Isn't "happy holidays" just innocent?

Soon we will discover if the Republican presidential candidate will succeed with playing on people's emotions. People who are scared, insecure, wishing we'd return to an America that never existed in the first place. And so the insecure folks feel we need to fear the expression "happy holidays." 

Let me insert that in the real world, which is the one that I assume most of us inhabit, there is no impulse to groan when hearing "happy holidays." An element of the Republican Party wants us to feel defensive about this, threatened by this. 

You know what I miss about Christmas? I miss going to the shopping mall in Alexandria like on the day after Thanksgiving. The atmosphere and ambiance (shall we call it) instilled cheer. It was therapeutic to be there even if you weren't going to be giving your checkbook a workout. 

I'm thinking of the days when we all routinely wrote paper checks, as a way of life. Today the plastic cards are out and about. It's a nice new norm and I'm comfortable with that. 

Actually I rather dread those rare occasions when I write out a paper check now. In this digital age when so much of our official business is handled in a neatly typed way, well we wonder why we ever put up with our physician's lousy handwriting on prescriptions. (Rim shot) 

Seriously, the pervasive nature of typed info with its obvious precision makes it seem almost risky to write things out in pen and ink. You find this to be the case? Writing checks used to be so routine. Today I'm worried if my cursive writing is really going to be reliable enough. And do you find yourself staring at a check several times to make sure everything is just so? Including the date? 

I think back when we wrote checks more routinely we kept track of the date better. A curious thought I sometimes have these days: Man, am I going to remember what year we're in? I have to think twice. As an absolute safeguard I'll call up "today's date" on my laptop to be totally sure of the date and the year. I'd be so embarrassed if I got something wrong. 

Simply writing cursive is becoming ever more a dinosaur thing. Schools don't even teach it now? Really? Well you'd have to know it if you're a U.S. Postal Service employee, or heaven help us. 

I find I have developed a "hybrid" way of writing with pen and ink. Some words or letters I'll write cursive and I'll print the others. For example, I feel more comfortable printing the capital "F". I wonder if people who read my writing even notice it. But I don't do it often, at least for others to read. I take notes and write first drafts of these online missives in longhand - I'm the only one who sees it. So you'd think I'd be comfortable with it. I'm really not. 

Some of my personal handwriting traits are idiosyncratic. Let's put it this way: my own personal shorthand sometimes. 

Remember "Herberger's?"

I have had occasion to visit Viking Plaza Mall a couple times over the recent past. It is absolutely a ghost of its former self, of what I remember from its public heyday. I look around and just conjure up visions of what it used to be like. Americana that has vanished? Well it appears to be the case. And Donald Trump will bring it back? Will bring us back to "the America we once knew?" A pining that is being expressed out and around? 

The digital world with its efficiencies and shortcuts has been a sea change obviously. And on the whole we must be better off because of it. People must want what it has to offer. Far less "brick and mortar" certainly. Far fewer of the "common labor" type of jobs. How do people feel who look back on a career of being so committed to a job, and then they find that tech has made the whole job obsolete? 

Think of the heroes of country music - those truck drivers with their "18 wheelers" who now look around and wonder how far the self-driving trucks will go. Such indispensable work they once did, such commitment that became the stuff of country music hits. 

But here's the deal: life goes on for all of us. We can pine for "the America we once knew." We overlook the warts of past times, remember instead the apparent sweetness. Ah, "doctors who made house calls." Our Dr. Rossberg in Morris was out of the old mold. Alas, I don't think you'd want your life to be in his hands. 

 

Andy Williams

Andy Williams sings

"Happy holidays" is the greeting that inspires what you're reading here. We grew up with such a happy gesture, never gave a thought to political suggestion. Not a thought. 

Didn't Andy Williams sing the song "Happy holidays?" C'mon he had no suggestive insinuation. Ridiculous to even have to point that out. (Side note: I just checked and the song's title was "Happy Holiday" singular.) 

Among the cultural changes we weigh in this most troubling year of 2024 is defensiveness and fear borne of a right wing political imagination. 

"Right wing" used to primarily mean lower taxes and focus on the simple business ethic. Along with that, high standards with your personal moral conduct. Morality means absolutely nothing now with Trump, his sons and surrogates being quoted in the news every day. They find fault with saying "happy holidays" because I guess there is no direct mention of Christ. 

The Trumps I guess set the absolute standard for what a devoted Christian is. I guess that's a "meme" but obviously a meme that runs headlong into logic. Donald Trump is an amoral lawbreaker. He bathes in harshness which might be directed toward anyone. 

Think back to Jimmy Carter a true devoted Christian. But we are most certainly in different times. 

I certainly cannot stop what is going to happen in the election. I would much rather take my chances with the so-called "far left" at least for a period of time, rather than have the dangerous amoral specter of Trump hanging over us again. 

I do fear Trump will win. They are talking about repealing Obamacare now. So much for universal health care. The U.S. gives billions for Israel which has universal health care. Heaven help us all. 

I recently submitted a comment to Yahoo! News about the "happy holidays" greeting and how it is assailed by the right wing, at least the kind of right wing that gets in the media all the time. My comment:

 

I'm 69 years old and the expression "happy holidays" has been around for a long time. Perfectly acceptable greeting for that time of year, safe, benign, etc. Christmas for Christians is the celebration of Christ's birth even though we don't know the date when that happened. Jewish people do not accept the Savior story. It's a free country and we can all think as we please.

 

"Russell" responded:

Same. I'm 60 and remember well people saying Happy Holidays as a kid, it's definitely not new.

"Larry" responded:

I happen to think that saying Happy Holidays is a sign of respect and not just assuming that someone is one way or the other.

"Steve" responded:

In honor of the Jesus God fairy tale I like to wish the believers a Merry Xmas and a Festivus for the rest of us.

"Marcia" responded:

When I was young, I lived in an area that didn't have a synagogue and I never met a Jewish person during my youth. When I heard the expression "Happy Holidays", I assumed that it was short for "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year". It never occurred to me that it was generic for "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hannukah". At that time, nobody had ever heard of Kwanzaa.

 

"Joe" responded:

Well, the Bible says he was born around Passover, the shepards had their flocks in the field (spring), and the 25th of December was traditionally the birthday of Mithras a Roman god of soldiers. The holiday was hijacked by Christianity when Rome took over the religion and forced their own template for paganism on early christians (priests, bishops, nuns, the pope etc.).

 

"Ima Markin" responded:

I agree! It used to be perfectly acceptable to say "Happy Holiday." There was even a very popular Andy Williams song by that name. Someone decided to make it what is was never meant to be.

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

The end comes too soon for MACA

The D-G-F "Rebels" defeated our Tigers 31-27 last night (Saturday).

 

Such a bittersweet Sunday morning in this late October of 2024. Weather stays nice for being outside. I took my standard walk yesterday that includes a good chunk of the bypass east of town. It also covers a good portion of the biking/walking trail. I make new friends out there and by that I mean primarily the dogs that people are walking/running. Nice to be able to make new friends somehow. 

This morning is bitter too because of what happened last night (Saturday) at Big Cat. The Big Cat place was a magnet for fans again as playoff-time began. Oh my it ended much too abruptly. How deflating. It has to feel deflating because the Tigers played such a high caliber of ball all season. Not only winning but scoring points in abundance. 

I walked out to the facility to savor the atmosphere. I was wondering if the pep band would be playing this deep into the fall. Temperatures have dropped but not by that much. Hey, the band played on! 

Here's a good place to insert that the MAHS instrumental music program has a concert set for tomorrow night (Monday), 7 p.m. Directors Andrea DeNardo and Wanda Dagen are in charge. Andrea is a fellow morning customer at Caribou Coffee. 

Hey, I just got back from Caribou on this Sunday morning, Oct. 27. I have to be aware of when we go off daylight savings time. Looks like we have to wait one more week. Then we'll have more daylight in the morning which is nice in some ways. But we have to accept the curtain of darkness arriving earlier in the evening. A fair trade-off? People do debate this. 

The Tigers executed a very long dramatic pass near the end of the game. We were playing Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, the "Rebels." We knew the Rebels would give us all we could handle based on our regular season matchup vs. them. 

Seems almost unfair that we could lose in the first round of playoffs. Man, the Tigers seemed at times to show the kind of caliber that could get us to the state championship game! Well, maybe we'll see the Rebels reach the title contest.

Meanwhile, our student-athletes will now have the maximum possible break before winter sports gets going. Yawn. You see, our volleyball team lost in the first round too. We put up a battle but were on the short end 3-2. Seems a rather long time since our volleyball or girls basketball teams caused any real excitement in this community with a tournament climb. 

Oh there I go again, putting too much emphasis on competitiveness. We are so conflicted when it comes to that. There is a natural urge to want to "win," isn't there? But so many of us realize we shouldn't get caught talking in such terms. Because, we need to "support our student-athletes" no matter what, right? But I don't think chronic losing or under-achieving ever makes us want to diss the kids. It really makes us want to second-guess the coaches some. 

I have a very long history of observing the dynamics when it comes to this. School administrators everywhere have headaches dealing with what I'm sure they would call a "good old boy" dynamic with coaches. The coaches become friends with each other. They fan out and have friends outside of that, like in church. And when questions arise, it causes discontent with a lot of people who have to come up with ways of defending the status quo. 

We had school board members in the '80s - what a total mess of a decade for our Morris school - who would say to people "don't come at me about wins and losses." Oh really? It means absolutely nothing? There were issues outside of wins and losses and the W/L just became symptomatic. 

But you absolutely could not argue with certain people and you might be told, in effect, "lay off this if you know what's good for you." This was the epitome of the "good old boys syndrome" wielding its clout. Girls/women too of course. 

How do we assess our football and volleyball teams for 2024? How could we be anything but ecstatic about about the football boys? So much obvious talent, at times breathtaking talent. Some of these kids will no doubt ply that talent in college. Good luck to them. 

I'll add a big "however" here. . . Both our football and volleyball teams lost in the first round of playoffs. So I think it is perfectly legitimate to feel a little disconsolate about that and to ask some questions. I really think it's deflating.

Maybe some of you will question my cognitive health. That's a popular thing to do in the wake of Biden and Trump being at the top of the national news so much. What a country! Stumbling geriatrics even with incontinence as a symptom, commanding our attention seemingly 24/7. And we can't find a national leader closer to middle age with middle age robustness? There is one: Kamala Harris. 

Hah! Now that I've mentioned her, all sorts of people around our "red" Morris area would descend on me using the harshest language and cliche-filled putdowns, even making personal attacks against me. I have experienced this. 

Aren't you nervous about election night being so close? The possible ascendance of Donald Trump again could become more than a theoretical possibility. 

Our worst fears about DJT are always realized. So now we have to fear a truly Hitler-like person taking charge in America? You really don't care about this? 

Things could not have made it to this point without the support of crazed "Christian" zealots. In the end, Christianity is going to have an awful lot to answer for. Maybe the Christian faith is going to have to fade away so as to rescue us all. Can you all not see that DJT is a 100 percent charlatan and flim-flam man who has exploited the Christian faith? Co-opted it? When in fact one of his main reasons for running for president is to stay out of prison? 

You are all such fools. 

 

Sorry, but. . .

I would like to share here some details from the Tigers' last volleyball match. I'd like to type some players' names. Everything is different these days because 1) we are no longer in the West Central Tribune's coverage area, and 2) Brett Miller has left the radio station. When Brett was there I could actually type some paragraphs about Tiger cross country, now I cannot. 

I haven't typed any names of MACA volleyball players all fall. I'm thankful for the years when I could do this. It's fun staying on top of things and getting to know the players' names. But life goes on. We deal with the hand that we are dealt. Just like we'll have to deal with all the tension that will come with election night. 

Even if things look good for Harris, we know the other side will have a virtual army of lawyers and strategists ready to go to work. Many of these people are willing to sacrifice their own personal well-being to support Trump. I mean look at the pathetic Rudy "Hair Dye" Giuliani and Tina Peters. The latter was willing to accept nine years in prison to support DJT, the guy who shits in his pants. 

Herman Cain gave his life for DJT. He was talked into attending a crowded "rally" for Trump in Tulsa OK at the height of covid. Shortly thereafter we read on Drudge that he was on a ventilator. 

I have to give a shout-out to "Drudge" here. If we can suppress the menace that is DJT, some credit will have to go to the good ol' Drudge Report. It was once known as "conservative." But what does that word mean any more? 

Today I would call Drudge "honest," "unfazed" and hard-hitting. Same kind of journalist that I have prided myself to be. I took on the Morris teachers union in the 1980s. Ultimately all that caught up to me. But not until 2006.

Update: Someone told me at church coffee that the "play-in" games represented the real first-round games in football. Well, maybe. I'll dismiss that for now as a quibble. It would help if I could see some real brackets. The structure of prep sports these days can get a little confusing for people who are not the most ardent fans. I thought that since last night's game was the Tigers' playoff debut, it was first-round. Well it was first-round for us.

 

Media watch

Always a delight to hear from my old newspaper compatriot Randy Olson of Bonanza Valley. He and I share notes on how media is doing justice, or failing to do so, with our local sports teams. Shall I say Randy is exemplary with his approach. What would I be doing if I were still in the commercial media? Well I'd be trying.

An email from the always-energetic Randy this morning (Sunday):

 

Hello Brian, I'm seeing this at MN-Scores:

D-G-F 31

MA/CA 27

Final score.

Regular season game was decided in overtime.

I wonder if the Stevens County Times will get any playoff coverage posted online?

Here's how I cover sports playoffs!

https://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2024/10/friday-night-lights-ix-incredible-2nd.html

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

Apprehension as election nears

("minocqua" image)

How would the late Andy Papke be teaching civics today? How would this gentleman try to "sanitize" things? It really would be impossible in any manner that would be honest. We can ponder the many outrageous and dangerous things that Trump has said and done. We can ponder his absolute potty mouth. Many quotes from him could not be shared in the classroom for obvious reasons. Just watch a kid try to make statements like that. 

We are approaching a new Morris school board election. I offer my take on that on my companion blog of "Morris of Course." Here is the link:

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2024/10/school-board-candidates-their-pretense.html 

 

On the national level it looks as though people like me are whistling past the graveyard with our state of mind. We have been assuming that in the final analysis, America could not really truly elect someone like Trump. But this is our third time around with him. 

We allowed him and his facilitators like Russia to win the first time around. He won despite getting three million fewer votes than the Democrat. Our electoral college system allowed him to wrest such immense power for himself, this as the pandemic would be on the horizon. So he said he'd use the Defense Production Act not for the manufacture and distribution of masks, but rather to order meat processing plants to stay in operation. Remember that. 

I won't dispute those who said the masks might not have been all that helpful. But their distribution would be in line with the purpose of the Defense Production Act. His direction to meat processing concerns was absolutely not in line. Dan Abrams advised right away that this order "opens a bevy of legal questions." Questions? Is that all? 

DJT's nature is one of confounding people with decisions that are on the edge of proper law. I wish the media could have made a stronger point about this. There is so much legal wrangling connected to all things Trump. This very phenomenon needs to be put under the microscope more. 

Look at Ari Melber of MSNBC, a lawyer with the most keen intelligence you can imagine. I admire him but he has really made a cottage industry of interviewing a parade of lawyers all very classy in their suits and ties. And they file "motions." They launch "appeals." All of this slogs on until hell won't have it. 

A president is supposed to try to win approval with his policies. He has to fight Congress sometimes, sometimes not. But politics and national leadership is supposed to be a much cleaner process than this. Legislation gets pushed through that purports to help the American people. 

Our government mechanisms do not exist to prop up a mere cult of personality. It does not exist to grease the skids for a would-be Mussolini. You aren't going to argue with me on that point, are you? The dictatorial urges? The scheming to surround himself with total sycophants like Aileen Cannon who is being spoken of as DJT's attorney general? 

Cannon has already so blatantly bent a knee to the orange man. And my God, the media is so timid when it comes to revealing this for us in direct terms. Scared of the "bias" charge or scared of DJT's people actually doing "oppo" on you. Any one of us could be in trouble with "oppo research." We'd get slimed. 

As if DJT himself presents such a saintly image. He in fact presents the exact opposite as endless factual recitations would readily underscore. It's in front of us every day. It begins to seem rather like "Alice Through the Looking Glass." 

John Kenneth Galbraith

I am writing this in Stevens County MN. More specifically from Morris which is home to UMM which historically has been a nice little nest for political liberals. And those liberals definitely felt their oats in this town. I learned to resent them in some ways. 

I came to resent what I would call "paternalistic liberalism." Think of John Kenneth Galbraith who said the common folk need to be protected from too much advertising. 

Well that epoch has rather passed from the scene. Stevens County has no fear of what UMM might represent because the right wing is just so powerful now, like we're an extension of the Dakotas. Yes I fear that, even though I'm inclined to support "Measure 4" in North Dakota to eliminate property taxes. An effort led by GOPer Rick Becker. So it's cause for "conservative" flag-waving, right? Oh not so fast. 

Politics is all about power and this can trump ideology. The likes of Doug Burgum actually oppose Measure 4! Can you believe it? 

Someone's ox is always getting gored. Take away the property tax and the obscenely rich folks like Burgum might have to cough up more? Ahem. Welcome to the jungle I guess. People need to catch up to Trump to realize whose interests are really being served. That's politics in a nutshell: Certain people's needs are being served, other people are told "sorry." 

All the red state people need to wake up and realize their spokesmen cannot be assumed to be pure as the driven snow. Progressive thinking can come back but it does not need to take the form of what we saw in the John Kenneth Galbraith days, that's for sure. 

Just probe through all the rhetoric and get what really serves your own needs, and would this really be a dictatorship led by Mussolini I mean Trump? And the communists caught up to "El Duce," executed him and then had his body hung up on meat hooks for abuse. That's what happens when the public wakes up to how the elite leadership has really been treating them. 

Forget terms like "progressive" anyway. Many of these terms are just massaged and used by people like Mark Levin et al. to scare us. My, how well this has worked for certain interests. Tucker Carlson, he's feeling his oats. And why do we allow this? Plain as the nose on your face, Carlson is an empty opportunist. But he has been accepted into the "club" of national media. 

Please understand your own interests in the final analysis. Stop listening to those who choose to talk about Kamala Harris' "cackle" laugh. I think it's a wonderful laugh. And doesn't the world need more of that? Isn't this preferable to DJT "shitting in his pants" which he reportedly does. 

The morning gang of guys at DeToy's Restaurant in Morris needs to wake up to all of this. C'mon, let women have their full rights. Can you look me in the eye and say that they shouldn't? 

Kamala could well lose. But is there anything she could have done different?

 

Here's a comment I submitted to Yahoo! News yesterday:

I had a feeling John Kelly had thoughts and observations in his head a long time ago about Trump. But it's only bursting into the news now with days remaining before the election. As a public service, Kelly should have asserted himself sooner. You might say it's a matter of national defense.

 

"Katerina" responded:

He may have been scared. Trump demands to destroy anyone who does not fall down and worship him, much like the devil would do.

  

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

Wind in the sails for this cause?

Easiest thing in the world to vent about property taxes. Or maybe any kind of taxes. If you think Republicans are your friend when it comes to keeping taxes down, oh think again. It's the Republicans who have floated the possibility of a 20 percent national sales tax. The sales tax is a regressive tax as is the property tax. 

Republicans know that the government needs to harvest a generous amount of money somehow. A regressive tax hits the middle class and poor especially hard. 

No wonder why Doug Burgum of North Dakota has spoken out against "Measure 4" in his state. This is a matter to watch with great interest as election day approaches. It should interest us far more than the size of the late golfer Arnold Palmer's genitalia. We weigh the latter topic thanks to the Republican nominee for president. 

You can point out all you want that such talk is an abomination in America, a clear disqualification to be president. But here comes Trump again down the same path as in 2016 when all this started. What started was a complete putting aside of America's loose set of norms for how our national leaders should behave. Should a child in school be disciplined for offensive language now? I shouldn't have to cite other examples of DJT's outrageousness. 

The examples have been flying at us. Affinity with all things Hitler? Lest there was any doubt, John Kelly is making that clear to us now. So we'll all breathe a sigh of relief now that all of this is in the open, right? We can be relieved knowing all the facts so that most certainly we could never weigh DJT being president again? We'll relax and allow our first female president who will be diligently trying to get full women's rights restored, right? 

The women of America have the chance to save our country now. 

DJT says if he loses it'll be the Jews' fault. Are there lessons from history on how this mere thought is dangerous? If people don't know this, what kind of job have our schools been doing teaching history? And I say if Trump wins - heaven help us - the Southern states can be blamed with their kneejerk reactionary bent. 

Mike Johnson of Louisiana absolutely refuses to concede any argument with Trump. We have too many national leaders from the Southern states, actually from the states of the old Confederacy. 

Aside from the national issues we have the fascinating thing of what is going on in North Dakota. 

 

The image shows Dr. Rick Becker, the No. 1 proponent of "Measure 4." He's a former ND state legislator.

 

The Dakotas have become ruby red which suggests they're skeptical about taxation to feed alleged "big government." Right? So why is Doug Burgum, the quintessential MAGA guy, saying vote "no" in the attempted property tax revolt. Well I will repeat: the property tax and sales tax are regressive and Republicans aren't so eager to tamp those down. They know as much as anyone that the government needs money. So why not try to get it from the common folk instead of the super wealthy who proclaim the pro-Trump message with a wink to each other? 

Soak the common folk? Well why not? Look at the outrageous national debt. I think this is why another inflation shock is ensured down the road. Inflation means the government can collect more in taxes. Somehow government is going to have to at least try to keep up with obligations. To hell with "deflation." Deflation is of course when prices would go down. I personally would like to see prices go down. But that's just me. 

 

Head-scratching, n'est-ce pas?

If you're a homeowner, well then naturally you've seen the assessed value of your home go up. Isn't that good news? Wait a minute, how really do you benefit from that? Skeptics of "Measure 4" would say "well, you can sell your home." Oh, what a nice thought, what an easy and routine thing to do. 

Is it OK to just be happy living in our current home? A home where we may have memories of raising children? 

No, there's little if any real benefit to having a higher assessed value of your home. You will be paying increased property taxes. I'm reminded of a quote from someone who addressed the great American privilege of "owning your own home." She said "I feel like I'm paying a fee to live here." 

Exactly. 

Costs for home upkeep escalate. We hesitate longer to arrange for contractors to come and do stuff. 

So in North Dakota we may be seeing the seeds of a true "property tax revolt" that will supply relief. Influential forces are against this. Lots of special interests will get interwoven for sure. 

Many will say of course that it'll be harder to fund our schools. Well on the surface yes. But, how much largesse is there in school funding now? Take a look at the demands of public sector employees, a class of people with way more advantages than the rest of us. And they have the nerve to cry "foul" so much. 

Perfect local example was when we saw the striking picketers with their signs around our UMM campus. I guess that was several years ago. Today we get the impression that UMM is fortunate to even be still functioning. Anyone want to question me on that? I would be astonished if the people who (still) work out there would be so audacious as to consider going on strike. To come at as with their signs in clusters around the campus. 

I told my No. 1 UMM contact person that if a strike were to ever happen again, I would never give another nickel to the U of M Foundation. 

Right now the people at the public teat garner power for themselves and then push it to the maximum degree. Because the system lets them. Homeowners and the public at large can be drained of more money. 

This continues until the public wakes up. And if the public votes accordingly, well then so many public institutions will almost certainly be forced to "make do with less." Amen and hallelujah.

The following paragraphs were originally on my Oct. 9 "Morris of Course" post. That's my companion blog. Thanks for reading. - BW

 

Keep an eye on ND

In North Dakota there's a proposal to eliminate the property tax! It's called "Measure 4." How would y'all like to not get a property tax bill each year? Oh but the various government entities would have to raise taxes in other ways? Well, then I say "just make them." Make them feel some pressure to cut out the largesse. I'd be thrilled to see that. 

Let's eliminate all public employee unions like even for schoolteachers. Maybe especially for schoolteachers. I have hated teacher unions more than I have hated anything in my whole life. 

Do we really need public libraries any more? In the digital age where you can call up anything to read for your enrichment on your "screen?" I never read anything "on paper" any more. Some people are hesitant to admit they are like me for fear of being seen as shallow or ignorant. Hell I'll proclaim from the rooftop. I'll proclaim as someone who developed most of his literacy from reading comic books, backs of baseball cards and "Hardy Boys" mysteries. 

Library employees are unionized too. A pox on them. 

If Measure 4 passes and government gets its back truly against the wall, let's see an unrelenting push for eliminating the public employee unions, teachers first on the list. Is there still a requirement of a four-year college degree for teachers? Ridiculous. Let's eliminate it. Teachers have become mostly caretakers now. Am I saying it's an easy job? Not saying that at all but it's a "job" like any other job. It should be easier if teachers are not expected to impart knowledge so much. 

I believe the highest priorities of our public schools today should be co-curricular like with the school musical and all such stuff. I include band/choir. Let the kids have fun and feel excitement. Do I really have to argue this?

 

Supporting UMM

Of course we simply want our U of M-Morris to survive through whatever adversity comes forth. Donald Trump has chased away our foreign students and these students were our "cash cow." UMM might be imperiled but I think our ace in the hole is the service we provide gratis to the Native Americans. 

Remember we're not North Dakota: There is no property tax revolt here yet. North Dakota is being watched oh so closely now. A vote to support "Measure 4" there could lead to a full-fledged property tax revolt across the U.S. I personally wish it would happen. It would put needed pressure on our public institutions to attack the largesse. 

And in some cases we'd have to break through legal barriers, like taking away the rights and privileges of unions to "bargain." Hey, we only have 'X' amount of money now, we absolutely have to make it work - we have to. No wiggle room for unions to behave arrogantly as they typically do. 

I remember the people with picket signs outside the UMM campus - their little "info tables" etc. Who are these people to try to turn the screws on the State of Minnesota? 

 

Set example at UMM

The community could be supporting our UMM better. But this community often gets a grade of "F" for such things. We don't even want to be informed about it. We're planning our next trip to "the Cities" or "the lake." 

I'm happy to share here an Oct. 19 email from my old newspaper compatriot Randy Olson of Bonanza Valley, a guy with pretty deep interest in UMM. He wants us to appreciate the UMM volleyball team more. I remember working with Sheila Perkins when she was the Cougars' coach. Heather Pennie will tell you I interviewed her a few times too. I watched Heather pitch for Minnewaska Area in softball way back when. 

 

Hello Brian,

Just 50.....FIFTY!! Attending today's UMM vs. Concordia-Moorhead match at Jim Gremmels Court today. Unbelievably bad attendance. Really embarrassing as an alumni.

For what it's worth, at UM-Crookston for D-II volleyball in the NSIC, the Golden Eagles hosted UM-Duluth and had 411 attending.

Last year when UMC was at UMD, their attendance for a mid-October match was 830.

I just can't believe the apathy of the town of Morris for its crown jewel they have at UMM. Later tonight for kicks, I'm going to look into the history of UMM volleyball attendance pre-COVID. I thought they had decent crowds when I brought my daughters up there for volleyball in 2017 and 2018. Then I felt it the trip/expense was worth it.

My how times have changed. 

Randy

PS - the Cougars won in a 3-0 sweep vs. their MIAC counterparts.

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

This is the moment for women's hoops

"Patience brings all things." Del Holdgrafer used the expression in a cartoon he drew for the old Morris Sun Tribune newspaper. The wisdom struck me. I reminded him of the expression in the years following. That, and "He knows every sparrow that falls." "He" being our Lord God. 

I suggested to Del that he use the sparrow phrase with a cartoon during the O.J. Simpson trial of all things. It seemed pertinent. He did. Who knows to what extent O.J. may have had CTE? It's debilitating and dangerous. So, we have meandered into the subject of football. 

The "patience" phrase pops into my head today because of a different sport. It's basketball. And it's one of the major subjects of 2024: the major strides of women's basketball. And isn't it something? Who could have seen this coming? Why now? A dazzling individual emerged of course. But hey, women's hoops has been around a long time. There is a track record of many distinguished individuals from across the vast U.S. 

We're seeing serendipity. Who could have predicted that an Iowa girl would have such reach? And now we see women's hoops reaping dividends at the close of the pro season. This with Caitlin Clark having exited from the playoffs in the first round. How could there not be loads of talent still to appreciate? Obviously there is. Obviously there has been for a long time. 

"CC"

But women's pro basketball had been sleep-walking for so interminably long. How could we have expected this young woman from West Des Moines to transform the sport's landscape? That's not overstatement. The "patience" of women's sports advocates has been rewarded. The championship series got so much more attention than in the pre-CC times. 

Enthusiasm has spread. And I expect college women's basketball to be bigger than ever this winter. The Caitlin legacy. "Patience brings all things." 

Lindsay Whalen and Janel McCarville could not accomplish this, impressive as their talents were. Somehow even Sabrina Ionescu toiled in relative obscurity until the present time. She was so comparable to Caitlin. She played out west for Oregon in college. She is best positioned now to lift her stock because what better place than New York City? 

Of course Sabrina played a disastrous Game 5. But consider Game 3. She was a carbon copy of Caitlin with how she excelled at the end. It could not have been scripted better if CC herself were out there honing in on the basket for the last dramatic shot. Sabrina maneuvered around just like CC would have. She got enough breathing room vs. a tight defense to let fly. This was at the home of our Minnesota Lynx. 

And while I'm a perfect example of a person who is new to the fold of WNBA enthusiasts, maybe I'm not all the way yet. That's because I had no emotional connection to my own home team of the Minnesota Lynx. I ought to embrace them like they're the Twins or Vikings. 

Maybe coach Reeve was a turn-off when she excluded CC from "Team USA." And then CC and her WNBA All-Stars beat Team USA in a highly entertaining exhibition which I watched. I have even watched some WNBA action on my laptop when I had to put up with a little square on the screen, there for copyright purposes. 

Women have proven themselves as athletes for so long. But so much patience was needed to get to this point. "Patience brings all things." The biggest advocates for women would have been saddened to learn it would take this long. But it's surely here now. 

Cheryl Reeve

My, coach Reeve is feisty. And now I'm starting to appreciate her more for that. 

Women's basketball is going to be subject to the same human error that happens all over. So Reeve was quite displeased with how the officials appeared to impact the deciding Game 5. Normally a coach who goes off on "the refs" post-game does not come off well. But Reeve said "bring it on." And I like that spirit. 

If Del Holdgrafer was alive today, I certainly would have encouraged him by now to acknowledge the eruption of women's basketball popularity here in 2024. And he would have delivered something interesting, I'm sure. And I'm sure with a kernel of wisdom incorporated, because that was Del's stock in trade along with the humorous and wry attitude. 

Delmar was a young man during WWII and drew a caricature of Hitler. Associated with Donnelly, he wrote about the adventure of driving from Donnelly to Morris in a car that was short of being state of the art. Cars nowadays don't even come with spare tires! People routinely commute long distances. "Patience brings all things" with motor vehicle technology too. 

We needed significant patience to even get pro basketball in Minnesota, men's or women's. There were early attempts that failed to stick, e.g. the "Muskies" and "Pipers." In an earlier time we had George Mikan's Lakers but the NBA actually had a "bush" quality then, or so I have read. 

Patience brought us the Minnesota Timberwolves who last year ascended quite nicely. Our top Wolves player did a promo for Minnesota tourism by proclaiming "bring ya ass." Our Governor Tim Walz latched on to that. Aren't you all proud that our governor is on the national ticket? Well of course a lot of you aren't. A shame. Hubert Humphrey got a stadium named for him, the Metrodome. He was a Democrat! Times change. 

Sabrina Ionescu

I am probably a bigger fan of Sabrina Ionescu than of the Lynx, up to now anyway. She and Caitlin are both white. After that they diverge: Caitlin has the white bread background of being from Iowa. Nothing wrong with that. While Sabrina is the daughter of Romanian refugees. 

Some critics from the minority community might point to CC as being privileged. Of course that's not her fault. Sabrina comes from a family with survival toughness. I'm so sad that she "put up bricks" in Game 5. But we'll never forget what she did at the end of Game 3! Right here in Minnesota. Quieting the crowd. It was a shot for the ages. You might say the Liberty would not have reached Game 5 without it. 

The drama was the same as for CC's last-second shot to defeat the No. 2-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in college. They are birds of a feather, Caitlin and Sabrina. It's just that the cards fell right for CC to reach mega-celebrity and to land on "Saturday Night Live" with Michael Che! Who could have imagined a women's basketball player reaching that level several years previous? But, "patience brings all things."

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

First Lutheran can face the headwinds

It's nice to see some churches as a holdout against the prevailing attitudes out here. I happen to attend one such church. It has retreated badly since its heyday. Facts can easily underscore this. We had two services every Sunday for most of my life. You'd choose the "early" or "late" service. We had more than one full-time pastor. We had a "visitation pastor." 

Slowly we saw the political winds begin to shift in our rural areas. Today the attitudes of Steve Boyd go a long way with lots of people. He had reservations about our incumbent congressperson. As I recall, he dismissed her as someone who was merely very good at keeping her job. A common charge against incumbents I guess: expedience to keep a certain level of support. Get re-elected! That's the idea. 

The incumbent Michelle Fischbach had no hesitation for being receptive to what was going on at our U.S. capitol on Jan. 6. I shall repeat that she voted against certifying  the election results. This as a literal mob was fomenting the dangerous spectacle at the capitol. We are learning steadily more about the president's actual role in bringing this on. 

That's former president now, DJT, who had plenty of goons lined up like Rudy Giuliani. Rudy Giuliani "the president's attorney." Would we even want Giuliani to be a practicing attorney in Morris MN? Would we want him to be the city or school board attorney? No, we'd want polished and capable professionals who aren't singularly focused on one person who is political. Not really wholly political because I don't think DJT even believes in government unless government can use its power to reduce the extent of government. 

So DJT is a "naked capitalist?" Of course we support capitalism. But all advanced nations are a combination of free enterprise and socialism. Yes socialism and you'd better agree with that if you depend on Social Security and Medicare. 

A lot of people need help these days. And strangely, the biggest factor in the adversity may be something that got no attention in the debates. Do you recall any questions for the candidates about the Federal Reserve? That's the central bank of the U.S. Today it is inextricably linked to the fortunes of the stock market. 

It was not like this when I was younger. In fact, if you asserted that the "Fed" had to act to help the stock market, you'd be dismissed by sharp minds who would say that's not the Fed's role. It is not. But today the central bank acts like this and is totally undeterred. That is because of the interests of the very wealthiest people. There is such a drumbeat now for the lowest possible interest rates.  It gets our attention all the time from the media. 

The media have begun reporting that it's "good news" whenever rates are cut, in the same way the media reports that it's good news "when the home team wins" in sports. And hardly anyone rises up to object. So many people with their "401Ks" think it's great. 

But here is the very real downside: artificially low interest rates push inflation.  

The rate cuts devalue our currency. That is how we feel inflation. Why can't we live with more modest gains by the stock market? Why can't the stock market just go into a holding pattern sometimes? Well it's greed. It's greed that is exuded in such a cheerleading way by the richest people. 

Kevin O'Leary

I don't know to what extent Kevin O'Leary is really rich but he probably is. He is quoted so often in the media and what makes him so wise? What makes him so much wiser than me, even? Well he's a celebrity. Being a celebrity is what got Donald Trump going, this guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 

Seems to me it's a matter of time before the broad public wakes up to the Kevin O'Learys and Elon Musks of the world. These people at least have ideas, a modicum of a sense of justifying their pronouncements, whereas Donald Trump would seem totally motivated by wanting to avoid prison. And I hope he's getting medical help for his reported problem of defecating in his pants. 

America has been dragged through such a spectacle. Heaven knows if we'll come out "on the other end" intact. As of today I am not at all sure that we will. We're off the deep end so badly out here in rural western Minnesota that we gave a far-right person a chance against our incumbent congressperson who herself might be described as a looney-toon. 

If Congress had not certified the 2020 election results, what was supposed to happen? I'm sure if we had asked Fischbach this, she would have said "that was yet to be determined." So then what? 

 

Ah, "Dark Star"

I remember that when the Bush-Gore race reached its denouement and there was talk of legal challenges, the late WCCO radio personality "Dark Star" felt a little fazed and said "all my life, I'm used to getting up on the morning after the election and finding out who won." 

The situation is far worse today. If Fischbach had gotten her way, heaven help us for what could have unfolded. And now DJT's Republican Party is poised to try to do the same thing again. Bulldoze away the opposition to make way for "Project 2025" and the far-right agenda. 

Meanwhile no one wants to make an issue about the Federal Reserve. Some might say to me "well, that's an independent organization." It surely is. And since it technically does not answer to anyone, isn't that dangerous? Of course it has to answer to some sort of constituency. Don't be Pollyannish. "He who has the gold makes the rules." So I think J.D. Vance, Kevin O'Leary, Elon Musk and all their gilded comrades are influencing the direction. 

And with the rest of us having to live with ever more problematic inflation. What happens when there's another major blast of inflation? Will this almost completely wipe out the restaurant business? No opportunity to enjoy dining out any more? It will make us feel isolated. 

  

FLC of Morris

The old "UMM Sunday"

Tomorrow is Sunday and I'll be at my church of First Lutheran again. First Lutheran once had a robust annual event called "UMM Sunday." It was a truly big deal. Some students would speak at the service and there would be a big potluck meal in the fellowship hall. I have to remind people we once had this - it has disappeared. 

Trump has greatly hurt the interests of our UMM because he in effect "chased away the foreign students." And, the foreign students were this institution's "cash cow." Arguments about money impress you? 

We shouldn't be surprised because it has often been said re. DJT that he "destroys everything he touches." In the end will we realize he has destroyed UMM? The institution rather looks on its heels now. 

 

Testing troubled waters

First Lutheran Church is taking a huge risk both tomorrow and the following Sunday. The theme will be "exploring Christian nationalism." Uh-oh. Obviously since we are a progressive denomination we do not look at all favorably on "Christian nationalism." But many other churches in our area do. 

Progressive as First Lutheran and the ELCA are, we have held on to a few Trump voters probably because these people have a family church history. Bless them for that. But the next two Sundays might be the tipping point for them. I know of one very important family at First Lutheran that has "Trump" signs in front of their house. The next two Sundays might be the end for them. 

I don't see why Christian nationalism is at all necessary. I attended First Lutheran over the eight years of Barack Obama's presidency - a Democrat - and at no point did I see my right to worship freely as threatened. But the DJT people can be so paranoid and flat-Earth. 

Maybe I should say "good riddance" to the Trump voters. But First Lutheran needs to hold on with our current membership. Instead we could lose ground because certain people feel they need to bend over backward for a man who is simply trying to stay out of prison. 

If DJT deserves prison, I say bring it on. And he does deserve that.

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