Entries by dickbernard

Smithsonian and History

Heather Cox Richardson gives a good summary of the issue of rewriting history through control of the record.  It’s her post for August 20, here.  There is much, much more to say.  Stay tuned, if you are an occasional visitor.  I’ll likely not publicize this till Labor Day or after, and I’ll be hoping for […]

The Days Ahead

  People don’t like to hear bad news.  The phrase “See no evil; speak no evil; hear no evil,” comes to mind.  Unfortunately, bad news comes to us regardless, and it is important to pay attention.  And we have seen months and now years of evidence of dangers to our democracy.  In the end, we, […]

Forward

Our country is lurching towards the hoped for 250th anniversary of the American experiment in representative democracy. For all of these years. till now, in our own imperfect way, we’ve exercised the right of “we, the people” to select our representatives and abide by a rule of law which acknowledges and accommodates differences of opinion. […]

August 9, 2025

PRENOTE: Overnight came a post from Heather Cox Richardson that deserves your time, and is about Russia/Ukraine/U.S. You can read it here. Earlier this summer my cousin, Remi Roy, took a trip back to the home area of his German-from-Russia ancestors in the Odessa Ukraine and Romania area.  His post is here. Saturday we went […]

Germans from Russia 2

PRENOTE: Today is the 80th anniversary of the first use of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.   I wonder what centuries of war and destruction have taught humanity, if anything.   Today, and on August 9 (Nagasaki) are items directly related to the whole business of peace.  They are notes ‘off the beaten path’. […]

War

PRE-NOTE:  Take a moment: There are three comments to the Tariff post, here.  Yesterday I did a brief post on three items, here.  Last week, Fred sent along a forward from a friend about Ukraine and Russia weapons.  The friends comment to Fred and by extension to us: “long, worth reading, worrisome“. * This week […]

Melvin, Garrison, Dayton

A while back I wrote about the unexpected death of my friend Melvin Giles.  The post is here.  I went to the celebration of Melvin’s life on Saturday.  Several hundred people were in attendance and it was a joyful gathering.  Melvin was a wonderful addition to any community of which he was part. Judging by […]

Tariff Day

Sue forwarded Robert Reich’s latest column today.  I think you can access it here.  It is worth your time: “Be warned, the financial bubble will soon burst” is the title.  Also from Dr. Reich Friday, Trump destroys our source of information about jobs. Of course, whatever one’s special interest is unique.  So some will say […]

Hiroshima Nagasaki 2025

PRE-NOTE:  Below consists primarily of program notices in coming days for folks in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. For anyone, this mornings Weekly Sift including this, are very informative in my opinion. Hiroshima-Nagaasaki may be of interest to anyone.  Just scroll through.  (Dates of the events described are listed). Saturday I went to the new Superman […]

Reflecting on a Long Ago Summer.

A week ago I shared some visions of young progresssives and conservatives in the early 1960s.  The post is here.  In the note introducing the post I said “[this is] an invitation to give some thought to our past, present and future as a nation and society, and your role in it.” As I relate […]