Friend Molly occasionally sends around a few friends on her mailing list.  Here’s the weekend version, less than a page: Molly May 23, 2020 (click on image to enlarge it)

May 24: from Joyce, Letter from an American.

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This is not an ordinary Memorial Day.

This year there will be no in-person gathering:no permit for the traditional large gathering of Vets for Peace. For many years, it has been an annual tradition to gather at the Vietnam Memorial on the Minnesota State Capitol grounds on Memorial Day.  It has been a rare year that I have been absent from this event.

This year, two alternative events are scheduled, one on Sunday live-stream on KFAI-FM; the other via ZOOM on Memorial Day, both at 10 a.m..  All details, including links, are here.  At the same link is access to several other programs.

Here’s my friend, and Memorial Day commemoration organizer, Barry Riesch at the Minnesota Wall, Memorial Day, May 26, 2014. Barry is identifying Marine Joseph Sommerhauser.  Barry and Joseph went to the same high school in St. Paul; Joseph is the younger brother of my barber, Tom, himself a Marine and Vietnam combat vet.

Joseph enlisted after high school and didn’t make a year as a Marine before he died in war, 1968.

Memorial Day, May 26, 2014, at the Memorial Wall on Minnesota State Capitol Grounds.

War is, indeed, hell.

Now we’re engaged in another war.  We are all ‘boots on the ground’.  This year it isn’t somewhere over there, long ago.  It’s right here.  We’ll probably go over 100,000 American deaths from COVID-19 this weekend.(58,220 Americans died in the Vietnam War in 10 years.)  In another sense, we’re in a bizarre combat against each other….  Be safe.

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May 15, one of my daughters asked me, and my two brothers, to remember our own military service.  We all complied.  I decided to go into a little more detail.  It’s here, if you wish: Remembering war, May 23, 2020 (click on the image to enlarge it)

I would also encourage reading Peter Barus’ post as well.  Access that post here.

And today’s Just Above Sunset is. on point as well: Not This Year.

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Check back for future posts.  The next one will likely be titled “The Pawns”, within the week.

COMMENTS (see also, the end of this post):

from Jermitt: I read your stories on your families military experience and found them interesting.  I think you probably read my personal story of my military experience.  I recently did some research on two of my dad’s brothers who were both wounded during WWII.  I was able track their location on the day each one was wounded.  I also lost a cousin in Vietnam, who name is on the WALL.  A second distant cousin was also killed in Vietnam war. Thanks for sharing, Dick.

from Alan, Quotations for this Memorial Day.  I highly recommend Alan’s frequent commentaries at Just Above Sunset.

from Mark: thank you for pulling all these threads together – that Peter Barus piece is incredible

from Richard, (his brother Don, 90, is our good friend across the street):  FYI, both Don and I are vets- he was in Germany, just post WWII; and, though I applied for Germany, was sent to the Far East- just at the wind-down of the Korean War. Don was in anti-aircraft and, I believe, they did firing practice over the Baltic Sea. Later, he was stationed in So. Bavaria. He took advantage of his free time and travelled all over Europe and No. Africa- Morocco and/or Algiers.  You may have seen his photo on a camel- I guess he travelled to France and all, mostly by motorcycle with friend. It turns out (re your article), I was stationed at Fort Carson, CO– and was in ‘fire-direction artillery’ (155’s); and nearly every week we’d do fire practice on the plains near the base of Cheyenne Mt. Another recollection at that time re combat fatigue was that of a Sgt., who was assigned with us in our fire direction center tent. He had recently returned from the heat of the Korean War, and would dive for the ground every time we fired the 5 or 6, 155mm cannons, knocking over our tables with maps, etc. It was uncontrollable for him, even though he knew when we were giving an order to fire. The term then was ‘shell-shock’.

That and other stories by our cadre returning from Korea were a bit un-nerving when my orders came down to be sent to Seoul, Korea, near the DMZ. However, on the way, one of our two military planes lost an engine and had to return to Ft Ord, CA, so my plane was diverted to the AFFE Headquarters-Rear in Japan. Fortunately for me, I was there for almost a year and loved it. I travelled a lot when off duty in Japan, even visited Nagasaki (that was about 10 yrs after the atomic bomb was dropped there, ending WWII). My military tour highlight though was when, having trained in swimming and diving throughout HS and at Macalester College, I participated in the AFFE ‘All-Japan’ and the ‘Far-East’ Swimming and Diving championships in Osaka, Japan.

Fortunately, because of the time in service, neither Don nor I had to be engaged in combat.

Message on back of work uniform at local McDonald’s: “Keep calm, wash your hands” – an apparent and appropriate message for both customer and server.

Parker is a senior at Eastview HS in Rosemount-Apple Valley ISD 196.

Last year, September 11, 2019, I observed and commented that the children born on Sep 11, 2001, were all having their 18th birthday.  It is now about nine months later, and we’re in about the third month of “quarantine birthdays” during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Around 53,000,000 K-12 students of which over 3,000,000 are seniors, will mostly finish their school year at home, as most schools are closed.  (The book of national education statistics can be accessed here.)

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Every one has their personal stories.   Two of our grandkids are in the class of 2020, for instance; four grandkids have already graduated; three more enroute.   And on and on it goes.

Last night we watched a one hour virtual graduation featuring, among others, lots of seniors, plus Barack Obama, Malala and LeBron James, and other celebrities.  The real appeal was the representatives of the graduates themselves.  It was a very  uplifting hour, broadcast widely, and I hope it is repeated.   President Obama’s 7-minutes can be watched here.  Here is commentary about the program from ABC News.

Doubtless, there are other virtual graduations to come.  I hope to watch some of them.

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The last eighteen years has been quite a childhood for the youth of America, and we’re just beginning the next round.  Most of the rest of us experienced the last 18 years in America as well, and this is a good time to take a clear-eyed look back at our personal, national and global experiences.  We have an opportunity, now, to learn something from our past.  Will we take the bait?

A short while ago, driving in the nearby suburb of Newport, I noticed an immense and still live old tree on a vacant lot.

The old tree lives on, and could it talk, has a great deal of wisdom to share.  What lessons could it teach all of us.  What travails has it survived?  What can we learn from this “elders” experience?  From our own elders?

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And what can we learn from this now-old song, which I was reunited with recently?

“Freedoms just another word for nothin’ left to lose.  Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin, but it’s free.” from “Me and Bobby McGee”, by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, listen here, as interpreted by Roger Miller in 1969.

What are the takeaway messages of “Me and Bobby McGee”?

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One teacher of many on drive-through parade at Oltman Middle School, South Washington County, May 4, 2020. Many parents and students did the drive-by visit to the school.

COMMENTS (additional comments at the end of these):

from Molly:  I sure do appreciate your latest post. Also, thanks for the link to the Obama speech–I was about to look for it!  I am just so glad to be part of your community.

from Laura: Thanks, Dick!  I concur…

from Judy:  Dick, good for you…I go with the scientist as well.  Trump and his supporters don’t get it.

from Joyce: Thank you for this, Dick; Eric and I are applying for absentee ballots this year. We both love voting on Election Day, but we just don’t think it will be safe this year. Meanwhile, I have a pin that looks just like the “I Voted” stickers you get after voting, except mine is enamel, and it says, “I VOTE”.

from Tom: Enjoyed it, Dick!  Thanks for sharing.

For another, and excellent, view of Mothers Day, read Heather Cox Richardson, here.  (See in addition Bob’s comment at the end of this post.)

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There are an infinite variety of Moms (which I choose to leave without boundaries of gender, age or marital status).  I’ve been thinking about “Moms”, and I invite you to do the same.

This day, here are a few “Moms” who come to mind, which happen to all be women, but could be anyone.

Yesterday morning I delivered Mother’s Day plants to two daughters who live in area suburbs.

Daughter Lauri, just across the river in South St. Paul,  concluded on Friday a most interesting project, which she began as Covid-19 precautions increased.  Walking has never been off-limits here, and what Lauri decided to do was to seek to walk every local street at a pace of about an hour a day…dressed as T-Rex.  By yesterday, she’d become an item in Twin Cities area TV news, and invited us over to the last blocks around Vets Field.  We joined a small group, all of whom seemed to mostly follow the rules.  Here’s a photo (there were several pretenders tagging along with Lauri for the last lap),

Lauri, third from left,  et al at Vets Field South St. Paul May8, 2020.

Lauri says she has new appreciation for those she used to watch in the Macy’s Parade.  It ain’t easy.  People of all ages enjoyed the free show one or two at a time from the safety of their home or front yard.

Daughter Joni, is Principal of a 1,000 student Middle School near here, and also the Mom of a high school senior who like every high school senior this year will not have a normal high school graduation.  At their home, I noted a lawn sign that says it well.

Parker is a senior at Eastview HS in Rosemount-Apple Valley ISD 196.

A week or so ago, Joni’s faculty did a marvelous drive by “parade” at their school – students and parents paraded in their cars on the school bus entrance route past the faculty spread out along the route.  We were one of the cars in the parade.  It was a marvelous experience.

Sisters Mary Ann and Flo:  Mary Ann (she goes by Mary these days) is just south of me in age, and her career has been as a nurse, most of the career in New York State as a Nurse Practitioner.  Her most recent message: “I work in health care – I am privileged to work in health care – but I have never felt quite as marginalized and minimized as during this pandemic.  While most Americans have drunk the kool-aid of ‘terrify me with possibility of infection and death’ the health care worker is still showing up for work with infected persons and is faced with labeling gowns and masks so they can re-use them after disinfection.  We do the best we can and are in general much better at recognizing the presence of infection and doing what we can to break the chain.  During my career I have spent time in leper colonies, sitting with active tuberculosis patients, cleaning up the sores of yaws, avoiding mosquitoes and ticks and bed bugs and on and on…always hoping my immune system and my maker would kick in and save the day.  I remember days when we had very few gloves  and had to re-wash them….gloves are readily available now.”  Mary is still filling in, as needed, primarily in Nursing Homes in New York.

Flo’s retirement hobby this year is helping with the U.S. Census in her rural Minnesota county.  She notes that only 57% participated in the census 10 years ago, and the lack of participation has consequences for them.  They have their reasons.  She keeps at it.

Finally, Cathy, my spouse, who’s a tireless Mom for many, including this retired guy!

Some years ago – she can’t remember how they met – she became friends with our across-the-street neighbor, Don.  (Photo from Wednesday, below).  Don is 90, single, never married, and his friend, John, who checks in on him several times a day by phone, is unable to stop by as he used to.  So Don increasingly relies on us for most every thing, including just getting out of his immaculate house once in awhile, such as getting some spring flowers the other day.  The old saying “he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” comest to mind.  Don is increasingly aware of pending end of life, is ever more needing a bit of support and encouragement.  I help too, but it really was and is Cathy who’s been day-to-day in his corner.

May 9 2020 at Volunteers in Correction flower sale at the Ramsey County Correction facility.

What do these stories bring to mind for you?  Have a great day.

There have been two prior posts in May, the 4th and the 8th.  Take a look.

May 8, 2020 Carver Park Woodbury MN, my daily walking route, a couple of miles, usually meeting three or four people.

COMMENTS (more at the end):

There are numerous brief comments.  Here are some  more lengthy ones.

from Christina: You wrote about Mothers in your blog and asked for any stories of Mothering.
My son said this year Mother’s day should be called “Care takers day”
My sister just sent me a note telling what her daughter has been up to during this Covid 19 time.
She is a single woman who has just been elected to the city council in her town in Washington.
She doesn’t have any children that she gave birth to, but it sure sounds like she is a Mother to the community.
In my sister’s words:
I have to tell you about Charla’s projects. At first I kinda wanted to shake her because she does such a poor job of taking care of her own life. But she has really gone to town getting food for the people in her community. She bought lots of food through a restaurant who allowed her to order it at their prices, then she distributed to a food bank. Two times she got 150 lbs of ground beef, plus all kinds of other food. She said she finally realized she could not keep it up, so she is soliciting more people to buy food for people who need it. She is not the least bit shy. She said she knows who has money and who does not. So she called some of them and said, “I have a mission for you. Here is your shopping list. ” She is not bashful. As she said, they all seem willing to help, just don’t know how to go about it. Charla’s apartment is a cute apartment on top of a pizza parlor on Main Street. So since the quarantine has been in place, she has been running a bubble machine every evening out of her upstairs window. Word spread and now families come with their small kids in the evenings to play with all the bubbles. She bought out the local stores and ordered bubble soap from Amazon to keep it going. I don’t even want to think of what she has spent on bubbles. Local facebook pages have thanked the person who has the bubbles but they don’t know who it is. A friend of hers told her that for the next campaign, she has to have an emoji of her blowing bubbles on her campaign posters so people will know it was her.
One lady she met said she wanted to provide bubbles. Charla explained how it is hard to find them, and she would prefer that people spend money on food for other people. She told the woman about her neighbors who need help. The woman, whom Charla had never met before, drove to several local communities until she found bubbles in Federal Way.; She bought out all the bubbles from Party City, brought them to Charla, along with a package of diapers and a grocery card gift certificate for the neighbors. Like you said, Christine, there are good things happening.
There are two apartments on Charla’s floor. She has one and the other one is a Hispanic family with three kids, two in diapers. They moved in at the very beginning of the quarantine. Charla thinks the wife might be undocumented along with some of their other relatives. So she has kind of taken them under her wing. She got us to give them cash and cases of diapers and I know she has provided lots herself. The people wrote her the nicest note about how they were looking at a place to rent. They found this apartment and are so grateful because Charla is helping them get through. Charla thinks they have zero money, he is laid off, and when you have undocumented family, it is hard to sign up for anything because you are trying to stay under the radar. Today their little guy dropped off a picture he had colored and a ponytail schrunchy that his mother had crocheted. I thought it was so sweet that they gave that to her. Even if they need food, they still have their dignity.

from Larry: Thanks. I’ll pass it on to [spouse], since my mother’s been gone since 1951. I also wanted you to know that nothing you send will disappear; it’s going in file that has your name on it, for deposit in a proper final resting place that may well outlast us all.

from Bob, supplement to Heather Cox Richardson’s comments:

Too few Americans are aware that early advocates of Mother’s Day in the United States originally envisioned it as a day of peace, to honor and support mothers who lost sons and husbands to the carnage of the Civil War.

Julia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, feminist, poet, and the author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She nursed and tended the wounded during the civil war, and worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, realizing that the effects of the war go far beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. The devastation she witnessed during the civil war inspired her to call out for women to “rise up through the ashes and devastation,” urging a Mother’s Day dedicated to peace. Her advocacy continued as she saw war arise again in the world in the Franco-Prussian War.

As the call for a Mother’s Day carried on, it gained new momentum and finally became a national holiday in the early 1900’s with the lead of Anna Jarvis, who had been inspired by her mother, also named Anna Jarvis, who had worked with Julia Ward Howe in earlier efforts for a Mother’s Day. She envisioned mother’s Day as a time of recommitment to honoring and caring for mothers, especially mothers who are no longer able to care for themselves.  She lived to see Mother’s Day becomes a victim of commercialism, when honoring mothers was reduced to giving flowers, cards and gifts she died in 1948, disappointed and disillusioned that her work has been so trivialized.

While Mother’s Day has presently lost much of its early edge for justice, it’s important to note some of the underpinning intentions and re-commit ourselves to its prescient calling. At a time when our country is again engaged in devastating and costly wars abroad and many of our own communities are torn apart by violence, it’s time for Mother’s Day to return to its roots.

In the spirit of Ward Howe’s original call, this occasion can be a time to dedicate ourselves, on behalf of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers everywhere, to rise up and protect our most vulnerable by calling for our leaders to make a directional shift in the course of our nation. There is no need more urgent than addressing the devastation brought on by violence in all of its forms – affecting the lives of untold millions in our nation and around the world. Then, we may finally see the carnage and devastation of violence and war fade into its own history. There could of course be no better way to honor our mothers.

MOTHER’S DAY PROCLAMATION
Boston, 1870

Today is my 80th birthday.

Before a few comments about that, here’s to Grandson Parker, who is also a birthday boy, 18 years old today.  Like all in his cohort, his end-of-senior year will not be traditional: there is no senior baseball, his sport.  He’s very good.  From an early time (see below photo) I could see particular intensity in Parker when he watched a ball being thrown, or hit.  He was studying the game.  Parker, and all, we’ll get through this, somehow.  And all best for your college years.  Happy Birthday!

Parker, April 13, 2008

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Saturday I was out for a solitary drive, just to get out for a while. I was in nearby  country (there are still patches of country, here and there, in the city).  Driving north on Kimbro Ave, I saw a sign that spoke to me, so stopped to take a ‘pitcher’.  Shortly a man came up out of nowhere and wondered why I was taking the picture?  Was there a problem?  “No“, I answered.  “Monday I’m 80 and this street sign caught my attention.”  We had. brief pleasant chat, and I was on my way.

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

In most respects, this should be a most ordinary birthday.  COVID-19 has changed a few plans.

The most recent birthdays I witnessed were unusual in very different ways.  Ashley, daughter of good friends, turned 20 about 10 days ago, and her parents invited us to a party in the parking lot of their business, Third Act, essentially shuttered by the crisis.  They went by the rules: There were about ten of us; recommended spacing 10 feet.  Outdoors.  It was nice, but unusual.  Ashley wore a new birthday tee for the birthday “the one where I was quarantined“.

Later in the week, on a city street, I passed a house with a lot of cars, and a sign celebrating someone’s first birthday.  There was no evidence of ‘social distance’.  So it goes.

Birthdays come and they go.  This one, there were plans for a larger get-together, but that was shelved early on.  So, we’ll “gather the chickens” via Zoom this afternoon, and chat a bit in this new normal.

I especially remember my Dad’s 80th birthday this year, Dec. 22, 1987.  My sister and I joined him at Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville IL – east suburban St. Louis.  He had moved there in the late summer, and decided to train to be ready to do a 15 minute walking mile on his 80th birthday.  At 6’3″ he had a head start on both of us, and he accomplished his goal, easily.  Today I did my normal couple of miles, but not at quite Dad’s pace.

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This day, this year, for everyone of us, will be unusual, to say the very least.  It was two months ago that daughter Lauri suggested to me that it was time to lay low, to try to evade the pandemic.

My generation is the most at risk from this pandemic.  Those caskets we see on the news are mostly people of my generation who’ve died from COVID-19.  A few days ago was the unwanted milestone of more deaths from the virus in a couple of months than in ten years of the Vietnam War.  And we’re just getting started.  I’m grateful to those who took the courageous step of basically closing our country down to control the spread.

But we can’t forget the others: Parkers cohort ends this school year under a very uncertain cloud; legions of people who work in any occupation of any kind face uncertainties, including health, they probably couldn’t imagine six months ago.  On and on and on.  In short, we are all in perilous times.

How we as a society deal with this down the road remains to be seen.  We’re at a fork in the road, testing where we are as a people.  It’s up to all of us.  “Government” is us, period.  The buck stops with everyone of us.

Selfie, April 26, 2020

New Years Day I was scribbling some calculations on a restaurant napkin.  Q: “What are you doing?”  A: “The number of seconds in my life so far.”

At 80 years old,  2,522,880,000 seconds.  That’s two and a half BILLION seconds.  Quite a long while.  Everyone are trudging along the same path, at different points on the road.  Lots of seconds to account for.

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Some suggestions: about 10 years ago I put together a little heritage workshop so people could personally explore their own heritage; how they came to be who they are.  If you’re interested, here’s the thought starter sheet: Heritage 001.  Suggestion: pick two or three words off the list, and think of memories from your own life about them.  Remember, you’re thinking of your own life, not anyone else’s….

This might lead to thoughts about what your personal legacy to humanity will be.  Here’s a definition: “The dictionary would define Legacy as a gift or a bequest, that is handed down, endowed or conveyed from one person to another. It is something descendible one comes into possession of that is transmitted, inherited or received from a predecessor…A legacy is the story of some ones life, the things they did, places they went, goals they accomplished, their failures, and more. Legacy is something that a person leaves behind to be remembered by. Legacies are pathways that guide people in decisions with what to do or what not to do.”

As a certified senior citizen, let me make a couple of other suggestions.  First, we are a terribly divided society and it long pre-dated this particular crisis.  A short while ago, I came across a favorite quotation I first saw over tend years ago.  Take a look, it’s short: Dialogue.

The last in-person group meeting I attended was part three of a six part lecture series on “Becoming Human”.  The last three were cancelled due to COVID-19.  All six are now on-line, and all are excellent food for thought.  Here are the links.  They are all approximately one hour in length, all by faculty at St. Thomas University in St. Paul MN.  Here are the links (more information at the end of the post entitled Spring:

Week One: Dr. David Williard: Civil War to Civil Rights

Week Two: Dr. Jessica Siegel: The War on Drugs

Week Three: Dr. Amy Levad: Mass Incarceration

Week Four: Dr. Amy Finnegan: Defeating the “White Savior” Complex

Week Five: Dr. Michael Klein: Mobilizing for Social Change

Week Six: Dr. Kimberley Vrudny: The Blackness of God

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POSTNOTE #1: This afternoon we did a drive-by, delivering cakes to 7 different families in our family constellation, since no ‘party’ as such was advisable.  Daughter Lauri shared her moment of fame on local news with this most interesting clip.

Daughter Joni is Principal of Oltman Middle School in suburban Cottage Grove.  Schools are closed for the remainder of the year due to COVID-19, educating by distance learning.  Today, Oltman faculty starred in a parent-student drive-by “parade”,  where cars with students and parents were entertained by school faculty along the driveway.  It was a great event to witness and to be part of.  Here are a couple of photos.

One of many teachers in disguise along the route

Joni with the school Community Service Officer

POSTNOTE #2: If you are the person who actually followed this all the way to the end, here’s today’s Just Above Sunset, “The Rest of the World”.   One of my tasks today will be to write to my own state and national elected government officials with my own opinion.  I’m only a single voice, but I am that single voice.

Forsythia Bushes, Woodbury MN Apr 26, 2020.

This is the day of the inauguration of the Great Emancipation from the chains of COVID-19.  There have been a dribble of preview events; today seems more the big deal here and there across the nation.

I think about another such event on May 4, 2003, when President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” over the Saddam Hussein on board the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.  The Iraq war had only recently officially begun with the bombing of Baghdad on the first day of spring in 2003, and the enemy had been vanquished, or so was the story.  If only….  We’re still mired in that conflict 17 years later, by no means only in Iraq.  It is hardly a time in our history to be celebrated, though a few still try to justify it.

Monday’s reopening for business will speak for itself.  Personally, I’ll drop off my car for a needed oil change, which it needs.  This has nothing to do with the reopening, except the appointment happens to be for Monday.  Usually I’d ‘camp’ in the McDonalds across the street, but that won’t be an option today.  I’ll do my morning walk as usual, weather permitting.  On Sundays walk I met three people, two with dogs, which is typical.  I’ll take my solitary drive of a few miles to as yet unknown destinations, close by.

I think we’re ill-advised to race into this re-opening.  Whether I’m right or wrong will come out as data is gathered in real time.  The first question will be how many businesses actually reopen, and how many customers or employees come in.  So far, the earlier and ominous predictions about this pandemic have been pretty accurate.  The facts are out there and have played out.  One can hope that the last two or three months were aberrations, but I don’t think so.  With Iraq, we were supposedly dealing with all sorts of supposed knowns which were pretexts for preemptive strikes – war.  With COVID-19, the unknowns prevail.

This week or next the death toll from COVID-19 will exceed American casualties in Vietnam War.

I try to be reasonable about this.  In my second post about the pandemic, “Fear Itself” , March 13, I put myself at 6 o 7 on a continuum with 0 as ‘hoax” and 10 as “hysteria”.  I am comfortable with this self-assessment.

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Today’s partial re-opening in some states (including my own) will come with predictions of one sort or another.  What I will be watching, long term, is how much attention is paid to  public health as opposed to ‘the economy’; “me” as opposed to “we” (focus on the individual, or on all of us on the planet Earth).  I’ll be watching how the money is actually disbursed and used, whether for all the people, or for the wealthiest and most powerful.  I’ll be watching especially how the people in power seek to recover those trillions later – on whose back the burden will fall: whether on the already super wealthy, or reduction in benefits like Social Security on common people need, expect and deserve for income security, health, education in their own future….

I’d ask you to take a look at the final two paragraphs below, and actually read the articles linked.

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A few weeks ago, David posted a comment in my “one month” blog: “From David in Wisconsin: Here’s a segment from an ongoing series in the New York Times. Lots of data shown here but it’s pretty easily understood and may demonstrate why Bernie (and perhaps even Trump) has so many rabid supporters. Take a break from the gloomy covid-19 news and dive into some gloomy economic news.”  The key data from this piece:  since 1980 the GDP for the U.S. increased by 79%; for the bottom half of the population, 20%; for the 40% in the middle, 50%; for the wealthy, 420%.  Can we talk?

About the same time, about April 2, I watched Secy of State Mike Pompeo bragging about U.S. generosity compared with China.  I came in on the news conference in the middle, so I only heard the Pompeo response.  I do have fairly current data on the wealth of nations of the United Nations, and looked up the data: U.S. has 4.4% of the World’s population and 22.788% of the World’s wealth; China: 18.8% and 12.363%.  The data is here: Wealth of UN Countries.  Compiler, Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg, was an acknowledged expert on the UN System.