Political Ideology, then and now

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The July 12 post, Tonton Macoutes, includes a thought-provoking comment from a recent deportee.  I highly recommend reading it.  It is from Donna.

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For a couple of years I’ve been a regular participant in a local “Coffee and Conversation” group which meets regularly and has a whoever-shows-up membership.  This has translated, over time, into usually a dozen or so Democrats who may or may not know (or even agree with!) anyone else at the table.  There is no particular agenda.  The discussion is mostly political, but potluck.  We all don’t have the same interests or opinions.  Typical Democrats.

One of us started the tradition, and his main function is to announce time and place, and convene the next gathering.  We RSVP, and then we just show up…or don’t…and talk about whatever.  It may seem ragged, and it is, but it is a small “soap box” where people can say what’s on their mind, and perhaps learn in the process.

Last Saturday, our founder and facilitator, Jim, mentioned he’d been reading a couple of older political manifestoes, liberal and conservative, from some years much earlier in my lifetime.  We didn’t talk about them specifically, but I asked for the links, and have found them fascinating and thought-provoking.

One is the conservative Sharon Statement, set in writing by about 100 young conservatives in Sharon CT in September, 1960.  Names you might remember: Young Americans for Freedom; William F. Buckley

The second was the liberal Port Huron Statement set in stone, so to speak, by young liberals at Port Huron MI in Spring 1962.  Names you might remember: Students for a Democratic Society; Tom Hayden

The statements speak clearly for themselves, and if you’re interested, it is easy to find out more about the groups, etc.

Each reader – I recommend reading both – will come to their own conclusions about the statements, then and applied to now.

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What most  intrigued me about these statements was that I was a contemporary – at least in age – of those young people who adopted the statements.

In 1960, I was a sophomore in college, not passionate about politics.  There were Republican and Democrat Clubs, but I was in neither.  In 1960,  was the Kennedy-Nixon Presidential election, but I was 20, I was not yet eligible to vote (voting age then was 21). I do recall seeing Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in person at a whistle stop before the Republicans picked Richard Nixon as nominee; and later watching the famous Nixon-Kennedy debate on TV.

In 1962, at the time of the Port Huron Statement, I was in the Army, in an infantry company, confronted with matters like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I read the statements as an 85 year old, wondering how many of the authors of the two statements are still alive, with over 60 years of perspective, and whether their statements would be relevant to them or even to the young firebrands of today.  The gift we elders have is perspective of experience, something more abstract to those who follow. It is the nature of living.  You can only get experience by experience.  O course, we’re also old, so “what do they know?”  Lots.  But that’s just my opinion.

I also got to recalling how messages were delivered back in those days, compared with now.  What were the advantages and disadvantages of each.  For instance, what did “going viral” (or equivalent) mean in 1960, versus 2025.

On and on.

If you wish, and have the time, dive into the statements and apply them to yourself, the country we live in today, and what will be the reality of the U.S. 60 years from now.

Good reading.  I’ll share my thoughts on this in early August.

Thanks, Jim, for bringing the statements to my attention.

POSTNOTE:  As I publish this, I could of course add more content.  For instance, yesterday was the 5th anniversary of the death of the civil rights icon, John Lewis.  His life as an activist began about 1960.

Pick your own examples.

COMMENTS (more below)

from Marion: Thanks, Dick, I had read neither.

from Chuck: I read your piece.  Very good!  What has massively changed is the evolution of technology…without our mind’s capacity to keep up with the consequences, and our democratic polarization of elections stopping what little progress was made leading up to 2001.

What has never changed are the fundamental principles humanity has always had regarding the Golden Rule…which even other social species abide by…but we don’t .  Our mind’s capacity to believe anything has now derailed civilizations progress toward global human harmony and environmental sustainability.  Buckle up buttercup (a phrase I learned from my wrestling team) hard times are coming.

Below is a letter to the Editor the Wpost edited and then printed yesterday.

In his July 13 opinion column, “Why Americans are so prone to conspiracies,” David Von Drehle explained our conspiracy theory dilemma but didn’t offer any biological reasons for this tendency — or potential solutions to curb it.

Human creativity is connected to our minds’ powerful capacity for pattern recognition; we have the capacity to believe literally anything.  And we don’t always question what we see or hear from others within our beloved tribe. We assume there are obvious connections even when there are none. Our past successes have built unwarranted confidence and a limited ability to understand reality. Our brains, originally wired to assist our families and tribes to survive and thrive, must now adapt urgently to cope with the acceleration of global chaos.

Conspiracy theories will continue. Some are justifiable — and sometimes, they may even be true. But Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson has articulated a concept very useful for healing our species’ current detachment from reality: the difference between our personal, political and objective truths. In our current era of accelerating truth decay, relearning how to think and how to relate to the real world as it truly is matters now more than ever.

Chuck Woolery, Rockville

Below is a much longer and poorly written letter I originally submitted.  They did a fine job of editing and condensing it – but left out some details that might deepen our understanding of our mind’s inherently flaws.

David Von Drehle explained our conspiracy theory dilemma (Sunday op-ed) but didn’t offer any biological reasons or potential solutions.

Our conspiracy beliefs are primarily driven by several flaws in our Pleistocene mind within our brain.

First, our species uses reactionary thinking instead of the deeper thinking it is capable of.

Second, our creative genius plus our opposable thumbs has enabled humans to swiftly advance our ability to survive and thrive – The two most important things that every life form is hardwired for.

Our mind’s creativity is connected to its powerful capacity for pattern recognition, enabled by 5 (maybe 6) variable sensory receptors. (Note that plants have about 20 different sensor mechanisms and they have existed for about a billion years longer than primates).  Our mind has the capacity to believe literally anything. And we don’t always question what we see or hear from others within our beloved tribe.  We assume there are obvious connections even when there are none.  Thus, our mind’s past successes have built unwarranted confidence and a limited ability to understand reality.

So, over the last 6000 years, human populations have expanded as our minds created certain concepts like religion, politics, trading systems.  These helped bond and protect our growing tribes. But these concepts too often lead to killing others or insisting they adapt.

Primates will always fight and compete!  But only the human species has created weapons of mass destruction and a mindset that can justify mass murder or genocide on a scale our human DNA was not hardwired for.

So now our minds are in control, not humankind’s original spirit of ‘being human’ and resolving conflict without mass slaughter, which originally was not a conscious option. Yet that is what we are now choosing.

Our mind’s original purpose of assisting our family and tribe to survive and thrive must now urgently adapt to avoid our current acceleration of global chaos, massive suffering, and preventable deaths.

We must collectively grasp that our family is humankind.  Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and other wise souls, using deep objective reasoning, have summarized that we will either live together as family or perish together as fools.

Charles Darwin recognized in evolution that things are always changing. Life forms that fail to adapt become extinct.  Of the billions of life forms ever existing on our Goldie locks planet – 99.9% have gone extinct.  Unless we quickly recognize that all humankind is genetically 99.9% the same – with an intelligence that has now created non-biological super intelligence – our family’s only chance of survival is one or both sources of intelligence finally gaining collective wisdom.   And then, deciding to stop defending the various concepts that once worked but are now our greatest mental problem.

Conspiracy theories will continue. Some are justifiable and sometimes true.  Neil deGrasse Tyson wisely framed a concept very useful for healing our species’ current detachment from reality – and our insanity of doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.   He observes three types of truth.  Our personal, political, and objective truths.  The first two have flaws that should be self-evident to any deep-thinking being.  And the understanding that objective Truths are never governed by majority rule.  Truths like gravity, 2+2=4, unalienable rights, and a child should not die before their parent(s).  In our current era of accelerating truth decay, re-learning how to think and how to relate to the real world as it Truly is, is now more than ever.

French-Canadians to Dayton MN – New book

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Three years in preparation, a new book is now available on Amazon, Dayton Minnesota Reflections of French-Canadian Roots.  This is a major family history production, 483 pages in English, about over 100 Dayton area families identified with French-Canada antecedents beginning in the early 1850s.  More information about the book is accessible at the above link.  The book is the first listing on the page.

[August 10, 2025]: I purchased and received my copy of the book on August 2.  It is a keepsake, particularly for any French-Canadian family with any roots in Dayton or greater twin cities area.

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I have a personal investment in this story, as some of the 102 French-speaking families identified in the volume are in my line.

My first French-Canadian ancestors, Simon Blondeau and Adelaide LaCroix and four of their children arrived at the Mississippi River location in the early 1850s.  They were my great-great grandparents in the Collette family line.  Their daughter Clotilde, born in Canada in about 1849,  was my great grandmother.  She married great-grandfather Octave Collette at St. Anthony in 1869.  (According to the 1857 Minnesota census, Clotilde was one of 7 Blondeau children born in Canada. She would have been about 6 years old when they arrived at Dayton.  One other sister, Delima, was about two years younger.  What stories they could tell.  As best I know they started their migration to the U.S. from far eastern Ontario.)

The first Collette to Minnesota, Samuel, came to the Centreville (Anoka County) area in 1857.

Octave’s brother Philippe, married Julie Boutin at Dayton about 1877.  Julie died shortly after giving birth to her fifth child and is buried in Oakwood.  Philippe’s second wife, Amelia Samson, grew up in Osseo, ‘next door’ to Dayton.  Alfred married Celina Deschenes at Dayton, and initially moved to Oakwood.

Virtually all of the Collette family migrated to what became Minnesota beginning in 1857, most settling in St. Anthony (later Minneapolis).  In 1875 they all moved to Dayton, and beginning in 1878, nearly all moved to Oakwood ND (near Grafton).  From that migration, one Collette, Alfred and his wife and family, moved back to Dayton area; several of the families moved to other places including to southern Manitoba in the early 1900s.

Every family story is unique of course, as one will find among the over 100 families identified in this brand new book which is, to my knowledge, one of the first such document relating specifically to a French-Canadian settlement in Minnesota.

While I have not yet seen the final copy of the book, I would enthusiastically recommend it as a family keepsake, and maybe a starting point for your own history investigation.  At bare minimum, check it out.

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Two Collette family histories are on line at fahfminn.org.  Click on Library, then on Books, and scroll down to Roy-Collette, the most recent book (2025), and Bernard-Collette, which was my contribution in 2010.

In April, 2012, I did a blog about the Collette’s at St. Anthony (later to be Minneapolis).  The post is here.  Most of the migrating Quebec family was in St. Anthony from about 1865-75, and from there moved to Dayton, thence to ND, thence some to Manitoba and elsewhere.

I still maintain a general website related to the French-Canadians of my history.  It is here.  Included there is a pdf of the 1981 Oakwood Sacred Heart Centennial book published in 1981.

For those unfamiliar with Dayton MN, it is a town on the Mississippi River about 25 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis.  Here’s a map reference.  The township is outlined in red, the town itself is at the Mississippi River in the northwest corner of the town.

I would strongly encourage considering to becoming a member of FAHF’s 100 Associates – a group seeking $1,000 membership to help assure that future of keeping memories alive of the French in Minnesota and the midwest area.  I am one of the founding members of this group, which was founded in 2013.  100 Associates is a specific initiative to keep memories alive into the future.

Cover of the new book

Tonton Macoutes

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Rotten Tomatoes just appeared in my in-box with a review and trailer about the new Superman movie.  I think I’ll take this one in.

Previous posts in the past week: July 4, 6 and 8, 2025.

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By my count, today, July 12, 2025, is 173 days since the inauguration of the President.  2025 is more than half over.  Labor Day is about 50 days away and in my context, Labor Day more or less ends summer.  Kids are back in school; most vacations are completed….  Reality replaces recreation.  There is much to be done.

Thursday, July 17,  will be another major national demonstration organized through Indivisible, a group I’ve decided to affiliate with.  To find an event in your area, click here.  [postnote July 13:  New program announcement from Indivisible here],  It’s not necessary for there to be an event in your town.  Organize your own, or be in action by yourself, doing something about your particular passion, and then do something every day.  Margaret Mead said it best many years ago: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

There are a great plenty of “ain’t it awful” actions (which will play out that way even for those who think they’re great ideas if applied to somebody else.).

This is our country.  And resist the temptation to say to yourself, “I can’t do anything”.  Read Margaret Mead again.  There are endless issues, and there are 75,000,000 who apparently agreed with me to the extent of voting for the same candidate for President and Vice-President in November 2024.

I am not alone.

POSTNOTE:

The heading of this post, Tonton Macoutes, refers to a proposed column I’m submitting to the local Minnesota Star Tribune today.  At minimum, I want you to see it, as submitted.  If you wish, it follows:

“The recent show of force by ICE at Los Angeles MacArthur Park (Minnesota Star Tribune July 8) causes me to wonder: have we become what we despise?  I think back to personal memories in the “good old days” of 2003 and 2006.

In spring, 2003, I met a man who was putting together a study group which would culminate with six days in Haiti in mid-December.  I bit, and six of us spent the next few months learning about Haiti, arriving in Port-au-Prince on December 6, 2003.

Our six days were jam-packed with the reality of Port-au-Prince.  Ours was a study group, so we visited places and talked with many citizens in a variety of settings.  Our hosts were supporters of the Democracy movement in Haiti, supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  We witnessed the positive outcomes of a fledgling democracy in this impoverished nation.  There was justifiable pride.

But storm clouds were gathering.  Less than three months later, President Aristide and his family unceremoniously left Haiti to the Central African Republic on a U.S, plane. France and Canada seemed co-operators with the U.S.  A coup had been accomplished, in my opinion, by our democracy against another country learning and wishing to practice democracy.

In our one-week visit, we had no personal incidents, but we apparently had bad friends, at least in eyes of some.  During our week, one person we met was assassinated near the National Palace a day or two after we met him .  I think we heard the gunfire as we were driving past the area, completely unawares.  At the time of the coup itself, several of the people who had graciously hosted us were either imprisoned or fled the country.  Another died by poison, I learned a year or so later.

Haiti National Palace Dec, 2003 photo Dick Bernard

Early on I learned that my 63-year-old white face was not a benefit.  We were listeners at a very informative meeting with perhaps two dozen Haitian men and women who recalled human rights incidents in their own lives in the days of the Duvaliers.

At the end of the session, we went around the circle to thank each person for sharing their stories with us.  One man refused to shake my hand.  All I can imagine is that I reminded him of somebody he’d encountered, and not in a positive way.

Three years later I returned to Haiti on another study trip, this one facilitated by a highly respected Haiti organization.  This trip was to the interior of Haiti, once again rich in insights.

Enroute, in Miami, I was able to connect with the Catholic Priest who we had met on our first day in Haiti in 2003, who was imprisoned at the time of the coup.  After the coup he seemed to have been exiled to Little Haiti in Miami where I met him in person, in public, seemingly free as a bird, like the Aristides: just a different kind of prison.

The Haiti I visited both years was an impoverished but welcoming place.  This has changed.  Why?

The MacArthur Park incident fits into this story.

Now, ICE is flush with newfound authority and cash from the just-passed federal budget.  What happened in MacArthur Park is, in my opinion, a public threat to everyone everywhere in the United States in coming months.

The masked military in masks and very dark glasses remind me of what I learned about the infamous Tonton Macoutes who were the enforcers at the time of the Duvaliers in Haiti.  They used their official status and anonymity to terrorize and subdue the population.

ICE is a great threat to democracy in the United States, and we all need to actively resist however and wherever and whenever we can.  For absolute certainty the anonymity of law enforcement must end.

There are other threats too.  This is our country.  We citizens own the future, for good or ill.  But we must participate in the solution.”

COMMENTS (more at end of post)

from Sharrie: Thank you for writing and submitting this column, Dick. I agree that ICE has morphed into a paramilitary. I agree on the incompatibility of such an order-keeping force — one whose masked members wear uniforms without identifying insignias, do not show badges, bear military-style weapons, drive military vehicles, and do not have warrants but abuse and detain people without regard to due process — with the rights which belong to people in a democracy. I’ll watch for your commentary and participate in the discussion which will certainly follow on the STrib’s comment boards. Democracy is imperiled wherever we tolerate autocratic behavior. Peace and solidarity,

from Claude:  Thank you, Dick.. Some interesting history here.  Enjoy the rest of summer no matter what the world and Trump throws at us!

from Donna:  shared with persmssion:

Good Sunday to you Dick.  I am enclosing a letter from someone that ICOM has been helping for the past three years.  The inhumanity and fear that ICE is creating is deplorable.
“Today I can tell you that there are pains that one doesn’t tell anyone, that are only felt every day and they hurt in the chest, but we hide it with a smile, we pretend that everything is fine because we understand that not everyone wants to listen and deep down we are afraid of not being understood. But all of you heard about my case, you heard about our struggle, you took the time to empathize with my story and you never judged us or asked why we were in this situation and I thank you for that. But I also want to share with you that it has not been easy for me, you do not know how difficult it has been to get out of bed every day, the sleepless nights of thoughts that no one imagines you have and yet you keep going, you remain strong because around you there are people who want to see you well even if you are broken inside.But God saw every tear I shed, every prayer I silently said, every prayer you said for my family, and I am grateful. Thank you so much for understanding that human identity doesn’t have a passport, and for understanding that no one should be afraid of being treated as a threat.
My husband and I left behind what we loved most for an uncertain future, and I dare to tell you that we are the true face of courage. Thank you because in this fight I was never alone, you were with me, and even though they tried to silence us in this country that was once free, my story will always be stronger than any persecution or border. Immigrants are more than a note on the news, we are a living symbol of resistance.
We are a letter written out of pain and signed by God, because each one of us has a story we had to go through to get here.
Thank you for giving us a job, for smiling when you see us, for looking at us with empathy.
Thank you for trying to speak Spanish and trying to communicate with us when we’re trying to speak two languages with our hearts broken 💔.
It hurt when I prayed for what I did want to happen, but I asked for it to be God’s will, and when He gave me a NO for an answer, I just wiped my watery eyes and said it was His will.
And I have nothing left to say but to say that this immigration struggle ends here with the return of my family to my country PERU because this is no longer about money it is about laws, laws that today have separated families, have left children separated from their parents, have left broken families and I do not want to be one of those broken families, my husband will request his deportation to his country Venezuela and asking God that everything goes well and that he can flee when he steps on Venezuelan soil and be able to arrive in Peru safe and sound and reunited with his daughter and Migo and once together there this struggle will be over. And you know, I hold my head high with pride and I choose to believe in the impossible things, because I know that GOD will make them possible, even when I have no idea how it will happen.Infinite thanks to all of you and I tell you again Nobody leaves their country for fun, the one who leaves is someone who is hungry and wants a dream bigger than fear .. and our American dream has culminated here with the decision to leave and return to the place that cost us so much to leave. but I may leave with empty pockets but I leave with a heart full of gratitude and friendship and love that you gave me and those are things that are priceless and they make me remember that here in this country that welcomed my family there are wonderful people who are you. In the Quechua language, the native language of my country, the word goodbye does not exist, but there is a word with a beautiful meaning, tupanashiskama, until life finds us again.”

 

Melvin

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July 6, 2025 Peace Garden 855 Aurora St. Paul MN.  Photo Lauri Flatley

July 2 came one of those e-mails we all have seen.  Sender Terry Burke’s subject line to the mailing list of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers: “Sad News”.  The content brief: “We learned tonight that Melvin Giles passed away yesterday.”  Terry’s e-mail continued:  “We were very fortunate to know and work with Melvin for many years. It’s hard to believe this has happened.  I spoke briefly with Jane and Robin tonight.  Jane worked closely with Melvin on several projects and wants some space now to deal with this news – she has asked not to have any texts, emails or phone calls at this time.  We will of course devote part of our meeting on Tuesday to share remembrances.”

I looked an obituary and found the first one in the St. Paul Pioneer Press: Melvin Giles July 4 2025.  Melvin apparently died in his sleep.  He was only 66 years old.

I was privileged to know Melvin for the last 19 years.  In the twin cities, where he lived, the vast majority of people would have no idea who he was.  On the other hand, most of them probably saw him in a long-running commercial urging people to become Organ Donors.  I found a YouTube short video featuring Life Source.  His promotion of organ donation is here (3 minutes).  The video was made in his tiny neighborhood Peace Garden, at 855 Aurora in St. Paul, just east of the intersection with Aurora in the old Rondo-Frogtown neighborhood.

The celebration of Melvin’s life will be through Brooks Funeral Home, though there is no information there as of this moment.

I wrote about Melvin at this space in March, 2012, here.  In June, 2014, two Fulbright Scholars from Pakistan interviewed Melvin in his Peace Garden.  You can view it here, scroll down to Melvin Giles.  The video is Melvin as he is, in his own words.

Melvin’s Peace Garden 855 Aurora Ave St. Paul MN

 

Serious Times

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My blog post for July 4 is here.

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Today ends 4th of July weekend.  We’ll soon begin to see what it means to be in the trump era.

This is Sunday, and I like to go to Church and I did, this morning.  Today’s readings from scripture seemed to focus on evangelizing, and Fr. Tasto emphasized a single phrase in the Gospel, from Luke 10:1-9: “…The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit….”   At the time Christianity was in its infancy, and Fr. Tasto pointed out the importance of pairs – relationships – of work groups of two, for reasons we all understand.

The way I interpreted the reading and message was that regardless of the circumstance or gender, two together provides another set of perspectives and support in whatever we happen to be working on.  Going it al0ne may seem to be convenient – you don’t have t0 deal with things like different points of view – but the outcome tends to be weaker than one resulting from working together to resolve differences.

(The other readings were IS66:10-14C and 2GAL6:14-18)

Two weeks ago in the same church a few feet away from where I was sitting today were two coffins, with Melissa and Mark Hortman, next to them their next of kin, and President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris and a church packed with mourners.  I wasn’t there.  It was invitation only – but nobody was wearing partisan id’s.  I watched it on TV, like most, and it was very sad but impressive.

Hortman funeral, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis, June 28, 2025

O course, their death at the hands of a political assassin on June 14 was only an instant in time, as was the two hour funeral on June 28.   Life goes that way.  Appreciate the moment the you have.

Friday night, July 5, large numbers of lives were washed away in a tragic flood of the Guadalupe River in Texas.  As of Sunday afternoon July 6, the Texas death toll is 70, including 59, 21 of them children, in Kerr Country.  These  deaths were recognized by the Congregation, as were immigrants from all times and all places….  Basilica is a place that takes social justice seriously.

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July 3 came what I think will ultimately be a Pyrrhic victory – the gigantic Federal Budget passed by a whisker and signed on July 4, then the President’s victory lap in Iowa where he emphatically said he “hated Democrats”.  And the day before inaugurated what is flippantly called the “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, itself subject to allowing, to be filled with suspected illegals chased down by a massively bulked up ICE enforcement apparatus.

Etc.  Etc.  Etc.

Looking at the present and future for our country, those church pews would look very different, divided in so many ways with hardly a common vision, lurching from one crisis to the next.  There are four rows of pews – imagine two on the left and two on the right in mortal combat and you have an image of what we seem to be becoming.

I really have no precise idea of what’s really ahead. except I fear it’s going to be downhill from here.

The advice in the gospel, to pair up, is appropriate and necessary.  And if you haven’t gotten to work, now is the time, and to carry on. day by day.

 

July 4th

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Two items for this 4th:

The flag at Ft. McHenry MD, summer of 1999.  Keys original handwritten text of the Star Spangled Banner can be viewed here..  I visited the Fort, which is at the entrance to the Baltimore harbor.  Here is the National Park Service brochure: Ft. McHenry MD.   

 

Flag over Ft. McHenry MD July 1999 by Dick Bernard

Here is a very important writing by retired Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luddig about our Declaration of Independence.  Take the time to read this in its entirety.

This is no time to relax, or to give up.

Park Rapids MN July 4, 2025 Parade.  My sister and her husband are carrying the banner.

Congress, The Fourth of July, 2025

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This post is being written Thursday morning July 3, 2025, before I’ve watched, read or listened to any news from or about Congress and the Budget.  The last data I have is from before evening of July 2.

As a July 4 weekend suggestion, I’d like to recommend a long article in “The Weekly Sift” for June 19, 2025.   The Title” The Rot Goes Deeper than Trump”.  While you’re there, read the bio of the author, who I’ve followed for a long time.  Subscription is free, if you wish.  Always thoughtful.  Note: I’m just asking you to consider reading the most recent post, rather than the following ones also there.

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The June 30, 2025, New York Times Had a very long article: “The Upshot”, entitled “A List of Nearly Everything in the Senate G.O.P Bill, and How Much It Would Cost or Save“.  This is a very long article (prints out at 25 pages) but is worth your time to look.  On pages one and two of the article is the below graphic which summarizes the Bill, probably to be voted on today:

The Upshot, NYT, June 30, 2025

I emphasize, the chart is as of June 30.  The article is being updated.  Nobody knows what will be in the final bill, or when it will finally be enacted and signed into Law, whether July 4 or some other date.

Printing the graphic is editorial enough.You know who benefits, and who doesn’t, and what the long term implications are.

Everyone of us, whether we think this is wonderful, or awful, is the ultimate target for what results.  The huge beneficiaries are the already hugely rich, most specifically the billionaires and the biggest corporations.  The losers are the rest of us, which is the vast majority of Americans.

I have always considered my self to be a moderate, pragmatic democrat.  I’ve had no reason to change that over the years.  It sits on this page to the right side. I have only a single recommendation.  If you voted for Harris/Walz in 2024 you may consider yourself to have no role in the ultimate outcome, but keep in mind that you are not alone.  A few months ago, you and over 75,000,000 other citizens actually cast a ballot for the alternative.  You have over a year to impact one of the others who either didn’t vote at all, or voted the alternative.  What happens going forward is in YOUR hands, not in anyone else’s.

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I’ve given the vote totals before, as well as how I view the political ‘scrum’ that is the American citizenry.  Here are the numbers, as presented in this space before: Here is the “scrum” as I have seen it over the years.  I’ve indicated where I sit on the graphic.  Note for yourself, where you consider yourself to be.

The ball is in your court.  Period.

POSTNOTE July 3: Jennifer Rubin in the Contrarian has a very interesting perspective, which I just saw today.

POSTNOTE 2: The billionaires at Trumps Inauguration, per Forbes.

COMMENTS (more below):

from SAK in England:

Thanks for that – especially that chart which summarises the current “disaster’. It is a similar story in many lands.

I like this from a British politician, Aneurin Bevan, who is sadly no longer with us:

“The whole art of Conservative politics in the 20th century, is being deployed to enable wealth to persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power.”

Many have been swindled and/or bullied into supporting extremist policies that will hurt them. All we can do is wait for the enlightenment pendulum to swing & pray it happens sooner rather than later.

I enjoy your writings & feel that they are sort of left of centre – as my politics tend to be. There were decent centre-right politicians as well of course but where are they now?

Have a look at what is happening in the UK as well, not some illiterate backwater:

Reform by the way is basically the anti-immigration party supported by the Christian right.

Note how low the Conservatives have sunk. This is not peculiar to the UK, the centre-right is on the back foot, unexciting & too reasonable for these hooligan, (anti)social media, short-attention-span times.

How much chance has the Pope against a blustering buffoon issuing one-liners all day & night long!? The poor Pope issues an encyclical every few years – well studied & considered to withstand the test of time & scrutiny. Liars flood the zone constantly – as advised by Bannon & co of the Christian right.

According to Sam Freedman, this current trend is not exclusive to the UK:

“Just two G20 countries are led by representatives of their traditional centre-right parties: Friedrich Merz of Germany and Shigeru Ishiba of Japan. Neither has a majority, and Merz has already fallen behind the radical right AfD in some polls. Of course, Donald Trump is technically a Republican, but his takeover of the party has changed it completely. He and his entourage of comic-book villains are more extreme than most of Europe’s radical right parties.”

With the rise of the populists what was the centre-right to do? Shout against the populists as some did or take over some of the populists’s agenda as many have done? In either case the centre-right is diminished & moves away from its core principles or away from some (or many/most depending on the country & the situation) of its voters.

The centre-right cannot deliver economic prosperity & growth any longer it seems – there was Covid, there is the rise of China and others, there is global warming, there is the debt overhang, there seem to be limits on productivity & resources . . . Thus proclaiming free markets ad nauseum or promising lower taxes simply no longer works. People have seen the free markets wreck lives and no government can lower taxes while providing care & servicing the debt etc. So the centre-right is resorting to other ways of capturing votes: inflaming anti-immigrant passions (the same immigrants who brought prosperity & accepted lower salaries and did work that many will not do) or by declaring war on “woke” & “multiculturalism”. Then, surprise surprise, the centre-right discovered that voters concerned about these issues tended to go for the far right & the Christian right.

Of course there are many wise, principled & capable people on the centre-right. Unfortunately many of them, instead of insisting on their beliefs & ideas that differentiate them from the far right & the centre-left, have been bullied by one big bully or another. They have been bullied remarkably easily which makes me wonder how attached to their principles they were in the first place!? A bit too willing to render unto to Caesar it seems . . . & Caesar is only too willing to receive. About the corruption of Caesar a lot can be said but that’s for another day.

Sources:

Voter intentions, UK: here

The party’s over: the Tory slump is part of a global conservative comedown: here

Oh Canada.

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Today is Canada Day.  Here’s the Canadian national anthem in English.  And in French.

A piece of intriguing “junk mail” is worth a quick look if you have interest in some aspect of Canada genealogy, HERE.  Access is free through July 2, presumably at indicated cost thereafter.  At minimum you can see some potential sources of information.

I am 100% lifelong United States nativity.  So were my dad and mom.

But Dad was 100% French-Canadian whose verifiable ancestry, and thus mine, went back to 1618 in Quebec.  And our first ancestor born in North America was the daughter of a Nipising woman and French man.  And Dad’s roots were all originally from French Canada, all in North America before the English defeated the French at Quebec in 1759, and thus before 1776, and the revolution which ultimately led to the United States of America.

My root family came from Quebec to what became the Twin Cities beginning in the early 1850s; then to what was to be North Dakota in 1878; then some of the migrants to the province of Manitoba about 1900.

I’m proud of that heritage.

Today, many of my known cousins, and innumerable other unknown cousins, are celebrating Canada Day, north of the border.

I’ll leave it at that.  Anyone with more interest might want to look at my cousins Remi Roy’s recent book on his family history (and thus, mine, too), and at the same time at a similar history I compiled in 2010.  You can find both HERE.  At the website, click on library, then click on Books, scroll down to Roy-Collette history by Remi Roy, and Bernard-Collette by myself.

Have a great day.

COMMENTS:  also, note end of post, below.

from Fred:  Enjoy the holiday. It will be the last.

The new state of Canada ultimately will be carved into several smaller entities since it’s kinda large. Original US states like Mn will get some added acreage. Winnipeg and points south will do nicely.
As you know, I’ve switched sides in US politics after being promised a nifty tax angle for those of pure Swedish-Americans ancestry. It is found in the The Big Beautiful Billionaire Tax Bonanza.
As another bonus in the BBBTB, French will be now be banned to assist real Americans when they are driving in the new state. Never could figure out those traffic signs in the former Canada. What the heck is Sud????
Now people will say, “Oh, Canada??????? That is part of the good old USA.”
MagaFred

response from Dick:  I know “MagaFred” well, and his tongue is so firmly in cheek, I hope he hasn’t suffocated!  In his regular life he’s a very respected historian, and I can translate his musing from Swedish to English, as you will.  As you can note from the other comments, below, these are serious times and Canada merits respect.  I will do a followup post after the 4th of July.  Have a good 4th.  I hope it will not “be the last”.  Our very democracy is truly at stake.

 

The Hortman’s, and the days ahead

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The week now passed has not been easy, and the weeks to come do not seem to be promising.

At home in Minnesota the week was dominated by the political assassination of a Minnesota political leader, Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark; and the severe injuries of another legislator, John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette.  The alleged assailant shot all four victims in early morning shootings at their home in neighboring Brooklyn Park and Champlin, Minnesota.  The Hoffmans are recovering from multiple gunshot wounds; the Hortman’s were memorialized by thousands at the State Capitol on Friday, and funeral service in Minneapolis on Saturday (Photos below).  The alleged assailant is in jail and the news has been non-stop and easily accessible to anyone interested so I will not add to it here.

 

 

June 27, 2025, approaching the State Capitol. over 7,000 persons paid pair respects, photo by Dick Bernard.  Time on the walk was over an hour, slow but steady.

The Saturday funeral at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, my parish, was by invitation only.  Every seat was taken by about 1300 people.  There will be a private burial later.  The obituary in the Minnesota Star Tribune (June 25, 2025) for the Hortman’s included the below suggestion.  Here is entire obituary: Hortman obit June 25 2025.

Hortman Obituary Minnesota Star Tribune June 25, 2025

 

Basilica of St. Mary June 28, 2025

POSTNOTES:

This morning came a particularly pertinent commentary about happenings in the United States Congress, “as we speak”.  I would highly encourage you to also read this column, and to accompany the reading with action – since in the end analysis “we, the people” has to be all of us, reflected in our action or inaction in choosing who makes decisions impacting on our future.  This is no time to be sitting on the sidelines.

Here are some specific action ideas for this week from Indivisible.

Basilica of St. Mary is my Parish, and I was at Sunday Mass today.  There was no pre-notice of the funeral at Basilica, doubtless to have a reservations only attendance.  Fr. Gillespie, co-celebrant at the funeral, was the Priest this morning, and in addition he wrote a column for today’s newsletter.  I include the column here: Fr. Gillespie column June 28, 2025  It would have been written some weeks ago; nonetheless it seems particularly pertinent for today, and not only related to the Hortman’s.

COMMENTS (see also, end of post):

from John: Speaking, strictly for myself, I think it may be time to get worried.

 

Iran

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POSTNOTE June 24, 2025: a summary of Iran-U.S. political history up to today, here.

*

To help orient you:

pdf of the below: Iran Lebanon Israel area

Tehran Iran to Jerusalem Israel: here (about 1,150 road miles).  That’s about the same distance as from St. Paul to New York City.   This is also a good opportunity to get a fix on the Strait of Hormuz, on the southeast side of the map by Oman.

Iran is more than twice the size of Texas and has about three times as many people.  (about 91 million people in more than 600,000 square miles,

Personal opinion: the bombing yesterday was a catastrophic blunder.  But we are stuck with its consequences long term.

(I saw no good end with our aggressive response to 9-11-01.  20 years later, a generation, our official military engagement with Iraq-Afghanistan ended.  And there are some who think we should still be there….

The same prediction applies to what has happened in the last several days, and as I predicted at the Israel response to the Hamas after Oct. 7.)

No side owns “righteous”.  All sides are “enemy” to the other.  There is never, and there never will be, a “winner”, as I think we will see evolve over the near and distant future.

POSTNOTE:  Many have connections to this conflict.  For instance, I have a grandson who’s an active duty Marine.  He’s nowhere near this area, but his life will doubtless be affected in coming months.  Another American relative is on active military duty in Ukraine.  We don’t know the exact assignment but he’s been there for a long while, and is not yet home.  Personally, I was in the U.S. Army during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962, so I have some first hand experience, which I recently wrote about here.

Regardless of personal or family experience, everyone of us has a stake in what is happening right now.  Get actively involved.

COMMENTS (more at end):

from Joyce, a.m. June 22: What my Rabbi wrote about the bombing: Tonight I want to share what is weighing on my heart. I know I won’t say everything just right, and some of it might not sit well with you — but I speak from a place that honors different truths that exist at the same time.  First, my prayers are with all of us for strength. The US has now bombed Iran and no one knows what the morning may bring. My heart and prayers are with my people, nearly half the Jewish worldwide population who live in Israel and who – alongside Palestinian Muslim and Christian Israelis, Bedouin, Druze, Christian, and Buddhist Israelis and residents and visitors – are in harms way. And for Jews around the world who unfairly face antisemitism based on the actions of Israel and based on the whole complicated mess of this most ancient hatred, may we remain resilient and safe. My prayers are with all Americans who had no vote in this decision and who will face what will come. My prayers are with all Iranians who have suffered too long from this theocratic regime. My prayers are with all Palestinians in Gaza who have suffered too much from Hamas first and foremost and from the most rightwing government in Israel’s history, regardless of how defensible any actions might be. My prayers are with all Palestinians in the West Bank, who face violence from rogue Jewish settlers and an IDF that at times turns away and is at times complicit. And my prayers are with the 22 living hostages in Gaza including Omri Miran whose father and wife I met in Hostages Square a year ago. We will not forget you. And may grieving families bury the 31 murdered hostages held in captivity soon and speedily.

And even with all this, my heart heavy with the reality of war, tonight my prayers are for peace. This is not the prayer for peace I prayed in the 1990s. It is a more tired and wary prayer but nevertheless sanguine about what might emerge from this defining moment.

from Sue, in response to Joyce’s forward: This prayer is full of all the things we are feeling today (and for the last year and a half). No one is untouched by the racially- or tribally-inspired hatred that leads to the violence that we have seen and are seeing increase in the Middle East. We are all victims as we see our world become rougher, coarser, and less compassionate; as we watch our children and grandchildren grow up in the “new normal” created by Trump, Hamas, Netanyahu, Assad, and the theocratic rulers of Iran. And the latest threat of widespread war, and even nuclear war, makes a mockery of our prayers for peace. I wish I shared the author’s sense of hope.

from Judy: Thank you Dick for this piece.  This is a scary time and one I could never have imagined in my lifetime.

from Claude: Thanks for a great post, Dick…Iran has closer to 91 million people according to a Google search. It is a big, strong country and we just launched an act of war against it.

from Brian:  Thanks so much for your post.    As far as I can see it, Iran almost asked for this.  They’ve said they want to destroy the USA and Israel.  No go.

from Ryan: A song from a young balladeer in Arkansas, a voice of the new generation,  (if you’re fortunate, as I was, the next song in rollover on YouTube is Simon and Garfunkel from 2009, “Sounds of Silence”.)

from Molly, forwarding a Facebook post bt Anne Lamott.

I said to the kitty as we were getting up this morning, “I wish I had better news for you.” I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I had to let the dog out. And I turned on the news: Shock and awe again, same old same old; here we are. possible end of the world, or at the very least, horror. Sigh. Panic. Numbness. Rage. Hopelessness.

So now what? Well, again, same old same old. We do what we’ve always done after unfathomable brutality, from going to war on Iraq to the shootings at Sandy Hook to Uvalde.

After the election last year, feeling complete defeat and fear, I asked myself what I could possibly do to help. After a second cup of coffee, I smote my forehead and remembered I can write.

This morning, feeling complete terror about what bombing Iran will unleash, on what it will be like for America to live in a pariah nation, I dug out some posts I wrote on earlier mornings after, and have cobbled together this inadequate response:

At some point we will get back to marches and registering voters, but today? Today we can unleash waves of love on each other, our families and communities and even our extremely disappointing selves, because love is bigger than any bleak shit and barbarity that the world throws at us. We will have hope again, because of this love, because we always do again, eventually. We have to remember that today. Susan B Anthony’s great niece said in times of horror and hopeless, “We remember to remember.” We remember having come through the apparent end of the world other times, and of having resurrected.

What is helpful right away is to stick together in our horror, grief, anxiety and cluelessness. We cry or shut down, we blame, despair, rage, pray; gather in community, or isolate. I recommend that we do this today. Some of us won’t be able to eat at all, some of us will eat our body weight in ice cream and fries; some of us can’t turn off the TV, some of us can’t turn it on. These are all appropriate. Today we just keep the patient comfortable.

If you don’t know what else to do right do, do love: take a big bag of food over to the local food pantry. Don’t forget Oreos for the kids and Ensure for the elderly. Walk around the neighborhood and wave or hug everyone and pick up litter. My husband Neal said that everything true and beautiful can be discovered in a ten minute walk. Love and beauty are truth.

Talking and sticking together is usually the answer. We become gentler, more patient and kind with each other, and that’s a small miracle. It means something of the spirit is at work. For me, it is grace made visible. It doesn’t come immediately, or by bumper sticker, and it doesn’t come naturally. What comes naturally is rage and blame. Blame R Us. But Grace bats last.

We never gave up on peace and love before, and we won’t now. We’ve always even danced again eventually, with limps. But it’s the “eventually” that feels so defeating. It takes time for life to get itself sorted out. I so hate this and do not agree to this, but have no alternative, because it is Truth: healing and peace will take time. And in the meantime, always always always always, we take care of the poor. This will help you more than anyone else, and put you in Jesus and Buddha’s good graces.

After an appropriate time of being stunned, terrified and in despair, we sigh and help each other back to our feet. Maybe we ask God for help, or Gus, the great universal spirit. We do the next right thing. We buy or cook or serve a bunch of food for the local homeless. We give a few dollars to the vets and mothers begging at busy intersections, no matter our tiny opinions on their hygiene or enterprise. We return phone calls, library books, smiles. We donate money as we are able. We practice radical self-care and say hello gently to everyone, even strange people who scare us. We go to the market and flirt with lonely old people In the express line with their coupons. It can’t be enough but it will be.

I have no answers but do know one last thing that is true: Figure it out is a bad slogan. We won’t be able to. Life is much wilder, complex, heartbreaking, weirder, richer, more insane, awful, beautiful and profound than we were prepared for as children, or that I am comfortable with. The paradox is that in the face of this, we discover that in the smallest moments of taking in beauty, in actively being people of goodness and mercy, we are saved.