Gyasi Ross on MSNBC.

“I think we have to be very clear, Donald Trump is just a symbol for an antiquated outdated mode of thought that unfortunately still exists.”

“I think we have to be very clear, Donald Trump is just a symbol for an antiquated outdated mode of thought that unfortunately still exists.”

Gyasi Ross, ICTMN’s Editor at Large, appeared on All In With Chris Hayes last night to address Donald Trump’s candidacy and, specifically, Trump’s 1993 quote, “They don’t look Indian,” as part of the presumptive Republican Presidential Candidate’s reoccurring shtick.

Hayes opened the segment by bringing up the opening of Foxwoods resort and casino in Connecticut, which presented competition to Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City. “Under federal law,” Hayes went on, “Native Americans don’t pay taxes on casinos located on their land.” In 1993 Trump sued the federal government by arguing that the law gave an unfair advantage to a certain class of citizen.

Trump was called to testify before Congress and got into a heated exchange with Representative George Miller. That’s when Trump delivered his infamous phrase, “They don’t look Indian.”

Hayes followed the video clip of the exchange by soliciting comments from Ross, and referred to Trump as the “great determiner of who has what ancestry.”

Ross, a Blackfeet Nation citizen, responded, “This is not a new script at all. … In many ways Native people have historically served as the canary in the coal mine in regards to racial relations and this is no different.

ICTMN has the full story, video below.

https://youtu.be/8_GKkst6tM0

You may rejoice, I must mourn.

Wikimedia Commons.

Wikimedia Commons.

History News Network has a good article up, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Anne Pastore. It’s good reading for Colonial Day. Here’s just a bit:

African-American attitudes leading up to the Civil War toward Independence Day itself were perhaps best expressed by Frederick Douglass in his 1852 speech named after its most famous line, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Asking the crowd why they have asked him, a black man, to speak on this occasion celebrating freedom in a country where his people are not free, his oration demands acknowledgement of slavery, “the great sin and shame of America.”

“Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

I learned a few things I didn’t know, and I have yet more reading to do. Wherever there’s a declaration of independence, there’s often a pile of bodies under that declaration, and it’s important to remember the cost to all peoples, not just the spoils of the victors.

There’s a great need for such reflection, because the March of American Stupidity stomps on:

The one-time Florida representative and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel GOP Rep. Allen West  is extremely concerned by his observation that Americans use the phrase “Happy Fourth of July” to greet each other instead of “Happy 240th American Independence Day,” or better yet, “Steadfast and Loyal, Happy 240th American Independence Day.”

West is afraid that the country is not only becoming less Christian, but also less patriotic.

“I’ve noticed something as it relates to today and that which it represents,” West wrote on his blog. “We’ve seen our move away from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays, and even Happy Winter Solstice. We’ve become so damaged by the talons of political correctness that it now threatens the very existence of our Republic. And I mean its very founding.”

[…]

He concludes, “On June 14th 1775 our Continental Army was formed, the motto of today’s U.S. Army is ‘This We’ll Defend.’ Let us all defend these free and independent states from a new tyranny and make a stand for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…not charlatans who believe they can promise our individual happiness. Steadfast and Loyal, Happy 240th American Independence Day!”

Mr. West, you can take your Steadfast and Loyal, Happy 240th American Independence Day and shove it. Full story here.

Ken Burns Talks Trump.

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Ken Burns speaks to CBS (screen grab).

In an interview with the Daily Beast on a retrospective of his films, acclaimed documentarian Ken Burn spent the majority of his time discussing the candidacy of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and what it says about America.

[…]

Discussing Burns’ film The Central Park Five — about five black teens who were wrongly convicted of assaulting a white woman in New York City — Burns recalled how Trump reacted at the time.

“He shamefully took out a full-page ad in all of the New York dailies asking for a restoration of the death penalty for two 14-year-old, two 15-year-old, and one 16-year-old innocent children,” Burns explained. “While New York State laws would not have permitted their execution, just the fact that there was a rush to judgment ought to be complete evidence of how temperamentally unsuited he is for the office he now seeks.”

Burns makes an excellent point here, in regard to Trump’s volatility. Trump is con man, always ready to twist in the wind, willing to change views in a heartbeat. All his viewpoints are on the repugnant side, which should be enough to scare people away, but it isn’t. Given that, people should seriously consider Trump’s eruptions into temper, and how that would translate in an office of high power.

“I find Donald Trump more of a super-predator. This idea that he can attack and attack and attack whole groups of people, and that we live in a media culture where that’s permitted to be tolerated—it’s the spectacle and not the truth of it,” he said. “An amoral internet permits a lie to travel around the world three times before the truth can get started, and we live in a place where lying is OK—where a lassitude develops where it doesn’t matter what the truth is—and that’s how it’s possible for someone like him to be advanced who is so clearly temperamentally unsuited and has no idea about governing.”

“The Republican Party has been extraordinarily successful at getting many groups of people to vote against their self-interest,” he continued. “Evangelicals are voting for Donald Trump. What part of Donald Trump reminds you of Jesus Christ? Trump lusts after his own daughter on national radio, talks about women’s bodies and breasts in such a disparaging way, and mocks them. How is this in any way Christian? When you make the ‘other’ the enemy, how is that Christian?”

Okay, that last question is silly. Christians are all about othering, it’s the lifeblood of their belief. If you don’t other, how you can get your self-righteous judgment on? (Yes, I know, #notallchristians.)

Full story here.

Celestial Guidance.

From Lofty:

I went for a bike ride today and stopped for lunch at a park bench in the weak sun. Imagine my surprise when I glanced at the GPS display and saw it had been replaced by a rainbow noodliness! I knew immediately what deity had sent the message, that old reprobate Yahweh only sends monochrome daubings of beardie weirdies these days. Anyway I managed to capture the message just before it faded from view. My new found guidance led me to spot one of the few flowering eucalypts out at the moment, and a fallen floret became my mascot for the day.

Click for full size.

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© Lofty. All rights reserved.

Oh FFS Fox Facepalm…

By Elcobbola - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11136558

By Elcobbola – Own work, Public Domain, Wikimedia.

Perfectly timed for Colonial Day, the people at Fox News decide to dip into the barrel bottom of stupidity, trying to figure out whether or not a statue could be transgender, based on the gender of the model. This level of stupid might require a brand new descriptor.

Fox News took time over the holiday weekend to assure viewers that a recent theory suggesting the State of Liberty was modeled after a man could not be true.

According to an upcoming Discovery Family channel program, French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi may have used his brother as a model for the Statue of Liberty instead of his mother as most historians believe.

[…]

But on Sunday, Fox & Friends spoke to New York University Professor Edward Berenson to assuage concerns that Lady Liberty could be a man presenting as a woman.

“Is Lady Liberty actually a man?” Fox News host Peter Doocy asked, sounding shocked.

“This guy [Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi], when he was in New York wrote his mother every single day,” Berenson insisted. “If he wasn’t going to do his mom and was going to do his brother instead, we’d have that in the correspondence.”

“This guy” … “If he wasn’t going to do his mother”. Hmmm, well that’s certainly some scholarly talk right there. They needed a professor for this?

“I just assume somebody was playing a prank on us,” Doocy opined. “Are we supposed to think this French guy was pulling a fast one the U.S., ‘Hey, I’m going to say it’s a woman but it’s really going to be a guy. And they’re not going to be able to figure it out for a really long time.’”

“I really doubt it,” Berenson comforted Doocy. “This was not a tongue-in-cheek gift. This was a real serious business. He loved the United States, he loved American liberty.”

“Is it possible the Statue of Liberty transcends both masculinity and femininity?” co-host Anna Kooiman wondered. “That it’s just a symbol of liberty?”

“I think there’s no question she’s a woman,” Berenson replied. “But she’s very powerful woman.”

“There’s no question that she’s a tough lady,” he added. “She’s a lady.”

There just isn’t enough facepalm. Fox News is a symptom. Going by the symptom, uStates is halfway down the drain. In related news, New low: Gallup poll says only 52% are ‘extremely proud’ to be Americans. What a surprise. :eyeroll:

The Dreaded Day.

declaration-of-oppression-marty-two-bulls

It’s that time of year, a time of colonial, drunk explosions, whee! I’m not a fan of Independence Day, but I could deal with it much better if I didn’t have to cope with window-shaking explosions going off for months. I have a difficult time coping with it for a day or two. I have PTSD and hyper-vigilance. A lot of people have those problems. I have pets. A lot of people have pets. Pets who are absolutely terrified by all the explosions. If you’re one of those explosion loving people, it would be truly great if you could consider other people before getting settled into your revelry. Would it be that terrible to pack up your gunpowder toys and take them a bit away from residences, so all the boom is at least muted? That would make for many less terrified pets, and much less ragged people hanging on by their fingernails. It would also be considerate of those who might want to get some sleep before 2 a.m., because some people still have to work. Or maybe they are just serious tired and want to sleep. If you are, or decide to be a considerate exploder, be sure to choose a place that won’t set half your state on fire, because that’s not fun for anyone.

On the lighter side of Colonial Day, Vincent Schilling has a fun column up at ICTMN: Native Humor: 7 Ways Natives Can Celebrate the Fourth of July.

Set off the fireworks display early in the day.

KA-BOOM! Oh, it's only 2pm? (iStock)

KA-BOOM! Oh, it’s only 2pm? (iStock)

Use the bullhorn after. Then tell everyone, “This isn’t what you expected was it?” Well for Native people, you aren’t what we expected either! Happy Independence Day!

A Bloody Mess.

t9Following on the heels of the not-so-progressive Canadian update on gay blood donation (gay men are allowed to give blood only if they have abstained from sex for a year. There’s incentive. :eyeroll:), Canadian Blood Services has now targeted trans women from donating if they are pre-op and sexually active with men.

But many activists are upset with the policy because it focuses on whether or not a trans person has undergone gender confirming surgery.

Goldman says the criteria will create a countrywide, streamlined mandate for all trans blood donors.

According to Canadian Blood Services, there has been an increase in potential trans donors and this prompted the organization to implement criteria for those individuals.

The policy specifically targets trans women and is similar to Canadian Blood Services’ updated guidelines for gay blood donors. On June 20, Health Canada announced that gay men would be allowed to donate blood if they had abstained from sex for at least one year.

Trans women who undergo gender confirming surgery will have to wait one year before they can donate blood. After the wait period, Canadian Blood services will also identify them by their reconfirmed gender. “If a trans woman has not had [gender confirming surgery], that person would be considered as a male having sex with a male,” Goldman said.

Canadian Blood Services says there are regulations specific to trans women because that demographic is at high risk for HIV.

According to the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, an estimated 27.7 per cent of trans women in Canada are living with HIV.

“There is a very high HIV prevalence rate in trans women,” Goldman said. “So we are obliged to treat (them) as a high risk group.”

No one wants to end up with a disease because they needed blood, but the CBS is raising the old spectre of the ‘gay plague’, and they’ve based policy on some shoddy research. [In the comments, Siobhan points out it’s considerably worse than shoddy reasearch: “Actually they did something even more impressively incorrect. They based their policy off research that directly contradicts their logic.”]  Siobhan at Against the Grain has an intensive breakdown of this new policy, and what it means. As for this nasty clod dropped in the pool:

“If a trans woman has not had [gender confirming surgery], that person would be considered as a male having sex with a male,” Goldman said.

I highly recommend Siobhan’s What trans people mean when we say “misgendering is violence”.

Elie Wiesel Has Walked On.

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor -- Shutterstock

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor — Shutterstock

Holocaust survivor and human rights activist Elie Wiesel died on Saturday the age of 87, reports Haaretz.

The Nobel Peace Prize recipient is best known for keeping alive the the memory of the Holocaust with his memoir “Night,” based upon his experiences as a teenager in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

[…]

Wiesel received numerous awards and honors over the years, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Grand-Croix in France’s Legion of Honor as well as being knighted as Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In 1986 he was awarded the  Nobel Peace Prize for his role in speaking out against violence, repression and racism.

Night shook up my internal world when I first read it. Thank you, Elie, for that, and your tireless efforts to make the world, and the people inhabiting it, better. We have lost one of our warmest and brightest lights. If every day, we could be a bit more mindful, a bit kinder, it would be the best possible tribute to Mr. Wiesel.

Via Raw Story.