Softball blowouts reach point of 26-0 score!

Oh my, should the media even bother with a detailed review of the Tuesday MACA softball game? Wonderful that the MACA won-lost mark is now 11-0. A rather typical regular season for our Tigers. The big question is over how we'll do when we get to the section. Ahem, playing the teams from southern Minnesota. I see no inherent advantage to being located in southern Minnesota. But something interesting is going on down there. It won't be long before we get that test, will it. Will this be a "breakthrough" season to state? Fans can certainly embrace such hopes. 

The Tigers manhandled the Braves of Benson on Tuesday at Benson. Looks like Benson still uses "Braves." Man that has gotten drawn out. Looks like Benson is sitting back and waiting for state money to come along. The Native American symbolism is really being tossed out now. I'm sure the U.S. president would prefer that all that be retained, along with the Confederate statues and like stuff. That's at the Federal level which is nothing to sneeze at. The "Feds" have power. 

And that's why we should be concerned here in Morris about the anti-DEI moves being made from D.C. Our UMN-Morris is quite intertwined explicitly with DEI. Is this a risk we can afford to keep taking? Who knows what decisions might be coming down the pike? Our U.S. president does not back down. 

 

The logo at right still appears for Benson on "Minnesota Scores." The state has made its position clear on this. Don't respect the state?

 

So the "Braves" of Benson took the field at their home place to play the Tigers on Tuesday. I'm guessing that the fan seating accommodations are better at Benson than at Morris. A very good guess, because our accommodations for fans are almost nil. They're on the negative side of the ledger. Bring your own chair. Carry them around even if you're up in years. Prepare for muddy ground underfoot. 

Makes us wish that basketball season would just continue. Instead we get thrown outdoors when the weather is never ready, year after year. Downright depressing. Every year these thoughts occur to me. 

 

26 to donut

The Tigers beat the "Braves" 26-0 on Tuesday. I won't slog through all the offensive highlights for MACA. Most likely everyone was a star. Congrats to the whole roster of MACA Tigers. 

When you look over all the game scores to date, you'll see a lot of one-sidedness. Too much, really. What's with these others schools? I remember the great baseball manager Casey Stengel saying of his early New York Mets: "Doesn't anybody here know how to play this game?" 

Rather than focus on the Benson blow-out, let's consider the previous game date which was April 25 (Friday). Hey, we played two on that day! And we swept of course. Our opponent was Montevideo. The Tigers swept the Thunder Hawks 10-0 and 14-2. 

Game 1 was too much of a blow-out for me to want to summaries. Game 2 wasn't much better but let's look over that 10-0 win. Haley Kill was our pitcher and she fanned seven batters in her route-going (six innings) performance. She gave up two hits and walked just one. 

Moving on to hitting/offense we see Leah Berlinger going two-for-four with a run-batted-in. Lauren Hottovy had a hit, scored a run, drew a walk and stole a base. Harmony Cloverdale was a force with a three-for-four line including a double. Harmony scored two runs, drove in one and stole two bases. 

Samantha Konz crossed home plate once. Brenna Jergenson doubled and scored a run. Ryla Koehler had a hit in her only at-bat. Ryla scored two runs and drove in two. Mackenzie Konz drove in a run. Ellen Reed was one-for-one with a stolen base. Amaya Raths reached on hit-by-pitch, plus she scored two runs and drove in one. Kaylin Steen had two hits, stole a base, scored a run and drove in two runs. 

The losing pitcher was Emmary Bichanzi.

 

More re. Morris library

Is it time to just start pointing fingers at the city council and mayor for how this whole untidy matter involving the Morris Public Library has been handled? Isn't that becoming the bottom line? 

If the library director has returned as if nothing really happened, the suggestion would be that a certain city administrator is "the bad guy." And that's the conclusion already drawn by so many of the director's friends. "Little tin god?" Deputies needed to guard city council members? 

Wasn't there a "cleaner" and more low-profile way to handle all of this? Can the city report with some degree of detail on just what "misconduct" the librarian was responsible for? I mean, just to establish a public record? Could it really have been "de minimis?" I mean, with lawyers at work on "both sides?" 

Should make the average Morris resident curious as heck. I went to library on Tuesday, did not see the director there although that proves nothing. I really went there to look at new Morris fishwrap (newspaper). 

 

Public school distress

There was a small headline at bottom-right of front page about the school board meeting that attracted 125 members of the public, according to a reliable account I received. 

IMHO there should have been banner headline across top of front page. This is major. The school cuts are major. 

I did read the fairly lengthy article. But I was surprised there were no letters to the editor on the school cuts. During my time with the newspaper, for sure there would be several letters tossing around reactions. It's a different age now. Paper only comes out once a week. Their website is really not part of the local media ecosystem. It ought to be. 

The question now is whether the community really can routinely move on from the cuts, simply adjust and no longer engage in restless discussion. 

Looks like hockey will have to survive with private money. But of course that money would otherwise be used for other things. Is hockey good PR for Morris? Well the teams are not even called "Morris" or "MACA." What the hell is "MBA?" It's like the BOLD and MACCRAY school districts: confusing to those not familiar. 

Substantial school cuts probably reflect what is happening in Washington D.C. where the presidential administration seeks to eliminate the Department of Education. Cut Federal spending I guess, and that would include even FEMA. Yes, FEMA is a target too. So states and localities will have to foot the bills if they can come up with the money. But hey, states cannot operate on a deficit, right? The Federal government sure can. 

Candidate for Pope now?

So I guess we just have to pray that there will be no more big natural disasters. We voted for this out here in western Minnesota - it's totally Trump country where the hardcore churches are filled with the Trump faithful. Good luck relying on the states for entitlements. I see no turnaround coming with our sentiment. 

It appears that many of us literally worship DJT. And today I see headlines about how Senator Lindsey Graham thinks that Trump should be considered for Pope. Is this a Twilight Zone episode or what?

'Mongo just pawn in game of life." (That's me.)

  

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

Fresh news might bring panic for UMN-Morris

A blessing for so long: UMN-Morris

Cost of food bothering you? It's starting to get to me. The accumulated costs make me wonder how families are dealing with the cost of higher education for their children. Will more of us start to question higher education itself, at least in many of its standard forms? Will people start to accept "lower education" as being sufficient as the starting point to adult life? 

Certain professions of course require rigorous preparation. Outside of that I have to wonder. 

How does our UMM of Morris fit into the picture? We have to ask this in a concerned way now. I mean, just based on the news of this past week. 

I recently had a meeting with our top UMM person who projected optimism which I'm sure is a given for someone in her position. And I'm not knocking that. She thinks that UNM can package its "DEI" priority in such a way as to be accepted. 

And we all most sincerely wish Ms. Schrunk Ericksen well. I sit here scratching my head though. 

I'm no dummy, contrary to the popular notions about me that go back 30-40 years. I can read. So the news reports about DEI being a whipping boy in this "higher education" should prompt concern. 

Sometimes with political people it's "just talk." We so often assume that elected leaders will drift some to the political center after a campaign of heated rhetoric. "Heated rhetoric" with DJT? Well of course. You have to accept that. And it's done so often with a lack of basic civility and decency. 

Like it or not, Western Minnesota is on board with all this. Look at how our congressperson speaks, although I'd suggest you keep an eye on her releases to constituents. I'm on that list because I once presented a question to her office. I get all her missives now, quite unsubtle in glorifying DJT and hammering away at the other party. See if she starts mentioning Trump less if Trump's stock falls.

 

Torch was passed

Prior to Ms. Fischbach we had a long-serving Democrat as congressperson. He had his tail between his legs at the end, as he tried to campaign as if he was ashamed to be a Democrat. But how did this congressional district choose to send a Democrat to D.C. for so long? We are now ruby red in our disposition out here where we can hear the coyotes howl at night just beyond the town. 

But we're still home to the U of M-Morris. And yes this institution has chosen to present its "DEI" as if that's our actual brand. I have joked that Morris seems such a small and insignificant place, our existence may not even be known to the Stephen Millers of Washington D.C. It's not just Trump himself wielding power, it's his subordinates. 

 

Talent for demagoguery

An innate thing

Do I have to tell you that part of human nature is to want to be close to power? So as DJT uses his demagogic skills to seal his grip on power - two election wins in eight years - look how people like Pam Bondi come along to do his bidding. 

Bondi is now directly threatening judges. DJT blows off judicial rulings on sending people to foreign prisons. 

The circle of people around the president will tighten their grip as long as they sense they can. 

Government gets its authority from the will of the people. We people out here in western Minnesota want the kind of policy goals put forth by the MAGA element. So, what was in the news last week that should make us furrow our brows out here in Morris? It is a renewed and determined attack on DEI. 

I am not choosing here to make a big point about DEI itself. I know a lot of people are sour on it. Me? I think it has its positive attributes like for classes of people who may struggle with the traditional way of dispensing college studies - arduous, often unpleasant. And I know because I experienced those reactions myself. 

 

Once the norm

I'm 70 and my generation was told we just had to go to college. Just had to, in order to feel respectable. Those were different times, way pre-Internet. Knowledge was scarce. College courses seemed set up in many ways to scare the young people. 

A major consequence of the digital age is this: We no longer need to depend on colleges merely for the dispensing of knowledge. Because change happens slowly in society, we may not be aware of this sea change. Think if the Internet did not exist. Just think of how essential our libraries would still be. The great sociologist Charles Murray was saying 15 years ago that "we don't need college libraries anymore." And the reaction? Well oh my, how could anyone say something like that? Such hubris from academia. (I won't use the term "rarefied air" because I over-use it.) 

We have gone 180 degrees from when knowledge was scarce. Kids want to learn but they don't want to take "Sociology 101." You should laugh at that comment. If you have a common everyday problem today, go to YouTube and there will be multiple posts helping you out. The help is so direct, getting from point 'A' to point 'B' in the most direct way. That's the nature of the Internet. 

Whereas, college education has always been filled with pretense, sorry. The educators must inject a degree of difficulty in learning because as a professional requirement, they must give a range of "grades." Oh, those cotton pickin' grades. My generation struggled up through the age of 21 assuming we'd have to cope with a grading system that unfortunately suggested it was a barometer for our self-worth. 

 

A direct route

Today? Kids can identify their passion and possible career direction and find avenues to get there without having to take "Sociology 101." Or, to cave to the social expectation, once prevalent, of partying, alcohol consumption and other such impulses while a student. For God's sake, get with the program and try to enter adult life. Forget about this college "rite of passage" unless you are sure it offers things you need. Find a church to attend on Sunday - a mainstream community church - instead of having your head buried in a pillow while you suffer with a hangover headache. 

So in place of all the foolishness that my generation gravitated to, and generations immediately following, maybe just accept the  "DEI" mission of UMM. 

You can't convince Trump of this, but DEI lifts up segments of the population that historically have been held back. That's fine by me. 

 

Shoals ahead

Janet Schrunk Ericksen

I really truly wish Ms. Schrunk Ericksen well as she guides UMM now. But seriously I think she'll have to guide the institution through some shoals. And why am I so convinced of that now at 4 a.m. on this Saturday morning, spring of 2025? I follow the news. You can read all about it in a variety of places: this undeterred push by the Trump crowd to destroy DEI. It's a push that I think is just part of a larger push to kneecap higher education, or let's say the spending of public dollars for education. 

Destroy the Federal Department of Education? That's the goal. Looks like we're already feeling the effects of that in Morris with substantial cuts to our Morris Area public school staff. 

Make up for that with state spending? Oh, Republicans will recommend that. But states cannot operate on a deficit! File that away. 

Trump and his people are coming at DEI with hammer and tongs now. Fresh headlines this past week. College administrators who fight this could have their careers ruined. 

 

Directive from on high

"Donald Trump signed executive orders on Wednesday targeting universities as his administration seeks to reshape higher education institutions and continues to crack down on diversity and inclusion efforts." That's from "The Guardian." 

It will be the U of M administration in the Twin Cities who would have to make any difficult announcements about the fate of UMM. What choice would they have? Significant Federal grant money would be at stake. This is what happens with autocratic rule: people have to capitulate in order to take care of themselves. General Patton thought the large majority of Germans went along with the autocracy of the mid-20th Century because they had no choice. 

I don't think Trump should even be allowed to attend the Pope's funeral today (Saturday). We should respect standards of integrity. Let's see, what was the outcome in the E. Jean Carroll case?

  

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

Was board meeting as "tame" as was suggested?

It is Wednesday, biscuits and gravy day (morning) at DeToy's, so it has been two days since about a hundred people showed up at a Morris Area school board meeting. The figure of 100 was reported by the superintendent himself in two brief interview snippets that appeared on the kmrs-kkok website yesterday. 

Outside of that one fact - "100" - the snippets were really an insult to our intelligence. The superintendent was "glib" IMHO. Everything is being handled so routinely and life goes on just fine, he expressed in various ways. I'd have to express skepticism about that even if I didn't know about a hundred people coming to the meeting. A hundred people giving of their precious time which surely they'd have other uses for. So they must have been concerned about something. 

If what the school is doing with "cuts" is just the normal logical response to certain circumstances, as the supt. would have us believe, why the huge turnout of people? Were these people not going to just take everything in stride? "That's the way it goes," something like that? 

When it comes to the care and attention for kids in our public schools, a great many people are going to show intense interest. Showing up for a school board meeting in and of itself means there are suspicions about what the board/administration is doing, perhaps second-guessing. 

It's Wednesday and where might I find better reporting on what all happened Monday? Maybe I should give the benefit of the doubt to Monson and the media and presume that no one spoke up. These people must have had concerns. Were the concerns voiced and what was the response? Even if nothing really happened, the media could have told us that. In a way that's what the radio station did by completely buying Monson's explanation of things. "That's the way it goes" with budget limitations, yawn. So let's just keep being proud of our school! 

Soul of the community

The supt. will say such things out of complete self-interest. If there's anything he'll resist, it's the potential for controversy coming from people expressing doubt. Why are we suddenly getting this news of cuts so soon after narrowly approving a referendum? And does the current situation mean we'll have another referendum coming at us? If the last one passed by only 57 votes, what are the prospects now? 

I heard someone say the last referendum which applied to facilities only appears to have addressed things that might have been taken care of in the original planning of the campus. 

Maybe our community has become too passive in allowing referendums to pass. People my age might faint as we think back to the 1960s when our task was like Sisyphus. So in vain, until finally there was a breakthrough to get the new high school. We had a supt. leave because he was under fire for how he handled school finances. Well, that's a superintendent's whole job. That supt. was the predecessor to Fred Switzer who rightly or wrongly has iconic status in community history. Kind of sad to realize that he saw his job as one of watching every nickel that passed through the school system. 

A fellow advocate of mind with school interests finally said: "Fred did some good things with money but now it's time to do some other things well." This fellow - a sharp attorney BTW - spoke at the time of an unfortunate upheaval in the community over school matters, extracurricular mainly. Or let's say extracurricular was the catalyst. 

At the time I saw a major problem with the underlying culture of the district. We had a group of problem teachers whose normal bad traits were exacerbated by a bunch of layoffs. I'll warn y'all now: now that there is a fresh round of cuts attracting 100 people for a school board meeting, watch for the teaching staff or at least certain teachers to become very embittered. They will retreat into their own little circle. They will try to get everyone in the system to work to the letter of their contract and eschew any good judgment for lifting their little finger beyond that. 

I am the voice of experience in discussing such things. 

The possibility exists that our teachers now are of better character than a certain group of the 1980s. Is it just coincidence that in the years that followed, the board developed a firm policy against hiring spouses of teachers? I know for a fact about the policy. It appears to have been abandoned since. It would be nice to think we don't need such a policy. 

When school employees refuse to even have fun anymore with school activities/extracurricular, it's a firebell in the night. I have always felt that Switzer could have done more to prevent some of the problems. 

 

"Intelligentsia"

A friend told me that Fred had the problem of having to answer to the "intelligentsia" of the Morris community. And I feel that is true. It was an effete element based in UMM mostly although it had tentacles that extended outward. People who made their living in government tended to subscribe to that. Oh "don't ever make a big deal out of sports because that's not what school is about." That was their attitude. And they'd mock people who might have wanted to speak out, as being rather Neanderthal. 

The very good news about today is that I think the intelligentsia has practically disappeared. I feel very comfortable around all the UMM people of today. Our public school really bounced back from its challenged period. But now there's the specter of what "cuts" will do to things, to the performance of people and maybe to the morale of school employees. And don't ever underestimate the effects of the latter. I am 70 years old and I have seen a lot.

Our current superintendent Shane Monson

 

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

Crack open champagne! Band is spared school cuts

I disapprove of such violent imagery for Easter.

 

So it's Easter today, Sunday. Another year, another Easter. I was rather shocked yesterday to receive a communication from a friend about the substantial cuts to our Morris public school coming up. Our reverent thoughts on Easter might be disrupted. 

I'll be selfish here and say I'm relieved that the band program was spared! But holy cow, even the sacred cow of sports is affected. My friend emailed me the whole lengthy list of cuts. Does this have anything to do with how our new U.S. president has been trying to gut the Department or Education, maybe even to wipe it out? 

And in spite of this, I saw a headline on Drudge a couple weeks ago about how Federal spending is higher now than when Biden was president. Can I ask y'all: what all does "conservatism" really mean? 

And so many devout Christians - at least that's how they present themselves - feel that supporting Trump is an extension of their faith. They are offended by "gay rights." And we're now risking a damaging upheaval in this country because so many people got influenced by the "cultural issues." They retreated to church as a way to clutch those cultural issues. 

 

I sense an equilibrium

"Gay rights" has definitely been a phase in America. I think it is subsiding now with greater quiet and a greater sense that gays are human beings who should have legal rights. At the same time, "gay activism" with their flag and all can be tamped down. And as for "trans," that's a different matter for me because I am completely against biological men being able to play on girls and women's teams. It pains me to sound like Trump but there I stand. 

Gay rights? Let's all just "move on." 

In the days when Good Shepherd Church of Morris was new - where does the time go? - the generation of younger adults around Morris could be heard calling it the "gay-bashing church." 

I know for a fact today that Good Shepherd does not desire to "bash" anyone. Someone who I know and respect from that church said to me "gays are welcome to worship at our church." 

Gays cannot expect perfection in their lives. None of us can expect to circulate in a perfect world according to our standards. I fully expect the synod of Good Shepherd to continue having a policy of no gay pastors. I can live with that and I think gays can "turn the other cheek." Of course, pastors are getting very difficult to find. Maybe the day will come when we're all thankful that gays are willing to step forward and be pastors at our churches. 

Look at the story with women: the Lutheran denomination did not allow women pastors until 1970! 1970! I was 15 years old. It's the year I was confirmed at First Lutheran Church of Morris. 

First Lutheran today is barely hanging on. Man, I remember that when I was young, we'd have three services for Easter! Three! Today it's one and I think there's a good chance the sanctuary will not be full. 

First Lutheran belongs to the ELCA which is perceived as liberal. So back when the gay thing was quickly turning into a flashpoint, we lost so much support. Frankly it has been a staggering blow. The late Truman Carlson left us even though his children had been confirmed there. He was a high school teacher - a class of people generally known for being tolerant and progressive. 

The concern I have about gays being pastors is that I think a lot of them would get carried away talking about gay concerns in church. And my rejoinder would simply be: church is not the place to be talking about sexual preference. Gays should be welcome to attend any Christian church and share in the joy of the gospel. A gay rights sermon would alienate me. 

ELCA pastors acted like they felt they needed to talk about gay rights at the time of the transformation. By "transformation" I mean an end to the days when gays felt they were pushed into the closet. And we don't want that. But let's all support personal modesty some and accent the proper priorities of church. 

Morris has three mainstream churches that are struggling now: First Lutheran, Faith Lutheran and Federated. The state of flux itself has become unhealthy. I hope this turns around. 

As for the cuts to our Morris public school, remember that Republicans want to shoot down support for public institutions from Washington D.C., so we'll have to pay for it ourselves. Are you ready for this? Congratulations on "owning the libs." Of course the real actionable agenda for the GOP is more tax cuts for the wealthy, wink.

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

A time to put aside secular concerns like politics

"The fear of the Easter bunny is often related to leporiphobia which is the fear of rabbits." 

 

Maybe I'm a psychic: I have foreseen an all-out attack by our U.S. president on the Federal Reserve. Our top headline today - this day three days before Easter - confirms my feelings. And when DJT launches an attack, he does so with not a trace of the kind of civility or decorum we used to expect from our president. 

Surely you can't dispute me when I say he does this like a seventh grade male bully. A seventh grade male bully "in the lavatory" perhaps. "Lavatory" is an interesting term - I remember it from when I was an elementary school student at Longfellow in west Morris. 

What does it say about our U.S. culture when we no longer expect a president to behave in a dignified and restrained way? Oh, he could still have his agenda which could be aggressive. 

 

What's good for the goose. . .

Since we have so clearly lowered our standards - cheapened our culture - we might expect the same diminished norms for when the political left comes surging back. It will come surging back when Americans' distress over what is happening to them gets extreme. Extreme circumstances call for an uprooting of the regime in power. 

It's unlikely for the "rebellion" as it were to germinate in places like West Central Minnesota. In West Central Minnesota we have a 100 percent sycophant for the Trump regime representing us in Congress. You wouldn't dispute me on that, would you? 

This Sunday is Easter when the devout souls file into the church pews. Too many churches - such a diffuse religion this Christianity is. It has courted peril in the long term by becoming so joined-at-the-hip with MAGA "Make America Great Again." The churches who have tried to stay separated from that now appear on their heels. They are struggling to even survive. 

Those of us in those outlying churches do not connect our faith devotion to DJT, nor would we do this with any political regime. Political regimes come and go even though I realize that Trump and MAGA have been with us for nine years. 

I have tried to write skeptically about Trump like a true journalist right from the start. From when he "came down the escalator." Oh, I was certainly willing to give him a chance. I'd see other skeptics in the news saying "if he actually gets elected he will mature into the role and lead responsibly." What an assumption we were trying to make. But, not an unreasonable assumption. 

Gambling in politics? Well yes, hoping that the best in human nature can win out. Because, surely us Americans will elect fundamentally good people even with their occasional idiosyncrasies. 

He does not belong with Easter

Obviously the worst has come true with Trump. We find that he is a vile and disgusting person, willing to ship people who annoy him (brown-skinned especially) to inhuman foreign prisons without due process. Without due process our American legal system would wither away. I'll remind you it is the cornerstone. 

It has become abundantly clear how DJT and his people manipulate the legal system, play "word games" with it to suit their own ends. Wasn't John Roberts making it abundantly clear that the Court simply wanted the administration to make sure this wrongly-deported man was brought home? So why couldn't DJT have just done it? He had the means as the world's most powerful person. But I don't know, China appears to be catching up to us. 

If DJT lacked the means, the Supreme Court would not have delivered the kind of mandate that it did. 

Will the current situation lead to the genuine "mass deportation camps" that were foreseen in the presidential campaign? Haven't Trump's people spoken openly about such a thing? So we'll end up deporting lots of inexpensive labor. With a resulting rise in prices for us all? 

 

No surprise here

The reason I'm in this little "spiel" on this morning three days before Easter is that our headlines today confirm something that I was sure was going to happen: DJT has begun his absolutely frontal assault on the Federal Reserve and its chairman Jerome Powell. Wow! 

When I was a young person, we learned about the norm of how a president should never make comments about the Federal Reserve. "Don't fight the Fed" was the wisdom. One of the "unwritten rules" of the Beltway. Such rules or norms must have existed for a reason. Now we have a president who pays no attention to any rules, and surely you can see this. "Bull in a china shop" might accurately describe. 

So here's what could happen: Trump finds a way to remove the Fed chairman "for cause." I'll repeat that the Trump movement manipulates and massages the words of our laws. "For cause" is a huge opening but not for a normal and rational leader. DJT will take that guideline and simply say Powell is mentally ill or deranged because his economic judgments are so off base. You think Trump wouldn't do that? 

This will follow the familiar pattern: at first many of us will frown, feel concern and maybe disapprove totally. But we'll go back to our regular lives and then discover that the most absurd scenario happened anyway. And if the sky does not fall immediately, well we'll just go back to our own affairs and not really pay any mind to it. Happens over and over again. It appears to be happening now with the deportations to foreign prisons without due process. 

One step at a time, one brick at a time. Until what? Until true hyperinflation maybe? Yes, this is the biggest danger. Trump will wrest control of "the Fed" because he will insist on lower interest rates. Powell's professional judgment won't matter at all to him. 

 

Mueller, then Powell

Powell will be pushed aside and left to be looking pathetic just like Robert Mueller. Mueller had such a long and distinguished career. Then the Trump people started asserting he had mental decline (the most polite way to put it). Mueller was poking into the Russia connection. After such a commendable career, the guy will now be remembered for his apparent "fumbling" in the probe which was accelerated by Bill Barr's alignment with the Trump people. 

Jerome Powell could be thrown on the same scrap heap. While the American people are left to scramble and maybe panic because of the hyperinflation that could well be coming. You will care when it happens.

 

This is off-limits for yours truly

Easter buffet, for how much?

Easter is in the offing. You can have a nice Easter buffet at a high-end Morris restaurant for $26 on up, so I hear. 

I will go to DeToy's where I'm sure the price is more reasonable. But there are fewer and fewer "middle class" restaurants out there. In fact, haven't you noticed there isn't really a middle class any more? The great American middle class that was formed after the end of WWII? 

Lower interest rates push inflation. Deporting cheap labor pushes inflation. And when all is said and done, all DJT wants really is to be propped up like an authoritarian. We're allowing this. Our congressperson is fine with it. 

So many of us will file into our local "conservative" churches for Easter and be eager to heap more praise on DJT. I'll be at DeToy's eating chicken. I can't have a chocolate bunny because I'm diabetic.

 

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

Wow! First Luth. & Federated to totally share pastor

Pastor Matt Orendorff

Passover weekend for 2025. Christians getting ready for the big event: Easter. 

It's wonderful that "Christ died for our sins," don't get me wrong. But Good Friday has become way to bleak for me. Too much emphasis on violence. We all know what happened. But with this extent of violence as imagined by Mel Gibson? Do we have to accept his view of things? Might he just be following Hollywood's dictum of how violence sells more tickets? 

Conservative Christians are usually the type of people who are skeptical about Hollywood. Maybe it only applies to certain issues. 

It is Saturday and I visited one of the more progressive churches of Morris this morning. That's Federated in the neighborhood of the public school. I had a breakfast roll and then broke down and had a piece of apple pie. I'm a diabetic but hey we're talking apples aren't we? 

An acquaintance stopped at my table and said "I'll let you in on something." Now, don't you know that's music to my ears? Quite big news from this individual: My First Lutheran Church (FLC) along with Federated will share the same pastor starting May 4. It will be Pastor Matt who is established with Federated now, has been for several years. He's qualified to serve an ELCA Lutheran church. 

I really don't know the details of matters like this. Matt has subbed with my FLC from time to time. Seems like an agreeable fellow, competent if not charismatic. Has roots in Wisconsin. 

FLC has been sort of treading water. Pastor Dan retired and then Pastor Rich came on as interim, but then he left prematurely. Rich had to be closer to his wife who has health issues, we were told. Well my goodness, our churches are full of older people who confront a variety of health issues. I hope the younger people understand. 

 

First Lutheran Church, Morris

Ready to join hands?

Will FLC be comfortable sharing a pastor fully with the Methodist Church in town? Actually Federated is blended with the UMC and UCC, the latter being United Church of Christ which I know nothing about. I have no interest in getting into the nuts and bolts of such things. The Methodists have been fractured by - you know - the whole gay thing. What a price the organized Christian faith has had to pay in America. 

FLC of the ELCA has had to deal with the headwinds of the ELCA getting caught up not only in gay rights but in "progressivism" in general. I liked Pastor Dan but I know he rankled some of our "conservative" folks. You have to be careful today saying things like "I am my brother's keeper." Also, as I have reported before, pastors across the USA have found that maybe it's best not to quote from Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount. It has been reported that pastors get harsh feedback from the people who can get so prickly on political matters. 

You know who you are, all you people who listen to "conservative radio." And you can sure fill your plate with the "podcast" world, n'est-ce pas? I can't believe how some people want to listen to this stuff for hours on end. Some people are prepared to confront Christ Himself. Well, there was a lot of that happening with the crucifixion. Nailed to the cross. That's violent enough but then there's the Mel Gibson movie. 

Hollywood! And I thought all you conservative types looked down on Hollywood. I guess you're selective. And Jesus Christ could sound a little like Bernie Sanders sometimes. So that's the problem. I will take the side of JC anytime. And I don't think JC would look down on me because I am a skeptic of Donald Trump. Would JC be approving of the kind of life lived by Donald Trump? At present, shunning the justices of the Supreme Court who said his administration ought to return a man sent to a wicked foreign prison due to an "administrative error." 

Can you believe it? And that's your guy? 

Federated Church, Morris

My feeling this a.m. as the news sinks in about First Lutheran and Federated, is that there will be a letdown probably felt at both churches. Each will lose some of its identity in the community. 

I think a sense of identity is vital for a church. Will Pastor Matt give the same sermon at both churches? Well then what's the point of having two separate churches, of having him go through that so slavishly? And he'll have to pretend he's so devoted to both churches. He'll try to make it real I'm sure. 

But don't we expect a pastor to be focused on a single church, to be a fixture within that church and its building? The FLC building looks more dated all the time. Its designer seemed to go out of his way to put steps and stairs in as many places as possible. Imagine being so detached from concerns related to handicapped and elderly. But that's the way it was in an earlier time. Can the FLC building be considered an outright albatross now? 

When I bring my annual check into the FLC office, will the $ go to the two different churches? I mean, we're sharing a pastor. Not sure I go for that. 

 

Beacon to the north?

I keep hearing reports that Good Shepherd is growing and thriving. Not only that, it appears to be mellowing. No, you'll never see a gay pastor at our LCMC churches! Nor will you hear any public talk there about being sympathetic to gay people. Certainly no gay activism! Heavens. But is there a truly harsh or condemning attitude toward gays? I gather the answer is "no." 

A Good Shepherd member in good standing told me "gays are welcome to worship at our church." 

I am not gay but I'm rather inclined to support Bernie Sanders. And I would feel comfortable based on all the vibes to attend an LCMC church like Good Shepherd. 

Faith Lutheran Church, Morris

So maybe the answer now is to just have the thriving Good Shepherd Church "swallow up" First Lutheran, Federated and maybe even Faith Lutheran. Faith Lutheran has a reputation of having lots of young families. But Faith has the stigma of being part of the ELCA. That might be hard to overcome. The Faith building is nice but the surrounding area seems in places like Europe at the end of WWII. Enough to make me less than enthused to even go over there. 

How about a new megachurch for all the Lutherans? Maybe not Wisconsin or Missouri Synods but most of the others. Couldn't we all just be one big happy family? I guess that's my theme for today on this Saturday of Palm Sunday weekend. I have no desire to see images of Jesus Christ under total torture. I'll happily come back to church after Easter.

 

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

Our leaders prefer observing this train wreck

Appears to be cowering: Chief Justice Roberts

OK so here's a headline on this Wednesday morning in the merry times of DJT's first year (of the second time around, because one time was not enough): "DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors." 

Now who could have expected this? And is it something you can just take in stride? With a shrug? Is it something you can reconcile with your Christian faith if you are a Christian? What kind of Christian are you? A MAGA Christian? There are lots of those here in windswept West Central Minnesota. 

No one knew the farm bill better than Collin Peterson. We had to toss him out. People were overwhelmed by the right wing salesmanship of DJT and those who decided to line up behind him. They have now placed the U.S. judiciary hugely on the defensive. DJT has re-aligned the top court of the land so that it's a reliable refuge for him when the standard professional courts and judges are not doing his bidding. 

Trump wants a big "military parade" on his birthday. You know what this is going to look like to the rest of the world, don't you? It will remind so much of when the autocracy of mid-20th Century Germany was building up. The total glorification of a charismatic leader, a leader who strives to bulldoze past our standard legal system with its measured non-political judgments. He wants everything to be political now, to be reverential toward him. 

We are passive in accepting. On a subconscious level assuredly we feel some rejection of, see the absurdity of so much. 

We are waiting for what exactly? For a real crisis that affects the welfare of our families? Like new bursts of inflation caused by the tariffs? And it's not just the tariffs coming into play. DJT keeps talking about how essential lower interest rates are. There will always be cheerleaders for lower interest rates. The problem is the specter of more inflation. An accompanying problem is the devaluation of our currency. 

People seemed to be pretty upset about rising prices before all this started. I'm right on that, aren't I? Are you such a sucker for all the verbiage from the Orange Man that you can live with more real financial distress? Many experts think DJT wants a serious recession because it would force interest rates lower. 

Man, I remember the days when it was an unwritten rule in Washington D.C. that elected leaders should not comment directly on the Fed. Just "zip it." Respect the "independence" of the Fed. You've heard the expression I'm sure, "don't fight the Fed." Seriously, and I implore you, don't you think the various "unwritten rules" existed for a reason? It's obvious Trump would respect none of those. Maybe that's why a lot of you voted for him. 

 

Good Shepherd Lutheran

Thinking as a bloc

Is there even one person at our local Good Shepherd Church of rural Morris who voted Democratic? Wouldn't even allow Collin Peterson to stay? You're that intransigent? And Peterson suffered a serious blow by just posing for a nice photo shoulder-to-shoulder with Nancy Pelosi. Both smiling so nice, and y'all were revulsed by that. You have to try to "own the libs" all the time. 

And now I'm sure you have joined the chorus of the MAGA elites saying we have to wipe out DEI on college campuses. Which would have what effect locally? Y'all know that UMM virtually stands for DEI. It broadcasts DEI or it "bleeds" DEI to use the description offered by a local lawyer friend of mine who like me has been an advocate for UMM. 

In my case I am inextricably tied to UMM because of my family history. My family fund for UMM honors my late parents - I am just the one pulling the strings because I am the lone survivor. I live alone on the family homestead along Northridge Drive, in a house that is much too big for one person. I will stay here for as long as I can. Man, aren't property taxes something? Aren't the homeowners insurance premiums something? Or how about car insurance? 

 

Only one direction

And all prices are simply headed up all the time. Now with tariffs and Trump's strong-arming of the Fed for lower interest rates, what a picnic we will have with even more drastic inflation, n'est-ce pas? I think the Roman empire collapsed because of such things. Looks like y'all basically don't care much yet. I do but I have always been sort of an outlier in this town. 

I stick with First Lutheran Church (FLC). Now there's talk of a possible "two-point parish" with FLC joining with the Methodist folks of Federated Church. We're slipping, losing ground. Largely I think this is because FLC, Federated and Faith Lutheran have not joined the wave of MAGA enthusiasm that has come to be associated with the American Christian church. 

First Lutheran Church

Are we dying? Sometimes I have sensed a breath of hope for my FLC. How strange that FLC was once the epitome of mainstream religious commitment in Morris. We had so many "community leaders" in our midst. They irritated me sometimes. Then again, I really didn't go to church for about 30 years. My parents most certainly did. 

Today I strive to be reverent at FLC even though we are hugely on the defensive for being "liberal." Is there any more grave sin in America now that to be liberal? I would gag if I even considered the word "woke." Alas, such is our lot in life to be basically outcasts. 

 

We love UMM

Whither our local college

Can UMN-Morris even continue operating in the age of the aggressively anti-woke Trump and MAGA? You don't dare even say anything sympathetic about the Palestinians now. Looks like the Supreme Court is allowing deportations to foreign prisons just on whims. Again, 1930s Germany. Well of course it is. 

Justice Roberts could be a real hero now. He has chosen not to be.

Regarding a lot of these people, I feel tempted to say "may God have mercy on your soul."

  

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

Time passes and we have to feel for Anne more

In the eye of the storm, I guess: Anne Hennen-Barber

We should all commend Anne Barber for being "in the arena." That's an expression for people whose activities are high-profile and can become matters of contention. The opposite approach in life would be to retreat into privacy. Most people would prefer the latter. 

"Contention" would appear to describe the state of affairs that Ms. Barber is in now. And the more time passes, the more I get into her corner. I told the guys at coffee this morning "I strongly doubt that Anne did anything willful that was really bad." 

But I had to add "you can never be sure about people, even those you swear are saintly." And therein lies the crux of the problem, I guess: the complete lack of elucidation by city officials. We learn through the very lame Morris media about "closed meetings." In the short term I could understand a closed meeting or two. But by now the public should have been able to learn more. 

The problem in not communicating is that it opens the door for the worst small town behavior. You know how "Peyton Place" can be, don't you? Unless some big revelation comes down about Anne having done something bad as opposed to maybe an oversight or two, well I'm on her side. I have known her a long time and it has been an enjoyable bond. I photographed her when she was in elementary school. 

I have known her parents. Her mom Dorothy Hennen-Barber is deceased and was much-loved. I understand her father Curt has health issues these days, and that can be said of many of my old contemporaries. One reason I stopped writing my annual Christmas song was that my Christmas email list included so many people who had died or were falling into very bad health. It was too much. I had an email bounce back to me once because the person had recently had a stroke. Some of these contacts are a little distant from me now. 

 

J'accuse

At this point I have to come down quite hard on our city government. Maybe I should indict the local media too: way too much ":puffy" coverage of harmless feel-good subjects. Jim Morrison would smile at that thought. A smile in agreement. I remember an editor that Jim upbraided once because he felt the editor needed to spend "more time developing story leads." Translation: roll up your sleeves, get into some messy subjects where people don't want to talk to you. 

We have seen the matter of our librarian devolve into what I have called a "pissing match" online. So, conflicts are growing between people who otherwise might get along. And in a small town we always have the angle of personal friendships, loyalty and cliques. 

Man oh man, have I seen this angle come into play through the years, especially in regard to our public school. We hire a new superintendent after a big celebrated search process including a big reception at Sunwood Inn where there were so many suits and ties, then we hire a guy and he ends up completely hamstrung by the influences of established cliques and "good old boys." The supt. of whom I speak is the late Dennis Rettke. On a personal level I got along great with the guy, but who knows what all words were spoken behind my back. 

I have never met the Morris city manager. There is no way I would pre-judge that person. Nor would I be influenced in my basic reasoning process by my long friendship with Anne. And I wonder if Jon Taffer of "Bar Rescue" could have saved Stone's Throw Restaurant. The business relied a lot on people close to higher education. A friend teases this group by calling them "the NPR crowd" and I have borrowed that. 

But right now, right on this Sunday morning there is a "firebell in the night" having arisen for our UMN-Morris. 

 

Storm clouds are real

Will you miss UMM if it's gone? I mean, even if you disapproved of the male person as Homecoming "queen?" I think we'd all miss it dearly. I awoke basically in the middle of the night, checked the current news and found out that Brown University was taking a huge financial hit because of the same charges that could be made about UMM. And UMM does not disguise its philosophy at all. Don't think the Stephen Millers of the world do not notice. 

I am very serious here: It has gotten to where I seriously think that UMM will not be able to open its doors next fall. To survive at all the place might have to grope to totally re-invent itself, and I think that would be very difficult in a short time frame. All this happens while the tariffs loom too. 

We could extricate ourselves by persuading our elected representatives to impeach Trump. Now, how do you suppose that suggestion would go over with Michelle Fischbach? But we elected her and so we must be comfortable with her. Or have y'all just developed a phobia with "Democrats?" Turn off "talk radio," please. 

Donald Trump will live very comfortably the rest of his life. It could even be in Russia. In the meantime our nation should be able to easily find new leadership, maybe someone like Mitt Romney. He would be sensible, mature and basically honest. 

But whither the Morris library and its current distress? Did our city council and mayor really have to allow this untidy matter to "hang out there" in a way that arouses suspicions about the library director? She does not deserve this ambiguity. We should all sympathize with her. 

Also, the city council should not have allowed the East Side Park project to be "sprung" on us in such a short time frame. I think that was the whole problem: the public felt disrespected, short-changed. Get it out there for appropriate public feedback. Maybe we would have been OK with it. 

Killoran stage, East Side Park

A person with a petition came to my front door. The first thing I said was "I hope you don't mind that I'm in my boxer shorts." She didn't, or she didn't say she did. I did not sign it. I respect the NextGen group. 

Can the city address the problem of the Killoran stage having sat for seemingly eons at East Side Park with negligible use? And the place costs money to maintain. 

If the city manager is having kittens over the library expenses now, maybe she and others should direct attention to the Killoran thing which isn't just a "stage," it is a "building." And it's in a park - parks are intended as "open spaces." 

I have been trying to get to the bottom of the current library matter. Trying to sense if Anne will be exonerated. Maybe I have made some progress. Here's an email I got from a friend this past week:

You are right about this being all blown out of proportion. It should have been handled by the Library Board, but they weren’t even included in any of it! HR also could have been involved but weren’t. To just march into the library and demand that Anne leave is reprehensible. A power move by a little tin god who is hell-bent on flexing her muscles the only way she can. I talked to a county commissioner who said the city manager was furious when the county refused to pay more to Viking Library System (the county already pays $70,000), so it looks like she’s getting her revenge by punishing the library. She doesn’t dare do anything to the employees, because they have a union.

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