America has repeatedly demanded that Black Americans prove their citizenship through sacrifices white Americans were never asked to make.
The men of the 54th did not fight to become equal. They fought in a country that had refused to recognize the equality that had always been theirs. Their courage exposed the lie beneath every system that makes human dignity something people must earn.
Equality is not a reward for sacrifice. It is a right no nation has the authority to withhold.
And what it is like to be human - giving from the kindness of her heart, giving even when it may hurt. I can't help think there are times HCR would rather relax than write another letter for us. Thank you Dr Richardson. I appreciate you.
I think you're 100% right about Heather's priorities. She prioritizes using what I think she's called her "superpower," teaching history including current events and civics, over personal convenience and comfort. Would that we all did.
R. Victoria, It is disgusting that there is an attempt to erase black (and others) contributions in the military and no chance to advance thanks to T, the drunk. Then there is the general attempt to erase anyone who is not white and male from our history.
Which is precisely why I salute Dr. Richardson for her defiant courage. As a historian, she knows beyond any doubt the ChristoNazis plan for any of us who effectively dissent.
It's also not whitewashed history edited to satisfy some ignorant man's ego! She tells the history, warts and all. It can be tough stuff but, like cod liver oil, is good for us. I wish our president was half as honest as HCR!
We owe reparations to both. Our ancestors progressed by stepping on theirs, and they're still down there because they weren't given the chances we were.
You are correct about how the white power class oppressed slaves and even freed black Americans. I'm only saying that the first accounting of debt for our ancestors' cheating, the first reparations should be for those we first oppressed.
Blacks are more visible to most whites than native Americans are. There are some Piscataway and others living in this county, I believe (just east of DC), but in other places I have lived, just about all we knew were the names on the land -- Lenni Lenape, Susquehanna, Shawnee, and so on. I should have spent more time learning about them -- every language lost is a way of looking at the world. I was pleased to hear young Amish at the farm market speaking their own language, and I hope the native Americans keep theirs alive. As a biologist I value biodiversity, and cultural diversity too.
I have been tracing our families's ancestry for over 15 years. My wife's family, for the most part have been in the New World since the early 1600's., except for the Native Americans who have been here since who knows when. Many of her ancestors were forced to leave their lands in the Southeastern US to land west of the Mississippi.
Many of you have "mixed blood" as well and your ancestors suffered or died at the hands of the white settlers and the US government during the first 60 years of our country in at least nine of the Southeastern States. Of course, this doesn't take into account the genocide in the other 41 states or the US territories.
As others have previously written here, the annihilation of the Native Americans in the largest and longest genocide in world history.
I am reading a book called Native Nations by Kathleen DuVal, which is an excellent history of our Indigenous people. The book covers a millennium of their lives in this land, and some groups in detail. I'm about half-way through, and am learning a lot about how those people dealt with the European invaders. For several centuries they were able to at least somewhat control the invaders. I haven't gotten to the bad part yet, but what I've read shows how resourceful our Indigenous people have always been. I'm also a biologist (college major) and agree with you completely about diversity.
Tina, books are good and historical study is good, but there's no substitute for hearing the story told by a descendant of the Indigenous people who were assaulted and robbed by European invaders.
I worked with a Choctaw man for several years who told me his ancestral history in bits and pieces. Although my ancestors were still in Wales when the worst was done, I still feel shame when I think about his heart-searing story.
No matter whether you live in an apartment or on acreage, imagine a foreigner coming to your home and declaring in a language you don't understand, "You're an ignorant savage and your home is mine. If you don't get out now and find somewhere else to live, you will be shot dead."
Imagine the indignity of having thousands of square miles confiscated from you and being told, "You must move several hundred miles away to this 40-acre patch of land that we are so generously giving you for your new home. Getting there is not our problem. How you will make a living is not our problem."
Therefore, we must keep repeating it, writing it down, and teaching it to every child that comes after us. Never let those like trump bury history and the truth. It is the only hope we have of learning from it and remembering those who came before us.
That statement of his was my reference. I was curious to see how many would pick up on it.
The thought has also occurred to me that the Democratic Party ought to create and to market a Trump Trivia game (or maybe a MAGA trivia game) to raise money for the midterms. Wouldn’t that be a kick in their you-know-where!. There is certainly a rich vein of trivia there.
You can start that politically by helping to elect Native Americans to positions of power and respect within our current government and by protecting the places they revere. Ms Haaland is one.
We would be a lot better off if all our members of Congress had some Native American heritage in them. In a way we all do by virtue of our birth or residence in their land. But we don't appreciate it.
Toure Reed, historian of Africa American history at Illinois State, provides a powerful argument against reparations based on race. It's worth reading his counter-argument. In Towards Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism he responds to the question "in the age of runaway inequality and Black Lives Matter, there is [a] consensus that our society has failed to redress racial disparities. But who is the culprit?
For many progressives, racial identities are the engine of American history, and by extension, contemporary politics. They, in short, want to separate race from class. While policymakers and pundits find an almost metaphysical racism, or the survival of an ancient and primordial tribalism at the heart of American life, these inequities are better understood when traced to more comprehensible forces: to the contradictions in access to New Deal era welfare programs, to the blinders imposed by the Cold War, to Ronald Reagan’s neoliberal assault on the half-century long Keynesian consensus." ... Touré Reed argues [that] the road to a more just society for African Americans and everyone else, the fate of poor and working-class African Americans is inextricably linked to that of other poor and working-class Americans."
Judy, here in Oregon, there has been some return of land. Also the dams on the Klamath River were removed and some Native American youth took a canoe trip down the river to the ocean. The local tribes are part of the restoration project as well. Meanwhile we are witnessing the regime's total disregard for indigenous sacred places.
As it turns out, the Oregonian has a long story on returning land to Native Americans today and some of the problems as well. It is probably behind a paywall, sorry to say.
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own landh
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
Toure Reed, "Not Alms but Opportunity." To redress past denials of equality by expanding opportunities, instead of with handouts. (In some situations, though, financial assistance would be needed and justified.)
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own landh
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
"Equality is not a reward for sacrifice. It is a right no nation has the authority to withhold."
"Equality" is not a civil right universally recognized, granted, enforced, protected, or established by nations. Which indeed have the authority to withhold it. Nor is "equality" a moral imperative operative in religions.
The notion of "equality" has a complex history and in many nations a fraught history. Here in the USA equality before the law and equal representation, rights granted and protected by the Constitution, are being purposefully perverted, violated, and overturned by the Republican Supreme Court majority and the Republican majorities in Congress.
Thanks for pointing out that equality is not a universal right in all countries. It is the defining characteristic of what the vision of America is and has been for 250 years. Let’s work together to keep it that way. VOTE
I did that on the first day of early voting. For some reason I was compelled to cast a ballot on the first day. (Also because I’m a election officer and can’t wait till election day.
Peter, thank you for your honesty. Many of us are looking at other shores, and it is understandable that Americans are unwanted now in many places. Your comment seems, by extension, to imply that you don’t want “foreigners” in England. That would include many other nationalities as well. How do you discriminate between those you would allow entry and those you want prohibited?
Having lived in the UK for a couple of years, I’d recommend looking elsewhere. It’s full of alcoholics w bad teeth whose favorite pastime is complaining about the weather. Those who can afford it, fill up the restaurants and bars in Spain and Portugal, buying up real estate and complaining about immigration laws. Pot, meet kettle.
This is the problem. People want their freedom and equality handed to them on a silver platter that others fight or fought for, ever vigilant. Traitorous? Possibly. Selfish, totally. imo disgraceful.
If we intend to take aback our stolen nation, we'll have to do a helluva lot more than elect Democrats, who were irremediably compromised by their role in the events of 22 November 1963 and are now and forever nothing more than the Republican Fifth Column. The erstwhile Republicans, ChristoNazis every one, impose ever-more- inescapable tyranny with every passing day, while the do-nothing Democrats work to hide their submissiveness behind a tsunami of complaints that are merely an oxygen-consuming form of "change we can believe in," the most outrageous Big Lie in presidential history,
But Loren, 1963 was many moons ago. Sadly, a few of the ancients still serve in Congress, but there has been a great deal of turnover. Mistakes were made in the past by both parties; that’s why so many voters are now registered with No Party Affiliation (NPA). As the song states, “Change is gon’ come” but only if we push for it. And we are.
The reason, Signe, is some history is too infinitely damning for even the most allegedly enlightened of our masters to ever allow it to be acknowledged. In this case, I have no doubt if the truth about 22 November 1963 and its oh-so-methodical coverup were ever fully disclosed, it would redefine the former United States not only as the ultimate banana republic, but as the deadliest, most vile banana republic that ever existed.
Tom...Thank you for publicly identifying yourself as a probable ChristoNazi operative. (Once again, we see the everlasting relevance of Lev Bronstein's axiom, a grave warning to liberation movements since he stated it in 1905: "In every gathering of three revolutionaries, there is at least one agent of the Okhrana.")
Oh damn. You figured it out. I thought we were too smart for you, but you have untangled our skein of intrigue. I guess it falls to me to notify the Pope, the ghost of Hugo Chavez, and the twelve secret offspring of Ayn Rand and Casey Stengel that the geniuses in the comment section have figured it out. So you’ve eon and can quit trying to further excavate our hidden secrets.
And what role would that have been? Was Oswald a Democrat? Was there some sort of Democratic conspiracy to assassinate JFK? Were those mysterious folks on the grassy knoll Democrats?
I would summarize the book this way; JFK made peace overtures to Khrushchev, which were returned. Likewise with Castro but those were only beginning. Military disagreed—they didn’t want to wage peace. They wanted to defeat communism decisively by war.
The Warren Commission scam, the Tonkin Gulf false flag incident, failure to adequately enforce the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts etc. ad nauseam.
In case it had missed your notice, it was the Democrats who passed both Acts, over a great deal of Republican opposition. It took a SCOTUS programmed by Leonard Leo and the Heritage Society to take it apart.
What conclusion do you think the Warren Commission should have come to? Are you assuming some Oliver Stone style conspiracy?
People will argue about that day for as long as the nation is around.
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was based on either false information (at best) or LBJ’s inability to understand what we were getting into, but that was as much the fault of his left-over JFK advisors as it was his. We were spoiling for a fight. After our ‘victory’ over the Russians in the Cuban missile business, we thought ourselves fit to nation-build in Vietnam - the first of our four subsequent mistakes. In any case, it is hard to see how November 22 played into that.
I don't normally quibble with your ilk, Mr. Quinn, because I know it to be pointless. But your response includes two baldfaced, rightist-propaganda lie I'll not abide: your nasty attempt to blame our martyred president for Vietnam. I'm a Regular Army vet c. 1959-1962, 16 months ('61-'62 in Korea); hence I know [as absolute certainty] President Kennedy was attempting to withdraw us from Vietnam. (In fact there is substantial evidence that effort was what got him killed.)
As to "spoiling for a fight," your "we" -- unless you have multiple personalities -- does not disguise the fact the only demographic of which that was true -- remember I was part of the working press in that era -- were the Southrons, eternal proto-Nazis who would enslave all-non-whites and exterminate those to old or disabled to work. (The fact most USians were [not] "spoiling for a fight" is precisely why LBJ and his [real] advisors had to fabricate a false-flag incident to start the Vietnam War.)
What role did Democrats play in “the events of 22 November 1963?” I assume you mean the assassination of JFK and law enforcement’s immediate response to it.
And enlarge the court, term limits and ethics rules. Create a system in which each president gets one pick(2 if 2 terms) to better represent the will of the people and reduce the impact of partisanship. The current court is overturning historical precedents and creating law...not their role!
I think limiting Supreme Court justices to one 18-year term would go a long way toward solving the partisan problem. Eighteen years equals nine House elections and three Senate terms. Supreme Court term limits and an enforceable set of ethics rules are worth a shot. What we have now isn’t working any longer because nominees simply lie at their confirmation hearings.
Do not forget that Republicans made it impossible for President Obama to select and install a Supreme Court justice during his term. This was a major FRAUD against our Democracy on many reverberating levels that are now crushing and crippling America.
Have you forgotten how Barack the Betrayer screwed us on union card-check and single payer? Or are you so bourgeois -- so identified with the ruling class -- such outrages don't trouble you? The simultaneous embargo on the Supreme Court nomination is a classic example of how both parties collaborate to subjugate us. We see the same dynamic today in how the Democrats mouth vehement protests rendered meaningless by no action.
What we have in this failed nation is governance by plausible deniability.
“__hoped that what they had done was worth the horrific cost.”
Almost 1.2 million Americans have paid that “horrific cost” on our behalf. And that is just those in our military. Untold numbers in addition include men and women in other public service roles. Their lives count on that ledger, too.
Multiples of that number have lived on with wounds and scars, both physical and mental, that we have not had to bear.
We are the ones who must assure that it was worth it by our actions now.
Hello Al... "Almost 1.2 million Americans have paid that “horrific cost” on our behalf."... That does not for the most part count the Indigenous that fought & died to defend our Lands... In 1491, there were an estimated 50-100 Million Indigenous in the Western Hemisphere... In 1900, it was estimated that only 200,000 remained, and the Indigenous would disappear within a Generation.... Well, We Are Still Here... OBW: The Indigenous serve in the Military at 5X the National Rate... In the Spec Ops Teams, 1 out of 4 of the 'Trigger-Pullers' are Indigenous...
Thank you, Apache. You have filled in a critical piece I left out entirely. I appreciate your filling that gap. And reminding me to tell all of the story, not just the part I'm most familiar with. A universal lesson that's tough to honor.
James is right; many indigenous tribes were brutal with each other. Yet, as today, there were some "saints" -- if we can ascribe that label to leaders who departed from the conventional pattern. I would argue the truth is more complicated. Not all indigenous tribes followed the path he described. The Iroquois Confederation did a pretty good job of managing the inclination to massacre each other. We, of course, are much more efficient when we choose to massacre each other.
The bottom line, though, when we talk about history, is to exercise real self-discipline in capturing as close to the truth as we can. A general characterization does not do the past justice, nor the present, for that matter.
That is why the dialogue Heather generates is so valuable.
I would point out that prior to the arrival of Europeans, indigenous peoples spent a good deal of time and energy trying to wipe each other out. There are no saints here.
I think 'wipe each other out' is a bit over the top. Or maybe not....
I see the same forces at work today with Israel. As each tribe outgrows the boundaries that defined it in the past it must make room for more of itself. It will push others aside until survival requires that it eliminates the opposition.
Certainly it was the case with the Aztecs and other groups who achieved urban status. In North America there was pretty constant if lower level warfare. Many tribes made the warrior ethos the measure of a man although actual killing was not necessarily the end game. The land was actually too vast and the numbers of humans too small to make European style conquest either practical or necessary but that didn’t mean that inter-tribal conflict wasn’t often a way of life.
It is one of the definitional marks of what we call ‘civilization’. And yes, some are and have been clearly worse than others. Trump, to take your example, would have felt right at home within the Nazi hierarchy or as a member of the southern slavocracy. Stephen Miller bears a remarkable physical resemblance to Reinhard Heydrick.
Hello James... The Indigenous 'Did Not Do Genocide'... The 'Losers' of Conflicts were absorbed, or allowed to seek new lands.... It is said, '500-Nations-5,000 Dialects-One-Religion'...
Not in North America. But in Middle America the situation is more open to interpretation. The Aztecs were not known for their friendliness to the other Native American groups in the area, a fact which caused some of their rival to aid the Spanish.
My “wipe each other out’ was indeed over the top. Certainly it didn’t come close to what the Europeans did to those who came before them. But the warrior ethos of so many North American tribes does say something about their feeling about other tribes.
Hello James... The Aztecs were not Native to Mexico, they migrated south from near Salt Lake City... They were Empire-Builders, Empires are not Peaceful.... The Indigenous were for most part, Paleolithic People... Nature is not Peaceful... Civilization at its Best, Tames People...
The blood in the floors in Beaufort must be screaming.
How is it that the racist actions of our "Secretary of War" are occurring without howls of protest? Hegseth is freely derailing the careers and forcing the resignations of the Black leaders of our military, and transparently using a skin condition to remove enlisted Black men from the ranks.
Blacks make up 19.2% of the military, compared with 13.4% of the general population, according to DoD and Census statistics. Military enlistment has long been seen as a path to a better life for Black Americans. Hegseth is actively destroying that path, not just for black members of the armed services, but for their families as well. It is callous, casual cruelty.
Racial minorities make up 30.2% of the military overall. That whole cohort sees and understands what is happening, destroying morale, cohesiveness, and readiness.
What is Hegseth doing to improve the military's combat effectiveness? He is instituting waist-to-height ratios to measure fitness and testosterone testing and free shots for those over 30 with "low T" to improve our troops' "lethality" in an age where the nature of warfare is changing into drone combat.
He's an insecure, cartoonish version of a "he-man" -- laughable if he didn't hold so much power. There seems to be precious little protest against his actions. He's "low-T" and, more importantly, "low-IQ"
Georgia, I'm sure I'm not the first to observe how closely Hegseth's campaign aligns perfectly with promotion of the pseudoscientific "Aryan race" by the German nazis back in the 1930s.
Although Pete is much younger than his Daddy Donald, both men(?) seem stuck in a past version of the world that no longer exists.
I have wondered if hegseth’s treatment of blacks and women isn’t discrimination prohibited by law. Does anyone know? Is the military exempt? I wouldn’t think so.
The liberators of Dachau. The unit most decorated for heroism of all US Army units in World War II. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Their officers were "white" - Jews, eastern Europeans, Italians - all "promoted" to "honorary white people" for the war.
They were men from the amps and also from Hawaii, where Japanese-Americans were not imprisoned, though the US military command in Hawaii did its best to keep a close (and intrusive) watch on the community.
The story of the Massachusetts 54th at Fort Wagner is often told as a story of courage, sacrifice, and proof. Black soldiers entered battle knowing the country was judging not only their ability, but their humanity. They were asked to demonstrate, through blood and death, that they were equal to white men.
That demand reveals a moral failure in human history: the belief that some lives matter more than others.
Slavery depended on that belief. So did segregation, colonialism, genocide, and every system that divided humanity into those entitled to dignity and those expected to serve, suffer, or disappear. The men of the 54th were not fighting merely for victory. They were fighting against a hierarchy of human worth.
They proved their courage at Fort Wagner, but they should never have been required to prove their humanity.
That is the lesson we must carry forward. The central struggle of civilization is not simply between nations, parties, races, religions, or ideologies. It is between those who believe human worth is universal and those who reserve dignity, safety, freedom, and opportunity for a favored group.
That battle did not end with emancipation. It continued through Jim Crow, lynching, exclusion, and resistance to civil rights. It continues today wherever refugees are treated as disposable, civilians are reduced to collateral damage, poverty is blamed on the poor, or political leaders speak of groups as criminals, invaders, vermin, or enemies.
Every atrocity begins with a moral ranking. First, some people are described as less worthy. Then their suffering becomes acceptable. Finally, cruelty is defended as necessary.
The soldiers carried from Fort Wagner into that house were not symbols then. They were frightened, wounded human beings who hoped their sacrifice mattered. It did.
Their legacy is not only bravery. It is a demand placed upon us. We must reject every ideology that requires someone else to matter less. The battle for equal human worth began long before Fort Wagner, continued there, continues now, and will confront us again tomorrow.
The men of the 54th and Col Shaw are commemorated in a powerful sculpture by Saint Gaudens. He made every soldier is an individual .as you look at them you immediately feel their stories. Whenever I go to the National Gallery I visit that sculpture.
Powerful statement on the back of the memorial, unveiled on May 31, 1897, by Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University:
"The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of a despised race unproven in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle. The Black rank and file volunteered when disaster clouded the Union Cause. Served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops. Faced threatened enslavement if captured. Were brave in action. Patient under heavy and dangerous labors. And cheerful amid hardships and privations. Together they gave to the Nation and the World undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride, courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII–MDCCCLXV. [1863-1865]"
Kelli Klymenko, Your comment today: “Equality is not a reward for sacrifice. It is a right no nation has the authority to withhold” was exactly my sentiment when I was reading Heathers newsletter this morning. I open up the comment section and there you are at the top sharing your well crafted thought on this. Very well said!
Kelli, that is a strongly held belief, so strong that people say it is so and then fight for it. But many people ( alas enough) do not feel this way and that is precisely why we fight for it, why in fact there is war. The nasty head of inequality keeps rising. Something in the head of some humans has been planted on each side long ago and has persisted and will grow and metastasize unless we beat it back in every generation.. like now.
Thank you Heather. That was a short lesson on history of humanity and the humanity of history. We owe them so much it’s not surprising that you, of all people might feel their spirits.
Per CENTCOM yet Another U.S. soldier Death 🙏 occurred in IRAQ today attempting to disarm unexploded Iranian ordnance that EXPLODED 💥 Also, yet another wounded soldier reported but, specifics not specified.
Our Country has 2 more dead KIA in Jordan & 1 is MIA 🙏
Reuters & MSNOW: Confirm two (2) U.S. service members in Jordan were killed after an Iranian long distance attack. Axios' late Saturday 7/18/26 one (1) serviceman confirmed MIA. CENTCOM is with holding names per Next-of-Kin protocol.
The I-WAR goes on.
*******************
Early Sunday 6 AM EST:
Verifiable facts are sparse. Casualties: Two [2] U.S. personnel were killed, and one [1] remains missing. Additionally, four [4] service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals and 1 or more have since been discharged.
I will check Reuters. Found out, the Reuters Platform has a Paywall.
Hello Bryan... Other 'Idiot War' News... Now DJT, 'The-Real-Stable-Genius', wants to let Saudi Arabia further Enrich its Uranium with no International Oversight.... What-Could-Possibly-Go-Wrong?... I wonder how much they paid the Trump Crime Syndicate for that permission?... In the Fragment of Gaza that the displaced Gazans now live on, ~30% of the Gaza Strip.. Two Israeli Airstrikes killed at least 8-People.... The 2nd Airstrike killed 7-People in the Funeral Party carrying the Casket of the Person killed in the first Airstrike... Too Much Religion, Too Much Hate...
Too Many Religious Justifications for Too Much Greed -- Hate used for Land Grabs. Tragic, enduring and always, prompting a counterpoint of Heroic Acts.
You know, in history the grieved becomes the hunter given an opportunity. Israeli Jews are no different than any group and they were given an opportunity to ruthlessly ethnically cleanse lands to expand and grow. Their ultra orthodox women have become baby factories. Hell I know in a way. My paternal side were orthodox from Lithuania and Ukraine and ole Grandpa Maxwell kept mama Ester barefoot pregnant for 13 bambinos. A terrible inhumanity was done to the Jews of mid century Europe and the way was opened to offer a homeland which was of course, justified. Yet shortsighted knowing that any such mass movement would unset the balance of those already living on lands. You certainly understand this dilemma in this land of ours in the same way Native Peoples were slaughtered over land expansion. Sometimes one can pinpoint a moment of resolving historic inequity and in my opinion if Chairman Arafat had accepted the peace accords as imperfect as they were, Gaza would be moderately prospering. The West Bank would still have some Israeli settlements but much more confined per the accords. Now there can never be peace in Palestine on account of those baby factories producing ultra orthodox ReligioRobots designed and manufactured to kill Arab Palestinians.
Yes, Arafat was holding out for a better deal and instead here we are. If I remember correctly, the deal he turned down would have given back something like 90% of Palestinian land.
I forgot but I do recall that he historically let his people down. it was a new perfect plan. He failed his people. And of course ideally, there would have been peace between the Palesteanians and Israelis. Now, nevermore.
Hello Bill... The founding Sin of Modern Israel was the Nakba... It should have been founded as a Sanctuary for All Religions as Jerusalem is Holy for three major Religions...
Condolences to the families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors of those whose blood now additionally stains the hands of the men who sent these young people to war.
Anne-Louise, I worked with many Muslim immigrants over my career. I worked with one woman who came from Iran with her husband.
Good grief! Although I've never travelled overseas/out of the USA, it's a big, big world and just because someone has different dress or customs doesn't make them wrong!
One time, someone made a disparaging remark about the hijab and long robe a woman was wearing. I ignored the racist implications and innocently said "kinda reminds me of a nun in full habit". (That stopped them in their tracks. 😉)
Thank you, Bryan. I hope to put it live in a week. I'll post the link in my tiny bio. I hope when people see my photos and read "Miselle's Musings" they still like me.
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own landh
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
It seems the ghosts of many haunt us now, asking questions for which no easy answers will come. How is it, knowing what we know, aware of the sacrifice of so many -- black and white -- have we managed to turn our backs on their memory, ignoring and forgetting their pain? Who would have thought that 170 years later, we would still be fighting versions of the same war?
It’s because people rather be entertained by their smartphones instead of concerning themselves with difficult questions or engaging in politics. In one of Heather’s Letters, she described how, in the young Republic, citizens would actually go and watch political debates in throngs. This kind of engagement is long gone nowadays…
Years ago, we took a fabulous road trip. We travelled from Chicago down to Springfield where we toured the Lincoln Museum. We walked outside of Lincoln's home. We then traveled to Memphis, across Tennessee to Asheville where we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway. We crossed over to Gettysburg and stayed two days.
We purchased the CD self tour and drove through the battlefield. II fancy myself a writer, but I can't find words to sum up the feelings that swept over me. The days we were there were clear and sunny. I thought about the lives lost there; the families destroyed; the rifts made that still wound our nation. Everyone I saw seemed somber and respectful.
The two nights we were there, I had horrible nightmares. I can't recall what they were, even then when I woke up. I just awoke with such a deep feeling of despair that was hard to shake. I swear it was souls still wandering in the fields, trying to find their way home.
Now, our country seems to be as divided as it was then. What have we learned? I think our Cabinet needs the position of a National Historian. Someone who will tell the POTUS why we do things in the manner that we do; what might happen if those Chesterton fences are removed. The mistakes of an egotistical POTUS and an ignorant Cabinet impact nearly 350 million people. No, that is wrong; it impacts billions around the world.
Of late, I've had a difficult time dealing with this long, hot (smoky) summer. The climate wears me down, but the administration is worse. Their actions attempt to strip away my humanity just as black slaves were treated as they had no humanity. At best, I call Thune and either beg or yell: HISTORY IS WATCHING. UPHOLD THE OATH OF OFFICE YOU TOOK!
I leave my email address. Nobody from his office ever answers.
Just as those black soldiers knew they were being watched, so is the world watching US. Not the "US" as in the union of states, but in the "US" as us voters. We have to return sanity to this country. The task of those Congress we elect will have a formidable task ahead of them. We must choose well.
Thank you for expressing this all so well. Reversing and managing insanity is truly hard but important. Your note gives me hope that we will increase this work.
Ally below called it "staggered breathing". That's what is working for me. I do feel guilty when I don't make the calls.
I wouldn't be surprised if some frequent readers here roll their eyes when they see me "welcome" newbies to this forum. I am sincere when I do so, as each time I see a new face, I feel like this community is growing and that gives me hope.
(Before retiring, I was a medical technologist. I have MUCH respect for nurses!)
Thank you, Lynell. You've been here longer than I, and you were one of the first names I found myself looking for in the comments. What a wonderful dilemma to have now: there are SO many comments daily that I can't get through them all, and how many names now that I see that I consider "friends"!!
Barbara, ,thank you for that link. I read it. Lengthy, and a lot to unpack, and my reaction probably mirrors what you may have: unease. The good professor has been writing in this Substack and stating on her podcasts that we need to decide what kind of government we want, 'cause the old one ain't comin' back. As the article stated, it can be very easy for newly elected people to adopt the bad habits their predecessors created.
I hope that you, and any others reading the following, will take a bit of comfort from this story. My daughter teaches HS English in a rural super-super-suburb of Chicago. She is truly an exceptional teacher who puts her heart and soul into the very difficult task of educating young minds while the allure of AI/social media/etc pulls their attention away. Last year, she devised an "escape room" test for her classes, where they had puzzles they needed to figure out based on clues from the five novels they had read. They could work in teams, and LOVED it. (She spent weeks on this.)
For this upcoming year, she has been picked to write the curriculum for a new class, whose subject will be "True Crime". (It's a long story why. I won't get into that.) Anyhow, one part of the class will be (I think weekly) short puzzles for the students to figure out "whodunnit". As she explained it to us, my husband said, that's teaching logic skills.
Oh, I love you sharing about your daughter…teaching is a “high art and avocation” in my book & wish teachers were paid their worth! About 15 or so years ago I was visiting my small hometown, where I haven’t lived in since ‘68 & ran into Miss Holmes, my HS English teacher, on the sidewalk. I stopped her and we chatted…she remembered me!….I thanked her and told her she was “a favorite” and that I learned so much from her. Such a small thing…a heartfelt thank you…but from the tears welling in her eyes I could tell it meant the world to her (she was long retired). I can imagine that many of your daughter’s students will carry very fond memories of their time in her classroom! I, too, found the linked article a long read and quite sobering & a lot to chew on, particularly given his references (data & studies) to “righting the ship of state” in a democracy. I sincerely hope Americans do not “tune out”, but instead stay engaged and proactive!
She lives in a Chicago Suburb where her rent is about $1500/mo. She works 45 min away and even with a decade behind her and tenure, and top ratings. she doesn't even break $50K. I've said this before, pardon the repetition if I told you. She could immediately make $20K more moving to a suburban school, but stays where she is at because she teaches all four years. She can choose what she wants to teach, within guidelines, of course. She got taught grammar in junior high by a real old school educator. Because of this, her students learn grammar! The lessons build and she told them to keep the papers, tests, etc in a binder as it becomes a reference book should they go to college. You are correct--as though not many go on, those who do come back and thank her. She's been told that their college peers "don't know how to write a paper!".
Rural kids deserve good teachers just as much as urban kids do, but because of the tax base, those rural teachers don't make a lot of money.
Just this morning, on our local news radio, I heard the 21 y/o Blackhawks (Conor Bedard) signed a 5 year contract. $15 Million. I'm unsure if it is per year or for all five, doesn't matter. Made me want to weep for my kids.
I have shared this fave poem of mine in the past here—I send it, on occasion, to an elected public servant or other person working for the “greater good”—maybe you have seen it. So here, for your daughter, is high praise in the form of Marge Piercy’s poem “To be of use”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use❤️
In various places such as podcasts I hear comments that we concerned Americans shouldn’t normalize what this administration is doing, should care more about [fill in the tragedy du jour], should do [fill in what we should do today], etc. Some seem to imply we are just apathetic and look what we got.
I am exhausted with frustration and helplessness. I am tired of outrage and thinking, since 2016, ‘well, this will be the breaking point and Congress will act.’ I’ve been wrong time after time after time. I am tired of being tired, of being whipsawed every day with a new unbelievable outrage. Yes, I vote regularly (in fact I’m in charge of a polling place). I am politically active (Blue Voter Guide, Blue Tennessee). I call my reps on the regular. Yet the people who should REPRESENT us are silent accomplices to Trump’s deranged lunacy. What more can I do? I.am.exhausted.
I never expected to live the last quarter of my life forced to live within the moral, emotional, physical, mental, and ethical disease of a man I never chose.
Sorry this went on so long. I’ll get down from my soapbox now and show myself out.
Not that it helps MLM - many of us feel as you do. I just sat here trying to recall a time my mind was not filled with this horror show. I do not understand how some people feel unaffected by this current time - yet here we are. Take good care. We need you.
Ally, I had to look that term up. Thank you, my sister! I have learned something new (always a joy to me!) and it is perfectly astute! I have talked about how geese fly, each taking turns at lead, but this is much better. It's the only thing getting me through these days, this knowing that others breath while I hold my breath.
Anne-Louise, this is one of the reasons I LOVE this forum! I learn so much from the folks here! It could be related to their careers or interests, it could be added content to what the good professor tells us, or it could be news local to them which Heather can't cover due to space. As soon as I looked it up I thought "yeah!".
MLM, you didn't go on too long, anyone familiar with my posts here know I can write an essay for a comment! (Although I haven't done as much of late because I feel exactly as you.) I recently read where this can be termed "moral fatigue" and that sure fits, doesn't it?
I believed Biden to be a good man. Perhaps he was too good as he didn't take the actions against Trump he could have, and he didn't promote his many accomplishments, either. But I can blame the press on that one.
Sometimes, when I comment on Jeff Tiedrich's Substack, I do let my evil twin out and she makes some snide/sassy comments. 😉 For the most part though, I try to be moral and ethical. I've said that I am trying so hard to NOT let this regime rob me of my humanity! (I once had to grab ahold of myself and shake myself hard, when I saw an elderly man wearing THAT red ballcap in my grocery store. I said, HELP HIM ANYHOW. And I did. Thankfully, I don't see those caps anymore!)
I agree with the despair at the implication we are apathetic. I'm trying. Some days, I can't do much because I feel like a seedling being alternately in a deluge and other days under unrelenting sun! Some days, I need to grow a bit to withstand all this.
I feel exhausted at times, too. I've been stepping back a bit to work on projects I've spent my life dreaming about. I'm with you on this one: didn't expect to be politically active and enraged in my golden years! This is when I planned to finally write novels!
Some days, I need the hugs. Other days, I am able to dole them out. Sending one to you. (BTW, I read everyone's little bios and often recheck them to see if they change them. My son is an HR professional. I love when I discover things that I share with others here. Makes me happy.)
Thanks for your Biden remark. I've known a lot of bitterness at how quick everyone was to fall for Trump's ploy ("he's doddering, look how stupid he is") and abandon him and his wonderful team. He expended every last drop of his energy and devotion on that job, and how happy everyone was - until he faltered from exhaustion.
It IS mind-boggling that everyone dumped on him for a single debate where he was obviously ill. It was a no-win situation. Had he cancelled or postponed, MAGA would have been gleeful. And that (bad word!) Jake Tapper--Trump exhibits worse than Biden's debate performance DAILY. And crickets.
I don't want to hate anyone, it's not my nature. I've had some very strong dislikes though, and Trump sure is on top of the list.
Outstanding comment Miselle. Have shared those feelings at Gettysburg as well as the other battlefields. Those spirits have not rested and continue to be with us until we can decide differently.. One day we all may choose more wisely.. *sigh..
TJ, the feeling I woke with those two mornings was similar to how I felt as my parents and two siblings were dying. In a strange way, it was almost worse than what I felt in my real life, as I saw their demise coming months before as their diseases progressed. That morning, it was like terror layered on top of that emotion.
The good professor often writes about significant historical events in such a way that we walk with those she writes about.
I have not gone to any other battlefields, though I have wanted to. I've written about this trip to this forum before. This is the infamous trip where, on the way to Pittsburg from Gettysburg, we got off the road for gas. 2016--you know where this is going. We entered "the Twilight Zone" as in this small town, EVERY SINGLE HOUSE/BUSINESS had a Trump sign. Some small homes had mini-billboards on their lawn! I swear on my parents' graves, out of every 100 properties, only one or two did NOT have a sign.
We got gas a skedaddled. At the time, I had a Bernie sticker on my car.
I have had no interest to road trip in any MAGA land since then. My vehicle now is a hybrid (which some MAGA would consider woke) and is a Toyota (not 'merican!) bearing an Illinois plate ("Dumocrat country). IMy only adornments on it now are a Penzeys magnet with a rainbow-ish heart that says "Choose Love" and tour cat stick figures. UH-OH!! Labels me as a "cat lady" (although not single) and LGTBQ+ friendly. I'd be a target.
(BTW--48 paid subscriptions! My heart warms to you, as I know how hard it is for indie journalists to support themselves. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 You're tiny bio is well written as well. Methinks you are a writer, too.)
Thank you. Believe that there are many people who have that sixth sense and may just brush it off for something other than what they can’t bring themselves to belief or experience. For some the logic just doesn’t connect, for others they take it with them for their entire lifetime. That’s what makes us all unique and interesting. Like to take all those experiences even the smallest of those feelings when you know something is there with you but can’t really explain it.
You may want to stay clear of Ohio for quite awhile. From Pa. and hometown was Pittsburgh a time when the steel mills were king, jobs plentiful and those mills emitted that sulfur smell into the air as we drove to visit relatives what some may now consider the “hood”.
Am of a mindset and like my rainbow ornament hanging from the hybrid car and wearing that Kamala hat even to this day while in this MAGA land. What have found interesting more and more those who were gung-ho aren’t that vocal anymore and are grumbling more louder than any others about being able to afford just the essentials.. Just smile and occasionally say with a humorous tone — “Consequences come with decisions made, sucks that it just didn’t own those Libs” accompanied by a slight shrug.. The grumbling gets a touch louder, but hear more “yea” with a grunt..
Susan, as we drove along on the interior road, I was snapping a few photos. I suddenly thought I saw three men standing among tall grass. It was so quick. I looked at the photo and couldn't see them in it, but I could swear I saw them. I tend to have an overactive imagination, but still....
I think everyone able to should go to Gettysburg, and when they do, either hire one of those excellent tour guides I saw and overheard, or at least purchase the CDs. It makes the experience much better. I've loaned the CDs out to a few folks who went. (Sadly, last person didn't return them and I've lost track of her.)
Ok, Ally, you piqued my curiosity. I am thinking you've experienced that as well and wondering what it was for you. There's been probably a dozen unexplainable experiences in my life, but as I said above, I do have an overactive imagination. Maybe.
I imagine so; I've had some interesting experiences in both places and in interactions that there's been "something extra" going on. Hard to describe those feelings/interpretations/interventions, but they've happened.
Numerous times. One that I relayed in another post describes attending training at a state owned building that had formerly been the home (read: warehouse) for "retarded" children. The entire building gave me the willies, but the worst was the girls' restroom.
I've also been on homicide scenes that were really creepy.
Oh, Ally! You are a really remarkable person. I admire you from afar for all you've done in your lifetime.
My late brother, and a brother in law, were both Chicago cops. Many years ago, my brother in law drove a "paddy wagon" which they used to use to pick up corpses after a well-being check was called and...you know. My sister said it really bothered him. We're going back about 40 years here, but I seem to recall stories of people without family or friends--getting a call only when a smell permeated a building. The things that police offices witness can really try the soul.
It's worth noting that Brylcream Boy, Pete Hegseth, had all references to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment removed from the Department of Defense website as part of his purge of all things non-white.
Happy to say that massive public backlash brought about a restoration of those references.
TC. I have been donating to the Tuskeegee Airmen for several years now. Just yesterday, it occurred to me to check out my charities' ratings. Happy to say Tuskeegee has excellent marks for the work that it does.
But there were several veterans' charities that had very low scores.
Morning, Ally!! Thanks for this tip. I heard of these women before but don’t remember if I watched a video about them. I will check it out. Thanks a bunch!
I was honored and humbled to meet a few of the Tuskeegee Airmen in my airline career. Gentlemen all. I only wish I could have bought them a beer and listened to their tales.
Thanks for mentioning the valor of the Tuskegee Airmen. They have a storied history too. The story of the Harlem Hellfighters in WWI as well as many other regiments are also legendary. They volunteered to fight. Many died hoping their exemplary service would demonstrate their patriotism and lead the country to equality.
Unfortunately, the soldiers who returned home were faced with malice, mistreatment and murder. Even in the military they were treated as second class citizens. They were intentionally excluded from the GI Bill, jobs and other benefits.
Racism is literally killing all of us. It keeps the door open to fascism and undermines the promises and ideals espoused about America the beautiful. Skin color does not make someone superior to other human beings. It's a myth that too many people hold onto as truth.
Brylcream Boy didn't stop there. Also struck down were the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up entirely of second-generation Japanese Americans, it became the most decorated unit of its size in WW II. He also knocked out the WASPS, and all-women unit that transferred military aircraft within the Continental United States. Also the Navajo Code-Talkers, also Jackie Robinson and Major General Charles Calvin Rogers, the highest-ranking black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. All in all, more than 26,000 images and posts were taken off, and only some were restored.
Having our troops tested for testosterone really says it all doesn't it? It's as if he wants everyone to have roid rage so they can be nothing but killers.
Well, I’m amazed that he had that done because I think the 54th was running through the court orders of the senate through just the other day I could’ve sworn I saw them there. Man, you may only be 70 or 80 but you live in Laker 250
On a side note, a portion of the San Diego I-15 highway is named after the Tuskegee airmen. Also, a disproportionate number of young black men served in the Vietnam War. All these veterans didn’t get the respect they deserved. It infuriates me when I now see the white nationalists wave the confederate flag. I just needed to vent.
And NYT 7/18: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration was still discussing whether to arrest the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he comes to New York City as expected for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” Mr. Mamdani told Lulu Garcia-Navarro this week on “The Interview,” a New York Times show, referring to the home of the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mr. Mamdani added. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
My opinion: Genocide and war crimes are a moral issue and not a political or racial issue. Being anti-radical right-wing Zionism is not anti-semitism. The religions of Jews and Muslims (Palestinians) have the same origin (Abraham). They both speak Semitic languages. They both have the same or very close genetic ancestry. To say that being against the genocide and starvation of Semitic Palestinians is anti-Semitic is a misnomer.
(2) U.S. Representative Jim Hines, 4th District Connecticut, Ranking member of House Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Financial Services Committee and a member of the “Gang of 8” (a term used for the eight key leaders in the U.S. Congress who are briefed by the executive branch on highly classified intelligence matters and covert operations), was interviewed by the Bulwark about Trump’s 7/16 speech and the prospects for a free and fair November 2026 election and what can be done (19 min.).
(3) If you are interested: A debate was held for the 8 candidates running to represent the Democratic Party against Susan Collins in Maine’s crucial U.S. Senate race. The candidates were split into two groups of 4 each. This is the link to the debate for the 4 candidates most likely to win the nomination. “Part 1: Democratic U.S. Senate debate for who will replace Graham Platner - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MuOr6Nnki0
(4) IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMY?: In her “American Conversations” this week Heather interviews University of Michigan Economics Professor Justin Wolfers: “Justin Wolfers | American Conversations - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viKrMl53cLY They discussed the tension between the FDR-Truman-Eisenhower New Deal economics and the Reagan-NeoLiberalism-“Trickle Down” economics and what can be done to rectify the current enormous wealth inequality in our society while maintaining economic growth. The Rand Corporation has updated their estimates and now say it is closer to $80 Trillion in wealth that has been transferred to the top echelon of our society by neoliberalism-trickle down economic policies.
How did you enjoy your time on Epstein island there Frank did you have a good time with the boys? Trump is a war criminal as well. So fucking ignorant, and such a lemon, that you don’t even pay attention to history
The only criminals, and the only ones with ties to Russia Are Biden and Obama but you don’t pay attention Barack Obama sat on his vagina and watched Putin take over the entire Crimean peninsula. AND DID NOTHING
then Trump came to power and Putin stop misbehaving. Then Joe Biden came into power and sat on his vagina as Putin took over the entire East Coast of Ukraine. So who are complicit in these crimes? You just believe anything you read huh you read a headline you jump on it like a bitch in heat without doing any research just trusting the source bowing and genuflecting as you read it. It appears educated people are the most gullible
You're a persistent piece of loudmouthed shit, aren't you? Why don't you take your own advice and go over to X where you can get down in the muck with the other DNA failures. I hate it when drooling morons like you claim you're on my side.
What in the world makes you think it is the least bit non-fascist?
Fascism is a far-right-wing phenomenon.
Idiots conflate honorable liberals that are more in line with FDR New Deal Democrats with MAGA, when today's corporate Democrats have more in common with the elite than the working class since the Clinton administration.
Why would I claim on your side. You appear to be on the wrong side of everything.
So Substack generally speaking a very elderly liberal winery that had a really good life and they just don’t like the personality or the person that Trump is but they can’t argue with his policies, but they hate him anyway. And all of us old people will be gone soon, but Trump’s name will be around for the next 50 years or more. And if you think I’m a moron, you need a really good mirror. You seem like a child. With your rage, go play in your sandbox go play marbles or hopscotch. Enjoy yourself.
Name one actual policy that Trump has apart from his endless schemes to enrich himself off the backs of poor fools like you.
PS: Trump may well be in the History books of future generations, but only as the worst, most ineffective and corrupt president to ever sit his arse down in the Oval Office.
An illuminating exchange, though perhaps not in the way either participant intended.
What stands out to me is how little of it is actually about history or politics. The first commenter makes a series of assertions—some false, some exaggerated, some impossible to support—but almost every sentence is wrapped in insult. The rhetorical purpose isn’t persuasion; it’s domination. If every disagreement is evidence that someone is ignorant, corrupt, or sexually deviant, there’s no room left for evidence.
A few observations:
* The claim that Obama “did nothing” about Crimea is inaccurate. The U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions, expelled Russia from the G8, and provided military assistance to Ukraine, though they deliberately avoided direct military confrontation. One can argue those measures were insufficient, but “did nothing” is simply false.
* The claim that Putin “stopped misbehaving” under Trump ignores Russian actions during those years: continued fighting in eastern Ukraine, election interference, cyberattacks, the Salisbury poisoning, and other aggressive actions. It is a highly selective reading of history.
* “Biden watched Putin take over the entire East Coast of Ukraine” is also inaccurate. Russia occupies substantial portions of eastern and southern Ukraine, but not “the entire east coast,” and the Biden administration organized an unprecedented military and economic coalition in support of Ukraine. Again, one can debate effectiveness without rewriting events.
More interesting, though, is the second response.
Calling someone a “piece of loudmouthed shit” and a “DNA failure” may be emotionally satisfying to readers who already agree, but it accomplishes exactly what the troll likely wanted. It shifts attention from the factual claims to a contest of insults. The original commenter is then free to adopt the pose of the persecuted truth-teller facing an intolerant elite.
The final reply follows a familiar script. It pivots from defending the original claims to attacking the character of “elderly liberals,” asserting that critics secretly admit Trump’s policies are successful, and predicting history will vindicate him. None of those statements addresses the factual objections. The conversation has moved entirely from what happened to who you are.
John, a peculiar characteristic of intelligent people is that their minds frequently zoom out from the "issue at hand" to a view of the larger picture. With an expanded field of view, a detail comes into focus that, while not directly germane to the "issue at hand," is in fact, related. Sharing their observations seems to be the right thing to do in a community of intelligent people who are, you'll be surprised to learn, capable of mentally walking and chewing gum at the same time.
Persons who are not intelligent and easily distracted are best served by just scrolling past the distractions without comment so they can remain focused on the "issue at hand."
Today Maine voters in every county elected their delegates to next week's pop up convention to select the Democratic senate nominee. The Maine Democratic party and county committees are doing a formidable job.
Some candidates have proven progressive track records and attracted significant voter support in the recent primaries - Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson, and Nirav Shah. The others are a vote splitting Schumer shill (Kleban who dropped out of the primary when Mills got in), those running vanity campaigns (Wood and Costello), and those seeking name recognition (can't remember.)
None have the proven ability of primary winner Graham Platner - whose platform and personal skill resulted in an historic primary victory for progressives, and who was hounded out of the election by a concerted effort of personal and anti-progressive resentments, and shameless self promotion, by people who built a bogey man of unsubstantiated allegations piled on acknowledged and apologized for distasteful elements of Platner's past.
After the damage was done, the Morning Joe team, no fans of Platner, demonstrated that the most damning Politico report did not actually have the documentary evidence they claimed to have. The owners of Politico have given techno-fascist Peter Thiel an award. Perhaps unrelated, but indicative
Our senate campaign rests on voter turnout, and in part on the generosity and priorities of Platner voters who hopefully will see the bigger picture and put their dismay aside to Vote Blue to take back the Senate. Vote Blue No Matter Who cannot always rest on the shoulders of progressives. But this is no time to sit on our hands to 'send a message' to the party - by cutting our nose to spite our face and reelecting Trump enabler Susan Collins.
I can't believe you are still defending a candidate whose lack of transparency and integrity has done so much to harm the Democrats in Maine. Planter was evidently an electrifying speaker. So was Huey Long. And, for that matter, Donald Trump.
I agree with lin on this donna. I don't want to re-litigate this, but something was "off" about it all.
One thing I have thought a lot about is I hope we begin to see more of the rough cut, plain talking, messy lives candidates who have the courage to thumb their noses at Schumer, AIPAC and those over-priced consultants who produce robot candidates whose only real goal is to win and please their PAC masters.
Yes. At the end it could not be about veracity and Platner proving his innocence. It was about political viability and Platner did the right thing to step down. But I think it is less about Platner's personal style than his courage to stand up for our shared goals. Despite knowing that his past would be used against him in the attempt to suppress his progressive agenda and his potential to work effectively with others in the senate and in the party.
Call me old fashioned (I get more this way with each passing year), but character matters. I agree with what you said about looking at plain talking, messy lives candidates. I am a fan or redemption.
But lying, over and over about tattoos, what demons from your past might burst forth, etc. are dealbreakers. We’ve already experienced a sick criminal with negative character (if there is such a thing) and I don’t want even one more.
Many are evidently slow to move off the media portrayal of Graham Platner. While much reporting now acknowledges the Platner campaign's significant achievements and is giving suggestions on how to replicate it.
I am a Democrat in Maine. I am very grateful to Graham Platner, Amy Gertner, and the campaign's team of young field organizers for their smart, principled, expert, and indefatigable work in the cause of preserving our democracy and reforming our party. They articulated and amplified a solid Democratic platform which attracted an unprecedented number of my neighbors to volunteer and more Mainer's to vote Democratic than any candidate in the history of Maine Democratic senate primaries. To put it down to Platner's style is to miss the point that his team was so successful that many of those who scrambled to defeat his candidacy are now falling all over themselves trying to figure out how to replicate his campaign.
Very well put. Thank you. Platner assembled an old fashioned peoples movement. You can tell the level of his success by the reaction of such people like the foul mouthed person below.
Has anyone mentioned you are an idiot? We need left-MAGA Bernie Bros like you on our side like we need a case of the clap. Platner fucked himself with his lies and bullshit. He told Chris Hayes there was nothing more out there, a lie.
Wow TCinLA. Your dialogues with Rick Sender have got you speaking his language.
Usually people here are tempted to call me an idiot for my Vote Blue No Matter Who stance against those on the left who prefer to sit on their hands and help elect Republicans rather than hold their nose and elect Democrats. But Vote Blue No Matter Who must not be uniquely put on the shoulders of progressives expected to vote for establishment nominees. It must be equally born by establishment voters who should be expected to vote for progressives successful in the primaries.
This is a political reality and ethical responsibility, which in our senate race, Chuck Schumer, Janet Mills, et al refused to accept - especially with a successful progressive candidate who was critical of US support for the genocidal Netanyahu regime. And I say this as an American Jew and Zionist born in the shadow of the Holocaust who has only belatedly come to understand the malign influence of AIPAC and CUFI on American politics and policy.
Democratic candidates here in Maine and in every state, exactly need those on the left who are so disappointed, dismayed and disgusted with DNC Clinton neoliberalism and its bent towards Wall Street, that they have forgotten voting is a strategic joint exercise in taking power.
Platner's platform was able to bring these potential Democratic voters into a broad coalition of Democratic voters. Exactly what is needed to defeat Susan Collins and other Republican candidates who depend on right wing voters putting their political goals above their personal feelings.
lin: you seem to see Platner as the Great Democratic Hope. His narrow (two-point) lead over Collins was narrowing even before the Jenny Racicot rape allegation interview. Platner might have beat Collins. His replacement may or may not, we have to hope he (probably will be a he) does. But to make him the poster boy of the future Democratic Party is laughable. We need more Jon Ossoffs and fewer Pete-Hegseths-in-progressive-rhetoric.
I entirely agree with you that Jon Ossoff is a good example of the sort of politician we most need. And in fact, Ossoff's 2022 critique of Susan Collins' vote to defeat the John Lewis act presaged his current critiques of Republicans' move to the far right.
I have not presented Graham Platner "as the Great Democratic Hope" or a " poster boy of the future Democratic Party." I have rightfully praised his platform and campaign - both of which did what other Maine Democrats have not been able to do - build a broad coalition of Maine voters who gave Platner the largest vote in the history of Maine Democratic senate primaries. By an over 50 point lead over relatively popular Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Many are evidently slow to move off the media portrayal of Platner. While much reporting now acknowledges the Platner campaign's significant achievements and is giving suggestions on how to replicate it.
I thought David Frum had jumped the shark by equating Platner with Roy Moore. But your equating him with Pete Hegseth might have beat that record.
You know where the rubber meets the road here? AIPAC. The massive control Israel maintains over America is astounding. Go to AIPAC Tracker. It is quite an eye opener. Did you know AIPAC and Schumer have spent over $30 million to defeat Abdul El-Sayad in the Michigan Senate seat primary? El-Sayed is a progressive and takes 0 PAC money as does Mamadani, Sanders and the many up and coming progressives. Want to know if a PAC free politician matters? Go see what Mamadani has done in NYC. I can tell a clear difference between how a PAC controlled candidate/incumbent speaks and a PAC free one speaks. Platner was not controlled by anyone and spoke for the people not a PAC master. I regret for him and the people of Maine the tragedies of his past. BTW-Ossoff takes zero PAC money. Schiff takes over $5 million in AIPAC money. See the difference?
I recommend folks read The Intercept, Zeteo and watch Wajahat Ali. It will wake you up.
I hope the people in ME don't withhold their precious votes in protest and vote blue no matter who. It could make the difference in taking over our Senate.
lin, I happily stand corrected if you aren't trying to make Platner sound like the type of candidate we need in the future. Campaigns catch fire and sometimes burn out. It's sometimes hard to know which will prove to be the real deal.
Sorry but Planter does seem, to me, to embody some of the perverted macho traits that Hegseth does.
Fred W. Cox, Thank you very much for all the references. As a writer of GOTV postcards (currently to FL), I may not get to read them, but knowing they’re available is a true service in this battle. It’s not for nothing that we have Fort Sumter today.
Blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah ba blah ! There I finished your sentence for you. Watch as New York City implodes on its very self. Day it was stated that $2.6 billion and almost 50% of the residence of New York City earn some form of welfare. Watch the city decompose right before your eyes as they run out of other peoples money
Instead of commiserating with his residence, he sits there with rapists and murderers, and other felons, and offer some free food. Every time you called an educator, I just laugh hysterically… Mark, my words, Freddy, we’re gonna come back to haunt you. I’ll give it a year or so New York is gonna start to look exactly like San Francisco at its worst. They’ve already lost $11 billion worth of income and there’s a threat that even the stock market Google’s are going to leave and move the stock market to Texas if you can imagine that. What he has started to do to New York, is a warning to everybody else who tries it so pay close attention
Go fuck off, and when you're done, go fuck off over there, and then over there, and then over there, til you fuck yourself over the cliff with the rest of the Left-MAGAts.
See here’s your other problem you just don’t even get it. Donald Trump did not discover the Maga saying. Actually first proposed by Ronald Reagan. And what Margaret means is make America great again. So you should be a Maga while still hating Trump but you can’t divide it too because currently you don’t want America to be great again. And that’s your problem. I don’t care who the president is if he’s making America great again I’m in you’re not.
In 1996 while attending the national fire Academy in Emmett Rd., Maryland several of my fellow students, who had come from around the world, had the privilege of accompanying a retired FBI agent had grown up in the Gettysburg area as he gave us a personal tour of the battleground.
Because I was from North Carolina, and there was another student from Texas, we started on the Confederate side and proceeded around the battleground. He told us the story of the ghosts on the documentary film, we explored the Devil’s den, we concluded at the wall where the high tide of Pickett’s charge ended.
It was October and a perfect fall evening when we stood there.
He told us of how the dead were buried, - head to crotch to utilize the space as much as possible -
and how it was discovered that some of the soldiers were really women who had disguised themselves in uniform and followed their men into battle.
We were quite a varied group of fire service officers , from as far away as Japan and Alaska, and as close as New York City.
We, too, felt the blood and the spirits in that place.
It was a very, very quiet ride back.
Thank you for this, Heather 🇺🇸💕🇺🇸 Another piece in the fabric of our democracy.
That, indeed was a good movie. Did you see the movie about the KKK where the Democrats invented it and had slavery and didn’t want to release the slaves and refused to allow them to vote and refuse to give them to freedom do you know if the Democrats. And Republicans are the ones thathad to save them. Ok. Guess you forgot about that history
It is true that the Southern Democrats were the slaveholders. I’m descended from some of them. It is also true that after the Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson, convinced Congress to pass civil rights and voting rights legislation, the Republican Party instituted their “southern strategy” and the southern members of Congress switched parties. This began the long slide of the Republican Party from being the party of Abraham Lincoln to what it is now.
Yes, the Dixiecrats led by Strom Thurmond became the racist Republicans of today. Even their stance on abortion can be attributed to their racism. When the IRS wouldn’t allow private schools to be segregated if they wanted to keep their tax-exempt status, they decided to use abortion rights to rally their base. The Republicans have welcomed white supremacy terrorists groups into DC, the Capitol, and the White House. And when this is over, none of them should be allowed to say they “didn’t know”.
My parents were Dixiecrats. They came from poor families and suffered in the depression so it made sense to them. It didn’t to me because we moved to Chicago in 1946 and lived in Hyde Park. I learned a different way of life, for which I’m very grateful!
Well, then you had no control over your parents and it doesn’t really matter because you are who you wanna be. My mother came from Russia in 1923 and moved to Chicago in 1934 And I was born there in 1949 Hospital. And my father got killed in a bus accident when I was six
The Parties have long since swapped viewpoints. The current MAGA Republicans are far more pro-slavery than the former Southern Democrats. Where are all the Red States now - mostly in the deep South.
I would say that today's Republicans are just as pro-slavery as the old Dixiecrats. It was the Dixiecrats who implemented Jim Crow, and today's Republicans are implementing Jim Crow 2.0.
It is so funny that someone referred to this Nazibot as a lefty.
My right-wing brother in law ask me during the 2016 campaign if Bernie Sanders was the same kind of Communist as Hitler.
Do you want to honor heroes? Go to the cemetery on Veterans Day every year go to the cemetery on memorial day every year go to the cemetery on July 4 every year. THEN History actually means something… talk means nothing stories mean shit. The headstones tell you the story. Better yet go to Normandy Inn you’ll really understand or spend a day in the Arlington cemetery and then you’ll understand and not just a few minutes.
See the names inscribed on the new tower commemorating 9/11. Then you’re actually doing something not to superfluously talking about it
Yeah, here we go with the nonsense. This is what happens when she avoids talking about anything that Trump is doing well which is very often. She likes to talk about the Lakota Indians to Gettysburg, Battlefield, Ulysses, S Grant, habits and other minutia and now she’s added this story to the mix.
Nonsense? It is both an important and little known part of history which bears learning about, since the right of enslaved people to be free was one of the major goals of the Civil War and these black men, both enslaved and free, stepped up to help make it so. The honorable actions of the 54th Regiment led to an eventual 180,000 African Americans and other people of color joining the Union Army and fighting to preserve the Union. If all along we had learned about this and other important parts of our history in school, instead of them getting deliberately ignored or dismissed or hidden for decades and decades, I imagine you wouldn’t be so grumpy about learning about them now… But just like the history of women’s achievements in science and invention and writing were so often hidden and distorted and attributed to men, and it is only now that the truth is being uncovered and published, the history of blacks and native Americans (and any other minority) deserve to be known and acknowledged as well. When those sins of omission and untruths have been made right, I am sure that what seems to you to be too much attention paid to them will settle down into the full history of our country. Until that time, expect that those in the know in history, science etc will endeavor to make these stories, facts, achievements and honors more widely known in an effort to be fair and truthful. I myself find learning about these lesser known parts of our country’s history fascinating and meaningful, and continue to enjoy this learning process. As someone who grew up in the north, I would welcome learning more about the complicated history of the south in the 1800’s, both before and after the Civil War, as we often don’t get the full picture of the South’s position either, and why it was so difficult for the South to accept the changes that happened in American society. We all could do with some learning….
Yeah, so Gina, what have we learned? We learned that killing is wrong and we keep killing. We learned that crime is wrong and we keep Committing crime. We know that hate is wrong and we keep hating… Go live in Henry David’s fantasyland. Let us not concern ourselves with reality that would be a big mistake. That’s the problem with the Democrat party right now which is decomposing before your eyes splintering in five different directions It has learned nothing from history
And if they’re not careful, they’re going to spin off the Earth. Look at all the comments being made by some of the most involved Democratic Commentators who are warning the socialists. Not to trample on sanity
Janice, And what does Civil War have to do with today? Yes, you learn from today and use it tomorrow. Today is a day that matters. You can change your behavior now you can stop being a lemming Start thinking for yourself.
One other thing… education Is a theoretical practice. It’s of no use unless you actually bring it to the Street and put in into practice. That is the only time it becomes real. Otherwise, it’s just an exercise
Sandra, here is the part where you don’t understand.period. They are still theories, get it they are still theories. Read example of the nonsense you post above.
Not to mention that it depends on who’s doing the research. I’ll give you a perfect simple let’s talk about climate change one of your favorite topics which is the biggest crock of bullshit ever tried to mount on the public.
Back in 1960 the time magazine posted an article. The next global freeze is coming.
And the planet will freeze all the way down to the northern part of Georgia and Mississippi. Go look it up
Oh, and the funniest thing is now Al Gore has renounced his earlier, comment about global warming and climate change. Oooops. He now says the golf stream is going to become extremely cold, and so global warming will not happen. Oceans were going to flood the land. And the Florida coast will be gone in New York City will be underwater
But you all forget science and the magic of invention. So sad
You’re a scientist have been talking about global warming for well since 1960 and there are those that I’ve been talking about. It is a hoax, so which has better research.?
I wish you years and years of good luck answering that question. While , I left my ass off
You haven't offered any theoretical or methodological critiques here, just as you fail to offer theoretical and methodological critiques of Heather's work. That's why you are reduced to trolling.
PS: So sorry to hear about your arse. I hope you find it and re-attach it soon.
PPS: Climate change is real. Thank your lucky stars that you will not be around to see AMOC collapse. It will lead to rapid and catastrophic cooling in Europe by anything from 5°C to 10°C. And so the Southern US will become unbearably hot and unliveable as will the rest of the Tropic/Equatorial belt.
You are the one spewing nonsense. Are you threatened because Prof. Richardson isn't confining herself to reporting only on the the exploits of white men. Are you widdle feelings hurt?
Facts. Deal with facts and you don’t know who the fuck I am aware I’m from. I happen to be half black and half Cuban. How do you feel now moron ? I don’t get threatened. Verbal arguments here are like taking candy from a baby. You lost lemming soles or are as inept
As crackling kneepads! Got the fax to offer there Susan?
Here’s some courteous advice that I give to you free of charge
When you post, it’s usually good when you have a point, that makes it more interesting for the reader. Now run aLong
She's a historian. The study of history is intended to help people avoid repeating tragic mistakes and inform future decisions. USA has a short history, compared with that of many other countries, but its people can't seem to learn from it.
And I just love the cowards who post delusional nonsense and then block themselves from learning anything or receiving a country message because God for bid they learn the truth because it scares the shit out of them and that’s why many of you left Twitter when instead of being 85% liberal and 15% conservative and musk bought it you slithered over to blue sky, so you could commiserate with your fellow idiots and swim in the same piss.
She’s a good historian she is. As far as she goes, if she sticks to history, she’ll be good, but if she does, she gets into politics, she gets lost in the liberal activist mindset, which is off the charts, and consumed and hate the poor dear. And by the way up and I’ll tell Leslie as well. Keeps repeating itself, and she thinks by Referring to ancient history, it’s going to change anything. The changes very little because the human element is pretty slow mentally, and pretty Mundane. People have been killing people for thousands and thousands of years despite knowing that it’s not a good thing to do or the right thing to do or soles any problems on the big scale they still keep doing it. If she stuck to the story she’d be just fine
I don’t drink I never have I probably have 2 1/2 glasses of wine a year and maybe three beers all year when I’m at a good Mexican restaurant. So nice try but you shouldn’t threaten me like that with telling me I’m a drunk and your demeaning post requires me to report you You’re threatening yourself pal you’re doing with Alex pretti did putting yourself in harms way. You are a pimple why would I give a shit about you? I just care about your lunacy. Which is out of control in my opinion literally out of control
You’ve got from what I understand 2 million people here who think alike and swim in the same sad sack ideas and I’m out of control?
California is threatened but at least the mayor of San Francisco is trying to get it together by moving to the Center bowl LA is decomposing. It’s an armpit of what it used to be and I used to have a restaurant downtown in the Garment and metal scrap business. And I had two or three homeless that I let sleep behind my restaurant in cardboard boxes. And now there’s a line 3 blocks long. Great job
I have read all of Sender's posts, as incoherent as they are, without punctuation or comprehensible syntax, and which are often smeared with vulgarities. None of us is naive about the mistakes, poor leadership, and often the wreckage that institutions or poor policies have wrought on the country, although I believe this current era under trump has created a more unbridgeable and antagonistic division - more powerful and ruthless - where we no longer speak the same language (hence we vs. Sender). He represents the anxiety and alienation a lot of people feel. I guess he wants what we all desire: a harmonious, fair, painless society - although I may be wrong about his ultimate motives, because his wording is filled with slogans and run-on sentences. Human history has always been messy and a battle among prophets, religious leaders, reformers, social and political leaders. Although he does not exhibit the capacity for critical reflection, he has his first amendment right to peddle his point of view. It appears that darkness has swallowed him. And the feelings of worthlessness and emptiness are what remain...
I always love it when TC Waze and it’s so comical. Almost like he’s living in Alice in Wonderland. I’m not the one who has the problem pal the liberals have the problem and the reason they have the problem is because they’re not in control and they’re out of control in more ways than one. You missed a beautiful July 4 in Washington DC more red, white and blue there than you could ever imagine.
You don’t understand the right has no problem and the majority of the center has no problem. The left are the only people that have a problem. In fact, the problem is so sickening that they dress up in children’s costumes and balloons and parade around on the no kings March. What’s hysterical is if there was a king and you protested you would die that day but you got home alive isn’t that remarkable which seems to indicate that maybe you don’t have a king but 7 million of you idiots went out there to say this is a no kings protest. Yikes.
I should protest and report you for being an anti-American zealot. Lived in California 30 years it’s an armpit compared to what it used to be. It’s a shell of his former self enjoy the pre-train to nowhere that high-speed trains across to nowhere many billions.
Do you have some of the highest taxes in the country the highest gas prices in the country the highest sales tax I think they just went up to 10% for the how do you think that affects the poor which is hysterical. The highest home prices the highest homelessness, the highest crime in your cities are decomposing. I love California best weather in the world run into the ground by liberals for the last 40 years. And guess what Paul Mississippi who last year was the 50th rated educational system in the country and now because Donald Trump has allowed each state decide its own curriculum. Mississippi is now ninth in reading comprehension and math and Beat California just now.
I’m not going anywhere I’m not the one who’s complaining I’m complaining at so many of the American haters who got spoiled crazy, spoiled sick by American justice, American freedom, American growth, American prosperity and Biden came along and almost took it away entirely in one single term actually half of the term. 20% increase in grocery prices almost immediately doubled the price of gasoline two dollars moral of gallon even over seven dollars in California Tripled mortgage rates, and managed to get inflation to only 9%
I’m an asswipe moron I’m creating a picture here that you don’t wanna read and you don’t wanna see but that’s fine with me you know aware of the truth and you’re not aware of the fact not that you’re worried but you are in more denial than I could even imagine
Now it is our immigrant neighbors whom Republicans have thrust into the killing machines of their blitzkrieg. And their defenders who have chosen to put themselves in the way of Republican state terror, rather than be complicit. There are individual acts of compassion and courage. And organized groups. Across the nation.
But it will take more than such personal action to stop the Republican juggernaut. It will take Americans voting in a strategic joint exercise to win government power. And the only way to stop the Republicans is to elect Democrats.
Thank you, Heather, for this story. There are so many things we don't understand about this life. I do not doubt that you truly felt "the blood in the floors."
America has repeatedly demanded that Black Americans prove their citizenship through sacrifices white Americans were never asked to make.
The men of the 54th did not fight to become equal. They fought in a country that had refused to recognize the equality that had always been theirs. Their courage exposed the lie beneath every system that makes human dignity something people must earn.
Equality is not a reward for sacrifice. It is a right no nation has the authority to withhold.
Thank you Professor Richardson for keeping history alive and relevant to what is happening, albeit covertly, still to this day, 163 years later.
Heather is teaching us not just history, but also civics.
And what it is like to be human - giving from the kindness of her heart, giving even when it may hurt. I can't help think there are times HCR would rather relax than write another letter for us. Thank you Dr Richardson. I appreciate you.
I think you're 100% right about Heather's priorities. She prioritizes using what I think she's called her "superpower," teaching history including current events and civics, over personal convenience and comfort. Would that we all did.
And I salute Dr. Richardson for her Victoria-Cross-caliber courage.
HCR also teaches braveness of the heart
But not covertly!! What is happening is all clearly apparent and undeniably overt in this country.
R. Victoria, It is disgusting that there is an attempt to erase black (and others) contributions in the military and no chance to advance thanks to T, the drunk. Then there is the general attempt to erase anyone who is not white and male from our history.
Which is precisely why I salute Dr. Richardson for her defiant courage. As a historian, she knows beyond any doubt the ChristoNazis plan for any of us who effectively dissent.
I totally agree. In this day of instant news nothing is covert for those who seek the truth
It's also not whitewashed history edited to satisfy some ignorant man's ego! She tells the history, warts and all. It can be tough stuff but, like cod liver oil, is good for us. I wish our president was half as honest as HCR!
And this amidst an administration in our country that would erase such history.
Glory is a moving film. We need reparations and DEI to pay the debt we owe. Let’s keep protesting in the streets for our Black allies and singing the no kings anthem together: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-kings-anthem
We owe the first reparations to the native tribes whose land we stole, whose trust we betrayed, whose heritage we strove to erase.
We owe reparations to both. Our ancestors progressed by stepping on theirs, and they're still down there because they weren't given the chances we were.
You are correct about how the white power class oppressed slaves and even freed black Americans. I'm only saying that the first accounting of debt for our ancestors' cheating, the first reparations should be for those we first oppressed.
Blacks are more visible to most whites than native Americans are. There are some Piscataway and others living in this county, I believe (just east of DC), but in other places I have lived, just about all we knew were the names on the land -- Lenni Lenape, Susquehanna, Shawnee, and so on. I should have spent more time learning about them -- every language lost is a way of looking at the world. I was pleased to hear young Amish at the farm market speaking their own language, and I hope the native Americans keep theirs alive. As a biologist I value biodiversity, and cultural diversity too.
I have been tracing our families's ancestry for over 15 years. My wife's family, for the most part have been in the New World since the early 1600's., except for the Native Americans who have been here since who knows when. Many of her ancestors were forced to leave their lands in the Southeastern US to land west of the Mississippi.
https://www.history.com/articles/trail-of-tears
Many of you have "mixed blood" as well and your ancestors suffered or died at the hands of the white settlers and the US government during the first 60 years of our country in at least nine of the Southeastern States. Of course, this doesn't take into account the genocide in the other 41 states or the US territories.
As others have previously written here, the annihilation of the Native Americans in the largest and longest genocide in world history.
I am reading a book called Native Nations by Kathleen DuVal, which is an excellent history of our Indigenous people. The book covers a millennium of their lives in this land, and some groups in detail. I'm about half-way through, and am learning a lot about how those people dealt with the European invaders. For several centuries they were able to at least somewhat control the invaders. I haven't gotten to the bad part yet, but what I've read shows how resourceful our Indigenous people have always been. I'm also a biologist (college major) and agree with you completely about diversity.
Tina, books are good and historical study is good, but there's no substitute for hearing the story told by a descendant of the Indigenous people who were assaulted and robbed by European invaders.
I worked with a Choctaw man for several years who told me his ancestral history in bits and pieces. Although my ancestors were still in Wales when the worst was done, I still feel shame when I think about his heart-searing story.
No matter whether you live in an apartment or on acreage, imagine a foreigner coming to your home and declaring in a language you don't understand, "You're an ignorant savage and your home is mine. If you don't get out now and find somewhere else to live, you will be shot dead."
Imagine the indignity of having thousands of square miles confiscated from you and being told, "You must move several hundred miles away to this 40-acre patch of land that we are so generously giving you for your new home. Getting there is not our problem. How you will make a living is not our problem."
Tina, my husband has Lakota ancestry and they certainly keep their culture, history, and hopefully language.
The Navajo (Diné) in Arizona are actively teaching Native American language, history, and culture grades K-12
The list is long for whom the government owes reparation to. Renee Good ring a bell?
We do it still
Tina, I agree. The nation was built on slavery genocide, and stolen land. And of course, until recently women were basically chattel.
Trump wants to erase our shameful history because he hates truth.
But history teaches us not to repeat mistakes. And these weren't mistakes—slavery, Jim Crow, genocide, internment—they were deliberate policy.
He wants them erased so Americans don't recognize the pattern: deliberate cruelty in service of power.
History is about truth. And Trump can't tolerate truth.
Therefore, we must keep repeating it, writing it down, and teaching it to every child that comes after us. Never let those like trump bury history and the truth. It is the only hope we have of learning from it and remembering those who came before us.
Trump wouldn’t know the truth if he met it at high noon on Fifth Avenue.
Because there is only one version: his. He’ll never be confused by facts.
Reminds me of one of my father’s favorite aphorisms: My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with facts.
James, hell, he would shoot it.
That statement of his was my reference. I was curious to see how many would pick up on it.
The thought has also occurred to me that the Democratic Party ought to create and to market a Trump Trivia game (or maybe a MAGA trivia game) to raise money for the midterms. Wouldn’t that be a kick in their you-know-where!. There is certainly a rich vein of trivia there.
You can start that politically by helping to elect Native Americans to positions of power and respect within our current government and by protecting the places they revere. Ms Haaland is one.
We would be a lot better off if all our members of Congress had some Native American heritage in them. In a way we all do by virtue of our birth or residence in their land. But we don't appreciate it.
donna, I may be remembering incorrectly, but didn't the new head of Homeland Security say he has Native American blood.
Yes, he does. Cherokee. Well, no group is perfect. :) I wish he'd pay more attention to the values of his ancestors.
Is it true that Markwayne Mullin, the acting director of DHS, has Native American heritage? If so, he is an embarrassment to his ancestors.
Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) is another.
And whose land is still being taken from them: data centers today.
Look what's happened to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Monuments!
Right before our eyes!
https://morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/monument-watch-is-live-tracking-the?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=b9ign&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Native nations
EXACTLY
Toure Reed, historian of Africa American history at Illinois State, provides a powerful argument against reparations based on race. It's worth reading his counter-argument. In Towards Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism he responds to the question "in the age of runaway inequality and Black Lives Matter, there is [a] consensus that our society has failed to redress racial disparities. But who is the culprit?
For many progressives, racial identities are the engine of American history, and by extension, contemporary politics. They, in short, want to separate race from class. While policymakers and pundits find an almost metaphysical racism, or the survival of an ancient and primordial tribalism at the heart of American life, these inequities are better understood when traced to more comprehensible forces: to the contradictions in access to New Deal era welfare programs, to the blinders imposed by the Cold War, to Ronald Reagan’s neoliberal assault on the half-century long Keynesian consensus." ... Touré Reed argues [that] the road to a more just society for African Americans and everyone else, the fate of poor and working-class African Americans is inextricably linked to that of other poor and working-class Americans."
Judy, here in Oregon, there has been some return of land. Also the dams on the Klamath River were removed and some Native American youth took a canoe trip down the river to the ocean. The local tribes are part of the restoration project as well. Meanwhile we are witnessing the regime's total disregard for indigenous sacred places.
As it turns out, the Oregonian has a long story on returning land to Native Americans today and some of the problems as well. It is probably behind a paywall, sorry to say.
🕯️ The Ledger of Nations
In Russia’s domain, where the iron fist rules,
The ledger is built out of policing tools.
Near thirty-eight percent of their federal state
Is fed to the forces of weaponized weight; 🪆
For national defense and security squads,
They starve all the public to answer their gods.
A pattern of power where citizens bleed,
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own landh
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
Toure Reed, "Not Alms but Opportunity." To redress past denials of equality by expanding opportunities, instead of with handouts. (In some situations, though, financial assistance would be needed and justified.)
Speaking of DEI, wouldn’t one say administering testosterone to men in the military is an example?
It's gender affirming care as Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal says quite clearly here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1030658473255209
Good point.
🕯️ The Ledger of Nations
In Russia’s domain, where the iron fist rules,
The ledger is built out of policing tools.
Near thirty-eight percent of their federal state
Is fed to the forces of weaponized weight; 🪆
For national defense and security squads,
They starve all the public to answer their gods.
A pattern of power where citizens bleed,
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own landh
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
"Equality is not a reward for sacrifice. It is a right no nation has the authority to withhold."
"Equality" is not a civil right universally recognized, granted, enforced, protected, or established by nations. Which indeed have the authority to withhold it. Nor is "equality" a moral imperative operative in religions.
The notion of "equality" has a complex history and in many nations a fraught history. Here in the USA equality before the law and equal representation, rights granted and protected by the Constitution, are being purposefully perverted, violated, and overturned by the Republican Supreme Court majority and the Republican majorities in Congress.
This is one reason we must elect Democrats.
Thanks for pointing out that equality is not a universal right in all countries. It is the defining characteristic of what the vision of America is and has been for 250 years. Let’s work together to keep it that way. VOTE
I did that on the first day of early voting. For some reason I was compelled to cast a ballot on the first day. (Also because I’m a election officer and can’t wait till election day.
I am to be first in line to vote blue in November
I hope to be the first in line and will vote blue when my state, Ohio, starts early voting.
Does DJT know that ???
I am first in line ymto move to France. Or Belgium. Oor England.
Do not come to England. We don't want you here. We have become overrun with Americans fleeing the "home of the brave and the land of the free".
Peter, thank you for your honesty. Many of us are looking at other shores, and it is understandable that Americans are unwanted now in many places. Your comment seems, by extension, to imply that you don’t want “foreigners” in England. That would include many other nationalities as well. How do you discriminate between those you would allow entry and those you want prohibited?
Having lived in the UK for a couple of years, I’d recommend looking elsewhere. It’s full of alcoholics w bad teeth whose favorite pastime is complaining about the weather. Those who can afford it, fill up the restaurants and bars in Spain and Portugal, buying up real estate and complaining about immigration laws. Pot, meet kettle.
May I? you discriminate honestly and take the label/s that comes with it....like Trump and his MAGA do.
This is the problem. People want their freedom and equality handed to them on a silver platter that others fight or fought for, ever vigilant. Traitorous? Possibly. Selfish, totally. imo disgraceful.
.. that is, fight and died for....
If we intend to take aback our stolen nation, we'll have to do a helluva lot more than elect Democrats, who were irremediably compromised by their role in the events of 22 November 1963 and are now and forever nothing more than the Republican Fifth Column. The erstwhile Republicans, ChristoNazis every one, impose ever-more- inescapable tyranny with every passing day, while the do-nothing Democrats work to hide their submissiveness behind a tsunami of complaints that are merely an oxygen-consuming form of "change we can believe in," the most outrageous Big Lie in presidential history,
But Loren, 1963 was many moons ago. Sadly, a few of the ancients still serve in Congress, but there has been a great deal of turnover. Mistakes were made in the past by both parties; that’s why so many voters are now registered with No Party Affiliation (NPA). As the song states, “Change is gon’ come” but only if we push for it. And we are.
The reason, Signe, is some history is too infinitely damning for even the most allegedly enlightened of our masters to ever allow it to be acknowledged. In this case, I have no doubt if the truth about 22 November 1963 and its oh-so-methodical coverup were ever fully disclosed, it would redefine the former United States not only as the ultimate banana republic, but as the deadliest, most vile banana republic that ever existed.
Jon Stewart was hilarious last Monday on The Daily Show. He really skewered the ‘ancients.’
No one currently in Congress was there in 1963. The last one left was Patrick Leahy, who retired in 2023.
And why are you engaging with the troll?
Tom...Thank you for publicly identifying yourself as a probable ChristoNazi operative. (Once again, we see the everlasting relevance of Lev Bronstein's axiom, a grave warning to liberation movements since he stated it in 1905: "In every gathering of three revolutionaries, there is at least one agent of the Okhrana.")
I don’t consider Loren a troll.
No worries. Substack Inc has revised much needed changes to the TOU with a weeks old new "reporting" system.
Every "Reader" and/or "Author" needs to review the new TOU & new reporting Terms.
The Platform Agrees the Platform itself is mutually bounder their choice of CA law which requires good faith & fair dealing.
Oh damn. You figured it out. I thought we were too smart for you, but you have untangled our skein of intrigue. I guess it falls to me to notify the Pope, the ghost of Hugo Chavez, and the twelve secret offspring of Ayn Rand and Casey Stengel that the geniuses in the comment section have figured it out. So you’ve eon and can quit trying to further excavate our hidden secrets.
Thank you, Signe.
Nothing better than carrying forward old grievances and pasting them on the next generation using a broad brush.
And what role would that have been? Was Oswald a Democrat? Was there some sort of Democratic conspiracy to assassinate JFK? Were those mysterious folks on the grassy knoll Democrats?
I would summarize the book this way; JFK made peace overtures to Khrushchev, which were returned. Likewise with Castro but those were only beginning. Military disagreed—they didn’t want to wage peace. They wanted to defeat communism decisively by war.
The Warren Commission scam, the Tonkin Gulf false flag incident, failure to adequately enforce the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts etc. ad nauseam.
In case it had missed your notice, it was the Democrats who passed both Acts, over a great deal of Republican opposition. It took a SCOTUS programmed by Leonard Leo and the Heritage Society to take it apart.
What conclusion do you think the Warren Commission should have come to? Are you assuming some Oliver Stone style conspiracy?
People will argue about that day for as long as the nation is around.
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was based on either false information (at best) or LBJ’s inability to understand what we were getting into, but that was as much the fault of his left-over JFK advisors as it was his. We were spoiling for a fight. After our ‘victory’ over the Russians in the Cuban missile business, we thought ourselves fit to nation-build in Vietnam - the first of our four subsequent mistakes. In any case, it is hard to see how November 22 played into that.
I don't normally quibble with your ilk, Mr. Quinn, because I know it to be pointless. But your response includes two baldfaced, rightist-propaganda lie I'll not abide: your nasty attempt to blame our martyred president for Vietnam. I'm a Regular Army vet c. 1959-1962, 16 months ('61-'62 in Korea); hence I know [as absolute certainty] President Kennedy was attempting to withdraw us from Vietnam. (In fact there is substantial evidence that effort was what got him killed.)
As to "spoiling for a fight," your "we" -- unless you have multiple personalities -- does not disguise the fact the only demographic of which that was true -- remember I was part of the working press in that era -- were the Southrons, eternal proto-Nazis who would enslave all-non-whites and exterminate those to old or disabled to work. (The fact most USians were [not] "spoiling for a fight" is precisely why LBJ and his [real] advisors had to fabricate a false-flag incident to start the Vietnam War.)
Loren, What do you suggest?
That [everyone] read "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters" (James W. Douglass, Orbis Books: 2008).
I did. Someone here recommended it. Someone else said its accuracy was questionable.
What role did Democrats play in “the events of 22 November 1963?” I assume you mean the assassination of JFK and law enforcement’s immediate response to it.
And enlarge the court, term limits and ethics rules. Create a system in which each president gets one pick(2 if 2 terms) to better represent the will of the people and reduce the impact of partisanship. The current court is overturning historical precedents and creating law...not their role!
I think limiting Supreme Court justices to one 18-year term would go a long way toward solving the partisan problem. Eighteen years equals nine House elections and three Senate terms. Supreme Court term limits and an enforceable set of ethics rules are worth a shot. What we have now isn’t working any longer because nominees simply lie at their confirmation hearings.
Do not forget that Republicans made it impossible for President Obama to select and install a Supreme Court justice during his term. This was a major FRAUD against our Democracy on many reverberating levels that are now crushing and crippling America.
Have you forgotten how Barack the Betrayer screwed us on union card-check and single payer? Or are you so bourgeois -- so identified with the ruling class -- such outrages don't trouble you? The simultaneous embargo on the Supreme Court nomination is a classic example of how both parties collaborate to subjugate us. We see the same dynamic today in how the Democrats mouth vehement protests rendered meaningless by no action.
What we have in this failed nation is governance by plausible deniability.
Quoth Stephen Stromberg, an editor at The New York Times: “We have built our society on a foundation of not seeing.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/opinion/epstein-files-victims-prince-andrew.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NlA.DG-h.frWCwUihCtbn&smid=url-share )
What are you even talking about? Barack the betrayer?
More judges no solution if there elitist fascists
"This is one reason we must elect Democrats ..." who promise to expand the Supreme Court, impeach and remove corrupt justices.
“__hoped that what they had done was worth the horrific cost.”
Almost 1.2 million Americans have paid that “horrific cost” on our behalf. And that is just those in our military. Untold numbers in addition include men and women in other public service roles. Their lives count on that ledger, too.
Multiples of that number have lived on with wounds and scars, both physical and mental, that we have not had to bear.
We are the ones who must assure that it was worth it by our actions now.
Hello Al... "Almost 1.2 million Americans have paid that “horrific cost” on our behalf."... That does not for the most part count the Indigenous that fought & died to defend our Lands... In 1491, there were an estimated 50-100 Million Indigenous in the Western Hemisphere... In 1900, it was estimated that only 200,000 remained, and the Indigenous would disappear within a Generation.... Well, We Are Still Here... OBW: The Indigenous serve in the Military at 5X the National Rate... In the Spec Ops Teams, 1 out of 4 of the 'Trigger-Pullers' are Indigenous...
Thank you, Apache. You have filled in a critical piece I left out entirely. I appreciate your filling that gap. And reminding me to tell all of the story, not just the part I'm most familiar with. A universal lesson that's tough to honor.
James is right; many indigenous tribes were brutal with each other. Yet, as today, there were some "saints" -- if we can ascribe that label to leaders who departed from the conventional pattern. I would argue the truth is more complicated. Not all indigenous tribes followed the path he described. The Iroquois Confederation did a pretty good job of managing the inclination to massacre each other. We, of course, are much more efficient when we choose to massacre each other.
The bottom line, though, when we talk about history, is to exercise real self-discipline in capturing as close to the truth as we can. A general characterization does not do the past justice, nor the present, for that matter.
That is why the dialogue Heather generates is so valuable.
I would point out that prior to the arrival of Europeans, indigenous peoples spent a good deal of time and energy trying to wipe each other out. There are no saints here.
I think 'wipe each other out' is a bit over the top. Or maybe not....
I see the same forces at work today with Israel. As each tribe outgrows the boundaries that defined it in the past it must make room for more of itself. It will push others aside until survival requires that it eliminates the opposition.
Brings to mind the actions of a cancer cell.
Certainly it was the case with the Aztecs and other groups who achieved urban status. In North America there was pretty constant if lower level warfare. Many tribes made the warrior ethos the measure of a man although actual killing was not necessarily the end game. The land was actually too vast and the numbers of humans too small to make European style conquest either practical or necessary but that didn’t mean that inter-tribal conflict wasn’t often a way of life.
Where two or three are gathered (to borrow a phrase), there will be conflict. Probably blood too. (Usually over land.)
You're right, James, there are no saints. No clean hands. But some do seem to be more guilty of inhumanity than others. Exhibit No. 1 is living in DC.
It is one of the definitional marks of what we call ‘civilization’. And yes, some are and have been clearly worse than others. Trump, to take your example, would have felt right at home within the Nazi hierarchy or as a member of the southern slavocracy. Stephen Miller bears a remarkable physical resemblance to Reinhard Heydrick.
Hello James... The Indigenous 'Did Not Do Genocide'... The 'Losers' of Conflicts were absorbed, or allowed to seek new lands.... It is said, '500-Nations-5,000 Dialects-One-Religion'...
Not in North America. But in Middle America the situation is more open to interpretation. The Aztecs were not known for their friendliness to the other Native American groups in the area, a fact which caused some of their rival to aid the Spanish.
My “wipe each other out’ was indeed over the top. Certainly it didn’t come close to what the Europeans did to those who came before them. But the warrior ethos of so many North American tribes does say something about their feeling about other tribes.
Hello James... The Aztecs were not Native to Mexico, they migrated south from near Salt Lake City... They were Empire-Builders, Empires are not Peaceful.... The Indigenous were for most part, Paleolithic People... Nature is not Peaceful... Civilization at its Best, Tames People...
The blood in the floors in Beaufort must be screaming.
How is it that the racist actions of our "Secretary of War" are occurring without howls of protest? Hegseth is freely derailing the careers and forcing the resignations of the Black leaders of our military, and transparently using a skin condition to remove enlisted Black men from the ranks.
Blacks make up 19.2% of the military, compared with 13.4% of the general population, according to DoD and Census statistics. Military enlistment has long been seen as a path to a better life for Black Americans. Hegseth is actively destroying that path, not just for black members of the armed services, but for their families as well. It is callous, casual cruelty.
Racial minorities make up 30.2% of the military overall. That whole cohort sees and understands what is happening, destroying morale, cohesiveness, and readiness.
What is Hegseth doing to improve the military's combat effectiveness? He is instituting waist-to-height ratios to measure fitness and testosterone testing and free shots for those over 30 with "low T" to improve our troops' "lethality" in an age where the nature of warfare is changing into drone combat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/us/politics/hegseth-navy-blocked-promotions-diversity.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/07/black-military-patriots-hegseth/687306/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/hegseth-military-shave-waiver-black-troops/
He's an insecure, cartoonish version of a "he-man" -- laughable if he didn't hold so much power. There seems to be precious little protest against his actions. He's "low-T" and, more importantly, "low-IQ"
He will be Nuremberged
He preens and he boasts and he boozes and he copulates. And he brutalizes Iran. He doesn't win respect and he doesn't win wars. He is a hoax.
Georgia, I'm sure I'm not the first to observe how closely Hegseth's campaign aligns perfectly with promotion of the pseudoscientific "Aryan race" by the German nazis back in the 1930s.
Although Pete is much younger than his Daddy Donald, both men(?) seem stuck in a past version of the world that no longer exists.
I hope I live long enough to watch karma visit him Georgia. He is a disgrace.
Of course,no mention of testing for testosterone…
The Trump Admin Wants To Test Drinking Water For Abortion And Birth Control Pills
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-test-drinking-water-abortion-birth-control_n_69e8f558e4b0fe81a526eeff
I have wondered if hegseth’s treatment of blacks and women isn’t discrimination prohibited by law. Does anyone know? Is the military exempt? I wouldn’t think so.
What about the 442th of Japanese citizens fought in Europe against Nazis during WWII?
Rather than confined in various camps.
The liberators of Dachau. The unit most decorated for heroism of all US Army units in World War II. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Their officers were "white" - Jews, eastern Europeans, Italians - all "promoted" to "honorary white people" for the war.
They were men from the amps and also from Hawaii, where Japanese-Americans were not imprisoned, though the US military command in Hawaii did its best to keep a close (and intrusive) watch on the community.
That whole history is beyond tragic and all the convolutions that had to be faced. However , I still love the phrase Go for Broke.
They fought for what this country stood for and what it could become. Let us never forget.
''The Oldest Battle Is Still With Us''
The story of the Massachusetts 54th at Fort Wagner is often told as a story of courage, sacrifice, and proof. Black soldiers entered battle knowing the country was judging not only their ability, but their humanity. They were asked to demonstrate, through blood and death, that they were equal to white men.
That demand reveals a moral failure in human history: the belief that some lives matter more than others.
Slavery depended on that belief. So did segregation, colonialism, genocide, and every system that divided humanity into those entitled to dignity and those expected to serve, suffer, or disappear. The men of the 54th were not fighting merely for victory. They were fighting against a hierarchy of human worth.
They proved their courage at Fort Wagner, but they should never have been required to prove their humanity.
That is the lesson we must carry forward. The central struggle of civilization is not simply between nations, parties, races, religions, or ideologies. It is between those who believe human worth is universal and those who reserve dignity, safety, freedom, and opportunity for a favored group.
That battle did not end with emancipation. It continued through Jim Crow, lynching, exclusion, and resistance to civil rights. It continues today wherever refugees are treated as disposable, civilians are reduced to collateral damage, poverty is blamed on the poor, or political leaders speak of groups as criminals, invaders, vermin, or enemies.
Every atrocity begins with a moral ranking. First, some people are described as less worthy. Then their suffering becomes acceptable. Finally, cruelty is defended as necessary.
The soldiers carried from Fort Wagner into that house were not symbols then. They were frightened, wounded human beings who hoped their sacrifice mattered. It did.
Their legacy is not only bravery. It is a demand placed upon us. We must reject every ideology that requires someone else to matter less. The battle for equal human worth began long before Fort Wagner, continued there, continues now, and will confront us again tomorrow.
The men of the 54th and Col Shaw are commemorated in a powerful sculpture by Saint Gaudens. He made every soldier is an individual .as you look at them you immediately feel their stories. Whenever I go to the National Gallery I visit that sculpture.
https://www.nga.gov/artworks/102494-shaw-54th-regiment-memorial
Powerful statement on the back of the memorial, unveiled on May 31, 1897, by Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University:
"The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of a despised race unproven in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle. The Black rank and file volunteered when disaster clouded the Union Cause. Served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops. Faced threatened enslavement if captured. Were brave in action. Patient under heavy and dangerous labors. And cheerful amid hardships and privations. Together they gave to the Nation and the World undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride, courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII–MDCCCLXV. [1863-1865]"
Thank you, Philip. Just one thing to keep in mind: Pres Eliot believed in eugenics and was against 'blending of races.' (1912 speech). https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2016/02/harvards-eugenics-era
Philip, I hope dear leader does not get wind of this. He will have the memorial removed.
Marj, agreed. I thought about that before I wrote. Then decided that it's best not to fear the worst, though I do, much of the time.
🫣
AMEN!!!!!
Well stated.
Well said Kelli🥰
Kelli Klymenko, Your comment today: “Equality is not a reward for sacrifice. It is a right no nation has the authority to withhold” was exactly my sentiment when I was reading Heathers newsletter this morning. I open up the comment section and there you are at the top sharing your well crafted thought on this. Very well said!
Kelli, that is a strongly held belief, so strong that people say it is so and then fight for it. But many people ( alas enough) do not feel this way and that is precisely why we fight for it, why in fact there is war. The nasty head of inequality keeps rising. Something in the head of some humans has been planted on each side long ago and has persisted and will grow and metastasize unless we beat it back in every generation.. like now.
Kelli, really well stated, a great comment.
So well said
Thank you Heather. That was a short lesson on history of humanity and the humanity of history. We owe them so much it’s not surprising that you, of all people might feel their spirits.
SUNDAY EST:
Per CENTCOM yet Another U.S. soldier Death 🙏 occurred in IRAQ today attempting to disarm unexploded Iranian ordnance that EXPLODED 💥 Also, yet another wounded soldier reported but, specifics not specified.
*****************************************************************************************
Saturday 7/18/26:
Our Country has 2 more dead KIA in Jordan & 1 is MIA 🙏
Reuters & MSNOW: Confirm two (2) U.S. service members in Jordan were killed after an Iranian long distance attack. Axios' late Saturday 7/18/26 one (1) serviceman confirmed MIA. CENTCOM is with holding names per Next-of-Kin protocol.
The I-WAR goes on.
*******************
Early Sunday 6 AM EST:
Verifiable facts are sparse. Casualties: Two [2] U.S. personnel were killed, and one [1] remains missing. Additionally, four [4] service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals and 1 or more have since been discharged.
I will check Reuters. Found out, the Reuters Platform has a Paywall.
Hello Bryan... Other 'Idiot War' News... Now DJT, 'The-Real-Stable-Genius', wants to let Saudi Arabia further Enrich its Uranium with no International Oversight.... What-Could-Possibly-Go-Wrong?... I wonder how much they paid the Trump Crime Syndicate for that permission?... In the Fragment of Gaza that the displaced Gazans now live on, ~30% of the Gaza Strip.. Two Israeli Airstrikes killed at least 8-People.... The 2nd Airstrike killed 7-People in the Funeral Party carrying the Casket of the Person killed in the first Airstrike... Too Much Religion, Too Much Hate...
Too Many Religious Justifications for Too Much Greed -- Hate used for Land Grabs. Tragic, enduring and always, prompting a counterpoint of Heroic Acts.
You know, in history the grieved becomes the hunter given an opportunity. Israeli Jews are no different than any group and they were given an opportunity to ruthlessly ethnically cleanse lands to expand and grow. Their ultra orthodox women have become baby factories. Hell I know in a way. My paternal side were orthodox from Lithuania and Ukraine and ole Grandpa Maxwell kept mama Ester barefoot pregnant for 13 bambinos. A terrible inhumanity was done to the Jews of mid century Europe and the way was opened to offer a homeland which was of course, justified. Yet shortsighted knowing that any such mass movement would unset the balance of those already living on lands. You certainly understand this dilemma in this land of ours in the same way Native Peoples were slaughtered over land expansion. Sometimes one can pinpoint a moment of resolving historic inequity and in my opinion if Chairman Arafat had accepted the peace accords as imperfect as they were, Gaza would be moderately prospering. The West Bank would still have some Israeli settlements but much more confined per the accords. Now there can never be peace in Palestine on account of those baby factories producing ultra orthodox ReligioRobots designed and manufactured to kill Arab Palestinians.
Yes, Arafat was holding out for a better deal and instead here we are. If I remember correctly, the deal he turned down would have given back something like 90% of Palestinian land.
I forgot but I do recall that he historically let his people down. it was a new perfect plan. He failed his people. And of course ideally, there would have been peace between the Palesteanians and Israelis. Now, nevermore.
And the Untra Orthodox men aren't drafted into the Israeli army.
Hello Bill... The founding Sin of Modern Israel was the Nakba... It should have been founded as a Sanctuary for All Religions as Jerusalem is Holy for three major Religions...
Hum… Try the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
Hello Bill... The Balfour Declaration was the Product of the Balfour Convention.... Look at who called it, and who attended....
Condolences to the families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors of those whose blood now additionally stains the hands of the men who sent these young people to war.
"I-WAR" where the "I" stands for inessential.
Miselle, it’s the I Chestbeater Low-T Hogsbreath War. And people are dying for stupidity. Heartbreaking.
Heretofore to be known as “Mr. T."
Or the Insane War.
Per CNN a few minutes ago Sunday morning, explosions heard in at least 2 Iranian cities.
I wish they'd show more pictures of undamaged Iranian cities. We're being given the idea that they are tent-dwellers.
⬆️🎯👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Anne-Louise, I worked with many Muslim immigrants over my career. I worked with one woman who came from Iran with her husband.
Good grief! Although I've never travelled overseas/out of the USA, it's a big, big world and just because someone has different dress or customs doesn't make them wrong!
One time, someone made a disparaging remark about the hijab and long robe a woman was wearing. I ignored the racist implications and innocently said "kinda reminds me of a nun in full habit". (That stopped them in their tracks. 😉)
Hello Miselle... Or The Idiot War....
That’s my fave, Apache. The Idiotic War.
Apache, I salute you! That is perfect!
Miselle, I can hardly wait for your new Platform.
🎶 I'm all fired up 🎶
Thank you, Bryan. I hope to put it live in a week. I'll post the link in my tiny bio. I hope when people see my photos and read "Miselle's Musings" they still like me.
🕯️ The Ledger of Nations
In Russia’s domain, where the iron fist rules,
The ledger is built out of policing tools.
Near thirty-eight percent of their federal state
Is fed to the forces of weaponized weight; 🪆
For national defense and security squads,
They starve all the public to answer their gods.
A pattern of power where citizens bleed,
And cash goes to force rather than what they need. ⛓️
For eighty long years where democracies grew,
A much different pattern was keeping them true.
They kept their police and security small—
A fraction of funding compared to the all. 🗽
The focus was placed on the health of the town,
On roads and on schooling to keep costs way down,
With checks on the power of badges and guns,
To guard the republic for daughters and sons. 🏫
But look at our shores where the cash is now sent,
With shifting percentages heavily bent.
The Trump administration is demanding a share
That mimics the autocrats over out there. 📉
The Pentagon and the DHS request
Takes massive chunks out of our treasury chest,
A spike pushing upward to one-and-half trillion,
Devouring the resources meant for civilian. 🛡️
This copy of patterns from Putin’s own landh
Brings danger ahead that we must understand.
A state heavily armed with its focus on force
Can easily veer from a free-flowing course. 🚨
When funding for arms outpaces our peace,
The threat to our liberties starts to increase.
So look to November to stand for the right,
And vote for democracy’s balancing light. Ballot🗳️
————————————
We are the Pro-Democracy Comment-Chain Crew, using our comments to boost pro-democracy leaders and indie media. Employingthe Algorithm Advantage so truth can grow! ✨🇺🇸🗳️⚖️🕯️🌱
Be ahead of the news.
Black Man Spy - Malcolm Nance |
Substack
.https://malcolmnance.substack.com/s/black-man-spy.
We pause here to remember our dead, wounded and MIA.
It seems the ghosts of many haunt us now, asking questions for which no easy answers will come. How is it, knowing what we know, aware of the sacrifice of so many -- black and white -- have we managed to turn our backs on their memory, ignoring and forgetting their pain? Who would have thought that 170 years later, we would still be fighting versions of the same war?
Yet here we are.
It’s because people rather be entertained by their smartphones instead of concerning themselves with difficult questions or engaging in politics. In one of Heather’s Letters, she described how, in the young Republic, citizens would actually go and watch political debates in throngs. This kind of engagement is long gone nowadays…
Years ago, we took a fabulous road trip. We travelled from Chicago down to Springfield where we toured the Lincoln Museum. We walked outside of Lincoln's home. We then traveled to Memphis, across Tennessee to Asheville where we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway. We crossed over to Gettysburg and stayed two days.
We purchased the CD self tour and drove through the battlefield. II fancy myself a writer, but I can't find words to sum up the feelings that swept over me. The days we were there were clear and sunny. I thought about the lives lost there; the families destroyed; the rifts made that still wound our nation. Everyone I saw seemed somber and respectful.
The two nights we were there, I had horrible nightmares. I can't recall what they were, even then when I woke up. I just awoke with such a deep feeling of despair that was hard to shake. I swear it was souls still wandering in the fields, trying to find their way home.
Now, our country seems to be as divided as it was then. What have we learned? I think our Cabinet needs the position of a National Historian. Someone who will tell the POTUS why we do things in the manner that we do; what might happen if those Chesterton fences are removed. The mistakes of an egotistical POTUS and an ignorant Cabinet impact nearly 350 million people. No, that is wrong; it impacts billions around the world.
Of late, I've had a difficult time dealing with this long, hot (smoky) summer. The climate wears me down, but the administration is worse. Their actions attempt to strip away my humanity just as black slaves were treated as they had no humanity. At best, I call Thune and either beg or yell: HISTORY IS WATCHING. UPHOLD THE OATH OF OFFICE YOU TOOK!
I leave my email address. Nobody from his office ever answers.
Just as those black soldiers knew they were being watched, so is the world watching US. Not the "US" as in the union of states, but in the "US" as us voters. We have to return sanity to this country. The task of those Congress we elect will have a formidable task ahead of them. We must choose well.
I hope we do.
Thank you for expressing this all so well. Reversing and managing insanity is truly hard but important. Your note gives me hope that we will increase this work.
Ally below called it "staggered breathing". That's what is working for me. I do feel guilty when I don't make the calls.
I wouldn't be surprised if some frequent readers here roll their eyes when they see me "welcome" newbies to this forum. I am sincere when I do so, as each time I see a new face, I feel like this community is growing and that gives me hope.
(Before retiring, I was a medical technologist. I have MUCH respect for nurses!)
Exceptional comment, Miselle.
Thank you, Lynell. You've been here longer than I, and you were one of the first names I found myself looking for in the comments. What a wonderful dilemma to have now: there are SO many comments daily that I can't get through them all, and how many names now that I see that I consider "friends"!!
Wonderful post, Miselle.
Thank you, Anne-Louise. You are kind. We'll all pull through this together.
Miselle, earlier this evening I read this Substack that captured my attention, basically about, as you say, the “formidable task ahead”. It was sobering in its laying out where the USA is now as a democracy and how we might stop it from slip sliding away. To me one point stuck: That we need to teach our young critical thinking skills to help them make choices for the future because they are coming of age in a very different America than we did. Here is the link: The Rational League https://therationalleague.substack.com/p/what-maga-built-can-be-undone-but?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=4140993&post_id=207313072&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=6wq7j&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email ☮️
Barbara, ,thank you for that link. I read it. Lengthy, and a lot to unpack, and my reaction probably mirrors what you may have: unease. The good professor has been writing in this Substack and stating on her podcasts that we need to decide what kind of government we want, 'cause the old one ain't comin' back. As the article stated, it can be very easy for newly elected people to adopt the bad habits their predecessors created.
I hope that you, and any others reading the following, will take a bit of comfort from this story. My daughter teaches HS English in a rural super-super-suburb of Chicago. She is truly an exceptional teacher who puts her heart and soul into the very difficult task of educating young minds while the allure of AI/social media/etc pulls their attention away. Last year, she devised an "escape room" test for her classes, where they had puzzles they needed to figure out based on clues from the five novels they had read. They could work in teams, and LOVED it. (She spent weeks on this.)
For this upcoming year, she has been picked to write the curriculum for a new class, whose subject will be "True Crime". (It's a long story why. I won't get into that.) Anyhow, one part of the class will be (I think weekly) short puzzles for the students to figure out "whodunnit". As she explained it to us, my husband said, that's teaching logic skills.
She smiled at that. 😉
Oh, I love you sharing about your daughter…teaching is a “high art and avocation” in my book & wish teachers were paid their worth! About 15 or so years ago I was visiting my small hometown, where I haven’t lived in since ‘68 & ran into Miss Holmes, my HS English teacher, on the sidewalk. I stopped her and we chatted…she remembered me!….I thanked her and told her she was “a favorite” and that I learned so much from her. Such a small thing…a heartfelt thank you…but from the tears welling in her eyes I could tell it meant the world to her (she was long retired). I can imagine that many of your daughter’s students will carry very fond memories of their time in her classroom! I, too, found the linked article a long read and quite sobering & a lot to chew on, particularly given his references (data & studies) to “righting the ship of state” in a democracy. I sincerely hope Americans do not “tune out”, but instead stay engaged and proactive!
She lives in a Chicago Suburb where her rent is about $1500/mo. She works 45 min away and even with a decade behind her and tenure, and top ratings. she doesn't even break $50K. I've said this before, pardon the repetition if I told you. She could immediately make $20K more moving to a suburban school, but stays where she is at because she teaches all four years. She can choose what she wants to teach, within guidelines, of course. She got taught grammar in junior high by a real old school educator. Because of this, her students learn grammar! The lessons build and she told them to keep the papers, tests, etc in a binder as it becomes a reference book should they go to college. You are correct--as though not many go on, those who do come back and thank her. She's been told that their college peers "don't know how to write a paper!".
Rural kids deserve good teachers just as much as urban kids do, but because of the tax base, those rural teachers don't make a lot of money.
Just this morning, on our local news radio, I heard the 21 y/o Blackhawks (Conor Bedard) signed a 5 year contract. $15 Million. I'm unsure if it is per year or for all five, doesn't matter. Made me want to weep for my kids.
I have shared this fave poem of mine in the past here—I send it, on occasion, to an elected public servant or other person working for the “greater good”—maybe you have seen it. So here, for your daughter, is high praise in the form of Marge Piercy’s poem “To be of use”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use❤️
LOVE IT!
Your remarks prompt me to say this.
In various places such as podcasts I hear comments that we concerned Americans shouldn’t normalize what this administration is doing, should care more about [fill in the tragedy du jour], should do [fill in what we should do today], etc. Some seem to imply we are just apathetic and look what we got.
I am exhausted with frustration and helplessness. I am tired of outrage and thinking, since 2016, ‘well, this will be the breaking point and Congress will act.’ I’ve been wrong time after time after time. I am tired of being tired, of being whipsawed every day with a new unbelievable outrage. Yes, I vote regularly (in fact I’m in charge of a polling place). I am politically active (Blue Voter Guide, Blue Tennessee). I call my reps on the regular. Yet the people who should REPRESENT us are silent accomplices to Trump’s deranged lunacy. What more can I do? I.am.exhausted.
I never expected to live the last quarter of my life forced to live within the moral, emotional, physical, mental, and ethical disease of a man I never chose.
Sorry this went on so long. I’ll get down from my soapbox now and show myself out.
Not that it helps MLM - many of us feel as you do. I just sat here trying to recall a time my mind was not filled with this horror show. I do not understand how some people feel unaffected by this current time - yet here we are. Take good care. We need you.
I hear you. It is an uphill battle, and battle we must.
Don't forget to "stagger breathe", my friend.
Ally, I had to look that term up. Thank you, my sister! I have learned something new (always a joy to me!) and it is perfectly astute! I have talked about how geese fly, each taking turns at lead, but this is much better. It's the only thing getting me through these days, this knowing that others breath while I hold my breath.
I used to sing in classical choirs. That's a much-used technique - the "staggering" has to be unheard. One long, long stream of sound.
Anne-Louise, this is one of the reasons I LOVE this forum! I learn so much from the folks here! It could be related to their careers or interests, it could be added content to what the good professor tells us, or it could be news local to them which Heather can't cover due to space. As soon as I looked it up I thought "yeah!".
MLM, you didn't go on too long, anyone familiar with my posts here know I can write an essay for a comment! (Although I haven't done as much of late because I feel exactly as you.) I recently read where this can be termed "moral fatigue" and that sure fits, doesn't it?
I believed Biden to be a good man. Perhaps he was too good as he didn't take the actions against Trump he could have, and he didn't promote his many accomplishments, either. But I can blame the press on that one.
Sometimes, when I comment on Jeff Tiedrich's Substack, I do let my evil twin out and she makes some snide/sassy comments. 😉 For the most part though, I try to be moral and ethical. I've said that I am trying so hard to NOT let this regime rob me of my humanity! (I once had to grab ahold of myself and shake myself hard, when I saw an elderly man wearing THAT red ballcap in my grocery store. I said, HELP HIM ANYHOW. And I did. Thankfully, I don't see those caps anymore!)
I agree with the despair at the implication we are apathetic. I'm trying. Some days, I can't do much because I feel like a seedling being alternately in a deluge and other days under unrelenting sun! Some days, I need to grow a bit to withstand all this.
I feel exhausted at times, too. I've been stepping back a bit to work on projects I've spent my life dreaming about. I'm with you on this one: didn't expect to be politically active and enraged in my golden years! This is when I planned to finally write novels!
Some days, I need the hugs. Other days, I am able to dole them out. Sending one to you. (BTW, I read everyone's little bios and often recheck them to see if they change them. My son is an HR professional. I love when I discover things that I share with others here. Makes me happy.)
Thanks for your Biden remark. I've known a lot of bitterness at how quick everyone was to fall for Trump's ploy ("he's doddering, look how stupid he is") and abandon him and his wonderful team. He expended every last drop of his energy and devotion on that job, and how happy everyone was - until he faltered from exhaustion.
It IS mind-boggling that everyone dumped on him for a single debate where he was obviously ill. It was a no-win situation. Had he cancelled or postponed, MAGA would have been gleeful. And that (bad word!) Jake Tapper--Trump exhibits worse than Biden's debate performance DAILY. And crickets.
I don't want to hate anyone, it's not my nature. I've had some very strong dislikes though, and Trump sure is on top of the list.
Outstanding comment Miselle. Have shared those feelings at Gettysburg as well as the other battlefields. Those spirits have not rested and continue to be with us until we can decide differently.. One day we all may choose more wisely.. *sigh..
TJ, the feeling I woke with those two mornings was similar to how I felt as my parents and two siblings were dying. In a strange way, it was almost worse than what I felt in my real life, as I saw their demise coming months before as their diseases progressed. That morning, it was like terror layered on top of that emotion.
The good professor often writes about significant historical events in such a way that we walk with those she writes about.
I have not gone to any other battlefields, though I have wanted to. I've written about this trip to this forum before. This is the infamous trip where, on the way to Pittsburg from Gettysburg, we got off the road for gas. 2016--you know where this is going. We entered "the Twilight Zone" as in this small town, EVERY SINGLE HOUSE/BUSINESS had a Trump sign. Some small homes had mini-billboards on their lawn! I swear on my parents' graves, out of every 100 properties, only one or two did NOT have a sign.
We got gas a skedaddled. At the time, I had a Bernie sticker on my car.
I have had no interest to road trip in any MAGA land since then. My vehicle now is a hybrid (which some MAGA would consider woke) and is a Toyota (not 'merican!) bearing an Illinois plate ("Dumocrat country). IMy only adornments on it now are a Penzeys magnet with a rainbow-ish heart that says "Choose Love" and tour cat stick figures. UH-OH!! Labels me as a "cat lady" (although not single) and LGTBQ+ friendly. I'd be a target.
(BTW--48 paid subscriptions! My heart warms to you, as I know how hard it is for indie journalists to support themselves. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 You're tiny bio is well written as well. Methinks you are a writer, too.)
Thank you. Believe that there are many people who have that sixth sense and may just brush it off for something other than what they can’t bring themselves to belief or experience. For some the logic just doesn’t connect, for others they take it with them for their entire lifetime. That’s what makes us all unique and interesting. Like to take all those experiences even the smallest of those feelings when you know something is there with you but can’t really explain it.
You may want to stay clear of Ohio for quite awhile. From Pa. and hometown was Pittsburgh a time when the steel mills were king, jobs plentiful and those mills emitted that sulfur smell into the air as we drove to visit relatives what some may now consider the “hood”.
Am of a mindset and like my rainbow ornament hanging from the hybrid car and wearing that Kamala hat even to this day while in this MAGA land. What have found interesting more and more those who were gung-ho aren’t that vocal anymore and are grumbling more louder than any others about being able to afford just the essentials.. Just smile and occasionally say with a humorous tone — “Consequences come with decisions made, sucks that it just didn’t own those Libs” accompanied by a slight shrug.. The grumbling gets a touch louder, but hear more “yea” with a grunt..
Stay safe and healthy ..
Thank you, you too!
I share those feelings having visited Gettysburg at sunrise, as the fields were shrouded in mist.
Susan, as we drove along on the interior road, I was snapping a few photos. I suddenly thought I saw three men standing among tall grass. It was so quick. I looked at the photo and couldn't see them in it, but I could swear I saw them. I tend to have an overactive imagination, but still....
I think everyone able to should go to Gettysburg, and when they do, either hire one of those excellent tour guides I saw and overheard, or at least purchase the CDs. It makes the experience much better. I've loaned the CDs out to a few folks who went. (Sadly, last person didn't return them and I've lost track of her.)
You are a writer.
Your experience of "unrest" while there is a familiar one to me. Places have "memories" that can be experienced by some.
I haven't been there, but I've been told that Culloden battlefield in the Scottish Highlands is like this.
Ok, Ally, you piqued my curiosity. I am thinking you've experienced that as well and wondering what it was for you. There's been probably a dozen unexplainable experiences in my life, but as I said above, I do have an overactive imagination. Maybe.
I'd describe you as being very receptive.
I imagine so; I've had some interesting experiences in both places and in interactions that there's been "something extra" going on. Hard to describe those feelings/interpretations/interventions, but they've happened.
Numerous times. One that I relayed in another post describes attending training at a state owned building that had formerly been the home (read: warehouse) for "retarded" children. The entire building gave me the willies, but the worst was the girls' restroom.
I've also been on homicide scenes that were really creepy.
Oh, Ally! You are a really remarkable person. I admire you from afar for all you've done in your lifetime.
My late brother, and a brother in law, were both Chicago cops. Many years ago, my brother in law drove a "paddy wagon" which they used to use to pick up corpses after a well-being check was called and...you know. My sister said it really bothered him. We're going back about 40 years here, but I seem to recall stories of people without family or friends--getting a call only when a smell permeated a building. The things that police offices witness can really try the soul.
It really can; not only the evil, but the neglect and isolation.
It's worth noting that Brylcream Boy, Pete Hegseth, had all references to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment removed from the Department of Defense website as part of his purge of all things non-white.
Happy to say that massive public backlash brought about a restoration of those references.
Kegsbreath is a war criminal and should go to prison for the rest of his disgusting life.
The minute a Democrat is in the White House, I will start a petition to have him sent to the ICC at the Hague. I will expect you to sign it! Cheers.
Also the Tuskeegee Airmen.
TC. I have been donating to the Tuskeegee Airmen for several years now. Just yesterday, it occurred to me to check out my charities' ratings. Happy to say Tuskeegee has excellent marks for the work that it does.
But there were several veterans' charities that had very low scores.
Morning, Lynell! If you haven't watched "The 6888th" yet, it's well worth a watch.
Morning, Ally!! Thanks for this tip. I heard of these women before but don’t remember if I watched a video about them. I will check it out. Thanks a bunch!
It and “Hidden Figures” are two of my favorites.
I was honored and humbled to meet a few of the Tuskeegee Airmen in my airline career. Gentlemen all. I only wish I could have bought them a beer and listened to their tales.
Thanks for mentioning the valor of the Tuskegee Airmen. They have a storied history too. The story of the Harlem Hellfighters in WWI as well as many other regiments are also legendary. They volunteered to fight. Many died hoping their exemplary service would demonstrate their patriotism and lead the country to equality.
Unfortunately, the soldiers who returned home were faced with malice, mistreatment and murder. Even in the military they were treated as second class citizens. They were intentionally excluded from the GI Bill, jobs and other benefits.
Racism is literally killing all of us. It keeps the door open to fascism and undermines the promises and ideals espoused about America the beautiful. Skin color does not make someone superior to other human beings. It's a myth that too many people hold onto as truth.
Brylcream Boy didn't stop there. Also struck down were the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up entirely of second-generation Japanese Americans, it became the most decorated unit of its size in WW II. He also knocked out the WASPS, and all-women unit that transferred military aircraft within the Continental United States. Also the Navajo Code-Talkers, also Jackie Robinson and Major General Charles Calvin Rogers, the highest-ranking black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. All in all, more than 26,000 images and posts were taken off, and only some were restored.
He’s such an SOB!
Having our troops tested for testosterone really says it all doesn't it? It's as if he wants everyone to have roid rage so they can be nothing but killers.
Well, I’m amazed that he had that done because I think the 54th was running through the court orders of the senate through just the other day I could’ve sworn I saw them there. Man, you may only be 70 or 80 but you live in Laker 250
On a side note, a portion of the San Diego I-15 highway is named after the Tuskegee airmen. Also, a disproportionate number of young black men served in the Vietnam War. All these veterans didn’t get the respect they deserved. It infuriates me when I now see the white nationalists wave the confederate flag. I just needed to vent.
I hear you!
ICYMI: (1) Mayor Zorhan Mamdani of NYC was interviewed by the NYT who posted a 3 minute video of his remarks 7/17/26: “Zohran Mamdani: ‘There Is No Respite From a Genocide’ - The New York Times”. https://www.nytimes.com/video/podcasts/100000011035814/zohran-mamdani-there-is-no-respite-from-a-genocide.html
And NYT 7/18: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration was still discussing whether to arrest the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he comes to New York City as expected for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” Mr. Mamdani told Lulu Garcia-Navarro this week on “The Interview,” a New York Times show, referring to the home of the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mr. Mamdani added. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
My opinion: Genocide and war crimes are a moral issue and not a political or racial issue. Being anti-radical right-wing Zionism is not anti-semitism. The religions of Jews and Muslims (Palestinians) have the same origin (Abraham). They both speak Semitic languages. They both have the same or very close genetic ancestry. To say that being against the genocide and starvation of Semitic Palestinians is anti-Semitic is a misnomer.
(2) U.S. Representative Jim Hines, 4th District Connecticut, Ranking member of House Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Financial Services Committee and a member of the “Gang of 8” (a term used for the eight key leaders in the U.S. Congress who are briefed by the executive branch on highly classified intelligence matters and covert operations), was interviewed by the Bulwark about Trump’s 7/16 speech and the prospects for a free and fair November 2026 election and what can be done (19 min.).
“Rep. Jim Himes: Tuberville is “participating in a coup d’etat” - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL1IupBDS-s
(3) If you are interested: A debate was held for the 8 candidates running to represent the Democratic Party against Susan Collins in Maine’s crucial U.S. Senate race. The candidates were split into two groups of 4 each. This is the link to the debate for the 4 candidates most likely to win the nomination. “Part 1: Democratic U.S. Senate debate for who will replace Graham Platner - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MuOr6Nnki0
(4) IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMY?: In her “American Conversations” this week Heather interviews University of Michigan Economics Professor Justin Wolfers: “Justin Wolfers | American Conversations - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viKrMl53cLY They discussed the tension between the FDR-Truman-Eisenhower New Deal economics and the Reagan-NeoLiberalism-“Trickle Down” economics and what can be done to rectify the current enormous wealth inequality in our society while maintaining economic growth. The Rand Corporation has updated their estimates and now say it is closer to $80 Trillion in wealth that has been transferred to the top echelon of our society by neoliberalism-trickle down economic policies.
For more information see: “NYTimes.com: Nearly 200 Economists and Tech Leaders Warn of A.I. Threats”. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/business/economists-ai-threat-jobs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x1A.Z47-.X3hqNM_8NuWt&smid=em-share
And the prescient article: “NYTimes.com: Stop Worshiping the American Tech Giants” (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/opinion/deepseek-ai-big-tech.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ylA.v9GM.hmD4iBmFFqRu&smid=em-share). by Lena Kahn, (JD, Yale Law School), Associate Professor Columbia Law School, former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission under President Biden where she oversaw antitrust cases,
Trump is a war criminal too. Maybe he can hold hands in the dock with Netanyahu and Putin. Glorious trinity.
How did you enjoy your time on Epstein island there Frank did you have a good time with the boys? Trump is a war criminal as well. So fucking ignorant, and such a lemon, that you don’t even pay attention to history
The only criminals, and the only ones with ties to Russia Are Biden and Obama but you don’t pay attention Barack Obama sat on his vagina and watched Putin take over the entire Crimean peninsula. AND DID NOTHING
then Trump came to power and Putin stop misbehaving. Then Joe Biden came into power and sat on his vagina as Putin took over the entire East Coast of Ukraine. So who are complicit in these crimes? You just believe anything you read huh you read a headline you jump on it like a bitch in heat without doing any research just trusting the source bowing and genuflecting as you read it. It appears educated people are the most gullible
You're a persistent piece of loudmouthed shit, aren't you? Why don't you take your own advice and go over to X where you can get down in the muck with the other DNA failures. I hate it when drooling morons like you claim you're on my side.
Huh?
It's a Nazibot
What in the world makes you think it is the least bit non-fascist?
Fascism is a far-right-wing phenomenon.
Idiots conflate honorable liberals that are more in line with FDR New Deal Democrats with MAGA, when today's corporate Democrats have more in common with the elite than the working class since the Clinton administration.
Why would I claim on your side. You appear to be on the wrong side of everything.
So Substack generally speaking a very elderly liberal winery that had a really good life and they just don’t like the personality or the person that Trump is but they can’t argue with his policies, but they hate him anyway. And all of us old people will be gone soon, but Trump’s name will be around for the next 50 years or more. And if you think I’m a moron, you need a really good mirror. You seem like a child. With your rage, go play in your sandbox go play marbles or hopscotch. Enjoy yourself.
Name one actual policy that Trump has apart from his endless schemes to enrich himself off the backs of poor fools like you.
PS: Trump may well be in the History books of future generations, but only as the worst, most ineffective and corrupt president to ever sit his arse down in the Oval Office.
An illuminating exchange, though perhaps not in the way either participant intended.
What stands out to me is how little of it is actually about history or politics. The first commenter makes a series of assertions—some false, some exaggerated, some impossible to support—but almost every sentence is wrapped in insult. The rhetorical purpose isn’t persuasion; it’s domination. If every disagreement is evidence that someone is ignorant, corrupt, or sexually deviant, there’s no room left for evidence.
A few observations:
* The claim that Obama “did nothing” about Crimea is inaccurate. The U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions, expelled Russia from the G8, and provided military assistance to Ukraine, though they deliberately avoided direct military confrontation. One can argue those measures were insufficient, but “did nothing” is simply false.
* The claim that Putin “stopped misbehaving” under Trump ignores Russian actions during those years: continued fighting in eastern Ukraine, election interference, cyberattacks, the Salisbury poisoning, and other aggressive actions. It is a highly selective reading of history.
* “Biden watched Putin take over the entire East Coast of Ukraine” is also inaccurate. Russia occupies substantial portions of eastern and southern Ukraine, but not “the entire east coast,” and the Biden administration organized an unprecedented military and economic coalition in support of Ukraine. Again, one can debate effectiveness without rewriting events.
More interesting, though, is the second response.
Calling someone a “piece of loudmouthed shit” and a “DNA failure” may be emotionally satisfying to readers who already agree, but it accomplishes exactly what the troll likely wanted. It shifts attention from the factual claims to a contest of insults. The original commenter is then free to adopt the pose of the persecuted truth-teller facing an intolerant elite.
The final reply follows a familiar script. It pivots from defending the original claims to attacking the character of “elderly liberals,” asserting that critics secretly admit Trump’s policies are successful, and predicting history will vindicate him. None of those statements addresses the factual objections. The conversation has moved entirely from what happened to who you are.
Your comment has nothing to do with Heather Richardson's column. Better to focus on the issue at hand.
Not really. This is a space to inform too. Fred took the time to give an overview and provide links. I appreciated his work.
I thought the sources Fred provided were very helpful and I was grateful.
I’m always grateful for this community pointing out other helpful articles, books, interviews, etc. If you want to skip over, do so.
John, a peculiar characteristic of intelligent people is that their minds frequently zoom out from the "issue at hand" to a view of the larger picture. With an expanded field of view, a detail comes into focus that, while not directly germane to the "issue at hand," is in fact, related. Sharing their observations seems to be the right thing to do in a community of intelligent people who are, you'll be surprised to learn, capable of mentally walking and chewing gum at the same time.
Persons who are not intelligent and easily distracted are best served by just scrolling past the distractions without comment so they can remain focused on the "issue at hand."
What issue? Dr. Richardson penned a history lesson.
Today Maine voters in every county elected their delegates to next week's pop up convention to select the Democratic senate nominee. The Maine Democratic party and county committees are doing a formidable job.
Some candidates have proven progressive track records and attracted significant voter support in the recent primaries - Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson, and Nirav Shah. The others are a vote splitting Schumer shill (Kleban who dropped out of the primary when Mills got in), those running vanity campaigns (Wood and Costello), and those seeking name recognition (can't remember.)
None have the proven ability of primary winner Graham Platner - whose platform and personal skill resulted in an historic primary victory for progressives, and who was hounded out of the election by a concerted effort of personal and anti-progressive resentments, and shameless self promotion, by people who built a bogey man of unsubstantiated allegations piled on acknowledged and apologized for distasteful elements of Platner's past.
After the damage was done, the Morning Joe team, no fans of Platner, demonstrated that the most damning Politico report did not actually have the documentary evidence they claimed to have. The owners of Politico have given techno-fascist Peter Thiel an award. Perhaps unrelated, but indicative
Our senate campaign rests on voter turnout, and in part on the generosity and priorities of Platner voters who hopefully will see the bigger picture and put their dismay aside to Vote Blue to take back the Senate. Vote Blue No Matter Who cannot always rest on the shoulders of progressives. But this is no time to sit on our hands to 'send a message' to the party - by cutting our nose to spite our face and reelecting Trump enabler Susan Collins.
I can't believe you are still defending a candidate whose lack of transparency and integrity has done so much to harm the Democrats in Maine. Planter was evidently an electrifying speaker. So was Huey Long. And, for that matter, Donald Trump.
I agree with lin on this donna. I don't want to re-litigate this, but something was "off" about it all.
One thing I have thought a lot about is I hope we begin to see more of the rough cut, plain talking, messy lives candidates who have the courage to thumb their noses at Schumer, AIPAC and those over-priced consultants who produce robot candidates whose only real goal is to win and please their PAC masters.
ThankYou Barbara Mullen.
Yes. At the end it could not be about veracity and Platner proving his innocence. It was about political viability and Platner did the right thing to step down. But I think it is less about Platner's personal style than his courage to stand up for our shared goals. Despite knowing that his past would be used against him in the attempt to suppress his progressive agenda and his potential to work effectively with others in the senate and in the party.
Call me old fashioned (I get more this way with each passing year), but character matters. I agree with what you said about looking at plain talking, messy lives candidates. I am a fan or redemption.
But lying, over and over about tattoos, what demons from your past might burst forth, etc. are dealbreakers. We’ve already experienced a sick criminal with negative character (if there is such a thing) and I don’t want even one more.
Many are evidently slow to move off the media portrayal of Graham Platner. While much reporting now acknowledges the Platner campaign's significant achievements and is giving suggestions on how to replicate it.
I am a Democrat in Maine. I am very grateful to Graham Platner, Amy Gertner, and the campaign's team of young field organizers for their smart, principled, expert, and indefatigable work in the cause of preserving our democracy and reforming our party. They articulated and amplified a solid Democratic platform which attracted an unprecedented number of my neighbors to volunteer and more Mainer's to vote Democratic than any candidate in the history of Maine Democratic senate primaries. To put it down to Platner's style is to miss the point that his team was so successful that many of those who scrambled to defeat his candidacy are now falling all over themselves trying to figure out how to replicate his campaign.
Very well put. Thank you. Platner assembled an old fashioned peoples movement. You can tell the level of his success by the reaction of such people like the foul mouthed person below.
Has anyone mentioned you are an idiot? We need left-MAGA Bernie Bros like you on our side like we need a case of the clap. Platner fucked himself with his lies and bullshit. He told Chris Hayes there was nothing more out there, a lie.
It's not helpful to call a fellow reader of this newsletter an idiot.
ThankYou.
Yes, especially one who provides so much good content, instead of firing off insults and innuendo.
Wow TCinLA. Your dialogues with Rick Sender have got you speaking his language.
Usually people here are tempted to call me an idiot for my Vote Blue No Matter Who stance against those on the left who prefer to sit on their hands and help elect Republicans rather than hold their nose and elect Democrats. But Vote Blue No Matter Who must not be uniquely put on the shoulders of progressives expected to vote for establishment nominees. It must be equally born by establishment voters who should be expected to vote for progressives successful in the primaries.
This is a political reality and ethical responsibility, which in our senate race, Chuck Schumer, Janet Mills, et al refused to accept - especially with a successful progressive candidate who was critical of US support for the genocidal Netanyahu regime. And I say this as an American Jew and Zionist born in the shadow of the Holocaust who has only belatedly come to understand the malign influence of AIPAC and CUFI on American politics and policy.
Democratic candidates here in Maine and in every state, exactly need those on the left who are so disappointed, dismayed and disgusted with DNC Clinton neoliberalism and its bent towards Wall Street, that they have forgotten voting is a strategic joint exercise in taking power.
Platner's platform was able to bring these potential Democratic voters into a broad coalition of Democratic voters. Exactly what is needed to defeat Susan Collins and other Republican candidates who depend on right wing voters putting their political goals above their personal feelings.
lin: you seem to see Platner as the Great Democratic Hope. His narrow (two-point) lead over Collins was narrowing even before the Jenny Racicot rape allegation interview. Platner might have beat Collins. His replacement may or may not, we have to hope he (probably will be a he) does. But to make him the poster boy of the future Democratic Party is laughable. We need more Jon Ossoffs and fewer Pete-Hegseths-in-progressive-rhetoric.
I entirely agree with you that Jon Ossoff is a good example of the sort of politician we most need. And in fact, Ossoff's 2022 critique of Susan Collins' vote to defeat the John Lewis act presaged his current critiques of Republicans' move to the far right.
I have not presented Graham Platner "as the Great Democratic Hope" or a " poster boy of the future Democratic Party." I have rightfully praised his platform and campaign - both of which did what other Maine Democrats have not been able to do - build a broad coalition of Maine voters who gave Platner the largest vote in the history of Maine Democratic senate primaries. By an over 50 point lead over relatively popular Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Many are evidently slow to move off the media portrayal of Platner. While much reporting now acknowledges the Platner campaign's significant achievements and is giving suggestions on how to replicate it.
I thought David Frum had jumped the shark by equating Platner with Roy Moore. But your equating him with Pete Hegseth might have beat that record.
You know where the rubber meets the road here? AIPAC. The massive control Israel maintains over America is astounding. Go to AIPAC Tracker. It is quite an eye opener. Did you know AIPAC and Schumer have spent over $30 million to defeat Abdul El-Sayad in the Michigan Senate seat primary? El-Sayed is a progressive and takes 0 PAC money as does Mamadani, Sanders and the many up and coming progressives. Want to know if a PAC free politician matters? Go see what Mamadani has done in NYC. I can tell a clear difference between how a PAC controlled candidate/incumbent speaks and a PAC free one speaks. Platner was not controlled by anyone and spoke for the people not a PAC master. I regret for him and the people of Maine the tragedies of his past. BTW-Ossoff takes zero PAC money. Schiff takes over $5 million in AIPAC money. See the difference?
I recommend folks read The Intercept, Zeteo and watch Wajahat Ali. It will wake you up.
I hope the people in ME don't withhold their precious votes in protest and vote blue no matter who. It could make the difference in taking over our Senate.
lin, I happily stand corrected if you aren't trying to make Platner sound like the type of candidate we need in the future. Campaigns catch fire and sometimes burn out. It's sometimes hard to know which will prove to be the real deal.
Sorry but Planter does seem, to me, to embody some of the perverted macho traits that Hegseth does.
TC, you have posted innumerable brilliant, helpful comments that have inspired my respect for you.
This is not one of those comments.
Thank you for alerting us to this important story... which I had not seen until now.
Thank you for bringing attention to these important sources I, for one, have missed this week.
Thanks, Fred. You bring focus to a lot of important topics.
Fred W. Cox, Thank you very much for all the references. As a writer of GOTV postcards (currently to FL), I may not get to read them, but knowing they’re available is a true service in this battle. It’s not for nothing that we have Fort Sumter today.
Handy references: thanks.
Thanks, Fred.
Thank you Fred, for taking the time to put this list and other lists together for us.
Thanks, Fred.
“ Being anti-radical right-wing Zionism is not anti-semitism.”. — I think this cannot be repeated enough.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/132113396
Also, I don’t think Professor Juan Cole’s blog (he is at University of Michigan) gets enough attention. JuanCole.com.
Blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah ba blah ! There I finished your sentence for you. Watch as New York City implodes on its very self. Day it was stated that $2.6 billion and almost 50% of the residence of New York City earn some form of welfare. Watch the city decompose right before your eyes as they run out of other peoples money
Instead of commiserating with his residence, he sits there with rapists and murderers, and other felons, and offer some free food. Every time you called an educator, I just laugh hysterically… Mark, my words, Freddy, we’re gonna come back to haunt you. I’ll give it a year or so New York is gonna start to look exactly like San Francisco at its worst. They’ve already lost $11 billion worth of income and there’s a threat that even the stock market Google’s are going to leave and move the stock market to Texas if you can imagine that. What he has started to do to New York, is a warning to everybody else who tries it so pay close attention
Go fuck off, and when you're done, go fuck off over there, and then over there, and then over there, til you fuck yourself over the cliff with the rest of the Left-MAGAts.
Replying to the Nazibot is useless and only feeds the algorithm.
See here’s your other problem you just don’t even get it. Donald Trump did not discover the Maga saying. Actually first proposed by Ronald Reagan. And what Margaret means is make America great again. So you should be a Maga while still hating Trump but you can’t divide it too because currently you don’t want America to be great again. And that’s your problem. I don’t care who the president is if he’s making America great again I’m in you’re not.
In 1996 while attending the national fire Academy in Emmett Rd., Maryland several of my fellow students, who had come from around the world, had the privilege of accompanying a retired FBI agent had grown up in the Gettysburg area as he gave us a personal tour of the battleground.
Because I was from North Carolina, and there was another student from Texas, we started on the Confederate side and proceeded around the battleground. He told us the story of the ghosts on the documentary film, we explored the Devil’s den, we concluded at the wall where the high tide of Pickett’s charge ended.
It was October and a perfect fall evening when we stood there.
He told us of how the dead were buried, - head to crotch to utilize the space as much as possible -
and how it was discovered that some of the soldiers were really women who had disguised themselves in uniform and followed their men into battle.
We were quite a varied group of fire service officers , from as far away as Japan and Alaska, and as close as New York City.
We, too, felt the blood and the spirits in that place.
It was a very, very quiet ride back.
Thank you for this, Heather 🇺🇸💕🇺🇸 Another piece in the fabric of our democracy.
What an amazing opportunity! I have several friends who had the privilege of attending the NFA. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I love the movie “Glory” about this story.
...and the book, "One Gallant Rush", upon which the movie is based. 😎✌️
oooh thanks - I didn't know that
Me, too...great movie AND soundtrack...
!!!
That, indeed was a good movie. Did you see the movie about the KKK where the Democrats invented it and had slavery and didn’t want to release the slaves and refused to allow them to vote and refuse to give them to freedom do you know if the Democrats. And Republicans are the ones thathad to save them. Ok. Guess you forgot about that history
It is true that the Southern Democrats were the slaveholders. I’m descended from some of them. It is also true that after the Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson, convinced Congress to pass civil rights and voting rights legislation, the Republican Party instituted their “southern strategy” and the southern members of Congress switched parties. This began the long slide of the Republican Party from being the party of Abraham Lincoln to what it is now.
Yes, the Dixiecrats led by Strom Thurmond became the racist Republicans of today. Even their stance on abortion can be attributed to their racism. When the IRS wouldn’t allow private schools to be segregated if they wanted to keep their tax-exempt status, they decided to use abortion rights to rally their base. The Republicans have welcomed white supremacy terrorists groups into DC, the Capitol, and the White House. And when this is over, none of them should be allowed to say they “didn’t know”.
My parents were Dixiecrats. They came from poor families and suffered in the depression so it made sense to them. It didn’t to me because we moved to Chicago in 1946 and lived in Hyde Park. I learned a different way of life, for which I’m very grateful!
Well, then you had no control over your parents and it doesn’t really matter because you are who you wanna be. My mother came from Russia in 1923 and moved to Chicago in 1934 And I was born there in 1949 Hospital. And my father got killed in a bus accident when I was six
Which is what?
The Parties have long since swapped viewpoints. The current MAGA Republicans are far more pro-slavery than the former Southern Democrats. Where are all the Red States now - mostly in the deep South.
I would say that today's Republicans are just as pro-slavery as the old Dixiecrats. It was the Dixiecrats who implemented Jim Crow, and today's Republicans are implementing Jim Crow 2.0.
It is so funny that someone referred to this Nazibot as a lefty.
My right-wing brother in law ask me during the 2016 campaign if Bernie Sanders was the same kind of Communist as Hitler.
You can't cure stupid!
Thanks HCR. I only wish that after the war, those black soldiers had been treated as equals.
Thank you for honoring those heroes. Their story is not commonly known nor taught in schools as far as I know.
Do you want to honor heroes? Go to the cemetery on Veterans Day every year go to the cemetery on memorial day every year go to the cemetery on July 4 every year. THEN History actually means something… talk means nothing stories mean shit. The headstones tell you the story. Better yet go to Normandy Inn you’ll really understand or spend a day in the Arlington cemetery and then you’ll understand and not just a few minutes.
See the names inscribed on the new tower commemorating 9/11. Then you’re actually doing something not to superfluously talking about it
Go the fuck away, fool. I had enough of lefty morons like you 50 years ago.
Yeah, here we go with the nonsense. This is what happens when she avoids talking about anything that Trump is doing well which is very often. She likes to talk about the Lakota Indians to Gettysburg, Battlefield, Ulysses, S Grant, habits and other minutia and now she’s added this story to the mix.
Nonsense? It is both an important and little known part of history which bears learning about, since the right of enslaved people to be free was one of the major goals of the Civil War and these black men, both enslaved and free, stepped up to help make it so. The honorable actions of the 54th Regiment led to an eventual 180,000 African Americans and other people of color joining the Union Army and fighting to preserve the Union. If all along we had learned about this and other important parts of our history in school, instead of them getting deliberately ignored or dismissed or hidden for decades and decades, I imagine you wouldn’t be so grumpy about learning about them now… But just like the history of women’s achievements in science and invention and writing were so often hidden and distorted and attributed to men, and it is only now that the truth is being uncovered and published, the history of blacks and native Americans (and any other minority) deserve to be known and acknowledged as well. When those sins of omission and untruths have been made right, I am sure that what seems to you to be too much attention paid to them will settle down into the full history of our country. Until that time, expect that those in the know in history, science etc will endeavor to make these stories, facts, achievements and honors more widely known in an effort to be fair and truthful. I myself find learning about these lesser known parts of our country’s history fascinating and meaningful, and continue to enjoy this learning process. As someone who grew up in the north, I would welcome learning more about the complicated history of the south in the 1800’s, both before and after the Civil War, as we often don’t get the full picture of the South’s position either, and why it was so difficult for the South to accept the changes that happened in American society. We all could do with some learning….
Janice-Well said! We all have a lot to learn. As Henry David Thoreau said, "It is the province of the historian to find out, not what was, but is".
Knowing our history allows us to better understand our present so we can plan for a better future.
Yeah, so Gina, what have we learned? We learned that killing is wrong and we keep killing. We learned that crime is wrong and we keep Committing crime. We know that hate is wrong and we keep hating… Go live in Henry David’s fantasyland. Let us not concern ourselves with reality that would be a big mistake. That’s the problem with the Democrat party right now which is decomposing before your eyes splintering in five different directions It has learned nothing from history
And if they’re not careful, they’re going to spin off the Earth. Look at all the comments being made by some of the most involved Democratic Commentators who are warning the socialists. Not to trample on sanity
Janice, And what does Civil War have to do with today? Yes, you learn from today and use it tomorrow. Today is a day that matters. You can change your behavior now you can stop being a lemming Start thinking for yourself.
One other thing… education Is a theoretical practice. It’s of no use unless you actually bring it to the Street and put in into practice. That is the only time it becomes real. Otherwise, it’s just an exercise
Theories come to be accepted and applied because they are confirmed by the evidence of high quality research.
Sandra, here is the part where you don’t understand.period. They are still theories, get it they are still theories. Read example of the nonsense you post above.
Not to mention that it depends on who’s doing the research. I’ll give you a perfect simple let’s talk about climate change one of your favorite topics which is the biggest crock of bullshit ever tried to mount on the public.
Back in 1960 the time magazine posted an article. The next global freeze is coming.
And the planet will freeze all the way down to the northern part of Georgia and Mississippi. Go look it up
Oh, and the funniest thing is now Al Gore has renounced his earlier, comment about global warming and climate change. Oooops. He now says the golf stream is going to become extremely cold, and so global warming will not happen. Oceans were going to flood the land. And the Florida coast will be gone in New York City will be underwater
But you all forget science and the magic of invention. So sad
You’re a scientist have been talking about global warming for well since 1960 and there are those that I’ve been talking about. It is a hoax, so which has better research.?
I wish you years and years of good luck answering that question. While , I left my ass off
You haven't offered any theoretical or methodological critiques here, just as you fail to offer theoretical and methodological critiques of Heather's work. That's why you are reduced to trolling.
Do not confuse Theories with Hypotheses.
PS: So sorry to hear about your arse. I hope you find it and re-attach it soon.
PPS: Climate change is real. Thank your lucky stars that you will not be around to see AMOC collapse. It will lead to rapid and catastrophic cooling in Europe by anything from 5°C to 10°C. And so the Southern US will become unbearably hot and unliveable as will the rest of the Tropic/Equatorial belt.
Reported again, you asswipe moron.
You are the one spewing nonsense. Are you threatened because Prof. Richardson isn't confining herself to reporting only on the the exploits of white men. Are you widdle feelings hurt?
Facts. Deal with facts and you don’t know who the fuck I am aware I’m from. I happen to be half black and half Cuban. How do you feel now moron ? I don’t get threatened. Verbal arguments here are like taking candy from a baby. You lost lemming soles or are as inept
As crackling kneepads! Got the fax to offer there Susan?
Here’s some courteous advice that I give to you free of charge
When you post, it’s usually good when you have a point, that makes it more interesting for the reader. Now run aLong
Reported.
She's a historian. The study of history is intended to help people avoid repeating tragic mistakes and inform future decisions. USA has a short history, compared with that of many other countries, but its people can't seem to learn from it.
Breaking News!! Historian Shares History with Nation.
And I just love the cowards who post delusional nonsense and then block themselves from learning anything or receiving a country message because God for bid they learn the truth because it scares the shit out of them and that’s why many of you left Twitter when instead of being 85% liberal and 15% conservative and musk bought it you slithered over to blue sky, so you could commiserate with your fellow idiots and swim in the same piss.
She’s a good historian she is. As far as she goes, if she sticks to history, she’ll be good, but if she does, she gets into politics, she gets lost in the liberal activist mindset, which is off the charts, and consumed and hate the poor dear. And by the way up and I’ll tell Leslie as well. Keeps repeating itself, and she thinks by Referring to ancient history, it’s going to change anything. The changes very little because the human element is pretty slow mentally, and pretty Mundane. People have been killing people for thousands and thousands of years despite knowing that it’s not a good thing to do or the right thing to do or soles any problems on the big scale they still keep doing it. If she stuck to the story she’d be just fine
You're really out of place here tonight. How much have you had to drink? And if you want to threaten me, Mr. Big Bad Wolf, I'll send you my address.
I don’t drink I never have I probably have 2 1/2 glasses of wine a year and maybe three beers all year when I’m at a good Mexican restaurant. So nice try but you shouldn’t threaten me like that with telling me I’m a drunk and your demeaning post requires me to report you You’re threatening yourself pal you’re doing with Alex pretti did putting yourself in harms way. You are a pimple why would I give a shit about you? I just care about your lunacy. Which is out of control in my opinion literally out of control
You’ve got from what I understand 2 million people here who think alike and swim in the same sad sack ideas and I’m out of control?
California is threatened but at least the mayor of San Francisco is trying to get it together by moving to the Center bowl LA is decomposing. It’s an armpit of what it used to be and I used to have a restaurant downtown in the Garment and metal scrap business. And I had two or three homeless that I let sleep behind my restaurant in cardboard boxes. And now there’s a line 3 blocks long. Great job
If you don't like it, the exit's over there, you fool.
I have read all of Sender's posts, as incoherent as they are, without punctuation or comprehensible syntax, and which are often smeared with vulgarities. None of us is naive about the mistakes, poor leadership, and often the wreckage that institutions or poor policies have wrought on the country, although I believe this current era under trump has created a more unbridgeable and antagonistic division - more powerful and ruthless - where we no longer speak the same language (hence we vs. Sender). He represents the anxiety and alienation a lot of people feel. I guess he wants what we all desire: a harmonious, fair, painless society - although I may be wrong about his ultimate motives, because his wording is filled with slogans and run-on sentences. Human history has always been messy and a battle among prophets, religious leaders, reformers, social and political leaders. Although he does not exhibit the capacity for critical reflection, he has his first amendment right to peddle his point of view. It appears that darkness has swallowed him. And the feelings of worthlessness and emptiness are what remain...
I always love it when TC Waze and it’s so comical. Almost like he’s living in Alice in Wonderland. I’m not the one who has the problem pal the liberals have the problem and the reason they have the problem is because they’re not in control and they’re out of control in more ways than one. You missed a beautiful July 4 in Washington DC more red, white and blue there than you could ever imagine.
You don’t understand the right has no problem and the majority of the center has no problem. The left are the only people that have a problem. In fact, the problem is so sickening that they dress up in children’s costumes and balloons and parade around on the no kings March. What’s hysterical is if there was a king and you protested you would die that day but you got home alive isn’t that remarkable which seems to indicate that maybe you don’t have a king but 7 million of you idiots went out there to say this is a no kings protest. Yikes.
I should protest and report you for being an anti-American zealot. Lived in California 30 years it’s an armpit compared to what it used to be. It’s a shell of his former self enjoy the pre-train to nowhere that high-speed trains across to nowhere many billions.
Do you have some of the highest taxes in the country the highest gas prices in the country the highest sales tax I think they just went up to 10% for the how do you think that affects the poor which is hysterical. The highest home prices the highest homelessness, the highest crime in your cities are decomposing. I love California best weather in the world run into the ground by liberals for the last 40 years. And guess what Paul Mississippi who last year was the 50th rated educational system in the country and now because Donald Trump has allowed each state decide its own curriculum. Mississippi is now ninth in reading comprehension and math and Beat California just now.
I’m not going anywhere I’m not the one who’s complaining I’m complaining at so many of the American haters who got spoiled crazy, spoiled sick by American justice, American freedom, American growth, American prosperity and Biden came along and almost took it away entirely in one single term actually half of the term. 20% increase in grocery prices almost immediately doubled the price of gasoline two dollars moral of gallon even over seven dollars in California Tripled mortgage rates, and managed to get inflation to only 9%
I’m an asswipe moron I’m creating a picture here that you don’t wanna read and you don’t wanna see but that’s fine with me you know aware of the truth and you’re not aware of the fact not that you’re worried but you are in more denial than I could even imagine
Now it is our immigrant neighbors whom Republicans have thrust into the killing machines of their blitzkrieg. And their defenders who have chosen to put themselves in the way of Republican state terror, rather than be complicit. There are individual acts of compassion and courage. And organized groups. Across the nation.
But it will take more than such personal action to stop the Republican juggernaut. It will take Americans voting in a strategic joint exercise to win government power. And the only way to stop the Republicans is to elect Democrats.
Thank you, Heather, for this story. There are so many things we don't understand about this life. I do not doubt that you truly felt "the blood in the floors."
Thank you Heather for sharing with this inspirational piece of our nation’s history.
Heather, you do give us hope.
…and the home of the brave. We owe these men and their descendants our gratitude.
Your prose tonight was beyond poetic. Thank you.