REVISIONIST HISTORY GOOD FOR A CHEAP PHOTO OP BUT NOT FOR THE COUNTRY
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY NOV. 30, 2016) — Some “famous” actress you’ve never heard of says Thanksgiving was founded on a massacre and that the Dakota Access Pipeline is the result of nasty white, European-descent males inflicting their evil on helpless women, children, native Americans, minorities, transgendered gay straight LGBTUTOPIAs, Miley Cyrus, and coffee beans grown on sustainable acreage.
Her name is Shailene Woodley. She thinks she’s a historian. Actually, she a hysterian. That’s a person whose ignorance comes off as “wisdom” because of editing, multiple takes, and the short rhetorical bursts Twitter that defy depth. To the PC bunch, the shallow end of the pool is as deep as it gets.
What does Woodley know? She told us on Thanksgiving Day:
“”I do know that today is a day that many call Thanksgiving, and it’s a day where kids in elementary school and America are taught false narratives about our native brothers and sisters,” she explained in a video posted to Facebook. “From the time we were little kids, we’d cut out in cardboard paper pictures of pilgrims and feasts and turkeys. And yet none of our children know the truth about not only what happened to Native Americans, when Westerners decided to colonize this country, but what is still happening to Native Americans.”
“This pipeline, and I know this has been said, but like, gosh, this pipeline was supposed to be built in Bismarck, N.D.,” she continued, “which is a predominately white ‘American’ area. And when the people of Bismarck decided that if this pipeline — when this pipeline breaks — it would compromise the integrity of their water, they moved it to the Native American reservation. They didn’t do it, they failed to, and we’re still here, on Thanksgiving, again the day that no one knows the history about.”
“Thanksgiving was founded on a massacre,” she added. “And yet we’re here with these cops, with snipers with rubber bullets, and I’m honest — I’m just sick of it. There is no excuse. Where is everyone? Why isn’t everyone standing up and saying something?”
A product of public schools? Most likely.
In case you didn’t know, this ditz is a millennial. That’s a person whose consumption of $5 cups of peppermint-swirl-latte-mocha-spice java renders them incapable of intellectual intake. For such people, life isn’t about reason, logic, and common sense. It’s about “feelings.” For them, history not a record of interpretive fact but how you want the past to look like — again based on your feelings. Generally speaking, a millennial views the past residually as a derivative of that curious art form known as a fairy tale. Millennials, incapable of seeing things as they are, fashion a past from sour milk and create a future of sugar plums, fairies, unicorns, and liberal doses of “We Are The World.”
We Owe a Lot to those ‘Nasty’ Pilgrims and Founders
Actually, this honey should know that the only reason we have The United States of America is because of those “nasty” white, Pilgrims, some of whom were nefarious enough to have been born male. From their toil and sacrifice in the “New World” a century-plus later came the Founding Fathers. Oh, but many of the Founders owned slaves, the Woodleyites point out, forgetting of not knowing that several times the Colonies tried to outlaw slavery but were prevented from doing so by the English Crown. Yes, Mother England depended too much on King Cotton, cash crop of the South. “Hip-Hip, Cheerio, and ‘They’ll Always Be An England” demanded that slavery be kept intact to keep cotton imports dirt-cheap. Enough of those Founding while males thought otherwise, and were willing to lay down their lives for it.
The deep historical record will show that the desire to end slavery was a by product of the American Colonists’ desire for Independence. The casual rendering of history today buries this reality under a politically correct version of America’s early days, one that scholars rightfully deride but, sadly, too many ignorant young people accept at face value.
Those white men and women of Revolutionary America risked their fortunes, their livelihoods, their very lives to found a new nation dedicated to the principal of equal opportunity to all for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
A lightweight like Woodley doesn’t know that after America won its Independence, many of the Founders freed their slaves. The men included John Dickinson, William Livingston, John Randolph, Caesar Rodney, George Washington, and George Wythe. She is likewise ignorant of the fact that Ben Franklin and Benjamin Rush founded the country’s first abolition society.
It took 100 years, but Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Prior to that, this country headed on a rectifying path to put the great principles of equal opportunity into practice. The Three-Fifths Compromise, the debates at various constitutional conventions, and the Civil War made it inevitable that America would follow the path of inclusion — not the segregated “inclusion” of political correctness but the assurance that each person who was willing to work for it would be given the chance for success and advancement.
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Is America throwing a perfect game? No. We are not Don Larsen, and it is not Oct. 8, 1956. We made great blunders in the historical past. Racism and a not of other “isms” still exist. Nonetheless, the overall national arc of the United States has been one trending toward human benefit and not detriment. THE PLANET, buoyed by the historical record as well as that trend, believes in the idea and ideals of America as a force of good in the world.
The Little Shailenes of the world are capable of seeing it, but they won’t. There’s too much publicity in getting a quick photo op protesting at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. How much you want to bet that after her quick visit, she jetted out to her mansion digs in L.A.?
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“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.” — Ayn Rand
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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the women is Tripping……..on Facebook.
Let’s watch how often our current President elect revises history between now and January 2017.He is representing the average guy and I believe Trump is revising everything he said to be elected.Who feels this is great change bringing greatness.
Unless his own party yanks Trumps chain America is going to become Russia.
Heh heh, yours is the stupid fear and hate mongering the country can do without. If you knew anything about the US govt (obviously you don’t) you’d know there are check and balances preventing the US from becoming Russia. Or any US leader becoming Hitler.
Just stop with the stupidity already?
I speak Russian! So, be it! I will teach you Russian, which is 5 times more complecated than English:))
In Russia, believe me, you can still find decent people much more than here. At least, no Russian men coming to women’s bathrooms–gender, transgender or with or withouth any gender.
Russian government gives drug users and alcoholics nothing—no housing, no free food, no methadon clinics.
Recreational marijuana? Not is Russia! Not in Ukraine!
“He smoked it, but did not inhaled:)) ” current dude
Watered down change is change, but doesn’t make America any greater than it is. These sinister bastard’s have a plan but it won’t benefit the masses. The Carrier deal is a hoax, Trump knew before the was elected Carrier jobs were coming back p, and we’re in the Tank already, do the math, from Indiana, uh , who does he know from Indiana. With that being said, Clinton would have been worse. Where is the Dr. on this??
heh heh, step away from the bong.
Well what you say is true Dan but it is also true that we massacred the indians and stole their land and way of life and that is what she is referring to I think, although the massacre came in the late 1800’s, not before the fiirst thanksgiving. Give a sister a break will ya!
It’s so insane watching the media now after the Trump nomination. On CNN this morning. the hosts are railing against Donald Trump and the CNN hosts are proclaiming that “As the media, we are the watchdog of society”. Now I agree that the media should be a watchdog. Trouble is that for the past 8 years they claimed to not even know what that meant. I remember one host saying a couple years ago that being a watchdog was some old fashioned way of looking at the role of the media. Now, they are embracing it after being scolded by Trump for not telling the truth for the past 8 years. You can’t make this up of just how tricky our media has become.
The day after the election on Alan Chartock (yes, I do watch these types of shows once in a while to keep your enemies closer as they say), Rosemary, one of his co-hosts screamed out that she knows rural America hates her because she is a lesbian and this is why they voted for Trump. No, it didn’t have anything to do with people struggling to put food on the table in rural America, it’s all because they dislike gays and people who are not white. This is some of the craziness coming from the media. For those who say I only watch FOX news…WRONG. Again, you should always watch lots of different news sources to keep on top of the CRAZINESS.
A guy like Trump needs no watching. He said he is honest and why would he lie? Just let him do whatever he wants with no oversight. Everything will be just fine. Just fine…..just fine….just fine….go to sleep now
The media is no longer a watchdog but rather propaganda. Fear and hate mongering is its purpose now.
I agree.
I agree with ScottB that is.
You must be talking about FOX news
I see Liberal media as brainwashing machine
of Democratic Party.
If Trump fails it will be a Monumental failure. If he triumphs, which is very sketchy at best because of all of the tic tac proposals and reneging. He is in for some serious confrontations in and out of house.
So Trump has negotiated with Carrier to keep 1000 jobs in Indiana. That is 1000 more jobs than Obama ever saved, and 1000 more jobs than Hillary would have ever saved. And he’s not even President yet. The fact that the current POTUS could not or would not save those jobs, and someone who isn’t even POTUS yet did, tells you all you need to know about how detached from real people the Obama administration is, and how detached a Clinton administration would have been. Guess they are too busy getting Jill Stein to ask for recounts and organizing stupid protests to do anything for the hard working middle class.
And by next week he should have that pesky ISIS thing taken care of. Whoopie!!!1
He isn’t even president yet and already he is doing a lot of GOOD.
Trump saved 1,000 jobs. He didnt create any. Obama saved 1.5 million jobs in the auto industry. So lets call it how it is.
Do you really believe that the auto industry would have dried up without federal intervention and Cash For Clunkers? Did people stop needing vehicles when those events took place?
Yes, good point. Also, the U.S. auto industry dried up primarily because of poor quality compared to Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc., and the unsustainable wages blackmailed out of manufacturers by the unions.
A vehicle assembly plant can now employ as little as 10% when using modern robotics. Optimization is keeping American manufacturing competitive, but jobs are fewer.
In Israel, they already built a car running on aluminum batteries and water–range is up to 900 miles.
Batteries must be changed every two years, since they actualy consume aluminum plates for running electricity.
Your kidding. Do you really believe that there wasn’t an eyebrow raised or a wink to each other when John Hancock et.al. put their pens to a document that proclaimed that “All men are created equal”.
I believe George Orwell said it best when he said “all men are created equal but some are more equal than others”
Paraphrasing of course.
Or maybe it was Yogi Berra that said that
There are wealthy big banks who are financing the pipeline over the North Dakota reservation land. This isn’t about white folks versus the “others”, but rather, wealthy investors banking on big returns on their dollars. It has been, is, and always will be about MONEY!
I love it when people stand up to the 1% and their financial interests in the name of the good of the people!
The biggest victory would be universal healthcare for every citizen. No more insurance company CEO making millions while people die of preventable illnesses!
But, of course, HELL will freeze over before the wealthy financial institutions lose there money. The political system is all a fix! As the (not so) “great” billionaire Donald Trump says, “The system is rigged!”
– Jonathan Melle
Those “wealthy investors” so quickly condemned by people are responsible for generating a disproportionate number of America’s jobs and income, without which we would be Honduras of the north. The 1% pay 59% of the country’s taxes. Many of the wealthy got where they are by taking the risks from which others shied away. I do agree on universal healthcare as a citizen’s right. It is as much a national security issue as defense. It is the pre-eminent “fix” required for the US to become “great again.”
It is a “heads I win”, “tales you lose” capitalist system. When the economy crashed in 2008, the wealthy banks received trillions of dollars in “bailouts” from Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski. We the People are only the insurance policy for Goldman Sachs, Chase, Bank of America, Citi, et al. Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski even bailed out foreign banks such as UBS in Switzerland with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars! Both the Bush 2 and Obama administrations with a supportive U.S. Congress supported the redistribution of national wealth from the people (taxpayers) the Wall Street. What did we get in return?, go to http://usdebtclock.org/
– Jonathan Melle
The bailout did happen, and there will be arguments on both sides. Some will say the Fed, as lender of last resort, gave too much to the institutions you mention. Some will not. The alternative was to let the markets adjust themselves to the bubble and with that, a true Depression. You could make the case that such harsh medicine was required for the long-term financial health of the country. But the world markets are electronic and move at lightning pace. That speed makes a Depression unthinkable, especially when new dollars — including the $4 Trillion the Fed pumped into the economy following the 2008 bubble burst — can be created electronically. The additional point here is that the crash of 2008 was as much caused by the greed or ignorance of ordinary people who sucked for the predatory pitches of easy credit with no-money-down. They thought the bubble would keep expanding. When someone signs a contract for the largest purchase of their lives, the consequences, good or bad, are their own fault.
This is not a bad description of the trade-offs the Fed faced in the fall of 2008. Ordinary people wanted to bet with their houses and the financial system responded with contracts based on data. The data showed that there had not been a country-wide decline in real estate prices since the 1930s so they leveraged the hell out of these contracts.
The data of 75 years did not predict 2008.
Meanwhile, why devote a column at all to Shailene Woodley? There always have been bizarre views of the world which were fact and logic free. We grew up with many of them..
Wall Street knowingly packaged bad loans and sold them for great profit. Poor Wall street
i have never been offered a job by someone who is poor!!
Donald Trump is one of those investors.
But move along, because it is really all warm and fuzzy and we are getting better.
Corporations will benefit with this Administration. It’s very simple, Trickle Down is the phrase.
Trumpeteer says in September he would replace the current income-system, which has seven brackets, to one with three: ten per cent, twenty per cent, twenty five per cent. Now he has brought the three rates up to match those in his new buddy from Wisconsin Ryan’s to 12 25 30.’ Heard he would eliminate the estate tax, like the one Ryan proposed. Trump is a flip flop flop. When he realizes he won’t be able to goe through with his campaign promises,he jumps on the same bandwagon that he trashed during primary. It is insulting that he basically lied about everything he said he’d do. If things don’t work out, he won’t hesitate to condemn these individuals again. And now he says he will relinquish his business interest, my, my, my.
I agree mi. There are none so blind as those who will not see. One hell of a rude awakening on the horizon.
Best response would be a flat tax of 15%. As it is now, the upper 1% pay 37% of taxes, the first 5% pay 59%, and the upper 10% 70%. That’s unfair, if we are to talk about “fairness.”
I’m sure the billionaires in Trumps cabinet would enjoy a lower tax rate. They are, after all, for the Kapinski’s
Dan, no one wants “fairness”. they want a good deal for themselves, and they want the free lunch paid for by others.
Social Security is a great example. Everyone thinks they paid for it. No, in fact, you and your employer pay enough in your working life for 8-10 years of benefits. if you outlive that, then in fact, it has become a sort of welfare.
But, our society is better off that folks can retire. but the folks who think the money is “invested” are wrong, and equally wrong are those who honestly believe they “paid their fair share”.
The solution, to raise the tax and eliminate the cap on contributions would do a lot, but then – the uncapped contributors would (rightfully)ask why their benefits don’t match their contributions – putting us back where we started.
So when SS recipients complain of no COLA – thy forget that they did not “earn” a COLA, and many of the folks still working or contributing may not have received any raises either. Of course Government workers get a sweeter pension, and we pay their freight too – since we, the taxpayers backstop any benefit beyond what they contributed as well.
My Mom is in her 90’s – and i am glad to pay her share, but i know that she long ago exhausted whatever she paid into the system.
No its not unfair.
This tell me that 5% of the people have 60%of the taxable income.Dan you have great passion for the burden the wealthy must carry.
Dan …Hello…General Electrice poisoning of pittsfield was at no risk to ge…at that level of power and wealth even people are not considered a risk when you just let them die from chemical poisoning.Some people are in awe of wealth and power the way they idolize a sick damaged sports hero…
T the wealthy and powerful pay no price.
GE provided countless thousands of jobs over 100 years. When PCBs were made illegal, they stopped using them. The huge mistake the city of Pittsfield made was when we had the company at the negotiating table and let them off light. Here we are, 18 years after the Consent Agreement, with a still empty PEDA and about half of the $10 million settlement fund. True, the cost of remediation of the Housy has run into the billions, but that action was at best controversial and did not have direct bearing on the materials still in the ground, air, and water.
Well stated, Pcb non flamable insulating fluids were mandated by law after the developement of pcb non flamable fluids by Monsanto for use in indoor and under car transformers.
S C that went unnoticed, everything was great as long as G E gave us jobs. Welch could have shit in the middle of North street back then and gotten a standing ovation.
Jack Welch is still worth a billion dollars, while Pittsfield is still polluted with his cancer causing chemicals. Most of Pittsfield’s toxic waste sites are capped. It is known fact that capping toxic waste is a short-term solution because the caps’ do not last forever. Moreover, the caps need to monitored on a daily basis!
That’s alright,we have revenue coming in from the parking and our treasurer is straightening out the finances.
Not quite a billion, maybe 7 to 8 hundred mil.
That’s true, caps won’t last. Given the example that in a vertical process up-down it, matter, will go through the earth, not unlike a weed, you spray it, put tarp on it, sand, it will punch it’s way through the ground layer, similar process with the capping….it isn’t mulch.
Nancy Pelosi beats Tim Ryan! Thank Gawd.
Pittsfield could learn some serious lessons from Trump. The only opportunities this city has is for the overpaid school department that only hires friends and relatives for the bloated salaries. Heck, we don’t even have an economy except for lots of social service agencies to handle the HUGE number of poor in the city.
so get rid of those jobs and then there just won’t be any. Either way, I wouldn’t be buying property in a dying place like Pittsfield.
The one single thing that can give the Pittsfield area a shot in the arm and maybe save it? Maybe reduce its competitive disadvantage? a freeway extension off the Turnpike.
Nobody wants to get rid of the school jobs. We want them to stop giving themselves HUGE raises so some money is left over for the kids. So they don’t have to beg in Walmart for people to donate school supplies to the kids. It’s greed that is the problem in the school department.
Again. If you think a 3% raise on a $65k year salary is huge, you’re probably used to getting cents added on to your hourly rate for a raise.
Rightio Pat. I think Pittsfield is going to be learning about bankruptcies although creatively increasing the price of housing so that you can add tax may stave it off a bit.
Sturgeon had a school employee on his show today complaining there is no money for the kids. Sturgeon of course agreed with everything she said. Never mentioned the rising salaries of school employees and the ever increasing budget each year.
He better agree or his show will be canned.
So Trump is taking credit for the stock market rise and getting the carrier company to stay. Does he get the blame if the price of gasoline jumps 20 cents per gallon in the next 3 weeks? Or should that blame spin to Obama since he has not done anything right since he was born?
The security for just Trump and his Family will be in the hundreds of millions for the first four years.
The President has no control over gas prices.
Hope trumpeter hires someone else than a Multi millionaire.
The rich get richer l y.
Didn’t Trump trash GoldmanSuchs during the primary?
Everything Trumpeteer has done so far has a double meaning and a reneging fragrance to all of his endeavors, political or financial and even personal relationships.
Anybody see greatness in this smuck liar for votes president elect.Trumps a moron and plays the role of Chauncey Garner
It’s “Chauncey Gardner.” Better brush up on your film knowledge, which isn’t much better than your political judgements.
Let’s hope these incentives Carrier is getting from Trump are Tarps? And what will be the cost of the Carrier products in the U S
gas..prices, had a huge effect on the a auto industry, just a fact. Looked like trump was having a bowl of cereal at the lavish dinner with Romney. Romney’s Trump”s lap dog.
Nancy Pelosi represents everything that is wrong with the Democratic party.
It’s OK Pat..You guys led by Chauncey Gardner are in charge.I bet you get up everyday worrying about how corporate taxes need to be cut in half because they will send those saving along to you. And as DV said the top 1%are having a tough go of it.
.
If you revise Economic history in 2008 2009 2010 the the Republican Reign over the American middle class was not a disaster.But for those of us that do remember 7 years ago Obamas handling of this disaster that destroyed the economy was flawless.He will give a very stable economy back to a party of looters and wolves.
Trump promised a huge huge huge infrastructure jobs program….I will bet Trump will not do this…..he was not elected to give Wall Street a tax cut.
I heard Mayor Tyer does not own a home and does not get a realestate tax bill …Does anyone know if this is true.Also now that North street is complete could we move the Halloween back to park square so people will feel safe.Only in Pittsfield would a kids parade be put in the Hood.Please could councilors ask the school committee and Brendon Sheran for money to light up the hood at night for the children that live there.
You heard wrong. She owns a home on Ventura Ave. and it is currently on the market for $109,900, down nearly $1000.00 from the original asking price. She currently lives on Pheasant Way in a house that was purchased for $615,000 on February 24. It is in Nominee Trust so its not clear who bought the house. It was listed for sale on 6/3/2014 for $750,000. Don’t know how brightly the street lights glow or if it even has street lights. It’s a very nice pad, fitting for a mayor, and if the street lights aren’t bright its the teachers fault. BTW, she paid $1847.00 in real estate taxes in 2014.
Uh,Oh! According to Mass Realty 3 Pheasant Way is on the market again for $650,000. However, it’s under agreement so if you want it it’s too late.
Sounds like somebody be flipping dat house and makin a quick profit.
If the Mayor paid $1847 in real estate taxes in 2014 she paid less than me and I live in a little box house. How big was hers?
2 beds, 1 bath – 980 sq. feet – should have told that she lowered the price by nearly $10,000.00. BTW again – the taxes on her new digs are over $11,000.
And, what do you pay in taxes, Thomas?
He pays his parents $200 a month to rent the basement. Does that count?
Taxes aren’t payed at the Y.
4 grand rusty if that’s got anything to do with it
Mrs yon please don’t be afraid to tell Teachers you can’t afford to buy them a car every contract.Taxpayers on the dark dimly lit 1st Street want lights for safety.The hood can’t afford to buy golf club memberships for teachers as they get beaten and robbed down there.I live on the southeast side of the city and am begging the Brendon Sheran to turn on the street lights in the hood.
I do not think you come under this guys umbrella of lavish goodies. If you want brighter street lights I suggest you marry into the syndicate that runs this berg.
Street lights so dim on my street that it’s nearly impossible to see anything at night. I have an outside house light, but brighter Street lights are needed. Less money to the schools, more to public safety. Real Safety hazard at night. I don’t live in one of the wealthier sections of the city.
If you drive around at night you can find many that do not even work. Might be nice if some city worker cruising around collecting a paycheck would make a note of these. The city is paying for all the ones that do not work, uh, er, the tax payers are paying. If they were downtown someone would make sure they got fixed.
Pat,
Have you done anything about your streetlight issue except whine about it on the Internet?
The electric company controls the streetlights.
Yes it does. But, Pat thinks whining about it on Planet Valenti actually matters.
Actually, the Electric Company turned over control of streetlights to the city several years ago. Pittsfield is now responsible for all maintenance and operation of streetlights and has indeed dimmed them as a cost saving measure. At 1st, they were dimmed with public notification but after the outcry, they later did others without informing the public.
If that is the case, I think it was a very poor decision for the city to take on that responsibility. But ‘turning the streetlights down’ doesn’t make sense in terms of cost savings when replacing incadecent fixtures with LED provides an immediate reduction in energy consumption without sacrificing performance. Of course now many people oppose LED fixtures if they are too cool.
yes, they are only so bright to save money. End of story.
It seems like the ones at Clapp park and the Common are on all night and burn rather brightly. Why are they on all night and why brighter than the ones on the road? Just curious ya understand.
Pittsfield schools led by Behnke Sheran mccanless Curtis need a light up the hood program.
Will Caccamo Kroll and Marchetti light up the hood.Sturgeon is a feel good or bad school department commercial. He feel Eberwien was a great Superintendent just because….You can blame Eberwien and Massimiano answer Amuso for blowing 10 s of millions on new software and programs…..Eberwien left his number 1 man behind when he said Joe Curtis was the best at what he did.Buy expensive programs only to throw them away when they produce 0 results…
.
Sturgeon’s a pant load, such a suck-up to the Suits he makes Peter White look like Bernie Sanders.
Can we start a gofundme program to get some money for the school kids please? Each kid should at least have a no. 2 pencil to call his own. And each teacher should have at least one Mercedes. Please chip in and make a dream come true this Christmas.
That’s right….I said Christmas.
My Kid’s school district provides chrome books at no charge to families.
The teachers deserve lots of money. After all they attended a crappy state school for 4 yrs and now expect big bucks for the rest of their life.
TSC give it a rest.
The School Ommittee Never Sleeps….apparently?
He could exercise a little restraint. Pat too. No one needs to know your every thought.