Category Archives: History

A Modern Trail of Tears

History, Politics, Rants, , ,

It has taken me some time to come to grips with my feelings today after I heard about the ‘deal’ we have cut with Turkey over the lands of the Kurds in Syria. I was of many mixed emotions and was quite puzzled on what to say. Finally it hit me that for even poorer reasons than just hating ‘Injuns’ like Pres. Andrew Jackson, Pres. Trump has started on the way of having the USA to have a new ‘Trail of Tears’.

Like many many Sooners (or Okies), that is people born in Oklahoma and have much family still there. I have a strong family tradition of having Native American heritage. Also like them I have no sold ‘proof’ of this heritage. But I was raised by a wonderful woman who instilled in me a strong love my my mixed heritage. She thought me to take pride in my Scots heritage and, at the same time take pride in my Cherokee heritage. She instilled in me a bias against the wrongs done to all of the Native American peoples. A bias is so strong that I still consider Pres. Andrew Jackson a genocide in a time that he was looked upon as one of the ‘Great’ Presidents.

Like many Americans I thought that we had been making progress in not only acknowledging the wrongs done but making what little amends that can be made. I hope and prayed that we had left this kind of action behind us. Congratulations Pres. Trump, congratulations MAGA, you have ended that dream. With the agreement you have made with Turkey you are setting up a new trail of tears, this time for the Kurds. You have show once again just what the word of American is worth. It is worth nothing.

So my fellow Americans you now get to join our ancestors in bearing the guilt for the actions our government is doing in our name. An what do we, as a nation get out of it? NOTHING. What does Donald Trump get out of it? EVERYTHING. For that is the true America tragedy of the Indian Removals thru all our history. Be they land speculators, gold hunters, railroads, or Real estate developers, the many suffer and die for the benefit of the few. All we are missing are the classic Indian Agent and I’m sure the Russians are working on it as this is written.

So thanks you MAGA, thank you Pres. Trump for one more stain on American history. Your place in history is assured.

Dorian & Mar a Largo

Climate Change, History, Socioeconomic, , ,

For years now I’ve been saying that what is needed for the 1%ers to get hurt by the effects of Global Warming (aka Climate Change) and it looks like it could be happening now. According to Forbes, 40 of the wealthiest people in the world live in West Palm Beach.

At the time of writing hurricane Dorian is only a category 1 but it is projected to be a category 4 by the time it makes landfall in Florida. If you look at a map you will see that West Palm Beach is almost exactly in the middle of the cone of projected path for him. Looking at the map will also show that there are a great many ‘large houses’ (dare we say mansions) on the island that Mar a Largo is located.

I have been told that many of these island of the Florida East cost are not very high. It is also be projected that Dorian will be coming ashore at high tide and that it is also a new moon, so the tide will be higher than usual. This is just made for some serious damage. The people who are not going to be your average citizen of Porto Rico, shoot they wont be your average American, much less Floridian. We are talking about the 1% of the 1%. People who don’t take kindly to loosing anything to anything. An they like to find some body to blame other than themselves.

Unfortunately for the President the usually candidates for blame, the poor, the Immigrant, or any “not us” are really good as a scape goat for this. The 0.01%rs are not, generally stupid. They know just what is going on and who is doing what to whom. This has happen before in our, human, history. The example I like to remember is how London started to get a modern sewer system. In the mid 1900’s London was swept by annual Typhus epidemics every summer. Also the Times River was used as an open sewer for the city. The stench was getting so bad everyone but the very poor and the people who made their living off the river got as far away from the river as possible. Unfortunately for Parliament, the parliament building was on the river. So when both the stench and Typhus got too close (aka knocking on the doors of parliament) both the city and national government took action.

They waited this long, in spite of the clambering of the common fore about the problem. Nothing was done till ‘those who mater’ were inconvenienced and/or threatened. Well, we could be seeing this happen to the 0.01% now. First West Palm Beach, tomorrow Manhattan Island.