Hope? Maybe a precedent from U.S. Civil War

A figurine of Union General John Buford

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us."

- Samuel Smiles

 

It is 3:30 a.m. and there is no respite from the Trump-centric news. Sometimes we read about how histories will be written about this strange time. But there's a presumption that we will exit from this period and go back to our norms. We can pray for that to happen. I shouldn't use that term because it conjures up how Republicans encourage "thoughts and prayers" after a mass shooting. 

Let's say we can hope that our overall culture gets back on an even keel. Then we can start digesting some histories of the perverse Trump chapter in America. I am far from convinced that we are really going to survive this. Elections have consequences and political priorities have consequences. Donald Trump was president for four years and has been "in our face" with his oddly galvanizing persona since 2016. Were he a mere celebrity we could be amused. But this is real world stuff. 

Informed people close to our UMM tell me that "Trump got rid of the foreign students and that was our cash cow." I might quote Michael Lackey, a very sharp guy from the faculty. My friends would instantly sniff and say "he's (just a) liberal UMM person." I have had UMM's new chancellor confirm the accounts from others: UMM was dealt a blow with what happened in connection to the foreign students. 

Everyone agrees that the Chinese students who were here were from wealthy families. Wealthy or not, it was a joy having them, just as it is a joy for any and all young people to come here. 

I happened upon the UMM welcome picnic last night (Monday) by accident. My timing was good, arrived at the perfect time to get a nice plateful of food. Man, did I ever need that: I put aside my stringent dietary recommendations and availed myself of the fare. I reason that I can make a rare exception to the rules. I have no regrets. It is 3:30 a.m. and I have had no side effects with my Metformin medication. I will continue on the road of prudence.

I really truly try to stay disciplined for both myself and my physician, Dr. Huikko. Hey, I had a Coke last night! I'm feeling fine. 

I thank the Lord for all days where my health seems sound. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die? Oh no, I say that only in jest. Since I have been losing weight, might I be able to get a date with a shapely female? Once again I'm joking. After 68 years on this planet, I doubt the odds will ever go up for that. "Mongo just pawn in game of life." 

 

Sans fashion?

I looked around at all the UMM students at the park last night and compared them to my generation when young. Well, with my generation it was much easier to differentiate with the two genders. Today it seems "unisex" clothing has taken over and there's little sense of "fashion," not in the way I remember it. Girls felt some impulse to look like girls. 

Here's another interesting reminder: In the earlier time you did not see T-shirts or other clothing with printing on it that referenced local places. It was very rare - you'd have to special-order it. And then as you wore it around you'd get comments about it. Today? Such clothing with the local references are - I can't help but use the word - "ubiquitous." Zero novelty. 

I remember the bumper sticker "Where the heck is Cyrus?" (This was actually derived from "Where the hell is Bird Island?") Today such things would blend in with the whole endless panoply. Times change. I do notice such things. We never saw kids with colored hair when I was young. Also, far fewer of us were overweight. 

Oh, maybe it's not considered "overweight" any more. Maybe it's all within standard or accepted norms now. So maybe I'm being improperly judgmental. 

 

Statue of John Buford

Goodbye to some

I have friends who might enjoy reading this post but they may have been turned off where I started out writing about Trump. They get irritated. Why do I harp away? Simple: Trump continues to loom with the threat of obtaining real power again. And next time around, he'll try to go full autocrat. Hey, he has essentially told us that. 

And we don't care? Nothing fazes his supporters who are like the wild-eyed characters in a sci-fi movie. Their brains totally ossified now? Well yes, in spades. I'm trying to point all this out even though it can seem futile. 

I'm certain that our local Apostolic Christians would vote 100 percent for Trump again. No flinching, no hesitation, even the women. Life is strange. 

UMM itself is supposed to edify people. It's not working. Our country may be crumbling around us. However, I am reminded of Day 1 of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863: The great Union cavalry commander John Buford was defeatist as hell, thinking there was no way the coming Confederate offensive could be blunted. "Lee will get all his men behind fat rocks," he said. But he suddenly put on a different face. He said among other things "we're gonna hold here in the morning." 

Buford ended up a Gettysburg hero. Maybe the Trump supporters of today - Apostolics included - regret that the Confederates lost. That's the way it seems. Well, I love America the way it once was. And I am thankful that we have UMM with its "liberal" professors. I disagree that Mr. Lackey should be dismissed as "liberal." Listen to him for God's sake. Oh you won't. You are such lemmings. 

 

Sam Elliott as John Buford in movie

Striving for hope

I'll be like General Buford here and try to do an about-face: maybe there is hope with the 14th Amendment, to prevent Trump from getting on the ballot again. But hell, I don't know all the logistics for that. The biggest handicap - the "elephant in the room" - is that the GOP leadership is just totally hopeless. I will try to hope anyway. 

There was an article on Yahoo News Monday. The headline: "How states can keep Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024." There's more than a kernel of hope with that, IMHO. Pray again? 

Trump's push for an insurrection or rebellion is a catalyst here for remedial action. Remedial action to help good win over evil. Conservative legal scholars are joining the argument for keeping Trump ineligible. But once "conservatives" come forward with reasoning like this, so many of their "conservative" brethren brand them as not really conservatives, or as "RINOs." 

Trump believes in no compromise ever. He wants the extreme Republican agenda forced down our throats. Look at what he has given us with the Supreme Court. I place considerable blame on Mitch McConnell. He once posed for a photo standing in front of a big Confederate flag. 

I posted the following comment to Yahoo News later in the day Monday. I got quite a bit of response, not as much positive as I would have liked. But there was some quite positive feedback. My comment:

 

Very interesting, but we have been dragged into this whole mess by the failure of Congress to impeach/convict, if not the first time around then the second. The second might have been achieved if Mitch McConnell as the Senate GOP leader had asserted himself properly. My goodness, we could have "moved on" and the GOP could have completely recovered from any embarrassment. Trump could have gone back to simply being the kind of celebrity he was before 2016: amusing, not dangerous. We may be dealing with the consequences now of too many elderly people in government, because McConnell may have been a little off-kilter. But we aren't supposed to question him because "he had polio as a child." If we all experience the wrath of Trump - "retribution" - the responsibility may lie at McConnell's doorstep. I dare say, praying won't be enough.

 

Here's how "Carl" responded to me:

If one of the big lib states like NY or CA were to keep Trump off the ballot, he'd lose those potential electoral votes and that'd lead to an interesting battle between red and blue??

 

Thanks to "Brandy" for this reaction:

It wasn't just McConnell's age, it was also he wanted the GOP to be in power and not look bad, even though they are bad. He even cheated out Obama in selecting a SCOTUS lying and saying it was too late in his presidency, giving Trump more to appoint. Just disgusting. If McConnell would have been a man and rallied the GOP to get rid of a lawless President, like you said, it would have been over for Trump a long time ago. 

From "Lockhimup45":

Unfortunately I believe McConnell’s own health will prevent him from ever seeing the true consequences from his failures to stop that dumpster fire when he had full power to do so.

 

From "Jim": (presumably not Jim Morrison):

I agree Brian. . .If the Senate Republicans would have convicted the Fascist insurrectionist in January of 2021, we would not be talking about this.

 

(Anonymous) responded to my comment:

Do you honestly believe the 7 year plot called Stop the Steal was NOT managed and implemented by the hierarchy of the GOP? Was he so completely in the dark of his party agenda and methodology? Come on!! The Sein Fein was just as much a part of the IRA as the bus bombers, as Hamas and Hezbollah are arms of Iran and Syria, as Cuba once was for the Soviets and North Korea is a puppet of both China and Russia. Off-kilter is the axis of the Earth. Out of control is the mob on the Capitol steps. Has one single Republican APOLOGIZED for supporting the election fraud plot called Stop the Steal? 25% of the Senate and 1/3 of the House are still on board, 34 months later!!! 4 sets of indictments later, they are STILL co-conspirators. NO one in good conscience can remain blind to that reality.

"Edward" runs contrary, shall we say:

At this point you deserve retribution.

 

From "Roddy":

The 14th Amendment was not considered in this argument Brian. That brings a whole new level to the prospect of Trump's ineligibility to even be considered a candidate. Your impeach/convict argument is much different than a Constitutional amendment breach. Age has absolutely nothing to do with the 14th amendment or any requirement involving a presidential candidate. Your delusion that "praying" is also involved is ludicrous. Also your disdain for McConnell also is non-support of any part of this consideration. This is strictly a Constitutional consideration and all American states have to consider this amendment when allowing or disallowing a candidate to be on any ticket when our American constitution disallows it. Absolutely no other considerations affects this constitutional mandate.

 

From "James":

There isn't a rule about being too old. There is a rule of discrimination based on age. You do understand term limits can be voted on?

 

"Kevin" sounds like a sage person:

Start with Nixon. Failure there to impeach and remove then charge created an Imperial Presidency. He comes along thinking he is a king and people want that dictatorship. They think they won’t be subjected to the dictatorship. You will but not me. Someone once wrote: you live in the world you create. And no one is really dedicated enough.

 

"Suflaki Pirate" is a conspiracy person:

April 2016 Trump runs for POTUS. 5 days later, the s--t hits the fan and has not stopped. Trump knows where the bodies lie, and this scares the deep state, especially Obama.

"Paco" was disagreeable. What does "stfu" mean? Oh I know.

stfu your commentary is so ignorant.

 

"Dave" said something I kind of expected:

Thumbs down for the elderly people comment. Elderly people have tons of wisdom and experience.

 

Note from yours truly: I don't criticize someone for being 81 years old, I just figure we can agree that someone that age has exponentially greater odds of showing infirmities and limitations compared to younger folk. It's disturbing considering the power those people have.

"Jane" got pretty animated in her response:

"Completely recovered from any embarrassment". . .NO Thank you. They are a Confederates party of troublemakers. Bring a rope!

 

"Snoop" shows why it's hard persuading some people:

2nd impeachment was nothing but a show trial. They had no evidence and wanted to do it just because they're good at it. It was pathetic.

 

Here's from "Sascha":

"The GOP could have completely recovered," that’s a laugh.

 

Sounds like "Mark" listens to conservative radio:

The fake impeachments were #1 The Russia Hoax and #2 The phone call inquiring about China Joe and his 10%. This is all a radical left attempt at one party rule like Russia with the media behind it. Ironically China Joe will face impeachment inquiry next month and he is a traitor, read about it at oversight.house.gov.

 

This person goes by "Trumpistraitor":

Or they could have manned up at any time and done the 14th themselves. 

 

Insight from "Lianne":

No truer words have been spoken, the monster is out of control due to the GOP's lack of taking action when they had the chance. I might add they don't like him either and couldn't keep this s--t for brains in control.

 

Hearing from "proud mom":

All very true, but this is something we can hopefully do now.

 

From a guy who goes by "TriDave":

MAGA senators willfully and openly refused to uphold their oaths of office. They ignored the rule of law and rejected the decision by SCOTUS out of fear that if they showed anything resembling a spine, the MAGA base would have voted them out.

 

From "Gary": 

This is true, but most of the GOP have no "back bone " 

 

Here's from "Engaged," certainly not persuaded by yours truly:

Perhaps if the other side had just set back and let Trump be president for 4 years, maybe get re-elected on the merits of the results - the country would be in a position to "move on." The continued persecution of Trump could put one in mind of what would be expected had Pilate not acquiesced to the demands of the mob as it is suggested that McConnell should have done. The retribution is deserved.

 

Insight from "Trustno1":

Well SOMEONE was paying attention over the Trump years in office! You hit the nail on the head. Mitch had a chance (2 actually) to end it and recover but, McConnell would rather eat his grandchildren than to give the Democrats any victory at all! Good for the country? Yes! Good for the GOP? Yes! Good for the Democrats? Oh no way in Hades! We cannot and will not have that, said the Grim Reaper with a smile.

 

From "Two Corinthians":

Trump needs to be disqualified. Period. End of story. We simply cannot allow a traitor who attacked America in a violent coup attempt to run for office again. We may as well be spitting on the graves of every veteran who ever died defending our Constitution.

 

Here's from "AAR":

No, because the founding fathers gave the people protection from a government that will use its power with the support of the people to crush and destroy those who oppose it. Like a tyrannical regime.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

The very sharp Ben Shapiro disappoints us

Ben Shapiro

"Conservative media" just can't help it. So many of their fans and viewers follow their delusions about Donald Trump, it becomes like a siren song. Ben Shapiro is a very intelligent person. I would love to read his material and nod in agreement at least some of the time. You see, conservatives are always good at persuading on the basis of sheer principle. 

Principle has power no doubt. The likes of Shapiro have power with their ideas up to a point, just like the late great William F. Buckley. Reading a couple of  Buckley's books straightened me out after I had been force-fed liberalism in college in the mid-1970s. I guess state colleges were the worst at doing this. That was my environment. Those were salad days for colleges, as "boomers" came out of the woodwork everywhere. 

We were a little gullible. And impressionable. I have often called the 1970s type of liberalism dispensed on college campuses "paternalistic liberalism." I finally got sick of it. 

We learn with maturity that both ends of the political spectrum have their place. Liberals cannot argue on the same terms as conservatives. I'd bet that the rapid fire-talking Shapiro could win any debate. I do mean that as a compliment. Buckley put up awesome arguments in his time. You could read his books and think "right on." 

The pushback was articulated by my old college friend Brad. He was from the Iron Range, Virginia MN. A committed Democrat, Brad readily acknowledged how the Ben Shapiros of the world could win debates. The problem? Brad said re. conservatives/Republicans that "they don't care about people." 

Think of the Thoreau quote "the majority of people lead lives of quiet desperation." I think of that as I sit at the Willie's Cafe in the morning and watch the people come and go. 

Half the people around us are below average by definition. Garrison Keillor had fun with the statement "all our kids are above average." There are times when political liberals understand the real world better than conservatives. Conservatives hold up best when you have the assumption that all people are brilliant and responsible. It's just not reality. And it's ironic because conservatives are great for ringing the bell about how they are such realists. 

I'll be real blunt here: People have to eat. 

The richest people are great for rationalizing how we need a system that protects their interests. I suppose a behavioral psychologist would say this is "learned behavior." The impulse toward self-interest is overwhelming. 

The South Dakota icon T. Denny Sanford has apparently said he'll die broke, for having given away so much $, but do you think he's anywhere close to his "goal?" Sanford is notorious in another way but let's not proceed to that dirty laundry. I don't think Josh Hawley would want to pounce on Sanford for this alleged indiscretion - Sanford has given money to the Trump campaigns. 

So it's all about bedfellows, especially on the political right. 

 

A blind spot

I focus on Shapiro on this particular day, Friday, Aug. 18, because of what I see is his current column. It is pathetic how we see the most intelligent conservatives hesitate in such grand fashion regarding Donald Trump. How can I put this? "Can't see the forest for the trees?" Well, I can. 

So am I more intelligent and insightful than Shapiro? Apparently yes and I don't expect any sort of trophy for that. The very existence of America could be threatened if Trump seizes the presidency again. And does Shapiro really want to see an autocracy for the U.S.? He has to know what Trump's intentions are. Ben could follow the news like any of us knaves. 

Trump has fought the legitimate 2020 election results to a comedic degree. But it all continues to be taken seriously by our mainstream media, which apparently figures that if you can find some well-coiffed attorneys to get on TV and dissect charges against Trump a certain way, well then keep the path open for Trump. The path is most certainly open. Our eyes could have been opened so long ago. 

So what exactly is Shapiro's problem right now as I write this? I'm disappointed beyond words as I write this. Shapiro is such a sharp person, he undoubtedly knows better. He does not dare drift away from Trump. So his headline is: "The highly dangerous Georgia indictment." 

Why is he trying to sell us this? Dangerous as opposed to what? Trump obviously tried to drive a steamroller over the legitimate 2020 election outcome. He found partners who always show up in suit and tie. He blazes forward with his considerable base even after so many facts have rolled out. New facts don't even matter any more, not to Shapiro. He fears the wrath of MAGA, were he to depart from that side's talking points - he sure isn't going to fear me. 

So Shapiro claims that Fani Willis has "launched a 98-page missile directly into the heart of American politics." You can imagine how the rest of the column reads. Doesn't Shapiro recognize the missile Trump himself has sent by assailing our cherished democratic system? I take it that Shapiro is Jewish. He should realize that Jews can be imperiled under autocratic governments. He is all in with Trump because he knows his fortunes as a pundit - his calling - are dependent on it. Stay in lock-step with Mark Levin et al. 

This whole perilous reality could change quickly if several top Republicans or opinion-makers would recognize that the emperor is wearing no clothes. We should literally start laughing at Trump. A big headline yesterday was about whether Trump would be entitled to conjugal visits from Melania in prison. And we haven't yet started laughing. 

How pathetic the other GOP candidates look now. They are nothing. They aren't even good toadies. 

And Shapiro? He's just a tragedy. What facts are there about Trump that would impress you, Ben? Are there any? Don't you realize that you seem like the kind of person who "has his mind made up no matter what?" You're too smart for that, Ben. 

I'm not so charitable talking about our congressperson here in western Minnesota, Michelle Fischbach. I would not grade her intelligence nearly so high. She followed Trump on the election thing. Even Tom Emmer did not do that. 

I'm sure all the local Apostolic Christians would vote for Trump again. 

"Alice Through the Looking Glass."

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Republicans could have withdrawn from Trump

One of the "good guys," Fani Willis of Georgia

A very simple question on this Tuesday morning. Very simple and reasonable. First of all, if I even type Trump's name again, I have friends who would want to make a face. They will entertain no serious discussion of Trump if that discussion were to entail any negative suggestions. 

So this morning we are being hit over the head as if with a sledgehammer with another batch of serious legal accusations concerning Trump. 

The accusations cast a wide net that includes no small number of his cultists. That circle might be said to include our congressperson out here in western Minnesota, Michelle Fischbach. She voted against certifying the 2020 election results, and apparently does not want to answer any questions about that now. 

Big question on this Tuesday morning is this: Why couldn't the whole Trump crowd have begun recognizing his real criminal qualities long ago, begun distancing themselves from him? They would not have had to make a "big deal" out of this. (Us Upper Midwest Scandinavians like to talk in terms of "big deal" or "not a big deal.") 

Really, those of us outside of the cult would be empathetic, realizing that it is human nature to be overly consumed by zeal. We are all affected by this human failing at times, n'est-ce pas? 

Perhaps the second impeachment attempt should have succeeded. In the long run this would have helped the interests of the GOP. My oh my, we could be completely past Trump now, focused on more genuine and honest people in the political arena. We might be talking seriously about Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson and others. Instead we have the enormous elephant in the room of Donald Trump, still. 

So we awoke to headlines that are all about him. This criminal monster. He continues to loom because he is a presidential candidate again. Were that off the table, all of this would not be commanding such huge headlines. Trump is a threat to the whole world. He pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accords and the Iran Nuclear Deal. He arranged for the assassination of an Iran scientist. 

He considers such things in order to please his base of "Christian evangelicals" who view Israel as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. Such considerations have no place in our government which is secular. 

Trump just manipulates people. He orchestrated this big web of election deniers who ended up willing to cross lines into illegality that could get many of them in serious trouble. The facts are out there clear as day. Many of the more gullible folks have been taken in by "conservative media" that manipulates people as well. Remember that it is a business. Many of the people in conservative media don't even believe what they are saying. They have created a "grievance culture" that feels it needs support from a compliant media. Mark Levin et al. Levin practically explodes with anger sometimes. 

Naturally we ought to be angry now at the MAGA elements who felt they needed to turn to criminal behavior. To accomplish what? I mean, to accomplish what in terms of their own lives, their quality of life? Many of the older people in MAGA benefit from government entitlements that only exist because of the Democratic Party. Remember how Republicans originally spoke about Medicare? And we definitely need to keep our eye on entitlements. 

 

Believe in His word

Alienated by Christ (seriously)?

But what kind of world is MAGA really promoting? What really are their grand ideals? It gets worse. Recent reports indicate that church pastors are becoming shocked by parishioners who complain about quotes from Jesus Christ Himself, spoken from the pulpit. Objecting to the words of Our Savior? It is happening and I am reading about it. 

For pastors to survive in their churches, they might have to be careful about quoting Christ, because Our Savior often made statements that had inflections of "liberalism." Or to use another term that gets bandied about, "wokeness." 

My own church of First Lutheran in Morris looks to be literally dying because we have avoided the MAGA Kool-Aid. We are ELCA. The synod is under constant siege because of its image of not being intimidated by MAGA. Our pastors would quote Jesus Christ freely, unapologetically. 

If the entire purpose of Christian churches now has become political instead of spiritual, it will be a death knell for this country. I have been trying to warn you all for a long time. 

Some of my friends would read this with amusement. They might say I have "Trump derangement syndrome." I cannot persuade them. What lies ahead for us all?

 

Addendum: Maybe we'll start seeing "rats on a sinking ship." The accused people will turn on each other. That's what happens with "the bad guys." You saw it in the old TV westerns. With any modicum of intelligence, the people on the defensive will not be willing to "take the fall for Trump." They increasingly will offer information. They won't want to take the fall while Trump himself remains free and unfettered as a national political figure, free still to shop around to have sex with his favorite porn stars. 

Oh, this is the "Christian" symbol in our politics now? Well, not for me. 

I hope the walls are not closing in on yours truly. That could happen if Trump and his sycophants perform the Houdini-like miracle of extricating themselves from their legal dilemma. That can be done with really sharp lawyers. They will attack process issues. They will suggest that certain prosecutors acted improperly here and there. They will do everything but assert innocence. 

I know, a defense attorney does not have to profess "innocence." But I thought the American people would want some simple assurance that the accused people did in fact act properly. The chance of that is the same as for the moon falling out of the sky. 

Can't we just move on? Well, I guess "no."

 

Addendum #2: I posted the comment below with a Yahoo news article on how the public is getting numb to all the accusations with Trump and his people. The article had the headline "Trump Indictment, Part IV: A Spectacle That Has Become Surreally Routine." 

My thoughts on this August 15:

 

People need to feel as though Trump's misconduct is having an effect on their own lives. But you could argue it already has. Trump's three extreme nominees to the Supreme Court erased Roe vs. Wade protections. Look how women in Ohio reacted to that. Other less obvious examples could be cited too. So it's counter-intuitive how Trump maintains such a grip - we may have to hear from psychologists who plumb this in-depth, seriously. Shall we blame Mitch McConnell for the continuing spectacle that in the long run will demoralize America? McConnell as the GOP Senate leader could have set the tone on the second impeachment for moving on from Trump. And we really truly could have. Surely the GOP has other luminaries who could have stepped forward. The GOP is supposed to be a party of ideas anyway, unless maybe they realize they aren't cutting it there. So it devolves into a cult. Trump made his Supreme Court nominees on advice from McConnell. And now we learn sadly that McConnell might be a candidate not for assisted living but for a nursing home. A national leader with consequence.

"Continental Divide" liked my comment. Thanks so much.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

You have to feel good about the fair!

Our county fair is a great county fair

I have gotten over my bitterness toward the Stevens County Fair. The bitterness owes to the time I attempted taking Mom out there, toward the end of her life, on a Wednesday. I had wrongly assumed that the fair would be "full-on," due to the community supper having been moved to Tuesday. 

This misunderstanding wasn't the worst part. Upon turning in to the little road leading into the main fair parking lot, I saw "private parking" signs. I was astounded and rather disbelieving. Private parking during one of the days of the official run of the fair? Private parking? 

I remember the story Brent Waddell told me about how he attempted to charge a nominal amount for parking on some property he owned. He's the trailer park guy. He reported being more or less harassed out of doing that by the fair people. I suppose the fair promoted "free parking" which it is supposed to be. So Brent's little arrangement might have confused people. 

Well, I felt confused on the notorious Wednesday in question. It turns out the 4-H foodstand would not have been open anyway. At least in those times, the fair was only in partial operation on Wednesday. Is it more vigorous now in 2023? I'm not certain about that. 

I was in my father's prized Lincoln Town Car, white, when Mom and I pulled into the fair on the Wednesday that I write about here. I looked around for someone to whom I could shout the question "Is this really private parking?" I was told "yes" in an unhesitating way. So there, an official fair lot was closed off to the general public on one of the days of the official run of the fair. 

The official run was promoted on all the signs, billboards etc. But don't expect to be able to park out there. 

How rude, I thought. 

I made myself scarce at the fair for several years after that. Life has its frustrations for everyone. There's no point in letting emotions bubble up about something like that. I tried forgetting about it as I made my way to the fair this year. The 150-year milestone? Well congrats. 

I remember my family taking me out to the fair in the early '60s. I remember our primary intent was to visit our neighbor Virginia Lindor who was active with the homemakers building. I don't remember a lot else but I'm sure the fair was quite smaller than today. It would have to be. 

 

Lee Community Center

The fair took a significant step forward in size and quality when the Lee Center was up and running. Lee was built primarily as a hockey arena. Y'all maybe should have a reminder that the proposal for an indoor hockey arena, which would be accompanied by real high school hockey, was actually controversial with a certain element of the Morris community. My recollection is that it was the old academic "intelligentsia" of Morris that sort of had a pissing reaction. 

Therefore when the school district first bean weighing the idea, it was forced into a defensive stance, maybe just a subtle one, but you could sense it. I can't remember if the following was a for-the-record comment but the reaction from the school board was: "Well, if you're going to build a hockey building, we want it to be a good one." 

OK, translation: We know that the hockey proposal is dodgy or controversial because the "academic" stuffed shirts of this community don't want to see "athletics" expanded. Because, school is supposed to be all about "academics." 

I put "academics" in quotes because I think it's largely a specious thing. Today kids can do almost all of their necessary learning with the use of electronic communications. The intelligentsia of Morris was powerful then. I think it has retreated substantially today. I'm not suggesting we appreciate "teachers" less, just that they have had to adjust their role. It has been observed that teachers are more like "caretakers" today. As one online commenter put it, "we've gone from having underpaid teachers to overpaid caretakers." 

Oh that's rather mean. But it reflects the presence of what I'm trying to point out here. 

 

Building up the ice sport

I remember when the local hockey group sponsored a trip to see the old hockey North Stars at the Met Center, Bloomington. The group invited me to come along because I was of course with the newspaper. I could gain some enrichment and provide some coverage for the paper: PR for hockey which hockey needed in the face of some resistance in its efforts, really truly. I exaggerate not. I think Ron Sharstrom would confirm what I am writing about. 

Hockey was going to cost money and of course money has to come from somewhere. If the school district was going to help foot this, well it might mean the pie would be sliced thinner for the always-aggrieved teachers union. Seriously, it is sad that teacher unions became such a lightning rod for conflicts, in communities everywhere. I would assert that the situation was worse here than in other places. We had a few real pain in the rear end types. So many years have passed, you might not remember, maybe you weren't affected that much by it, or maybe you're too young. I run into people who are "too young" all the time. 

I should finish my little story about the kids' trip to the North Stars game. Incidentally I had a blast. It was my only time ever attending a North Stars game. Let's say I was pretty generous in the coverage I produced for the Morris newspaper. How could anyone object, right? I mean, an enriching and fun trip for kids who were interested in a sport. 

Well, some people didn't like it. Jim Morrison at the paper received an actual letter, complete with some of the predictable sarcasm, from a prime "usual suspect." 

This individual huffed and puffed. By the end of the 1980s he was gone in a manner that I was told by an insider was involuntary. Looking back I do not wish to harbor any dislike toward that person. Maybe he was a product of his times - many such instances can be cited around us. I personally was affected by the times of changing technology and the overall sea change in communications. Seemed futile to try to keep up eventually. There were times toward the end of my tenure with the paper when I thought "man, I'm in a total daze and I don't know how I'm even surviving from one day to the next." 

In the end I did not survive. A management-level person typed multiple pages of micro-managing specifications that pertained to - you guessed it - sports. It is almost obscene how the typical outstate small town newspaper gives so much attention to sports. I think most of us realize what's going on: it's not as if all this coverage is really of practical use and value - not even close. You might say it's political. The paper has to make clear that it supports the local educational institutions. 

And more importantly, the sports parents of a given time - always a pretty small minority - put the paper under a microscope and are ready to unleash absolute hell at any time. 

 

Hard to get over

The day after I left the paper, June of 2006, someone should have gotten hold of me and said "Brian, starting today you don't have to worry about satisfying sports parents any more. Not one iota. So forget about it, starting right now!" Alas it took me time. I'd still have nightmares. But I have warm memories about the hockey trip to the North Stars game. 

Home of the MBA Storm: Lee Community Center

When the hockey arena concept was nascent but picking up steam, the school board staked out its cautious approach: "If you're going to build this, we want it to be a good one." In other words: "We hate to admit that we're emphasizing sports here but doggone it, a new facility really ought to be up to snuff." 

Thank goodness it all got done right. I pitched in a thousand bucks myself, in a time when a thousand bucks went further than today. 

Jim Beauregard thanked me. My parents gave $ too. The Williams name is attached to various important things. I'm always making $ available to the school music program. It's true that I am friends with band director Wanda Dagen but that's not the only reason I do it - at least I don't think it is. 

The whole hockey arena push had a happy ending, and we most definitely reap the benefits for the Stevens County Fair. 

The fair would have been 100 years old when I graduated from high school. The fair was considerably smaller and with a much less glowing image than it has today. Sorry but it's true: I think that in the '70s the county fair seemed almost like an anachronism - on the way out really. 

I think Ronald Reagan helped turn the country around. Optimism sprouted everywhere. At the same time, I think the old academic "intelligentsia" began fading fast, thank goodness. There was a corps of people at UMM who were on the devolutionary side. Today? UMM has changed. Overall it has less vitality. But the people who still have jobs there are not arrogant. They fit in with the rest of us just fine. 

The UMM male athletes are no longer so cocky and self-important. I don't think the community ever liked those traits but we considered UMM so important, we didn't say much if anything about it. You might say we humored them. 

The UMM students of today are more mature and respectful - maybe that comes with how much higher education costs, eh? I like it. Gone is the arrogance of insulting the visiting athletes and their fans from other schools. One issue with that, is that I think Chancellor Imholte had no problem with it, actually liked joining in with it. How many people recognize the "Imholte" name any more? "The Silver Fox" (based on his hair). 

My goodness, I should finish my thoughts about the day when I attempted to bring Mom out to the fair and saw "private parking." I eventually learned what I had suspected: one day of the fair really gets turned over to a big local company and its employees. No need for me to mention its name or the church that is associated with it. It is not a mainstream church. I'm inclined to think of it as a "cult." But the people with that company or church had special access at the fair on Wednesday. 

Is this still the case? I don't know. It is Friday as I write this, and I have been out to the fair three times. The fourth will be tonight. I have put the bitter feelings behind me. It is best to do that. I am on bicycle.

Cherish the VFW

I recommend eating at the VFW (or hockey) foodstand - total quality and courteous service. I remember the days when the "real" VFW and Auxiliary people worked the place, people like Darlene Olen. I'd say "eggs over easy" and she'd relay it "over hard!" I recall this with amusement. Darlene must have insisted on eggs being over hard. I'm happy with it either way. 

I remember when we associated the VFW with the unique "Greatest Generation" of America with a background in the WWII years. We must cherish all those names. Now it's the hockey people who will prepare your eggs in the morning. "Over hard?" I really wouldn't care.

 

Addendum: I remember covering the first-ever home high school hockey game at Lee Center. We were the MAHS Tigers and not MBA Storm. I noted that the first-ever home team goal was scored by a player whose last name began with the letter "Z." And so I observed that while this player - Dan Zahl - might be used to being at the end of lists in his life, he'd always be atop the list of goal-scorers!
I hope my positivity was appreciated. 

My psyche got worn down so badly by the end of my tenure with the paper. It all seemed so unnecessary. I am not stupid. The syntax in my writing is basically good. I cast a wide net to collect lots of sports all the time. I probably spent too much time proofreading. But I ultimately was made to feel worthless as a human being. I guess the business world has to resort to this sometimes, but it's a downer. And then the company that owned the paper ended up "fleeing" Morris in effect. Rather a deficiency of character IMHO.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

A mere one month away for 50th reunion

Richard Nixon was president

Being in August means I'm within a month of my 50-year high school reunion. As a kid I would consider participation in such an affair to be quite, shall we say, geriatric. Is that a word that has faded from our vocabulary? "Geriatric?" Remember how on the old Lawrence Welk TV show, we saw commercials for "Geritol?" So people joked about Geritol in connection with very old people. People like who would congregate for a 50-year school reunion. 

Fifty years! I remember when I was young, computing how old I was going to be for the year 2000. I'd be 45 which I felt at the time would be "up there." We are well into the 2000s now. The years beginning with "19" slip away in our collective memory. Time marches on, waits for no one. 

You know, I'm not even sure what "Geritol" was supposed to do. I don't hear about it any more. My generation considered Lawrence Welk a total symbol of the aged crowd. We often spoke in teasing terms. My generation of the boomers could be disrespectful about a lot of things. So what's the theory on that? 

We disrespected convention and older people in general, because those older people were incapable of real critical thinking when it came to the Vietnam war and war in general. By golly, we had to respect our U.S. military and U.S. government because we were this bastion of "freedom."

We don't question the need for such rigidity when we look back on WWII. Maybe we should cast a bit more of a questioning eye on that. Could justice be pursued around the world by means other than sending young men across battlefields or to do "island-hopping" in the Pacific? We are so distanced from those events now. We have achieved emotional distance. The deceased are just names we might recall. 

I never really understood Korea, the need for such carnage involving Americans. Did we even win? Look at North Korea today. If that's a problem, why cannot other nations around the globe join hands to solve it? Maybe ask Henry Kissinger about that. 

Henry Kissinger

Do you recall the story about Kissinger and the belly dancer? I brought that up in the back shop of the Morris newspaper once - our custodian with a smile said "you would remember that." Anyway, Kissinger reported that he was "observing navel maneuvers." And let's remind here that "navel" in this context has a different spelling from the U.S. Navy "naval." 

That reminds me, last week I used the expression "loath to" as in someone loath to do something. I had the nagging feeling I ought to check if "loath" should have an "e" added on the end. So easy to check nowadays with Google. Confusion does exist on this, I readily learned. Turned out the proper spelling for my use was "loath," no "e." So there. 

Not that many people would not want to criticize my writing for other reasons. 

 

Shall I attend? Hmmm

So I graduated from Morris High School 50 years ago. Is this something a person ought to dwell on? I mean, the milestone. To be reminded that we have simply survived life for so long? 

I honestly do not know if I should attend the 50th. I did not attend No. 40 and I had the excuse of dealing with my father's recent death. 

I took this photo for Morris paper in 1983

The Class of '73 went through the inevitable period where a number of our parents passed. Our parents were in "The Greatest Generation." Tom Brokaw had his name on the book. Many people suspected that the real work/research with the book was done by other people. It's just like the series of books that have Bill O'Reilly's name on them. O'Reilly has a "co-author." Many people assume the co-author is the true writer and that O;Reilly's name got affixed for the obvious marketing purposes. 

A blogger from the days when blogging was still a novelty - an average Joe blogger might actually get attention for writing something - wrote a much bandied-about post suggesting that Brokaw was really author in name only. The "in" Beltway crowd of Ivy League graduates et al. pounced and said this was a terrible thing to suggest! My they got defensive. Such defensiveness leads to suspicion. "They doth protest too much." 

OK so book publishing can be like a racket in some ways: anything to push up sales. It's like the fab music group "The Monkees" who fell into some controversy because they employed a practice that was known to be common in pop music: "studio musicians" who laid down the recordings, perhaps everything but the singing, frankly. I mean, we can recognize the voices of Mickey Dolenz and Mark Lindsay, the latter with "Paul Revere and the Raiders." 

The Monkees have done much better than the Raiders in a "retro" way. So I feel a little sorry for Lindsay. I was a Raiders fan. 

My Class of '73 began saying goodbye to our parents. A highly traumatic thing of course. To be reminded of one's mortality is a tremendous shock. 

 

Mixed feelings

I do love all my fellow MHS Class of '73 members, make no mistake. Sometimes I feel a loving bond that makes me wonder if it's a bit too much, I mean seriously. Too much "co-dependency?" Any one of us could have graduated in a different community and developed bonds with exactly the same kind of classmates. So what's so indispensable about the ones we grew up with here? 

I look back and consider it to be bizarre: after so many years of being so "tight" with my exact age peers in Morris, we went through graduation and then the very next day, those bonds were broken for all time. So many years of sitting in school classrooms, and after that we felt pressure to "go to college" in order to be accepted as respectable adults. 

Heaven help the kids who had "work" reported in the "future plans" feature of the school newspaper. The lowest caste among us? Today I think the attitudes are far more enlightened. 

In addition to future plans, we had the "class will" and "class prophecy" features in the school paper. I learned a few years ago that the school board put an end to those two features. We are in so much of a more litigious society now. The features could be abused with subtle suggestions about certain (loose?) girls. I will refrain from sharing examples. A small-breasted girl in my class - who would give a rip about that today? - had that feature addressed by insinuation. 

But the boomers could be so irreverent. We could also be careless, disrespectful and unkempt in our personal appearance. We'd like to forget these old traits now. I bring up reminders because that is a primary feature of my online writing today. Remember the past and ponder how we could have considered past habits and procedures passable/respectable. 

 

Oh, the paper checks

Life had to be different in the pre-digital age, massively. Writing out paper checks for everything! Today it feels like such a chore to write out the rare paper check. We have to do that with our city water bills. I think to myself "let's see, what year is it?" Seriously. We don't have to think often about what year it is. A strange practice for writing checks, actually. 

My Class of '73 when young circulated in a world where cigarette smoking was quite countenanced, this despite the fact I'm sure many people were annoyed. It was accepted culture: smoke floating in the air in public places - anywhere really. Ralph Smith of the old West Central Experiment Station in Morris had a "smoking permitted" sign in his office. 

So we all got smarter with a lot of things. We were pulled into the digital age whether we got comfortable with all the new stuff or not. 

And so we sit in the year 2023 and it has been 50 years since the milestone night of graduation for the MHS Class of '73. Heavens. In September the new milestone awaits: 50 years! Shall we start taking Geritol? 

Another product that I lump in with Geritol is Alka-Seltzer. A little puzzled about what it really was supposed to do. But the Alka-Seltzer TV commercials were great, funny. "I don't believe I ate that whole thing." My fellow grad Edie Martin was amused by that line. Edie was with the famous grocery store Martin family of Morris. 

Mike Eul was with the famous hardware store family, and my I do miss Eul's Hardware. Doesn't even seem like Morris anymore. Mike died not long ago, RIP.  

Did I hate school? Of course. Can I live that part of my life over again in a more positive environment? Of course not.

 

Addendum: Like Henry Kissinger I am rather enamored with belly dancers. On YouTube I discovered "Isabella" who I consider the best. So I posted a comment to one of her videos recently, and wouldn't you know she answered me! Signed "Isabella," and I was left breathless for a few moments. 

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com 

Let us bandy about "convicted rapist"

It is important naturally to try to be precise with one's assertions. Sometimes a little latitude can be permitted. "A little," a judge might say to an attorney. 

I invoke a judge here with reason, and it's the judge in New York State who weighed in on the Trump vs. E. Jean Carroll matter. The outcome of that by itself should have erased Trump from our political consciousness. But this is 2023 America and something very strange has been going on. We might be losing sleep trying to sort it all out, those of us who retained a reasonable grip on reality. 

Put simply, how do we go from an age in which Ronald Reagan's history of having had a divorce concerned so many - as possible liability for seeking the presidency - to now where Trump's whole list of outrageous behavior will not deter his so-called base. His base continues to be very well-represented out here in western Minnesota. His supporters file into our conservative churches every Sunday. 

Psychologists will have to explain this phenomenon to us someday. I don't think they have begun to peel away yet. But there has just got to be an explanation. 

Still a viable force

An explanation that could put us at ease for simply understanding it. Understanding this grotesque thing called "MAGA." The violent assault on the capitol, something which in earlier times would have horrified the nation. Justice would have been swift with all perpetrators all the way up to the top. We'd pray for a recovery from it all, to get on with normal life. 

The year 2023 seems wholly different as Trump is taken seriously as a bona fide contender for president again. Maybe even the favorite, as things stand now. 

 

Trying a theory

I have been inclined to think there is a cumulative effect of so many years of the Internet being established. So this may have fundamentally changed our culture. People feel around to be reinforced on their most base feelings, and they can certainly find what they are looking for on the 'net. The guardrails of the old gatekeeper media are gone. If you simply want a hellraiser as president who wants to bash gays, Muslims and other people you feel threatened by, well you can find a chorus of like voices on the 'net. 

We forget that it did not used to be this way. 

We forget that in an earlier time, pornography was hard to come by. Men had to sneak abound to obtain it, and if caught by certain people would feel shame and embarrassment. We used to have male "barbers." And maybe those barbers could pull out a Playboy magazine to share with a customer for a couple minutes. Nice little bonus for your visit. Treat it like contraband though. 

Maybe the kind of inhibitions I speak of here were healthy for society? Heaven help an adolescent boy if his mom were to discover a Playboy magazine. Ah, the most horrific example I could point out, demonstrated in the movie "Born on the Fourth of July" with Tom Cruise. "Quaint" hardly describes. 

I might add it was profoundly sad because mothers needed to understand what their sons were going through. Boys discover such feelings in ways that breed fear and confusion in their minds. For a mom to express rage over a discovered Playboy magazine would be the worst thing you could do. I could explore further but this post could become distasteful. And maybe that's part of the problem. 

Mystery with sex is a dangerous thing. 

 

The E. Jean Carroll matter

What was Donald Trump thinking when he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll? He came within a whisker of being actually convicted of rape. Is "convicted" the right term, because this was a civil matter, not criminal? A lawyer would get me straightened out quickly, and make me feel totally ignorant if my terminology was imprecise. 

The undaunted E. Jean Carroll

However, the gist of my conclusions would be true. Trump most certainly sexually assaulted the woman, as decided by a jury in a legitimate legal matter. Right? Would my attorney friends nod? And he was excused from "rape" simply because of a narrow definition of the term in New York state law? 

My lawyer friends would say I must respect that. 

So the jury would not pronounce that there was rape. "Only" sexual assault. So this was a reprieve for Trump. Keeping his lanes open for his continued pursuit of the nation's highest office. It was "only" sexual assault, according to the jury. 

But it ended up not being so simple. Looks like "rape" is a permitted term to use after all. My lawyer friends would have to respect what I say on this - I am deferring to a judge, the eminent Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of New York State. 

First of all I must wonder: Why would Trump deny the specific rape claim from E. Jean Carroll, when at the start he talked as if the encounter with her did not even happen? 

Trump exhorted us to believe "it wasn't rape." If I were innocent of even having the encounter with the woman, I would continually repeat that I don't even remember meeting her. 

Trump's exhortations were vetoed eventually by Judge Kaplan. Do I need to re-hash all this? For some people I guess I do. How about the following in the headline-size type from the Washington Post: "Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll." 

Do I have to go on? Do I need to share further from the article? If you demand "more" from me, I guess it's a fool's errand. An America that was once concerned with Reagan having been divorced, now takes seriously a candidate for president who was found by a jury to have (really truly) raped a woman. Is this a clear signal, a clarion call about how America has embarked on a downward slide into complete extinction, like other previous world empires? The Roman empire? 

 

Judge Lewis Kaplan

A legitimate, permissible tag?

Based on all the background with the E. Jean Carroll case and Judge Kaplan, I have wondered if it is legitimate to consider Trump a "convicted racist." I concede the terminology may not be technically accurate. But consider the background and Judge Kaplan's elucidation. 

What I'd argue is that it is within bounds and legitimate to consider Trump a convicted rapist. It is not on its face false. 

So I can't help but fantasize a little TV segment where Anderson Cooper asks one of the other GOP candidates: "How will you feel sharing the debate stage with a convicted rapist?" 

Out of bounds? I really don't think the characterization is out of bounds. I shared my little fantasy in a comment that I posted to Yahoo News. It was not immediately rejected. Some time passed and then I got word: it was rejected for violating "community standards" for the forum. So news outlets will not "go there" to acknowledge that Trump might be considered a convicted rapist, despite an esteemed judge's pronouncement. 

We can't rely on judges, I guess. This might leave some of my lawyer friends groping. Judges are at the top of their profession. Even Trump's lawyers are reluctant to show anger toward a judge. If the MAGA movement becomes so powerful that judges are pushed aside - a real possibility - then it's all over for the U.S. I'm warning you. Maybe I'll be thrown into prison for sticking to my guns with my scruples. Well I've made it to age 68. 

My MAGA friends might say all that Trump did was "grope Ms. Carroll's breasts." OK, they're fine with that. I wouldn't consider such behavior for a moment. I'm in the minority now. I attend a church in Morris that is considered a haven for people who at least consider voting for Democrats. And my church of First Lutheran may now be literally dying. I see my church as a haven just like the church at the end of the original "War of the Worlds" movie (1953). BTW why did the Martians think it was so wise to develop contraptions with three legs instead of four?

First Lutheran Church in Morris has been through substantial decline and in my opinion could be sliding toward dissolution. We are in the ELCA which has picked up a scarlet letter of sorts for being "liberal." A death knell for such churches? Cannot co-exist with the gospel any more? Not unless you kowtow to the Republican Party of America? To MAGA? To red state thinking? I think it will be a shame if FLC simply has to close its doors. What would the late Pastor Grindland think? I think he'd say the church should stand for promoting Jesus' gospel and not for a political cause or cult. Certainly not "MAGA."

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Can the nation's women be our savior?

A new day and a new month. It's Tuesday, Aug. 1, as we lean into this final month of summer and grasp the inevitability of colder temperatures. The "nip in the air" comes about in mid-August evenings. We'll hear crickets in the night. 

Not much changes in the news. How horrific that we are in this holding pattern: another day, another month, the status quo of seeing top headlines about Donald Trump. 

My friends will moan: "You're still writing about Trump?" 

Why does this man command our attention incessantly? I'm not certain that America as we've known it is going to survive this. I call on the women of America to take the lead in suppressing the Trump element, the Trump movement, however you'd want to define it all. A total bull in the China closet? Tear everything down? 

Mitch McConnell (wikimedia)

Endanger the very lives of people who are known to vote for Democrats? Criminalize "left wing" political activity? Women have lost rights because of Trump as president and his nominees to the Supreme Court. Nominees taken from a list supplied by Mitch McConnell. 

We have to say a little prayer now every time McConnell approaches a microphone. Will he freeze up and his mind go blank? What kind of impression does this give to the rest of the world? Judge Kaplan in New York State has said it is accurate to say Trump committed rape. Women should have an appropriate response to this. Can they rise up in sufficient numbers? Could we finally get a female president? 

Why do so many people act so scared of Kamala Harris? A tremendously sharp mind, articulate, so compare that to old fossil McConnell of Kentucky, a state where the culture is discernibly different from our Minnesota. When McConnell faltered and had to be led aside from the microphones, the guy who took over was from South Dakota. John Thune took over and showed full mental capacity. 

But is that such a high bar for an important political leader? We might expect people from North and South Dakota, despite their Republican affiliation, to be more gentle and reasonable than the Deep South denizens. Why don't we hear more about the latter people being from "states of the old Confederacy?" Is that too sensitive to broach? 

Might we all be better off if the Deep South just detached from the rest of us, like they wanted to do in the 19th Century? Just watch when they realize they'd have to set up their own social welfare systems. So it's just a pipe dream down there. But they know how to "talk a good game." Is that all that is going on now?

 

America turns its lonely eyes

Again I would turn to women as the people best positioned to see through this. That's because women by nature are nurturers while men tend to be destroyers. Can you name one well-known national leader who was a woman in World War II? Women all through the stricken countries must have been just cowering and terrified. We see all the movies with the male leading characters leading their interests through the conflagration of WWII. Like the whole world revolved around those men. Which, as a factual matter I guess it did. Men simply had the power. Hitler, Mussolini, Churchill, Eisenhower et al. Fight, destroy, kill. 

Hitler had his own generals killed, so why on Earth did our Trump find it appropriate in contemporary times to say Hitler's generals set an example with their loyalty? I'll be the child saying the emperor has no clothes: Why is it that I as a faceless commoner type have better knowledge of world history than a man who would be president of the U.S.? 

Hitler as a matter of fact had significant trouble commanding "loyalty" from his generals. My God, household name general Erwin Rommel had to be put to death because he had knowledge of the plan to assassinate Hitler. It was the Nazi SS that might be said to have had blind loyalty to the Fuhrer - that was a primary reason for its creation. 

Russia does not get enough credit for putting down Nazi Germany. Or was it "Soviet Union" then? I get confused on that. It was the "Red Army." 

Kamala Harris (wikimedia)

How scared are certain people of Kamala Harris today? Newt Gingrich went on one of the standard right wing TV programs - ah, TV and its alternate reality - and said Harris' laugh was a disqualifier. Really the VP has a most pleasant and invigorating laugh. So does Hillary Clinton. The world needs more of that relaxed type of demeanor. And I think women would understand that. 

But on this first day of August, 2023, with summer hanging on - the fair around the corner - we in America are still dealing with Trump. So I take it upon myself to write more about him, this man about whom Judge Kaplan said it's accurate to say he committed rape. My Trump-oriented friends would just smile if I pointed this out. They always fall back on just laughing at me or saying "so what?" They can answer any charge with the two-word proclamation "so what?" 

So they are just going to support Trump no matter what. 

Women make up half the population. Maybe they are just electing to stay quiet for the time being. You don't tend to hear them thumping their chest about Trump like men do. Some will, of course, and I suppose it's sexist to suggest many of the women are influenced by their husbands/partners. 

You telling me the Apostolic Christian women aren't influenced by their husbands? Or the women in the pews of other self-styled "conservative" churches here? Our hope is that they'll do the right thing in the privacy of the voting booth. 

What is the extent of the peril now? The big headline this morning is that Trump is neck-and-neck with Biden in the polls. 

 

He keeps going

They say age is working against Biden. Some radio hosts take delight in playing some of Biden's gaffes or moments of disorientation in his speech. At least he keeps talking, does not seem outright comatose or in danger of hurting himself (like by falling) like Mitch McConnell. 

The Trump supporters are largely silent about McConnell. Why am I having to even write about McConnell here - he should be getting special care because of his advanced age and condition. He should be done with having his name in the morning news headlines. 

So here we go and it's just another day with the usual salad of news items emanating from Trump, the lawyers and the prosecutors who are busy with him. It crowds out everything else. 

Why don't people wise up? Wise up and demand a new younger generation of political leaders, for one thing. Rise up and demand simple character in our top political leaders, to push aside someone who can be considered a convicted rapist. 

Can you believe America has actually fallen to this level? Well, I have to believe that it actually has. 

Anyone disagree?

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com