It is all about politics. It should be all about solving the problems of this country. As this blog has reported repeatedly, there is no substantial difference between the only 2 political parties in the United States of America. Both Republicans and Democrats represent the 'ownership' class. All other classes of people that exist in this country are without representation. The 'work' done in congress, at the federal level and in the various state legislatures is to enhance the benefits of the wealthy elite at the expense of the ordinary, every-day people. We all know this to be true. There is actually no debate on the validity of this concept. Government operates for the 'corporate person' and not for the 'flesh & blood person'.
As we examine the current activities at the government level, we see American healthcare (already poor by comparison to standards in the industrialized world) is being decimated by the political actors. Similarly we see the upcoming tax changes as giving tremendously to the wealthy and taking away from everyone else while moving national finances deeper and deeper into debt.
And there can be no doubt that each of the parties, both Democrats and Republicans, are 'war parties'. Trump can't understand why Japan doesn't shoot down North Korean missiles, and Clinton fantasized about 'Russian aggression' in every speech. For both Trump and for Clinton, their vision is delusional and dangerous.
The common American citizen is nowhere in the political system. The 'minor' political parties have been pushed to the sidelines and made irrelevant by the wealthy who make the rules and pass the laws. "Legal" and/or "Illegal" are whatever the wealthy say they are, and they make changes based on what is convenient for themselves at any particular time... it changes according to their 'whim'.
People who aspire to social progress and national improvement for the American people have been duped into believing in the Democratic party as the solution for America's problems... it is not.
Everyone can easily see that the Democratic party is in deep trouble (the same is often said about the Republican party) and those on the progressive side of the party want to save the party and to revamp it to serve the people of this country. That is not going to happen.
Instead of wasting time and effort with the terrific infighting necessary to attempt altering the Democratic party, those interested in a progressive agenda should put that energy into pushing the Green Party and/or the Peace and Freedom party to the front. Make the Green Party and/or the Peace and Freedom party a force to be dealt with - or the Independent Party...
And, for those not favorable to the Green Party or the Peace and Freedom party, there are other choices -- but forget about rebuilding something that hasn't really worked well, anyhow. Factual history proves only the negatives of the Democratic party (or the Republican party). Our system hasn't functioned. Let's move on in a positive direction.
The polls always show discontent among the population regarding the work in congress, regarding the work of government, and regarding the operation of the entire system. Rather than trying to alter that gigantic negative feeling among the people toward 2 very corrupt political parties, it is better to help those voters to choose something different, something better, something that will work in 'their' favor, something that benefits the whole nation rather than the few at the top.
Let the Democratic party and the Republican party go their own way (which demonstrably is downhill). Let them crash and burn as they deserve.
As a side issue, the media and some in the Democratic party are looking for excuses regarding the Clinton loss in the election and they want to blame Russia. From every angle one looks, the Democratic party has self-destructed. That they didn't offer any alternatives to Republicans is only the starting point of conversation about the current irrelevancy of the Democratic party. That 'Russia' thing is simply an attempt to divert attention and has no real meaning.
We have some real and serious problems in the United States. Repairing a dysfunctional political party is not one of the things that should be allowed to consume our energy. War, climate change, and the welfare of our citizens are items for us to concern ourselves about. Given all of the circumstances and all of the issues, there is only so much that we can do and trying to resurrect the Democratic party isn't worth the effort, and that's the truth !!!
'Bipartisan' is Republicans and Democrats stealing and deceiving in unison. Pictured is Donald Trump kissing the Republican tax plan during a meeting with the House Ways and Means Committee. Photo Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times -- of course he loves 'this plan' because it gives him millions and millions of dollars that it takes away from ordinary American citizens... We need to remove millionaires (Republicans or Democrats) from governing for the benefit of millionaires...
There’s no way to separate the Democratic Party’s ideological collapse from its institutional collapse, or from the way it has self-gerrymandered into a regional party whose voters are an awkward coalition of rich and poor in the coastal states and the top dozen or so metropolitan areas. (I know, I know: The "Big Sort," because everybody who used to vote Democratic in the heartland states died or moved to California.) All those things are aspects of the same phenomenon, which is that Democrats are constantly on the back foot, fighting yesterday’s battles and burdened by the PTSD of 2008 or the Cold War or the Reagan Revolution or Chicago 1968.
That’s admittedly preferable to the Time Machine Amnesia party on the other side, which used to long for an anodyne, theme-park fantasy of the 1950s but now seems to have embraced a level of delusional nihilism that suggests either a postmodern art movement or severe mental illness. But for the last two decades or so, Democrats have had no semblance of a collective identity other than not being Republicans. They’re not homophobic or misogynistic, they’re not overtly racist, they’re not hysterical about immigration, they’re OK with scientific evidence and they don’t embrace patently false conspiracy theories. Which are good things! But at this point, the argument that “we’re better at managing things than the crazy people” has repeatedly proven inadequate to win power, to hold onto it or to do anything useful with it. Both sides in the Democratic Party’s current faction fight, as I see it, are in denial about the true nature and scope of the problem. Sanders-style progressives long to purge the old guard and build anew, rebranding the entire party as a social-democratic enterprise dedicated to single-payer health care, a $15 minimum wage and higher taxes on the rich. Clintonite moderates, meanwhile, maintain that the Trump presidency, Republican hegemony in Washington and widespread social discord are rogue events that perhaps didn’t really happen and in any case do not reflect on their strategy of policy-wonk triangulation or their record of repeated and humiliating defeat. Both responses are essentially utopian: They rest on the premise that the Democratic Party is still a functioning political organization and that the United States is still a functioning democracy. We ought to know better by now. It does no good to pretend that the Democratic (and democratic) crisis — which is not just ideological and political but also moral, philosophical, financial, institutional and other adjectives besides — does not exist or isn’t important. Numerous social-media observers have already suggested that Donna Brazile should not have aired her party’s dirty secrets because we face a national emergency and need party unity at a time like this, etc. Nonsense: What unity? And for that matter, what party? The Demo-catastrophe cannot be swept under the carpet in the name of winning a House majority in 2018 (which isn’t going to happen anyway), although that’s a fair description of the party’s official strategy. That way lies madness, or at least the form of liberal derangement represented by Jon Ossoff, the guy who spent 30 million bucks, more money than any congressional candidate in history, to get exactly the same number of votes as the previous Democrat to be defeated in his suburban Atlanta district. (I was angry about it at the time and am angrier now: The demoralizing effect of the Ossoff debacle will have a long tail.)
Now here we are, in the still-unbelievable conditions of 2017, with an erratic, vindictive and thoroughly incompetent president who finished second in the voting and is widely despised by the public. He sits atop a hollowed-out zombie version of the Republican Party, which has forged an especially noxious and nonsensical coalition of predatory capitalism and resurgent white nationalism. (I can hear my colleague Chauncey DeVega reminding me that that particular combination has a name.) That party’s base of support is nowhere close to a majority, yet somehow it controls all three branches of the federal government and 38 (or so) of the 50 states.
How in God’s name did that happen? Well, we’ve all spent too much time blathering on about that and coming up with halfway plausible explanations: It was sexism and Russian meddling and racial resentment and “economic anxiety” and the marginalization of the white working class. It was a flood-tide of right-wing fake news and Jim Comey’s October surprise (remember, we were supposed to hate him before we were supposed to love him). It was voter suppression and depressed turnout and bearded millennial snowflakes who voted for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson. Given how flukish the 2016 election was, it’s fair to say that all those factors played a role, and that if any one of them could be adjusted just a little, the outcome might have been different. Even at their most grandiose and Putin-enriched, those are granular explanations of what happened last November — a uniquely traumatic and damaging event, to be sure — which completely ignore the near-total meltdown of the two-party system that got us there in the first place. Hillary Clinton’s bizarre defeat-in-victory was an event so unlikely it seems like a metaphor. So does the fact that the Democratic Party was so broke and so cynical it literally sold its soul for rent money. But those things happened. Until we face them honestly there will be no Resistance, no victory, no political renewal and no democracy. 
and we can see where that has gotten us...
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Well, we all know some of the truth. Native Americans were 'here' first. Native Americans were 'native' to this land, hence the label, Native Americans. Europeans and Asians and Africans were native to some other land and came here only in recent times. We all know that much mostly because if our brain functions at any level, we could not avoid knowing this much - although many of us would like to close our eyes to the historical truth.
The concept of 'discovering America' is a fraud in every aspect of the 'history' taught to 'Americans'. The first hint of fraud should surface when, as the story is told, Columbus sailed the ocean blue to the 'new world' to be greeted by people who are already standing on the shore.
Skipping past the history of genocide and long string of broken promises, most notably today is the Dakota Access pipeline violation of treaties signed by the federal government in the 1800s. From Standing Rock to the present, we can see the fraud has continued. And, as 'we' do every year, we perpetuate the fraud. This year we 'celebrated' Columbus Day, again.
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The largest celebration was in New York City where Fifth Avenue was transformed into the spectacle of the Columbus Day Parade. This was accompanied by the annual wreath laying at Columbus Circle to commemorated Christopher Columbus’s historic voyage to the new, previously undiscovered world. The show piece at Columbus Circle is the 13-foot tall marble statue of the 'discoverer' that sits on top of a 26-foot tall granite column.
The president of the United States issued a 'Columbus Day Proclamation'. During his statement, Trump did not mention Native Americans but advertised a 'Columbus Day sale' urging 'customers' to purchase the “Make America Great Again” merchandise of their choice for a discounted price.
Reports of 'festivities' in our national capital reflect more of the same. The celebration in Washington D.C. included a parade with Niña, Pinta and Santa MarÃa floats, a reenactment of Columbus’ discovery of America, and Native American face-painting for the kids. The celebrations continue into the evening with adults-only firewater stands.
The Washington Redskins football team owner, Dan Snyder, has been pleased with the results of the celebrations. “We at the Redskins know the importance of history, and who better to celebrate Christopher Columbus’ amazing achievements than the hometown team of our nation’s capital?”
Not everyone is happy with the festivities, though. Cleveland Indians mascot Chief Wahoo stated the event was “Utterly disrespectful.”
The Washington Redskins football team owner, Dan Snyder, has been pleased with the results of the celebrations. “We at the Redskins know the importance of history, and who better to celebrate Christopher Columbus’ amazing achievements than the hometown team of our nation’s capital?”
Not everyone is happy with the festivities, though. Cleveland Indians mascot Chief Wahoo stated the event was “Utterly disrespectful.”
God, that's the truth !!!
First Indigenous Map of Its Kind
United States Map Displays “Our Own Names and Locations
from Global Research ”By nativeamericanpride.co
Aaron Carapella, a Cherokee Indian, has taken it upon himself to create a map that shows the Tribal nations of the U.S. prior to European contact. The map is of the contiguous United States and displays the original native tribal names of roughly 595 tribes, and of that, 150 tribes are without descendants. Without descendants means that there is no one known to be alive from that tribe and are believed to be extinct.
Aaron Carapella, a self-taught mapmaker in Warner, Okla., has designed a map of Native American tribes showing their locations before first contact with Europeans.
Aaron’s journey to making the Native American Nations map began 14 years ago. At the age of 19, Aaron had already gained a great deal of knowledge from listening to stories from his family, elders from his tribe, and reading books on Native American history. To explain where his knowledge came from Aaron said,
“My Grandparents would tell me, you’re part Native American and that’s part of your history. They would give me books to read about different tribes’ histories, so, I grew up with a curiosity of always wanting to learn more about Native American history.”
After reading the many books on Native tribes and not finding any authentic type maps which failed to accurately represent the hundreds of modern day and historical tribes, Aaron decided to start creating a map for himself that would be authentic and cultural.
“The maps in the books were kind of cheesy, they only had maybe 50 to 100 tribes on them,” said Aaron.
The inspiration for the map to depict original tribal names came from a book that he was reading which explained the real names of tribes and reason they were given the names they have today.
“I didn’t want to make a map with just tribe’s given names on it. I wanted it to be accurate and from a Native perspective,” said Aaron.
The process to collect tribes’ real names led Aaron from books, to making many phone calls to tribes across the country, asking them one seemingly simple question, what is the actual native name of your tribe?
United States Map Displays “Our Own Names and Locations
from Global Research ”By nativeamericanpride.co
Aaron Carapella, a Cherokee Indian, has taken it upon himself to create a map that shows the Tribal nations of the U.S. prior to European contact. The map is of the contiguous United States and displays the original native tribal names of roughly 595 tribes, and of that, 150 tribes are without descendants. Without descendants means that there is no one known to be alive from that tribe and are believed to be extinct.
Aaron Carapella, a self-taught mapmaker in Warner, Okla., has designed a map of Native American tribes showing their locations before first contact with Europeans.
Aaron’s journey to making the Native American Nations map began 14 years ago. At the age of 19, Aaron had already gained a great deal of knowledge from listening to stories from his family, elders from his tribe, and reading books on Native American history. To explain where his knowledge came from Aaron said,
“My Grandparents would tell me, you’re part Native American and that’s part of your history. They would give me books to read about different tribes’ histories, so, I grew up with a curiosity of always wanting to learn more about Native American history.”
After reading the many books on Native tribes and not finding any authentic type maps which failed to accurately represent the hundreds of modern day and historical tribes, Aaron decided to start creating a map for himself that would be authentic and cultural.
“The maps in the books were kind of cheesy, they only had maybe 50 to 100 tribes on them,” said Aaron.
The inspiration for the map to depict original tribal names came from a book that he was reading which explained the real names of tribes and reason they were given the names they have today.
“I didn’t want to make a map with just tribe’s given names on it. I wanted it to be accurate and from a Native perspective,” said Aaron.
The process to collect tribes’ real names led Aaron from books, to making many phone calls to tribes across the country, asking them one seemingly simple question, what is the actual native name of your tribe?
“Some tribes, once contacted, wouldn’t know that information,” he said, but they would get him in contact with an elder or someone that would have the information he needed. “Every tribe I’ve contacted, I’ve noticed they are really good about getting back to you about cultural questions, they had a really good response time,” said Aaron.
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On the map there are approximately 175 merged tribes, listed among the 595. The map displays what others fall short of, to make known the significant fact that is overlooked every day and that is, that tribes inhabited the entire U.S. and not just small portions of it.
“It is kind of sad that I can’t find a tribe’s real name because they aren’t here anymore,” said Aaron about learning the truth of what happened to many tribes. Some tribes were victims of genocide, some dwindled away from disease or other life threatening situations and some were merged forcefully or willingly with other tribes to make one large tribe. “Today some small tribes are enumerated under larger tribes, and do not have separate sovereignty. A good example of that is the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma who recently split from the Cherokee Nation,” said Aaron explaining about how some tribes have merged.
“To be honest, in general in the United states, Americans are very ignorant about Native American history and the only time they deal with Native history or reality is when tribes have enough money to fight back against injustice happening to them. In my small way, making this map is to reinforce the true history of the injustice and the genocide that occurred,” Said Aaron.
Aaron has not received any funding to create the map and any profit from the map sales will go towards Aaron’s future map projects, which will include an in-depth look at the tribes of the states of California and Washington. A map of the First Nations in Canada is already in the works and close to being complete.
“It is kind of sad that I can’t find a tribe’s real name because they aren’t here anymore,” said Aaron about learning the truth of what happened to many tribes. Some tribes were victims of genocide, some dwindled away from disease or other life threatening situations and some were merged forcefully or willingly with other tribes to make one large tribe. “Today some small tribes are enumerated under larger tribes, and do not have separate sovereignty. A good example of that is the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma who recently split from the Cherokee Nation,” said Aaron explaining about how some tribes have merged.
“To be honest, in general in the United states, Americans are very ignorant about Native American history and the only time they deal with Native history or reality is when tribes have enough money to fight back against injustice happening to them. In my small way, making this map is to reinforce the true history of the injustice and the genocide that occurred,” Said Aaron.
Aaron has not received any funding to create the map and any profit from the map sales will go towards Aaron’s future map projects, which will include an in-depth look at the tribes of the states of California and Washington. A map of the First Nations in Canada is already in the works and close to being complete.
