The eyes have it? Who really knows, at the DMV

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From an email I sent to Jim Morrison:

I see where Hancock bank has been bought by "Star Bank." If I still had an account at Hancock, it would be my third bank that underwent change in ownership. This is stressful. I am speculating that most of these sales are by banks that can no longer handle mounting number of "regulations." This is what I was told after the State Farm Bank sale to U.S. Bank. 

You'll recall that I bailed on the Hancock Bank after I had to wait two weeks to get my semi-annual interest payment check in the mail. Never again will I set up an arrangement to get a paper check in the mail!

I made a couple trips into Hancock while I had my account there, and the downtown section sure does not impress me, looks seedy actually. 

I see where Katie Erdman and her sister Joyce are BOTH working at the DMV in Morris now. Yes, at "Doc Watson's" old building. That dates us! 

DMV is lucky to get the Van Eps girls as a tag team. I think that's pretty thankless work. It was a miracle visit for me, as there was no mention of the "vision test." The postcard I had gotten about this visit said I'd have to take the eye test. This is the reason I will not buy a new car. I don't want to spend $40,000 on a new car and then find six months later that I've lost my license. My theory is that the state may be backing off on the vision test. It must be stressful and time-consuming for the employees, and not really worth the trouble. I had been informed that the state is not a "stickler" on this anyway. But I can't take the chance of buying a new car. So eventually I'll be walking.

There was such a spate of articles recently quoting people saying there'd be six interest rate cuts this year. Scared the hell out of me. We'd be back to QE easily, so why did the Fed raise rates to begin with? What was the point? Now there are voices of skepticism about the Fed doing their cuts. So I don't know what to think, but I have three CDs maturing in November and December, and I don't want interest to be down at zero by then. I also do not want to cash in early.

If Trump gets back in power, he will seize control of the Fed. And then what?

 

January 28 is the day!

I shared with Jim, whose family are U benefactors also:

If I did not give $ to the U, I wouldn't get any birthday cards. As it is I got more than one. I'm paying a lot for these.

(end of quoted email)

 

Eye on the news, always

Let us scan the headlines and share some reactions. Here's a comment I shared with a Yahoo! News article:

If people begin to sense that Trump's re-election is becoming imminent, will we start hearing about people leaving the country to protect themselves? I mean, think of people like "Joe and Mika" and Lawrence O'Donnell. Fearing retribution from a president who could begin to enact legal measures.

Response from "Squirt Nelson":

They will not sense that, since it is not true. I want to see what the red hats will do when they start to realize that the USA will not let Trump pollute that worthy office ever again.

Response from "Chief":

Brian, you better start packing.

 

I seek to ring alarm bells about Trump:

I hope something really bad does not have to happen to America to have all the MAGA people start waking up. What might happen? Well if Trump were to take control of the Federal Reserve, because Trump would insist on taking control of everything. This could be catastrophic. I remember a news person reporting when Trump was in office "it is unclear if the president can remove the chair of the Federal Reserve." Translation: Trump would want to do it. Then he'd succeed because that's the way all these things turn out. President could fire Fed chair only based on "cause?" Well, drive a truck through that.

 

Response from "Judy":

Trump should also never be allowed to have the nuclear codes again!...he's too 'unstable' and dangerous!

Response from "Kelly:"

MAGA people are in a drug-induced cultist coma. They will NEVER wake up.

 

Not in the rear view mirror?

A comment I submitted to Yahoo! News on Jan. 16:

When Trump says something, believe it. Problem is, we get numb, the boiling frog thing or whatever. Republicans must ask themselves if they're really happy being in this Trump fan club or if they are ready to accept the real world consequences of Trump getting back in office. Repeal Obamacare? Trump has started talking about that again. Or to follow Mike Lee and get rid of Social Security completely? Don't you wonder if these are real tangible goals of Republicans, not just talk? Pause and think please.

 

Response from "Michael":

Republicans said for years they would overturn Roe vs. Wade, which I don't think most Americans took seriously. Look what happened...? Believe everything Trump says he will do, and unless you want to live in a police state - keeping in mind that, while you might think you would initially benefit from Trump's policies (I'm looking at you white male with a high school education) - in a police state, no one is safe. 

"Susan" responded:

I know people who focus on one or two issues, like "immigration" and "gas prices" as their primary reason to despise Biden and think that things were so great when Trump was in office. Never mind that for 1-1/2 years we were in the throes of a pandemic and nobody was driving or buying gasoline, so a surplus piled up and prices dropped. 

From "CJ":

Obamacare is a farce! There are many who took it out to find that they have had to pay back thousands & the doctors who accept it are getting fewer plus the quality of care. It is not the answer. 

"Real" responded:

Trump is going to talk a little too much. He's going to incriminate himself and not be able to skate around it. 

From "James":

"If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan you can keep your plan."A typical family's premium will be cut by more than $2500." Yet after ten years they have more than doubled. Lies and then failure. Shove your plan. 

Hearing from "Saul":

Well, there is "bottom", and then there is "rock bottom". Perhaps we have not reached rock bottom yet. Perhaps it will take 4 more years of Trump to reach it. Perhaps no "Obamacare" and less SS and higher prices due to tariffs and isolationism will make people realize that Trump offers no "magic bullet". 

 

My thoughts on Nikki Haley:

I would breathe such a huge sigh of relief if Haley could just gain the positive momentum in this race. And I probably wouldn't vote for her in the general. But right now I say "you go girl." And I really mean that. Trump hovers over this whole nation like a horrible specter right now, found responsible for sexual assault etc.

 

"ArthurMorgan" responded:

It's his cult of completely deplorable and soulless people. 

 

Thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

My comment to Yahoo! News on the Benson High School school nickname matter:

We have this issue going on where I live in West Central Minnesota: Benson High School, the "Braves." Right now, looks like a tug of war between the school and the state, as the school would want the state to pay the considerable cost of changing the mascot. The state has passed a law like so many other states have. I am not aware of any serious talk about how the school might defy the state, but this article is interesting. 

 

Someone who goes by "me" responded:

Unconstitutional law restricting speech.

Here's the response from "Thomas":

Same thing here in SE Michigan where the School Board is forcing our local High School to change from the Chiefs. Last time I checked there's still one professional football team with the SAME NAME! 

"JW" responded:

There are a few schools left in Minnesota like Benson that haven't changed yet. I hope this article helps maintain these mascots because I like seeing local communities really behind the name of the Natives that MN honors on the flag and as school mascots. 

 

My comment on the Claudine Gay alleged plagiarism story:

From the standpoint of journalism, I decided long ago that a plagiarism story should not be a "story" for the media unless an aggrieved party has taken legal action. Otherwise there can be too much gray area. A legal action makes it a real allegation, and that's what media can follow up on. We must be suspicious that plagiarism accusations often come from people with an ax to grind. 

 

"Thanatos" responded:

One of the people she stole from has accused her. The media refuses to feature this though, because the accuser is black and that completely ruins the narrative they have going.

 

Here I share perspective in the aftermath of the E. Jean Carroll story:

And to think that Ronald Reagan was considered a risky nominee because he had been divorced.

 

The commenter named "me" responded:

I thought he was risky because of "Bedtime for Bonzo."  

A response from "Bill": 

Yes, how quaint those old days are now! That was when Christian conservatives mostly acted like true Christians. Nowadays they don't even pretend. Trump is their new Messiah.

Response from "Matthew":

That was back when the GOP base actually pretended to be religious. Now they just say they are and do not even bother faking it. 

 

My comment on how Trump's lawyers always buy time:

Let's just cut to the chase here: Give lawyers enough TIME and they can rebut any argument. To look at it another way, they can take something that is simple and make it complicated. I think even a lot of us people out here in Flyoverland can see this pretty clearly.

 

"Kenneth" responded:

Maybe true, but then why didn’t any prosecutor charge insurrection against anyone.  

 

My comment on the nascent Dean Phillips campaign:

Am I missing something? Has Phillips delivered a rally type of public speech yet? Isn't this a minimal requirement of a true presidential hopeful? Trump of course has given us that in spades. He talks even when he should shut up. 

 

"Trev" responded:

He had a meet and greet a week ago and no one showed up..he ended up serving his help with the coffee and cakes bought for the event.

 

Asa Hutchinson - I like the guy

My thoughts on Asa Hutchinson and his struggling within GOP:

Hutchinson, such a classy person, yet Laura Ingraham of you-know-which cable network laughed at the guy, for a feeble turnout at his "town hall" events. I saw a photo from one of those events and yes the turnout was small, but there sat Hutchinson showing a genuine interest in talking with the people. He wasn't troubled at all. Why do the Laura Ingrahams of the world behave the way they do? We need more pols like Asa Hutchinson.

 

"Cara" responded:

Because her show is entertainment and that is what her viewers want. They don't want someone who is genuinely interested in their perspective. They want someone to shout and call names and put on a dog and pony show.

"Tired of the hate" responded:

LOL! The fringe right's token piece of evidence for voter fraud is that it wasn't possible for Biden to be elected becasue Trump's rallies were supposedly so large and Biden had virtually none. But now all of the sudden rallies are unimportant?

From "Jason":

They behave that way because it is exactly what their viewers want. If they acted professional and delivered the news in a fair and balanced way, they would have similar ratings as NPR. Which says a lot about our culture and none of it good.

 

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

Morris newspaper part of an eroding landscape

(Hollywood Reporter image)

The headwinds have not let up for the legacy media industry. People my age have felt that whatever headwinds were out there, the legacy products would be there. Even at the hyper-local level? The Morris newspaper has in fact been through cuts. So the question is whether the causes of that will continue having a corrosive force. 

Looks to me like the "Canary" publication is a mere shadow of its former self. Hasn't that been an integral part of the business? 

The publisher writes ad nauseam about how we all need to support the paper with our business. Rather a self-interested person, n'est-ce pas? I gather from some of his extended writing that he'd like to see government help. Special favors for newspapers because they're so important. Again, people my age might be receptive because we are so accustomed to the "local paper." 

We want to continue assuming there will be an adequate base for the paper's continued existence, somehow. 

Somehow. The Morris paper published twice a week when I was there for my 27-year career. We all knew it was difficult to maintain this regimen. We had a visitor from the Wadena paper during our time under Fargo Forum ownership. He sort of wondered how we did it. I recall Jim Morrison saying something to the effect "we just do." It was definitely like sausage-making sometimes. We bore down and filled the space with product that at least reflected our sweat. 

 

Out of proportion

I look back and I know clear as day that we put out way too much "sports." Do not think that aspect escaped me. Relatively speaking, sports material is easy to obtain and process. Relative to alternative types of news. So it's easy to get that ball rolling and to keep it that way. 

Two issues of the paper every week! Yes it looks even more daunting now in retrospect. 

The times were so different, our UMM did not even think it essential to have a sports communications bureau. I am making a factual statement here, even though it sounds rather like a diss of UMM. I have no such intent. The UMM athletic director at the time would not dispute me if I said UMM had a sports info department in name only. The department would consist of an assistant football coach who was gone recruiting most of the time anyway. I remember one of these people with the last name Powell, another Griffin. Probably did fine work as it was spelled out for them. 

No finger-pointing intended here, not at the AD or administration even. The administration assessed the institution's needs and priorities at the time. I think it's accurate to say that Jack Imholte "the Silver Fox" did not prioritize PR outreach with a media bureau of some type, whereas today it's a huge priority for UMM to have its dynamic "website."

Jack Imholte "the Silver Fox"

I'll emphasize again that times have simply changed. Call it a sea change. In Imholte's time I don't think "selling" the campus with PR ranked up there, might in fact have been seen as a little crass. UMM was completely about the lofty ideal of liberal arts instruction. In fact - this was always strange - UMM was schizophrenic on athletics, happy for some of the obvious success we attained at times, while wanting to send the message "we're not about athletics, and we're prepared to pull the rug out from under sports if that becomes essential for showing how committed we are to academics." 

Let me just giggle here for a moment. Today I think UMM will do whatever it takes to simply sell itself. If sports can figure in with such a regime, well let's pump up sports unapologetically. And that's what UMM does now even with competitive standards considerably lower than when it was in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. We had bigger and stronger athletes then. Now we've fallen to a level where we can hold our own, and no one is going to notice, right? Are the young people having a good time? Well it appears so. So congrats UMM, not that you won't continue to face considerable headwinds, because I'm sure you are. 

 

A self-starter

Sea change! I'm talking now about media coverage of UMM sports. And this is accomplished with 100 percent precision and quality without the legacy media involved at all! Not one bit! How would Jack Imholte "the Silver Fox" react to this? Dumbfounded maybe? All the bells and whistles are with UMM's own "website." 

Website? No such animal in Imholte's days. And here's a super big irony, mind-boggling: in spite of UMM having all its sports media needs met by its own website - I mean 100 percent - take a look at the Morris newspaper's website. Really. Look, the sports link there is dominated nearly 100 percent by UMM sports! It's a terrible redundancy. The paper could have a lively and valuable outlet for showering attention on our many MACA teams (and of course MBA and MAHACA).  

So many teams, so many kids. 

The little MACA coverage you find on the newspaper's website is old, of little or no value. So why don't people speak up about this? Maybe the paper does get calls. I don't know what the person in charge would say. Our boys basketball team played an exciting game against Osakis on Monday night. We happened to lose in the very close final score. I struggled reporting on that game myself. For my blog post, I found some game info from the Alexandria newspaper website. I was thankful to even find that. 

One big problem is that my source material included no names of MACA players and none of their stats. I put up a post as best I could, a post that included no mention of MACA individuals. And of course that was a problem. Has the Morris newspaper even reported on that game yet? We're supposed to wait until next Tuesday?

I know of a former Morris school administrator who would lose his temper over this. Of course, losing one's temper is never a constructive thing. That's another matter to weigh here I guess. Meanwhile yours truly keeps his cool. (My post on the Osakis game is on "I Love Morris.")

Newspapers are erecting more barriers, not less, for the stuff they are willing to post online. My old "tricks" for accessing the West Central Tribune website aren't working now. And you won't find much MACA material there anyway, hardly any really. 

The Willmar newspaper has been sent reeling from all the corrosive changes for the newspaper industry. The industry is slowly losing its creds. People my age assume it will always be around. But stop and consider the retrenchment that has already happened. 

On this Friday morning I have a "Drudge Report" article in front of me on my laptop screen, an article updating on how the legacy media continues to be thrown on its heels. Change continues unabated. So look for Reed to keep on pleading for financial support of his business, maybe to the point where he and others are groveling at our feet. Maybe we're there now.

Addendum: Anfinson argues that newspapers need special help because they are "watchdogs" on government. But this is not a given! I would argue that the Morris paper itself is no "watchdog." I have half-joked that "lapdog" is more like it. So the argument is just rhetorical? Anyway, there is no assurance that a community paper anywhere will behave like a watchdog, because they are free to be the total opposite if they wish. 

So government should grant no special favors for newspapers. In fact, I can't think of anything worse than a symbiotic relationship between newspapers and the government. We are awash in "media" now, inundated, with no special need for the paper media at all. If the paper media in various forms can continue to hold their own, all the more power to them. They'll have to fend for themselves.

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

Should we imagine Rod Serling's voice intoning?

"Twilight Zone" image from "TV insider"

Are we living in an episode of the old "Twilight Zone?" Am I surrounded by people who have been afflicted with something? And somehow I escaped that? So I am left having to circulate and try to survive among such folks? The old Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, who had her marriage severed because of her peculiarities or fixation, is in the news this morning saying Nikki Haley is an "election denier" because she won't concede to Trump. 

Every day such stories bounce around. And we in Morris are surely in "red territory" where we'll find apologists everywhere for Trump. I'm sure certain area churches keep people in line. Just threaten them with punishment in the hereafter. Threaten them with being accessories to murder or some such thing if they don't keep pushing for the "nationwide abortion ban." Lindsey Graham will get emotionally angry at those with a more flexible view of the issue. He's from South Carolina. 

Shouldn't it be dawning on a lot of you now that a part of what is going on here, possibly a big part, is the push by states of the "old Confederacy." They want to upset the apple cart of the United States of America. Commentator John Harwood is a rare voice who is direct about this. Study your history. Know the peculiarities of Southern people. They are impulsive, lack patience. Maybe that's why the South did so well early in the Civil War. 

I found this interpretation of history once: it was easy for the South to get overconfident as the war started. People in the North are not so impulsive. They are more deliberate and take more time to plan. Hence the South could have been warned early-on that once the North made up its mind and truly mobilized with the considerable resources needed to win the war, well look out. That's exactly what happened. 

At present look at the emotions in the moment shown by Marjorie Taylor Greene and some others. Truly maniacal stuff, emotional and impulsive. Greene is from Georgia. We have the truly weird Matt Gaetz of Florida. 

 

Eye on Dakotas

It is true that Republicans have owned the Dakotas in recent years. But people over to the west of us are not the same, not the same type of human beings as Southerners. I often wonder how people in the Dakotas react to the Deep South brand of conservatism and the Republican Party there - there is a cultural contrast. 

I cross my fingers for a resurgence by Democrats in North and South Dakota. Maybe people will realize that Democrats will fight so much harder for property tax relief. People will realize that this issue affects them more than whether the government should ban books, the way the current "red" crowd advocates for. Can the notorious AM Radio just change its spots a little? I mean, such a totally predictable tone to all the comments day to day around the radio dial? 

Hardly magnanimous

Why do people listen when it's so predictable? Bash Biden in total disrespectful terms, mock him etc. But talk up Trump almost to the point where he's deified. Trump unquestionably shows cognitive issues. Probably beyond any that Biden has shown. 

I think what's gong on with Nikki Haley is the same as for Mitt Romney: they have fundamentally conservative values, yes, but more than anything they would be capable managers. Steady managers, true executives seeking a steady course with leadership, taking care of the people. And this isn't consistent with the ideological and emotional tenor of "conservative media" or the "conservative entertainment complex." David Frum was worried about this way back in 2012. 

Looking back, I think Romney lost because he felt he had to kow-tow some to the inflammatory voices of conservative media. He did not have to go on the Mike Huckabee TV show. He wasn't the kind of guy who was going to win a lot of praise from extreme conservatives. But by kow-towing, saying for example he was in favor of the Human Life Amendment, he alienated moderate folks who were tepid about such stuff. Romney could have become a president much like Ronald Reagan. He needed more of a spine to stay way from the Fox News crowd. 

And hey, many of the strident voices in conservative media don't even believe their own pronouncements, I assure you. They are self-interested opportunists. Example: Tucker Carlson was once known to speak for the "moderate" element in the Republican Party. Well if he did that, it was because he sensed that it worked for him at the time. I assure you that this is the compass of such people. They are professionals. Carlson later became unhinged from the extreme right or let's just say MAGA. So he became a huge proponent of Russia's aims. Trump and Putin have tight affinity with each other, of course. And Putin now hints that his country might want Alaska back. He suggests that the agreement for the U.S. purchase was illegal. 

Illegal? Has this complication ever stopped Trump from at least fighting like hell, even against a poor woman like E. Jean Carroll? What about chivalry? What about men wanting to be gentle with women, not wanting to insult them all over the place, or to "objectify" them in a way that makes Trump want to have sex with a curvy porn star? And then to try to pay her off? And this is a man put on a pedestal, practically if not literally deified by conservative churches like those in our Morris area? 

I have tried having conversations with some of these people. I have had friends drift away from me. I get put down for having "Trump derangement syndrome." Can a person not just finally get angry at what you see sometimes from the political right? And from our right-leaning churches like those with the LCMC out here in Western Minnesota?

 

New Hampshire news

My God, Trump won yesterday in New Hampshire. But he's talking anything like a winner on the day after. Magnanimous toward an opponent? A woman? Simple courtesy? Chivalry? These arguments fall on deaf ears with my MAGA acquaintances. 

What happens when Trump descends on the White House again and we start hearing about people disappearing? It sounds outlandish now like so many things with Trump. At first we say "oh that's ridiculous." Like overturning Roe vs. Wade. 50 years of precedent. Kavanaugh made a pledge to the pathetic Susan Collins of Maine. And just see what happens as the dominoes fall. 

We are headed there again: the nightmare of Donald Trump holding the highest office in the land. Mitt Romney and Nikki Haley are left in a cloud of dust. 

New Hampshire is a northern state with a reputation of independent thinking., Now that this state has "fallen," it's all over, I fear. I might imagine Rod Serling's voice in the back of my mind (from "The Twilight Zone").

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