000’s of years.

So how is Pu239 made, as it is a man-made element? Pu239 is extremely radioactive and nuclear fission can easily be attained with small amounts.  A special type of nuclear reactor is used, called a breeder reactor.    These reactors are designed so U238 included in the fuel rod can be converted to Pu239.  They are called breeder reactors because they produce more radioactive energy then they consume, in the form of Pu239.  The much more effective chemical processes can be used to extract the Pu239 created from the other radioactive material in the fuel rods.

The United States chose to not use commercial breeder reactors because Pu239 is formed which brings in the factor of safety.  Spent fuel rods in breeder reactors can be used to make nuclear bombs by anyone with some skills.  Once again, Uranium is not the bogey man that Trump and others claim.

Nuclear weapons are the giant in the room.  The term ‘Mutual Assured Destruction” (MAD) comes into play.  The nuclear bombs have been upgraded in power far beyond that of WWII.  One cannot ever use them, because it could be the end of civilization (nuclear winter).

I grew up in North Dakota, the site of two major Air Force bases. When I was a PhD student (Graduated  1970) at the University of North Dakota, located in Grand Forks, I could hear the roar of jets taking off at the nearby Grand Forks Air Force base.   Every 8 hours a new strike (Operation Chrome Dome) was launched toward Russia.  Bombers, tanker planes, and escorting fighters headed to Russia followed 8 hours later with another launch, etc..  When the strike reached a point near Russia they turned around. The United States could not withstand a major surprise attack and still respond effectively so Chrome Dome assured the attacker would pay the same price .  There were also 300 IBM sites associated with the base.  They could be launched within minutes.  The second AFB base in the state was near Minot, ND.  Same operation as Grand Forks AFB.  No nuclear power would try to attack another country, with Nukes,  because of MAD.  Alliances such as NATO were formed to further keep the peace. We are still in that mode now.  One hears statements that Israel is very afraid of Iran having Nuclear weapons.  Israel has had Nukes since the early 70’s.   They tested them in the ocean islands off India.   This country and other countries negotiated a “treaty” with Iran that included on site inspections.   Trump tore up that agreement.  Trump initiated attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and said the uranium issue was destroyed in these attacks. Trump joined with Israel in launching major attacks on Iran.  I submit that Uranium is not the danger, there are other reasons for starting of the war with Iran.  These reasons have not been articulated in detail nor the end game.  I suggest that oil played a part in the decision.  Trump has mentioned oil more than once, and even said once that an American oil company should take over Iran’s oil.  The lessons of history have not been learned by Trump or Israel.   I was very concerned with Trump firing all of the senior military leaders.  Their collected experience would have represented far better guidance than the current Secretary of Defense, a former Fox news host.

The ball is now in your court.  Your collective experience needs to be put to work.  Right now you need to honor the oath you swore to uphold and protect this country.  The Constitution should be your guideline.

I was asked to attend an OLLI meeting several weeks ago.  I am an Emeritus Professor of UNL (40 years), and have even taken courses in nuclear physics in graduate school, main field hydrogeology.  At the meeting one of the speakers said Israel was afraid of Iran going nuclear. I raised my hand and pointed out that Israel has nuclear weapons.  I also mentioned briefly that possession of uranium does not mean Iran has nuclear weapons (see above).   I further added the concept of MAD is applicable.  I finished with saying “one would have to be an idiot to use nuclear weapons in today’s world.”  I was totally surprised when many in the audience (about 130 people attending) started chanting “Trump is an idiot.”   These are senior citizens who are still active in today’s events.  I had never said Trump once in my statements.

I am asking you to think long and hard.  The times are dangerous and the administration does not appear to have the experience nor ability to think wisely about what they are doing.  They have started something that they don’t know what to do next, except to escalate further..

Darryll Pederson, Emeritus Professor UNL

COMMENT:

from Peter: (two page letter on the nuclear/AI issue in Vermont) interesting take.   Peter is a long time good friend.) Barus Nuclear AI Aug 2026

*

from JoAnn Blatchley, convener
Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration Committee
July 28, 2026
I’m attaching this year’s flier for the Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration events.  I’m pleased to have Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer as keynote speaker on August 6th, and very excited to have performance artist Masa (originally from Hiroshima) do an original Butoh dance on the 8th at the Global Harmony Labyrinth.  Butoh is a modern Japanese dance form developed after the atomic bombings and is very powerful.  I urge everyone to attend this unique evening.
Thank you for your faithful Thoughts for a Better World.
Please feel free to share this information (the 1 page pdf is linked here: HiroshimaNagasaki_2026-81vs