Dear Substack, my first link heavy intro to myself

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Dear Substack,

I am one of your most recent utilizers. In French, which I decided at age 67 to learn, that word is utilisiteur, I think. It sounds more natural in French. A shorter word in English is user. I don’t think that word is available in French. But a Substack user could be someone who simply reads or subscribes to posts or a contributor of posts. That’s me.

After attempts to put a half dozen posts connected to my stack which at the moment stands at “A snowman speaks” and cautiously sending invites out to perhaps 40 people who I have exchanged emails with my most recent post returned six new subscribers today. I’m stoked.

This substack is not my first foray into the Internet. I created a website in April of 1999 which I used extensively for a decade called www.snowbizz.com. In 2006 Apple stopped supporting my site through its software and blogs were becoming a new thing and I set up www.lincolndemocrat.com. I think I’ve put nearly 40,000 posts there. I’ve attended to it off and one through the years. But its a little passe to use a french term for which I can’t easily find the accented e to spell here. OMG. I just got notification of two more subscribers and looked at the page states. 180 views. That’s why I’m looking for greener pastures. I still find writing here on the blog easier and to my delight I can transfer blog posts pretty much intact to Substack. Even the “last post” and “next post” links that I started inserting a month ago show up and lead substack readers who press them right to my blog.

I will have to take more care. for the last 18 years I’ve written so much here in Lincolndemocrat that I’ve always fallen far behind in proof reading. I think readers of Substack will have higher expectations. That said let me attend to the purpose of this blog which is a little further self introduction and a little previewing my priorities for this Trump challenging day ahead.

ME

I am a “perennial candidate” for public office. That is a pejorative sometimes given me by my colleagues in the Duluth News Tribune that I embrace. I began filing and often campaigning for public office in 1976. After my recent forth protest campaign against our Republican Congressmen Pete Stauber in Minnesota’s 8th District I think I’ve got 20 campaigns under my belt. I’ve made numerous websites, most now defunct, for these campaigns. I just resurrected the WeltyforCongress site I set up last year. I might file for a fifth time and letting is lapse would have meant more work to reconfigure. It has buttons for campaign contributions that still work and who knows maybe Substackers will chip in if they get to know me.

There could be a long explanation for why I run for office but I’ll over simplify. I decided during Nixon’s presidency when I was in college to do the “unthinkable” and become a liberal Republican like my immediate family and stand up for a party that even then was on wobbly legs. That liberality leads directly to the Party’s founder Abraham Lincoln who is more relevant now than ever. I submit this protest sign I saw today to underline the need to remember Lincoln.

Even Lincoln largely left his most acidic critiques have their say as he was trying to save the Union. Trump wants to OrBAN them as he tries to muzzle the media, intimidate law firms, cripple universities as Hungary’s Dictator has using European funding to accomplish that to their horror. Orban was doing what Putin did when oil money was pouring in to Russia as that fledgling democracy was starting to flap its wings. He funneled it into the checkbooks of his supporters to buy up old Soviet industries to become Billionaires who would fund him. And for those who didn’t toe the line – defenestrate them like Papa Joe Stalin did in the glorious Russian past Putin wants to return to.

So, back to my “short” self intro…..I started running as a Republican in a very Democratic district and losing and eventually decided the people who suggested I start with a non partisan office like the School Board were on to something. The trouble was, and this is a longer story I won’t explain here, I had a disastrous record as a teacher and it took me four school board campaigns to wear voters down so that in 1994 they said to themselves: “To hell with it. Let him have a crack at it.” I’ve managed to be elected to the Board two times since and that either shows the people of Duluth thought I might have something worth saying or it may show that like the people who elected Trump a lot of them were pretty clueless.

About the snowman stuff. I have made over 100 snow sculptures, a few of them not half bad since my then first grade daughter aske me in 1987 to make her a snow dinosaur. I am a fairly cunning if not conniving fellow and thought to myself that might be a good way to ingratiate myself into the voters good graces. When I die my snow sculptures will keep my in the memories of locals far longer than my blog or politics.

And this was my first project today. Posting something that can be reached by my substack contribution. The other project is to finish reading a fantastic book by John M. Barry The Great Influenza. You can skip Amazon and order it here used for about $4.00.

I’m a little reluctant to dis Amazon because I compiled about 75 of my old columns published by our local tabloid the Duluth Reader in a book for my fourth protest campaign against Stauber and the Trumplican Party called Not your Usual Republican which can be ordered either for Kindle or as a book from Amazon.

Back to “the other project.” Two weeks ago my Reader Column was about Trump’s trashing public education. I think I’ll submit a column about Trump trashing public health with his broken Secretary of Un-sanitation, Robert Kennedy. He ought to read Barry’s book before he takes us back to witchcraft and snake oil to keep the nation healthy.

About the author

Harry is a ferociously good natured eccentric in Duluth Minnesota who detests traitors dressed up as Uncle Sam. You can find somewhat better edited writings of his at the Duluth Reader "contributors." page. The URL is:

https://duluthreader.com/contributors/h/84/284-harry-welty