News & Articles

Pretti and Good

We are all Palestinians now.
The IDF has burnt its brand
On the placid American cow
And it squats on the brokered land.

We are all Palestinians now.
Line up children and take the mark,
A tag for the ear, one for the toe,
A bullet in the sacred heart.

Each darling girl, each lovely boy
Stripped of flesh, made to obey,
Discarded as a broken toy.
We are all Palestinians now.
Michael Niemi
Duluth, Minnesota

Blessed by Duncan

I was reminded recently that “It’s not about what happens to you in life, it’s about how you choose to respond to what happens”.
Well, this is how I CHOOSE to respond:
  For friends and loved ones who question me if I am going to get another Service Dog after the passing of my beloved Duncan (10-26-2025). It looks like the “Doggy Door” has been shut in my face by Helping Paws.
  I’ll let you be the judge of their response (in part) – ”In regards to utilizing the dog, HP was informed that you were not going out in public due to health issues related to your disability and concerns about infection. Helping Paws spends two to two and a half years training our dogs to be comfortable working in public. Having a dog spend most of its time working for a person at home, while admirable, is not what we are training and placing our dogs for. Having health issues that preclude a graduate from being out in public are a reason that we decline applications both initially and from successor dog applicants.

I hope this gives further clarification about our decision.
Best to you.”
  I know how blessed I am to have had my Duncan (since we were matched on 9-25-2017). I am so grateful for all the beautiful people at Grand Ave. Vet Clinic and the Divine staff at Blue Pearl who supported us at the end of our journey together.
  I feel like a tripod with two legs, but I will keep breathing, moving forward and through tear-filled eyes wait to see what the Universe has in store for me. (Maybe a Cream Golden or a Darker Canadian Golden).
Thank you for letting me share.
Brenda Rose
Two Harbors

The right thing to do

In a recent Reader “News of the Weird” the article mocked Rankin, Pennsylvania as having only one public works employee on staff. It isn’t “weird,” it’s another indictment against White people and their propensity to make uneducated assessments of the problems of non-whites, likely. (I say “likely” because I don’t know the editorial staff at Andrews McMeel. Elitist attitude might instead be the reason or a parallel factor).

Years ago I lived in the region. Rankin, Swissvale, Duquesne and Braddock (boroughs of Pittsburgh) were ghettos (and probably still are). They were at one time prosperous but when the steel mills shuttered they were financially devastated. Braddock became so impoverished that it no longer had the tax base to provide for a police force and consequently, State police had to fill the role. But not only were these boroughs ghettos, they’re Black ghettos. Rankin likely only has one public works employee because they can only afford one public works employee - a hypothesis reinforced by the fact that they didn’t hire more help but instead contracted out the work.

If you are in possession of stolen property and wish to make amends, the first and most critical action is to return it. This is a straightforward concept that has yet to be consciencely applied to the subject of U.S. slavery.
Slavery in the United States has never been adequately addressed. Enslaved people were never given a voluntary and valid option to return to the countries from which they were stolen, and this option is still not provided to their descendants in any realistic form. Simply “dumping” individuals in their ancestral countries without the necessary resources to reestablish themselves would leave them vulnerable to traffickers, extortioners, and other predators. Check the statistics and you’ll find that, generally speaking, these people do not have the financial resources to do this on their own and they should not be put in the position of “earning their freedom “.

Because U.S. slavery is a national issue, the federal government should be responsible for providing and financing the correct solution. As a conscientious society, we should require that a viable option for return be perpetually established and that this option be widely published that it exists.
This is the right thing to do.
Mike Alan
Duluth, Minnesota

‘We knew this would happen’

Impressive redaction in the TV schedule. I assume CNN is next. Appreciate the focus on the current assault. I have a special needs grandson who will be impacted by the pause in funds for Medicaid.. “It’s just rhetoric,” has evolved into, “We knew this would happen.”
Dennis Krithers
Duluth, Minnesota
  

Costly Ignorance

The U.S. is indeed exceptional when it comes to its display of ignorance of other countries. In 1953 the US deposed Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddegh and installed the dictatorial Shah, who sold his nation’s oil cheaply to the U.S., bought U.S. weapons, and became the enforcer of U.S. policy in the region until he fled to the US in 1979 at the time of the Iranian revolution. During these years in the 1970s I taught scores of Iranian students whose opinions as to their future varied widely except for their common hatred of the Shah and his U.S. backers. Among the many factions struggling for dominance in Iran were the Islamicists, whose eventual heavy-handed grip on power has lasted since 1979.

In short, politics in Iran is deeply bifurcated and would take decades to heal even if there were good will on both sides. None of this history is of any interest to the U.S. ruling class, who certainly have no interest in negotiation with Iranians; however, the current chaos is extremely useful in their effort to either neutralize Iran or turn it into a U.S. vassal state (BTW, the same plan for Venezuela, Cuba, Gaza, Ukraine, etc.).

What’s worse is that in the U.S/ there is almost no opposition to Trump which is not spineless or, if on target, is routinely ignored. He and his ilk do what they please with near total impunity. This is the sad state of democracy in the U.S. Any attempt to establish a vibrant democracy in the U.S. would need a long-term continuous dedicated grassroots effort. It will never come from casting a vote once every couple of years.

We, along with the Iranians, still have a long way to go.
Robert Kosuth
Duluth Minnesota

This isn’t looking good

With the way things seem to be going in the world now it makes me think that the world will be run mostly by four dictatorships. North and South America and the islands around by the united states under Trump, Asia by China, the middle east by Israel, and Europe by Russia with them dividing up Africa and the others areas.

The thought of that is scary and Trump has made it clear that he wants to run our country forever or someone of his choosing claiming it’s for safety and other excuses why it’s for our protection and best interest.
None of these dictators want world peace and might decide to try to oust the others for world dominance.
That’s my opinion but it seems headed that way.
Cecilia Hill
Duluth, Minnesota