Another anniversary

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PRENOTE:  Other recent posts: Murder in Washington DC (Nov 29); and Incidents (Dec 3).  I had sent the “murder” post to several who I thought had a particular interest, so it includes several interesting comments.

There have been a number of comments to the post on Ken Burns American Revolution (Nov 22) which you may find of interest.  If you haven’t watched the series check your local PBS station for information.  It is worth your time.

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Under the Knife: Seven Years ago today, December 4, 2018, I spent the day in an operating theatre at Fairview Southdale Medical center in Edina.  I was subject of the days work for a medical team giving me a new valve in my heart.  I went to sleep probably before 8 a.m., and didn’t wake up until the middle of the night maybe 18 hours later.

I woke up to two or three muscular male nurses standing me up and asking if could move or feel one leg.  I couldn’t.  Apparently I had a small stroke which was noticed.  That dilemma cleared up quickly – I don’t remember anything more about it and it certainly didn’t follow me out of the hospital.

But my adventure wasn’t over.  I was transferred to  rehab facility, which almost immediately sent me back to the hospital because of AFIB, perhaps a consequence of the surgery.

I was back at Southdale for a few days.  A memory is of a attendant who had to stay with me, and who loved the Hallmark Channel movies for the Christmas season.  This was certainly okay, I’m sure.  She was there to be immediate assistance if needed, and it wasn’t needed (though it could be).

Then I went back to rehab, and didn’t come home until Christmas Eve.  My three week “vacation” was over.  I don’t recall any dramatic events other than those described above.  At rehab they did the requisite physical and cognitive things like climbing three steps and descending them; showing them that I could make a grilled cheese sandwich – finding the utensils, and the ingredients and the process,  Everything made sense.

I have no sour memories at all.  I was fortunate to be ill in this community. The staff was great.  (The December 1, 2025 Minnesota Star Tribune had an excellent column on “The people behind your health plan are often immigrants”.  You can read it here: Star Tribune Medical Dec. 1, 2025)

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It is now seven years later, and I am seven years older, still living in the same house and occasionally being reminded that I’m 85 years old, and not 40 anymore,  All elders can tell the same stories, perhaps the only variation the particular body part or the degree of physical or mental dilemma.  You can pretend only so long.  The body starts to wear out.

Today I did my usual 11 laps around the indoor soccer field nearby.  It’s a very long time habit 2 1/2 miles five days a week.  It’s boring, but I have a ritual, starting usually at 7 in the morning, ending about a quarter to eight.  Once in a while the body or the mind isn’t interested in 11 laps, but I almost always walk through the dilemma and complete the personal olympics, like all of the others engaged in the same activity in the same space.  Sometimes the soccer field is closed.  On those days it’s off to Lifetime Fitness and the tread mill….

My annual physical is coming up and for seniors comes the dreaded cognitive test – the three words, and the clock.  So far, I’ve always passed, but last year I only got two of the words….

I’ve started to say to those who know me, “if you see something, say something”.

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I came face to face with being an elder last year when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were candidates for President and Vice-President.  I looked them up, and found that my oldest son was a little older than both of them.  My youngest granddaughter just turned 19.  Ouch.

These are signals to start to let go – it’s the younger persons turn to make or break their future.  On the other hand, what I and other seniors know that the Youngers cannot is that we do have some accumulated wisdom gained by experience that might well be mined by the young, so that they can hopefully learn from our mistakes, and survive the future that we will not see, since we are nearing the exit.  Will the youngers come through for themselves?  I think so.  Peter Leschak STrib Aug 17 2025 wrote an excellent column on how progress happens.  It’s a very homespun column and you’ll enjoy reading it, and youngers will too.

This is nothing new, of course.  Every generation of every culture has the same stories about the Youngers and the Elders and Themselves.  Wisdom has to be accepted, it cannot be forced.  It is useful.

All best wishes for an enjoyable holiday season, though there is much to be concerned about as we end a tumultuous year, and prepare for a possibly even more tumultuous 2026.  I’m ‘on the court’ and I plan to stay there as long as possible.

COMMENTS (more at end)

from Carole: What a memory — clearly your work was/is not finished.

from Jim: Great to “see” you!  Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, a better Christmas, and a fantastic New Year.  (It’s up to us to work for a better future – as you know – and we will.)

from Brad: happy to see some Minnesota people resisting ICE, and supporting their neighbors against Trump’s racist and discriminatory policies.  Lots of work to do!

from Gary: Dick you don’t look a day over 80. Thanks again for reminding us all of our own past.

from Judy: What a wonderful positive update.  I am pleased you remain healthy.  I too have AFIB and am enormously grateful to the immigrant staff who have cared for me at my many health care appts.  I am age 83.  Who would have ever imagined in our lifetime ( post WW2) that we would be living in a country who has resorted to our current political climate.

from Fred: I liked the entry and applaud your wisdom  “to start to let go.”  Wise words. Your coda noting that you will keep going as long as you can, is even wiser.

from Brian:  I love your selfie–you’re lookin’ great!    And thanks for posting–I love reading your post.  For instance:

 “I came face to face with being an elder last year when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were candidates for President and Vice-President.  I looked them up, and found that my oldest son was a little older than both of them.  My youngest granddaughter just turned 19.  Ouch.”
 
Sweet! 🙂

from Rebecca: Lets keep our eyes on the prize ahead– a more just and joyful human civilization.

Incidents

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Today is Wednesday and for the last few days and continuing the issue is the extrajudicial killing of alleged drug traffickers in small boats off Venezuela.  In particular the second shot on September 2 – the “kill ’em all” alleged or at minimum implied order to finish off two survivors of the first strike on a boat.  The battle is on to figure out who is responsible, or if anyone is responsible.  There is no physical evidence since the boats were destroyed at sea, as were their occupants.  Great visuals of course,

For some reason, there seems to be collective amnesia about some fairly recent history which may speak to the current situation.  For instance, back in November, 2017, in the first year of his first term, Donald Trump was flying around the world, and stopped by the Phillippines to visit then President Rodorigo Duterte.  This was the PBS report: Trump visit to Philippines Nov. 2017 .  

I noted at the time that the President seemed to admire Duterte’s solution to the Philippine drug problem: just kill ’em.  No niceties about trials or anything.   Like most news, this revelation disappeared from view as old news.  But it has never escaped my mind.  More in postnote, below.

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As it happens, about a week ago I was at a small community conversation involving two Woodbury police officers as presenters about the impact of a new bus line from St. Paul to Woodbury.  The issue was impact of the bus route on local crime.  The program was very interesting and the two officers were very well informed.

For context, Woodbury is a major St. Paul suburb of 83,000 where I’ve lived for 25 years.  After years of effort, in March, 2025, a new Gold Line bus service was initiated which comes from St. Paul to Woodbury with several intermediate stops.  There was active opposition.  The line was dubbed “crime line” by some, alleging it would bring criminals to our community.  Of course, the line was new, and thus expensive, and just starting to attract ridership.  Apparently some wag suggested that it was the BMW line – you may as well give the few riders BMW’s….

The officers brought out the data and gave all of us a copy.  It is two pages, here: Incident Report.  It speaks for itself.

Of course, being a city of 83,000, stuff happens which requires a police force and sometimes makes news regardless of the community.  The second page describes the calls in Woodbury, which would happen in any town of any size everywhere.  Of course, one incident can have many component parts.  For instance somebody arrested for Trespassing, may also be found to have a Warrant filed on him or her.  Etc.

What was most interesting was that from March 24 to November 19, 2025, there were 210 incidents relating to the new Gold Line.  This amounted to about one incident a day, only a tiny fraction of the total calls for service and incidents in the same time period.

Of course, this will not stop the memes about this alleged pipeline of crime to our town.  But it always helps to have a few facts to add to the conversation, local, state or national.

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POSTNOTE on the War on Drugs.  This mornings Minnesota Star Tribune. had long front-page story headlined “Honduras’ ex-leader is freed by Trump.  Hernandez was found guilty in transfer of 400 tons of cocaine to U.S.”

This while the U.S. is bombing boats in the Gulf of Mexico – no evidence, no survivors, no names, just allegations.  And good visuals for the news.

Quite frequently I scroll through History, Discovery, National Geographic and Weather Channels.

Frequently, especially on Natgeo and Discovery, the program is about the drug war as played out at the border or airports in U.S, and other places.  It is interesting viewing, and always frames suspicions as alleged, and suspects as possible subjects of prosecution.  This is true at any airport be it U.S. or South America or Europe…. Nowhere are kill-on-accusation orders suggested.  The Rule of Law apparently prevails at inspection points.  No doubt marketers of drugs are innovative, and their opponents are perceptive and overworked, given the immense number of border crossings daily.

I suppose – at least this is my personal fear – that some hapless American who drives into Mexico becomes a mule without knowing it.  If they’re caught in the act, I’ve not seen them on film, at least not when I’m watching.

Of course illicit drugs are huge driver in the American economy.  Somebody has to supply the goods to the addicts, and odds are its an impossibility to ever control it – think “prohibition”.  Hernandez seems to have been caught up in it, and cut a break because he was a big deal in his country, just trying to make a buck.  Part of the Oligarch fraternity.  Or so it seems.

Then there’s the legal yet illicit trade back to Mexico.  Another special talked about the export of American weapons and ammunition, apparently legally through licensed outlets in the U.S. over the border.  Everybody knows the ultimate destination and use of these firearms, but they’re good business.

And Americans continue killing themselves and others as the outcome of the trade.

The Murder in DC, Thanksgiving 2025.

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There is a single fact that is undeniable in the recent death of a 20-year old West Virginia National Guardswoman, murdered a couple of blocks from the White House in Washington DC.

Odds are virtually 100% certain that she wouldn’t have been in D.C. were it not for a command decision by the President to militarize DC to allegedly make the city safe.

All other words or actions are superfluous – and there are tens of thousands of them already on record and more to come.

But if the President of the United States had not called in the National Guard, including West Virginia, and the West Virginia Governor had not answered the call, the young woman who died on the streets of Washington D.C. would not have been in harms way.

All of the rest is rhetoric and speculation, including that we have no idea at all about why the gunman, an Afghan, went over the edge.

There is a very long history which relates to the Afghanistan component of the tragedy in D.C.   There will be endless meetings to decide which facts to leave in, or take out, of news releases and reports, and which facts to make up.  Or which the consumer of the facts will choose to believe or not.

All I can suggest is to very carefully consider anything said about this situation.

I will stand with my second sentence.

POSTNOTE:  There is a huge amount to add, of course, and will be flogged and dissected from all angles in coming days.

Pretty crucial to me is our choice to invade Afghanistan after 9-11-01 on the pretext of taking out Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in. Afghanistan.  Here are  two recollections from 2002 and 2002, the second one an article I wrote at the time: Afghanistan Bombing Oct 10 2001; and Afghanistan commentary by Dick B Apr 20 2002.  But it didn’t start there, of course.  Remember “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007) about the U.S. support against Russian action in Afghanistan (1980s), or the quick pivot by our government after 9-11 to go after Iraq?  Etc.  I’ve followed this stuff for years.  More to say, all for now.

COMMENTS (also see on-line additions below):

from Larry: Thank you, immensely, Dick.

from Joyce: Remember PNAC?  [Project for the New American Century].  I am convinced that Dick Cheney saw an opportunity to take advantage of W’s ignorance and lack of interest in policy to implement PNAC; almost every upper level appointee to the W administration was a signatory to PNAC, no doubt personally selected by Cheney, and they planned to attack Iraq all along. I noticed at the time that, as soon as the war on Iraq started going south, the PNAC website disappeared. There was, of course, no reason to go to war with Afghanistan; they could have, and should have, gone after Osama bin Laden in a police action, which is what Obama did. But, W wanted to be a war president, and Cheney saw Afghanistan as a prelude to Iraq. When Iraq was attacked, many said it was because Cheney wanted the oil. Frankly, it went way deeper than that. Perhaps there’s a way to find the original PNAC website, but that goes beyond my internet abilities.

from Claude: Dick, I see no reason why this can’t be pushed out to a wider audience. It is well written even if some would disagree with the President as the cause of the death. But I think it’s appropriate to point out that soldiers with long guns in the street is no normal, nor should it become normal, in the US.


from Carol: GREAT letter to the editor, Dick.  At the time I agreed with you – but only because my cousin who lives in Czech Republic had sent out a dire warning to his cousins.  (He said I was the only one who paid attention.)  He included articles from abroad that sounded the alarm about the direction we were headed.  You couldn’t find those here…  I started realizing that only after the 10 o’clock news could you find anything on TV contrary to the “Bush party line.”  And only on page 19 of the paper…

I do think, though, that this time is different.  Trump promised to end wars – and keep us out of any new ones.  And nobody in their right mind actually blames Venezuela for our drug problem.  Plus, you don’t plan to pardon one prominent prisoner for his part in drug trafficking while on the other hand blow random boats out of the ocean.  Trump has lost pretty much all credibility.

from Fred: After sifting through the multi-versions of these materials, it appears that the US did  send diplomats to Afghanistan (in the form of bombs) their way.


from Peter:  Re: National Guard shooting, how you see it depends, like anything else, on context. To me it seems like one snowflake in an avalanche that’s now unstoppable. I say this, having watched for many years, speaking and writing about our trajectory, and how it hasn’t been changing, and it doesn’t end well. Even so, I’m still astonished: did they just…? Who even thinks like that…? Why doesn’t somebody do something? Are we all catatonic?

Sabrina Salvati breaks this down here.

 

I think she’s worth a listen. As Salvati puts it, “This one was made right here”:
– The shooter was an employee of the CIA;
– His work is reported to have been with death squads that murdered Afghanis;
– According to several independent reporters, Google searches on his name spiked during the weeks before the shooting, including a large cluster just hours before.
– Media coverage has been undiluted propaganda, in the first moments accusing “rhetoric” etc. from the “left wing”; then full-out anti-Islamic, timed and with talking points so similar as to appear coordinated, and even anticipated.
“Sabby” (Sabrina Salvati, a longtime Boston activist, journalist and documentary film maker) speculates on false flag operations. At the very least it appears that a lot of people who knew the shooter’s name expected something to happen.
I have been a fan through the Israeli genocide of Palestine, on which she has been outspoken long before October of ’23, and find her to be level-headed, even-handed and honest.
What I think: All checks on executive power were carefully, quietly, removed before the election, while we watched, some of us for years. Given the reckless destruction of healthcare and housing, among several other vital areas of civil concern, we should expect a massive wave of homelessness and hunger this year. This will be neighbors and friends with no previous experience of that kind, being jackbooted by others with no previous experience of that kind. My guess is that the new Internally Displaced Persons, regardless of their citizenship, will be tarred with the same old brush, of mental illness, drug abuse and petty crime, and the admin will make full use of the new prisons and new 45 billion dollar personal presidential police force.
There’s more, but I’ll skip it for now.


from Chuck:  This was just sent to the WPost [Washington Post] ….  I’m guessing they are unlikely to print it.

Dear Editor,

The two Wpost lead editorials Nov 28, 2025, highlighted two of the three systems causing most of humankind’s problems.  The first editorial on climate change can’t be resolved with humankind’s existing global governance system connected to our US constitutional system.

Both are founded on the illusion of independence.  This word is simply a delusional mental construct.  It reality it exists nowhere in our known universe where ‘everything’ (an autological word) is interdependent, connected and vulnerable – requiring a comprehensive global effort.  Climate change is only one of many such problems. Problems obvious to lines on a map, majority votes, militaries, or economic power.

The second editorial on the two National Guard members murder in our nation’s capital is another example of our global interdependence.  Preventing almost any murderous violence requires our understanding of the fundamental origins of lethal human behavior within our existing systems.  Again, it is our minds ignoring our interdependence.  We may never know the motive of the Afghan killer, but it wasn’t primal competition for food, a mate, or any genetic marker.  It originated in the mind. And is inevitably connected to the failed reactionary US foreign policy to the 911 ‘terrorist’ attacks – the worst US foreign policy decision – second only to the invasion of Iraq.

Terrorism is a tactic and can never be defeated by military power.  [Waging] war (instead of the rule of law) against any belief system (religious, national, ideological, race…) on makes the enemy a “warrior” in their mind.  And terrorizing any population using drones, million-dollar aircraft, or WMD – then justifying collateral damage as delivering justice, only undermines our species’ need to live by the Rule of Law…not the law of force.

We cannot keep mounting our national debt by ignoring this reality.  We must address the root cause of both violence and environmental deterioration by grasping the reality of our global interdependence.  A mental transformation that will enable humankind to amend all three failing global systems — the UN, our Constitution, and lawless global capitalism – by putting the protection of inalienable human rights and a sustainable global environment above the protection of national sovereignty and the maximization of profits.

This fundamental principle was suggested 11 years before the creation of the US Constitution – within the 1776 American Declaration of Independence.  Abraham Lincoln much later claimed it was for ‘everyone, everywhere, for all time’.  And even called it our “Apple of Gold”, and our Constitution its “silver frame”.

Until we gain the wisdom to make these vital amendments, we are failing future generations in achieving any of the seven intentions within our Constitution’s preamble.  Read these!  [here]  Then rethink each of our failing systems.

from SAK:

Perhaps because Europe suffered much more during the two world wars – aside from a whole litany of wars that never seemed to end – there seems to be a stronger trend of pacifism than in the US. It could also be that the US’ history also glorifies machismo (that’s making a strong surge nowadays as well) & the accumulation of guns? These thoughts came to mind when I saw this alarming figure that you sent:

I remember the largest demonstration ever in the UK against the Iraq war but the Prime Minister then, Tony Blair, stuck to the special relationship & pushed the country to war. Famously one journalist at the time said something along the lines of: :I don’t know what will be on Tony Blair’s tomb but it will have the word Iraq”!

The Pope happens to be in Lebanon at this moment & in his speech at the presidential palace he quoted Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers” – he is in a land that is desperate for peace!

Your piece, which obviously came from the heart,  turned out to be spot on. I don’t know how many changed their mind about the Afghan & Iraqi wars but I dare say it must be many indeed.

Hannah Arendt wrote: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.”

That is precisely how the Trump & the neocons before him “captured” these people, by lying, exaggerating, and Trump so often declares this or that fake news which becomes like a vaccine against accepting facts! Thus he & others will spin the tragic death of the Guardswoman to suit their agenda. Sad.

Unfortunately many change their minds, & accept facts, when it’s late in the day. Human, all too human. I suspect enough would have changed their minds by the time the midterm elections come around & it will make quite a difference.

After all, you can fool most of the people some of the time or some of the people all the time but you can’t fool most of the people all the time. (I think the origin of the quote is French, to their credit the French weren’t fooled into joining the aforementioned wars).

Giving Thanks

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Thanksgiving was still two weeks in the future, and Christmas  a month beyond that, and no snow on the ground, but it made no difference.  A cast of 25 brought joy to a packed house at a Middle School auditorium on two successive nights Nov 14 and 15.  The case is pictured below, and all details in the link to the program (below).

Charlie Brown Christmas cast 11 14 25

Taking their bows, Nov. 14, 2025

The stage was filled with enthusiastic special people – all “A” list stars!  In the audience, family and friends.  Up on stage was my Heather, standing out in her brilliant yellow costume playing Woodstock.  Her housemate Julie, also on stage, played Peppermint Patty.  There was not a dull moment and, of course, a standing ovation at the end, and afterward the cast mingled with their admirers.

One possibly could have come to this performance in a down mood, for whatever reason.  It would be hard to maintain the mood – the stage players  – all of them – gave their all to play their part.

I’ll be watching for Charlie Brown Christmas on TV this season.  For those of us lucky to be in the seats a week ago, it will have stiff competition this year.

All best to everyone for a great Thanksgiving, and a kind and gentle Christmas season.

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Teachable moments:

A week or so ago, Chuck sent a very meaningful Thanksgiving prayer with a recommendation: “I suggest passing this prayer around your thanksgiving dinner…each person read one part: Iroquois Thanksgiving.”  [here is a verbal explanation by an elder]

Last Sunday at Basilica was the final Sunday in the Liturgical year, the feast of Christ the King.  This coming Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent culminating in the celebration of the Birth of Christ: Christmas.

There is nothing new with these.  They’ve been part of the church calendar my entire life.  Here’s what wikipedia says about Christ the King.

This year, more so than any I can recall, the word “king” has had a spotlight placed on it, much more on the temporal than the liturgical or theological sense.  “No kings” comes to mind – something I proudly participate in and support.

At Basilica, every Sunday, the handout we all receive when we arrive is what I would call a newsletter, and each Sunday it includes a column written by someone in the parish, perhaps pastor, perhaps someone else.  The thoughts are always thought provoking and I always read them.

On Christ the King Sunday, the column was written by a hero of mine, a champion of social justice, Janice Andersen.  I’d invite you to read her thoughts for reflection.  Here’s Janice’s “Choose Love”: Janice Andersen Choose Love 11 23 25

POSTNOTE: There have been several comments added to the post on Ken Burns American Revolution.  Take a look, here.  I encourage more comments to continue the conversation.

COMMENTS:

from MaryEllen: Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to you and family. The Charlie Brown performance and Janice Anderson’s essay were a great way to start the day. Thanksgiving is the best holiday!

from Lois:  The First Thanksgiving of 1621 is a foundational moment in American history, symbolizing both the challenges faced by early settlers and the importance of cooperation with Indigenous peoples. While it has evolved into a national holiday celebrated in November, the true nature of the event reflects a more complex and nuanced history than the modern narrative suggests.

Hi Dick,

I found this after a quick search and realized the symbolism part just needs a few words changed – early settlers TO “all the people in the world” and the same for “Indigenous peoples”.

My thanks to you for the wonderful thoughts of your messages and even the interesting responses of variety in positions others have of situations.

May our Minnesota winter be tolerable and we experience good outcomes to our lives as problems are solved.

At Thanksgiving 2025.

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Have a very good Thanksgiving. We’ll spend Thanksgiving with family in town; and Christmas, still unplanned.  “Over the river and through the woods” will, for us, be about three miles, and no snow, likely chilly.  All very best wishes.

POSTNOTE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 10;10 PM.  I watched the entire 12 hours of Ken Burns American Revolution on PBS.  This consisted of six 2-hour programs,  If you missed this program, or any part, here are details from PBS and/or check with your local public broadcasting outlet for other arrangements for future viewing.  Every American should take the time to view, discuss, and reflect on the meaning of this extraordinary program on the creation story of the United States of America.

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I’ve summarized here my impressions after a week of watching Ken Burns American Revolution.  What follows below, unchanged, is my Nov 14 post.  I invite you to visit the post for Nov. 19 “The Epstein Affair“; and Nov.  21 “Drones“.  At the end of the Drones post is an important update on the situation re Ukraine/Russia/U.S.

This is not a usual, normal holiday season.  My personal reflection will be on the many positive aspects of the year near passed, while acknowledging that this has not in any way been a normal year.  There is a great deal of work we all need to do, daily, to save the essence of our country, and the future of democracy in the world we all live in.  I’ll continue to pay attention and write as things come to mind.

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For more than 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s, a hobby of mine was doing a small “kitchen table” newsletter for fellow French-Canadians mostly in the Twin Cities.  For some reason a particular issue came to mind for this year, and you can read the first three pages here: Thanksgiving and Christmas Chez Nous 1993.  A photo from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19,1993, below, was one of the three pages, and is what my minds-eye saw when I got this idea for this commentary:  (For anyone interested, all of the 1000 or so pages of Chez Nous are indexed and accessible on line here , click tab Library then click Chez Nous.)

from Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19, 1993 accompanying article by Jim Northrup: “Parching wild rice in a container set near a fire: Just call it a lot of hard work.”

Thanksgiving is still almost two weeks out, and Christmas about a month after Thanksgiving, but this will not be a usual annual holiday season, hard as folks might try, in my opinion.

We’re in very dangerous times in this country of ours, and we can’t afford to look away and pretend all is okay.  But this moment seems a good time to focus a bit on an aspect of our past as we prepare for our 250th.

As days go on between now and the New Year, I will likely continue to write, so just check back once in awhile if interested.  All best wishes.

Ken Burns: American Revolution

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 10;10 PM.  I watched the entire 12 hours of Ken Burns American Revolution on PBS.  This consisted of six 2-hour programs,  If you missed this phenomenal series, or any part, here are details from PBS and/or check with your local public broadcasting outlet for other arrangements for future viewing.  Every American should take the time to view, discuss, and reflect on the meaning of this extraordinary program on the creation story of the United States of America.

George Washington, born 1732; 43 in 1775

If you were born and went to school in the United States, you learned a shorthand version of our native land.  Of course, it was not the whole story.  The shorthand version was much like the old farm postcard from before 1910.  Of course, we young scholars remembered fragments of that already much condensed version.

As I watched the twelve hour summary of our history over 6 evenings, Nov. 16-21, I mined my memory for the scraps I recall about my country.  Here is my condensed version.

George Washington cut down the cherry tree and could not tell a lie; and threw a coin across a river.  (Some myths, here).

The Boston Tea Party; Paul Revere’s ride; Benedict Arnold betraying his country; the First Thanksgiving; Valley Forge; the King of England; people that looked a lot like me did all the work to establish the United States of America.  Ours was “the land of the free and the home of the brave” – “America, the Beautiful”….

Of course, life goes on, and as time went on there were more snippets, each adding to my own knowledge:  Several trips to our nation’s capitol, visits to the White House and the U.S. Capitol, the sites of Boston, Lexington and Concord, Colonial Williamsburg, Philadelphia, on and on.  Each visit expanded my knowledge a bit.

Slaves, Native Americans, Quebec (supposed to be one of the original states.  My Dad is 100% French-Canadian, which makes me half French-Canadian), the role of France….

These and many, many other fragments of information were like fashioning a puzzle out of many pieces.

The pieces are not all glorious, for certain: the Civil War; the refusal of the new United States to recognize the slave revolt which led to an independent Haiti in 1803, right after our Constitution was ratified.

Endless pieces.

What Ken Burns and crew endeavored to do, and did it masterfully in the series, was to make a portrait of America more consistent with the actual history as it really happened, with the glorious and the shameful; the personal virtues and the failing of human beings in what was a very long and difficult struggle.   (The Tea Party was not immediately followed by a festive Thanksgiving Dinner thrown by grateful natives.)

Old North Church Boston, June 1972 (Dick Bernard). (“one if by land, two if by sea”)

 

Tom Bernard at Liberty Bell, Philadelphia June 1972

independence Hall (Pennsylvania State House) Philadelphia old postcard from Busch farm from early 1900s.

Constitution Hall, Philadelphia PA 1972

 

Give yourself and your family gift:  Make it a point to not only watch the entire 12 hours, but to talk about what the revolution means in context with today.

POSTNOTE Nov. 23: This post from Heather Cox Richardson dated Nov. 22, seems pertinent to this conversation.:

COMMENTS (more below):

from Chuck: Thanks Dick.  I suggest passing this prayer around your thanksgiving dinner…each person read one part: Iroquois Thanksgiving.  [here is a verbal explanation by an elder]

from Michael: Hi Dick. This is the best article ever written about the US Peace Prize.  NOTE: Michael is founder and director of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation.  I am a supporter of this foundation, and a friend of Michael.

from Claude: Dick, this might also be relevant to this point in history.  NOTE: Claude is a good friend and long time advocate for international cooperation.

from Larry: Am currently watching, Dick – DVR’d all the episodes, taking ’em one by one. Excellent Ken Burns film! Again!  LG

from Norman: We did as well and I agree that it was outstanding!

from Jeff: watched the first 8 hours…yes, good,  MAGA would not like it.

from Ruth: My superficial impression based on the visuals is that George Washington was a great general.  He had the advantages of knowing the landscape and geography.  British generals and officers were possibly more experienced in terms of training and tactics, but probably did not understand distances and geography in North America.  The Revolution might not have succeeded if French and Spanish had not got involved to defeat their British enemies.  European conflict was transferred to North America.  I missed the part about Benedict Arnold invading Canada and Quebec.  Have read about that.  I will have to see that part again.  Fell asleep a few times and missed the good bits.  I liked his criticism of American Indigenous and Black slaves who tended to think they were better off with the British than the Americans.  They lost their lands and human rights along the way.  He was honest about that.

from Robin:  Totally agree this is a stunning and eye opening series. A new perspective on the creation of our republic.

Wonder if it would contain a number of topics to be subjects of a discussion for a future MAP meeting.

from Bob: My biggest take-away was how our nation has destroyed our indigenous folks and the black Americans.
And the current administration is just making that worse.I think we should get all of Congress, the Executive branch, and the Supreme Court and lock them in a room to watch the entire series.


from Jeff: After watching the 5th installment this old American historian (M.A. Oregon 1978)  comes to some conclusions I have gleaned over the years, and some that reflect perhaps the more negative “woke” view of some of US history.

aa) America is and always has been a conservative country, its founding story and its “revolution” is the result of propertied classes seeking to protect their property and privileges and to avoid taxation and administrative controls and restrictions on growing their fortunes. (in other words it has more in common with the English Cromwellian revolution than the French Revolution)
bb) My synthesis of American history particularly up to about Teddy Roosevelt is controlled by:  Land speculation, resource extraction with no limits, slavery, and genocide.
cc) Within the story are alot of high ideals, and grand words, and obviously bravery and sacrifice, but essentially done in service to aa and bb.
My good wife and by genetics our kids, are descended from several male ancestors who were veterans of the Revolution.

from Ruth: What I don’t like about Washington is that he married a wealthy woman and used her money to buy Black slaves and Indian land.  I have read quite a bit about Thomas Jefferson and his Black slave concubine or whatever the right word is.  She was his wife’s Black sister.  Wife’s father was a slave owner and had Black children with a Black slave woman.  This just about turns my stomach what those women went through.  It is so hard to reconcile a hero like Jefferson with him keeping a Black slave, his wife’s “sister”, who looked like Martha Washington, but she was a “little bit Black”.  Yuch!  What was he thinking.  She was his prisoner!  Suffered from his daughter who was jealous and would not acknowledge that Jefferson let this Black woman, his wife’s sister, to run his household.  Bad for the family after he died!  Not a hero to me!  I think he had abouut 7 children with her and did not free them.  But he turned a blind eye when they escaped and “passed” as white.  Why did he take her back to Virginia and slavery?  He loved Monticello more than her. He put her and her children back into slavery.  yuch!

from Dick, some scraps in reflection:  I am a casual historian and geographer, with a college major in geography.  Throughout life, I’ve picked up “scraps” whenever and wherever I can – roadside historic site signs are like a magnet.  Like with a rag quilt, random pieces can make a coherent whole!  That’s the beauty of Ken Burns work.  Taking many difficult years at the time of formation and making them into 12 hours of civic engagement 250 years later is a real chore.  And he did it.

My ‘research’ after the film has been minor.  I think the colonies had about 2 1/2 million people east of the Appalachians at the time of the Declaration of Independence.  England had about 8 million population and already a worldwide empire.  (The twin cities where I live are over  3 1/2 million; Minnesota nearing 6 million).

George Washington lost more than he won, but he was a gifted leader; when the chips were down, which were often, enough volunteers showed up to advance the cause.

The novice leaders modeled their new system on the English, because they were mostly English.  They understood the system.  Most, but not all, did not want to have a king.  To study them one has to be very aware of the circumstances of their time.  The results speak for themselves.  So far we’ve been fortunate to last for 250 years, warts and all.  That history is in serious jeopardy now, and “we the people” have to be the volunteers to save our past and assure our future, just like those volunteers did during revolutionary times.  Somehow they all had the stamina to last it out.

Finally, I’m very aware of the Canadian/French/English component of this particularly since my Dad was 100% French-Canadian, and I have spent more than 40 years delving into family roots and stories.  My LAST French-Canadian ancestor arrived in Quebec only two or three years before the English defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham in 1759.  This was 16 years before Lexington and Concord and the like.  At the time, the area that is now Minnesota was by and large considered part of French Canada.  In 1818, the U.S. – Canada borders were set.

The treatment of the natives and the slaves were inexcusable – the nature of war, I suppose, and the attitudes prevailing then.  We cannot undo the past; the worst we can do is to try to continue  the sins of the past.  The best, working to make things better for the future, rather than revert to old, failing ways.  It’s up to us.

from Jim: Well, I wish I could be as confident about America’s future as other commentators are. First off, we are constantly told a rather one-sided, pleasant history of America. The history of the real America takes some digging or luck in what you read.  For example, did you know that Charles Lindbergh, yes our Lindbergh, twice led a coalition to Nazi Germany to ask how that government could be replicated, at least in part, in America? Lindbergh was an ardent supporter of eugenics, a seudo-science theory that white people were genetically superior to all other races. Though eugenics may have started in Enland, American philosophers were it’s strongest supporters. Hitler’s government adopted eugenics as justification  as you might expect. Lindbergh and followers also demanded that Roosevelt surrender on Germany’s terms when Hitler’s Germany declared war on America. Fortunately, Roosevelt ignored that advice.
But these are just a couple of examples, there are many others (like holding on to slavery for forty years after all of western Europe ended it). To really understand America, we must balance the good, which we hear about constantly, with the not-so-good. It’s that balance that might lead to a better America.

 

 

 

Drones 2025

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November 21 Fred sent a note with link to a most interesting post he’d read about Drones and the future of War.

Fred: “[My] friend sent this Noah Smith article along:  “The future of war is the future of society”.
Smith effectively makes the case that massive drone warfare is inevitable. Even worse he says, “drone technology is in its infancy.” Sure hope the West will be able to match the Chinese will to dominate. His brief summary of the history of turning points in human warfare is also quite interesting.
We just gotta get past the Epstein case and the Tariff War and we can start getting ready.”

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Dick: I’d urge you to read this article, and if you wish, afterwards, read a few personal comments by myself, including my note that I’ve long had a general interest in Drones, generally, and first wrote about them here in the Spring of 2009, 16 years ago.  Caveat: I’m no expert in most anything, certainly not drones.  Still you might want to read that first post before proceeding.

My response to Fred continued: I stirred up a lot of dust with another post in December 2011.

 

In all, my archive says that 22 posts have at least mentioned the topic.
Fast forward to today, absolutely nobody is safe in the era of drones (which I presume are what is blowing up the boats off Venezuela).  Scary times.
Sometime in these past 19 years I remember a movie whose “star” was a mini drone masquerading as a bird which blew up some terrorist in the room of a house.  Yes, it was just a fictional movie, but very plausible.

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Speaking only as a citizen, it is a given that the technology of war is being perfected at an accelerating rate, from the ancient sticks and stones to ever more sophisticated technology we all have heard about.

POSTNOTE: Thanksgiving week seems to be an important week in the history of Ukraine/Russia/U.S.  Heather Cox Richardson summarizes in her usual expert way, here.   She shares some important information with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and communication technology is itself a weapon…character assassination is a weapon of choice in this day and age).

I am skeptical that, short of a mistake or misappropriation of something like a nuclear weapon and its launching code, armageddon is on the near or even far horizon.

Today, we are a global society, and have been such for a long time.  If China becomes the dominant world power, is it to its advantage to disable our economy, which is a very significant part of the total world economy?  I think not.  This applies more broadly: the rich control more and more of the wealth everywhere.  Does this help increasethe strength of the consumer network, which fuels the economy and most enriches the already rich?  I think not.

Drones can be personalized down to specific targets, such as small boats on an ocean.  I live in a community of 83,000, and if a drone was used to take out someone, say the mayor, would this win the war for hearts and minds of the rest of the population?  I think not.  It would very certainly be a disruption, but would it be beneficial to destroy all of the disrupters…or would it create a critical mass of the community arise to quell the threat?  I think so.

Advanced weaponry, of course, is a boon to the economy.  Note the little article in my college newspaper in 1961,


Lots and lots of people earn their living making sophisticated weaponry, and whole communities directly benefit.  Is this a problem?  Yes.   Is it fatal?  No.  People can be redirected to employment that is of benefit to all.  But this is a choice hard to make especially if those who benefit by the old ways feel threatened.

I could go on and on.

This is not to say that drones are not a problem.  They are.  But neither are they the ultimate end game.

Best we figure out how best to work out problems, which will always exist, and avoid selecting or enabling those who might want to make life more difficult for the peaceful majority.

1978 card from Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

 

The Epstein Affairs

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PRENOTE: I have watched the first six hours of the Ken Burns series on the American Revolution.  For sure, I’ll watch the 12 hours.  It is an outstanding primer for the 250th anniversary of our stressed nation.

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November 18, 2025: The votes have now been taken in House and Senate and the results sent to the President for his promised signature.

The games begin.  I’ll amend this post as more information is published.  I will be surprised if the requested documents, including names, ever see the light of day beyond what the Epstein estate has released to Congress.

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In the interim, for anyone interested: while I don’t pretend to know how this sordid affair will play out in the end, I do remember another dramatic time in our political history: the Bill Clinton impeachment in 1998-99,  Most of you who are on this list remember the political street theater then.  You can use your own memory to fill in the blanks.

I decided to dust off the two documents I saved from then:  I offer them for your own reflection.  I am not equating Epstein with Clinton.  The issues are very, very different.  Here are the two Clinton era documents: Bill Clinton 1999 Rev. Miller; and Bill Clinton 1998 Lieberman

What I am asking folks to think about is how to approach the incessant discord to come, the moralizing, the recriminations, the lies, the everything.

I’d especially recommend the public sermon by Pastor Miller, who I think was, at the time interim or visiting pastor at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul.  (I’m not Presbyterian, and I’ve never been in House of Hope, but the sermon was intended to get around.)

PS:  I have written and mailed, on November 18, my own letter to my two U.S. Senators Klobuchar and Smith and Congresswoman McCollum, and included a copy of the above two documents.

Thanksgiving

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PRENOTE: Tonight Nov 14 8 p.m. CST on public radio and television, the Minnesota Orchestra will be live.  Details here [Minnesota Orchestra] including program notes.  Also TPT.org .  We saw this concert in person Thursday afternoon.  Excellent as always

Don’t forger, Ken Burns 6 part series on the American Revolution starts on PBS on Sunday.  Check local listing.  I think, must watch.

Re Armistice Day post, especially read the postnote at the beginning, and the comments at the end of the Nov. 11 post.   There are also some additions in the originating post.

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In anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas….

For more than 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s, a hobby of mine was doing a small “kitchen table” newsletter for fellow French-Canadians mostly in the Twin Cities.  For some reason a particular issue came to mind for this year, and you can read the first three pages here: Thanksgiving and Christmas Chez Nous 1993.  A photo from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19,1993, below, was one of the three pages, and is what my minds-eye saw when I got this idea for this commentary:  (For anyone interested, all of the 1000 or so pages of Chez Nous are indexed and accessible on line here , click tab Library then click Chez Nous.)

from Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 19, 1993 accompanying article by Jim Northrup: “Parching wild rice in a container set near a fire: Just call it a lot of hard work.”

Thanksgiving is still almost two weeks out, and Christmas about a month after Thanksgiving, but this will not be a usual annual holiday season, hard as folks might try, in my opinion.

We’re in very dangerous times in this country of ours, and we can’t afford to look away and pretend all is okay.  But this moment seems a good time to focus a bit on an aspect of our past as we prepare for our 250th.

As days go on between now and the New Year, I will likely continue to write, so just check back once in awhile if interested.  All best wishes.

 

Armistice Day 2025

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POSTNOTE: Kathy highly recommends a two hour program at Carnegie Hall about WWI.  This is excellent.  I watched it on Thursday.  I’m not sure that the link will work for everyone.  The title of the PBS program is American Heart in WWI: A Carnegie Hall Tribute – The history of the Unknown Soldier and veterans Day.

I attended the event at St. Joan of Arc on Tuesday morning.  It too was excellent.  Photo of Larry Johnson below.

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PRENOTE: If you read nothing else below, at least read today’s Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American in its entirety.  We – all of us – ARE the government we like to criticize.  DO SOMETHING.  And watch and reflect on the meaning of the Ken Burns 6-part special on the American Revolution which airs beginning later this week.  Check you local Public Broadcasting Station for details.  We sink or we swim together.  All is NOT okay.

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97 years ago, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an Armistice ended WWI.  It’s now called Veteran’s Day in the U.S.  No matter – in most of the world it is Armistice Day and continues as an aspirational goal for world peace.

I’ve made a habit of recognizing this day – see NOTE at end of the post.

I want to call attention to three items this day.

1) in Minneapolis there will be an observance, as detailed by my friend Larry Johnson:

Every year on November 11 St. Joan of Arc Church (SJA, 46th St. and 3rd Avenue in south Minneapolis) holds a special Armistice service at 11.  For many years Veterans Day was called Armistice Day because the armistice formally ending World War I was signed at that 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918.  For many years bells rang 11 times at that time on November 11, and it was not uncommon for even the President to say things like, “We’re gathered to honor those Veterans who have sacrificed, sometimes all. There is no greater tribute we can pay than to work diligently to end war so that fewer need to make that sacrifice in the future.”
Some of us, Veterans who believe in nonviolence, ring Armistice Bells at the SJA service.  One Veteran tells his or her Armistice story.  THIS YEAR THAT WILL BE ME, and I’d be honored if you were able to be there.  On my own each year, I walk to the service, and some of you have walked with me.  You’re all invited.  This year it’s just a mile, leaving from Seward Coop  on 38th and 3rd Avenue at 10:15.  I’ll be in the little eating area at Seward (N.E. end of the store) at least by 10, ready to walk out at 10:15.  Good idea to let me know if you’re walking so we know to look for you.  Otherwise it would be great to see you at the church at 11.  [pdf of program: Armistice Day 2025 at Joan of Arc]

Larry Johnson tells his Armistice Day story at St. Joan of Arc Nov 11 2025

2)  Larry’s newspaper column in the October 23, 2025 SunPost publication is about Armistice Day and his long term passion in behalf of veterans.  He discusses Armistice Day and also an important initiative, the Veterans Resilience Project.  Check it out.

3). In addition, I’d recommend to readers a recent blog I noted in the website of the French-American Heritage Foundation.  It speaks for itself, here.  The column is about an American soldier, Alfred LaGrandeur of Somerset WI,  who arrived in Europe about October 1, 1918, a month or so  before the Armistice.

Alfred had no way of knowing when he signed up for service “over there” , that he would be in France essentially for postwar duty.  That is the lot of the soldier.  You serve as assigned.

The aspiration of the Armistice Day peace in 1918 has never been realized,  Unfortunately, the terms of settlement between victor and vanquished in 1918 essentially acted as fuel for the fire of WWII, which began with the humiliation and financial depression of Germany in the 1920s, and burst into flame ignited by an enraged WWI veteran named Adolf Hitler.

This is a good day to remember and reflect.  Every human generation has had to deal with the evil reality of war – ever more dangerous, including our present civil war among neighbors in our own country.  We may not be shooting each other, but the net result is the same as 1861-65.

In peace.

NOTE;  By my count, there have been 18 November 11ths since I initiated this blog in 2009.  On 12 of these, I’ve blogged about Armistice Day on the 11th.  On four others I’ve deviated by a couple of days.  These posts were: Nov 9, 2013, Nov 8, 2018, Nov 10, 2020 and 2023,  I missed Nov. 11, 2021, since we were in New York.  Armistice Day is important to me.  (My habit of recognizing the day long precedes 2009.  The others are not recorded for posterity.)

COMMENTS (more below)

from Peter:  my first public demo was 1958, Ft. Detrick, MD, where I met Albert Bigelow, skipper of “Golden Rule,” a small ketch he had just sailed into the bomb test area near the Marshall Islands. Coast Guard towed him to Hawai’i before they got very far.

This started a lot of things, including, I think, the early test ban treaty.
A few years ago the VFP found her and hauled her up off the bottom, and rebuilt “Golden Rule” to sail again. The film is her story.
At that demonstration, Margaret Rawson, who became a mentor of mine, had organized the little band of Quakers in Fredrick, and her husband, she later told me, was head of development in the fort, for biological warfare. The head of the based went to his office and said, “There’s a bunch of commies out at the gate, do you need an escort home?” To which the man replied: “Nah, my wife’s out there with ’em, they’re all coming over to dinner later. Would you care to join us?”
When I told the Golden Rule project about being ten years old and meeting Bigelow, they made me an organizer, and I ended up as an associate member of the Vets for Peace, of which my dad was a charter member. I now volunteer with the Uranium Weapons working group. And I can tell you, we are all in terrible danger, not just from the loonies who have got hold of these things, but from the radioactive materials and wastes they keep making more of, and tossing about the landscape like confetti.
Here’s a picture of Dad, doing what he loved best, with two of his friends from the Philadelphia Orchestra…

Vietnam War Protest ca 1968 Philadelphia PA, the Golden Rule

New film about the Golden Rule from the project is accessible on YouTube here.  More about the project here.

from Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, a history of Armistice/Veterans Day, here.

from Fred: I haven’t forwarded an American Heritage for a while. This is an exceptionally good one. It honors the US Marine Corps on the occasion of its 250th birthday by detailing a number of great battles.

from Kathy: American Heart in WWI: A Carnegie Hall Tribute  Nov 11th Channel 2. [link is at beginning of this post]. I did not know Quentin Roosevelt was killed during World War I. If you can access it is well worth  watching.

from Dick, a few closing comments: As noted, I’ve done something on Armistice Day almost every year.  This year the post brought diverse comments (above and below) that add significantly to the general conversation.

I am not a scholar of note on the topic, but over the years I have picked up numerous bits and pieces about the tangled web of WWI and II, and war generally.  A visit some years ago to the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis’  brought some valuable insights into the origin of WWI; most recently, viewing American Heart last night (see Kathy note above) was extraordinary look at WWI from the minds eye of the United States.  In between, of course, came the monstrosity of WWII and the relationship to Adolf Hitler and Germany to both wars.  (I was always curious about what the First and Second Reich’s were, related to the Third Reich of the Nazis.  If you don’t know, it’s easy research.)

Seems to me, lust for power fuels wars, and must be facilitated by people already in power, and lusting for more (or defending selves from losing power).  The victims are the ordinary people who in all the numerous ways die or are damaged by the wars, often as seemingly willing accomplices.

We won’t end war.  It seems a permanent part of the human condition, imprinted in our DNA.

But what we can do as individuals is to dampen the enthusiasm for war, one person, one act at a time.

Work for peace.