Tribute

It is with sad news that I need to share with the readers of the Duluth Reader. My brother, Ken Bracken, passed away on Friday, March 29th, 2024 (Good Friday) which made it a bad Friday for me. For the past 3 years he was a resident at the Minneapolis Veterans Home. He was placed on hospice care about 5 weeks prior to his passing and his health declined rapidly in the final week.

Many of you who regularly read the Letters to the Editor will recognize his name and also recognize that he was a Democrat and was not bashful  about his hate of Trump. Whenever his letters were printed I would try to bring him a copy of the newspaper which he enjoyed. There were several times when an issue had both his letter and my letter printed. We agreed that the Duluth Reader readers probably enjoyed reading this sibling rivalry. 

A few months ago I told him about the Braver Angels (the topic of my March letter) and I think he agreed that both Democrats and Republicans need to discuss political topics with respect for each other and use comments leading towards making America better.
Ken served 4 years in the U.S. Navy and will be buried at Ft. Snelling on April 8th. His headstone will state – A True Patriot
Chuck Bracken
Cannon Falls, Minnesota

photo by Deby Dixon

It’s dam time beavers get the credit they deserve

International Beaver Day on April 7^th is the perfect day to join other beaver believers recognizing how beavers help our planet.
 Beavers keep our ecosystems healthy; increase biodiversity, help manage water-related issues and have the potential to reverse the most devastating impacts of climate change.  
 The wetlands and watersheds restored by these natural engineers behave as “kidneys” for our planet. The biodiversity beavers support is the equivalent to that of rainforests and coral reefs.
 Not only do these wetlands help wildlife, but they also provide positive ecological benefits for humans by:
 • Improving water quality by filtering out contaminants, including road salt and nitrates.
• Slowing the water’s flow, which reduces downstream flood damage from large storm events and reduces bank erosion.
• Storing water to help replenish aquifers and mitigate the effects of droughts.
• Absorbing and capturing greenhouse gases.
• Creating environments for recreational activities, from fishing to birdwatching.
 We need to focus on non-lethal alternatives to beaver trapping to ensure they are allowed to provide all their ecological value. Simple solutions like installing fencing to protect trees and culverts, and flow devices to lower beaver ponds can solve most beaver related issues.
 It’s about dam time beavers get the credit they deserve!
Amy Mueller
Wildlife Advocate & Wisconsin Master Naturalist
Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter Volunteer 
Ottawa, Wisconsin 

Be careful what you wish for

I am writing regarding a case before the 6-3 highly conservative Trumplican leaning Supreme Court. It seems as if all the recent court proceedings (whether at the Supreme Court or the many other courts) only look at the case as if their ruling will just apply to Trump. No other President has had the audacity to think they could do anything they wanted and get away with it as they had full immunity for once being a President. What if we looked at it as if this applied to any person who ever held the Presidency.  Let’s start with our current President Joe Biden.  

In articles off the internet: “Trump lawyer John Sauer said Tuesday that a president who ordered the military to assassinate a political rival or sold pardons to criminals could only be criminally prosecuted if they are first impeached and convicted by Congress.
Appeals court Judge Florence Pan, a nominee of President Joe Biden, posed the hypothetical questions to flesh out the bounds of Sauer’s immunity argument. Broadly, his argument relies on the theory that presidents are shielded from prosecution for official actions if there isn’t an impeachment conviction first.

“Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That is an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six,”
Pan said “He would have to be, and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution,” Sauer said. 
“I asked you a yes or no question,” Pan said.
“If he were impeached and convicted first,” Sauer replied.
“So your answer is no,” Pan said.
Sauer responded, “My answer is qualified yes. There is a political process that would have to occur.”
His lawyer, John Sauer, argued at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that former presidents are only vulnerable to criminal charges after the House has impeached and the Senate convicted a president. Sauer said in response to a judge’s questions that a president could kill a political opponent and get away with it if the Senate didn’t convict him.

“The president cannot function, and the presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the president faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office,” the filing said.
“A denial of criminal immunity would incapacitate every future president with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office, and condemn him to years of post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents. The threat of future prosecution and imprisonment would become a political cudgel to influence the most sensitive and controversial presidential decisions, taking away the strength, authority and decisiveness of the presidency,” according to Trump’s filing.

So, If that is the case they are trying to present – President Joe Biden could have Seal Team Six take out his political opponent (Trump) and then, according to Mr. Hur’s politically damaging suggestion, that, in deciding whether to prosecute (President Biden), he had considered that Biden would likely present himself to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

I personally think the MAGA Trumplicans should be careful what they wish for and not open the Pandora’s Box.
Renita Sutherland
Superior, Wisconsin

A country of immigrants

We are all ancestors of immigrants who have enriched our country in countless ways. Part of the poem on the Statue of Liberty says: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free.”
Three of my grandparents immigrated to Wisconsin in the early 1900s. One grandfather said he came because he didn’t have enough to eat and was always hungry in his home country. He worked in the lumber camps until he could buy 20 acres to start a farm.
One grandfather worked in the iron ore mines in the Hurley/Ironwood area. Like so many miners, he suffered with TB due to the dust in the mines and died in his 40s. His wife worked as a domestic servant until they were married. After her husband died, she and the children continued to farm until the children left to find work elsewhere.

For many years Donald Trump has been spewing hate towards immigrants. At his rallies, including the rally in Green Bay, Wis., on April 2, he says, “I’ll use the word ‘animal’ because that’s what they are.” And the people in the audience cheered.
 At other rallies he has said, “These aren’t people. They are animals.”
Trump has said immigrants “poison the blood” of this country. And he condemns immigrants who come from “shithole countries”? 
It is interesting that Donald Trump spews so much hatred toward immigrants when his own grandfather, Frederick Trump, immigrated to the U.S. to escape three years of compulsory service in Germany. Frederick and his wife, Elisabeth Christ, were born in Kallstadt, in the Kingsdom of Bavaria.
Donald Trump’s father, Fred, married Mary Anne MacLeod who was born in Scotland.
Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana Zelnićková, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1949. Ivana immigrated to Canada and lived in Canada in the 1970’s. Ivana and Trump were married in 1977, and Ivana became a citizen in 1988. 
Trump’s third and present wife, Melania Knavs, was born in Slovenia. She became a U.S. citizen in 2006. Melania and their son, Barron, have dual citizenship in Slovenia and the USA.
Just visit a large dairy farm in Wisconsin and see the immigrants who work on these farms. They are essential to the dairy industry. The work is intensive beginning early in the morning and going into the late evening. 
Large dairy farms in Wisconsin, often called CAFOs, milk on average 700 cows a day. And yes, immigrants pay into Social Security. 
Do you agree with Trump: people who work on the farms and other essential industries “aren’t people. They are animals”?
Do you agree with Trump that immigrants “poison the blood” of our country? Were your ancestors “animals”? Did your ancestors “poison the blood” of this country?
If you don’t agree, what are you going to do about it? 
Joyce Luedke
Weston, Wiscosnin