Today, Sunday April 12, I went to church as usual. Today’s Mass was in a new venue, still at Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, but today, and for the next 48 Sundays, the sanctuary is the church undercroft (basement) as the 100 year old sanctuary, and the church generally, is being renovated. I’m a […]
Jim posted a long response to the April 5 blog on Iran. Here is his entire point of view: “You asked for response…! Here goes. As usual, I suspect neither you or many (any?) of your other friends is going to agree with much of this. Forgive the digression, but I want to start […]
POSTNOTE: April 6, 2026: Sometime today, apparently, we’ll be told what is planned for the people of Iran. I am deliberately writing this before I know the substance of whatever announcement will be made. Other recent posts about the Iran issue: February 23, March 3, 14, 15 note archives at right. Largely because of a […]
POSTNOTE April 1, 2026: The same day I published this, David shared an item from the Minnesota Star Tribune on March 26: Abdi Elmi March 26 2026. The setting is the coffee shop I frequent daily. I know all of the persons involved in the conversation, though until the article, I wasn’t aware that the […]
Saturday March 28, 2026. No Kings national demonstrations. All info here. In case you haven’t seen it, Thomas Friedman wrote an outstanding commentary about Twin Cities actions during the ICE “surge” in early 2026. Links are in the post I did March 15, here. Friedman is a native of the Twin Cities. It’s a good […]
Three items on a snow day in Minnesota 1. Thomas Friedman. Robert Reich, on March 15, 2026, shared a remarkable column by Twin Cities native Tom Friedman about the example demonstrated by the citizens of Minneapolis particularly in recent troubled times. I hope the column is accessible to all. It is long and very […]
POSTNOTE March 15: Relevant additional post today. Today is 112 days before the 250th birthday of the United States of America. Commit yourself to extra effort to save our democracy between now and then, especially. Today, March 14, 2026, begins the third week of “Epic Fury”. I have near 86 years of experience as a […]
There is so much happening at this moment especially in the Iran area that I want to add some items to the essential conversation. We all need to be directly involved. Here’s a rough map I adapted from an old Atlas I have which helps define the area. This is from 1982, so the map […]
PRENOTE March 1, 2026: Coincident with the convention described below came news that the U.S. had begun to bomb Iran. A few days ago, I started a post about Iran which you may wish to look at and comment on. It is here. Note: at the time I published this post, I had no idea […]
I am not sure I’ll waste any time tonight watching the 2026 State of the Union. For sure, today, I’ll revisit the President March 4, 2025, State of the Union address, which you can read here. Remember, this is the speech one year ago. I recommend, also, two posts I did in the last two […]