Well then..

   A trip to the periodontist this morning was instructive. Who would of thought that they swelling in my gums was caused by blood pressure medication? Well...that's the diagnosis! So the periodontist is in conversation with my primary care physician. The question? are there are other medications she's comfortable prescribing?  It's Friday, so...

   Just wanted you both to know I'm alive and well. 

Takk for alt,

Al

PS This addition to yesterday's post, from Heather Cox-Ricahrdson

"But Noem is not likely to disappear from the news. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker recorded a video saying: “Hey, Kristi Noem, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Here’s your legacy: corruption and chaos. Parents and children tear-gassed. Moms and nurses, U.S. citizens getting shot in the face. Now that you’re gone, don’t think you get to just walk away. I guarantee you, you will still be held accountable.”'

"Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) was more direct: '“Turns out lawlessness is not a winning strategy,”' he posted. '“See you at Nuremberg 2.0.”'

Barnyard Barbie Farewell!

      Barnyard Barbie, aka Kristi Noem, is out, "don't let the barndoor hit your backside as you leave!" South Dakota has a lot going for it but wisdom in politics is not its asset. Very embarrassing that Barbie was elected governor. She has much to live down but the blindness not to recognize it. Sounds like she won't be returning to South Dakota soon which is a relief to dog owners.

   On that cheerful note I'll say..

Takk for alt,

Al

Book!

    What would we do in this tragic time in our nation's life, if we didn't have books?  Beginning with her first Christmas, and ever since, I've give L a book. This year's choice was a winner! It came recommended in a review in the Minneapolis paper. After she read it she allowed me to read it, and it's a delight.

   The book in question is Buckeye by Patrick Ryan, copyrighted 2025. Ann Patchett writes on the jacket, Buckeye is "Full of love and war and the perilous intimacies of smalltown life. Buckeye is funny and tender realistic and strange."  One charcter even enlists in the Marines and his parents reaction reminds me of mine when I enlisted. The characters are very well developed and also very engaging.

   'The toxicity of secrets to relationships' is the theme I'd give the book. Part of its charm is the long breath of time covered thus tracking lives as they weather the storms through which people live. It is filled with deep reflections on the nature of relationships and life in general. One of the characters in early old age thinks, "This is why old people seem distant distracted. he thought. We aren't living in the past; the past is living in us. And it's talking. We get old to be able to recalibrate everything we thought was going to be important. We get old just to hear it. It says, the days, the days, the days." P. 446  

   Read it, you'll be glad you did!

Takk for alt,

Al

Dentist Again!

      Today the dentist did a small filling, either on, or below, a crown. This gave me the opportunity to ask some questions. Last time, while she sat beside me designing the crown on a computer screen, she was talking about her experience teaching dentistry at the University. Fascinated by that conversation, and her showing me what she was doing on the screen, I didn't think about how the crown was being fabricated. L wondered if it was done with a 3-D printer.

    No, it wasn't done with a printer. It is chiseled out of a solid block of material. Many more questions could have been asked about that process but they will have to wait for a later time.

    With her permission I was allowed to ask a personal question. Her first name is Krishna, which is the name of a male, Hindu god. I asked, "Is it unusual for a girl to be named for a male god?"  She said, "No." Then she explained that in the south of India, from which she comes, it is common. She said there were several girls in her neighborhood named Krishna. She went on to explain that in the north of India it is boys who are named Krishna, but had no idea the origins of those practices. 

   "Thanks," I said, "But in my eyes you're a goddess!"

Takk for alt,

Al  

The Pope's Wisdom!

 Vatican City — March 1, 2026

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Pope Leo XIV issued a "forceful appeal" to end increasing violence in the Middle East as the United States, Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile strikes and threats of escalations, warning of the risk of a "tragedy of enormous proportions."

The American-born pope called on all countries involved in the conflict to "assume the moral responsibility of stopping the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss," after praying the Angelus in St. Peter's Square March 1.

Leo's comments came the day after surprise U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompting Tehran to launch missiles at Israel and nearby Gulf Arab nations that host U.S. military bases. On Sunday, a major Israeli strike rocked Tehran, and an Iranian missile killed at least four people in central Israel hours later. 

"Stability and peace is not built with reciprocal threats nor with weapons that sow destruction, pain and death," the pope said, "but only through a reasonable, authentic, responsible dialogue."

Leo called for diplomacy to "regain its role and promote the good of peoples who yearn for peaceful coexistence based on justice."

"And let us continue to pray for peace," he said. 

President Donald Trump said the strikes were launched "to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon" and dismantle their missile capabilities. He called on Iranians to "take over your government" following widespread protests in the country calling for regime change.

The latest escalation follows U.S. strikes last June that targeted three nuclear-enrichment sites in Iran and debilitated Iranian air defense systems.

"Let diplomacy silence the weapons," Leo said following those strikes. "Let nations chart their future with works of peace, not with violence and bloody conflicts!"

Ahead of those strikes, Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, head of the U.S. bishops' conference's Committee on International Justice and Peace, called on the United States and the broader international community "to renew a multilateral diplomatic engagement for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and Iran."

During his post-Angelus remarks the pope also called for dialogue in light of the "worrying news" of clashes between India and Pakistan, issuing a call for an "urgent return to dialogue."

"Let us pray together that harmony may prevail in all conflicts throughout the world," he said. "Only peace, a gift from God, can heal the wounds between peoples."

Takk for alt,

Al

When the news is bad....

    When the news is bad, there's sports. For me that means basketball primarily and predominantly women's. Today was a feast, and to keep my blood pressure in check, I didn't even watch the Gopher Women beat Illinois. They are ranked 22 in the nation. Replay is coming. This afternoon I switched between at least six games and a bit of golf and one's playing on the TV now.  Last night I watched the new women's professional basketball league, Unrivaled. Paige Bueckers, who played for Hopkins, a Minneapolis suburb in high school, and UConn in college, was playing. This is a thee on three league so it's heavy on offense. On Paige's team were 6'.4" Cameron Brink and 6'.6" Dominique Malonga, from France. They won easily as Paige had a great night.

    The regular season is over for the Big Ten Conference. The women ended with a record of 22 and 7, and 13 and 5, in the conference The Big Ten Tournament is next and the Gophers will get a good seed, #4, based on their record. They will also be invited to play in the NCAA tournament, for the first time in years. They have an excellent coach in Dawn Plitzuweit, who once coached at the University Of South Dakota. She's a good recruiter but the core of the current team was recruited by Lindsey Whalen when she was the coach, many of the key players are from Minnesota.

Takk for alt,

Al

Coach Plitzuweit

MKV keeps sending me good things!

    This is the latest good forward from MKV.

"There’s a Japanese word with no English equivalent: Omoiyari. It means something like a deep, reflexive consideration for others that permeates at all levels of the culture. That the Japanese would have such a word is not surprising, given that they are probably the most culturally cohesive society in the developed world. But what is interesting is why.  Japan is mountainous. Very little flat land. So their staple crop became rice, which needs far less acreage than wheat. But it demands something wheat doesn’t: the entire village. You can’t grow rice alone. One paddy at a time, everyone works together, negotiating who floods which field and when. So it seems that the reason Japanese have such great manners isn’t so much because of their virtue, but because of environmental necessity. Thomas Talhelm proved this in a 2014 Science study. What he found was that within the same country, China, with the same government, same ethnic group, and same language family, rice-growing regions produced measurably more collectivist people than wheat-growing regions. In the 1950s, the Chinese government assigned people to two state farms just 56 kilometers apart. One grew rice, and one grew wheat. They had the same policies and the same latitude. Within a generation, the rice farmers were significantly more group-oriented.  Or take the Scandinavians. Their ancestors spent centuries in Viking longhouses with fifty people and their livestock, one structure, and brutal winters. There wasn’t much room for personal drama or squeamishness about privacy. A thousand years later, Scandinavians are still laconic, moderate, and remarkably relaxed about nudity. The longhouse is gone but the culture it created isn’t. In the Nineteenth Century, adjusted for inflation, for the price of half a Volkswagen Passat, you could head West and grab yourself a price of land and have everything you needed to set up your own farm and be exporting grain within 18 months. The only deal was, on the farm you were on your own. Hence why American individualism and gun ownership are so highly valued in the US today. Environment shapes reality, which shapes language and culture, which shapes behavior. It’s all connected. One could reasonably deduce that the reason those of us in the Anglosphere don’t have our own word for Omoiyari is because our environment never demanded one. Language is not only a product of culture, but its creator. Korean Air had one of the worst safety records in aviation. The problem wasn’t mechanical. Korean has six speech levels encoding hierarchy, and junior officers couldn’t directly challenge captains during emergencies. The fix was to require all cockpit communication in English. Not because English is better. Because it didn’t carry the hierarchical weight. Their safety record since has been spotless. They didn’t change the people. They changed the language." Gapingvoid Culture Design Group Takk for alt, Al

Dining Memories!

   It's a tenuous connection, but, last night's gourmet dinner reminded me of dining in the Marines. In boot camp I remember little of the food. The emphasis was on eating fast, very fast, and pity those who dawdled. At Camp Pendleton our battalion, something over 500 Marines, were housed in one area. All were fed in one huge dining hall. The food was adequate and necessitated standing in a long line which no one jumped. Cooks at breakast would hold two eggs in each hand breaking them unto the griddle.

   The twenty-eight day ride aboard a liberty ship from San Diego to Okinawa introduced us to Navy food. On other ships and eating in a Navy mess hall in Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, convinced me that Navy food was better than Marine's.

   Once we arrived in Okinawa we were assigned to Camp Sukiran, an Army base. The barracks were designed with a kitchen for each company, 60-70 Marines. These cooks were less experienced and the food suffered. We arrived in July and stayed there until leaving for cold weather training in Japan, about the first of November. Returning from Japan we were stationed at the newly opened Camp Hansen. Like Pendleton we were served in a Battalion dining room.

  Then there were C-Rations...but that's for a later blog.

Takk for alt,

Al

PS The gourmet dinner last night lived up to it's billing.

Last night's entree.

The Gift Of Stability!

      In the 4+ years I've been an inmate of the OFH very few of the professional staff have left. This stability of excellent staff is a great gift. Friends are ina different OFH, in an affluent neighborhood with no bus access, so securing serving staff is very difficult. Consequently, professional staff have to step in, they burnout and leave. 

    Jim, the food services director here is top notch. He retired after a successful career in commercial food service. He wasn't home long before his wife asked "Don't you have be somewhere?"  That inquiry prompted him to take the position here five years ago when the OFH opened.

   About every three months he offers a gourmet meal. Tonight's the night. The menu for tonight's La Belle Notte Gourmet Dinner: Red & White Wine, Shrimp Arancini, Italian Chopped Salad, Beef Tagliata Steak, and Tiramisu. Now for the funny part; it starts at 4:30.😂 When I asked Jim, "Why so early?" He said "That's when everyone shows up." That's proof that this indeed an Old Folks Home!

Takk for alt,

Al

Immigrant Gift!

      She was born in India, raised in Kenya, and now in America. A teacher at the University of Minnesota, and named after a Hindu god, Krishna. She's a goddess in my eyes, she did my dental work this morning. Seldom have I experienced a dentist as communicative as she. My preference is for female dentists, not least for their small hands in my mouth.

   The task was replacing and old crown that had corrosion around its base. Its position in the back of my mouth prohibited repair work with it in place. With the old crown removed and the tooth polished she sat down beside me to design the new one a computer screen. With our active conversation I neglected to ask about the technology constructing the crown, but, I go back next week for work on another crown.

   As we were chatting she said that the dental classroom at the University has the technology she used to design my crown. However, she said the older professors are reluctant to use it. They prefer older methods.

  Given time to talk I asked her if she wanted to hear a dental story. She said yes enthusiastically. So I told about Art, the dentist in Mohall, N.D., when I lived there. Art did some farming. One day when he was in the field, his neighbor Wesley was working in the next field. Stopping to talk across the fence Wes said, I've got a terrible toothache. Art said let me look at it. Then Art said we can fix that, lie down on your back. With his knee on Wes' chest Art pulled the tooth with his plier. Art told me the story.  

   Dr. Krishna symbolizes, for me, the value of immigrants.  

Takk for alt,

Al

A Little Smile For Your Day

 

      In the same vein as Pearls, is this quote I found while cleaning my desk.  I may have used it before but it's worth repeating. (Incidentally, Mouse, in the comic strip, is typically negative.)

 "A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world, everyone you meet is your mirror." Ken Keyes, Jr. 

   The ICE assault locally has scaled down leaving wreckage behind. They were randomly picking up brown and black people, one of whom, was an off duty police officer. Their behavior was a total violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

In other words: "The Fourth Amendment originally enforced the notion that “each man’s home is his castle”, secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by the government. It protects against arbitrary arrests, and is the basis of the law regarding search warrants, stop-and-frisk, safety inspections, wiretaps, and other forms of surveillance, as well as being central to many other criminal law topics and to privacy law."  Cornell Law School

Takk for alt,

Al

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 10/8/41-2/17/26 R.I.P.

      MKV forwarded this very interesting bit of Jesse Jackson history. It's a testament to what differentiated non-anxious behavior ca accomplish. Thanks, MKV, not to be confused with my other friend MJV.

Takk for alt,

Al 

During the 1983 Lebanese Civil War, Lieutenant Robert Goodman of the U.S. Navy was acting as Bombardier-Navigator on an A-6E Intruder when his plane was hit by Syrian surface-to-air defenses.

Goodman ejected. After landing, he was captured by Syrian troops. 

Naturally, the United States government wanted him back. But it soon ended up in a diplomatic deadlock. 

If Syria released Goodman, it would look like it yielded to American pressure. If the U.S. raised the pressure, it would look like escalation. With Syria and with the USSR (which was allied with Syria), during one of the tensest moments of the entire Cold War.

There was no path home for Lieutenant Goodman. 

Until Jesse Jackson stepped in.

Jackson offered to mediate. On his own. With no formal authority or license from the U.S. government.

He flew to Damascus personally. 

Syria found him credible because he was not some agent of the government strictly aligned to U.S. power and interests.

The United States found him credible because he was a widely recognized moral leader, not a political operator.

What did he say in the negotiation?

Nothing about interests, precedents, security, deterrence, alliance, escalation, quid-pro-quos, threats, concessions, or anything like that.

Something simpler. Starker. And more powerful.

He talked about the release not as a strategic consideration but as a humanitarian choice.

And because Syria would be giving Goodman up to Jackson, not to the U.S. government, it wouldn’t look like surrender. 

Jackson reframed the decision. By his presence. And by his message.

Instead of a concession to an adversary, it became an act of compassion.

On January 3, 1984, Jackson and Goodman left Syria together and came home. 

Medieval canon law had a name for what Jackson became in that room. Sanctuary.

For centuries, if you could get yourself through the doors of a church, you were untouchable. Kings, armies, it didn't matter. The institution's moral authority was so accumulated, so real, that violating it was simply unthinkable. Nobody created that power during a crisis. It was deposited slowly, over centuries, by people who weren't thinking about crises at all.

Jackson walked into Damascus as a one-man sanctuary. A space both sides could enter without it meaning anything strategically. It worked for exactly the same reason it worked in the 12th century. The authority was real because it had never been manufactured.

Every wise word you say and every principled action you take is a deposit. When the balance gets big enough, it opens doors that don't exist for anyone else.

But reputation is almost beside the point. Why was Jackson the only person who could walk into that room in the first place?

Syria couldn't place him inside their mental model of American power. He didn't fit the game. He wasn't legible to the system, and that illegibility was the whole thing. It was his most valuable asset.’

Grace during Lent.

       Grace University Lutheran, to which I belong emails devotions to members during Advent and Lent. Contrary to Homeland Security announcements there is little sign of an ICE withdrawal from Minnesota. Today's Grace devotional reflects on the ICE occupation and attack (see below).

Saturday, February 21, 2026

The January 26, 2026, New Yorker magazine contained a poem written by Klya Kaminsky, titled “Psalm for the Slightly Tilted,” that I found particularly heartening. During this period of civil unrest, I am inspired by the extraordinary signal moms, dads, friends, & colleagues who show-up. Though they risk harm, they seek justice for our immigrant neighbors.
 
Psalm for the Slightly Tilted
by Klya Kaminsky
 
This is not
a good year.
But it has
witnesses.
 
When you see them protest the powerful,
since who else does,
they stand
like flagpoles outside the courthouse
after a northeaster.
 
They came with
the wrong shoes
for revolution.
Still,
they showed up.
 
Comfort, Lord,
their bodies –
each a question mark
doing time
as a coatrack,
hung with borrowed jackets.
 
They are your legion
of bent spoons.
They are the only ones
who showed up –
with their orthopedic flair.
 
I saw my people lean –
not toward hope but toward each other.
They chant off-rhythm
and mean it.
 
These are my kind of people:
no tears – just
steam from a kettle
that never quite boils.
 
In times like these, don’t forget us:
the lopsided
leaning on one another,
like sodden paperbacks
left out on the stoop –
Nobody opens them.
But they still insist
On carrying the plot.
 
Comfort us standing up –
half scarecrow
half saxophone
with a squawk.
While stiffness becomes state policy,
comfort us sitting –
in that collapse called calm.
 
In the year they come for us
watch my people
make protest signs
out of old pizza boxes.
Watch –
 
There are no boring people
which is unfortunate.
You’d think statistically
we’d get at least a few –
one-speed souls
with just meh stuff to do.
 
But none of them are dull.
Each 
a suitcase
held together
by duct tape.
 
These are your coffee-stained saints
who rise not with trumpets
but with Advil.
They stand
and wait
creased like maps
of a country
that doesn’t exist anymore.
 

Prayer
Dear God, we thank you for these coffee-stained saints, who chant, with whistles around their necks and with their wrong shoes, borrowed jackets and pizza box protest signs. They lean on one another, lopsided, some like flagpoles, others like bent spoons, on the steps of the state capitol, at the memorials for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and outside elementary schools. They deliver food, put signs in their windows and give to Go-Fund-Me sites.  The duct tape holding them together is your call to bear witness, to be just, to be merciful and to love all our neighbors.  Amen.

—Nancy Baker

Takk for alt,

Al

An Introvert Morning!

     Last night the University of Minnesota women's basketball team took on number ten ranked Ohio State. OS has been one of their nemesis since 2016,  to whom they lost ten games in a row. The Minnesota Gophers took an eight game winning streak into the match. For the first time in years, Minnesota is nationally ranked; at #23, which seems low to this fan. Minnesota, known for defense and not turning the ball over, couldn't buy a bucket in the first half. In spite of all the misses, shots they'd normally make, they trailed by only three points at halftime.

   In the third quarter they found the basket and soon led by fourteen points. They won their 9th straight game 74-61. Take that Ohio State! Ohio plays a full court and trapping defense but it didn't give the Gophers much trouble. In Minnesota's first Big Ten League game they lost to Maryland by one point in double overtime. Their loss came as they didn't handle Maryland's pressure defense very well. Obviously the coaching staff has done good work in preparing the women for Ohio's defensive pressure. 

   This introvert had nothing scheduled this morning. As the washer and dryer hummed I watched the replay in detail and with pleasure. Many of the players on this team played in Minnesota high schools, which adds to the satisfaction as they succeed.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today at the OFH

      Minneapolis StarTribune columnist Erik Roper and Melissa teamed up on a  history podcast. The essence of it was tracing the history of an African American couple, Harry and Clementine Robinson,  who once lived in Erik's house in south Minneapolis a century ago. The story traces the lives of the Robinsons and their lives' ups and down. The podcast Ghost of a Chance won a bronze award in the history category.

     Today Roper was the guest speaker at the OFH. He described the making of the podcast and the history of the Robinsons. In response to the podcast funds were raised to place a marker on Clementines grave in north Minneapolis. Roper's articulate presentation captured the attention and imagination of the listeners. To listen to the podcast go to the StarTribune online and type in Ghost of a Chance.

Takk for alt,

Al

PS 7.6" of snow yesterday.

Erik Roper

Heather Cox-Richardson quoted Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker...

"Pritzker noted that Trump is making life harder for everyday Americans with tariffs that raise costs for working families and small businesses; trade wars that are devastating farmers; cuts to healthcare, nutritional assistance, and education; increased bureaucratic demands on states; and low job creation. The good news, Pritzker said, is that Illinois had managed such crises before and had found a way forward"

Ash Wednesday, 2026

    No doubt that you both realized that today is Ash Wednesday. Grace University Lutheran, to which I belong, offered worship services today at 12:00 and 7:00. Parking on the University campus is a bit of an issue at noon weekdays. It's also a bit of a drive from the OFH. With the first snowfall in weeks occurring I availed myself of a benefit of life here. The protestant chaplain, a young Lutheran pastor; E.L.C.A., offered a Ash Wednesday Service, in house. So, I attended, happily. The Catholic Service followed.

   Tom and Anita came for lunch and our weekly cribbage game.

    Economists looking at demographics recognize that industrialized nations will increasingly need immigrant labor and that countries will soon compete for immigrants. Meanwhile orange man continues to drive immigrants from America which is both inhumane and short sighted economically. .Heather Cox-Richardson today offers these quotes from the WSJ.

"'Now, the Wall Street Journal reported in a February 6 editorial, employers “are struggling to find workers they can employ legally.”'

'The newspaper continued: “There’s little evidence that undocumented migrants are taking jobs from Americans. The reality is that employers can’t find enough Americans willing to work in the fields or hang drywall, even at attractive wages. Farm hands in Florida who work year-round earn roughly $47,000, which is more than what some young college graduates earn.” “The lesson for President Trump is that businesses can’t grow if government takes away their workers,” the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board concluded'

  WSJ also offered this news about the effects of Make America Great Again.

"Peter Grant of the Wall Street Journal reported today that banks that have loaned money to finance the purchase of commercial real estate are requiring borrowers to pay back tens of billions of dollars as the delinquency rate for such loans has climbed to a high not seen since just after the 2008 financial crisis. About $100 billion in commercial real estate loans that have been packaged into securities will come due this year and probably won’t repay when they should. More than half of the loans are likely headed for foreclosure or liquidation".

Takk for alt,

Al

Dental Follies!

     Today was my semi-annual dental check-up and tooth cleaning, If you're wondering, I survived. That's the good news. The bad news is that there are problems with two crowns. One can be repaired but the other needs replacing. If I don't have anything worse than that I'm grateful!

   The dentist office is in the Crossing Building, which is where my condo was. I'll get two more trips to my old neighborhood.

  Off to a birthday party!

Takk for alt,

Al

"Proof is in the pudding!"

         One of the bennies of life in the OFH is cable TV. It's a decent package offering myriad channels I never us. It does give me access to many basketball games which I enjoy. My basketball team de jour is the University of Minnesota Women's team. They played a game yesterday which was broadcast on BTN, which is a channel I can access, consequently I could have watched the game live, but I didn't. Why not?

    One of the realizations of my life in dotage is that I don't enjoy anxiety. A second awareness is that I over invest in my chosen athletic team. Subscription to BTN+ allows me to replay games at my leisure. In yesterday's game the Gopher women had a poor first quarter being outscored by ten points. Were I watching live that weak start would have aroused anxiety, which I don't need. Knowing that they won, when I watched the replay today, it was, "not to worry, they'll prevail". Then, too, on replay I can either review a play or fast forward as desired.

   Minnesota defeated Wisconsin 83-60, winning their 8th game is a row.

 "The phrase "the proof is in the pudding" originates from a 14th-century British proverb, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," which means the quality of something can only be determined by testing or experiencing it directly. Historically, "pudding" referred to savory meat-filled sausages, not desserts, which were difficult to judge until eaten."  Internet

Takk for alt,

Al

Terraced rice fields in the Philippine Islands, the picture taken on the road to Baguio in 1962. 

A Mild Complaint!

     As a fan of women's basketball I have a mild complaint. There are a few games to watch during the week. Sunday comes and the women's games are stacked up from morning until late night. At one point this afternoon I was tracking four games simultaneously. Why not spread them out? The answer of course is sexism. Men's ball games are on every night of the week, with most women's games on Sunday. For much of the season they have to compete with NFL football, which we all know is morally bankrupt!

   OKAY, I've said and of course it will not change anything but I feel better.

Takk for alt,

Al

It's time for a random photo. These are Okinawan Homes behind a vegetable garden, the tallest plants are banana "trees". 1962 

In Case You Missed It

 From Heather Cox-Richardson...

"At midnight tonight, most of the agencies and services in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will run out of funding, as popular fury over the violence and lawlessness of federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol made Senate Democrats refuse to agree to fund DHS without reforms. And yet, because the Republicans lavished money on ICE and Border Patrol in their July 2025 budget reconciliation bill—the one they call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—those agencies will continue to operate. The 260,000 federal employees affected by the partial shutdown will come from other agencies in DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), and the Coast Guard.

A measure to fund DHS passed the House by a majority vote, but in the Senate, the filibuster allows the Democrats, who are in the minority, to make demands before the measure can pass. On February 4, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) sent Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) and House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a letter outlining demands Democrats want incorporated into a measure to appropriate more funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Those demands are pretty straightforward. The Democrats want federal agents to enter private homes only with a judicial warrant (as was policy until the administration produced a secret memo saying that DHS officials themselves could sign off on raids, a decision that runs afoul of legal interpretations of the Fourth Amendment). They want agents to stop wearing masks and to have their names, agencies, and unique ID numbers visible on their uniforms, as law enforcement officers do. They want an end to racial profiling—that is, agents detaining individuals on the basis of their skin color, place of employment, or language—and to raids of so-called sensitive sites: medical facilities, schools, childcare facilities, churches, polling places, and courts.

They want agents to be required to have a reasonable policy for use of force and to be removed during an investigation if they violate it. They want federal agents to coordinate with local and state governments and for those governments to have jurisdiction over federal agents who break the law. They want DHS detention facilities to have the same standards as any detention facility and for detainees to have access to their lawyers. They want states to be able to sue if those conditions are not met, and they want Congress members to have unscheduled access to the centers to oversee them.

They want body cameras to be used for accountability but prohibited for gathering and storing information about protesters. And they want federal agents to have standardized uniforms like those of regular law enforcement, not paramilitaries."

Takk for alt,

Al

 

Then, too, there's this, also from Cox-Richardson

"In his testimony, Lyons maintained that ICE is indeed prioritizing the removal of undocumented immigrants with records of violent crime, enabling Republicans to claim that Democrats who want to rein ICE in are deliberately endangering public safety. Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News reported this week that documents from DHS itself show that fewer than 14% of the nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested in Trump’s first year had either convictions or charges for violent crimes, with fewer than 2% either charged with or convicted of homicide or sexual assault."

Barn Yard barbie not only shoots dogs...

"Last night, in a deep expose of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her advisor Corey Lewandowski, Wall Street Journal reporters Michelle Hackman, Josh Dawsey, and Tarini Parti described a department in chaos. Noem and Lewandowski—who the authors say are having an affair and essentially run the department together—are using DHS for their own aggrandizement with an eye to elevating Noem to the presidency. The reporters detailed the focus on image, the decimation of ICE by firing or demoting 80% of the career field leadership that was in place when they arrived, the apparent steering of contracts to allies, and Noem and Lewandowski's excessive demands, including “a luxury 737 MAX jet, with a private cabin in back, for their travel around the country.” DHS is currently leasing the $70 million plane but is in the process of buying it."

VA Medical Center is Near

       Had an appointment to see my primary care physician at the VA today. There were three items on my agenda. 1. Move my annual primary care appointment from May to February; 2. Order socks; 3. Move a prescription to the VA. Mission accomplished.

       In May I'm usually at The Little House and in February at the OFH. The VA gives me free socks. Prescriptions are cheaper at the VA, most are $8.00. The VA doctor can now access my health records from my civilian provider. When I saw her a couple of weeks ago she ordered lab test so today the VA doctor was able to access the results. 

      My VA experience almost all positive and like this doctor.

Takk for alt,

Al

PS After he listened to my heart I asked him what he heard. He said "You'll live."

While driving a Studebaker!

 

'The detainees at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, the largest detention center in the U.S. for children and families, describe nightmarish conditions: moldy food, contaminated drinking water and limited medical care. In a letter sent to ProPublica, one child says the only medical advice they get from the doctors is to drink more water. “The worst thing is that it seems the water is what makes people sick here,” he wrote. At least two cases of measles, a highly contagious and often deadly disease, have been detected in the facility, leading officials to lock down the jail. But for many parents, keeping their kids in Dilley is preferable to the alternative: staying in detention — and possibly being deported — without them." Huffington Post Takk for alt, Al

Collateral Damage!

      The ICE invasion causes much collateral damage. Many residents, here legally, are afraid to leave their houses. Consequently house construction is lagging for lack of workers. Many restaurants are short of workers, especially minority owned, and many have had to close. Numerous students are too afraid to attend school, so they are missing out on learning. School districts' reimbursement is tied to pupil days so, with many students staying home, the districts are suffering financially. 

   On and on it goes, all to keep orange man from facing up to the Epstein Files.

Takk for alt,

Al

The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe’s political class. In the US, they’re getting a pass.

Heather Cox-Richardson

"As of yesterday, members of Congress who sit on the House or Senate Judiciary Committees can see unredacted versions of the Epstein files the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already released. As Herb Scribner of Axios explained, the documents are available from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM on computers in the DOJ building in Washington, D.C. The lawmakers cannot bring electronic devices into the room with them, but they are allowed to take notes. They must give the DOJ 24 hours notice before they access the files.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the DOJ to release all the Epstein files by December 19. Only about half of them have been released to date, and many of them are so heavily redacted they convey little information. After members of Congress complained, on Friday, January 30, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said they could see the unredacted documents if they asked.

In a letter dated the next day, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) immediately asked for access on behalf of the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, saying they would be ready to view the files the following day, Sunday, February 1.

After viewing the files briefly yesterday, Raskin told Andrew Solender of Axios that when he searched the files for President Donald Trump’s name, it came up “more than a million times.” Raskin suggested that limiting members’ access to the files is part of a cover-up to hide Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender, a cover-up that includes the three million files the DOJ has yet to release despite the requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. One of the files he did see referred to a child of 9. Raskin called it “gruesome and grim."

Taxes...

     Today was the day to begin preparing my taxes for the preparer. With agriculture interests, etc., my filing is too complicated for me to attempt alone. All was going well until I discovered that the brokerage firm will not have a report ready until next week. Minnesota Soybean Processors, (MSP), with whom I hold a couple of stocks, sent a letter saying they are working on some complicated tax issues. Their advice was to file for an extension while MSP works out the details. When the brokers report next week I should be able to hand over my material. Once in the CPA's hands I can just wait to see what MSP sends. Last year their tax packet was about 30 pages! none of which I could understand.

Takk for alt,

Al

'"Nothing is certain but death and taxes" is a famous maxim regarding the inevitability of mortality and taxation, popularly attributed to Benjamin Franklin in a 1789 letter concerning the US Constitution. It highlights the unavoidable nature of taxes to fund government services and the certainty of death, often used to emphasize realism."  Internet 

Super Bowl, redux!

     Watching the replay of my favorite team winning was the perfect alternative to a football game last night. The women's game began at 11:00 a.m. local time to avoid the Bowl. My subscription to BTM allows me watch many games live and most on replay.

   Today, long-time friends came for lunch. Many years ago she I worked together and we've been friends since. Though we don't see each other regularly we stay in touch. During lunch I asked them, "So, who won the Super Bowl game last night?"  They looked at each other, looked blank, and she said "I think it's the one owned by a woman for gives money to charities."  Neither even knew the teams that were playing. Three at lunch, largely oblivious to the NFL.😀

    Tonight I'll watch Unrivaled basketball. Unrivaled is the one-year old league founded by Napheesa Collier and Brenda Stewart, both of whom are WNBA players. In this league there are only three players for each team on the floor. It makes for fast play, the floor is also slightly shorter, and emphasis on offense. The players all come from the WNBA and are divided into teams for the season. Being a WNBA fan I recognize all the players by sight. It's another great alternative to football and its season is when the WNBA is not playing. Much of the motivation was to provide an alternative venue for the players to playing overseas. Overseas play pays much better than the WNBA, however. a new agreement between the league and players is being negotiated. WNBA player salaries have been very low. Check it out if you like basketball.

Takk for alt,

Al

Super Bowl Sunday!

     It's Super Bowl Sunday I guess. Something tells me the Vikings aren't playing. I'm so glad that I'm not allowed to watch football. While the game is on I have perfect alternative, basketball!

   The University Of Minnesota Women's basketball team is on a roll. They are tied for 5th place in the Big Ten Conference. Last week they beat Iowa in Iowa for the first time after ten losses there. This morning, I was otherwise occupied, they beat Rutgers for their 6th straight conference win.

  While football is being played I'll watch the replay of the Minnesota/Rutgers game. Replays are sweet. No anxiety because the outcome is assured...yes, I'm overly invested. There's fast forward through time-outs, quarter breaks and halftime, so there are NO commercials! Want to review that action? Instant replays are at the touch of a button. Sure beats football!

Takk for alt,

Al

They are all camera shy!

Will Farmers gain political sense?

    Heather Cox-Richardson comments on the situation in agriculture.

"On Tuesday, February 3, a bipartisan group of 27 former Agriculture Department officials and leaders from farm and commodity groups wrote to the leaders of the agriculture committees of both chambers with a dire warning about “the damage that is being done to American farmers.”

Linda Qiu of the New York Times highlighted the letter, which noted that “just a few years ago,” farm export surpluses and farm incomes were at record highs. This year, “[f]armer bankruptcies have doubled, barely half of all farms will be profitable this year, and the U.S. is running a historic agriculture trade deficit.” The authors blamed this crisis on the fact that “the current Administration’s actions, along with Congressional inaction, have increased costs for farm inputs, disrupted overseas and domestic markets, denied agriculture its reliable labor pool, and defunded critical ag[ricultural] research and staffing.”

They warned of “a widespread collapse of American agriculture and our rural communities.” They noted that administration cuts to healthcare will add to the decimation of rural communities, wiping out a way of life. Rural voters tend to be an important part of Trump’s base."

This poem is from Lars' college friend.

Takk for alt,

Al

Heather Cox-Richardson again!

 These would be very helpful changes!

"Also last night, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) sent Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SC) and House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a letter outlining demands Democrats want incorporated into a measure that will appropriate more funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS is the department that contains Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. Democrats insisted on stripping DHS funding out of the bills to fund the government for 2026 after ICE and Border Patrol agents began to inflict terror on the country.

Those demands are pretty straightforward, but if written into law as required for the release of funds, they would change behavior. The Democrats want federal agents to enter private homes only with a judicial warrant (as was policy until the administration produced a secret memo saying that DHS officials themselves could sign off on raids). They want agents to stop wearing masks and to have their names, agencies, and unique ID numbers visible on their uniforms, as law enforcement officers do. They want an end to racial profiling—that is, agents detaining individuals on the basis of their skin color, place of employment, or language—and to raids of so-called sensitive sites: medical facilities, schools, childcare facilities, churches, polling places, and courts.

They want agents to be required to have a reasonable use of force policy and to be removed during an investigation if they violate it. They want federal agents to coordinate with local and state governments, and for those governments to have jurisdiction over federal agents who break the law. They want DHS detention facilities to have the same standards of any detention facility and for detainees to have access to their lawyers. They want states to be able to sue if those conditions are not met, and they want Congress members to have unscheduled access to the centers to oversee them.

They want body cameras to be used for accountability but prohibited for gathering and storing information about protesters. And they want federal agents to have standardized uniforms like those of regular law enforcement, not paramilitaries.

As Schumer and Jeffries wrote, these are commonsense measures that protect Americans’ constitutional rights and ensure responsible law enforcement, and should apply to all federal activity even without Democrats demanding them."  Heather Cox-Richardson

Takk for alt,

Al

Book Report!

    Well into this book I wondered why I kept reading? It was mildly engaging and perhaps part of its allure was its setting in Penang, Malaysia, which I once visited. (A little Penang excurses here. My visit there came at a time when it was first possible to reserve hotel rooms online. On my previous travels I'd find housing upon arrival. So, making an online reservation in Penang, the hotel site gave two prices for rooms. The basic price was $10.00 a night but $20.00 if you wanted a private room. Being a big spender I opted for private.😁) The author wrote two previous books, both of which I enjoyed. His constant use of vocabulary, common to the area's English speakers, Malaysia was an English Colony until 1957, piqued my interest...frequently looking up the meaning of words, this, too, kept me reading. An example, warehouses lining the harbor are called "godowns."

   Persistence was rewarded as it became very interesting. The book is The House of Doors, Tan Twan Eng, and his previous books were The Gift Of Rain, and The Garden Of Evening Mists. It could be classed an historical novel. Two famous people, who spend time in Penang feature prominently in the story. W. Somerset Maugham, the English author, visited Penang in the 1920s. Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary was there raising money when revolution broke out in China. Both are feature in Twan's story. While Penang is the main focus of the tale the protagonists move to South Africa for health reasons. This mirrors the author's life as he divides his time between those locales.

   Lesley, the main charcter is imagined in relationship with both Maugham and Yat-sen. In Saigon we stayed at the Oriental Hotel where Maugham has stayed previously. Another historical detail is the trial, conviction and pardon by the Sultan of an English woman convicted of murder. 

  It's good story, well told in excellent prose. It's garnered very positive reviews.

Takk for alt,

Al

What is Sun Yat-sen known for?

As the paramount leader of the 1911 Revolution, Sun is credited with overthrowing the Qing dynasty and served as the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912) and as the inaugural premier of the Kuomintang.