Here we go again with Middle East news

(wikipedia image)

Isn't there total redundancy with the news reports coming out of the Middle East? As I heard someone say at DeToy's a few days ago: "These people have always been fighting and they will keep fighting." 

Does the U.S. just pour gasoline on the fire by sending more "aid" over there? Is it assumed that Israel is always "the good guys?" Is this a rational judgment or based more on superstition that comes from the Holy Bible? And is this fulfillment of Biblical prophecy? 

Up until Trump, there was an understood dictum that our top political leaders would not present their arguments in Biblical terms. Trump broke all sorts of norms. At first we're shocked by so much of this, then time passes and we realize we cannot change the situation. So, minus any options we just start commenting on the new norm. One of these is that an outgoing president can unleash a mob in a violent action against the U.S. capitol. The "small fish" might get in trouble but the top guy not only escapes, he's now the frontrunner, probably the prohibitive front-runner, for the GOP nomination. 

He'll have experience for when he gets back into the presidency, and this experience he can mine to make sure he has absolute toadies in many top positions around him. Just watch the justice department. 

And with the top guy motivated by raw, unyielding retribution, just watch what kind of acts get carried out. This abomination will follow the expected pattern, where at first there is shock and disbelief. "Oh this can't be real." It is real, the reason being that we the American people put this person named Trump into power. Of course he did not win the popular vote in 2016. But we rationalize that our system of the electoral college is practicable. There is more debate to be had on that. But it apparently is not going away. 

The assault on the capitol happened way back in January of 2021. Maybe by the standards of our white collar justice system, that's not so much time to have elapsed. According to my own seat-of-the-pants judgment, it is. My influence might be compared to a grain of sand on a vast beach. 

One might argue that in the old days of the big TV news networks, the "gatekeeper" media people would have pushed Americans to a quick reckoning about what we saw on TV at the capitol. I would like to argue as much. The "Big 3" of the days of Cronkite would seem to have been more dispassionate, sensible etc. 

On the surface, yes, but the argument completely falls apart when you realize how the major media let the years of the Vietnam war just roll on. Big media eventually had to conclude that it had been played by the U.S. government. I might clarify that to "the military industrial complex." But whatever, if you think the white collar legal process is so slow with Trump now, look back to when the Vietnam war persisted for years as a virtual morass. Television should have been an asset for clearing that up, making us realize the sheer folly. 

 

"Zippo Lighter"

Oh TV did try, as with Morley Safer's famous "Zippo Lighter" story. Safer reacted with mock amazement - "Isn't this something?" - at how the simple little Zippo Lighter could burn an entire Vietnamese village down. 

Just think how the poor U.S. servicemen could have been advancing their lives in the healthy normal fashion back here. Back home. Lives were extinguished, lives were ruined and lives were scarred. The suffering continues today, all while the U.S. has a favorable relationship with the same people we were fighting. "Ah Bartleby, ah humanity." Or something like that. "We are so human an animal." That one's mine really, because I don't think I'm even using it right. Has the right ring to it. 

"So human an animal" is handy as we consume another batch of absolutely predictable dispatches from the Middle East. Is the media helping us sort that out? Is the media helping us draw conclusions that would at least serve our interests domestically? Shouldn't our primary aim be to take care of our own country, our own welfare? So why do we always make Israel's concerns into our concerns? 

We should realize that Israel is not even homogeneous when it comes to political matters. There are Israelis who actually feel for the Palestinians. There are Israelis who would be content giving some ground in the conflict if the trade-off would mean less conflict, more peace. 

My own judgment is that the U.S. should have grave reservations about partnering so closely, to the extent of military aid, with a religious nation-state. Well of course that's Israel. 

The hardcore conservatives lead the way in waving the flag for Israel, even if many of them actually harbor anti-Semitism. The Jews reject Jesus Christ as the savior and reject the New Testament. Headlines remind us of anti-Semitism all the time. And I'm sure it is not the political liberals of America most guilty. Ironically the political liberals are most inclined to feel sympathy for the Palestinians. But liberals are gentle and inclusive people. We'd actually like a lot of the religious barriers to come down. 

 

Wisdom from music?

We see religion as an impediment in so many areas. Isn't this the crux of what boils over in the Middle East so often? So John Lennon wrote "imagine there is no religion." But is that such a genius comment? Couldn't this cross the lips of any sentient person? Aha, songwriters can be overrated, I say with irony because I try to be one of them. 

John Lennon with Tom Snyder

A pop song that supposedly "says a lot" can really have such elementary words and phrases. Composed on their own and without music, we'd think nothing of such phrases. Songwriters know they have the power to take such simple thoughts and weave them into a product that might be timeless! Pretty clever. Look at Lennon's song "Imagine." 

IMHO the surviving Beatles are committing sacrilege by taking an old rough tape of Lennon's and "mining" it into something new. Anything with the Beatles' name attached, accompanied by the marketing machine, will be a boffo success. The guys have done this before with "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love." They continue to pick away at Lennon's carcass. 

One of the best books about the Beatles, called "Shout," was by a guy who thought Lennon was 3/4 of the talent of the Beatles. And when I talk about "the surviving Beatles," shall I assume it's just two? McCartney and Starr? Well I'm inclined to think of Pete Best too, seriously. He was the Beatles' drummer for two years, a long time by the standards of that business. I have felt very sorry for him through the years. 

The standards for drummers are very high in commercial recorded music. There is a strong theory out there that even Ringo did not perform on all the Beatles' recordings. Remember the "Wrecking Crew?" Glen Campbell? Ever hear the term "session drummer?" 

I think Pete Best fit in fine when the group was doing straight-ahead rock 'n roll in Hamburg. But a group's style can change. Best could not have cut it on "Rubber Soul." But he seems like a fine gentleman and he speaks with the same Liverpool accent as the other three did. Their voices rise at the end of a sentence. Charming. 

(fox news image)

Will the "new" Beatles song make a big splash? It's called "Now and Then." 

I remember how ABBA's "comeback" was supposed to be a really big deal. It ended in a whimper. 

Big as the Beatles once were, I really think they are relegated to yesterday's news now. Just watch: the youngest generation just does not get swept away by the old stuff. Pop music is the domain of the young. No stopping it.

 

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

Our District 7 going further to the right?

Steve Boyd, GOP hopeful (lakes area radio image)

Are Republicans willing to just burn the whole house down as the price to be paid for demanding they get their own way? Republicans will need more numbers in government before they can steamroll over the rest of us. 

If they get there, should we all just say "all the more power to them?" 

I am willing to support any politician whose actions can improve my life and the lives of others around me. If Republicans lead us to this promised land of theirs, well then fine. But what is the real endgame for them? A better life for all? Or "revenge" against some of the current movements or changes in society that make them feel uncomfortable? 

To put it another way, are they insisting on a return to a Norman Rockwell type of life in the U.S. which was never manifested in reality anyway? It's a netherworld of dreams. You might say that's what MAGA is. A drive to eradicate things around us that seem new, seem alien and might seem too threatening to the norms we have come to like. 

Actually, the Roe vs. Wade decision with its precedent was a real norm. It had been ensconced in law since I graduated from high school. If you know me, you know that was a considerable time ago. A norm? We elected a president in 2016 who got to put forward three new Supreme Court members. Actually these were from a list given to the president by Mitch McConnell. 

 

Ideas vs. practice

The Federalist Society offers a number of interesting thoughts. The libertarians have always offered some interesting thoughts. If you like to sit around discussing philosophy, such points of view have appeal. I could have done this in college. But back then the far right was more like a novelty that existed in a suppositional world - worthy of attention and fascinating sometimes from the sheer standpoint of thought exercise. But to step into government and truly take its reins? To force through three Supreme Court nominees who were Federalist Society types? To have this faction enter the real mainstream with decision-making that affects all of us? 

I look at my younger self when I was in political/philosophical discussions, and can see my eyes bug out if I were told that in a distant future time the hardcore righties would roll up their sleeves and have power. They are salivating at present. They shed a Speaker of the House who had been willing to strike a deal with the other side if it meant keeping the government going. 

We in Minnesota almost had one of our own get the speaker's position. Although the prospects never really looked good for Mr. Tom Emmer. 

I'm well enough schooled on Mr. Emmer to know he would be truly bad news. But he alienated the right wingers who are now salivating over the chance to assert themselves even more. Emmer is a Minnesotan, thus he wouldn't be inclined to go so far extreme as those souls south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Southerners are impulsive people. They act hastily and based on emotion. At present we are not ready to grapple with the consequences of so many of these people exercising real power. We just aren't. 

Part of the fault is with the media. The media is scared, I feel, to remind us all of the North/South schism going back to the catastrophic War Between the States. And why? Is the media afraid of irritating or alienating Southerners? 

I pointed out this morning in a Yahoo News comment that one media commentator - John Harwood - has been willing to come forward and state the obvious. I believe I'm paraphrasing Harwood correctly, about how he warns that the "burn the house down" zealots are largely from the states of the old Confederacy. 

And this doesn't matter to us any more? It doesn't register with the people of South Dakota, such ardent Republicans who are nevertheless so far north of the Mason-Dixon Line. 

Our state of MN has become rather schizophrenic. After all, we're the state that sent both Paul Wellstone and Michele Bachmann to Washington. Did Bachmann have to quit her Wisconsin Synod church because of the synod's position that the Pope is the antichrist? I seem to recall that. 

Today the general perception is that Democrats retain their power in MN, largely. I say "retain" because Republicans have been gaining so much ground around the USA. 

I'm not sure what has gotten into the drinking water here around Morris MN to make us so crazed in support of Republicans. If I were to go around today and make amused comments about how ridiculous Trump looks in court, how pathetic it is that this former president is in such legal trouble, I would be met with anger and dismissed as a totally non-credible citizen. No sense of humor among these folks. Are they ready to start displaying the Confederate flag? Their Republican Party now has a Speaker who is from deep within the old Confederacy. Guy is from Louisiana. This Mike Johnson got much of his propulsion to the speakership from Matt Gaetz. From where? Gaetz is from Florida. The ilk of these guys turned thumbs-down on Emmer from Minnesota. 

 

What a litmus test

Man, so Emmer was not hardcore enough for them? Are you all really ready to step aside and have the hardcores assume awesome power? Even more than when Trump was in office? We are seeing signs of this building. With Republicans not of a mind to compromise, and with so many of them having supported the overturning of the 2020 election, have you thought about where all of this might actually be leading? 

I plead with women who have young children: please think about the future of this country and the future for your children. Will it be a kind and accommodating place? Women are nurturers by nature, men are destroyers. So is that what it comes down to: if not conflict between North and South, conflict between male and female? I'm groping as I try to make sense of it all. 

Tom Emmer

Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election results. That makes him anathema in the eyes of the wild-eyed Southerners. Thank Steve Bannon as he's a ringleader. Remember the famous photo of Bannon looking so unkempt, disheveled and with very long hair hanging down? Back in the '60s if you walked around looking like that, you'd be harassed by the "hard hats." I'm old enough to remember the term along with "narcs" (for narcotics agents who wanted to arrest all the young "druggies"). 

I have pointed out repeatedly that we appear to have a true election denier as our congressperson from our District 7. She's Michelle Fischbach. She appears to not want to answer questions about her stance and her public statement on Jan. 6. I have personally tried getting a response from her. Was it prudent to stand in the way of a timely certification of the election results? Was it prudent for Congress to get in the way, even though there are legitimate legal procedures for challenging election procedures? 

I could swear my question was merely routine and rational. But no response from the congressperson. Maybe her instinctive response was just to brand me as "woke" or something like that. 

To add insult to injury, I was added to her email recipient list, so now I get stuff from her. So she's a full-fledger with the right wing? I mean, an election denier? Isn't that a good enough "cred?" Well it appears no! It now appears that Fischbach is going to be challenged from the right. Amazing! 

A new Republican hopeful from the Alexandria area is coming forward with criticism of Fischbach that is in the vein of "she's a career politician." In other words, "doing what she has to do to stay in office" (paraphrase by me). I interpret that to mean that Fischbach is sometimes a realist and must build bridges with those not as extreme. 

And Steve Boyd? I have seen articles that say he's from Kensington and others with Alexandria as his place. Boyd's statements indicate he would give no ground whatsoever. So I guess he'd be good with a government shutdown. For how long, Steve? Until the whole country collapses? Riots breaking out? For what cause? For Republicans wanting to re-shape the whole USA in Steve Bannon's image? Nothing less? Apparently so. 

Profiles of Boyd emphasize with a very heavy hand his "Christian" nature. Of course that can mean all sorts of things. I just want to say heaven help us all. I hope we can at least have a merry Christmas first. Then, batten down the hatches.

 

Addendum: Some of these MAGA types appear to place Trump above God and Jesus. Trump appears comical as he struggles in court, flails away in such a futile desperate way. Yet he had the power to push this Mike Johnson through to Speaker. Louisiana values. The Deep South. Is that us? Can we come to our senses?

Oh! My podcast

I talk about the Gophers' 12-10 football win over Iowa on my "morris mojo" podcast. The link:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brian1610/episodes/Gophers-defeat-Iowa-12-10-e2av0fa 

 

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

Fall gives us the "sweet spot" with weather

MEA week falls at a time of year that can be most pleasant: no more onslaught of summer heat, no onslaught of snow yet. The photo shows my late parents, Ralph and Martha Williams, enjoying our yard along Northridge Drive in Morris. They appear to be enjoying the leaf-raking! Is leaf-raking really essential to do? Can't we just mulch the leaves with our mowers in spring? Well, many people get into the fall ritual of raking. It appears we are done with our lawn mowing for the season. Dad died in 2013 and Mom in 2018. Both lived into their 90s. We'll see if yours truly can be so fortunate. MEA weekend comes just before the high school football playoffs. I hear the Tigers will be playing on Tuesday. We're coming off a big win over Fergus Falls. It is Sunday. How much has our Stevens County Times newspaper shared about the Fergus Falls game? I mean, on their website. Better check and see. So much to write about. The Times makes money putting out its product. I would thus hope they are incentivized to report in a colorful and timely way on the win. I certainly try to do that in my personal blogging. I get no financial reward.

 

So it's MEA weekend. The annual MEA week football game makes it clear what is coming up: the long weekend for the kids with no school. When I was young, any day with "no school" was occasion for clicking your heels. It was total time off. It's pretty obvious that school was more difficult, more arduous in those days. 

As the years passed, I began to gather that a new approach was taking over. No longer was it so automatic that kids would "hate school." It sure wasn't a given like in my young days. 

Would seem to make sense: we only live once so why inflict suffering? Because kids have to learn? Learning is always an ideal. The big difference today is that kids have natural incentive to learn, at least where basic literacy is concerned. They can hardly begin to harness the electronic media soon enough. They are eager to communicate with friends and share their thoughts with the world. They learn keyboard typing skills. No need for a teacher lording over you. 

What I'm suggesting is that it is not a chore. "Learning" of any kind seemed a total chore when I was growing up. 

Sometimes we'd hear out and about that kids "want to learn." No, not really. The statement was like a cliche. An ideal, yes, but not with real world truth. I think we all knew that. Kids were not natural self-starters. Today the activity with communications can get so intense, we have "screen addiction." What does that tell you? Kids really "want to learn" where communications are concerned, maybe to a fault. 

Maybe you want to dismiss social media as so much foolishness. I smile as I weigh that, as I remember what comic books meant for me. Many people and certainly "academia" put down comic books as little more than garbage. 

I consumed other material on my own that wasn't so much different, e.g. Mad Magazine, Hardy Boys and Tom Swift stories. Such fare was not in classrooms. I had a college professor who dismissed the Hardy Boys series - well of course this individual would, because it was outside of the world where teachers held forth. Thusly such people dissed the "Sylvan Learning System" because it was outside the standard realm where the teachers wanted as much of a monopoly as they could get. 

Power and money: pretty simple to grasp. 

I loved comic books, TV network entertainment programs, Mad Magazine and books that were outside of school. Literacy? The fare I just cited advanced my grasp of literacy far more than anything in the classroom. Comic books were so stimulating because of the tremendous imagination they reflected. Reading these were like liberation from the droll classroom. 

There is no stopping social media for the kids today. Go back in time and use the term "social media" - it would have meant nothing. Imagine living without all the digital blessings of today. Well we did. We got by. Kids hated school. If there was a "snow day," we could just relax with idle time at home. And of course watch TV. 

 

In defense of TV

Why were we made to feel so guilty if we just watched TV? After about eight hours in a school building, couldn't a kid just be excused for watching a little entertainment television? Looking back, I feel hurt by how we were made to feel it was pointless. It was entertainment. So what? Kids worked plenty hard in school anyway. 

There should have been a law against "homework." Why did teachers find it so important to foist that on us? Was it about power? Was it about teachers wanting to virtually command our lives? Did the controlling impulse come from teachers not wanting us to advance ourselves by using means outside of school? So teachers could proclaim how indispensable they were? Helpful for turning the screws on the community in the next contract negotiations? 

If teachers wanted that kind of power, maybe it worked for a time, but then the digital world made its steady advancement and it became clear, like it or not, we were not going to be so dependent on professional teachers. 

You hear the comment today that teachers have become more like caretakers for the kids. Get the kids through the day, try to make sure they stay out of trouble. The basic goal is just advancement toward maturity. 

Today the kids are guided toward real idyllic objectives. And that's super, but it contrasts with when I was young and the boys had to fear getting drafted and sent to a foreign war. Specifically Vietnam, although such ventures came and went through the years. Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan to cite three targets. Made it hard to develop a real idealistic sense, a sense of belief in your authority figures, the people who approved of war measures (without having to go over and fight themselves of course). 

Today's young parents - bless them - cannot grasp what it would be like for their kids to be at risk of being drafted and sent to "fight" someone. And to quite possibly die. It isn't in the cards. 

Our more recent military adventures were with volunteer military. Or in the case of Iraq, National Guardsmen? Wasn't that a surprise? All the money we spend on the military and its bloated bureaucracy, and then we send National Guard units into foreign conflict? I could never wrap my arms around that one. This community lost David Day. 

We fight wars now just with money? Like the $100 billion we may be about to spend to aid Israel? To hell with that. Oh, does that make me anti-Semitic? Aren't we all just tired to hell of the Israel thing? Would that it would just go away.

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

Dazzling Huebner-to-Asmus pass in 21-12 win

The Tigers accomplished a record over .500 in the regular season with the Wednesday night football win. Action was at Big Cat. I was present for a portion. I was there to see Drew Huebner lead Riley Asmus perfectly on a TD pass. Beautiful thing to watch. At first I thought maybe the pass was overthrown. Asmus caught up to it in stride. Touchdown! 

Thrilling to see in this 21-12 win over the Fergus Falls Otters. The success put us at 5-3. We are 4-3 in conference, 3-2 in section. We're actually doing better in road games than home! 3-1 as road warriors, 2-2 at Big Cat. We are certainly getting nice fan turnouts at the local facility. Each home game is like a spectacle, the most impressive spectacle you will see in Stevens County. 

Unfortunately I find I barely recognize anyone any more. The MACA upperclassmen were born at the time I left the Morris newspaper. They have no knowledge of how I once "roamed" on behalf of the Morris paper. The years have really rolled by. I knew when I left the paper it would be a big adjustment process. I knew things would never be the same. And they haven't been. 

My role at the paper was the only really defining role I have had in my life. It disappeared overnight. Still I try to persevere. 

People check the web to get their news in our contemporary age. So what's available on this Thursday morning as we deal with fog and wet conditions in Morris? The Fergus Falls Daily Journal has coverage posted. But it is behind a very tight paywall. So you'd have to buy a subscription to the Fergus Falls newspaper. Who here would want to do that? So we must cross that off. 

The odds are slim of finding coverage anymore on the West Central Tribune site. No, there is nothing there today on the Tigers' Wednesday win. There is nice thorough coverage of the Minnewaska Area game. The WC Trib has a paywall but I know how to get around it. I will repeat that if MACA coaches were to call in there, the calls would be accepted and notes taken. Maybe something to consider.

"Craig Olson Sports"

Oh, here's a nice resource, today at least: It's the old "Craig Olson Sports" site, good for getting details beyond just the cursory score and stuff. Nice to see players' names. I have barely typed any MACA volleyball players' names this fall - unfortunate. 

"Craig Olson Sports" reports that MACA built a 21-6 lead for halftime. This article does the same as what "Minnesota Scores" does all the time: reports that our home games are on the UMM campus. As if we're playing on the UMM facility. That is not technically true, in other words it is not true: Big Cat is a joint venture with the U and the public school, right? It just "feels" like we're on the college campus. 

Fergus Falls finishes its regular season with a 2-6 mark. 

I can trumpet here that Owen Anderson had a monster game rushing. Owen rolled up 193 yards on 32 carries. Our team total in rushing was 257, a big portion of our 292 total yards. So the thrilling TD pass Huebner-to-Asmus was the exception to the rule. It sure worked! 

The Tigers got up 8-0 on a one-yard Anderson run. Huebner carried the ball into the end zone on the conversion. Fergus Falls struck with the pass to get on the scoreboard. Isaiah Holmes made the throw, Levi King the catch. It was a 21-yard connection. Huebner outdid that with his 34-yard "rainbow" TD pass that had pinpoint accuracy to Asmus. The play capped a drive of 77 yards. 

The Tigers went up 21-6 for halftime on a five-yard carry of the football by Huebner. We kicked for the extra point. The Otters scored in the fourth quarter on a nine-yard pass: Henry Bethel to King. 

Holmes and Bethel combined for ten pass completions. Fergus Falls had a rather anemic offense, or let's say that our defense was awesome! The Otters were limited to 89 rushing yards. They threw for 116. Griffin Babolian gained 45 yards on 13 carries for the visitor. 

The fan turnout at Big Cat was a little more than yours truly expected, especially for a mid-week game. We are deep into the fall when weather will not be as pleasant or accommodating. So the Tiger spirit is high! Thoughts will now get laser-focused on post-season play. Who knows how the Tigers will fare?

 

MACA volleyball struggles

Tiger volleyball has not had the same upbeat tone. That's the way it goes sometimes. The Tigers closed out the regular season with a loss by sweep, leaving our W/L at 8-15. We are 5-9 in conference. We played Tuesday at Minnewaska Area where the host Lakers ruled. Can the Tigers maybe surprise in the post-season? That's the hope now. I'm not really betting on it. But hope. 

The game scores from the Tuesday match are on the West Central Tribune site. The host Lakers entertained their fans to success 25-15, 25-22 and 25-17. 

I see "stats not available" for MACA. Again, please consider just calling in, someone. Our radio station website has nothing and since Brett Miller left, I have little faith in that site now. I don't want to sound harsh but the person who types stuff there now will not be a good resource - it will be cursory at best, in other words lots of "scores" and not a lot else. 

Let's give some credit to the Minnewaska Area individuals. Haillie Schulz batted two ace serves across the net. Avery Fier, Brooklyn Meyer and Dreya Barsness each had one ace serve. Haley Shea and Schulz shared the load in setting with 20 and 17 assists respectively. 'Waska had three big guns in hitting led by Barsness with 14 kills. Fier slammed 12 and Dacia Fleury eleven. Miaya Guggisberg had an ace block. In digs we see Fier with eleven, Shea with nine and Emma Poege with seven. 

Minnewaska football had a good night Wednesday with its 28-6 win over Melrose. Action was at Melrose. But 'Waska has taken some lumps this season, now with a 2-6 record.

 

Other media

Is it worth even checking the Morris newspaper website? It's an affront that they have the site all set up to report current news and sports. A check of sports reveals links to items that are almost 100 percent UMM. Is that the only sports we care about here? Is the newspaper ownership that tone-deaf? 

The Morris paper only publishes once a week. That creates an unforgivable timeliness problem. I know of a former highly-regarded MAHS school administrator who would get emotionally mad on these issues. We published twice a week. Again, gave us a far bigger advantage for staying on top of sports. It is basically hopeless now unless the paper were to start getting ambitious with its website, which it should. Those people won't listen to me. Maybe some others should step up? 

I say all this in a week when the "Stevens County Times" really stepped in it with its hostility toward the elected community leaders of Donnelly. Is there a backstory there? What on earth is so important about what the Donnelly city council would be doing anyway? This isn't Watergate. I would expect that the biggest issue over there might be someone's dog barking too late at night. 

I say this in a spirit of compliment toward Donnelly: it is a quiet and safe community. Compare that to the big cities now. 

Why on earth did a certain Morris newspaper writer get such a bee in her bonnet? Defies understanding. And then the paper uses its power to try to put Donnelly on the spot. IMHO that's an abuse of power. 

You know the old saying about how "when you point fingers. . ." Yes, some could be pointing back. So let's ask more questions of the paper and how it shows such an uncaring attitude about MACA sports on its website. The website has the power to provide really timely coverage. In this week when the game was played Wednesday, that would be so nice to see. 

And the paper has someone paid to write sports? That person should just sit down today and "riff" something about the game for a web article. No, instead it's me doing it. And I do not get paid. 

And I wish I could type the names of MACA volleyball players more often.

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

Gloomy, wet night sees Tigers fall to Perham

The MACA Tigers' wild ride to victory the previous week was not to be repeated. The Tigers took the home field Friday amidst gloomy and wet conditions to play Perham. I did not feel up to even stopping by, sorry. 

I cannot write the kind of upbeat review post as for the previous week. The previous week saw our Tigers accomplish perhaps the most dramatic win in program history. There may be rivals for that distinction. I remember a dramatic come-from-behind win at Paynesville in the Witt years. This was after I left the Morris paper but I did blog about it. 

I had to revise my initial post on that game because I used info from a disastrous review in the West Central Tribune. The Paynesville coach would have called in the info. Or maybe he had the team manager call it in. Thanks to our Lyle Rambow for taking the trouble to email me and alert me to the wayward WC Trib review. I was able to make some corrections like to get the name right of the MACA Tiger who caught the game-winning pass. Seems to me it's essential to get that right. 

Today MACA athletics is no longer in the official coverage territory for the WC Tribune. However, I get the impression they'd be willing to accept calls from our coaches.

 

Perham 21, Tigers 6

Perham came here at .500 with 3-3 W/L numbers. They left here having climbed over .500. This was with the defense-heavy 21-6 win over the orange and black. Their coach, Jesse Hein, said he prepared his team for a cold weather game. 

The coach has to be quite satisfied with his team's defense. In back-to-back weeks the Yellowjackets have allowed just one TD. He wanted his team to pressure the QB and it did. Perham's offensive line was up to the task. It lunged forward to help runningback Hudson Hackel gain 115 yards on 18 carries. He scored a touchdown. 

Perham took the 7-0 lead on a big 59-yard run by Hackel. The Tigers struck in the second quarter with a seven-yard run by our signal-caller Drew Huebner. Our extra-point try was blocked. 

Our satisfaction wore off quickly as on the ensuing kickoff, Mason Happel went off to the races for 91 yards and a signal of "TD" by the refs. Perham got its third touchdown on a drive of 13 plays. The QB Blaiz Schmidt scored on a run from the two. 

So the score is 21-6 which stood up as the final. 

The Tigers have one game left in the regular season: what we used to call "the MEA week game." So it's on Wednesday. It will be at home. What kind of coverage of the MACA/Perham game do you see on the Morris newspaper website? Or the kmrs-kkok site?

 

UMM football

I am profoundly puzzled by something. A check of the UMM football schedule shows we defeated Westminster College on Saturday. I personally stopped by the field while on my afternoon walk on a nice day to be outside. But I am puzzled: the online schedule for UMM shows we'll be playing Westminster again this next Saturday. 

Next Saturday would be at Westminster which is not a short jog down the road, it's in Missouri! Is it necessary for our team to travel that far for any game? I wondered the same thing about our Tigers making the long trip to East Grand Forks recently. 

Can't acceptable opponents be found that are closer? And who the heck has ever heard of "Westminster" before? What kind of school is it? They sure do not appear to have anything close to a competitive football team. 

Such long travel for a mismatch. For both of us I guess. The Cougars won 45-0 on Saturday. 

We're not talking two different "Westminsters," are we? One cannot rule that out. I still miss the days when UMM played the well-established state colleges of Minnesota like Winona and Moorhead. These opponents were known quantities. But this coming Saturday we're headed to Fulton MO. Never heard of it. 

I'm pleased to share below another update on my views with certain relevant matters for us in Morris and connected to UMM. Over the past five years I have gone "against type" and tried to maintain a nice warm positive relationship with UMM. But darn, I come up against headwinds. My cross to bear. Below is an email I sent Saturday evening to my fellow UMM advocate Warrenn Anderson, the lawyer. Nice to have friends who are lawyers. 

I begin with an aside about Rudy Giuliani who is putting a stain on the legal profession. Then I launch into areas germane with the U of M. I should say "our beloved U of M" although they do test us often. Thanks for reading.

 

Hello Warrenn - Well is Rudy Giuliani setting a nice example for your legal profession? You couldn't get any higher than him: lawyer to the president of the U.S. And it's not that he's just absent-minded now, he seems to have corrupt intent - that's the most surprising thing. The way he attacked those two poor women in Georgia. If George W. Bush had a top lawyer who got in this much trouble post-presidency, Bush would issue an apology to the public for the lawyer's behavior. It looks like the Apostolics will vote for Trump again.

I walked home from the library today and passed by Big Cat Field. Cougars were leading 38-0 when I got there and 45-0 when I left. My goodness, who were they playing today? Amazing to note the contrasts between UMM athletics of the 1970s and 1980s with today. Back then we really wanted lots of big fast and talented athletes, whereas the idea today is just to stay in this very weak conference with weak opponents and then feel good whenever we win.

Saw in Star Tribune state news section today, page 1 of section, article re. U of M. If you read between the lines, you'll note there is pretty substantial tension between the U and legislature now. Both political parties are alienated. Lack of trust is evident. That's not good. So UMM needs $ to update the multi-ethnic building? That building is just a square box type of design and it goes way back in time. It has not been worth the trouble maintaining it, and the "sentiment" isn't worth it, the history. Not worth it. Forget about that. There could be a commemorative sign there.

I wonder if the U is headed into a prolonged period of downsizing. As for our campus here, I have written online about a couple things that I find concerning. Yes I know some people will be irritated when I point these things out. We are a four-year college that has a music major but we did not have a band or choir at graduation last spring. Also there were no printed paper programs for graduation. I'm sure UMM is ready to offer excuses. But no mea culpa, heaven forbid. They might say "not enough of the music kids were around." Ever hear of "requirements?" For years and years the institution had no problem putting forward a band/choir - we took it for granted! The kids should want to be there. The grads entered to a recording of Pomp and Circumstance. I called this a "low-budget graduation."

The Homecoming music concert has always been a pretty big deal. I have enjoyed it greatly on many occasions. Well, this year there was a $10 admission charge. Outrageous, and I don't think this is a minor matter. I wasn't there but a friend told me about it. I got back to that friend later and asked, "was it really a $10 charge or was it a suggested free-will donation?" I was told in no certain terms it was the charge. He reported that others were upset also. The excuse: The music dept. needed some $ for something. Well of course it did, it always needs money just like the whole U is that way now. It seeks money so relentlessly while appearing to scale back programs and activities as much as possible. Every time the U does something, it costs money.

Two years ago I was irate that the big spring band/choir concert was in Alexandria with no repeat performance here. That was "Alice Through the Looking Glass," jaw-dropping.

When UMM started, music was in the present-day multi-ethnic building and all concerts were at Edson. Theater was there too, and from my perspective all of that was quite good.

I noticed today that UMM football still has the "University Rouser" song playing after touchdowns. I noticed a bunch of cheerleaders but they were not wearing uniforms. I wonder if this was an informally organized group or if it had an imprimatur. When was the last time we had a pep band? Again, we have a music major offered here. I'm sure in a past time, the effete "academia" element of UMM rejected traditional things like cheerleaders and pep band, because that's just how they were - I think you understand. But that has changed. Also, I am positive that the kids who show up for games are totally respectful toward anyone. I have the impression that UMM would not tolerate foolishness on that front. Man, when Imholte was here, there was all kinds of foolishness and arrogance and I think Imholte actually liked it.

If you were to hear a straight instrumental version of the original UMM "fight song" written by my father, I think you'd like it. It was very mainstream-sounding. I'm one of those people who actually remembers the UMM pep band playing this under my father at the "P.E. Annex." We are a shrinking circle. I'm just out to defend my father? No not at all, because I will point out that the fight song had a flaw with the second line of lyrics. Also, I think Dad was a little archaic with his approach to lyric writing. He wrote stuff that might have been "cool" in the 1930s. Brad Miller did not direct the "UMM Hymn" once the whole time he was here, even though that's the time when Mom and I were shoveling so much money to the U. But as I have said to friends, I wouldn't want UMM to perform anything by my father where they have artistic issues. They'd need to have their heart in it.

Let's see, Gophers not playing today. Schizophrenic Tigers lost last night in a yawner with terrible weather. It's a great day today to be out for a walk.

Remember how aggressive Mark Yudof was in asking the state for money? Perturbed the heck out of Jesse Ventura. Ventura gave a famous quote: "For all the money that the U is asking, maybe I should run it." 

A good comment online recently: "Maybe the U should just hire a Paul Giel type and let the University run itself."

It is interesting how even the Democrats are getting nervous about the U now. Usually Democrats can live with some largesse in public education. Looks like the board of regents has been through an upheaval. Again you'd have to read between the lines from the Star Tribune. House-cleaning? Powell was done in as chairman when he did not have an immediate appropriate response to Sviggum. I think Sviggum had an appropriate comment he wanted to make, then stumbled ridiculously with his word choice. Are the regents simply overrated? It has been a "landing strip" for political VIPs who have gotten in trouble, like Wendell Anderson and Dean Johnson. Poor Dean Johnson, got in trouble because of a minister with a secret tape recorder!!! Wendell has left this life due to mental collapse, and I wonder if his extensive hockey playing background caught up to him (head injuries).

Remember when Charlie Berg talked about the Native Americans "sending smoke signals?"

- BW

Why can't people just leave the violence?

The Israel flag

Is Christmas just two months away? It's true that some businesses are premature in putting forth Christmas-themed stuff. Does that reflect society's urge to start acknowledging Christmas so soon? No, I think it's just done out of marketing. Marketing is the key to everything these days, right? It's what makes the world go 'round. 

It's no wonder we have had a political leader for whom everything, even his marriage as we now learn, is "transactional." You do something for someone only if you can get something tangible in return. This is the outlook of Donald Trump as he continues to hover over us every day. It continues even as we get another absolute deluge of "downer" news out of the Middle East. 

We hear of babies having their heads chopped off. This sounds more like sick satire about what has been going on. We hear that certain of the shady actors are "animals." Isn't this the way an enraged nation always talks about the adversary? This was done with Japan during World War II. It is done because once we adopt a firm position on the war stance, we have to make it easier to "kill the enemy." We do this by dehumanizing them. Call them "animals." 

Biden said he saw "photographic evidence" of the beheading thing. This morning there's a headline that maybe the administration is "walking that statement back." Ah, the "fog of war." "The first casualty of war is the truth." 

Our top leaders back Israel because that is what they always do. This will happen even with political "liberals" tending to feel for the Palestinians quite a bit. 

A lot of this is hard to figure out - typical of trying to understand our human species. I sometimes use the quote "we are so human an animal." I started using this on impulse without having a real understanding of its origin or precise meaning. It just seemed appropriate for acknowledging when we do mystifying things. 

Well, if you live in a place where your newborn baby might be beheaded, what on earth are you doing there? Why not just get out? Come to America. Your life and limb will not be endangered. 

Looks like Israel will never be a fully safe and secure place. Why not turn the area back over to the Palestinians? Have a real nation called Palestine. Let that region of the world be "Arab." It is their place. They'll fight among themselves anyway, to be sure. Remember the Iran/Iraq war? Even at the end of that, leaders of the two nations "exchanged ashes" as a gesture of peace. Could you imagine an Arab nation doing that with Israel? 

Israel quite simply has never been welcomed in that part of the world. When you are clearly not welcome, maybe you should scram. Come to America. Go (back) to Europe. Any reason why not? But Biden says we must be fully supportive of Israel. Even at the risk, I guess, of absorbing prolonged and tragic conflict. There will be no ceremonial exchange of ashes over this. Obviously the conflict will just roll on. 

Is the U.S going to direct all sorts of "aid" to Israel now? In addition to what gets provided for Ukraine?

Still top of mind

And there's a very real chance that Trump will return to the White House. This would mean an about-face and that we would become aligned with Russia. Heaven knows what else it would mean for all of us. 

But there's no point in wringing our hands over this prospect, much as we would like to. There is no point in yours truly trying to make any points about Trump and his element in America any more. MAGA continues to have gravity. These people never listen to logic and reason. 

 

The pattern accelerates

We have gotten so carried away out here in western Minnesota, with the "red state" thing, there is now a Republican opponent to Michelle Fischbach who is running against her from the right. That was certainly the impression I got from the Star Tribune article. Guy's last name is Boyd. 

Fischbach to begin with wanted to help Trump stay in office, by voting against certifying the 2020 election results. Hardcore conservative Tom Emmer did not do that. He voted to certify. So in surveying the basic attitudes around us now, just assume there's lots of MAGA, no doubt fueled by churches.

 

Suggestion for schools

I believe strongly that our public schools should no longer set aside Wednesday as "church night." School activities have proliferated greatly over the years. Heck, when I was in high school, we had no high school hockey, and girls athletics was just getting started. Can you believe living in an environment with no girls athletics? Well, that's the way it was. Hockey was strictly a sandlot type of sport. 

Today all these activities for kids are so highly prioritized. Kids don't have anywhere near the temptation to be drawn into drugs and partying and other foolishness, not like when I was young. The early and mid '70s were probably the low point in all of U.S. history for kids to gravitate to pointless activities. It was also a time when we all were dealing with the nation's profound failure with the Vietnam war. 

Intervention in foreign affairs? Just because it worked in WWII, we return to such matters with jingoism? Like what we hear in connection to Israel now? "The U.S. is solidly behind Israel." That's our top political leaders talking. 

I hate to suggest this is just because of the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. This theory can naturally get you shot down for anti-Semitism. Around and around it goes - never changes. Discussion of the Middle East devolves this way. My generation has experienced this all our lives. I hesitate to even check the day's news now - so predictable. "Atrocities, terror, Hezbollah" etc. What is "Hamas?" Do they wear uniforms? It's not a nation-state. 

A convenient thing about WWII, what set it apart really, was that we were fighting nation-states. Japan had a return address when it attacked Pearl Harbor. Hamas? Hezbollah? Trump thinks Hezbollah is "smart." No matter, he keeps all his support, because he always does. So my advice is to just live with that. Live with the inevitability of Trump getting back in power, joining hands with Putin, most likely pulling the strings to get behind Mark Milley's execution. Oh, and others to be sure. James Comey? Trump fired him. 

At first these scenarios strike us as outlandish. I mean, it always starts out that way. Always. Then little by little, we are forced to accept that it really will happen. The death penalty by what means? Lethal injection? Electrocution? Firing squad? Pretty soon the news hosts on TV will seriously discuss all this. Because they have to. They make their living reporting the news. It's their gig. Surely a lot of them have considered MAGA crazy all along. But they take care of themselves first. 

I will repeat: we are so human an animal. Maybe we are a hybrid between space aliens and Earth primates. I have long thought that and not just because I listen to George Noory on late-night radio sometimes. 

 

"Dark" Christmas song?

I have composed a Christmas song that is political in content. Really? Me? I could have it recorded but discretion is now the better part of valor. With all that has been going on in the U.S., the world and our congressional district, it is no time for thinking much about Christmas. 

Right now I have no plans on having a Christmas song recorded. I will share the lyrics here to the little thing I wrote. Let's just call this poetry. It is set up in verse-climb-chorus structure, like a real song. Which it is, actually. I do thank you for reading. 

Let's all just try to get through Christmas. It will be the last Christmas before Trump gets elected again. And to make myself clear, let's open Wednesday night up for school activities. Maybe we'd see more band concerts.

"It's Christmas Once Again"

by Brian Williams

In this time of MAGA

In this time of Trump

Can we find our scruples

Like when we were young

Plain and simple manners

Careful how we speak

Show respect to people

When you disagree

Look at E. Jean Carroll

"Access Hollywood"

Then there's Pocahontas

Surely it gets old

Now he's in a courtroom

Make that two or three

Still he is the leader

Of the GOP

CLIMB:

We need a respite

From the crazy stuff

Can we achieve it

In December's run?

CHORUS:

So now it's Christmas once again

Can we be calm?

Can we be friends?

Can we make MAGA go away?

At least it's Christmas once again

Someone who pays porn stars

So he could have fun

Should not be our leader

He should not have won

Now he's like a specter

Will not go away

In the news each morning

Just like "Groundhog Day"

He caused quite the tempest

With his "Stop the Steal"

Those who would believe it

Really should get real

They were really lemmings

For a foolish cause

They have their delusions

I'll take Santa Claus

We're in the season

For the olive branch

Reach out and feel it

We can all join hands

(repeat chorus)

Rudy Giuliani

Likes to have his booze

With his hair dye dripping

Trump just turned him loose

He was once the mayor

That we looked up to

What became of Rudy?

Just a looney toon

Enter Sidney Powell

Grinding out the lies

She released the kraken

Just in her own mind

Someday if we make it

Past this fever swamp

We will ask our maker:

How did we go wrong?

Pause the emotions

Try to get a grip

Just feel the season

You can handle it

(repeat chorus)