PRE-NOTE: Jan 6 Hearing 7 entitled “25” here.  Another post on July 4, 2022.  I’ll be off-line July 5-8.

The Nekoma ND Pyramid July 2009. (More at end of this post).

Call it what you will, but from time to time, events seem to come in seeming related groups.  I’ve experienced such often in my life.  I don’t think they’re ‘coincidences’ or random chance.

So…

Last weekend I finished a book I very highly recommend: Clay Jenkinson’s “The Language of Cottonwoods.  Essays on the Future of North Dakota”.  At page 300 came a 3-page segment on Father Robert Branconnier, in the 1960s Chaplain at the Newman Center at the University of North Dakota.  The discussion was about protesting the missile complexes cropping up in North Dakota   Branconnier late 1960s.  Nekoma (above photo) is part of this book segment.

A day or two later came notice that Twin Cities anti-war activist Marie Braun had died at 87; a day after that, notice of a webcast featuring anti-war activist Frank Kroncke, who went to prison for his anti-draft activities in Minnesota in the late 1960s.

In the same time period, Kathy sent a most interesting series of recommendations by a group of Catholics on the occasion of the current Synod on Synodality of Pope Francis.  Each of the actors referenced were Catholics during the time of their activism, so the final item is pertinent.

So, the news came in bunches this week….

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I have been part of the peace movement since 9-11-01.  I couldn’t see anything productive coming out of our national collective response to the disaster we experienced on 9-11.  Almost every American agreed, then, that we needed to retaliate against somebody.  The disaster was a gift to the warriors among us.  As we all know, this started with Afghanistan, then Iraq, even though none of the 9-11-01 perpetrators were associated with these countries.

I got involved, and was so involved for a number of years.  In a sense I still am involved, and will always be so, but not as active as early on.  Those who know me well know the rest of my story.

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Tuesday Stephen and then JoAnn let me know that Marie Braun had died, apparently unexpectedly and quite suddenly.  She was 87 and legendary in the Twin Cities Peace and Justice community, active for over 40 years.

I had my longest involvement with Marie and her husband John from 2006-08, when we and a half dozen others planned and carried out the major Peace Island Conference in St. Paul.  We essentially met weekly to plan what turned out to be a very successful event.  Here is a period photo of Marie and John, from July 23, 2007.

John and Marie Braun July 23, 2007

John died Nov 28, 2018.  He was always a partner of Marie.  He is remembered here.

The celebration of Marie’s life will be at St. Joan of Arc, Minneapolis, on Thursday, July 7 at 11 a.m.  Visitation at 10, and lunch after.  A memory of Marie can be read here.

The next day,  I joined a Zoom conversation featuring Frank Kroncke and Chuck Turchick, of the Minnesota Eight, both activists in the anti-draft times of the Vietnam War.

The entire one hour conversation can be watched here.  Scroll down to Frank Kroncke.

(This site is also access to the documentary, The World Is My Country, the story of WWII peace activist Garry Davis, well worth your time if you have not seen the film.)

At the Minnesota Eight link, there is also an 8-minute link to Fr. Harry Bury, still an activist in his 90s, and then pastor at the University of Minnesota Newman Center, remembering the Vietnam years.   Fr. Bury in recent times has been the inspiration behind Twin Cities Nonviolent, an annual 10 days dedicated to non-violence around September 21.  Here’s this years plans for 2022, thus far.  Check back.

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I wasn’t active in the peace movement at the time of Frank Kroncke – I met him only in recent years.  I knew Marie, and she and I were not necessarily on the same page in how to approach the issue of Peace – her gig was anti-war; mine was more pro-peace.  In my mind, there is a difference.  People can disagree on specifics, but be in concert on the objective.  It’s part of living.  Marie richly deserves the accolades she will certainly receive this week.  She showed up….  And so did Frank, and Chuck, and Harry and Robert, and endless others, including today.

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This brings the aforementioned Catholic “Synod on Synodality”  which you may find of interest even if not Catholic.  Many of those listed above were Catholic, and Catholics have always been central to issues of peace and justice.

The Catholic Church is an immense international entity and as a lifelong Catholic I can assure anyone that its membership is not cookie-cutter.  It is as subject to the current American tribalism as any other group.  People come and go, as do pastors and hierarchy, etc.  Nonetheless there is constant effort to paint with a broad brush what the Catholic Church is or is not; who controls what, or does not.

The world-wide Catholic Synod began in 2021, worldwide.  Personally, I haven’t participated – unless writing this connotes participation.

A few days ago my friend, Kathy, on the west coast, sent a summary document from an independent group who participated in a discussion by the process suggested.

Except for removing the specific description of the group and named persons, I am offering this “synthesis” as I received it: Synodality Synthesis June 2022.  (The only mention of “war” is #11 in Hopes and Dreams on the last page.  In #11 of “obstacles, the group reports on the what I agree is the reality of today’s Catholic Church: “…those who have left the Church are the second largest denomination in the U.S….”)

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About the photo which leads this blog: The Nekoma Pyramid.

Some additional photos of/about Marie Braun.

Marie at meeting of Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers Oct. 9, 2007, speaker Dr. Michael Klein from University of St. Thomas.

Marie speaking at a planning meeting for Minnesota Alliance of Peacemaker Nov. 9, 2010.  A dozen of us were talking about the future of our organization, which still exists in 2022.

Kathy Kelly and group Peace walk from Chicago to St. Paul August 29, 2008, Woodbury MN.  Marie worked closely with Kathy (in middle front row) on this project.

Personal observation:  By no means is the Peace and Justice movement dead, though my generation is passing on, and the situations to confront and the advocates of a new generation.

Then was the War in Vietnam; now Ukraine with all its deadly complexities….

I’m long enough with the Peace Movement to know that the road to peace is a very long slog, not amenable to simple solutions, if to solutions at all, rife with complexities not easily overcome.

As I write, the U.S. is heavily engaged in the Ukraine.  This is an extraordinarily difficult situation, with no simple solution; the Ukrainian people caught in the deadly middle; others of us dealing with other dilemmas: what to do when a peaceful nation is invaded by a neighbor attempting to claim it as its own; in the process upsetting a fragile international stability; and facing individuals with sacrifices they didn’t expect, such as high gasoline prices, and on and on and on.

(I’ve contributed another $100 to the Ukraine cause, this time here, featured on the July 3 NBC special presentation.)

Martin Luther King made famous the phrase “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice“.  As we know, that arc is, indeed, very long, unsmooth and uncertain.  The natural tendency is to give up when success seems out of reach.

So might be said about peace, which is a twin of justice.

In my daily walk in life, I see a nation, indeed a world, of people who live in peace.  But my media conveys another story, and the political conflict seems to indicate that we are at war with each other.  Peace is far more popular than War; War gets all the attention….

Best we can do is to find ways that we can work together on a common goal towards a better world.  This absolutely requires compromise.

When I look at the pictures included with this post, all taken by myself, I see lots of people very much committed to peace.  Most of them are now deceased.  This does not mean, by any means, that the movement is dead.  But those of us who remain need to regroup and reassess how best to continue towards a goal which will probably never be reached.

I am a founding member of another group, The U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation.  And I would encourage your membership.  Details are here.  The Memorial is a positive aspiration.

Sep 1, 2008, St. Paul MN

COMMENTS (more at end)

from Brian:  Good stuff–interesting to read.

from Claude:  I remember during one of my business trips to the far end of North Dakota going out of my way to see the truncated pyramid in Nekoma. Years ago the Strib had an article on. It was only operational for about two weeks before it was closed down as part of the treaty with Russia limiting the very low frequency radio communications with submarines around the world (if I remember correctly). The local county and especially the small town of Nekoma had made all kinds of road improvements and expansion of sewage in anticipation of this permanent base that would bring federal dollars into the area for decades to come. But it was all over in two weeks. This was and is to me a perfect example of how our defense economy distorts and wastes limited resources.

Years before that visit in the fall of 1974 I interviewed with Morrison Knutson at the job site of the then under-construction landing strip at Cape Kennedy. During that three hour interview the interviewer made mention of this North Dakota pyramid that he himself had worked on. It was designed that way in order to withstand a direct nuclear hit as communications with our submarines would surely have been on the top list of targets the Russians had.

Fast forward to 2006 and my one and only trip Kazakhstan, I visited the glass pyramid in Astana as the capitol of the country was then called. It was and I believe is still used for a once every two year religious conference of faiths “of the book” (Hindus, Buddhists, Animists need not apply) that was organized by the “moderate” dictatorship. So the pyramid in the middle of Asia (Eurasia? You decide after looking at a globe) is dedicated to religion and the pyramid in the middle of the North American continent is dedicated to doomsday. Hmmm…

This just goes to show you that even if your readers don’t read every line of what you write, there are connections being made and insights shared with every post.

Thank for all you do, Dick,

from Jane:     Ironic that Independence Day this year falls on Day 837 of the Lock-Down!  Enjoy the fireworks.

response from Dick: Jane and I are friends.  She’s out-of-the-park progressive but (apparently) a contrarian on the approach to Covid-19.  So it goes.

The headline for this blog does not do the job, but I can’t think of another that would fit.  Suffice: there is plenty going on, and more to come.  While you’re hopefully enjoying summer, take some time to get really engaged in the future of our society.  Several items follow which might be of interest and/or cause some personal reflection.  Personally, I will be out of state July 5-8.

PRE-NOTE: Just announced this afternoon a Jan. 6 Hearing tomorrow (Tuesday June 28) at noon Central time.  This was not in the regular schedule.

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There have been two  recent posts I hope you visit and at least note:

1.  Post 5th January 6 hearing here, including several comments from readers added on Jan. 26.
2.  Comments re Roe v Wade decision here.

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I have read two new books this summer which I believe deserve your time, regardless of where you live.

3.  Essays on the Future of North Dakota: The Language of Cottonwoods by Clay Jenkinson.

4. Frances Anne Hopkins, Hudson’s Bay Company wife, Voyageur’s Artist by Mary Ellen Weller.

Essays on the Future of North Dakota: If you have roots in North Dakota, or know someone who has, the Clay Jenkinson book is well worth your/their time, and excellent background for bookclub kind of discussion.  The book is near 400 pages and the author is North Dakotan.  The book is meant as food for discussion.  It is readily available through many sources.

Michael Jacobs Forward gives a good introduction to the book: Jenkinson Language of Cottonwoods

Frances Anne Hopkins….Voyageur’s Artist: Mary Ellen Weller has done a masterful biography on the life of an essentially unknown woman artist whose art has been very well known for years.  Witness the cover of the definitive book on the Voyageurs.  It is the work of Frances Anne Hopkins.

Frances Ann Hopkins art.

Mary Ellen’s work is the culmination of a 30 year project.  As she describes it, 30 years ago she was at the Minnesota Historical Society to find some art for her cabin up north.   She purchased several Hopkins prints that were being sold as posters.  Mary Ellen asked about the artist, and no information was available.  She researched at the local library, and there was no biography available.  Thus began her quest to fill in the life story of this wife of a Hudson’s Bay Company official who spent about 10 years in Montreal in the mid-1800s, actually after the Voyageur era.  But the Voyageurs and their area caught Ms Hopkins, and the rest if history, and very interesting history it is.

I told Mary Ellen, who’s a colleague and friend, that I’m an unlikely fan of art.  In college, Art Appreciation earned me a “D”.  Of course, kids grow up, and I did, but nonetheless, it took a little while to get into the book, and then I was all in.

Mary Ellen, a retired teacher of French at high school and college level, has done an extraordinarily thorough research of her subject who comes to life in the book.

I think the book would be a good addition to any gift shop at any art museum or bookstore, and I wish Mary Ellen the greatest success.

5.  In Minnesota, Primary election voting is now open.  The actual Election Day is August 9.  There are important issues in this election.  More information here.  Click on the box “What’s on my ballot?” if not certain of issues in your area.

UPDATE on June 28 hearing in the comments section.  Included below the Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American for June 28.  Richardson is ideal for reading every day, if interested in public affairs.

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Hearings 4 on June 21, 5 on June 23, and 6 on June 28  were especially powerful.  As with the others, I watched them in their entirety.

I expect to not publicize this post until June 26, specifically related to the Porter item, below.

Here are excellent summaries of June 21: Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American for June 21; Digby’s Hullabaloo for June 22 (this includes several posts).       Here is an additional comment: Lady Ruby

For June 23, also Heather Cox Richardson, for June 23.

For June 28, also Heather Cox Richardson, for June 28.

These hearings, all of them, including those in coming weeks, are the hard evidence of the insanity we’ve had to live through in recent years.  They are ignored at our individual peril.

I have additional opinions, too, but will save them for a bit later.

In the interim: June 21, before the Hearing, I saw an e-mail from a reader who went to the same college as I, at the same time in history.  He forwarded a forward by a John Porter, and I’d like to share it with you, and invite your personal comments to the writing, which is overtly political.

The forward is here: Porter June 2022.  The hi-liting is mine.  At this moment, I have made no effort to find out who Porter is, etc.  I’m sharing it exactly as received.

I’d be delighted to hear your thoughts, which I can share as comments here.  (I have already passed it along to a number of regular readers who seem to have an interest in political matters, thus there will be several comments already received included here.  I will add these comments on June 26.)

POSTNOTE Sunday, afternoon June 26, 2022

Regarding the “John Porter” letter referenced above: June 23, I sent the above to a number of friends who I thought would be interested, and several responded (see below, and at end of the post).  I made an effort to find out who “John Porter” is – it’s a common name, and it’s unwise to accept at face value anything attributed to anybody.  There were some possibilities, but I couldn’t say for certain who the writer really is.  What I can say for certain is the language that is used in the letter is language I’ve seen in various forms, always from people who pretty obviously have been taught to despise the very word “democrat” and its variations, and cherish the opposing word “republic”.  The words are all that is important.  Whether based on fact or fiction is of no relevance.   Examples abound: Just yesterday the Governor of Mississippi praised the recent Supreme Court decision in behalf of the “God-fearing” people of his state; on the same day I received the Porter letter, the Secretary of State of Arizona, at the 4th hearing on Jan. 6, talked about his church’s belief that the Constitution is divinely inspired.  In his case, thankfully, the Secretary of State supported the interpretation of the Constitution about elections.  And I could go on and on.

Here, with thanks, are the other opinions offered on Porter and the issues raised.

from Joyce: This is about 3 1/2 minutes long, and well worth watching; it is an excellent response to those 6 annoying words, “we’re a republic, not a democracy”. Of course we’re a democracy.

from Peter: My reading of Mr. Porter’s statement is: he’s beating a long-dead horse.

“Wilderness continent” was never the case, just as it was never the case in Palestine when it was called “a land without people for a people without land.”

An “economic common market” was indeed the plan. Monarchy was already obsolete as far as the colonists were concerned. They wanted to pursue conquest and and slavery on their own and keep the profits.

It was a long time before the Bill of Rights applied to anybody other than the white landlords. It still does not extend to everyone, and business considerations determine individual rights for huge chunks of the population.

The nuances of language, “Republic,” “Democracy,” “Socialism,” etc. may once have had some meaning. But the present structure of our government is Fascism: government is at the mercy of corporate investment. If any legislator is told an idea will “send jobs overseas,” that idea will go no further. This is called “Capital Strike” (see “Levers of Power”)

This explains why no president or justice or legislator ever considers moving against the colossal war machine that serves the arms, drugs, and energy industries (today’s version of the Triangular Trade system).

The public has been short-changed as to health care, housing, education, and employment, to the point of serious food insecurity at unprecedented scale. We’re starving and freezing in front of our screens, which are blaming this on Russia and China. Momentum in this awful direction is still accelerating. Fixing the public misperception of democracy will make no difference whatsoever.

What will make a difference? This is a deep question with complex implications. For one thing our minds are very different today, now that communications networks have become an attention-extraction industry in themselves. But this was not possible without connecting human beings to each other, while ensnaring us in the behavioral data-mining system.

This enormous expansion of human relationships, across continents and even language barriers, especially with the advent of cheap videoconferencing software, has brought a paradigm change so profound, it’s as if we had driven the car into the canal. We’re stepping on the brakes at this point, while the water rises up the windows, but we may catch on quickly to a new way of being in this new world. Maybe we will return to our real relationship to the biosphere we’re currently destroying forever.

The boundaries of community have exploded, and secrecy (never mind privacy) is about to disappear altogether. We are all about to be rendered naked for all practical purposes.

If humanity is going to survive, the change is already well underway, and nobody alive can possibly comprehend it, because it is not an extension of anything that ever happened before.

One thing is certain. Congress, the Judiciary, and the Executive in their present form have been dysfunctional and obsolete for years. We have already moved on.

from Fred: Good to see James Reed’s [below] studied reaction to this fallacious drivel. I would add that the founding fathers were not in fear of the terrors of socialism and the mob when they created the Constitution. Monarchs, as they well knew, had pretty tight reign in Europe. Socialism didn’t really gather steam until the French Revolution broke out in 1789. French patriots overthrew their ruler, wrote a Constitution and established the nation’s First Republic. American leaders, at least the landed gentry, might have been pretty nervous over the later Reign of Terror, but they had already agreed on a Constitution.

We take instant and universal communications for granted.

This past week – June 17 – marked the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, June 17 1972, which led, ultimately, to the resignation, and almost immediately the pardon, of President Richard M. Nixon by successor President Gerald Ford in August, 1974.  A citizen today would have to be 65 or older to likely have any direct recollection of the implications of the aftermath of Watergate.  It was a crazy time.

In my recollection, there were, at the time, four television channels: CBS, NBC, ABC and fledgling PBS.  There was radio and newspaper, of course, but absolutely none of the ubiquitous other means to access information which are available today.

Back then, the hearings were carried live.  PBS recorded and played them back in the evening, so access in 1972 was limited.

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Today, access is unlimited, 24 hours a day, everywhere.  But, who cares?  The answer should be obvious: everyone.  But we don’t need to…and we don’t….

So, the crucial aspect of communication is not its availability, but who will listen, and what they will listen to.  On this listening (or lack thereof) rests the future of our civil society.

Have you watched the Jan. 6 hearings so far?  If not, why not?  The next one is June 21.

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In 50 years, communication has changed, dramatically.

Some years ago I had an unexpected opportunity to take a peak into past communication in this country of ours, in 1905-06.  What follows is a very brief look back – sort of a base line for today.

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In 2000 the Busch family – my mother’s – undertook a major project: to de-construct the North Dakota farm home built by newlyweds Ferd and Rosa (Berning) Busch shortly after their marriage Feb. 28, 1905.

In the process, we found an empty syrup can in which was a bundle of about 100 letters sent to the farm in the first year of 1905-06.  They were all fascinating, and I later assembled them into a 479 page book of living history from that single year.

At page 340 is part of a letter from Bertha, then 16, to her sister, my Grandma Rosa, 21, not yet a Mom:

Text I wish to emphasize: “…I could hardly carry all the mail got 3 letters and about 8 papers….”

Compare your own mail from most recent days.  The papers Bertha references were likely in English and in German, local weekly and area (Dubuque or Galena), very likely some church related, and farm, catalogs, etc.  From personal witness years later, what was received at a farm postbox was read thoroughly.  Such publications were windows to the outside world.

Ferd and Rosa would self-identify as members of a large family living on a small farm, Rosa’s father was from German peasant roots.  She and her siblings were all obviously literate.  Other letters and other family memorabilia would indicate that they were comfortable, even literate, in German from the old country.  Their neighborhood, in rural Dubuque in the southwest corner of Wisconsin’s Grant County, was largely similarly rooted.

Ferd’s father was obviously very well educated, in Germany, with a very precise hand.

The other parents of both Fred and Rosa seemed less comfortable with writing, but they did occasionally write something.  The letters largely came from the kids of Rosa and Ferd’s generation.

Means of communicating in 1905-06 were very primitive compared to today.  Sometime that first year came notice of the first phone call in the Wisconsin farm neighborhood (“party line” phone didn’t reach Grandma and Grandpa until 1912, and didn’t change much for many years).  Phone was not for casual conversation.

There was telegraph, if you went to the depot, and trains were efficient in delivering the mail.  If there was an emergency, you found out quite quickly, but certainly not instantly.

And of course you had the tried and true: you actually had to talk to people face to face, including those you didn’t like, and you saw them in person – at church, in stores, at meetings and dances, etc.  They – all of them – were fall back for everyone else, and everyone knew this.

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Today, everything is so convenient.  Anyone and everyone can self-isolate, and often we do.  But an individual, a town, a county, a state, a nation, a world cannot survive in isolation.

The sooner we figure this out, the better.

The Monday hearing of the House Select Committee of Jan. 6 begins soon, and I have a few preliminary comments.

First, I will use this post as the gathering point for any comments submitted, through the final public hearing of this committee which is June 23.  The previous post on this topic is here.

9:04 a.m. CDT, June 13: So the live hearing is delayed; the key witness has an emergency, his wife has gone into labor…the real world enters the virtual.  I’ll publish at this point.  More later.

COMMENTS WELCOME, any time.

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11:58 a.m. June 13:  Today’s Hearing finally began at 9:47 and adjourned at 11:52 a.m. CDT.  Like before, riveting.  Time very well spent.

These Hearings remain: June 15, 16, 21, and 23

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4:30 p.m. June 13: Of course, I have no more knowledge of how the Select Committee has structured the content of the remaining four hearings, but my guess is the identified offenders, especially #45, and their advisors, are very nervous – though they would never admit such fear.

The committee has had a year and a half and has access to an immense amount of data, plus witness testimony, from which to choose.

All I have is the opportunity to guess: each upcoming day will be like tightening a vise.  The higher up the target, the more direct the evidence associated with him or her.  It will be evidence he or she will not like in view….

Separately, I did watch part two of the CNN special on Nixon’s fall Sunday night.  It was old news, but especially pertinent now.  The folly of lust for Power was a main theme, as old as history.

As a ‘bonus’, preceding part two was a special on Alex Jones.  Chilling.

2:00 p.m. June 15: This afternoon I took a trip to the post office, and enroute pass by the elementary school attended by one of my grandkids grades 1-5.  (He’s near 23, so this was awhile ago.)

Nonetheless, it was jarring to see a parking lot full of police vehicles and policeman in SWAT gear, and one of those immense combat vehicles.   No, it was no school incident – school is out for the summer.  But it was obvious that these folks were there for area police training, and the choice of place was not random – it was a school.

I drove by there twice more.  There was no good vantage point for a photo; it was raining and I wouldn’t have parked and walk in anyway.  But visualize your own neighborhood school and something similar going on.  It’s come to this in this country: School is a risky place.

10:30 a.m. June 17:  I watched the entire hearing on June 16; the previous days scheduled hearing was postponed.  The next hearing is not officially scheduled, but may be June 21.  The place to check is here.

Every citizen should watch these hearings.  They put “meat on the bones” of the close call with disaster this nation experienced on January 6, 2021, and will experience again, if January 6 was just a trial run.

For me, Michael Luttig, a highly respected apparently very conservative judge, frequently on the short list for Supreme Court, was most riveting, yesterday.

He was very careful in his comments, knowing this was public testimony, and speaking as a judge.  January 6, played out to the desired final conclusion, he said, “would immediately have been plunged into what would have been tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis.”    [Postnote June 19: Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American for June 18 is well worth your time today.  Here it is.]

A “foundational truth” of our country is “the Rule of Law”, he said.

For many years I have been part of an organization, now called Citizens for Global Solutions, which has long enshrined the Rule of Law as Judge Luttig suggested.

For our whole history, this has basically worked within our diverse society, and not without occasional very serious problems, which ultimately we worked out (as the Civil War, to name just one such occasion).

In my opinion, what differed in the administration which attempted to pull off January 6 and cancel a free election, was to elevate to the absurd an extreme principal: those who make the rules, rule the Law.   The pretty obvious effort, continuing, was to control the law-making process, and thence the judiciary which interprets the laws made.

2017-21 was the first administration in our history which decreed that only the winners opinion mattered.

There is more.  For someone wanting a little bit more information on the rule of Law, I offer a booklet, published in 1959, by the American Bar Association, as an adjunct to Law Day, first proclaimed in 1958, by President Eisenhower.  The 50 pages are worth your time.  (The 50 pages are in four parts, only because my scanner was misbehaving….)

Law Day Am Bar Assoc 1959; Law Day (2) Am Bar Assoc 1959; Law Day (3) Am Bar Assoc 1959; Law Day (4) Am Bar Assoc 1959

Postnote June 20: This from the Weekly Sift is worth your time.