Zero Day

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By my count, today is day 32 of the first 100 days of what more and more seems like an attempted bloodless coup d’etat.

I am simply one of the peasants wondering what to do – if I can do anything.  I can’t sit idly by.  There are at least 75,000,000 of us that did not ask for this fate, and the mantra “Do something” comes to mind.  I’ve made my choice; I urge you to make yours.  100 days is somewhere around May 1.  Focus on what you can do, not on what something someone else should do, or should have done.  This is our country and our world.  Don’t let it be stolen from us.

Yesterday I heard about a just-released series on Netflix entitled Zero Day.  Its first episode was last night.  I haven’t watched it yet, but will.

[Feb. 22: I did watch the first segment, and it is well worth the time.  Feb 22, Marion wrote: “Thanks for the Netflix tip!“.  Last night we watched episodes 2 and 3 (of 5), and found the film very worthwhile. We’ll probably watch the rest today.  It is a learning and reflection opportunity at a time of genuine crisis in our country.]

Simply put in search words Zero Day, starring Robert DeNiro.  It is political fiction, set in the present day, and production began in 2022, and you can doubtless find, already, any number of reviews, from must see to don’t bother.  The story line, as I understand it, is plausible.  Worthy of thought.  That’s all I’ll say.

I’m going to watch it from a citizen point of view – where do I fit into this picture, now and in the coming days, months and years.  The only advantage I have is that I listened to a few minute segment featuring the producer and the two folks integral to developing the concept and the production itself.  I’ll say no more about the film.  Whether you subscribe to Netflix or not, you can pay per view, and watch on your home computer.  You don’t have to go out.  Take the risk.

A companion book might be the new one from Chris Hayes, “The Sirens’ Call“, a New York Times bestseller.

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Separate news, locally.  The candidate nominated by Gov. Walz for chair of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL) will  be in Woodbury at 7:30 p.m. Monday Feb 24, 2025.  E-mail me if you wish further information.  An rsvp will be requested.

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There is an immense amount of credible factual information available about the implications of the ongoing ‘shock and awe’ emanating from the White House.  It seems redundant to pass the play-y-play along.  I have previously indicated sources which I consider very knowledgable and credible in this time of a daily avalanche of truly fake news, where rumors are passed along as fact.  For those specifically requesting, I’ll send along a list of those sources which I consider well worth your time.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

from Mary:  I am not one of those many Americans who see the current scenarios as ‘blips’ with a good outcome eventually-amaller government, transparency, increased respect in the world, better living for most of us, etc.  We are all in for a world of hurt.

I can’t even imagine the anguish of thousands of federal workers (including Rebecca) who are or may be seeing some tough changes in their immediate futures.  How do you do effective work or set any goals when so much is uncertain?
Too many Americans are showing their mean streaks and selfish tendencies to the world – including Canada!
 But, we need to keep chugging along.

from Claude: Dick, here’s one idea you can spread, a Feb 28 Economic Boycott. I received this from a post in Facebook by my French cousin! [NOTE: this one is going around.  I reprinted the same list in the Presidents Day Post on Feb. 17.  Worth doing.  Neither list attributed its composition to anyone.  Mostly I was interested in the content.]

 

The 24 hour Economic Blackout

For one day we show them who really holds the power
 
WHEN:
Thursday February 27th from Midnight till Friday The 28th Midnight
(A full 24 hours of the 28th)
12:00 AM to 12:00 AM
 
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not make any purchases
Do not shop online, or in-store
No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy
Nowhere!
Do not spend money on:
Fast Food
Gas
Major Retailers
Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non-essential spending
 
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary 
(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)
If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.
 
SPREAD THE MESSAGE
Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!
 
WHY THIS MATTERS!
~ Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.
~ If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.
~ If they don’t listen (they won’t) we make the next blackout longer (we will).
 
This is our first action.
This is how we make history. 
February 28th
The 24 Hour Economic Blackout Begins.

from Joyce Vance (I’m a subscriber, access to this free): Civil Discourse Democracy Index.

 

Presidents Day

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A reminder of the responsibility of being part of a Democracy.

Last week came one of those outsized don’t ignore envelopes, including a return address that I recognized – a statewide group I’ve been a member of for years, though never really been active within it.

Inside the large envelope were two other envelopes, one with my secret ballot, the other a postage paid return envelope.  And a booklet with brief candidate bios of those running for the indicated offices.  It was meant to be looked at, and acted on, and it was just a routine election….

There are three positions up for election: one has two candidates; the other two have 13 candidates each for ten available positions (“Vote for up to ten”).  I scanned the candidate list, and personally knew more than half of them, most for years.  For me it will be an easy election, with a deadline of two weeks.  In many ways it mirrored the Nov 5, 2024, election, including the machine scan for the first two of 39 (picture below).

I wonder how many who received the ballot will actually vote.  I doubt there will be anyone contesting (“stop the steal”) or such.  Just another election, one that is very familiar to most every adult in our society.  (In Nov. 2024, 90,000,000 eligible American voters didn’t vote at all, more than voted for either major candidate.)

We’re in tumultuous times here in our country – anybody who denies this is just not paying attention.  In the election just past, a certain number of people voted for candidate 1, a certain number for candidate 2, and the largest number didn’t vote at all….  Where was your mark?

There are so many issues, so little time.  It’s ‘shock and awe’ on purpose, and very dangerous.

I’ve basically decided to try to focus most on issues that have personal relevance.  Just a very few examples.

Last fall I wrote a long letter to my representatives, including the then-President, about my thoughts on public education, my career trade.  I didn’t expect a response from anyone.  I do know that someone at least scans the letters received.  Jan. 14, 2025, I got a response from Senator Tina Smith, one of two Minnesota Senators representing near 6 million people.  Her response was probably. form letter (fine by me) which details her views, which are here:  Education at Federal Level Sen Smith Jan 20250001.  At minimum, they cover some of the issue percolating at the national level, and I appreciate the response.  Legislators represent thousands of citizens.  There are many positive ways we can provide support as they do their work.

I’ve taken a particular interest in the intent to destroy USAID, in large part because I knew well a person who spent most of his career as an AID representative, ‘boots on the ground’, in 16 countries – his obituary is here, and was also in a recent post.  John has been gone for some years, but lives on in the memories and activism of at least one of his family, who I stay in touch with.  At minimum, I can be a support system, even though the family member lives over a thousand miles away.  USAID is not a thing; it is a person, representing our country to people in other countries.

I’ve made a list of personal things I can do.

This morning, a colleague sent a an e-mail with an idea, which I pass along here, from Larry: “Walter Enloe [referred to in this link] was a long time friend and colleague.  Feel free to send to anyone who might know teachers, or who might want to donate to increase the amount available for small grants.”

Also, today, Carol passed along an idea which appears to be getting lots of traction around the country – suggestion about what citizens united can do to raise awareness.  Here is the idea, as I received it from Carol. She didn’t recall the originating source, so just consider it somebody’s good idea.

The 24 hour Economic Blackout

For one day we show them who really holds the power
 
WHEN:
Thursday February 27th from Midnight till Friday The 28th Midnight
(A full 24 hours of the 28th)
12:00 AM to 12:00 AM
 
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not make any purchases
Do not shop online, or in-store
No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy
Nowhere!
Do not spend money on:
Fast Food
Gas
Major Retailers
Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non-essential spending
 
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary 
(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)
If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.
 
SPREAD THE MESSAGE
Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!
 
WHY THIS MATTERS!
~ Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.
~ If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.
~ If they don’t listen (they won’t) we make the next blackout longer (we will).
 
This is our first action.
This is how we make history. 
February 28th
The 24 Hour Economic Blackout Begins.

POSTNOTE: Presidents Day from Heather Cox Richardson

Presidents Day, Valentines Day

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Feb. 12 was Abe Lincoln’s birthday, and Feb 17 is the official President’s Day this year, and George Washington’s Birthday is the 17th and Valentine’s Day is today.  So it goes, Happy All of Them to Everybody.  Here’s Wikipedia’s interesting recitation on Presidents Day.

The cards, as usual, are from the Busch farm trove in the early 1900s, when my grandparents, my mother’s parents, were newlyweds in their 20s, hundreds of miles from their home country in southwest Wisconsin; part of the land rush to North Dakota in the early 1900s.  (There was an earlier settlement phase in Dakota Territory including my Dad’s family in the 1870s, but the real boom time came after statehood (1889), the railroad network, etc.  It was exciting times, and lonely times.  A letter from home was cherished.

They received lots of cards like the below, sometimes as postcards, sometimes as inserts with separate letters.  They kept them all, and I use them frequently here.  The originals related to history are with the North Dakota Historical Society; the others, like valentines,  were parceled out to the Busch family.

Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States when my grandparents moved west in 1905.  In the farm basement was a badly damaged portrait of all the President till Teddy Roosevelt.  Here is a photo I took of the bedraggled picture years ago:

The U.S. presidents and the U.S. Capitol, 1905. All Presidents shown up to and including Theodore Roosevelt. Found in the basement of the North Dakota farmhouse of my grandparents, who came to North Dakota in 1905.  George Washington (#1) front and center; Teddy (#26) is standing, front right.  Abraham Lincoln (#16) is standing front left.

POSTNOTE: Previous posts this week, if you wish, Feb 8 , 10, 11, 13.  Easy access through archive.  There is a lot of national news, of course.  You see the same things I do.  Be well informed and in action.

As I write, the Rule of Law ia under assault in this country of ours.  I have several times in this space referred to a 1959 52 page booklet released by the American Bar Association.  Here is a recent reference from May 5, 2024:

“In the course of developing the archival record of CGS MN.  I came across a very interesting booklet published by the American Bar Association booklet on the Rule of Law.  A pdf in four parts is here: Law Day Am Bar Assoc 1959 (c0ver through p. 17); Law Day (2) Am Bar Assoc 1959 (pages 18-24); Law Day (3) Am Bar Assoc 1959 (pages 25-43); Law Day (4) Am Bar Assoc 1959 (pp 45-52).

If I were to recommend a single page to read, it would be p. 49, “Law in a Treehouse World”.  The entire booklet is a timeless seminar for any novice in the law.”

If you haven’t read this before, give yourself the time to read these the remamining weeks of February, 2025.  The entire post is here.

This is your country under assault.  It is your responsibility – all of ours – to get engaged actively in saving it.

COMMENTS:

from Brian: Happy Valentine’s Day, Dick!    Thanks for posting.

from Judy: Thank you for these thoughts………….I cannot have imagined I would live any part of my life with the government operating as it is today.

from SAK:

Thanks Mr Bernard & I hope Valentine’s day was good for you,

We might also like to remember Saint Valentine who was martyred in the 3rdcentury . . .

As you mention, p.49 of that document you kindly sent is impressive. I would also like to point out a bit from pp 46-47 [below]. Yes these days are different days from the Red scare days of the 1950s so allowance must be made for that. Yet it is good to keep in mind why some succeed while others fail & history rhymes even when it doesn’t repeat.

Law Above Man

Democratic government is government by law. Communist government is government by men. That, reduced to its essentials, is the difference between our way of life and that of Russia. It is therefore, singularly appropriate that May Day, the traditional day of Red celebration has been set aside in this country as Law Day.

It’s a lot harder to glamorize a law than it is to glamorize a man. Laws are by nature impersonal things. They are created by bodies of men who have been chosen by vote to represent all the citizens. They are by design expressions of the wishes of all these citizens as to how their affairs shall be regulated. They represent as nearly as possible what the majority of us feel and have felt in the past is the most just, wise and honorable way to regulate our society.

Law can’t be personalized. Legislators on any level from the national Congress to the Court of Common Council may achieve popularity or abuse through campaigns to get certain measures on the books. But once a bill becomes law, it’s bigger than and beyond the people who wrote it or voted for it. It’s bigger than those in the executive arm of government, be it the President or the dog warden, who administer it. It’s bigger than the enforcement officer, J. Edgar Hoover or the town constable. It’s bigger than the courts, from the Chief Justice in Washington to the part-time country justice of the peace.

Under communism a man—one man— is bigger than the law. His aims, his whims, his self-imposed need to stay in power are the final factors. He operates the system and changes it at will to suit his purposes; he does not operate under the system. He is above and beyond the law which works, in the last analysis, only to achieve his will. There is no law beyond the will of the dictator.

The guarantees of law, the assurance that all men are equal under the law, are the prime sources of the strength of the individual in a free society. In these days of contest with the Reds on many fronts this strength is being called upon as never before. Our celebration of Law Day is a reminder and a reinforcement of those strengths, upon which rest the hope and the confidence of the free world.

—Meriden Journal, Meriden, Conn.

Thanks again!

from Flo: All we are now facing in just the first month of the US President and his colleagues is the disaster they have brought with them to the whole world.  Mistakes happen even with the best of us, but most of us can at least apologize.

Don

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Yesterday was the “Gathering” to say goodbye to our friend Don, who died Feb. 3 at 95 years of age.

Don was our across-the-street neighbor for many years, until the old-people’s carriage, an ambulance, took him to the hospital in the Fall of 2021.  He didn’t come home, but led the rest of his long life in a local nursing home, long outliving expectations.  Until the last year or so, his quality of life was pretty good.  Here is his obit.

Don was a ‘character’ – then again, all of us are characters, regardless of age.  Over the years I took quite a few pictures of him.  This one, in Lanesboro in 2018, was one that caught my attention.  He got a kick out of it.

The Memorial Card had quite a different photograph: of Don with Audrey Hepburn at, he said, an Academy Awards in the distant past.  He and she were born in the same year.  There is a story, of course.  Many.  Probably all true.  All interesting.

Don’s small home was quite literally a gallery,  almost a museum.  There was not a wall in his house, nary a room, that was not full of an eclectic collection of art, some of which he did himself.   I’m guessing few people saw this museum – he was pretty careful about who was allowed in, probably with good reason.  Once he showed my son, Tom, around.  Tom was very impressed.  (Don, in the below photo, from 7 years ago, wears the same green sweater he wears for eternity – it was his dress at the open casket yesterday.)

This piece would be very long if I went down all the side streets of Don’s life.  His love for birds that stopped by, especially the crows.  His always interest in antique shopping.  His love of nature generally.  Growing up in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

One early New Year we had taken him out for a drive, and it was the perfect chance to take a picture of his favorite tree, a gnarly oak at Lake Middle School.  My photo  became part of his gallery until his death, literally.

So long, Don.  Been good to know you.

COMMENTS:

from Tom (in third picture above): Don was a fascinating guy. His house was probably one of my favorite museums. It is sad to hear of his passing.

Resistance

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This is a note to the 75 million voters. for Harris/Walz on Nov. 5, and to the many others who now wish they had.

There are endless ways to peacefully and affirmatively act in solidarity.  Carol sent an idea on Feb. 10, which follows:

You probably all know that Cliff and I were married in Norway, I have Norwegian relatives, etc.  (Now I really wish that we’d tried to move there back when we likely could have.)  Anyway.  Before then it had not really sunk in how much of Norway was taken over by the Germans in WWII – and how underhandedly they had resisted.  My late cousin’s husband was killed in that war.
I loved the story of the red knit stocking caps – which became a national sign of resistance to the Nazis.  In Norway, of course, it’s not a bit odd to see a red stocking cap most all year (so, kind of hard for the Germans to forbid them…).  The hats were incorporated into everything, inc. cartoon characters wearing them.
I don’t think the pussy hats are going to be recycled, but I understand that a number of the federal employees who received Musk’s “Fork in the Road” e-mail have settled on the symbol of a spoon to indicate their resistance.  Here’s mine in support (altho’ I have not been a federal employee since I was, like, 22…)
Use it if you want 🙂
from Carol: Here’s Rachel Maddow on Facebook about this.

The Penny

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Earlier today came the announcement that the production of the penny may be ended.  Some details are in this PBS report.

It’s no news that it costs more to make a penny, than the penny is worth.  I don’t know about you, but if I see a penny on the ground, I don’t expend a lot of effort to pick it up – not so if it’s a dime down there, or something else (once I found three $100 bills and miscellany fluttering on a street.  A lady had left her billfold on the top of her car and forgot it there – I took the billfold and the bills to the police….)

Ten years ago I found three forlorn pennies along a road on the Big Island of Hawaii, and for some strange reason, have kept them until now.   Here they are.  Their one moment of fame:

It is likely very premature to issue a death certificate for the penny.  It may be lowly, and inefficient, and a nuisance, but it is popular.

In a recent post I said I paid $2.81 for my daily coffee.  If I paid cash (I don’t) I’d have to come up with the penny.  Sometimes there is a penny dish at the cash register in some stores.  But a penny is a penny, and it adds up even in a wealthy society as ours is.

Someone on TV was musing further today: maybe they shouldn’t stop with pennies, and include nickels, and maybe dimes in the destined for extinction….

It isn’t quite so simple: So they eliminate the pennies and theoretically save millions of dollars a year – dollars presumably spent on wages and similar somewhere in the national food chain.

But I think more of the point of use of the lowly penny.

Let’s say the penny disappears.  My coffee will have to be $2.80, or $2.85 – you’d have to round up or round down.  Can you imagine anyone rounding down?

In an earlier post I noticed how much that one cup of coffee realizes in multiples over time.  One cent less or four cents more makes a difference.

I could do the same exercise getting rid of the nickel,  or the dime.  There is money to be made – lots of it – by someone, if only in tiny increments.

Let’s leave it at that for now.

POSTNOTE: As noted, nothing is ever so simple as it appears.  Even my example has holes.  For instance, my $2.81 is paid by credit card, so I don’t have to rummage around in my pocket for a random penny. or vex the counter person having to come up with 19 cents change for the extra dollar I had found to pay for my coffee.  Of course, it quietly costs money for me to pay by credit.  The expense to the company has to be paid by somebody – me; the cost for the convenience also has to be paid – me.  Then there’s those who make money from the credit transaction – on and on.

The bottom line remains: there is alot money to be made from getting rid of the penny, and it will not go to the people whose job it has been to produce the coin, or the consumers who will unknowingly pay more for their purchase one way or another.

Below is the graphic I used in the earlier blog about Wealth.  And here’s the post itself.    Caveat emptor.

COMMENT; see end of post

Snow Day

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Previous posts this week February 3, 4 and 6.  Access at archive at right.  If you access Facebook, Molly offers a treat from Bob Dylan at Newport Folk Festival 1964.

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As I write these words on Friday, the prediction is for possibly 5-10 inches of snow overnight and Saturday morning.  So we might be temporarily snowbound – you don’t know when it happens.

Demo July 13, 2011

Tuesday, while looking for a photo of Ken Martin (Feb. 4 post), I found the above photo which I took at a small news moment at Minnesota State Capitol in the summer of 2011.  I took the photo.  Ken Martin is in the light suit at left in the picture.

I remember the demo.  I think it was organized by the DFL Senior Caucus and the DFL – I was in the founding group of DFLSC in 2006, and active for ten years.  The news event was an effort to publicize the needs of the marginalized in our society.  Martin was early in his term with DFL.

Note especially the lady at center front.  She’s hard to see.  I don’t know her disability but she’s confined to one of those motorized chairs, and I know she was active advocate at the time.

I’m intrigued by this photo because it exemplifies where the action always needs to be to make change: small groups, committed, working together for a better life, a better world.  They are, in a very real sense, all of us.  Specifically, they’re the 75,000,000 who voted for an alternative vision on Nov. 5, and are now facing an unprecedented crisis on the very future of the United States of America.  I am one of the 75,000,000, very concerned about the future of this county.

If you’re among the paralyzed in the 75,000,000 who says “I can’t do anything….”, rest assured you – and the rest of us – are the only solution.  Period.  Start with yourself.  Pick a single issue that energizes you, take a stand, aspire to make contact with at least one leader you perceive to be the next rung above you in the power pyramid (somebody like you pastor, a city councilman, a state legislator….)  Deal with your contacts as you’d want to be dealt with.  We live together, after all.

Escalate your activity.  Maybe one thing one time this week; maybe twice next week – etc.  But make it proactive.  We need to do more than learn more.  We need to share our concern in the many ways available to us.

This is not a rocket science business.  If you care, you’re going to have to be ‘on the court’

Autocracy 21st Century: Day 17

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Yesterday a guy came in for coffee.  He’s someone I’ve seen before, this day proudly wearing his “T*ump 2024” baseball hat.  I wa minding my own business, and had no interest in engaging with him.  One of the guys sitting next table over said “Nice baseball hat”, which pleased the guy.  But I also noticed the three sitting there all vamoosed and I remembered an earlier encounter where they shut the same guy down. So the “nice hat” comment may have been a preemptive strike.   Quiet prevailed.  Then a woman came by and also said ‘nice hat’ and said hers was the red one.  He commented that T “came in like a tornado and he’s really shaking things up.  I really like the mass deportations.”  She disappeared, for whatever reason.  I made the same election.  Folks like him I see rarely.  Most of us want our country like it was three weeks ago, but we are letting it slide away.  Each of us are players in our recovery or our destruction.  Get in action.

It happens that, at the time, thanks to Joyce, I was reading a Feb. 3 column by Dahlia Lithwick, which I’ve pdf’ed here: Dahlia Lithwick Feb 3, 2025, about the new autocracy playbook, I’ll dub it the Orban plan.  Take the time to read her column.

POSTNOTE: Heather Cox Richardson Feb 3 and Feb 4; Joyce Vance Feb 4 and Feb 5

Column by David French in Feb, 4 NYTimes: David French NYTimes Feb 5 2025

Thanks to Carol and Joyce, here’s an ongoing list of actions relating to the deluge of Executive Orders.  I presume it will continue to be updated.

Heather Cox Richardson Feb. 5 and Feb. 6; Joyce Vance Feb. 6 and  Feb. 7

Ken Martin, John Garney

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Ken Martin, new Chair of the Democratic National Committee

Ken Martin June 23, 2011

Ken Martin is a Minnesotan and I have been familiar with his career since he became chair of the Minnesota DFL in 2011.  At the time, I was an active and founding member of the DFL Senior Caucus, on whose Board I served from 2006-2016.  I didn’t know Ken personally, but I certainly knew him professionally.  He will serve very well.  The Wiki entry about him gives a reasonable description of who he is.  The photographs are mine, from his first year as DFL chair.

Democrats are a diverse lot, which is a strength, in my opinion.  We don’t always agree, which can be very frustrating, but Ken Martin seems to have handled the political issues very well over the years.

Jim commented last evening: God bless Ken Martin, and godspeed to him.  I feel badly for him.  He has been planning for this for YEARS (it was kinda obvious even when I was a State House candidate’s point-of-contact with him in (I think) ’12.  (I remember fondly a long conversation I had with him about then Texas Governor Rick Perry.  I was worried Perry would be a Presidential election juggernaut.  Ken told me almost EXACTLY how Perry would implode…  Ken has really good instincts.)  But he could not be getting the DNC job at a more challenging time.

What the party REALLY NEEDS is leadership that is willing to say “NO!” over and over again, and very publicly, to the ultra-left progressive activists who destroy our chances to win, and be effective at thoroughly marginalizing them in the public’s mind’s-eye.  And I know him to be so predisposed.  The media touts his early ties to Wellstone, but his REAL affinity was to Dayton – A more cautious and careful “pragmatist” than even you… than even ME!  

BUT… He has been totally ineffective in MN with the DFL, over the last ten years, in rallying the rest of the party to defeat that fringe and marginalize them.  In fact, they functionally dominate the DFL.  It’s the only part of the MN job he has NOT done well… so, of course… it’s the only part of the job that absolutely needs to be done effectively at the National level as he steps into that job.  That’s life!

I hope the “change of scenery” improves his luck.  The realist in me, though, acknowledges that there is no reason whatsoever to EXPECT that he can get this done…  since he has utterly failed to get it done in MN, even though he has tried.

Do you have thoughts on this?  [Dick: my feeling basically are in intro and photos….  I think Ken is a great choice.  More comments from Jim and others at the end.]

Gramee commented earlier today: “Eventually, the destruction wrought by this new regime will be undeniable, even to some of its supporters. But breaking a country, unfortunately, is a lot easier than putting it back together.” [quote from Michelle Goldberg column in NYT 2/3/25 “The Familiar Arrogance….”.

Humpty Dumpty Syndrome. The only good news of the week is, in my opinion, the choice of Ken Martin as DNC Chair. The time for wishy-washy expired four years ago, but no one seemed to be paying attention. As I probably told you, I know Ken. If there’s even such a thing as the right person in what will be the job from hell, it will be Ken. For whatever that’s worth…

 

At State Capitol, July, 2011, at news conference for persons with disabilities.

John Garney and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

I would urge you to pay close attention to developments with the threatened destruction of USAID, a long standing U.S. agency.

It is easier to attack a thing, than a real person, which is what all organizations ultimately are – groups of human beings.

For me, AID’s face is John Garney, who I first met in the 1980s, when we were both doing family research and found that we shared great-great grandparents who came to Minnesota in the early 1850s.

John was a career AID staff person with postings in many countries.  His obituary at his death (2017) is worthy your time, and will help put a face on this agency.

I had a side personal experience with American foreign aid, which presumably involved AID as a recipient.  The experience came in the wake of a 2003 visit to Haiti, and a news release in early 2004 from the George Bush Department of State about a $50 million grant to Haiti.  You can read my ‘adventure here.  (The link is mine, and the reference to the State Department communique is in the section which begins SECRECY.)  Long story short, I was not able to get an answer to my simple question: where did this money go?  I wrote and actually talked with some staffer in the State Department, but it soon became obvious that people upline from him did not want to reveal anything about the specific destination of the publicized funds.  I was stonewalled.  I assume the $50 million did go somewhere, perhaps under the name of AID, but where, and why?  I’ll never know.  My life experience teaches that most mischief and malfeasance happens somewhere in the chain of command, not at the ‘boots on the ground’ level.

So, to me AID is more than just some words.  The John Garney’s of the world do an immense amount of good.  The politics at the front end, including the official communications about it, is what is suspect, in my opinion.

The above two ‘frames’ are what I’ll be using as I watch the attempted destruction of USAID.

COMMENTS RELATING TO USAID:

 from Suzanne (her Dad is John Garney):

Oh, Dick, thank you so much! You don’t know how much this has lifted my spirits, as I have been so distraught these past few days. To hear one’s father being called a “criminal” and a “lunatic” by Trump and Musk is just too much to bear.

I can’t believe what is happening to our country. I tried so hard to warn people that this was coming, but my progressive friends thought Harris and Trump were the same, so they wrote in names, and there was no hope of convincing my conservative friends (most of them didn’t vote for Trump, but they didn’t vote for Harris either).

Hamse Warfa in Minnesota Star Tribune Feb 4: USAID Hamse Warfa Strib Feb 4 2025 

Abdulrahman Bindamnan another point of view Feb. 5:  USAID Minnesota Star Tribune 2 6 25

from Suzanne, responding to the articles above:

Thank you for both articles; they are both very illuminating. At one point in my life (1985), I started pursuing a master’s degree in International Development at American University, and my first professor, who I believe was from Ethiopia, had the same viewpoint as the author of the editorial. However, it wasn’t just USAID that he had a problem with; it was also the Peace Corps, the World Bank, and the IMF.
I did end up believing that foreign aid, no matter how and by whom it is disbursed, has its flaws. However, for the author of the article to talk about USAID and “American leftist values” doesn’t make sense to me. Each administration, whether a Democrat or Republican, put forth its policies, and USAID employees followed through. I’m sure when USAID was in Vietnam, no leftist values were being promoted!
I am going to be a little snarky here, but what does the author mean by “American leftist values?” He was able to come to America and study here because of those values, all of which are no longer possible under Trump and Musk. What are the “things we need to get in order here,” and how do they relate to foreign aid?
Yes, USAID was/isn’t perfect, and time will tell if gutting it is the right option, but calling the employees corrupt leftist lunatics putting a notch on their “development resumes” is callous.
Suzanne
PS: sgarney@gmail is the best email for me.
Facts About USAID and the Aid Provided to Yeman

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided billions of dollars in aid to Yemen. The amount of aid provided has varied over time, but the US is one of the largest donors of humanitarian assistance to Yemen. 

Aid amounts
  • February 2023: USAID provided $440 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen 
  • March 2022: USAID announced nearly $585 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen 
  • Fiscal Year 2019: USAID provided $594.5 million in food assistance to Yemen 
  • Fiscal Year 2018: USAID provided $361 million in food assistance to Yemen 
  • Fiscal Year 2017: USAID provided $349.1 million in food assistance to Yemen 
Types of aid
  • Food: USAID provides food assistance to Yemen, including specialized nutrition for pregnant and lactating women 
  • Medical care: USAID provides medical care to Yemen 
  • Safe drinking water: USAID provides safe drinking water to Yemen 
  • Shelter: USAID provides shelter to Yemen 
  • Education: USAID provides education assistance to Yemen, including support for schools 
  • Economic growth: USAID provides economic growth assistance to Yemen, including support for the Central Bank of Yemen 
  • Gender equality: USAID provides gender equality assistance to Yemen 
  • Water, sanitation, and hygiene: USAID provides water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance to Yemen

*

COMMENTS RELATING TO KEN MARTIN:

by John Rash Minnesota Star Tribune Feb 5, 2025: john raah Feb 5 25 Minnesota STrib

from Jim (expanding on his above comments about Ken Martin):

Sure.  Feel free to share that – and this – if you want to.  I “get” the “overwhelmed” thing… it’s real for a lot of people.  But, personally, I’m energized.  I have my first meeting tonight for my first campaign since ’17 where I am to be on the “core team”.  Back in the saddle again!

 

I think the overwhelmed/energized thing has a LOT to do with where one’s politics are.

 

The MAGA folks, of course, are energized because their guy is IN, and this time, he obviously arrived with planners on board who had actual plans, AND are people of action.  If one can set aside the things one feels about WHAT they are working ON, and focus on HOW they are doing things, they are doing a great job.  They are doing things IN WAYS that I have long wondered – since teen-age, really – “Why doesn’t someone do THIS?  Why doesn’t someone try it THAT way?”  As I’ve said to you before, I really wish I could go back in time to about, oh, 2005, when Trump was still a Democrat in NY, and DO something that would change just enough of history that he, today, was OUR guy and not theirs.  Because, really, he HAS no left-right “ideology”.  He’s a strange phenomenon, politically.  And (like Eisenhower!) “Which party?” coulda gone either way.

 

The Country Club Bush-Romney Republicans, are overwhelmed.  They have no idea what hit them, but they do know that when they go home to their districts, their own voters HATE them unless they are willing to talk as though they love Trump and MAGA.  So, not knowing what else to do, they talk the talk.  It must be really difficult.  Even though these folks remain the ones I most deplore in politics and most fear in government (we forget how scary Paul Ryan was at our peril!), I have a certain sympathy for them on this.  They are just holding onto their political jobs and hoping the fever breaks sometime soon.  And, in fairness to them, that is really ALL they CAN do.  The alternative for each of them is to become the next Liz Cheney.  (…may her political relevance Rest In Peace…)

 

On our side, both the Far Left Progressive Activist wing, and the Center-Left wing are in even stranger places.

 

It either IS, or SHOULD BE, evident to the Far-Left-Progressive wing, that they will not win again on the national level in a generation, at the least.  No political movement has so repulsed the REST of the electorate in our lifetimes, Dick.  Not even the combination of Civil Rights and Anti-War riots, with cities burning, in the late 60’s, turned the electorate so thoroughly away from The Left, although that comes in a close second.  And that brought the end of the long grand 36-year Rooseveltian era of US politics, and ushered in the 24 year Nixon-Reagan era.  Carter almost doesn’t count… whatever one thinks of his one term IN office, he was elected during a thoroughly Republican/conservative era by presenting himself as unlike any Dem the voters had ever known.  And then they knew him.  And out he went.

 

The problem for the Far Left Progressives is that (as House-Speaker-for-Life Tip O’Neill used to say) “all politics is local”.  Right now, though the Far Left Progressives are hated in most of the country, they are only in “controlled retreat” from their dominance in places like San Francisco and Portland, and they still haven’t even peaked in some places, with Minneapolis being perhaps the prime example of that.  So they are dead, but do not know it yet.  It’s a Zombie Politics, today.  So this wing is both overwhelmed AND energized.  In parts.  From person to person, from place to place, how one in that wing feels, differs.

 

Same for the Center-Left Dems.  Only in reverse.  Many of us – MOST of us – tucked our tails between our legs and all but disappeared for the last ten years as the Far Left Progressives took over everything – the culture, the academy, “The Groups” (who ever DREAMED that the ACLU would be “selective” regarding Freedom of Speech, as it now is?  Certainly not me…).  And, of course, they thoroughly took over the Democratic Party, both nationally and locally.  It’s been breathtaking.  NOW, due to the nascent reversals of fortune in places like SF and Portland, and the drubbing we took nationally last November (which started, let’s not forget, all the way back in 2016), Center-Left Dems are feeling it might be safe to come out of our bunkers and give politics another try… but we’re all kinda like The Groundhog… whether we stay out of our holes or go right back in is going to depend on what we see when we stick our heads out.  We are CAUTIOUSLY energized by the PARTIAL defeat of Far Left Progressivism.  I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I know folks who think it’s “too soon” and that letting the Far Left Progressives FINISH self-destructing is the way to go if one takes “the long view”.  I figure they may be right, but I, personally, am too old already to play it that way.

 

And about the 2024 “drubbing” I referred to above:  One of the things I keep reading is apologists for the Far Left Progressive wing trying to paint the 2024 election as “close”.  This is SO wrong!  Like with economics, one can look at politics ON AVERAGE, or AT THE MARGIN.  And, like in economics, looking at phenomena marginally is almost always more important, and carries more information – and carries MORE VALUABLE information.

 

We live in an era where cultural warfare has rendered the electorate very polarized.  It is almost impossible for a Democrat, of either flavor, nationwide, to do worse than 47-48%, and the “floor” is about 43-45% for the GOP, whether MAGA or Country Club wing.  What just happened is that Trump won a vast, VAST majority of the voters who were actually persuadable in the first place.  Analyzed AT THE MARGIN, the 2024 election was a LANDSLIDE of historic proportions.  The fact that the Electoral College, or the raw vote, was not as lopsided as Johnson-Goldwater, or Nixon-McGovern, or Reagan-Mondale, is totally irrelevant.  In those elections, the winner got almost all segments of the electorate that were even remotely “gettable”.  And Trump did that too.  He did that in ’16, and then, because that election, and the next 8 years, actually broadened his base, when he did it again in ’24 he had even bigger numbers.

 

We Dems view this as a “close election” or a “temporary setback” at our peril.  It was a change-for-a-generation type landslide, viewed at the margin, and if we don’t face that reality, J.D. Vance (another guy I have “wished was ours” ever since I read his book when it first came out), or someone who figures out how to outmaneuver HIM, will lock this in, in 2028, for at least 20 years.  We Dems can probably still DO something about that, or we can keep internally arguing over alternative realities – which is never a good strategy…

from Norm, to Ken Martin:

As you noted in your acceptance speech following your first ballot win, we Democrats got our hinders kicked in November by the insecure, ignorant, arrogant, narcissistic and five-time draft dodger man-child who would be king.
The voters made it very clear when giving the man-child the landslide win in the Electoral College (it wasn’t even close!) that they wanted an authoritarian form of government rather than a democracy that would be led by the man-child who promised to be a dictator for a day, a role that he seems to covet and enjoy and a role  that he will continue to play as long as President Musk allows him to do that.
Now that people are beginning to see what the man-child who would be king and President Musk have in mind to remake America with an authoritarian oligarchy led government, perhaps some voters are having second thoughts about the choice that they made last November.
So, the challenge for we Democrats as well as we DFLers back here in Minnesota is to credibly and sincerely convince the voters that we are more than just the party of LBGTQ and transgender rights as we have so easily been characterized by the MAGA folks.
I can still remember how easily Fishbach beat long-time incumbent, Petersen, the chair of the powerful House Agriculture Committee that could benefit the 7CD with its heavy agricultural base in that usually contested district. All that she had to do was to simply run daily TV ads showing Omar ranting and raving in front of burning buildings suggesting that is what happens when you elect Democrats.
We are much more than that, of course, and the challenge will be to prove that to the voters perhaps as early as the 2026 mid-term elections.
We have to remind them as well as to convince them at we are the party of labor, farming, small business, educators, people respecting law and order and those respecting the Constitution. Further, that we know where and how they live and to not let our great party continue to be characterized as the party primarily interested and supportive of issues and concerns that have little or no interest or value to most Americans.
While those issues and concerns are certainly important to most Democrats, we must recognize and accept they sure as hell are of little or no interest or concern to most people!
We should make it very, very clear to the voters that we understand that reality!
We are a coalition party of many diverse interests, concerns and backgrounds that as Paul Wellstone frequently reminded us, we all do better when we all do better.  We get our hinders kicked and flattened in the polls when we forget that and let our opponents so easily characterize us as a party being only concerned about issues of little or no concern to most voters by seeming to put some small group within our large and welcoming tent on high pedestals above all of the other residents under that large covering.
So, congratulations again, Ken, for your impressive first ballot win and the tremendous credentials that you earned for your work as our state DFL Party Chair that made that possible!
As an aside, Ken, should you ever need a break from the demands of being the DNC Chair, you are always welcome to make a return visit to spend some quiet time with your friends here at the North Metro Chapter of the DFL Senior Caucus!  😀😁😂😄

 

Day 15

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15 days ago was the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States.  All I need to say about that is easily accessible in the archives of this blog, between January 18 and February 2, 2025.  I have recommended, there, resources about history, national and international affairs that I trust and follow most every day.  Many of the resources are on the platform Substack.  I have a Substack account but to date I have never used it.  Perhaps some day, but not now.

Which leaves today, and following days, which will be an experiment.  Thanks for visiting.  Stop back.  My history has come to be two or three postings in a typical week, on varying topics.  I try to at least make sense, whether the reader agrees with me or not makes no difference.

Yesterday’s mail:

MY RESPONSE ON A COMMENT FROM DAVID: Thanks for comment on the [Feb 2] blog 
The difference [Nov. 5] was, as you say, those who didn’t vote at all.  Last night I was watching Bill Maher and his guest was Peggy Noonan, one of Reagan’s primary speech writers.  She said she wouldn’t vote for Trump, but couldn’t vote (I think these are her words) “for the other one” (Harris). Actions have consequences.
I think a brother-in-law, who I think is a strong democrat, didn’t vote for Harris either, because he couldn’t/wouldn’t vote for a woman.
Another friend, a way-out-there progressive, voted for Stein….
Now, in my ’sample’ two thirds of the voters who beat Harris were “Democrats”.
There are, literally, millions of variations on the same story.  We are a nation of individualists, and only rarely will anybody truly reveal why they voted a certain way.  Of course, the evidence is right in front of all of us.
Thanks again.  

And another, about Jan. 29 blog “Eggs”.  Dick: Stored in the boatload of posts I sent along today was [Eggs] from Jan 29.  Look at my comment at the end of the post.  

The wealthy Republicans seem to have mastered the art of identifying the wants and resentments of the rabble in our class, and then exploiting it.  So, it’s easy to identify what people want, and who they don’t like: just ask them; then promise that you’ll fix it.  But the problem is, what if they succeed, and the poor dopes can’t afford to enhance the wealth of the already wealthy/. It’s a battle I don’t think they want to win.  But it’s better than the alternative, unfortunately.  I don’t know what the answer is.  There probably isn’t one.  Trump is a master at exploiting fears, in Republicans, of being primaried, and then screwing his Army after they follow his advice.  Do you have plans for the $1,000 bonus you’ll get from Donald J. Trump when the tax bill is passed which will make the rich even richer?


Response:  Thanks, I’d missed that post. You do wonder if folks like Musk, Zuckerberg, Trump, et. al. ever think about how truly fortunate they are to be where they are. One of the recent Democratic presidential nominees (Obama?) caught  flack for saying something to the effect that if you’re rich, it’s not just because of your own hard work. You got a lot of help along the way from the greater society. I don’t begrudge anyone who has a lot of money. I’d just like them to at least have the appearance of being grateful for what they have and maybe, just maybe, share a bit with those less fortunate. 

Your point on the price of eggs being pretty irrelevant to people like you and me is well taken. Rita and I frequently attend the Dakota and rarely is our total bill under $100. I’m sure most people who attend spend similar amounts. Almost every time we leave, there are one or two homeless folks looking for handouts. I usually—but not always—give them a couple of bucks. I certainly could (should?) give more but I don’t. Maybe when my $1,000 Trump check arrives I should give each of them $500. They certainly need it more than I do.

Thought for today: from The Weekly Sift, Campaign or Movement.  I have followed this weekly column for a long while.  Easy to subscribe.  Very worthwhile .