What’s In a Name

I admit I did not know that the US had at least 10 military bases dedicated to traitors. 10 bases paid for by taxpayers of the USA dedicated to men who fought to destroy the USA. Learn something new every day.

Part 1. The list of LOSERS:

Beauregard … he was a Confederate leader who, after the war called for equal rights for blacks. That made him unique among the former Confederates honored by forts.

Benning… he wrote a speech explaining that the reason for the secession was to preserve slavery.

Bragg… known as the worst commander on either side of the war.

Gordon… known as one of the probable founders of the KKK in Georgia.

AP Hill… suffered from VD. Demanded to be buried standing up.

Hood… spoke about the “invincibility ” of the Confederate military.

Lee… opposed giving blacks the vote after the war.

Pickett.. his charge into union lines goes down as one of the stupidest military maneuvers in US history. A charge he watched from the safety of the rear.

Polk… an ordained bishop. Injured when the massive cannon named after his wife “Lady Polk” exploded when tested.

Rucker… only major commander who managed to get captured by the enemy.

Part 2. Mr Trump objects to renaming these forts after loyal American generals and soldiers. Men and women who fought in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Plenty of American soldiers who covered themselves with honor fighting for the USA, not against it.

Since Mr Trump seems enamored of America’s enemies who we have defeated over the years, I suggest we rename some of the other forts to honor those who fought against the ideas of freedom for all.

Some suggestions.

Rename West Point (NY) to Fort Benedict Arnold.

Rename Fort Grant (AZ) to Fort Adolph Hitler.

Rename Fort Nathan Hale (CT) to Fort Himmler.

Rename Fort Sherman (ID) to Fort Ho Chi Minh.

Rename Fort Sheridan (IL) to Fort Putin.

Rename Fort Defiance (KS) to Fort Saddam Hussein.

Rename Fort Sullivan (ME) to Fort bin Laden.

Rename Fort McHenry (MD) to Fort Goebbels.

Rename Fort Revere (MA) to Fort Kim Jung Un

And, of course, Rename Fort Washington (NH) to Fort Donald J Trump

The War is Over

Ok. It’s time for the south to finally admit the war is over.

For years the defenders of the old confederacy have clung to the notion that the war is raging on. The heroes of the old confederacy are still memorialized by statues and revisionist history. Some still fly the flag of the losers.

Even here in the north I see a few folks proudly fly the flag of racism. The stars and bars. A symbol of racism. They fly it proudly.

But yesterday Irene Triplett finally passed away. She died in her nursing home in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Irene Triplett was the last American getting a pension from the Civil War. Yes, the Civil War.

HUH? A pension from the Civil War. Yes. The US hands out well over $40,000,000,000 (billion) dollars each year in pensions to the survivors, widows and children of war veterans. Veterans of the Vietnam War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Korea, WW2 and even the Spanish-American war.

Until this month the US taxpayers were sending Irene Triplett the sum of $73.13 every month. To honor the service of her father in the Civil War. Yepper, it is an odd set of circumstances. She is the daughter sired by him to his second wife. He was 84 years old. What a man!! And because of her disabilities she qualified, even as an adult, for a lifetime of support from the feds.

Her father was a southern soldier boy who saw the light and defected to the Union. He did so a few days before Gettysburg. Good timing. Later he joined the Union company of “Kirk’s Raiders” and fought for the winning side. Hence the pension.

So let Irene Triplett rest in peace. She is the last direct link to the war to save the Union. The last link to the defeat of the stars and bars and the end of slavery.

And across the south the monuments to the traitors , like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and others , have been dismantled. Torn down. Placed in storage. Confined to the dustbin of history, like the slave owners who wanted to destroy the Union.

Of course racism lingers on. It is a long battle. One I won’t see the end of. But the tide of history seems to be drowning the racist, the flag wavers of the old south and the modern day alt-righters.

Irene Triplett can rest in peace. The war is over. Some folks just have not figured it out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/04/she-was-last-american-collect-civil-war-pension-7313-month-she-just-died/

The 3/5 Solution

Once again we see the shock and horror that a black man has been murdered in broad daylight by someone legally hired and empowered by the state. YAWN.

Once again we hear the calls for peace and tranquility. Calls for “law and order”. Calls for patience . The questioning of “How did we come to this?” YAWN

The US did not “come to this”. This is who we are. As a nation. Our holy and worshiped founding fathers made it clear in the Constitution. Black men and women are 3/5th of a person. It was true then, it is true now.

Article 1, section 2 … Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. 

Of course “all other persons” were the slaves. So the southern states could claim the black men, women and children were property. And then claim that those very same men , women and children must be counted as 3/5 of a person for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives.

So, at the outset of the Civil War almost 4,000,000 slaves added 2,400,000 “persons” to the total population of the slave states. Giving the slave states representation in Congress far beyond the actual number of “citizens”.

From day one black people in the United States have been considered less than “full” people. And that is the bare truth of the foundations of this nation. Like it or not.

So, when the KKK brutalized black Americans after the racists lost the Civil War, it should come as no surprise. And when Jim Crow kept blacks from getting uppity in the south, that should come as no surprise. And when black soldiers returning from WW2 were refused service at restaurants and denied the right to vote, that should come as no surprise.

What should be surprising is the strength of the myth. The myth that the US was founded on principles of freedom, democracy, blah,blah,blah. That has never been and never was the reality. It was and is “fake news”.

Now, you may say, but what about the Voting Rights Act and other Civil Rights acts? Don’t they show progress? To that I respond thusly.

If the US was founded and grew on principles of equality, why was there a need for a Voting Rights Act? Or special Civil Rights acts? Why did we need special laws for black men and women just to try to give them the same rights the rest of society enjoys? In the “land of the free” why was it necessary to write special laws giving “freedom” to citizens who should have already had it?

And, as we have seen, the Supreme Court has overturned even those laws. Since the Voting Rights Act was rescinded how many states immediately took steps to suppress and deny votes to black citizens? How many blacks were purged illegally from the voting rolls in Florida in 2000, giving the election to GW Bush? How many were purged in North Carolina and Georgia in 2016?

But the myth lives on. It is a nice myth. A comfortable myth. A myth that tries to place the suppression and murder of black Americans in a certain context. That context is this: The murder and suppression of blacks in the US is an aberration. A blip on the screen of democracy. A pimple on the otherwise perfect face of equality.

I disagree. Racism has been at the core of the American experience. The very core of the legal system. It is as old as the US Constitution and may never be erased. Racism is as American as violence. Both go hand in hand.

It is not just the south. In the north as well racism is a core value. Highways were built around cities effectively cutting off black neighborhoods from white ones. The attempt at segregation was halted by the practices of the banking industry. Schools in NY, for example, are among the most highly segregated in the nation.

So, let’s stop pretending. The 3/5 solution is still with us. Black men and women are not valued unless they can sing or bounce a basketball. Racism is not a southern phenomenon or an aberration. It is what America was founded on.

Is there a “solution”? There can be no solution when those in power do not see a problem. Or identify the problem as a “black” problem. Just another example of “uppity” Negroes not knowing their place. It has always been thus in America and I suspect may always be so.

I know if I were a black person in America I would go nowhere without being armed. I would suspect every police officer of being a potential killer. I would shoot first and ask questions later. I would know, not just claim, that my life is in danger every day. In fact, I remain amazed at the patience and willingness of most black Americans to work “within the system” when the system is so obviously corrupt. I would not have that patience.

Is there a “solution’? Not until we confront and destroy the myth. The myth of the “founding fathers” and the myth of “democracy” and the myth of “equal justice under the law”.

People die easy. A bullet . A knee to the neck. A chokehold. Myths are not so easy to kill. The 3/5 solution is on display every day.

YIKES! It’s an Emergency

President Trump had an hour long speech explaining why he was calling for a national emergency on the US -Mexico border. While it did not have any new data or information, it was a stunner. He talked about …well… everything except the border.

Now some of the leftist socialist communists criticized his speech. Just because he talked about China. How great the economy is. How he singlehandedly ended the Korea nuke threat. How popular he is. How he will win the election in 2020. How so many women are tied up and gagged and brought over the border where there is no wall.  How the people love him. How he listens to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. How, now that he has declared a national emergency he will be going to play golf at Mar-A-Lago.

The leftist communists criticized him because he did not really make a case for the declaration and instead talked about other stuff.

So, I did some research into other national emergencies and how the presidents in the past handled them. I discovered that Mr Trump is indeed no different from other presidents in this regard. I give you two examples.

Abe Lincoln, April 19, 1861.

“My fellow Americans. As you know, I am the tallest president ever. Taller than Washington. So far my administration has been fantastic. The best. Just last week Momma has bought new curtains for the White House. Nice satin ones.

I took a long trip to get here. All the way from Illinois. I call it “Illinoise” because of all the talk back home. Good joke. Nice train ride. Me and Momma had a great train ride. I got to sit with the engineer and make that horn thing sound. Tooot..Tooot. I can’t do it as good as Tab. Well.

Anyhoo. Here’s the deal. A bunch of rebels have attacked Fort Sumter so I am signing a national emergency thingy and blockading the ports of the rebel states. Just sayin.

Do you like my new hat. It makes me look even taller, don’t you think? I wanted a red one but Mamma said I should go black. So I did. I tend to do what the little lady wants. Ha ha ha. Now I am off to Virginia to play some bowls on the new bowling green we just built.”

Then there was the FDR national emergency of December , 1941. I found this transcript in the archives.

FDR

“My fellow Americans. As you know, I won the last election in a landslide. God the people do love me. Did you all see the inaugural parade. Fantastic. Lots of bands. Now some people say I am in a wheelchair.

Fake news.I can stand up as well as any man. In fact, when I stand I am the tallest president ever. Taller than Lincoln. By far. Notice how I got us out of the Great Depression? Anybody. And now you all have Social Security. Best system ever.

I do not have a girlfriend. That is a lie. Fake news.

By the way. Yesterday the Japanese made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. A day that will live in infamy. So, we need to declare war on the Japanese and the Germans.

Have any of you even seen the new Bentley that I ride in? I mean, talk about a smooth ride. Wow. I am going to take a few days off for a nice ride in the beautiful New Jersey countryside. Beautiful New Jersey, is that an  oxymoron or what? See you all later.”

So, those who minimize the national emergency speech of President Trump. Take that. A little history lesson for the communists who criticize our man.

Civil War Mystery

I thoroughly enjoy listening to Don Trump, the President of the United States.  He brings into the light extremely important issues which have been ignored for too long. In his latest interview he once again challenged the American people to expand their intellectual horizons. This time in regard to one of the greatest mysteries in American history.

WHY was there a Civil War in America? What could have caused it? What happened? Until today this dark  period of American history has been shrouded in secrecy. But before I go on,  here are the actual words of our president in an interview on April 30 on Sirius Radio  (not be confused with Serious Radio).

Trump: ‘People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?

So, let’s all think about the causes of the Civil War. For the first time. What could have been the issues? Why have these causes been ignored by historians and educators for over 150 years? Why has no one come forward to solve this mystery? Sad. Very sad.

So, I decided to do some digging. Although I taught history for over 30 years I must confess that the coverage of the Civil War is just not part of any curriculum.  There is just not enough written about the Civil War to draw any inkling of an idea as to why this conflict occurred. So, Donald got me thinking. Maybe I , and I ALONE, could solve the riddle!

After my third morning beer I set to work on the interweb. I googled “Civil War Causes”. The search offered only 28,600,000 hits. Well, that is no help. Only 28,600,000 references to the causes of the Civil War. Donald was right. Nobody knows !

So I wondered . Has anyone written any book about the Civil War? So I googled Civil War books. I found a New York Times (FAKE NEWS) which claims to have a list of the best books about the war. From the website:

“Far more books have been written about the Civil War than about any other event in American history, and Lincoln’s stack of books towers over that of any other American figure…”

OK. Well .  Books.  I mean, You have to READ them. The president of the US is much too busy to read a book. That is hard. I tried to read one and discovered that reading is hard. Very hard. So, I thought. What about movies? Maybe someone, somewhere has made a movie about the Civil War? A movie is easier to read than a book, plus you can eat popcorn and learn at the same time. Brilliant.

Checking Wikipedia I found a list of movies. Starting in 1908 and continuing to today. A lot of movies and documentaries. Over 100 years of movies and films. About the battle between the states. Perhaps one of them has a clue as to the causes of the war?

So if we all work together to Make  America Great Again perhaps we can solve this mystery. Somewhere there is the answer. Until Donald mentioned it no one even cared. Once again, the Educator-in-Chief has caused us to rethink the old ideas and focus on new ones. What could have caused the Civil War? Who knew? Why have we ignored this for so long? Sad.  Very sad.

Do your own research.  Solve the mystery. And send your results to Mar-a-Lago along with a $200,000 entry fee. Donald wants to know. He’ll be glad you did.

https://www.google.com/#q=civil+war+causes

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/civilwar-booklist.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_and_television_shows_about_the_American_Civil_War

My Heritage: The Flag of Freedom

My  battle flag flies proudly over my front yard. It is my heritage. My flag of freedom.

Some say it represents racism and repression. I disagree.

My battle flag was flown over great victories … although in the end it was flown sadly in defeat. Still, I am proud of the men who  fought for that flag. They died for their race. The white race. They died to defend their way of life from those who would oppose it.

The heritage behind my flag is a long and honored one. It goes back for centuries. Respect my heritage. Thousands died in battles against those who would take away our way of life. Some said that our way of life was wrong because we enslaved others. But that was our right. Under the law. All was legal. Who has the right to change our laws?

Some say my flag represents racism. Nonsense. It represents the way things are or should be. Those who are inferior were given jobs to do. Life time employment. Those laborers, who some called “slaves” helped make us economically strong. We needed their labor. And , as the superior race, they accepted their place.

Until the outsiders caused problems. The so-called “democracy” lovers who said we should not enslave others because of their skin color or ethnicity. The buddinskies.  Those who wanted everyone to be “equal”.

Some say my flag is a flag of violence. And terror. Yes, sometimes we  had to destroy the elements of rebellion among the inferior population. We have had to keep them at bay with whippings and hangings and fear.  Otherwise these inferiors would overrun the masters. So be it. What some call “terror” we call “law and order”  No society can exist without it.

My flag recognizes that we are not all born “equal”. Some deserve to be master. Some are born to serve as workers and slaves.

I am proud of my ancestors who died fighting for those ideals. For the rights of the white man to be master.  For the right of the state to determine its own system and not be imposed upon by others. The flag of freedom flies proudly from the flagpole in my front yard.

It is my heritage. I am German. My flag is the Swastika.