Mom’s Day and “Victory Day”

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All best wishes to all Mom’s on this Mother’s Day, Sunday May 8, especially those whose lives are severely impacted by war and division, especially, but not only, in Ukraine.

I did a related post on May 4.  You can read it here.  It has already had several comments.  It is titled, “Yesterday”, and about the Supreme Court draft opinion seen this week.

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Monday, May 9, Victory Day in Russia, has been considered to be an important day in the attempted conquest of Ukraine by Putin.  The story was that it might be the day that Putin could announce that Ukraine had been returned fulfilling part of his dream of restoration of the Russian empire.  Some way will be found to paint the disaster into a victory, temporarily.

Thus far this dream has failed, and if it succeeds it quite certainly will be a protracted and extremely destructive war with no victor at the end: a pyrrhic victory.  To “win” Putin has to kill a proud country with a very long history, long pre-dating Russia.  There is no happy ending that I can see.  Like a long string of despots before him, Putin will ultimately end up dead, his power and wealth worthless; if he “wins”, he and Russia will have a country full of people who hate the very idea of Russia, and Putin and Russia will be a pariah in the world at large….

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Like most others, I have had to learn about Ukraine by personal inquiry.  I always knew that there was a Ukraine, but not much about it.  By no means am I an “expert” by  even the loosest definition.  But I am interested.

I’ve always liked geography – that was my college major. Had union work not captured me in the 60s I could well have ended up an academic somewhere.

So, I note that Moscow is about 500 miles northeast of Kiev, more or less situated as Minneapolis is to Chicago.  All of the cities are significant.

Kiev is said to have been founded in 482 CE, Moscow 1147 CE.     The United States became a country in 1787 CE; the oldest city in the United States, St. Augustine FL was founded in 1565 CE.  The U.S. is still an infant in terms of recorded history.  “Just a kid”, albeit a very lucky one.  (Yes, indigenous people preceded us all – that’s a separate story.)

More geographic data is at the end of this post.

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Then there’s the matter of relationships within places.

Not long ago, Joyce provided me with a very interesting history of the Jews in Ukraine, which appears as a link in the April 17 blog in the section on Ukraine.  Within that article was a descriptor of Ukraine as being in something called the “Pale of Settlement”.  The word, Pale, made no sense to me.  Here is a pertinent definition of “Pale”.  Note its definition as a Noun.

Here is my personal notion of the Ukraine area called the Pale, as I am coming to understand it.  I welcome correction and clarification.  I’ll add it as a comment.

Recently, I revisited my book of maps from the Smithsonian, which helped visually define the term, Pale, and also helped flesh out the Ukraine history a bit more  Below is a portion of a map from the book, History of the World in Maps, Smithsonian, (2018).  Note the area in light green, and Kiev within it.

From other reading, the Pale seems related to this area, and to have been considered a less desirable area than Russia to the east.  It became a place to resettle Jews.  Later, beginning in 1700s, it provided land to invited German migrants – who we call the Germans from Russia, who by the early 1900s were no longer welcome there and left, thousands to the midwest.  Ukraine was a deadly place for the Jews in WWII.  By then, the Germans in Russia were long gone.

“The Pale of Settlement” reminds me of a gigantic Indian reservation of our own country – a convenient place to park ‘others’, reserved for them, until it was useful to the dominant society, and the treaty was broken.  Unfair?  Let me know your thoughts.

from History of the World, Map by Map, Smithsonian, 2018, p 99

Like everyone else, including the “experts” we hear pontificate every day, I have no idea how or when this will all end.

I think the engagement of the Biden administration has been very wise.  Of course, everything and anything is open to criticism – this is an immense problem not amenable to simple solutions.  No one knows anything for certain.

Over all, we are in a war between authoritarianism and democracy, and we in the U.S. will be the big loser if authoritarianism wins, including in our own country.

Frankly, I think more of the fragility of our sacred Internet as the nuclear bomb of 2022.  No ‘side’ so far has wanted to take the risk of tripping the switch on this one, for fear of the response from the other – just my opinion.

We are a global society.  Everything we value and everything we do now has a global aspect.  What we have thought of as a ‘winning formula’ for our entire history as a nation – that we are best – is no longer current.

Putin feels he can dominate.  He cannot.  Neither will he nor the west permanently win.

We are stuck together in the same house called planet earth, and the sooner we figure this out the more likely we can at least keep our place habitable.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Shared in another form, earlier: Re Ukraine I have been thinking about the relative comparison of Russia and the United States in a geographic sense: 

Source of data: https://www.worlddata.info

The three largest countries in the world are Russia, Canada and the U.S.

In land area, Russia is nearly twice as large as the U.S.  They’re first, we’re third.  Canada and U.S. separately are nearly identical in size and together, together larger than Russia.

The U.S. is more than double Russia’s population, 330 million vs 144 million..

75% of Russia’s population is urban; 83% of the U.S.; 82% of Canada’s.

The U.S. is four times as densely populated as Russia, 11 times more densely populated than Canada.

Geographically, overall Russia is more similar to Canada than it is to the U.S.

The Ukraine is quite similar to the Dakotas and Saskatchewan in geographic position, etc..

The United States and Canada are isolated, small and young compared to the countries of the immense land mass that is Europe and Asia.  Eurasia is encrusted with lots of not always pleasant history, going back centuries.

The U.S. remains extraordinary in its wealth, with about 5% of the people, over 20% of the total wealth.

I have spent more or less half of my life in both very rural and big city environments.  There is a difference; but in both we are all people who must figure out how to work together.  Alone or fragmented we are condemned to mediocrity, at best.  

Rural people cannot live in a world without Big City and vice versa.  This is true in a national sense and in an international sense as well.  We figure out how to live together or we die. 

 

Yesterday

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Overnight, I woke up thinking of the Beatle’s and their song “Yesterday”.  Here’s the 1965 version.

Of course, yesterday everything was about the infamous Supreme Court draft killing Roe v. Wade.  More below on that.

But there was more, yesterday, as there is, every day….  My friend, Jim, long-time resident of the beautiful but purposely sparsely populated Molokai, Hawaii, wrote “We just got over Covid-19’s. I had all my shots plus two boosters and was sick for 2 weeks. I hate to think what might have happened without those shots. It just seems to me that most everyone will end up with Covid at some time.   Aloha.”  Say it ain’t so, Jim.  At the same time, “yesterday” the one millionth Covid-19 death in the United States since the Pandemic began…

My list about yesterday is much longer, but so is everyone else’s.  Ukraine, etc.  Life is more than one thing.  Tomorrow, today will be yesterday.  History continues on, and we’re part of it.  All we have is today….

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Now the issue du jour yesterday at the Supreme Court, likely continuing in the news today.  Abortion.  We don’t know by who, nor why, the draft was leaked.  In this day of false flags and shameless lies, passed on as “truth”, most any reality is possible.

I’ve followed the abortion issue personally for over 50 years largely because of a single direct personal experience.  If you wish, here is my most recent writing about the issue, from 2019, which links to an earlier blog I wrote in 2009, reflecting back to what happened in 1965.  I am outspokenly pro-choice for women.  I have never been anything else.  I have reasons.

This is the 50th year of the Roe v. Wade decision.  Cynically, what better way, what better time to slay, the “babykiller” dragon (an epithet Ive heard more than once from “Christians” who think they’re doing the Lord’s work of attempting to kill abortion).  They have been subject of a lot of, shall we say, “grooming”, going on for a long time by leaders of the Evangelical right wing, including, especially, the hierarchy of my own Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

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“Right to Life” has such a nice ring to it.  “Abortion” even sounds evil…as does “babykiller”.  Some of the “Christian Soldiers” I experience are modern day Crusaders, slaying others rights in the name of Jesus.  In their telling, there is no other side of the story…no room for different opinions.

Absurdity abounds.  I don’t think someone can provide any proof that there has ever been, anywhere, an actual law enacted, declaring abortion to be murder or similar.  If there is such, I’d like to see the evidence.  The dodge is to prohibit the act, not the act itself.

Neither is there any evidence that an unborn baby is a person in a temporal sense.  One example, in my own case: in 1940 I was born about two months after the census taker came around to enumerate my parents in  North Dakota.  So I’m not listed in the 1940 census (which has been public for some years.)  I looked.  Mom and Dad were there; not the pending me, who by then would have been very obvious.

The day of my birth I was baptized.

Being baptized the day of or shortly after birth was not uncommon.  For most of my churches history, church teaching said that unbaptized babies could not go to heaven, nor to hell.  Baptism was not put off. Unbaptized babies who died were stuck in a place called Limbo, by church policy.  This changed, apparently about 2007.  This is how ridiculous this becomes.

Neither is abortion a legitimate theological issue.  It is strictly a power and control issue.  Different denominations, Christian and otherwise, have different beliefs about this issue, including among their own members.

My own church, in the person of a Pope, even came out against birth control when it came available in the 1960s.  Being the Pope, his pronouncement was in effect Church Law.  “Thou shalt not…”

You ask “Why? And why do you stay Catholic?”  Let’s talk abut that, sometime.

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The final Supreme Court judgement on abortion (the actual final words) is not likely until this summer.  It may be different, slightly or a great deal, from what was leaked tonight, but it is a seismic event, particularly given the absolutely ham-handed approach of the radical right to seize power in the United States. I’m glad the leak happened, and light was shown on the thought process in progress.

50 years of precedent appears on the doorstep of being discarded.

Beware.  Be on the Court.

POSTNOTE: When I woke up I wanted to include a recording of “Yesterday” within this post.  Much to my surprise, the song was first published about a week after my wife’s funeral in 1965.  In the same month, the Beatle’s were in Minneapolis for a concert.

POSTNOTE 2 May 5:  A reader sent a link to Heather Cox Richardsons commentary in her blog about the situation.  Heathers “Letters from an American” are always well informed.  

COMMENTS (more at end of post as well):

from Jeff: I see it as 150 years of precedent based on the passage of the 14th Amendment. in striking down Roe, the court is enshrined states rights over federal guarantees of civil rights granted by the 14th Amendment. The parade of horrible extends toward racism and authoritarianism state by state.

from Carol: I don’t even know what to say about this.  As some have said, the dog that chased the car has finally caught it.  And I have a feeling that car is going to run right over that dog.  I predict this will make a big difference in November.  Maybe Congress will finally pass that law they’ve been talking about for – how long?

I’ve had friends/acquaintances who’ve had abortions for serious medical reasons which wouldn’t be covered under many of those pending state laws.  We all have examples.  I really hope this will discourage companies from locating in those states in the future.  (In the meantime, Canada has said it welcomes our abortion business…)
I also have some cousins who I know are rejoicing today.  They’re blindered, one-issue voters who are doing God’s work, ya know…
Here is a comment in The Washington Post, so if you use it, please give credit: My former husband is an ob-gyn. Anti-abortion church people picketed his women and children’s hospital and all the offices of the doctors next to the hospital. After five months of picketing against abortion, my ex did four abortions on women who had been picketing. One woman had gotten pregnant by one of the picketers, and the other three with varying other people. They were still all-in on opposing abortion for other women, but each justified it as necessary in her own case.

from Norm:  Thanks for sharing your comments with me and a few others, Dick.

I sent around my bully pulpit commentary on the pending overturning of Roe v. Wade to many folks including yourself the other day although I am sure that is was not something that you would want to include as a comment to your pending blog.  It is mainly an expression of my extreme disgust with so many of my fellow DFLers, liberals and progressives who did everything that they could just out be to assure the election of the an-child who would be king!

Elections have consequences as those dumb-bottoms supposedly on our side of the aisle who assured the election of the man-child who would be king are finally realizing with the release of that draft.

They will continue to be reminded of the stupidity of what they did every time the current SCOTUS overturns or overrules a public policy that we think is an important part of a civilized society!

The SCOTUS will repeatedly be used to make “those people” behave, act, speak and worship in the “right way”, that is, how that group of paranoic narrow minded self-righteous holier than thou dumb-nuts think that everyone should behave, act, speak and worship…and to sue the SCOTUS to make sure that they do!

As you know, that is a theme that I have hammered on ever since the 6-3 margin in the SCOTUS was confirmed by the US Senate and everyone who was somewhat cognitive of his/her surroundings knew that meant the end of Roe v. Wade and the potential effort to make abortions illegal all across the land.

Per your comment as a Catholic regarding this important issue, I am aware of several Catholics who feel similarly about the issue as do you.

It is just amazing the self-anointed protectors of women in the legislatures and governors offices in the US…mainly white guys…are hell bent on making abortions illegal in their states and even across the land for any reason including rape.  The latter really shows one hell of a lot of disrespect for women who under their view of the world should carry the result of that rape to full-term and???  More importantly, the “trigger laws” that have been adopted in so many red states regarding the matter in anticipation of the repeal of Roe v. Wade show one hell of a lot of disrespect for women in general and their own personal right to make their own decisions regarding their bodies.

Interestingly, most of these “pro-life” legislators/governors have no interest at all in providing support for the children that their actions have been bought into the world.

Just pathetic, Dick!

from Joyce:  This is an excellent essay, Dick, and of course you may include my comments in your blog.

As a L&D nurse I assisted with therapeutic abortions, abortions that were necessary to protect the health and/or the life of the mother. Many of these abortions were performed because the membranes ruptured too early; in the absence of amniotic fluid, the fetal lungs will not develop, rendering the pregnancy non-viable. At the same time, the ruptured membranes leave the woman vulnerable to life threatening infection and sepsis, so the safest, the only reasonable option, is to terminate the pregnancy before an infection starts. Catholic doctrine, Catholic hospitals, do not permit the termination, even of a non-viable pregnancy, until the woman’s life is at risk; that’s why Savita Halappanavar died of sepsis, in Ireland, in 2012. It was outrage over her needless death that spurred a change in Irish abortion laws. Catholic hospitals in this country still do not permit termination in those circumstances; in some parts of the country, the only hospitals are Catholic ones.
I’ve seen pregnant women die needlessly from complications of pregnancy because of personal opposition to abortion. That was their choice, a choice that the right wing would deny others. I remember taking care of a deeply religious couple, back in the early ’90s; the woman very nearly died during her 5th Caesarean delivery. When the OB told the couple that another pregnancy would almost certainly result in death, the husband, and only the husband, answered, “it’s in God’s hands.”
When I was a college student in Massachusetts in the late ’60s, contraception was still illegal for unmarried women in the state. I remember a huge uproar when every copy of Glamour magazine had to be removed from stores all over the state because it contained a one-page ad for Delfen Foam; is this what we are headed toward? One of my classmates was raped; what would she have been able to do if the rape had resulted in pregnancy? She didn’t even report the rape to the authorities because she knew that she would be blamed and shamed.
So many rights are at risk, so many lives are at risk, but apparently, women’s rights and women’s lives don’t count.
Abortion bans trample on the religious freedom of Jewish women, who are required to have abortions if the pregnancy threatens their health or well being, including their emotional well being. Abortion is legal in Israel.
from Florence: Can only say “AMEN!”. Protecting the right to choose is protecting the one who is having to make that choice.

 

from Fred:  As usual I take the long view on almost everything. The early 20th Century produced an abundance of reformers driven to make better the lives of those, particularly new immigrants living in the slums of our largest metropolitan areas. These “do-gooders,” as they were sometimes called, worked to establish child labor laws, pure food and drugs, equal rights for Black citizens, elimination of corrupt local governments, slums and slumlords, corrupt political party bosses, monopolies that crushed competition and wage levels, the existing six-day work week, the little guy (farmers in particular, who suffered from price fixing and extortionate shipping rates), etc.

Among the overlooked reformers was the estimable Margaret Sanger, who worked with poverty-stricken in the slums of New York City. She discovered the trials of the women who cherished their children but were overwhelmed by giving birth to so many. Couples struggled to feed their often hungry and poorly dressed off-spring. Having children that they could not adequately provide for tormented them. And then the mother might learn that she is pregnant again. The health of impoverished women was also compromised and giving birth without proper care markedly increased the death rates of females. Escape routes from poverty were mostly non-existent.
Sanger worked for contraception and family planning education and was jailed in NYC for publicly advocating birth control.
It is interesting to note that the first word out GOP leaders, including Mitch McConnell, was in relationship to the “leaker.” It was all over Fox, too. They don’t want to look “too anti-woman.”
The Far, Far Righters have achieved the goal that, for a half-century folks have been screaming for. No mention of that issue instead it was, “Hey did you hear about the leaker.” McConnell should have returned to the biggest military disaster in US history, Benghazi.

from Mary Ellen: I really have nothing to add to the excellent comments already posted.

Perhaps just this: pity the poor father who knows he cannot afford more children. His life must be torture as he divides a small income by one more share, and especially pity the couple if the child is handicapped. Is there no mercy?
from Georgine: Thank you Dick. The decision is totally about controlling women. There is a lot of “submit to your husband” undercurrent in fundamentalist Christian life, and anger that women are achieving their personal dreams. Hope to not have to live in a culture where I am forced to be subservient. That is not one of my skills. Will continue actively participate in politics. This is the most important time in the past two centuries for thinking rational people to vote and help Democrats get elected.
from Carol, May 29, 2022: The following letter, by Carol, appeared in today’s Sunday St. Paul Pioneer Press.  It was printed essentially as submitted.  In brackets, is a final paragraph as modified by the author.
Carol notes she was responding to an originating column by Gregory Sisk who “holds the Laghi Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of St. Thomas.”  He did quite a lot of bragging about his many achievements.  There’s also a short letter supporting his column – and another long one tearing it apart.”  Presumably the column and the responses are accessible at the Pioneer Press website, here.  
Carol: “Some 60 years ago, I was born to a teenage girl who had left her home and high school without telling others… she made the courageous decision to place me for adoption” writes a local columnist (“When they talk about abortion, they’re talking about me,” 5/22).

Actually, 60 years ago (before Roe v. Wade), there was nothing courageous about a teen placing her baby for adoption; she would have been told by everyone in authority it was her only option.  There was a direct pipeline from the home for unwed mothers to the adoption agency.

The writer shares details of his life of “blessings and opportunities,” his many achievements – for which he certainly deserves credit.  He was fortunate to have been adopted into a loving home.  He’s understandably grateful that his mother did not abort him.  But he can’t know if she would have made that choice even if available.  [He likely doesn’t know the circumstances of his mother’s pregnancy, nor how this may have affected the rest of her life. – They left this sentence out] 

I’ve known two very young teens who were raped and impregnated – one by her drunken father, also 60 years ago.  Coming from a poor family with no resources, she had no choice but to drop out of school, hide for months, and give birth.  It changed her life.

The other teen, 14, lived far from an abortion provider, was too young to drive, had those telling her abortion was murder.  She had been happy, a good student, an athlete.  She quit school and cried all day, begging to just “be a kid again.”  Her friends dropped her.  The family kept the baby, which had a disability.  The parents divorced over it.  The girl’s life further unspooled, and she made some bad choices seeking to recover her sense of worth.  By the time she was 20, she had aged beyond belief.  It ruined her life.

Lawmakers have recently made some appalling comments about pregnant teens, saying they have an “opportunity,” a “gift from God.”  We have a Supreme Court justice suggesting they can just drop off their unwanted babies at the local fire station.  We should not once again force pregnant teens to supply our adoption agencies.

The writer is of the belief that a fertilized egg suddenly becomes a “human being.”  That’s an argument it seems will never end, and of course many vehemently disagree.  But what can’t be argued is that these teenagers were children, with immature bodies and minds not equipped for forced pregnancy/motherhood.  What about THEIR future blessings, opportunities and achievements?  Do their lives not matter more than an egg or a collection of cells?

The writer points out that abortion ends the potential of a human being, with its own unique characteristics.  However, most fertilized eggs do not implant and grow, and an estimated 20 percent of pregnancies end in early miscarriage.  We accept that as inevitable, acts of Mother Nature.  Opposing abortion because a [specific] “human being has not existed before [and will never exist  again]” does not make sense. [bracketed words added by Carol].
from Dick, May 29: On May 20 the Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco said no to Communion for Rep. Nancy Pelosi over her abortion stand as Congressional leader.
The May 26, 2022, issue of the St. Paul-Minneapaolis Archdiocese Catholic Spirit print edition, on page 9, devoted nearly a full page to the issue, called attention to the article on page one, but to the best of my knowledge did not include the article in its on-line edition, accessible here.  We receive the Catholic Spirit, here is a 2-page pdf of the aforementioned page 9.   SF Abp on Pelosi Communion.
Of course, I have no decision making power nor information about how my Archdiocese decides to market its information.  As best I can gather, more or less 10% of the people who receive the Catholic Spirit are considered to be ‘Catholic’ in census information.  So, the newspaper, which is normally about 32 pages print, is in effect an ‘insiders’ publication.
As a lifelong Catholic, who in fact is a regular at Mass on Sunday, and gets the newspaper most likely because we contribute financially to our parish, it appears that the official church has backed itself into a corner by assuming a totally unenforceable position to shame Nancy Pelosi, strictly because Pelosi represents everyone most of whom are not Catholic regardless of individual beliefs.

 

Back in business

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PLEASE NOTE: The permanent new address for this blog is here.  More below about this change….  Now, Forward!

A Political Convention:  Our local Senate District had its convention April 23.  I attended, and my thoughts afterwards can be read here: DFL District Conv Apr 23 2022  (“snip” it was very worthwhile.  Downside, somebody who was there has tested positive for Covid….)

The Blog’s Vacation:  The counter notes this blogpost is #1,795 in a series that is beginning its 14th year.  You may be one of those who have endured them all, since I began in Spring, 2009.  They are all archived, and word-searchable.

They were hosted on an old frame, and there was inadequate memory so finally it said, in the way tech says it, “I quit”.  Of course, I didn’t have a clue, except I couldn’t access the blog to edit or add.  It is sort of like saying I was living in an old house, and it needed major remodeling, and an addition, to accommodate all my junk!

[April 30 update and correction from my web adviser, Jody: Your old site did not run out of memory. It ran out of hard disc space for the database. Memory is how much energy the site uses to access. Hard disc is the literal megabyte space allocated to the site — which you outgrew and we moved it to solve the problem. (Though I am sure something else is amiss)]

So…I had to rename it (not actually, since the words have been part of the blog since the beginning, but because I needed a new Internet address).  It will take time for me to get used to this, but this may be the last change, at least for me.  Thirteen years is a pretty long run, I think, for this kind of venture.

Ukraine:  I noted a short commentary on Jews in Ukraine, and asked one of you who I thought might have some information.  Joyce came through with a very interesting article, which led in turn to curiosity about the “Pale of Settlement“, which I plan to write more about.  Judy sent a recent paper on Jewish history on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range: project_muse_851938-4   While not about Ukraine, the paper on the Iron Range is very pertinent to the conversation.  It is forwarded with permission.

On 82:  Wednesday I’m 82.  That’s sort of a boring number, granted.  On the other hand, my 80th birthday came in 2020 when people were finally waking up to the fact that Covid-19 was a major problem.   My big event was taking a solitary drive and taking a photo of a street sign for 80th street in nearby Cottage Grove.

The last four years have been eventful, to say the least.  Within weeks of my 78th birthday came the surprise diagnosis of a major heart problem.  I came through that.  Then last Fall came the Colon Cancer, and resulting surgery in February.  I came through that, too, and the follow up appointment last Thursday continues positive.  I was Stage 2, it hadn’t spread, and the tentative analysis is that it may not be genetically related to the family.

So, on I go.  The daily schedule includes a 2 1/2 mile walk.   I think it was Satchel Paige who said, memorably, “don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.”

My first photo in this new blog is of that street sign.  A fellow saw me taking the picture, and thought I was up to no good.   I told him about the impending birthday, and that ended the conversation.

I remember my friend, Les, who 22 years ago said that the 70s were really good years, and they had been.  This was in 2000.  I was 60; four months earlier, on my 60th birthday, we had been at Auschwitz.  Les died in 2003, not quite making 80….  On the road of life, for all of us, there are ups, downs and reminders that our lives are temporary.

I still think “The Station” is the best commentary on life.  Here it is, again: The Station001

80th and Kimbro Ln Cottage Grove MN May 2, 2020

I will try not to wear out my welcome.  Have a great day.

April 17, 2022

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Today is Easter in the Christian tradition.  I’m Catholic, so I plan to be in Church, the first in-person attendance at Easter services since the Pandemic.

Friday was the first day of Passover, and began the second week of Ramadan.  Kathy from the Reconciliation Project wrote on April 14:  “And we are one week into Ramadan. I am told only once in every 30 years do the three Abrahamic religions all have their major holy days overlap. Maybe some synergy of the practicing can help leverage a change In Ukraine.”

Then there’s Ukraine.

Carol, a friend like-minded to me, tried a light touch for Easter on Saturday afternoon:

I responded with a light touch of my own, from my ND farm cache of old postals from over 100 years ago:

“Over there” Putin has played the Nazi card for his own perverse reasons.

Friday evening I picked up a copy of “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”, the 1959 blockbuster by William Shirer.  It comes via a neighbor now in a Nursing Home.

I read Shirer’s Foreword, and the last two paragraphs seem appropriate food for thought on Easter 2022, and beyond.

“Adolf Hitler is probably the last of the great adventurer -conquerors in the tradition of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon and the Third Reich the last of the empires which set out on the path taken earlier by France, Rome and Macedonia.  The curtain was rung down on that phase of history, at least, by the sudden invention of the hydrogen bomb, of the ballistic missile and of rockets that can be aimed to hit the moon.

In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen [emphasis added] pressing an electronic button.  Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it.  There will be no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet.”

Putin may not like the reference to “little madmen” though he certainly is one.

I note Shirer likely wrote his Foreword in 1959, 63 years ago, when I was in second year in College.  He’s stuck with his prediction, exactly as written.  We have the potential wisdom of hindsight; of impacting on the present; and personally we can impact towards a better future.   But it’s only potential, and we control that.

Shirer, who was a journalist in Germany from 1934-40, knew of what he spoke.  In the 1950s he had no way of knowing the world we inhabit in 2022, and the new and very real threats to the very survival of our planet, such as a compromised internet, portability of pandemics, the economic connections between nations, on and on.   We can destroy ourselves now in ways Shirer and others probably couldn’t have imagined.  There are no longer borders as traditionally understood.  Covid-19 didn’t care where the border was, or who was infected….

There will always be “little madmen”.  They exist in every society including our own.  This has always been true.

It is up to the rest of us to help steer the boat which is our planet in a more positive direction.

As I said at the beginning, I’m a church guy.  We were at Basilica of St. Mary this morning.  The church was packed, masks recommended, about half with masks….  The Archbishop mentioned Ukraine in his message.  At home, I learned that Pope Francis had done the same.  The Pope’s Easter message is here.

And Thursday is Earth Day.  A good place and time to get engaged in the rest of your life.

Finally, in a few months the next American election.   Each is more important than the last.  Now the clash is between Democracy and Autocracy.  Get involved.

Ukraine reader.

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Today is April 14.  Easter is Sunday April 17; Passover begins Friday April 15.  History continues each and every day, and we all are makers of that history.  Like it or not, the tragedy of Ukraine is part of our history this season of 2022.

“per aspera ad astra” There are many thorns on the race to the stars. (more at the end of this post).

Two days ago, April 11, I published a long post including many opinions about the what and why of Ukraine and the U.S. relationship to the conflict, with a look back to the past.  Of course, I think it is worth your time to at least browse it in coming days.  Most of the comments in the post come via ordinary folks like myself, rather than the talking heads we see all the time.  I especially recommend the very last entry, which includes a very clear contemporary map of the place that is Ukraine.

Personally, I am noticing analogies between our country in the 1930s-50s in relationship to WWII Europe.  I have some basis for comparison.  I was born in 1940 and every single one of my mentors in life were ordinary people who directly experienced the impact of the Great Depression and World War II, and were of German and French descent.

In those difficult times, Americans generally were first isolationist, then participants, then the U.S. participated in the recovery of our enemy through programs like the Marshall Plan.  We had a big role, but not as huge as our national imagination supposes.  We were part of the team that won WWII, not the Team….

Those at the highest levels, debating every day what to do about Ukraine know all of the history far better than I.  There is room for lots of debate, but sooner than later debate needs to be replaced by action.  Anything proposed will be right…or wrong…depending on the person making the assessment.  That’s a given.  I am just saying, I’m noticing.

Then there’s us, the population.  Today, we apparently worry about gas prices now and inflation and interference with our lives.  We seem to want what we want.  “America first”.  It didn’t work in the 1930s and it won’t work now.

For example, in WWII gas rationing became a given, part of our patriotic duty….  Sacrifice was the name of the game, then.  Are we up to this, now?

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Here’s the map of Ukraine I used in my first post on the topic in February:  (At the end of the April 11 post – linked above, note  #2 – is a current map of Ukraine.)

I decided to use my 1961 Life Atlas to pinpoint Ukraine, Kiev and Moscow, because in 1961 Ukraine was part of the USSR, until the breakup about 1989. This might help define this particular time of grievance – not justifying it, but at least identifying it. The map quoted is on page 326 of this Atlas, which I bought when I was in the U.S. Army.

The caption was from the earlier post.  Note the absence of borders of places we know as Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania….  This conflict is about more than one country.

Not everyone thinks history is important or even interesting.

But every single one of us, I repeat, every single one of us, is involved in making the history others will ponder many years from now.   We cannot evade it.  How will our generation be graded 50 or 100 years from now?

Get engaged.

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The art work: in 2000 we took an extended trip focused on holocaust sites.  It was memorable and extraordinarily powerful on a multitude of levels.  Roughly half of the 40 participants were Jewish, the other half Catholic, from neighboring Minneapolis church and synagogue.  Auschwitz-Birkenau was only one of many places for prayer and reflection.  The group met for some months before we traveled.

One of the colleague participants, Sandy, was Jewish, probably about my age, and an artist.  The art work above is hers.  Along the way, in conversation, she shared that her given name was Odessa.  Her parents (or was it grandparents?) left with others from Ukraine in the early 1900s, and first settled in southwest North Dakota, at the no longer existing town named Odessa, founded 1910.  Ultimately her parents, as I remember, ended up in Minneapolis, which is where she was born and raised.

There were tens of thousands of these Germans from Russia.  Search “Germans from Russia” etc for much, much more about that forced migration.

On our return, we kept in touch with Sandy, and saw her studio where she did her painting.  We purchased this one, and it’s been on our living room wall ever since.  On the back of the painting Sandy handwrote the title, which you see in the caption; She signed it “Odessa”.

She is one of several people I know in the United States who have direct connections to Ukraine.  Several are on the list who receive this post.  Many came to the Dakotas, which in many ways was similar to their home area in Ukraine.

Putin’s gambit will ultimately fail, as Hitler’s did, but this seems to be only beginning.  This is no time to pretend all is well.

Be part of the solution.

COMMENTS:

from Judy: Beautifully said.  I never dreamed in my lifetime I would see this kind of mass annihilation.

Propaganda

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What is Ukraine’s history?  Here is an 8 minute PBS video on the topic which is very interesting.

Several commentaries about Russian disinformation have come by recently.  I invite you to read them.  I have some personal comments at the end.  This is not a simple topic.

A couple of days ago a long-time friend sent the following to two of us.  We all generally agree on things political.  The article is here, translated from the original Russian.  The pull quote from the article is hers:

“Everything that Russia has done for the West, it has done at its own expense, by making the greatest sacrifices. The West ultimately rejected all these sacrifices, devalued Russia’s contribution to resolving the Western crisis, and decided to take revenge on Russia for the help that it had selflessly provided. From now on, Russia will follow its own way, not worrying about the fate of the West…”

A day later came another, a post in Politico, from an activist friend, about youth in Russia (if you’re 22 or less the only Russian President you’ve probably ever known is Putin, who’s been President all but four years, 2008-2012,` since 2000.)

Today, yet a third, from “The Weekly Sift”, a thought out commentary titled “Why the Russians did it”.

There are more, but let these suffice for now.

My comments:

My earlier posts on the topic are here (the first Feb. 16).

I was surprised that the Russians actually invaded Ukraine.  I have not been surprised by the atrocities and the disinformation.

In my opinion, President Biden’s administration of the horrible situation has been admirable.  Of course, there are endless opinions about that.  The presidency is a lonely place.  The restraint by the president, means we have so far avoided a broader and even deadlier war, notable after over a century of deadly wars.  [April 11: Heather Cox Richardson has an excellent column about the press and Biden, here.]

It is easy to kick around the United Nations but the assorted coalitions which have evolved with the UN over the years have done and are doing yeoman service under awful conditions, and not only with respect to Ukraine.  Without the UN and the abundance of other organizations, like WHO etc, the situation would be much worse.

My country, the United States of America, enters this conflict without clean hands – something easy to ignore when things are cast as good versus evil, and evil is always the other party.

The U.S. is given considerable credit for the perfection of propaganda, going way back to the yellow news media, Pulitzer, Hearst et al, and the campaign eliciting citizen support for World War I through the Creel Committee.   One character on that committee staff has always fascinated me: Edward Bernays.  His expertise in manipulating public opinion was copied by others, like Joseph Goebbels.  We Americans are hypnotized by advertising, which is propaganda, pure and simple.

Most of the codes of conduct for war, like the Geneva Convention, and terms like “war crimes”, are largely inventions around the 20th century.  Before 1900s, brute power ruled.  So it was considered fair game to depopulate our country of its indigenous persons.  That didn’t meet the definition of genocide, which came later.

The 20th century was the century of making war more and more deadly, especially to civilians.

We can’t avoid talking about our role in Vietnam, and later Afghanistan and Iraq.  Etc.  But these topics almost never come up in any context from any quarter these days.   But they’re in the very near background – out of sight, but not out of mind.

And, of course, the United Nations was never designed to have united power.  Five nations: the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, have power of veto over most anything of substance.  The rules do not apply to those five, the winners of WWII.  This was intended at the start, and hard to change.

And when the 45th president of the United States took office, he clearly favored authoritarians like Putin.  He ran for reelection and got 74,000,000 votes, and while he lost by 8,000,000 he will never admit it.  And people are still covering for him.  This says too much about our own citizenry.

There are lots of valid reasons for an American to be cynical about America at this point in our history.

I am an American, and I give a damn.  I respect my country with all of its abundant faults, which I think we have to acknowledge and deal with.

I have long been active in an organization now called Citizens for Global Solutions which has a very long history.  Both the State and National work at being a voice for positive change in our world.  We are a small voice, but we are a voice.  Take a look at both state and national and consider getting involved.  see the most recent national newsletter which has some excellent commentaries.  Some food for thought.

Putin and Russia are serious problems, but ‘we, the people’ are an even larger problem, and paradoxically the only solution to our current malaise.

Be on the court as an individual.  It’s the only solution.

That’s my opinion.  What’s yours?

COMMENTS (more at end of post): 

from Carol: This is my 2 cents, and you likely won’t agree with me.  It’s long – please free to share all, part, or none at all.  I think we as a country have to get more involved – with overwhelming Ukrainian air support, not the “boots on the ground” stuff.  The Ukrainians are doing an awesome job on the ground themselves.  And I have now sent a message saying that to my senators, representative, and the White House.

You are correct that Biden did an extraordinary job of rallying our allies so far as sanctions, and donations of military equipment.  And apparently the Ukrainians are putting what the West has sent them to very good use.  Their patriotism, and determination to defend their country, are awe-inspiring.  Their president is awe-inspiring.  We cannot just continue to watch while their whole democratic nation (a democracy we encouraged) is demolished.
I say this partly because of the brutal massacres in Bucha (I’m sure the same is happening in many other cities we can’t see yet), the horrific attack on refugees at the train station (after they were specifically advised to flee the area) and, to tell the truth, partly because of that chilling article from Russia.  When I first saw the article, the poster said that the author is someone close to Putin and it would not have been published without his approval.
The article also reveals their plan of shoving the “Russia haters” into the west of the country, into a kind of non-country, subject to Russian regulations and controlled by Russia’s military.  They intend to assassinate Ukraine’s leaders, and punish or kill many of its people.  There will be no “Marshall Plan,” it says, for the former Ukraine – they will have to rely on Russia for any help.  There are references to European and U.S. culture, which they’d love to wipe out.
Putin has made no secret of the fact he wants to restore the U.S.S.R. to its former glory.  Poland, it is said, is on his list.
Biden, et al. keeps assuring everybody that Putin will not take “one inch” of NATO territory.  Well, if he’s successful in Ukraine, what’s going to stop him?  The West is sitting on its hands solely because he has nukes, and has threatened to use them.  Is that going to change?  I realize that NATO is a defensive organization.  However, individual countries do not need NATO’s permission in order to act here.
The U.S. had little problem with invading Iraq for absolutely no reason – and in getting involved elsewhere where it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad (as you pointed out).  This time it’s obvious who the villains are, but here we sit hoping that we don’t anger Putin by giving Ukraine TOO many weapons that are TOO bad.  I believe if we do not confront Putin now (at a time when his own army has taken quite a beating), we will be forced to do so down the road.  Then it will be harder – and there will have been a lot more innocent lives lost plus destruction of most everything in sight.  I don’t believe he intends to stop unless, like all bullies, he’s made to.
As far as the threat of a nuclear attack, are we all supposed to just let any nuclear-armed country now have their way with any neighbors they might choose to exterminate?  China, perhaps?  Or maybe North Korea might decide to annex South Korea.  This is a terrible precedent.  That’s a world I think none of us want to live in.  Putin knows that many of the world’s nuclear weapons are all pointing at him.  He may be a fool, but he’s not about to have his legacy be the annihilation of Russia.
Response from Dick: At the beginning, you say “you likely won’t agree with me”.  Not so.  We are witnessing evil at work; unfortunately, it is and has been at work also in our own country, since the beginning of our history.  In Putin, I see ourselves.
The solution has to be thoroughly debated, and is being debated, appropriately, even in the anti-war Left, of which I’ve been part since our response to 9-11-01, which I felt to be insane, and we proved it with a 20 year unwindable war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So, I’ve become sort of an orphan on the left, by choice, at this moment.  I just don’t think we’ll ever be able to end war, but I hate war.  Ukraine is an example.
A few weeks ago, came a couple of local articles on a peacemaker list of which I’m part, and I’m linking them here: Facts over ideology.  Basically, I resonated with most of the “Facts Over Ideology…” piece by Terry and Andrew, and told them so.  Mike’s response seems to reflect the basic more Left position, which seems to be that anyone is more pure than the U.S. and if they said they were antiwar, so they were.
At this very moment, in our Citizens for Global Solutions group, we are working to decide how to engage in the long-going debate on ratifying the International Criminal Court, which the U.S. has never agreed to join.  (See #2 in the link above.)
What seems apparent to me, my personal opinion, is that the powers that be in the United States, which is the Senate, do not want to be bound by such statutes which may find us culpable of war crimes ourselves.  Note the comment in said #2:  “in 1998 the US was one of only seven countries – along with China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, and Yemen – that voted against the Rome Statute. US President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but did not submit the treaty to the Senate for ratification. In 2002, President George W. Bush effectively “unsigned” the treaty, sending a note to the United Nations secretary-general that the US no longer intended to ratify the treaty and that it did not have any obligations toward it.”    Presidents cannot do such things by themselves, and “we, the people” through our representatives stand in the way.
See also Peter’s comment below as well.
We are only individuals, but this war will be fought in November at the American ballot box.  We can’t stand idly by.
Thanks much for feeding in.

from Terry and Andy to the Peacemakers group, meeting today (April 12):

A friend pointed out this article on Juan Cole’s site yesterday.  I thought it was good – it is tough for us to be on the same side as the mainstream. I’ve seen that sentiment from a number of friends.  But we have to recognize there are multiple imperialisms – the US is not the only imperial power. And sometimes the US is not the worst actor in the room.  The author has included very good background analysis on Putin, NATO, and Ukraine.  I hope you find the article useful.
Peace, Terry

The Left has to Recognize Russian Imperialism in Ukraine or it is Trapped in Americocentrism

Excerpts:

 It is tough for leftists to be on the same side as the mainstream. We can easily feel at those times that we’re missing something, that we’re letting down the struggle, that by ganging up even on an admittedly bad actor we’re helping strengthen the nemesis at home, allowing it to appear as the good guy.
But for leftists to be more concerned with the security interests of a great power—in this case, a right-wing militarist power that supports itself almost entirely by the mining and selling of planet-killing fossil fuels—than with the desires of a small people hoping to secure their independence and not be invaded, is scandalous. Leftists never treat the peoples marginalized by western imperialism in such a dismissive way.
Almost no one on the left has supported the war. But saying “Down with the Russian invasion” and then turning immediately to blaming America, and only America, for provoking it is almost the same. Not only does it show a lack of basic understanding about Russia, it is also a stunning betrayal of the most basic internationalist principles. If we want to support the right of self-determination to America’s neighbors, we can’t deny the same to Russia’s. If we’re not able to recognize multiple imperialisms, we are guilty of the same kind of Americocentrism for which we castigate others.
from Fred:  [This link] carries information about the Russian army and its complicated recruitment issues dating back quite a ways. At the bottom of the piece, is a link about modern US and Israeli missile defenses that is also good.
from Carol: Tim Snyder commentary, Russia’s Genocide Handbook.
More from Terry, April 13: I know Terry, personally, and yesterday she was involved in a zoom meeting of an organization of which I’m a member, but I didn’t attend the meeting.  Afterwards she shared some resources you may wish to review.  She’s been involved in issues like this for years, most recently with Russian involvement Syria, which in many ways seems a companion study for what is now going on in Ukraine.
“As promised, sharing with you a couple of resources I mentioned in the chat. Please let me know if you have any questions about these. And of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, something to start with. 
1. For those interested in learning more about the history of Ukraine, I recommend checking some works of Timothy Snyder. Here are his book recommendations and here is his bio and website. There are also some lectures and videos on his website. 
2. For a very brief overview of key events that explain historical context leading up to the war, I recommend this summary done by Razom, a group of Ukrainian and Ukrainian-American activists in the US. You can also donate to their causes on their website, they are one of the largest Ukrainian activists movements in the US.”

 

 

Rebirth

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This may appear to be a ‘miscellaneous’ post.  It is not.  If you have any interest in heritage, in my case, French-Canadian, you will possibly find something of interest within…something which may jog your own memory.

On the other hand, you may not be interested.   There’s plenty of very serious stuff to consider, but let’s divert for a week or two.

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My sister, Flo, seems to have a family trait which I share: “reuse and recycle”.  So when I got the below postcard from her a short while ago, it reminded me of the premiere event we attended at the rural Minnesota resort, Val Chatel, probably back in the 1970s.  The postcard says this: “Vikings!  A two hour live play on a magnificent outdoor stage surrounded by the beauty of the Northwoods.  Fascinating family entertainment, colorful costumes, exciting music and spectacular dance.  All new ampitheater located at Val Chatel on County Road 4, 16 miles north of Park Rapids, Minnesota.”

Postcard advertising “Viking” at Val Chatel, rural Park Rapids MN, ca 1970s

It was a nice night; the mosquitoes were manageable, and the Vikings did cross the lake, and land!  A nice evening.

Such spectacles are hard to maintain in rural areas.  “Vikings”  is in the category of ‘long ago’, now.  Val Chatel, then a happening place, descended nearly into ruins, and when I googled it recently, I found it is being resurrected as part of a public land trust for a park by a private donor.  That story is interesting in itself.

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A popular Quebec song is here.  (It’s satire, but within satire is truth….)

The remainder of this post is primarily links about history and heritage.  If you are interested, these are interesting pieces for your spare time.  If not, have a good Easter and Spring.

  1. A group from my French in America organization is preparing a book about over 70 French-Canadian families from Quebec who settled in rural Dayton MN, about 25 miles up the Mississippi River from downtown Minneapolis.  Two of those families were mine, Blondeau and Collette.  Here are some snippets of information I submitted about these families who came west to Minnesota territory in the mid-1850s, before Minnesota became a state: Dayton Blondeau Collette  The document is three pages.  Here is a tintype of my great grandparents, Clotilde Blondeau and Octave Collette, after their marriage at St. Anthony (later part of Minneapolis) July 12, 1868.  They spent almost all of their. long married life at Oakwood North Dakota.
  2. Along similar lines, three years ago I and many others heard a fascinating two hour talk by historian John Vanek about the history of Benjamin Gervais, born at the end of the 17th century in Quebec, and his wife, Genevieve Laurence, born early in the 18th century, one of the very first families to settle what became St. Paul at the beginning of the 1840s.  The two-hour YouTube video is here.  It is very well worth your time if you have even a small interest in voyageur days, how people lived and moved, and the settlement from what became todays Winnipeg to St. Paul.  The presentation was filmed at the Little Canada Historical Society in September, 2019.
  3. Finally, some years ago I was privileged to meet a gifted friend from French Canada.  Over the years, Emilie, who now lives in Montreal, received a grant from the National Geographic Society to develop a significant exhibit on the matter of ancestry and diversity.  This week she sent collaborators a brief video, about three minutes, describing her project as it is to date, and a photo (below) of one of the exhibits she is developing for NatGeo, a large quilt.   In my opinion, hers is a very important project, and I look forward to seeing more about it.  Her brief summary gives much food for thought.  This is shared with her permission.

Finally, the title of this post is “Rebirth”.  Spring.  Easter…. Your choice.

I thought it appropriate to share the flowers (below), planted by my Aunt Edithe at her then-home in rural LaMoure ND.  She had been in assisted living, then in Nursing Home for some months when the 2013 growing season came, and the flowers came to their own conclusion and grew of their own volition, with no outside help.  Edithe died in 2014 at the age of 93.  She lives on is these flowers.  Who do you remember, this day?

Aunt Edithe’s untended voluntaries at the ND farm May 17, 2013.

Have a wonderful Easter.

COMMENTS:  More at end of post.

from Emilie (see #3 above):  So nice to hear from you, and thank you so much for sharing your blog with me. I am honored to be mentioned in it. I am awaiting answers for the exhibition. It might be with National Geographic, a partner institution, or a different outcome. The decision isn’t mine. I will keep you all posted as soon as I know.Have a lovely weekend.

from Fred: You Frenchies are getting organized. You and your group have helped generate a lot of interest. As I mentioned to you, the stories related are not nearly as well known about the Brits and Old Stock Americans.

I’d like to get an audience like that speaker on the Gervais family had. Of course they were almost all related. It was a very well organized and illustrated talk; liked the maps.

Kudos on your voice appearance [in Emilie’s preview, I have two very brief appearances at about 2 minutes in]. I could pick you out. It was wise not to have actual photos shown for security and other reasons.

from David Vermette, author of the book “A Distinct Alien Race, the Untold Story of Franco-Americans” (simply search the title.  This is a very well received and worthwhile book with many reviews.)

David’s comment: Your blog post and book project both sound interesting.
I read a good book that might also interest you: “Les Voyages de Charles Morin.” It is a diary of a French-Canadian who leaves his home and travels all over N. America before settling in Argyle, MN where he becomes one of the elders of the town. It’s not fiction but a translation of Morin’s journals. It’s a fascinating peek into the mind of a person who was very like our ancestors. I reviewed the book but the review is behind a paywall. Here’s another review by Susan Pinette. If you have not read Candace Savage’s “Strangers in the House” I also recommend that one, too.
Thanks for getting in touch and please do let me know when your book is released.
Note to David and all from Dick:  David’s review of the Morin book appears to be of the French academic translation of the diary.  Morin’s great grandson Jim Morin, has published an English version of the same diary, “Charles Napoleon Morin Memories of My Travels and Adventures”.  This is also available on the internet.  I have this version and it is very interesting.  Jim Morin lives in the Twin Cities, and has given a talk on the book for the French American Heritage Foundation.  I couldn’t attend, but I understand it was very interesting.
The Dayton book referred to above will probably be available later in the summer, and details will be at the website of the French-American Heritage Foundation.

Teamwork

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Recently, there have been a blizzard of happenings.  In each, some aspect of “Team” surfaces.

First, Ukraine isn’t mentioned below but, to be clear, what is happening now in Ukraine has to be world priority #1, and each of us is integral to this.   We cannot sit idly by.  Do something.

Second, Global Minnesota has an open to the public program on Thursday, April 7, on World Health Equity.  All information is here.  The agenda looks very interesting.  Do check it out.

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For me, for the first time in years, I prioritized Basketball – both the semis and finals of the Final Four Men’s NCAA, and the finals of the Women’s NCAA.

These were some of the basketball teams I watched: Villanova, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, UConn (Connecticut), South Carolina, St. Peter’s (Jersey City NJ), Texas Tech.  (Of course, the “Kansas” team members are not all born and raised Kansans, et al.)

I also watched part of the Oscars, a little of the Grammy’s, and heard about the successful union organizing that won employee representation at Amazon in New York, as well as settlement of a strike in Minnesota.

And on and on I could go.  As you know, lots going on.  LOTS of teams.

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Then there’s “Team USA”:  Us.  In this most recent time frame came the Senate Judiciary Committee, yesterday voting 11-11 on recommending a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.  One can legitimately wonder how in the world a country which nurtures this kind of division can thrive.  Our elected political representatives at every level are US.

Earlier this afternoon President Biden signed an Executive Order expanding the very popular yet still maligned “Obamacare”.  I watched Presidents Biden and Obama as they talked about that.  Here are the remarks as they appear on the White House website.

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We live in a Team World- I’d say it’s part of being human.  This is never perfect.  Every one of us knows from personal experience how teams work…and don’t…and why….

Winning teams aren’t divided against themselves.

Our own country – Team USA – is obviously in such a state of division at this time.  It is unhealthy for our future.

The basketball teams are obvious examples of working together.  Such teams aren’t perfect, as we can see.  Just watch the 40 minutes of any game.  Easy shots are missed.  On and on.  But generally, you see an extraordinarily well-oiled machine working together, passing, shooting, rebounding, supporting….  Like all of us, athlete personalities differ, but their skills complement each other, and they know and respect this.

Of course, all teams are  imperfect.  None of the winning NCAA teams listed above could thrive if there was only a star, or an outstanding coach, or only people who could dunk, or could shoot free throws.  Winning teams have people with varied skills.  Yes, they have egos, but in the end analysis, they blend their talents towards an ultimate objective.

The same applies to other groups.  I watched only parts of the Oscars, but I know that on the road to Best Picture, or whatever the honor, there are a huge number of people, collaborating to do the work leading to the Oscar which is given to one or more people.  Every success worth anything results because of a Team.

In our country, and in our world, disagreement is inevitable.  It is apart of the human condition.  But division is disabling if not resolved.  Resolution is a basis of relationships generally.  The assorted versions of Win/Lose are always losers for every one including the winners.

And “team” is more than just the ten players on the floor at the NCAA game.  They are everyone on the bench and in the stands.  We all have a role, and it’s not bystander.

I still think that Margaret Mead said it best: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”   We all make the difference.

POSTNOTE same day: Tonight we watched Ken Burns new film on Benjamin Franklin.  Outstanding.  Check your local PBS station.

Colm’s Mom

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PRENOTE:  My Comments on the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing in Senate Judiciary this past week, here.

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Last Sunday, my sister in New York State invited family members to visit the live webcam overlooking the business street in Park Rapids MN.  We agreed to rendezvous there by phone at 2 p.m., at which time my Park Rapids sister and her husband would make their cameo appearance on line, for 15 minutes.  They followed through.  You can see them standing behind the cars in mid-street (the normal parking pattern on this street in Park Rapids).  There wasn’t much drama!  On the other hand, it was an interesting view of small town Minnesota.

Park Rapids MN 2:05 p.m. March 20, 2022

My brother John, lunching with a friend during a break in biking in San Francisco, was on line.  There was the usual sibling banter, including John, who said:  “I was sharing the live stream with my friend Jim as we were having lunch in San Francisco. His comment?  “Why are those people blocking traffic by standing in the middle of the road?”

Soon Flo and Carter’s 15 minutes of fame ended, and back to our respective lives.

Afterwards I got to thinking back to this street, which is very familiar to me, as Flo and Carter have lived their entire 50 years of marriage either in or near Park Rapids.

Park Rapids is a tourist town and those streets will be busier in fairly short order.

I got to thinking particularly  about a Lumberjack Days Parade on this very street, probably in the early 1980s.  The webcam looks south.  On the day in question I was probably two blocks down from the Ben Franklin.

This was an annual parade – maybe it still is – and the year I’m thinking about a lady and two of her kids from Belfast – Catholics, one of them Colm – were visiting a family at a nearby lake, and they came into town for the parade.

This particular parade had an especially elaborate unit from somewhere, which every block or so reenacted an Eliot Ness raid on the Capone operation in Chicago during Prohibition.

This was an active unit, lots of yelling, and running around, gunshots (blanks of course), and the like.

It was very entertaining, but not to the lady from Belfast, which at the time was still in what has come to be called “The Troubles”, where gunshots and lack of safety in the streets terrified residents, including Colm’s Mom.

The parade most all of us saw as entertaining was traumatizing to the visitor from Belfast.

The recollection reminds me that what we are watching play out in Ukraine and surrounding countries, is no entertainment to the millions of victims living there, while we can watch at our leisure on television.

Ukraine is the latest chapter of a deadly century particularly in Europe.  We are well advised to learn from past mistakes, which is not simple when some think that replaying the same movie, as happened on that street years ago, will yield different results.

A QUICK LOOK BACK AT THE WARS IN EUROPE IN THE 20TH CENTURY

In the home farm “junk” I have a 20 page booklet published in 1965 by the C.S. Hammond Company entitle Atlas of World War II, 20th Commemorative Edition.

Below is a photo of one of the maps in the booklet.  Here is the same map in pdf: Atlas of WWII 1965. (The text partially obscured by the bomb at upper left: “Europe’s Troubles in the 1920s”)

C.S. Hammond 1965 from Atlas of WWII.

The text from the booklet is brief and worth reading in its entirety: Atlas of WWII 1965 text.  No author is listed, but the general information is consistent with my understanding of the years described.  Note especially carefully the 1920s map, which does not include Ukraine and further identifies the various countries at the time.

It may be irritating, but in my opinion today’s national leaders have learned from deadly history and are working to prevent a reprise of the deadly wars of our past.  It’s not easy….

COMMENTS:

From Peter: I just posted this on opednews. There have been millions of refugees who had no public voice, except insofar as it served some nefarious interest to promote them. This group had concerns we rarely hear about from the people themselves.  Since bombing cities as flat as Dresden is the strategy of choice for all modern military actions, it’s a safe bet that most refugees share these views.

Justice

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This afternoon Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson made her debut to be “the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice.”

Judge Jackson has been confirmed at least twice for other positions by this same Senate Committee.  Watch for the strutting of the opposition as the questioning goes on this week.

If confirmed, as I think she will be, she will be the first ever African-American woman on the high court.  Historically this demographic has gotten short shrift.  Black men became eligible to vote and hold office long before women generally were granted suffrage in 1920.

Black women have arrived, particularly in recent years.  They are visible and they are active and they have waited far too long, in my opinion, for equality, however that word is defined.

I wish Judge Jackson well.

Last Sunday, enroute home from church, I took a drive past the vacant block which once held several minority owned businesses, including GandhiMahal, owned by my friend Ruhel Islam.

The block was burned to the ground two years ago, a few days after the George Floyd murder not far away on May 25, 2020.  To my knowledge, no one has been charged in the arson case which took out all of the businesses on the block, including the U.S. Post Office on the corner.

The next week, June 1, 2020, the then-President of the U.S. took advantage of the tragedy with a photo with a Bible at the church across the street from the White House….

Sunday, there wasn’t much point in taking a photo of a vacant lot at the beginning of spring in Minneapolis.

Across Lake Street remains a badly damaged building, still standing, but un-rehabilitated for some reason or another.  I will not get into speculating.  The last week of May 2020 was a major catastrophe for south Minneapolis, and reconstruction takes time and is never easy.

I noticed at the building, street art remaining intact from two years ago, and in particular noted the top line of text, below: (“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”)

March 20, 2022, at Lake Street and 27th Ave S, Minneapolis MN.

Stay actively engaged.

POSTNOTE: Heather Cox Richardson, March 21.  Excellent.

March 26, 2022: I managed to watch portions of the hearings.  I didn’t make it a priority.  It is important for the combatants, perhaps, but mostly it is the Senate’s version of street theater…and not very good theater at that.  Much of the bluster will show up in election advertising back home in coming months and years.  “Made for TV” sound bites.

I’m not a lawyer, but in my work years my normal duty involved working with, against and around lawyers.  I know how the Law operates.

My criteria for judging the outcome of a case was whether or not the ruling made sense.  Usually, it did.  Probably it still does.

But an old legal saw comes to mind: here’s one version: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell”.  If you watched the hearings, you know who yelled like hell.

(The 2022 Senate Judiciary Committee has 22 members, half Democrat, half Republican.  15 of the 22, 8 Democrat, 7 Republican, are lawyers by training.  18 of the 22 are men; only one of these is non-white; 10 of the 11 Republicans are white men, etc. The Democrat side better reflects America, in my opinion.  Here’s the Senate data, covering our entire history of 235 years.)

Ketanji Brown Jackson deserves appointment.  In normal times – say 20 years ago – there would be no question about the outcome.  These are not normal times.

During the week I called up data on the votes on justices for the Supreme Court.  This is from the Senate website.  The chart is worth your time.

Of course, Judge Jackson, if appointed to the Supreme Court, will be the first African-American woman ever to become a justice on the Supreme Court.  The overwhelming number of justices over history have been White Men.

Judge Brown Jackson is making good history, regardless of the final vote.  People in power normally don’t give up any of their power voluntarily.  Change is happening, albeit slowly, but change is happening.  Our country will be be the better for this.

COMMENTS:

from Joyce: an on-point commentary by Heather Cox Richardson.