Tim Walz

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POSTNOTE August 23, 2024: An editorial and a commentary about Tim Walz in Saturday Aug 23, Minnesota Star Tribune (formerly Minneapolis): Tim Walz Minnesota Star Tribune Aug 24 24

Tim Walz Minnesota State Fair August 29, 2022

Wednesday night Tom Walz accepted the nomination for vice-president of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  The next morning was the first day of the Minnesota State Fair.  The last photo in this post (below) is one I took of Tim Walz at the Minnesota State Fair in 2022.  It is as Tim Walz is.

My ‘filing cabinet’ about Tim Walz is below, the last edit August 19.  It will remain unchanged.  Any additions will be here.  I know Walz’s back story better than most, from many years in Minnesota, a lifetime in the rural midwest as the son of career pubic school teachers, a teacher myself, a teacher’s union representative for many years, and father of a school principal and a school teacher, and grandfather of public school kids.  Any issues anyone has, ask me.  I can give an informed opinion.  (BTW Tim was not the person I thought Kamala Harris would choose for VP.  That did not relate in any way to my feelings about Walz, the person.  It strictly related to political practicalities Harris faced.  Also, BTW, the only front page ‘news’ about Walz that I did not include below was a front page piece a few days ago about a 30 years ago DUI incident in Nebraska.  I didn’t feel it was worth the time to comment about.  It was half a life-time ago for Walz, and he learned his lesson from an experience many of us share.  On with life.

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Original Post: Tim Walz is a common guy.  I’m sure he’d be okay with Wikipedia’s description of him.  There is plenty of detail.  There will be endless additional analyses.  I always like Heather Cox Richardson’s descriptions.  Here’s her post about Tuesday and Walz.  Here’s another from Jay Kuo.  I have lived in Walz’s state for many years, and disinformation will be abundant.  If you have any questions about anything, please ask.  I am happy to research and respond honestly.

I have been a resident of Minnesota for all but one of the last 61 years, 53 of those in the metropolitan Twin Cities, and I’m politically aware.  My formative years – all of them – were in small town North Dakota, son of school teachers, precisely the same kind of environment from which Tim Walz springs, in his case rural Nebraska.  Like Walz, my background is in public education, as a junior high teacher and mostly teacher union staff.  He taught geography, so did I.

My opinion: Tim Walz is a superb choice as candidate for Vice-President of the United States.

Everything about his background is readily available, including the items heading this piece.

Vice-Presidents are not useless window dressing.  At least two of them in my lifetime, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, were called to serve after Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Kennedy died (see endnote).  Tim Walz reminds me of Harry Truman.  It surprised me to note that Harry Truman became President at age 60, the same age as Tim Walz is now.  Tim is about a month younger than my oldest son.  Ouch!)

The first time I actually met Tim Walz was probably in the summer of 2006, when he was running for Congress for the first time.  I was invited to a fundraiser in St. Paul.  He was running for Congress in another District than mine.  He made a positive impression, though he was obviously a rookie.  This was 18 years ago, before the first of his 12 years in Congress and nearing 6 years as Governor of Minnesota, 8 times elected.  In each assignment he has faithfully served and represented his constituents – the people who elected him.  We have benefitted from his experience.  Our state has 5 .7 million people, over half of those in the twin cities area,  We are a state of great variety and resulting great diversity.

Governor Walz wouldn’t know who I am.  I’m a constituent like anyone else.  I say this only to indicate that I have been very satisfied with how he has approached the very complex job of governing our great state.  The below photos are the ones I have of other personal ‘sightings’  over the years.  The first was at a picnic of senior Democrats.  The second was at a pre-2022 election event in Minneapolis which I seem to recall was for Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, featuring Vice-President Kamala Harris.  It was a deliberately small and very good event.  Peggy is Native American, currently the highest ranking Native American in elective executive office.  The third photo is a screen shot I took on August 6.

Few outside of Minnesota know Tim Walz.  I sense that will change quickly, and positively in coming weeks.

August 13, 2017 DFL Senior Caucus picnic (photo Dick Bernard)

October 22, 2022. Gov. Tim Walz, Vice-President Kamala Harris; Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. (photo Dick Bernard)

August 6, 2024

Here are the first comments (all in a.m. August 6) that came my way when Kamala Harris announced Tim had been tapped as her VP choice:

from Norm 8:32 a.m.:  The decision by Harris to go with Waltz as her VP choice is not at all surprising given his background as a former member of Congress, a veteran and a governor even though Minnesota is often consider to be a flyover state in terms of presidential politics.  To be fair, however, Donnie and the Emster and other followers and defenders of the man child who would be king claim that the Gopher State is in play in 2024.

Being the “super patriot” as the ignorant, insecure, arrogant, narcissistic, five-time draft dodger who always wraps himself in the flag is will make it hard for Donnie to characterize Waltz as sucker and loser as he has all men and women who have served, been wounded or captured or killing when in the military service of our country and not risk losing support from  many veterans.

Doing so during the campaign will or at least should be offensive as all hell to most veterans and families of veterans save for the leaders of the VFW and the American Legion who always have their lips solidly attached to Donnie’s behind no matter how much he has insulted veterans with such characterizations.

Again, a good and an obvious best choice for VP made by Harris.

from Brad, 9:25 a.m.: Great Day Dick, Looks like St. Paul is buzzing this morning!  I am so pleased that a leader with his background is a candidate for Veep.

from Mark, 9:30 a.m.: The choice of Tim Walz as VP candidate is a massive gift to Republicans.

from Evonne, 10:25 a.m.: Wow!  Good choice!

from SAK Aug 9: Just search on “weird as hell” 😊! Mr Walz has a point.  The BBC profiled JD Vance: here

from Rich Aug 9: Regarding the selection of Tim Walz: It seems the degree of anti-semitism in the US, and continuing instability in the Gaza-Israel conflict, may have played into Harris’ decision favoring Walz. To keep the eye on the prize, (defeating Donald Trump), Harris may have been inclined to turn towards Walz, thus avoiding any focus on the personal faith of Josh Shapiro and his personal views on the Middle East.

I personally see Walz as a perfect VP candidate, balancing a ticket with a woman of color.  The DEMS have responded to the Biden withdrawal  and are quickly assuming a favorable position. I, like many of my friends, am very excited that America has been given a clear choice, as the Democratic campaign appears to be more aggressive in its approach than past years.
Meanwhile, I do not expect the Democrats to ignore Shapiro or Kelly.

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END NOTE:  There were other succession dilemmas in addition to the deaths of FDR and JFK.  Nixon resigned the presidency, succeeded by Gerald Ford, who had earlier replaced Vice-President Spiro Agnew who had resigned.  Lyndon Johnson completed JFK’s first term without a Vice-President.  Ronald Reagan had a near miss with death by assassination very early in his first term.  There are other earlier history examples, and of course life itself carries its own surprises that affect even the youngest among us.

END NOTE 2, August 9: Heather Cox Richardson’s column in this morning’s mailbox remembers President Nixon’s resignation from the presidency this day in 1974.  Do you remember?  I sure do, including where I was when he spoke to the nation about resigning…at St. Benedict’s College in Minnesota at my unions summer leadership conference.   We were a somber bunch watching the TV in Mary Commons.

Piling on.   Of course, politics is a ‘blood sport’ for too many.  The morning after the Walz nomination was announced, his Congressional District successor Brad Finseth was quoted on NPR news about Walz, that “he’s changed”.  That was about the extent of the quote.  Maybe Walz has changed.  Maybe the district has changed.  Change is normal.  Finseth is in his second year in Congress.  He succeeded Jim Hagedorn, who had died earlier in 2022, and who was one of two Minnesota Congresspersons who were certified election deniers in 2021 (the other was Michelle Fischbach).

But my favorite, hard to top, was at the Minnesota State Fair in August, 2022.  I was walking down the street near the Education Building and along came a teenager with someone who seemed like his Dad.  The kid was wearing a simple sandwich board sign, which I remember was probably nothing more than an 8 1/2×11 piece of paper on which was written in large letters “Walz Failed”.  I always have a camera along, and it would have been a perfect photo, but the kid looked humiliated enough as it was, and I wasn’t at the Fair to get in an argument.  But it is cemented in my memory.  Walz won reelection easily three months later….

at Minnesota State Fair August 29, 2022. from Juliann: Great smile which he is displaying on the campaign trail as well.

from James, August 14 12:30 a.m.: [Dick, 9 a.m.: I will be responding to this a little later at end of this letter.  See August 19, below].

Well, once again, I tried to add a reply to your blog, this time to the Tim Walz essay, and got back an error message.  I’ve gotten to where I just expect that my software and yours will not play nice together, so I copied my contribution before sending, and did not try to send a second time (because sometimes it has actually “taken” both times, even though I get the error messages).

 

So, in case it’s not there, here is what I submitted:

 

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Well, I agree, at least, that Walz, in person, seems to be a great guy.  I met him when I attended what I believe may have been the first Twin Cities fund raiser for his first Gubernatorial campaign, at a private home in the tony lakes region of my city, Minneapolis.  He seemed like the “adult in the room” “from Central Casting”, if I may mix two metaphors.  I took an immediate liking to him and was very glad when he won.
However, I am not normally a “vibes” voter, nor am I even a “values voter”.  I am a policy-and-performance voter, and Walz has been something quite a bit worse than just a disappointment to me.
Most significantly, he dithered while my Mpls. neighborhood burned in 2020, and blamed my Mayor for allegedly not requesting the deployment of the National Guard properly.  Mayor Frey is saying all the “correct” and loyal things, today, but things he said, texted to others, and emailed AT THE TIME betray that Walz simply declined to do his job when Frey asked him to.  That the Mayor didn’t “do the paperwork” correctly in a moment of crisis is either true or false.  If false, Walz’ using that as an excuse is reprehensible.  If true, as the senior official and the one tasked with actually deciding whether or not to deploy the Guard, and how, it was WALZ’s job to TELL Jacob what “more” he needed – not to end the communication with no decision.  So, true or false – either way – it’s inexcusable.  We in Mpls. are still paying the price.  My Police Precinct still operates out of a different part of town, miles away – the blackened burnt out hulk of the Precinct Station still stands, partly surrounded by the still-empty lots from other buildings that also burned, but were not of such sturdy and modern structure for their skeletons to survive.  Many other empty lots still exist up and down the length of Lake Street.  Drive it yourself and see.  The scenes were and still are similar up and down University Avenue in St. Paul.  A drug store six blocks from my house, to the NNW, burned.  A GAS STATION six blocks to the ESE burned.  Yes, the mobs were torching gas stations!  And that was 2-1/2 miles from Lake Street.  This has not to this day been adequately reported.  Walz needed “paperwork”, but couldn’t be bothered to tell the Mayor what he needed.  His standard explanation has included things that, frankly, I can’t imagine a Mayor being able to provide, things that would have been the job of the Governor and the uniformed leaders of the Guard to have decided, after asking the Mayor and his people some questions.  But Walz dithered.  Pretty much until Trump threatened to intervene, I’m afraid.  Much is being made of Trump having said at the time that Walz did a good job.  If you read the quotes objectively, what Trump said, in his usual bombastic self-important way, is that Walz did a good job of jumping when Trump threatened, and… Look! What I told him to do worked within hours.  That “spin” is not actually false.  It is more or less how it DID play out.
And Walz dithered on the Feed Our Future scandal costing somewhere between a quarter and a third of a BILLION dollars.
As we are just now learning, he ALSO dithered on almost half a billion of other Covid-era government funding fraud.
On the other hand, he did not dither on issuing edicts during Covid.  He just made mind-bogglingly bad decisions while issuing them.  Closing entire small town business districts, enabling the Walmarts and Targets to further damage those places.  Closing schools and keeping them closed way too long.  Keeping people out of their churches, even for funerals (as an agnostic, I shouldn’t care, but as the child and sibling of Christians – both Catholics and Lutherans – well, somehow I do), while Walz himself attended a Memorial Service with an attendance of 500.  Setting up a hotline so folks could rat out their neighbors.  Yikes.
There’s more, as I’m sure you are hearing in the news, but, most of the rest of it speaks to his character, not policy and performance.  And I’m a policy and performance voter, so I don’t really care about his National Guard sergeant escapades, although, having a nephew who is an Air Force F15-E fighter pilot about to be deployed for the third time to the Middle East, I would not be surprised if it didn’t sit well with HIM that Walz implied combat experience he did not have, and ducked out when it became obvious he was about to actually have some.
One of my Chicago cousins, also a Democrat, texted me just after Harris named Walz as her pick and asked me what I thought – expecting a response somewhere between “good!” and “great!”.  My one-sentence response, summing up years of exposure to our Governor, was that I found him “a well-intentioned, affable, bumbling, utter incompetent.”  I am giving benefit-of-the-doubt, that I’m not 100% sure he deserves, with “well-intentioned”.
I cannot vote for him.

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I’m sorry I can’t share your enthusiasm about Walz – I really am.  But, well… the above pretty much says what I have to say.

Response from Dick, 9 a.m.:  Jim and I are good friends, and he has commented on other things from time to time at this space.  The above letter came from him via e-mail, and was intended by him for publication here.  I am sending him a letter in response, today, and later will reprint the letter here [bracketing any amendments].  I’ll do that later.

A little earlier, a couple of correspondents suggested that Gov. Walz was somehow in cahoots on the big financial fraud case relating to a fraudulent food program funded by USDA during the Covid years.  Of course, it is easy to blame the Governor for anything that happened on his watch, even if this was a federal program.  In the federal food fraud case, which has been highly publicized here, the facts are hidden from view by persons out to damage Walz.  Here’s the latest information I have about the food case.  You’ll note it is a federal case, ongoing, many found guilty so far, and continuing….

This year I applied and qualified for election judge in my county.  I asked to be on the reserve list, which they accommodated, and I did and passed the mandatory training program.  I did not have to serve in the primary election yesterday, and remain on the list for the general election.  I have been highly impressed by the manner in which my voluntary service has been received and acknowledged.

August 19, 2024:  I responded to James (above) with a two-page U.S.mail letter on August 14.  Much of my response related to James criticism of the handling of the chaos following the murder of George Floyd on May 25.  I blog, and my posts for May 27, 29, 30 and 31 directly relate to the insanity facing us all in that terrible time.  Specifically I noted the following below the Crisis Sequence graphic at May 29, “A City Burning”: The Minnesota Governors briefing and update late this morning was very useful in identifying the very complex nature of taking action in a crisis of the sort we witnessed overnight, including the opportunistic involvement of anarchists and looters (two specific and not necessarily related ‘groups’ who are unverifiable, and thus potentially ‘false flags’ by those seeking to blame someone).  The Governor, who himself served 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, and who was backed by people like the State Patrol and Minnesota National Guard and others, talked about assorted chains of authority and responsibility in a civil society, from local police and sheriff, to mayors, on and on and on.  Nothing is ever as simple as it appears to be in a tweet, or a complaint.  Yes, there were mistakes, and there will always be mistakes, but not willful.

Personally, I was witness to this kind of complexity very often in my day to day job years ago.  What was initially presented as an absolute right/wrong dichotomy, etc., was never so clear, the closer one got to the actual situation, and actors.  I’d simply advise everyone to be  careful about a rush to judgement, and assessing blame, though it is very tempting.

I also responded to James comments about military service (I served two years in the Army and come from a family with a lot of military history), and about Covid (like everyone else, we dodged Covid-19 as best we could.  I’ve had all the vaccinations, and will get the booster when it comes available.  So far we’ve escaped Covid-19, and we know many people who have had it, both initially and in later editions.

 

Memory

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My post relating to Tim Walz is here.

“Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

Minnesota Primary Election is August 13.  Information including sample ballot accessible here.

Today (August 9) is the 78th anniversary of the second Atomic Bomb which struck Nagasaki, Aug 9 1945.  I noted this in #1, here, on July 25. What follows is a short dialogue between two former colleagues: Harley (Japanese-American) and myself.  Harley and I worked for the same organization for about 20 years, and this topic never came up.  Better late than never.  WWII may have ended 84 years ago, but it began long before 1938, and in terms of memory still continues.

The debate about the the bombs and nuclear generally will long outlast me.  Even today, the words Iran, Israel, Russia, are paired with war and nuclear – the contemporary version of “saber rattling”.  And, of course, the U.S., and North Korea and others have the technology….

The conversation is essential to at least diminish the potential of war and deadly weapons as a solution to problems between peoples.  I am of the school who believes that with all of the serious problems we face, the conversation favoring peace has been fruitful, beginning with the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.  We continue to be threatened with annihilation by bad actors, but we’ve had a pretty long run of relative peace.  My “glass” is more “full” than “empty”.  Most of us try to keep hope alive.

Shortly after August 9, 1945, came the end of WWII.  I’ve learned a lot, over the years, of the tension at the end of WWII.   I was 5 years old in the summer of 1945.  What if I had been 25?   What would I have said or felt about ‘the bomb’ after four years at war with an enemy I had never seen, but only heard about?

I don’t know.

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Here’s our dialogue: August 3, my friend and former colleague, Harley, offered a few thoughts about one aspect about the end of WWII from the perspective of a Japanese American.  This is a comment included in the aforementioned July 25 post:

“The only time I have gone to Japan was on the opening of the Nagasaki Concert hall in 1998.  I went with Christina and my mom and daughter.  As you can imagine, it was very moving.  We also went to our homestead in Kagoshima and met our relatives too. 

My mom was incarcerated during the war.  She went in at age 14 and got out at 17.  She settled in Minnesota, not being allowed to go back to the west coast while the war was still on.  She spent her growing up years in the camp.  I still do not know the full effect of that experience on her.  I never will.

[Later, Harley added] My Dad’s Dad emigrated to the US in the 1890’s.  He answered an ad to go to the promised land in Hawaii and found himself an indentured servant there.  He toiled in the fields and was not allowed to leave the plantation, since he was beholden to his master.  When Hawaii was annexed to the USA, the Constitution freed him since slavery was illegal and he emigrated to the mainland.  He met my Grandma and worked as a migrant worker up and down California. They had like 13 children, 4 of which died from the swine flu in the late 19 teens. 

They were all incarcerated in an internment camp after Pearl Harbor.  My Dad had enlisted in the army two weeks before Pearl Harbor.  When that event happened, he was put in “the brig” and remained in prison for the next 18 months.  Eventually the Army decided to form an all Japanese American fighting unit and he was let of prison.  He served in Italy and France until he was injured so badly that he was discharged.  He was awarded a silver star, bronze star and 4 purple hearts.  They got sent to a lot of difficult missions.  It’s my belief that they were considered somewhat expendable and got sent into harsh details knowing that most would not survive.  Most did not survive.  His regiment, the 442nd suffered a 300% casualty rate (average 3 purple hearts).

Anyway, life is tough and you do the best that you can to make it better, just like you.” 

Harley’s thoughts led me to reflect on my own learnings, which I shared with Harley and  simply wish to add to the conversation on this important day:

“Thank you.  I’m four-square on the peace side. War is always a quandary and it depends on how one chooses to spin it.

My family history makes this a complicated matter.  [See, also, addition added August 8, 2024, below]
In 1898, my Grandpa Bernard and Grandma’s cousin, Alfred, were in one of the first group of American soldiers sent to take the Philippines from the Spaniards in what was called the Spanish-American War.  They were only there a year.  Most of that war was against the Filipinos who were okay with our throwing out the Spaniards, but didn’t like the Americans hanging around: “Thank you very much.  You can go home now”.  

The soldiers did go home, after a year of service.  The U.S. didn’t.
Alfred returned to the Philippines at the time of WWI and did well as a businessman.  He became a member of the Polo Club of Manila, which I gather was not for lightweights.  He was in his 50s when he married, and had two young children when WW II began for the U.S.
Dec 7 1941, Frank Bernard, my Dad’s brother, went down with the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.  They weren’t sure he was a casualty until weeks later; he’d been on the Arizona for over five years at the time of his death.  He’s buried on the ship (name on the wall).  His death was so traumatic to my Dad, his older brother, that when Dad wrote his memories for me about 1980, he didn’t say a word about Pearl Harbor.  I had to ask him about it.
By 1941, Grandma and Grandpa Bernard were wintering in Long Beach, CA, and I’m pretty sure didn’t trust the Japanese from that point on.  They went back to ND and didn’t go back west until after the war.
Alfred ended up in Santo Tomas POW camp in Manila,, where he spent the war.  He lived through it, but lost everything and had to start over.  His wife and two surviving children were free, and doubtless had difficulties like everyone else.
Mom’s brother, my uncle George, was an officer on a destroyer in the Pacific theater for most of the war, 1943-45.  He and his boat survived, but there were close calls.
In late winter of 1945, the allies liberated Manila and the Philippines.  A cousin of mine, one of Alfred’s daughters, named after my grandmother, and two months younger than me, was killed in the crossfire where the family had gone for refuge – a churchyard.  She was in her mom’s arms, I was told, and nobody knows which sides bullet or shrapnel killed her.  In the family history, the day of her death is undetermined, sometime in a one month time period.  Her mother and other two siblings survived.  I knew the two surviving children and met their Mom years later..
As the war wore down, after the Philippines and before August 6, 1945, Mom’s cousin from the next farm over, August, a Marine Captain, was heavily involved in the defeat of the Japanese at Okinawa.  The war really messed him up.  He died pretty young.
A month or so after Okinawa, came the A-bombs.
On September 10, 1945, Uncle George’s destroyer docked at Tokyo.
Dad’s cousin, Marvin, had been field promoted to Army Colonel, and for a short time became the command person for one of Japan’s prefectures.
Uncle George and his destroyer arrived back at Portland in late October, 1945.  The war was over.
Most of these stories I didn’t learn until much later when I got interested in family history.  To my recollection, nobody talked about any of this – they were just glad it was over. Possibly your Mom had the same reluctance to relive the horror of that time.  
Was all the killing worth it?  Hell, no!  But that’s the nature of war, and we just see it repeated over and over again.  We just don’t seem to learn.  
Wars are always continuing stories.  So was WWII.  In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt and others had the idea of exporting America’s influence, and part of it messed with Japan’s perceived turf.  
Depending on who writes the history, or interprets it, somebody else is always to blame.  But we all suffer.
I think the benefit of observances like this one are valuable to make it possible to remember and hopefully at least discuss what happened at the end of this particular war – or any war.  
We’re stuck with “the Bomb” and it could continue to be a problem, but the results are mutual assured destruction.”  
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This is the most I’ve ever written about this time in our history.  Thanks for reading.  Share if/as you wish.
To your family, and mine, and all of us, everywhere, PEACE!!!

Added August 8, 2024 by Dick: Harley’s addition prompts me to flesh out a bit more Grandpa Bernard and Alfred Collette’s story

Henry (Honore) Bernard, my grandfather was born in 1872 and grew to adulthood in Quebec.  He was the youngest of 12 children in a farm family.  Most had died by the time he arrived in North Dakota about 1894.  His brother preceded him to ND.  Immediately before ND it is believed he was a lumberjack in the area of Berlin Falls NH, and he had also worked in the asbestos mines at Thetford Mines QC.  He had a first grade education, but was gifted mechanically, becoming chief engineer in a flour mill.

Alfred Collette was born 1879 in Dakota Territory, the oldest of five.  His mother died in childbirth in 1885.  She was Metis, and when his father remarried, the children were enrolled in an Indian residential school.  From all accounts I know of they had a positive experience in the school.

In 1898 came the Spanish-American War.  Teddy Roosevelt, the architect of the war, and later President, had a great affinity for North Dakota, where he had lived in the early 1880s, and when the war was declared ND was probably not coincidentally a strong source of recruits.  Co. C of the First ND was organized at Grafton, and included Henry (age 26) and Alfred (age 19).  Here is a photo including them at Presidio San Francisco in 1898, just prior to embarking for the Philippines.

Some of the Grafton boys at Presidio San Francisco, Summer 1898, Henry Bernard standing at left; Alfred Collette reclining on ground at right.

The boys were privates and war is never comfortable.  They sailed to Manila via Honolulu in a troop ship, and home via Yokohama Japan.

One can never say, for sure, what cause and effect are in war.  Quite certainly, American encroachment in the far reaches of the Pacific was not welcome.  The rest is for history debates.


COMMENTS;
from Fred: Well said, Dick. I’ve said it before, your family did far more than their share in WW2. You should be proud of that.

from Brian: Very nice–thanks for sharing!


from Kathy:  Notes regarding the bombings and impact in my family:

My grandson was born this day, 6 Aug 2003…(also, feast of the Transfiguration in the Catholic Church). I have dedicated Josiah to promoting peace…he has a strong interest in Japanese culture and a big thirst for social justice like my dad.
My penpal Setsuko of 64 years, born in Yokohama, Japan 7 months after the dropping of the bombs, and I remain friends to this day and have dedicated our friendship to world peace. We once gave a talk to secondary students in Tokyo about the importance of making friends to encourage world peace (2006).
A few years back on this anniversary I heard drumming outside my window in the quiet town of Mt Angel. I rushed to see what it was about. There were 3-4 Buddhist monks holding a single flag, drumming with about 30 folks walking behind them on the sidewalk. I got in my car and followed them to the Benedictine Sisters’ monastery in town. They had a flame from the eternal flame kept alive since the bombings in Nagasaki/Hiroshima. It was after the 911 attack here so they couldn’t take the flame into US via air transport so they landed in Mexico, and walked the flame in pilgrimage up the west coast of US and then across country to Washington DC.
I was invited to join them as we walked 6 miles to the next town of Silverton. It was peaceful and meditative until…a rowdy, foul-mouthed load of men in a huge on-coming pick up roared by shouting obscenities and “Go back to your own country! Get out of our country! Go back where you belong!”
I shook my head in disgust at the display of anger and wryly said to the Native America man walking next to me…”Guess they don’t know this IS your country…”

COMMENTS FROM TODAY (MORE  AT END)


from Jeff: good post Dick, liked the history stuff, and the moving story of your friend’s Japanese American background.  As noted the 442d was the most decorated unit in the US Army and also as noted , they were given the tough duty, especially during the awful Italian campaign that lasted forever .

The Spanish American War as you note was a mixed blessing for the Filipinos….and little spoken of was the following war between the USA and Filipino independence insurgents in which 4,200 Americans and over 20,000 Filipinos  died from 1899 to 1913. I do remember during the Iraq war some analysts making comparisons to the Filipiino-American conflict…..there was guerilla warfare and the USA didnt really “win” just wore things out…remnants of anti American sentiment went on till after WW2.  And also there was a significant anti-Imperialism contingent in the USA…with prominent supporters like Jane Addams, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie and others.
I didnt have any relatives that I know of that were in that conflict…Bridget’s grandfather and his brother were in WW1, the brother died of influenza there. My dad’s uncle enlisted in WW1, he wasnt an American citizen at the time I think,  I don’t think he ever made it out of the USA though…I think he enlisted in 1918 and by the time his training was nearly done the Armistice had happened and the war was over.


from SAK:  As you say, WWII began long before . . .

‘Winston Churchill attributed this famous quote about the Peace Treaty of Versailles [1919] to [French Marshal, Ferdinand] Foch: “This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty ears.” Indeed, the next war sprung out 20 years later.’

Wikipedia.


from Brian:  Thanks for sharing.

 
As you know my world is microfinance, and Muhammad Yunus, its inventor, has been in the news.  He’s the leader in Bangladesh now.
 
What is microfinance? Making loans to people who really need it and giving them also a place to save.  It’s how you can leverage yourself out of poverty.   
 
I’ll give a personal example:  A close relative of Louisa out in New Mexico for years kept hitting Louisa up for money.  She was so poor.   She was renting in Santa Fe.  But then decided she wanted to buy a 2-dome home out in the country.  No bank would lend her the money.  
 
Desperate, she called me for ideas.  I looked up Guadalupe credit union giving her the info and she became a member, got a loan from them right away and bought her home out there on acres of land.  Her net worth has SOARED!   Thanks to leverage (“leverage” means “debt” in finance.)
 
I should know, I came back from Norway after working there as a trainee, with just $7.  I had no money.  I got a loan from brother Mike for $100, and that helped.  And my credit union–it has helped so much!!   
 
It saved our plane in Colombia when the engine failed and I landed in a farmer’s field by the Magdalena River.  Well, my CU lent me $10k and I got a new engine for it out of Bogotá.  Even the police helped out, lending me a plane/pilot to take the engine to the isolated field near Simití.  So isolated it had taken me a week to get out after my forced landing…in a pirogue.
 
Here are the photos I wanted to send of Yunus when my boss Cliff and I went to see him in Queens back in 2008 when he helped open a Grameeen bank there.

from Jim: Remarkable post, Dick!  Thank you.

from Michael Knox. U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation: (disclosure I’m one of the early founding members of this organization). Nagasaki Graphic
Dear Dick,

On August 9, 1945, the U.S. bombed Nagasaki. I have tried to imagine how my parents, stationed at an Army Air Force base in Texas, must have felt that day. Did they expect peace? That now they could get on with their lives and start a family? I was born precisely nine months later.

Tragically, the U.S. chose a path of unprecedented aggression. Since the end of World War II, our military has bombed residential areas in at least thirty countries, resulting in the deaths of millions and the maiming of tens of millions more. No other country can match this evil.

It’s not too late for a reset—a fresh start. Join the US Peace Memorial Foundation to help us honor Americans who work to end U.S. war and militarism. Please donate at www.USPeaceMemorial.org/Donors.htm.
The Foundation honors Americans who stand for peace by publishing the US Peace Registry, awarding the US Peace Prize, and working to promote and raise funds to build the US Peace Memorial in Washington, DC. CLICK HERE TO SEE WHO OUR FOUNDING MEMBERS ARE.

The Paris Olympic Games 2024

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“Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

Today is the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.  From now through August 11 we can experience the world’s finest athletes.

Merci to my friend, Christine, in Paris, for this gift. I believe Christine is volunteering at the Olympic Games. Here is the source of the gift.

I basically walk every day at the local indoor soccer field – 4 1/2 rounds to a mile.  (I generally do 11 rounds.)  Thursday morning I passed Jack, one of my fellow walkers, who is 90,  and we jawed a bit, as acquaintances do.  For Jack, the walking is apparently essential to save his legs – doctors order: move those legs or lose them.

Truth be told, that for each of us at that walking place each day, just showing up and finishing our self-imposed goal, is winning.  Sometimes it’s boring; sometimes, you just don’t feel up to it…you know the drill.  But, as habits go, there could be worse. For me, the usual these days is a 19 minute mile; four years ago it was 17.  There are colleagues much swifter, and others much slower.  No matter.

Some of the walkers are running; others go about ten yards and have to rest.  On and on.  The perimeter of that soccer field is our ‘track’.  From 7-10 a.m. there’s a little community in that space: a small flock of us after 7 a.m; another coming about 8 and so on.  Varying ages.  Mostly in the senior category.

This time of year there are assorted other activities going on.

Thursday, there also was a gaggle of toddlers with their parents – probably two or three year olds,  ‘practicing’ soccer.  Discipline is not their strong suit.  The instructor was working at enticing them to play along for maybe ten minutes, then they could have ten minutes to run around.  A tyke wanted to go home; a couple of others were headed somewhere, randomly; another was closely inspecting one of the marker cones in their corner of the field.   Of course, at their age, kindergarteners are mature!

Towards the other end of the field were a bunch of kids who appeared to be middle school age doing some kind of. conditioning for something or other.  They mostly seemed task oriented.

Outside were some youngsters coming in with huge duffel bags – the ice hockey neophytes.

None of those youngsters could relate to we old-timers; all of we old-timers have some vague memories of what it was like to be a little kid!  The beat goes on.

And of course we cannot forget those, old and young, too,  who cannot even walk for assorted reasons.

As I was finishing my walk this morning, about 8 a.m., the background music came across the Public Address.  It’s one of my all-time favorite songs, and indeed I had been thinking of calling it up before my walk today.

Here it is.  Take the time to listen and make it part of your day, today and every day.

POSTNOTE: As I prepare to click ‘publish’ on this comes the news about the disruptions in France preceding the opening of the games later today.  This is a story just developing, so I will not get into any of the argument.

There have been three additional posts this week: Yesterday (July 23); Joe’s Speech (July 24); Learning from an anniversary (July 25).

I will be offline Saturday through July 30.  My next commentary on politics will follow the Democratic Convention later in August.

4 p.m. CDT Sunday, August 11, 2024: Just watched the closing ceremony in Paris.  It has been a spectacular games.  Hope that it can be replicated in our national and international conversations going forward.  Congratulation, France and Paris!

A look back: a couple of snapshots by my brother-in-law Mike Lund in 1972, at the Munich Olympics and at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  Mike died in 2006.  Here is video of lighting the Olympic Flame at Munich in 1972.

Munich Olympics 1972 (photo Mike Lund)

Eiffel Tower Paris 1972 (Mike Lund)

Paris July 26, 2024 (screen shot opening of summer Olympics)

Hiroshima, et al.

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“Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

Minnesota Primary Election is August 13.  Information including sample ballot accessible here.

This post, here amended, was first published July 25, and is about peace and the realities and consequences of war.  See especially #1, programs for next week.  Golden Rule, #2, and #4, #5  & #6 are new additions to the original post.  .

  1. Hiroshima/Nagasaki: August 6, 1945, the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima,  Japan.  Four days later was Nagasaki.  I’d invite your attention to the first section below about the annual Hiroshima Nagasaki Time of Remembrance August 5-8, 2024, in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It begins Monday.  The details are here: HiroshimaNagasaki_2024 rev2 .  This program has been ongoing since 1955 when St. Paul and Nagasaki became Sister Cities.

Directly related, two years ago, the St. Paul Civic Symphony premiered a new work commemorating HiroshimaNagasaki, August 6 and 9, 1945.  Orchestra member and former colleague Christina Clark sent the links with this explanation: “Hello – we performed this piece in May 2022 and finally finished editing the video clip of it with interviews as well as a video of  the entire piece.  Hope you can find time to listen to both (the interview piece is about 7 minutes, and the piece itself is about 20 minutes).  The piece commemorates the horrors of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the internment camps here in the US, and the rebirth of hope and life after these events.  At our final concert this season…, we played the 2nd movement again and gifted a tribute box to Takayuki Miyanishi, who is visiting here from Nagasaki.  Takayuki-san is the leader of the Nagasaki Symphony Orchestra and the sister city committee in Nagasaki for the St. Paul-Nagasaki sister city relationship.  It was great to see him again – most of us last saw him in 1998 when we traveled with 60 players and 40 family members for a week in Nagasaki with their committee and orchestra.   Work for peace.  Christina & Harley”

Of course, the issue of war and looming Armageddon will probably never end, but the conversation is essential if we are to survive as people worldwide.

Hopefully adding to the conversation, a short while ago I came across a newspaper column I’d kept from 1985, talking about a Japanese American interned in rural ND during WWII.  The commentary is from the Grand Forks Herald, by Chuck Haga, and is the story of Harry Hayashi of Carrington ND: Hayashi Carrington WWII.  You will find the article enlightening.

In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I wrote an op ed which was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Aug. 6, 1995.  You can read it here: Atomic Bomb 1945001.  At the time I wrote the op ed I didn’t know that another close family relative, August Berning, had been a Marine Captain, part of the deadly Okinawa campaign which ended a month or so before the Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

2.  Golden Rule:   Two years ago the Golden Rule sailboat embarked from Minneapolis beginning a ‘grand round’ of the midwest and eastern United States, lobbying for peace, and anti-nuclear.  It completed its mission.  This summer its route is the west coast of the U.S.  All details are in its informative and attractive newsletter which appears here.). GoldenRule(3)2024 

Golden Rule is a serious project and deserves your encouragement and financial support.

3.  A Wake-up Call:  If you have any doubt that fascism can’t happen here, devote serious time to listening to Rachel Maddow’s Ultra podcast, now in Season Two.  I have listened to all of the episodes in both years (I think the total so far is about 13 in all, and I believe they are all still accessible).  Now playing is Episode 7 focusing on Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy of Wisconsin.  The series is absolutely chilling and eye-opening, beginning with the 1930s through the mid-1950s.  Each episode is roughly 45 minutes.  The last segment of this ’round’ airs starting Tuesday, August 6.  There are several upper midwest collaborators: Charles Lindbergh, Wild Bill Langer, and the like.  Our country had a very near miss with a fascist takeover…and we’re confronting the same right now.

4.  Book Recommendation: On our long weekend out I started Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book “An Unfinished Love Story, A Personal History of the 1960s“.  This is  a very interesting book, an insider account primarily of the JFK and Lyndon Johnson years.  Dick Goodwin was a speechwriter and in other ways integral part of both administrations, and Doris Kearns, who became his wife, later a Pulitzer Prize winning author, was part of the White House team especially for Lyndon Johnson.  The book is heavily sourced, and of course, both Doris and Dick were in the thick of some extraordinary years.  I noted Amazon has near 3,000 reviews and the books rating is 4.8 of 5 stars.

5. August 1, the Prisoner Exchange: As I was updating this post, and all day today, the news has been about the negotiated prisoner exchange involving a number of countries.  The news will fill in all of the details.  Personally, what I thought about was the difficulty of diplomacy and the utility of decent relationships and necessity of negotiations to craft agreements which are never perfect, especially among enemies with long histories.  It is considerably different than a passionate argument among friends over coffee.

Deals such as today’s percolate slowly and quietly sometimes over years, and when they happen often catch us by surprise.  Whatever one thinks of this deal, or that, who/what was won/lost, the fact of the matter is that in one way or another we are all part of a massive community encompassing an entire planet, divided into a complex network of states, led by a diverse lot of leaders who have achieved their position in all sorts of different ways.

Pick 10 random folks you know and see how hard it is to come to consensus on any most important issue.  It is a wonder that our system of nations works at all, but as the agreement that came to fruition today shows, it is possible to solve problems without missiles or bombs.  We need to practice this personally and wherever we live.

6.  Personal Political Opinion: If you know me, or follow this space at all, you know where I stand politically.  I will go into more detail after the Democratic Convention (August 19-22, Chicago) and on or before Labor Day (September 2).  The election is Tuesday, November 5.   In the interim, I will continue writing on whatever happens to be of interest.  Have a good August.  YOU are “politics”, period.  We all are “politics”.  Get informed and involved.

*

7.  Gaza/Israel/Hamas: The Minneapolis StarTribune gave an entire page in the Thursday STrib about Prime Minister Netanyahu at the U.S. Congress [July 24].  That is only the beginning of news which continued as he visited President Biden and Vice-President Harris, etc., etc.  I do not pretend to have any new insights.  However, recently I came across an old file of mine, from 2008-09, labeled “Gaza”, relating to troubles there in 2008.  This was 15 years ago.

At the time I submitted a personal opinion op ed to the Star Tribune, which was not printed, but I did keep a copy and informed others about it at the time, and more recently as well.  FYI, here is the personal opinion at the time: Gaza 2008-09.  I make no pretense, then or now, of being an expert on the tragedy which is Gaza, except that it is a tragedy, and it will never be solved if either or both ‘sides’ assume they will win everything in the long term.  This is more a congressional than a presidential issue.  The U.S. policy is very long-standing and not necessarily productive or correct.  Just my opinion.

[See comment from SAK below]

*

8.  Finally, a German witness to the ending of WWII: Tuesday’s post included a brief comment from myself: “…today we lunched with our 98 year old German friend,  days ago returned from several weeks in her home country.  She’s extremely concerned about our country, as are her native countrymen and women, should the previous president be returned to office.  More later on that.”

Here is the “more later”.

We had a very good visit with our friend, which verified what I say above, and which included something I was aware of from earlier conversations, but not to the extent revealed at our lunch.

Near the end of the war, as an 18 year old in 1945, our friend was assigned to be a typist in an office in a city about 70 miles from her home.  Basically the pool she was in was simply relaying coded messages – it was a steno job.  She was fast and accurate.

During her just concluded visit she went to the city and saw the actual building in which she worked, and the ‘three windows’ to the outside.  The outside landscape included the local  Dom (Cathedral).

She remembered that one of the stenos was removed summarily for presumed spying for the enemy.  She left and was never seen again.  Someone else, apparently connected with the local church, told someone they needed to look out for themselves because time was short for the Reich.  The individual  was arrested and summarily and publicly hung in the yard in front of the Dom.

The war ended shortly thereafter.  She walked the 70 miles home, hiding in the woods and nearly starving.  She wanted at least to be home.  Her father, who was not a Nazi, had been conscripted.  They last saw him months before, and never heard from him again.  They presume he was killed or died, probably in Russia.

Her memory of 80 years before was powerful and concise.  Since I had heard parts of this message from her in previous years and in writing in her book, she came across as credible.

I’ll never see ‘three windows’ quite the same again….

COMMENTS (more below)

from SAK: Many thanks I really enjoyed that “Hiroshima” page & intend to reread it more carefully: so much there from books to music & articles about the past & present. Thanks again.

Recently I happened on this page which is about the countdown to Hiroshima.

Towards the bottom one finds “Newer Post” & by clicking that one can move forward one day at a time to that fateful day.

You also mentioned the Gaza war. That links with an article I found by a French philosopher, Paul Ricœur. He was influenced by his Christian upbringing as well as by Christian & non-Christian philosophers. The article is available here in French: Perplexités sur Israël. I have translated it to English, by using translation aids but then correcting some errors etc.  Here: Perplexities 1958.

What links it with Hiroshima is the following line – keep in mind this article was written in 1958, plus ça change!

“Such are the frightening prospects of the Jewish-Arab conflict. If we are not careful, it is from there that the spark of nuclear war can start.”

from Harley:  Dick, thanks for this.  I read your blog post about Hiroshima/Nagasaki.  The only time I have gone to Japan was on the opening of the Nagasaki Concert hall in 1998.  I went with Christina and my mom and daughter.  As you can imagine, it was very moving.  We also went to our homestead in Kagoshima and met our relatives too.

My mom was incarcerated during the war.  She went in at age 14 and got out at 17.  She settled in Minnesota, not being allowed to go back to the west coast while the war was still on.  She spent her growing up years in the camp.  I still do not know the full effect of that experience on her.  I never will.

Joe’s Speech

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“Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

We watched Joe Biden’s 12 minute or so speech from the Oval Office tonight.  I don’t plan to add anything to the hours of analysis.  Joe contributed immensely to this country in his over 50 years of public service; and his greatest contribution was that of being a positive role model.  He has about six months left in his term and will make good use of his time.

Joe Biden July 24, 2024

It was my privilege to see him speak in person, twice, in the twin cities.  Both were during his time as Vice-President, in 2010 and 2012.

Thanks, Joe, for what you’ve done and will continue to do.

POSTNOTE; Overnight, Heather Cox Richardson summarized the President’s speech as any I will see.  Here is her Letter From An American.

 

 

Yesterday

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“Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.

Yesterday, brings to mind The Beatle’s, Yesterday.

There is no adequate way to recap the four days between Thursday July 19 in Milwaukee and yesterday.

Last evening nine of us had a regularly scheduled Democrat conversation group (“Coffee and Conversation”) at a local book store.  Among those attending was a local Legislator, a County  Commissioner, a City Council member, vice-chair of the local Democrats, and the others.  Larry, the convener, brought up the topic du jour.  No one really took the bait, the interest was in more local issues.  This does not connote lack of interest or disapproval.  Not at all.  The political process is working as it is supposed to work.  The rest you will get endlessly on the tube and the internet.  We were just local politically active citizens.

I had brought along a handout, which I have shared before at this space.  It isbelow.  My later 1980s view of the body politic which is all of us, unedited over these past 35 or more years.  Everyone took their copy.  I think it is worth everyone’s reflection, and if my rendition is inaccurate, please comment.  Here is the pdf of the below: Political Scrum original 1987.

There is no rocket science involved here.  As I observed to the table group, even we “birds of a feather” would/could have lots of disagreements about lots of issues.  The need of any society is to work things out.  Unfortunately, the easy way for media and political operatives is to cast everything from the “hard left” and “hard right” perspective, hardly representative of the whole….

Most all of us at the table with me would likely agree that President Biden has been an excellent President, and that Kamala Harris is a. worthy successor, as appears almost certain, as I write, today.  This morning on NPR, I heard J.D. Vance in Ohio advancing a counter narrative.  The current president, Joe,  is the worst ever in all of history, and the successor candidate, Kamala,  is a million times worse than he was.  Off we go.

Enjoy the Paris Olympics which have just begun.  A fellow walker who’s a native of France was saying this morning that the swimming competition will be in a pool in a barge floating on the Seine.  What a deal!  It is hard to imagine, but I’ll look for it!

Of course, there’s a similar political scrum in France, and Europe has similar problems to deal with, as we do.

And today we lunched with our 98 year old German friend, days ago returned from several weeks in her home country.  She’s extremely concerned about our country, as are her native countrymen, should the previous president be returned to office.  More later on that.

*

President Joe Biden, Sunday

Vice-President Kamala Harris Monday at the White House with the nation’s top athletes

POSTNOTE: I will be doing more items on politics in the political season.  The next scheduled post will be following the Democratic Convention in August, but likely there will be unscheduled ones in between.  Check this space once in awhile if interested.

COMMENTS (more at the end of this post):

 

 

A Week

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I have followed but seldom watched the Trump Coronation festivities in Milwaukee, since there has been four years of campaigning already.  There was no package to unwrap, so to speak.  We know the positioning.  In a little over 100 days we’ll know about the vote.  As is always true, we will get exactly what we deserve, by our vote, throw away vote, or non-vote.  Everyone eligible to vote is ‘counted’ one way or another.

Here is an important commentary filed by Heather Cox Richardson on Thursday night, the end of the Convention.

I’ll click publish on this on Friday morning, July 19, and there’s a lot of chatter swirling around in this rough draft of history.  Trump has made his speech, the billionaires are lining up to donate their millions, we Democrats have our own dilemma, and our own convention is a month from now.  There is the usual cacophony masquerading as wisdom, soon forgotten.  I am very mindful that traditionally campaigning begins in earnest after the conventions and about Labor Day.  I do not recall ever a circumstance where campaigning has gone on continuously, as it has since 2020.

Earlier this week I saw a cartoon that pretty accurately reflects Democrats and Republicans as I’ve come to see them.  Actually, I’ve thought the same for a long time, and like it.  Democrats reflect the real and often messy world of the vast majority of the population.  I see that as a strength, not a weakness.  Democrats have to work things out.  Autocrats don’t.  Here’s the cartoon:

from Reform Austin July 8, 2024

Here’s how the last post began: “Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.  That will be my mantra beginning every post between now and Nov. 5.

Thursday morning I made a list of events, and activities by myself, in the week preceding.

Last Saturday it began with the near miss of assassinating the former president at Butler PA.  At the end of the July 12 post, are my own comments at the time.

(See “SOME QUICK….”  below for some personal memories I’ve added today about security as I’ve seen it evolve, personally).

I’m saving my newspapers and look each day for whatever is said about the shooting.  The story is evolving, as are all the political stories.

Thursday’s paper reports that President Biden has come down with Covid, so this will be another piece of fodder.  Last week I wrote a brief letter to the lawmakers in my orbit who will have some say in the final outcome of who the Democrats endorse for President in August.  I said: “I remain a strong supporter of Biden/Harris.  If the decision is made to change course, I think it is time for the Democrats to consider actively a “Team of Rivals” approach which was apparently Abraham Lincoln’s strategy to deal with division.”   Here’s my current MN Lawmakers list: MN Lawmakers Roster (2) July 9, 2024

I don’t invest my life in this political decision, I’ve done what I can.  In my opinion, President Biden has done a great job, and history will verify that.

I did look back at the Minnesota Presidential Primary on March 5, in which I voted for Joe Biden.  Here’s the result of that “Super Tuesday” vote in Minnesota: MN Presidential Primary March 2024.  People seem to have forgotten about that election, which was official, with lots of notice.  (There is another Minnesota Primary on August 13.  I’ve qualified to be an election judge if needed for that election.  No assignment yet – I asked to be on alternate status.  Here are the candidates on my ballot: MN Primary August 13, 2024).

In the end analysis, each and every one of us is personally accountable for the results of any election.  That’s the bottom line.  There is still over 100 days to show up.

A BIT OF PERSPECTIVE IF YOU’VE GOT THIS FAR: There are about 1,000 billionaires in the United States, some of these mega-billionaires.  They aren’t all Republican, though many are, and for them, a million dollars is chump change.  Against them are over 244,000,000 potential voters on November 5.  The richest billionaire and the poorest citizen each possess a single vote….  All is not lost, unless you give up.

POSTNOTE: Here’s an interesting commentary from Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the political usefulness of crises by authoritarians.  I believe that autocracy is a looming threat to everyone of us.

FINALLY,  SOME QUICK PERSONAL MEMORIES ON SECURITY FOR VIP’S:

Unfortunately, to be in politics has always been a risky business, though most especially now, in the time where ordinary people can be armed and extremely dangerous.

I did a quick list Thursday and was surprised at the number of high level political folks I’ve been in the same room with at one time or another.  It’s been more than a dozen.  Here are four of the most memorable.

1.  Dwight Eisenhower. I was probably between 7th and 8th grade in 1953, and we were in Minot ND the day President Eisenhower flew in on then-Air Force One on business probably relating to the under construction Minot Air Force Base.  We were standing on the sidewalk outside the then brand new Empire Theater, and the President came by in an open convertible, in my memory like John Kennedy in Dallas ten years later.  I don’t recall any nervousness at all around us.  Just an important guy in a convertible.

2.  Gerald Ford.  Probably in the summer of 1975 I took my 11 year old son and a couple of his friends to see Gerald Ford when he came to Minneapolis for some event.  There was a meet and greet across a rope line at the Marriott in Bloomington (a single strand rope if I recall correctly).  There was Secret Service, but we were very close to the President.  Below is the picture I took.  My sons hair is barely visible in this photo, which I took.  President Ford is surrounded by three Secret Service.

Gerald Ford Aug. 19, 1975, Bloomington MN.

3.  In June of 1990 Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev came to the Twin Cities for a day, and I raced around to catch a glimpse, which was a success.  My best photo was when they took off from the Twin Cities airport in the Russian Air Force One.  I was easily able to take photos close to Gorbachev at two other locations during the day.  This is not to suggest there was lack of security – at the same time, it was not oppressive.

Gorbachev’s leaving Minneapolis June 4, 1990

4.  George W Bush.  Sometime, probably the summer of 2005 or 2006, I heard President Bush was coming to town and would be arriving at Twin Cities airport in later morning.  I thought maybe I’d have a chance at a photo of Air Force One landing, and got my gear together, went out to Ft. Snelling, and walked towards the fence on the north edge of the airport.  I was by myself, and just had my camera bag.  I noticed a helicopter overhead, didn’t pay much attention to it, and soon a police car came up and told me I couldn’t stay there.  I’m sure the folks in the chopper were secret service or police.  I walked back to the car, and as I was driving out, in the rear view mirror, Air Force One roared by, landing.

I could list at least several other similar happenings.  I was a completely benign observer every time I went to these events, and so were any others I saw.  But this is not always true, and that is why there is so much sensitivity to security at events like the one at Butler Farm last Saturday.  Somehow there was a major breakdown in communication at the event.  Maybe some day there will be a more complete story.  An innocent bystander was killed, and others injured, so it was not a victimless event.  We need to learn from this.  Though there will never be a risk free environment for anyone in public, especially these days.

THE OTHER VIP’S WITH WHOM I’VE AT LEAST HAD A CLOSE CALL, TO THE BEST OF MY MEMORY: Nelson Rockefeller, Valley City ND 1960; Jimmy Carter, Minneapolis, 1978; John Kerry, Minneapolis 2004; also John Edwards; Barack (twice) and Michelle Obama (once) ca 2008; Joe Biden, twice, Minneapolis and St. Paul, post 2009; Kamala Harris, Minneapolis 2022; Bill Clinton, Minneapolis 1996; Al Gore, Eagan 2000; Walter Mondale, rural St. Paul, early 2000s.  With each there is a story, well remembered.  Maybe some other time..!

COMMENTS (more at end):

from Michelle: Thank you Dick

from Rich: Hey, Dick, I wanted to share that I was also near the Empire Theater on that day. President Truman also visited Minot, probably for the same reason. On the ceremonial side of it all, my father’s college band was present on both visits to greet the president. This was “a beginning” for Minot. In the days of our youth the Cold War was a reality.

Additionally, for me these days, I believe we are living in a more pivotable historical period than we realize. Recent events have caused me to revisit the candidate George Wallace assassination attempt on May of 1972. Similarly volatile rhetoric preceded a shooting.
I listen to Mvt 4 & 5 of Mahler5 on MPR. It was better than the news. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Enjoy our beautiful summer.


from Brian:  Interesting your comments about security for VIPs!  Reminds me of when I worked with WOCCU in Bolivia and one time  First Lady Hillary Clinton came down to see what we were doing.  (Helping credit unions help poor indigenous people.)

Louisa was asked to be Hillary’s personal escort in La Paz and nearby.   That was interesting!    At La Paz airport our plane was right next to hers!    When she left we had a “wheels up party”, meaning since all went well, the wheels of her plane’s landing gear got sucked into the body and she was gone–whew!
Thanks for sharing!

from Brian, 1996, photo does not include Hillary, but from the same time as mentioned..

response to Brian from Dick: Your comment reminds me of a comment by Nelson Rockefeller in Valley City ND in June, 1960.  Here’s the newspaper account: Politics 1960 vs 1996001.  See the top of the second column.  I had an actual copy of the newspaper article, and my recollection was the incident happened in Venezuela, the motorcade being egged or such at some point.  I no longer have the newspaper account, from the Fargo Forum, but official archival material suggests that my account and Gov. Rockefellers, relates to a visit by Eisenhower to Latin America in Feb. 1960. Here.  [POSTNOTE July 31, 2024]: I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s, excellent  An Unfinished Love Story, about the 1960s, and on page 104 she comments on a planned trip by JFK to Caracas and Bogota in December, 1961: “During a goodwill mission to Venezuela [in 1958], Vice President Richard Nixon’s motorcade had been attacked by a crowd shouting anti-American slogans.  Before the motorcade made it safely to the embassy, Nixon’s car was rocked back and forth, its windows smashed.  The prospective trip, the State Department officials and the Secret Service warned, was too dangerous.”

from Christine in Europe:  I read with much interest your last note. I am very much interested in politics over the world, as you know.

Just for saying, I also had some unexpected opportunities to meet some US candidates over the years
– Bill Clinton in London
– Barack Obama in Paris
– Al Gore in Copenhagen
And not a candidate but an important person,
– Nancy Pelosi in Copenhagen with Will Steger
Today, I am having training for the Olympics where I will be working from Saturday morning (27th July)

from Dick: Christine, and Brian, and infinite others we all know, remind us that we are part of the world, not apart from that world.

The Coronation, July 15-18, 2024, Milwaukee WI: A Look Back to 2016 and 2020.

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Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV.

There is much content to follow.  Your choice, as always.

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The title of this post concerns the Republican Convention beginning Monday in Milwaukee, and anticipates the expected outcome.

Succinctly, this year for the first time in my adult life, I am urging every voter to cast their ballot for their Democrat candidates.

What is now the Trump Party, includes over 120 elected Republican legislators who actively promoted a challenge of the 2020 Presidential election, including Cong. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota.  (Cong. Jim Hagedorn was in this cadre, but died in 2022.)  The former Grand Old Party now consists of those who have left the current party, or been forced into exile.

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In the 15 years I’ve been writing these musings, I’ve gotten into the habit of writing opinions from the heart based both on facts and feelings, often before some scheduled event. I try to think things through.  I’ve done lots of these – 2,017 at last count – and they’re all archived and easily accessible by word search and by date, and I access one or another quite often, there are 7 in this post alone.

We’re completing eight years of the Trump hurricane, and watching the end of a political party, the GOP,  as it was once correctly called, the Party of Abraham Lincoln.  And we’re within sight of the loss of our Democracy, to be replaced by a Project 2025 autocracy.   Anyone who thinks this through even a little knows this is a looming catastrophe if Donald Trump gets the keys to the Oval Office.

The temptation when being being buffeted by a storm, is to seek shelter till it blows over.  This is a storm where the wreckage may be permanent.  It is time to pay attention, and no time to hide out.

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I offer the following many links as possible guides to your own thinking.

This post is about July 15-18, 2024, but first…

Here’s what I wrote about the 2016 Republican National Convention after the first night.  It was my only post specifically about that convention (though I gave it space on July 22 as well). At the time of that election I didn’t pay adequate attention to Donald Trump, who I knew basically as “The Apprentice”   (I have never watched an episode).  I knew of Trump Tower, and that Trump had zero experience as an elected official anywhere.  He was an entertainer.

All the character issues were yet to be exposed.

Four years later was very different, of course.  Here’s the last of five posts (August 30, 2020) I did during the time of the “T” Convention August 24-27, 2020.  Here are the other four in 2020: August 24; August 25; August 26; and August 27.  Note that all of these were posted several months before the 2020 election and, of course, before January 6, 2021.

This year, 2024, most recently, are July 1, July 4, July 6, and today.

I’m glad I archive these posts.  I’ll repeat this process next month, right before the Democratic Convention.  I’m just an amateur writer, but looking back at the past notes is sobering…and I’m already worried about the state of our democracy if the lawless coalition bent on control of the U.S. happens to win on November 5.

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Other recommendations.

I’d also recommend reading this editorial from the Philadelphia Inquirer, reprinted as an editorial in the July 8, 2024, Minneapolis Star Tribune.: Mpls Star Tribune July 8 2024.  (I’m a long-time subscriber to the STrib.)

I subscribe to three on-line commenters on history and law who I consider extraordinarily credible.  Here are recent posts from each, all pertinent.  Most particularly in this election season, they are worth your subscription, and they deserve support: Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American; Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse; Jay Kuo: The Big Picture and Status Kuo.

POSTNOTE July 12: The above text was complete yesterday afternoon (July 11) before the President Biden news conference, which I watched in its entirety, and the release of the approximately 5,000 word editorial from the New York Times about the Trump candidacy for President.  I thought President Biden with a fine job with the news conference; the NYT editorial is powerful.   Joyce Vance, today, provides a link to the editorial, and summary comments.  Heather Cox Richardson features a very interesting part 1 of a two part interview with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, here.

FINAL THOUGHT: I post to about 600 folks.  I have no idea who, if anyone, reads any particular post.  But I do know I’m read, based on people I hear from, not only from comments.  I suggested to a friend recently that an informal personal gauge for myself is that if one in a hundred gets something out of a post I write, it’s worth it.  You apparently are the one for this post, so thank you.

What we have become accustomed to in this country – called “the American way of life” or however stated – is under active attack by weapons like lies and power and control strategies from a stinky band of skunks.  There is no passive way to deal with filthy politics, in which we are awash, and this is not an ‘everyone does it’ fantasy.  This is a fringe of one side of the ideological spectrum that saw an opening for power and control, and are bent on exercising it with all of the weapons in their arsenal.  No holds barred.  I don’t get hysterical about things.  What we’re approaching now, with Project 25 and the like, is getting very close to the edge.  I urge you to not only get engaged, but to share these posts if you think they are useful.  Again, thank you for reading.

PS: a particular message to the other side, the one that buys the premise that there are winners and there are losers, and the losers best suck it up.  It doesn’t work that way…for either the winners or the losers.  Any kid who’s ever played ‘king on a hill’ and won the hill learns soon that getting the hill has its own perils.  A functioning society has to figure out how to work things out for all sides.  Probably the best example of winning is Nazi Germany, where the promise was a 1,000 year Reich, which ended up at the end of 12 years with an entire society crushed, which – good for them – was helped out of its pit by things like the Marshall Plan.

POSTNOTE JULY 13: Joyce Vance on ‘Christian Nationalism’; Heather Cox Richardson on going back to White Male Privilege.

COMMENTS (more at end)

from Patsy: Amen to ” This is not a routine year.”  Thanks always for your thoughts.

from Joyce: Very well stated, Dick!

from Joni: I found the NYT editorial interesting and very unsettling. Your choice of the word “catastrophic” is spot on as well, and I wish with my whole heart that I could disagree or find some evidence to support thinking otherwise.

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from Dick: July 13, 9 p.m.: at about 5 p.m. I received a phone call from a friend that Donald Trump had been injured in a shooting in Pennsylvania.  I was not home at the time.  This entire evening has been consumed by reporting o various kinds, including already the rumors that the Biden campaign was responsible.  As time goes on we will find out what is real.

from Jeff:  Since you again have pondered these things and are a Catholic, the whole thing does spur the question of the morality of tyrannicide, a much debated issue amongst the Greek and Roman philosophers and the HMC over the centuries.

The question in less direct terms is would killing Hitler in say 1931 or 1932 have been morally right?  The inevitability of
hindsight makes it difficult.
I remember in my graduate student days, one class I was a grader for, which was American History 102 (post Civil War to present), the prof gave each grad assistant the opportunity to give one lecture. Mine was on the period in the USA from 1939 to Dec 7 1941.  I had a lot more emotion and exuberance in those days and definitely put my imprint on it, pushing the students to question why the USA didn’t intervene despite the political opposition to a European war,  my stance was moral rather than historical at times.  ahhh the early 20s of our lives…


The other side of the killing Hitler is a good thing coin: the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started WW1….just starting to consider the chaos that Trump being killed might have created.  Civil War?  several Oklahoma City events?  cities being captured by militias and declared separate from states and nations…..things much worse than January 6 to be sure.

These are really difficult times.  What worries me is with SCOTUS, a GOP Senate, and Trump in power, I do not think our calcified democracy could withstand it.

response from Dick: Indeed, this situation begs lots of serious conversation about our own societies contradictions.  Indeed, at Mass this morning the pastor decried the violence very carefully: a Catholic congressperson in attendance going to Mass, speaking of the reaction of his children who were there, apparently; a reporter reporting on the screams of children;  an Army Chaplain Priest whose talk is about “moral injury” – how the world is and should be.  No mention that I recall of the role of a deadly weapon, though the same priest had talked passionately about this topic just weeks ago.

I often think of the quandary of Hitler and his ilk.  I think of the initial assertions made about who did the deed at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City – initially the suspect was somebody Middle Eastern looking, as I recall, and of course turned out to a white military veteran who’d been a Boy Scout.

I think even more about the fact that character assassination is as much killing as physically shooting someone; it is a weapon of choice in today’s politics, as is lying in all of its many forms, sanctioned as freedom of speech.  These have been very useful weapons, and I don’t expect that to change post-shooting.

The suggestion, from an apparent schoolmate,  was that the young man who presumably did the shooting was a loner and bullied in school.  And, of course, already there is strategic political thinking – the Democrats must be to blame.  There is a lot to be contemplated, for sure.  It was a huge shock to get the news yesterday afternoon.

We live in a powder keg with the open access to weapons: that is a crucial bottom line.  There are nuts in every age in every place, but only in our country can they be armed and extremely dangerous legally carrying weapons of war.

POSTNOTE July 15: Overnight from Joyce Vance, here; and from Heather Coxx Richardson, here.   I encourage your subscribing to both of these credible sources of information.  I will probably not further append to this post, there the news about the Butler PA incident will doubtless continue.

POSTNOTE July 20: See new post here.  Generally I post once or twice a week.  The next scheduled post specifically on politics will be right before the Democratic Convention about a month from now, but almost certainly I will have some commentary on the political atmosphere between now and then, so check back once in awhile..

 

Dean

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Monday I took a short trip east to a memorial service for Dean, who died recently at age 89.

It was a nice service, a good showing of Dean’s friends and relatives.  A beautiful day all around.

I hardly knew Dean.  He was the guy who checked folks in at the local health center when we came in to walk in the morning.  The indoor walk became a habit for me after heart surgery in 2018.  Dean was the usual greeter until he retired last year.  Cancer was winning the race.

He would be like most service people we all meet every day, and take for granted.  I knew only fragments of his life.  His wife died a year before he did, and she had a rough road at the end.  He was a farm kid, had been in the Army, worked in security positions most of his work life, had great-grandchildren.

We all have Dean’s in our own lives.  Mostly we take them for granted, but if they happen to disappear for whatever reason there is a little vacant space in our lives.

I last saw Dean on his 89th birthday about two months ago (photo below, he’s at left).  He was going downhill rapidly, and wanted to come back to the health club to, I suppose, say farewell by his presence.  There was birthday cake, and coffee, and conversation, and then he was taken back to his nursing home.

After Monday’s service, the group gathered at graveside.  Taps was played, and two young military men did the presentation of the American flag in recognition of Dean’s status as a veteran.

I didn’t stay for lunch – I hadn’t seen anyone I knew there, and I really didn’t know much about Dean either, except that Dean in his quiet way exemplified the best about what I would call ‘community’.

Dean is at peace, and the world is a better place because he was here.

POSTNOTE July 10: This morning I learned that, in fact, 7 of my fellow walkers were at the service – they were simply sitting in a different part of the church, and after the graveside service, I had passed on the lunch and came home…..

The Joe and George Show

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POSTNOTE July 7: Previous directly related posts June 27, 28, July 1, 4, 6.   The U.S. road ahead is politics, and I am going to try to restrain myself.  Absent some legitimate ‘crisis’, my next politics centered post will be the day before the ‘Republican’ convention (July 14); the next the day before the Democratic Convention (August 18 ); the next perhaps the week after the Democratic Convention (August 22,  before September 1).

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Some random thoughts a week after the debate.  First, mark and visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV.

I watched the interview of Joe Biden with George Stephanopoulis on Friday evening.  Mostly I ignored the analysis, which is as valid or invalid as my own.

As with the debate a week ago, I am glad that this interview was held, and that it was pretty no-holds barred.  It is good that we the people, who are the ultimate judges could watch.

The real value, I think, is that we, the people, are being forced to confront our own role in the future of our own country.   The the ball is in our court.  Ours is not a frivolous or optional task. There is no one-size fits all resolution even within the political parties.

The politicians, as has always been true in our democracy, ultimately are responsible for the tough question of who will actually be on the ballot Nov. 5.  Theirs is and has always been a crucial and immensely difficult job.  The first of the two national conventions begins in about a week.  Watch, listen and learn….

Personally, I am not enthusiastic about a second ‘debate’.  I don’t see it as constructive.

There is no question in my mind that the coming months will be brutal, just judging by history.  ‘m guessing it will be even worse than “normal” past years, with more and more sophisticated misinformation and disinformation.  I hope I’m wrong.  One absolute truth in my opinion: Dirty Tricks and the like will be sown to disrupt and confuse.  Resist.  This is why I repost the below Draft which gives you at least some real data to begin to refresh your own memory of past presidential campaigns.

My one judgement is that the two candidates represent remarkably contrasting philosophies  with a drastically different view of our future.  As I’ve said before, I will not comment more about this until after the Democratic Convention in August.

A summary of the past:

 

Working Draft about Presidents since FDR prepared by Dick Bernard Feb 1, 2024  Here is the pdf of the same document: Presidents since FDR DRAFT Feb 1 2024

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A brief reflection: The Bananas and Despicable ME 4….

The Stephanopoulos interview was sandwiched between two other duties the last 24 hours.  Right before the interview, I went to the store to pick up my daily essential: bananas.  Then, today, I took my daughter to a movie she wanted to see, Despicable ME 4.  In perhaps a weird way, the three events make a good sandwich about us, we, the people.

The bananas I found at the supermarket were uniformly ripe, which made them a poor choice for a household which consumes two bananas a day.  On the other hand, I have yet to see a variety of bananas that matures one each day.  Just doesn’t happen.  Some times they’re too green, sometimes too ripe, sometimes just right – at least for day or two.

Yesterday a lady was ragging on a stock boy who happened to be refiling the banana shelf with bananas.  The product was unacceptable to her.  He tried to explain that that was all they had at the moment – he was the one who had brought them from the stockroom.  She was on a roll, wouldn’t let go.  I picked up a bunch, and when I left he was still her target.

I thought to myself, this was nutty behavior.  When I was a kid I don’t recall ever seeing a banana, much less a full service super market with thousands of choices.  We need to get a grip.  We are, mostly, hugely privileged.

Today, daughter Heather wanted to go to Despicable Me 4, so we went to the 10 a.m. show.  I was aware of the Despicable series, from having taken her to one another time.

Despicable 4 was an entertaining film, basically a French production.  It reminded me a bit of the old Roadrunner cartoons, and others of the same genre, though much higher tech.

The good folks win in the end of the kid films, and probably it is all good clean fun for the kids, and even some morals of the story for the adult supervision in the theater with the little kids.  We are in a different time in history, that is for sure.

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It is hard, these days, to get some kind of perspective.  In between, before and after, every day there are lots of things to observe, some good, some not so good, that are useful to assess as we cast judgement on the present, past and future.  What we all have to be is engaged in seeking those who are best fit to lead our complicated nation in tomorrows complicated times.  This requires wisdom of all of us.

COMMENTS (more at end):

from Tony: Thank you.  I really like Joe Biden. This is so hard..  We cannot allow Trump to win.  It’s so painful but I think Joe needs to retire. Kamala, rightly or wrongly, must retire as well. She is too unpopular.   I feel terrible about this, but Trump must be stopped!

from SAK:  Many thanks for the post – I agree with so much of it including the banana bit & Tony’s comment.

France has voted & Tony would be pleased that many groups got together to block a party similar to the one Trump is leading – is there really a Republican party worthy of the name in the US anymore!? There are a few individuals but why have so many Republicans in Congress become so obsequious to Trump?

I received this link from a friend who tries to be objective & usually votes Democrat.

Jared Golden might indeed be considering his own future (election prospects). Do politicians these days actually believe J. F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”? Here is the man himself proclaiming that.

Jared Golden should become a turncoat & follow Trump who certainly thinks more of what the country has done & will do for him & his ilk.

In the same inaugural address Kennedy also said: “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.”

Now is Trump a threat to US democracy? Seems like it – of course the Supreme Court will vote 6-3 against such a hypothesis! And there are those, like Jared Golden, who will say the US has survived a civil war . . . what an argument!? Would he welcome a civil war? What if that civil war had gone the other way, say after some foreign powers intervened on the side of the confederacy? Trump has already proven that he is a threat to democracy & not just on January 6th but by constantly attacking most of US’ institutions & by nominating Supreme Court judges who ignore the will of the majority – I’ll be brief & not get into the abortion issue, the immunity puzzle & even worse the Chevron ruling which basically gave the finger to experts on behalf of corporate profiteering.

There are others who are tired of good old Biden & will work for an alternative although it’s late in the day – they should have started the day Biden was elected & he should have led the search for a successor but power is magnetic – as your draft detailing how many vice presidents went on to become presidents shows as well. Jared Golden is not honestly & benevolently seeking for a good alternative but others are. They might still be able to convince Biden to abandon the quest. The problem with liberals is they do not have the will to power, almost by definition, unlike the Republicans who will sacrifice even the country to attain power – surely many in that party do not approve of Trump & yet they campaign for him all the way. The Democrats made a similar mistake in nominating Hilary Clinton against Trump. At the risk of irritating some who accuse me of bringing up UK politics too often, the Labour party there has acted in a similar manner while the Conservatives have sacrificed the good of the country on the altar of power. This time though Labour coordinated their campaign with the Liberal Democrats to make sure they get a majority. In France as well this time various shades of left & center coordinated their campaigns & withdrew candidates in favour of others to block the far right. The left-leaning liberals are learning.

As J.F.K. said in that same address, history will be the judge . . .

All the best.

overnight from Heather Cox Richardson: here