April 1: An election day in Wisconsin and Florida. Give yourself 10 minutes to either read or listen to Thinking About from Timothy Snyder. Skeptic? Okay. Shelve it for the necessary 10 minutes. * Here is my March 29 post, published on Day 68 of the first 100 days. I am reposting this because nearly […]
By my count, today is Day 68 of the first 100 days. Our democracy is under assault, we have to be the ones who defend it. Do something, every day. There are at least 75 million of us. It seems pertinent this day to reprise my first and only reference to Tesla in these pages. […]
This letter is especially to you, specifically to you. Today (Saturday, March 22, 2025) is the second day of Spring in Minnesota, and Day 61 of the first 100 days since the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States. Today, it is increasingly evident that the citizenry of the U.S. is beginning to […]
UPDATED MARCH 22, 2025: The last few days I’ve had the privilege of watching the four episodes on the life of James J. Hill. HERE is the link to the four episodes. An earlier promotional link about the series can be read here. The portion about the link to the series there is outdated, […]
Why “Decapitation” as a title? See end. A dew days ago I responded to someone else’s post as follows: “Outstanding. Now if we all can really believe that we are the ones who will make the difference, one person, one action at a time“. Barbara K, responded to my response: “Richard, I have posted this […]
The Saturday Minnesota Star Tribune main headline was clear enough: “Dems acquiesce to prevent shutdown“. Anyone who follows national news has read/heard all about it, so no need to go into detail. Elsewhere on the front page were other headlines “U approves limits on faculty speech…Resolution gives president broad control over communications”; “So why the […]
PRENOTE: If you think what is happening, won’t happen, or can’t happen, read this at your leisure. It seems a good time to remember Social Security by re-presenting some history through some brief personal recollections, as well as some documentary ‘evidence’ as provided to a covered worker – myself – in 1992 and 2001. It […]
PRENOTE: Most of this post was written before the forced evacuation of the Department of Education. I knew no details. At some point I will file a second, dated, postnote. * Today began the ritual “killing” of the U.S. Department of Education, established as a separate department of the Government in 1980, and now 65 […]
This has been a very long week. I want to give a prelude to my own summary, by offering some observations by Garrison Keillor, who I first became acquainted with in 1977. Keillor’s two most recent columns are here and here. I have a long affinity for Keillor’s work, beginning with the first time I […]
Today was day 45 of the first 100 days…. The dump has just begun. The perpetrators can say, “don’t blame us. You were warned”. But the first reaction is like being dumped on by an avalanche, or mud slide, or hit by a tsunami, earthquake or wildfire. Until it happens, you don’t really expect it, […]