A Reminder: NO Nation "Owns" The Land It Sits On

"The population of Europe has been replaced by migrants three times in the past 45,000 years. New research shows that the current risk of developing various diseases varies according to how much of a person’s DNA originates from the various prehistoric migrants."

Click on the link below for an interesting and informative look at the history of migration in one area of the planet and how it relates to some diseases:

Prehistoric population turnover influences the risk of various diseases for modern Europeans

A Historical Look At Revolutions

"Fareed Zakaria is the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and a foreign affairs columnist at the Washington Post. He joins Preet to discuss his new book Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, and how this current moment of global political fracture mirrors societal upheavals of the past."

Click on the link below for a podcast putting today's global turmoil in perspective:

Revolutions, from 1600 to Trump

Roger Ailes: The Bastard Behind It All

"Roger Ailes did more to degrade the tone of public life in America than anyone since Joseph McCarthy."

Click on the link below for a biography of the main influencer of forming the present Republican Party:

A short biography of a bully

How Does Trump's Character Compare To Other US Presidents?

"Historian Michael Beschloss on how Trump’s challenges in the courtroom line up against a larger history of presidential legal woes."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting a historical view of many Presidents regarding legal events and character flaws:

What’s Past is Prologue for Presidential Norms

The USA Is Rerunning The 1850s

"I have wondered lately if the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision isn’t our era’s version of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, sparking a countrywide backlash." - - -

"March 15 is too important a day to ignore. As the man who taught me to use a chainsaw said, it is immortalized by Shakespeare’s famous warning: 'Cedar! Beware the adze of March!'

"He put it that way because the importance of March 15 is, of course, that it is the day in 1820 that Maine, the Pine Tree State, joined the Union.

"Maine statehood had national repercussions. The inhabitants of this northern part of Massachusetts had asked for statehood in 1819, but their petition was stopped dead by southerners who refused to permit a “free state”—one that did not permit slavery—to enter the Union without a corresponding “slave state.” The explosive growth of the northern states had already given free states control of the House of Representatives, but the South held its own in the Senate, where each state got two votes. The admission of Maine would give the North the advantage, and southerners insisted that Maine’s admission be balanced with the admission of a southern slave state lest those opposed to slavery use their power in the federal government to restrict enslavement in the South."

Click on the link below for the rest of the story:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-15-2024

Ukraine And Russia: A History Lession

"Although few Americans paid much attention at the time, the events of February 18, 2014, in Ukraine would turn out to be a linchpin in how the United States ended up where it is a decade later."

Click on the link below to better understand the connection between the Republican Party/MAGA and Putin/Russia:

10 years of US/Ukraine/Russia History

How To Navigate "The Post-Truth Age"

"In the post-truth age, how can you know what's true or false? Can we get to the truth? Is everything fake news and propaganda? How do we tell what is a lie? Is history even possible? Well, under the current subjectivist theory of history, the only answer is 'no'. History does not work... But we're going to change that today."

Click on the link below for a look at history and how it can help us better understand how much the US educational process has failed us:

"But how do you know you're right?"

Neanderthals: A Fresh Look At Them

"Neanderthals lived hundreds of thousands of years ago, one of the many ancestors of modern humans. The species went extinct about 40,000 years ago, although it continues to live on in the DNA of human beings around the world. 

"Neanderthals have long been thought of as base, unintelligent creatures who dragged their knuckles and wielded clubs. Reddit says otherwise, providing a lot of information to combat this negative view. The subreddit Today I Learned offers some eye-opening facts about Neanderthals, many of which may surprise you."

Click on the link below for an informative video on one of our historical relatives:

Surprising Facts About Neanderthals

Understand More About Middle East History

"Why has the Israeli–Palestinian conflict been so intractable for so long? Fareed talks with Palestinian scholar Ahmad Khalidi, Israeli historian Benny Morris, former US diplomat Edward Djerejian, and more about the attempts, missed chances, and future prospects of establishing a lasting peace in the region."

Click on the link below for an in-depth analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an historical perspective from experts from both sides:

The Road to War in the Middle East

The "Gilded Age" Is Alive And Well

"John Oliver discusses freight trains and railroads, how they’ve put profits over safety, and, crucially, what shows he watched as a child that explain…everything. "

Click on the link below for a clear example of corporate behavior that should have ended at the end of the Gilded Age. We need another Mark Twain, or another Charles Dickens, to enlighten voters and to push politicians toward a truly REGULATED capitalism:

Chris Hayes & Rachel Maddow Tell It As It Was, And Still Is

THE USA WILL BE A DICTATORSHIP UNDER TRUMP

"We just wrapped up our fall 2023 national tour. We’ve so enjoyed taking WITHpod on the road and it’s been so good to hear feedback from so many of you. We couldn’t think of a better person to have for our tour culmination than the one and only Rachel Maddow. It was a fascinating conversation all about what we can do to save American democracy, how we got to this particular political moment and her amazing New York Times bestselling book, “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism.” We’re thrilled to share the full recording of the event with you."

Click on the link below for 90 minutes of American history and current events that everyone needs to know:

WITHpod Live with Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow

A Pep Talk To Keep Plugging Away Promoting Reality

The Pilgrims Were Religious Fanatics: Does This Change Your Mind?

" - - - you want to change the world (but) do you really believe that people can change their minds not just on a topic but overall? I mean I kind of have to, I don't have a choice if I believe the world can change I have to believe that individuals can because one thing doesn't happen without the other. It doesn't work any other way. If you do not believe that people can change then you might as well just give up striving for a better world. You have to believe that it's possible. It's not going to be an event for most people. They're not just going to suddenly change their mind. They'll be swayed over time. Their ideas will shift slowly but surely and that's what causes the change. Sometimes it's imperceptible but if you want that better world you have to believe that individuals can change. If not. just give it up because there's no way it happens any other way. In that bus analogy, some people are only going to go five or six miles. Some are going 6,000 but as long as you can get people headed in the same direction, it's a win. And, his referring to the pilgrims as religious fanatics? That's probably a pretty good example of that because odds are he got that line from Ansel Adams, but when he saw it, he understood it. The reason he found it funny, the reason he decided it was something that he could quote, might have been your conversation the year before. It's gradual but make no mistake about it. If you want the world to change, you have to be willing to accept the idea that individuals can. And, it's probably not a great idea to write them off and just be like, well they're never going to change. And sure, that's true about some people. Some people won't change, but you don't know who they are. So, just because somebody is wearing a red hat doesn't necessarily mean that they have forsaken all reason. I mean, I know that may be hard to believe at times. But, if you want that world, you have to believe that people can change, that individuals can change. And, you have to be willing to try to help them along. It may not work and the best you ever get may be them recycling a line from a show they saw on TV. But, it shows a shift and you must keep working at it anyway. It's just a thought. Have a good day."

(Mildly edited for grammar from the transcript of this episode of the"Beau of the Fifth Column" YouTube Channel on 11/21/2023)

Oil And Vinegar

"If you pour oil and vinegar into the same vessel, you would call them not friends but opponents." - Aeschylus

The recent history of the Palestinians and Israelis is essentially one of cultural and religious friction because of three main factors:

• Islam has never had an "Enlightenment" like Christianity and Judaism have gone through. (link)
• Christianity has had a violent and oppressive history against Jews essentially since its history blaming them for killing Jesus and calling them "God/Christ Killers". (link)
• Far Right Jews gaining control of Israel. (link) 

The History Of The Israel - Palestine Conflict And Territorial Rights

One cannot fully understand the motives of the players in the Middle East until one understands its history. Click on the links below for videos providing a good start:

How Zionists Came to Palestine Under British Protection

Britain in Palestine 1917-1948

History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Whose Land Is It? Palestine Or Israel?

How Britain Started the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Problem With the Middle East's Borders

Why the Middle East’s Borders Guarantee Forever War

Current Bad Actors:

The evil of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists

The evil of Israel's Ultra-Orthodox

The evil of Evangelical Christians regarding Israel

More:

Podcast: Summary of the full spectrum of thought on the issues

Article: The Moral Deficiencies of a Liberal Education

Territorial Rights:

The discussion over who has rights over territory is the history of civilization and NO culture is "right" anywhere on the planet. It is more than time for humanity to grow up and learn to live together peacefully as a united human family.

At its base, the problem is tribalism and its bedfellow religion. As civilization has evolved from clans/tribes into wider communities, the residual of this basic social structure remains deep in our psyche. Today, with the findings of science, we know that race and religion are false and harmful human constructs. History clearly shows that cooperation trumps tribalism and individualism in the flourishing of humanity.

Science must be THE tool we use to inform our innate reason, wisdom, and common humanity!

Israel: There Is No Excuse For USA Support Of Apartheid

"Israel's politics have been upended by the return of Netanyahu as Prime Minister, put in office with the help of extremely far-right factions who have now pushed through reforms to the Israeli Supreme Court that fundamentally undermine their democracy. All this while they were already a farce of a democracy due to the maintenance of an apartheid-like system of differing rules applying to different residents based on ethnicity."

Click on the link below for a podcast exposing a country that should not be allowed to hoodwink the USA with its religious bigotry (heads up, Evangelical ideologues). 

Israel's Political Upheavals (and more)

Conservatives And US Founding Myths

Conservatives in the USA have devolved into the promotion of lies and myths in general, and such includes the Founding of the USA. Click on the link below for an evidence-based expose of ten Founding myths that are primarily believed and promoted by conservatives:

10 American Founding Myths

Distorting Black History Goes Way Back

"What can the controversy over Florida’s new Black history standards tell us about the politics of distorting the past? Heather and Joanne analyze the claims and framing of the standards and connect the curricular mandates to a century-old effort by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to control how Southern history was taught."

Click on the link below for details:

Telling Tales of History: The Florida Problem

More On The Struggle of Indigenous Nations In The USA

"Heather and Joanne reflect on the recent Haaland v. Brackeen Supreme Court decision, which upholds the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act. They put the case into context with past struggles by indigenous communities to define their place in the American story, from Tenskwatawa’s 1800s quest for representation to the consequences of the 1887 Dawes Act to the 1960s origins of the American Indian Movement."

I have had the opportunity to visit several indigenous nations in my travel across the USA and have learned much about their struggles. Because of such, I have posted a few times on them (link) in the recent past. Click on the link below for another history of their plight:

The American Nation and Indigenous Nations: Sovereignty & Struggle

The History Of US Right-Wing Extremism

Click on the link below for a Chris Hayes podcast presenting the history of US right-wing extremism from the Civil War, through the devastation of Black Wall Street and the Oklahoma City/Timothy McVeigh bombing, to the present environment within conservatives. In essence, the problem is getting worse:

Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism with Jeffrey Toobin

Another View Of The Electoral College

"The possibility of a second Donald Trump presidency provides perhaps the strongest case ever for the Electoral College. Were the Electoral College to work as the * Framers originally envisioned, there is no chance Trump would even be a serious candidate in 2024, let alone 2016 or 2020.

"The Electoral College is perhaps the most maligned and misunderstood institution in American politics. There have been more efforts to alter or abolish it than any other institution, and polls suggest large percentages of the public support replacing it with a direct popular vote for president."

"So why did the constitutional Framers create the Electoral College?"

Click on the link below for an interesting US history lesson:

Trump is why the framers created the Electoral College

* A big qualifier