Tag Archives: U.S. history

An Exciting New Blog …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Global Issues, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Today, I would like to introduce you all to a new blogging friend, Quentin Choy, who has recently started the blog WeTheCommoners.  His blog, per his ‘About’ page …

“ … Aims to create a place where a multitude of political and non-political ideas are shared and challenged.

WeTheCommoners comes from the phrase “We the People,” found in the Constitution. The word commoner is used instead of people because a clear divide has been established between ordinary, working-class Americans and those who are meant to represent them in Washington. Many in Washington view normal people like you and I as “commoners,” or as people who come second to political parties, lobbyists, and campaigns.

In a polarized America, many are afraid to discuss things that are even slightly political, and WeTheCommoners hopes to change that. With blog posts from ordinary people with a wide range of political beliefs, your personal beliefs will be challenged. Bloggers on WeTheCommoners are upfront about their opinions and political stances and come from all walks of life.

I hope this blog inspires you to share your political opinions, normalize having political conversations, and maybe even become actively involved in the political world!”

I don’t often promote new blogs, but when I see a blogger’s work as exceptional, beyond the pale, then I like to do my small part to help them grow their blog.  I think Quentin’s blog is worth that effort.  He first caught my eye when he commented on my post about Jeff Bezos’ space excursion and how much money was simply burned up while people go hungry every day in this country.  Curiosity piqued, I paid a visit to Quentin’s blog, liked what I saw, and I want to help him if I can.  I well remember my early blogging days when, after a year, I had 30 followers and thought I was in the big time!

Quentin’s latest post is one that I think is well worth reading … he traces the recent … last 70 years or so … history of the relationship between the U.S. and Iran.  He reminds us of some things we may have forgotten, and answers the question:  How did we get where we are today?

Sometimes it’s easy to think that the country we live in is the entire world.  Oh sure, we all know there are other countries out there, and that our government, no matter what country you live in, interacts with the governments of all these other countries, but … we live in the moment.  And the moment, for many of us, perhaps most of us, is what’s happening outside our back door.  Here in the U.S., it is the rampant toll of the coronavirus pandemic with all its variants, having taken more than 625,000 lives thus far.  It is far right radical politicians turning our government into a three-ring circus.  It is the threat of one of our political parties shredding our Constitution and turning this nation into an autocracy worthy of third-world status.

But … the internal problems can become somewhat less relevant in a heartbeat if a global threat should occur.  I once worked for a professor of International Relations and did some of the research for his academic paper about how some nations use an external threat, real or designed, to ease bring about internal cohesion.  The examples are many.  Think on that one for a minute, my friends.

I hope you’ll take a look at Quentin’s blog, give him a word of encouragement, and stay tuned for more!  A brief sampling of his latest post …

How We Got Here: An Illustrated Timeline of U.S.-Iranian Relations

By Quentin Choy

I remember being afraid that an actual hot war would take place between the United States and Iran a few years ago. Being at the prime age for the military draft, I was greatly concerned. I wrote to my Congressman Ed Case, trying to figure out what Congress was doing to get the situation under control.

I clearly remember thinking to myself, how did we get to this point? In this post, we’ll explore a timeline of events that deteriorated the U.S.-Iran relationship to a breaking point.

1953: The C.I.A. launches a coup in Iran, overthrowing democratically elected PM Mohammad Mosaddegh following plans to nationalize Iranian oil. The Shah takes power and is friendlier to the West.

To see the rest of this timeline, please visit Quentin’s post at WeTheCommoners

Roots Cause Analysis

Posted on by under History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Blogging friend Brosephus … well, he has written a post that will make you stop and think. Truer words were never spoken than … “Our society has never acknowledged that America was built upon stolen land and became what it is today from stolen labor.” And yet, our society is one of arrogance, of racism, of entitlement. Please read his post, think about what he says. Is there common ground we can find to heal the ‘great divide’? Perhaps, but we are going to have to take a long, hard look at ourselves first. Thank you, Brosephus, for this very thoughtful and thought-provoking post!

The Mind of Brosephus

Root cause analysis, as the website Tableau defines it, “is the process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to identify appropriate solutions”. RCA is used to solve all types of problems, and I thought about this process while digesting the news of the week.

In this one week in 2021, we’ve seen the GOP become the GQP by refusing to reject Marge and her illogical logic. We saw more arrests and indictments come down from the Trump Insurrection of 2021. A country music singer got his music yanked from the radio when a video surfaced of him using a racial slur. In not so mainstream news, there was also the suicide of Lafayette Parish Sheriff Deputy Clyde Kerr III. This particular story hit close to the heart for me because I can empathize with his struggle.

I honestly believe that a majority of America’s problems could…

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Trump’s Attack on History: The 1776 Project, Racism, Nationalism, and Fraudulent Patriotism to Conform History to his Twisted Ideology

Posted on by under education, Election 2020, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Today, in yet another extreme abuse of the power of his office, Trump signed an ‘executive order’ to demand that public schools teach revisionist history, that they exclude the darker past of this nation. I tried to write about this, but was too furious to put coherent words on paper. Fortunately, Padre Steve was more successful than I, so I share his work with you. Please do read this … it is another step … a huge one … in the destruction of the United States. Thank you, Padre!

The Inglorius Padre Steve's World

Friends of Padre Steve’s World,

Today President Trump launched a major attack on the history of the United States by announcing what he called The 1776  Project, a direct attack on the 1619 Project which aims to tell the story of how the English Colonists introduced what became the institution of slavery and entrenched racism in the United States. I know the subject well, my book which will be published sometime in the next year “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory!” Racism, Religion, Ideology and Politics in the Civil War Era and why they Continue to Matter” deals extensive with this history, and I can say based on his actions and utterances that the President is using this to further divide the country on racial lines and to open American history as his next front of his culture war.

Trump said he would create a national commission to promote a…

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VOTE!!! – Part I — A Guest Post By Roger Jacob

Posted on by under Election 2020, guest posts, Political commentary, Social commentary

A week or so ago, our friend Roger and I were chatting about how crucial next year’s election will be in the U.S., how it is likely to be the single most important election in the history of the nation, and how critical it is that every eligible person uses the power of his vote on 03 November 2020.  Roger is a gifted writer with a strong sense of history, and when he offered to write a guest post on this subject, I jumped at the offer!  Roger lives in Wales (UK) and I find that often, those outside the U.S. see our situation with more clarity than we who live in this muck every day do. What follows is the first of a two-part guest post titled:

USA Not Voting Is No Longer A Luxury You Can Indulge

Part I-

Motivations, Histories, Circumstances

Preface, Emotions and History

Firstly, I would not be writing this were I not for many years pro-American. I do not subscribe to the tired old ‘USA is the root of all evils’ jag. If you are going to be critical of the USA then you had better include sentences on Russia and China in your comments, they do not get a free-ride. The Three Big Powers. Big Powers are ugly in their dealings with the world. A brief read of the histories of Empires or Very Large Nations anywhere anywhen should convince you of that.

That said back to my relationship with the USA. The music, the humour, the variety, the enthusiasm, the can-do. I thought them wonderful, exhilarating. Dare I use the shallow phrase ‘I love(d) The USA!’. I still value its freedom of art, this vast sprawling inventive nation not shackled by clichés of faux-rebellion and cliques of the self-aggrandised and their followers smaller nations can suffer with.

This opening paragraph is essential to my argument. Because I care about the USA and I see its potential about to be ruined. Torn apart by the negative parts of the Human, those which History warns us have always been there and despite the myriad of examples still lurk, with dread patience. You, The USA is at one of the turning points many nations have encountered. You can journey on. Or you can implode. 2020’s Presidential election beckons.

2016 Election

Being a retired Civil Servant I promptly started checking stats and quite frankly became very side-lined. I will spare my fascination with numbers and give you some simple facts: Clinton = 65,853,514 Trump = 62,984,828. Whereas Trump is legally and constitutionally the USA president more people voted for Clinton. 245,500,000 Americans are 18 & over. Therefore, Trump was voted in by 25.6 % of the adult population. This in itself is not unusual, other than the fact that there is a minority president. Combined these show hardly a stunning mandate.  

Ramifications

Because of the divisive nature of Trump there is at best a stubborn refusal for one side to see the other’s argument against or for him. At worse there is a loud, vociferous and toxic climate in American politics in which consensus has long since withered and there is naught but conflict. Trump has done nothing to assuage the opposition, in fact he has goaded them and relied upon his own loyal base to stoke up his confidence. Thus, widening the gap. Into such an atmosphere naturally the rabble rousers and extremists will turn up and prosper by feeding the supporters with a diet of anger, mockery of the foe and most of all hate (and rake in the bucks folks…notice how Bannon does not live in a shack or trailer park). This is always the situation prior to a civil or civic strife. A House Divided. You will see this phrase again.

Trump

People talk of Trump as if he was so great political operator with an inane sense of genius. This is not so. As businessmen before him he thought he could run the country like he runs his businesses and by woeful chance he appeared at a time when: (1) a portion of the population were reeling from having one of ‘those’ people in the Whitehouse for two terms (2) The culture wars were entering their fourth decade and getting hotter (3) The antics of ‘The Hill’ were getting on people’s nerves. Thus, Trump is but the manifestations of millions of people’s fears, angers (and in some cases) blind prejudices. As far as they are concerned he is their man and not (as he believes) the other way around. Thus, this vocal and furious approximately 25% now hold sway in the Nation. A multi-cultured, five time zone, 300,000,000 + population, politically polarised with easy access to firearms Nation. A more astute generation of politicians would have picked up on this and would be doing something to damp down the fires. Not Trump, bloated with the adulation of his creators he sees only them and their needs. Woefully ignorant of the forces which are at work. A House Divided. History beckons.

Warning

The entrenchments of both sides indicate those who are currently involved within the political processes, be they politicians, aides, activists or voters have in most cases already made up their minds. The nation has in round terms 123,000,000 voters willing to make their mark, to repeat there is a potential in round terms of of 245,000,000. The questions to ask at this stage are is approximately one-half of the population content to let (1) Their future be fought over by another divided half. (2) Thus, content to be told how Life is going to be by a subsequent victorious quarter. If you didn’t vote last time because ‘why bother’ or ‘my principals’ were your fall back reasons, ask yourself:

Are you really content with a quarter of the population dictating to you?

Do you really think in this toxic situation you or folk close and dear to you will not be affected some day, some how, some when?

In the next part we will discuss this in more detail.

Thank you so much, Roger!  😊  Stay tuned for Part II …

Don’t Know Much About History …

Posted on by under Humour, Political commentary, Social commentary

history bookGranted, they probably don’t focus much on History at Wharton Business School, from which Donald Trump allegedly graduated in 1968, but surely he attended high school?  Surely he has read … oh wait … I forgot … he doesn’t read.  Well, folks, let me tell you a little secret.  Donald Trump is illiterate about the history of the nation he purports to lead.  The evidence has been mounting ever since before he even took office, but yesterday … yesterday he made himself look like the most ignorant person on the North American continent.

In the past, he has made a number of faux pas when speaking of historical events, and I’m really surprised that his staff have not reined him in and admonished him not to speak of history, but perhaps they are no more enlightened than he.  I mean, think of Kellyanne … do you really think she knows what D-Day was?  Or that she could name five leaders of the Civil Rights movement?

In February 2017, for example, during a televised speech in honour of Black History Month, he spoke of Frederick Douglass, who died in 1895, as if he were still alive today.  He referred to Douglass as, “… an example of somebody who has done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”

During his campaign rallies in 2016, Trump claimed that during the Moro rebellion in the Philippines between 1901 and 1913, U.S. Gen. John Pershing executed Muslim insurgents with bullets dipped in pig’s blood. Trump’s retelling of the myth has changed each time, but no matter, for the story is untrue to begin with.  Yet last August, after a terrorist attack in Barcelona, he revived the myth, suggesting that Islamic terrorists should be executed with bullets soaked in pig’s blood.

Are you holding your head and groaning yet?  But wait … the best is yet to come.

In March 2017, on a tour of Andrew Jackson’s home in Nashville, Tennessee:  “I mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little later, you wouldn’t have had the civil war. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the civil war. He said, ‘There’s no reason for this.’”  Did Jackson, who died in 1845, speak from beyond the grave, then?  And perhaps Trump forgets that Jackson himself was a slave-owner and firmly believed in the institution of slavery?

Alright … proof enough that he’s no history buff, right?  But this week took the prize.

history for dummiesTrump was having a phone conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the ridiculous tariffs that Trump had implemented against Canada, Mexico and the EU last week.  The conversation was not going well, from all indications, and Trudeau was trying to explain to Trump that the tariffs were not a good idea.  Trump replied that it was “necessary for national security”.  Well, Trudeau reminded Trump that Canada and the U.S. had a familial relationship and how did he figure that Canada was a threat to the national security of the U.S.?

Trump’s response … wait for it, folks … he said … “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” referring to the War of 1812 when the BRITS … the British troops … burned down the White House!!!Trudeau laugh.jpgAnd as I was drifting off to sleep last night, in the back of my mind I could almost hear him saying this one:

When Louis XVI won the popular vote in France, his wife, Marie Antoinette, threw a big bash … a party … with lots of fine food, and she stood up and said to everyone, “Let them eat cake!!!”

Granted, nobody gets everything right all the time, but wouldn’t you think he would accidentally get something right once in a while?  Wouldn’t you think his advisors, some of whom surely studied or read history at some point, would coach him, give him a script to follow?

Trump’s ignorance of history is certainly not the most serious of all his actions, but it points to the fact that he is not a thinker, doesn’t care if what he says is right or wrong, as long as he says something.  It is embarrassing and reflects poorly on his administration … on this nation.

Oooohhhh … Scandals!!!

Posted on by under Political commentary

clintonIn December 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice.  The case?  He lied under oath about an affair … a single affair … with then-staffer Monica Lewinsky.

ReaganIn 1987, President Ronald Reagan admitted to selling weapons in exchange for hostages, a scandal that would become known as the Iran-Contra Affair, and for which 14 of Reagan’s cohorts were charged, some serving prison sentences.

NixonIn 1974, President Richard M. Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment for spying and sabotage, and later cover-up during the 1972 presidential campaign.   The scandal would forever be remembered as the Watergate scandal.

In 1922, President Warren Harding’s interior secretary, Albert Fall, was convicted of accepting bribes and loans in exchange for granting oil drilling rights in what would become known as the Teapot Dome scandal.

whiskey ringIn 1875, under President Ulysses S. Grant, it was determined that the IRS and Treasury Department had been “looking the other way” while distillers of whiskey kept tax revenues for their own benefit.  Grant’s aide and personal secretary, Orville Babcock, was also involved, though Grant gained him an acquittal by pleading on his behalf.  This became known as the Whiskey Ring scandal.

In 1868, President Andrew Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached.  His crime?  He went against legislation passed by Congress (the Tenure of Office Act) and attempted to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointment.  The Senate fell one vote short of removing him from office.

Those are the biggest scandals prior to 2017 involving sitting U.S. presidents.  And then came Trump.  Take another look at the other scandals … they don’t really seem quite so bad now, do they?  So, now that we have a point of comparison, let us take a look at just a few of the scandals of the Trump presidency after a short/long 15 months …

  • Alternative facts – beginning on day one, with the administration’s attempt to portray Trump’s inaugural crowd as some 5 times larger than it actually was, and continuing on a near-daily basis ever since.

  • In February 2018, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson, spent $31,561 for dining room furniture for his new offices.

  • In January 2017, Presidential Bimbo Advisor Kellyanne Conway referred to a “Bowling Green Massacre” as a justification for Trump’s travel ban against Muslims.  There was never any such event.

  • On 10 May 2017, during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Trump discussed classified intelligence information.

  • On 09 May 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey after Comey refused to a) pledge an oath of loyalty, and b) agree to drop the investigation into Russia’s influence on the 2016 elections.

  • The FBI and other congressional committees have been investigating links between Trump, his family, and members of his campaign staff and the Russian government. There is already strong evidence of ties between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russian officials.

  • On August 25, 2017, Trump pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, a known racist who had defied a court order to cease and desist racial profiling.

  • In March 2018, Trump’s Staff Secretary, Rob Porter, was credibly (with evidence) accused by his two former wives of domestic abuse. Porter resigned, but Trump ranted that he should have stayed.

  • In September 2017 it was discovered that Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services, had spent more than $1 million of department funds for his own travel on private charter jets and military aircraft.

  • Donald Trump has been accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, by at least 19 women. He has bragged about following young contestants into the dressing room and groping them during the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contests.  And he is heard on tape claiming that a celebrity like himself “can do anything” to women, including “just start kissing them … I don’t even wait” and “grab ’em by the pussy”.  And Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about having consensual sex with Monica Lewinsky???

  • Lastly, Donald Trump has been credibly accused of having an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels shortly after Melania, his third wife, gave birth to their son. Trump, through his attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about their affair during the 2016 election.

Did the rules change in the twenty years between 1998 and 2018?  Does it, despite #MeToo, no longer matter if men use their power to abuse women?  Does it no longer matter how our elected representatives spend OUR money?  Have integrity, truth and honesty become archaic words that no longer have value in our lives?

Today we have the most corrupt individual in the history of this nation sitting in the Oval Office. Today we have people in towns and cities all across the nation saying that they are “good Christians”, that they hate abortion because it is ‘morally wrong’ … and yet … and yet, they find nothing … NOTHING … wrong with the man pretending to be president groping women, having multiple elicit affairs, lying, cheating and stealing.  Just this week, Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual abuse and faces a possible 30-year prison term, yet Donald Trump, who has done no less than Cosby, is applauded.