As of 9:30 pm Pacific, there is one video up which is ~36 minutes long. I don’t know whether there are plans to split it up and take this one down. So, I’m putting it up. And going to bed. As soon as I start the crockpot. 
(It does have CC.)
They left this one up and put up a second seven hours later. Glad I didn’t even try to stay up for it. It’d a little over 22 minutes:, and also has CC
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has me on their mailing list, and so I get direct information sometimes. Interestingly (to me anyway), I already knew all three of the facts – what I didn’t know was that November is Native American Heritage month And now it’s already more than half over.
I suspect everyone who comes here already knows the three facts too. But it’s still a good time to remember them:
FACT: Yes, there was a feast. For the Wampanoag people who first encountered English settlers at Plymouth, giving daily thanks for nature’s gifts was a vitally important tradition. Today they are often portrayed as nameless generic “Indians” who gathered as supporting players. The truth is they played a lead role in this historic encounter. Explorers meticulously detailed their travels and first experiences with Indigenous people, and the written account of one “Thanksgiving” feast, merely a footnote in a journal, became a symbol of cordiality between Natives and Pilgrims. Of course, those initial interactions were rarely without conflict. Over 200 years later, the first official proclamation of a national Thanksgiving holiday was made by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
FACT: Complex and sophisticated civilizations predate the founding of America. Tribal coalitions and governing bodies were in place long before the English colonies were established. The Wampanoag, like hundreds of other tribes in northern America, were far from “wild savages”, but were a sophisticated society who had long occupied the region for thousands of years. The story and depictions around Thanksgiving are told from the perspective of the Pilgrims, and that Eurocentric view has become widely accepted as fact. One of the best ways to celebrate Thanksgiving is by learning about the Native peoples of America—their traditions and ways of life—before and after European colonization.
FACT: Stereotypes persist and remain harmful, even today. The Americans exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian explores how negative depictions of Native Americans permeate our society—from commercial brands to classic western films. While we celebrate the name changes like that of the Washington Football Team, our work is not done. It’s imperative to continue these conversations, especially around Thanksgiving, to help people educate themselves and unlearn the myths about Native communities.
This Thanksgiving, although we are not out of the woods yet, we have a lot to be thankful for. May that continue and increase for the rest of the holiday season, and in the New Year.
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Of course it isn’t Thanksgiving without food -some kind of food -wrapped up in history (or maybe myth, or both) and traditions. So what do you say to a couple of recipes from the National Museum of the Holocaust’s files?
Apple Tart – and – Green pea Soup
Walnut Cream Cake (which is even gluten free)
And of course each one has a story.
For most of my early life I considered Labor Day little more than a day off at the end of summer. That’s because I am not a union man. I have never belonged to a union, nor has anyone in my family. So what has the labor movement done for me? I have learned what organized labor has done to improve the lot of all American workers, and I have come to understand that Labor Day is a celebration of Union labor, and one that is well deserved. This is a another variation on last year’s article.
ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all: 1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours — almost double what most Americans work now… 2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income… 3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor… 4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930′s and 1940′s led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers… 5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which “requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.” … [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Think Progress> It’s well worth the time to click through for the rest of this article. Furthermore, here is an excellent video on what labor has done for America.
Therefore, to begin my celebration of Labor Day in the best possible way, I wish to thank all of you who are or have been union workers. My life is better because of you. And to you and everyone else, have as Happy a Labor Day as is possible during a Republican plague and under a Republican Reich! Sadly, because of ongoing, predatory Republican impingement on workers’ rights, this article is even less true than it was last year. It’s up to YOU to change that trend. Unless we remove Trump* and the Republican Reich from power, they will outlaw workers’ right to organize, and the US will become a permanent Republican Fifth Reich! Unless you want to be forced to say Heil Trump*…
This article is a repeat of last year’s, with changes.
Traditionally I have celebrated Independence Day with excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, videos of the local fireworks display, and lessons on the differences between true patriotism and nationalism. However, then the US was an independent nation.
Now it is under foreign domination. The Republican plague, Trump* virus is sweeping the nation and killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. Trump* makes it worse with his super-spreader campaign events at taxpayer expense. Racist Republican police are murdering Blacks with ever increasing frequency, while Bought Bitch Midnight Moscow Mitch and Senate Republicans prevent meaningful reform. Trump* and his Republican Reich are spouting racist screeds and promoting White Supremacy like never before.
I’m sorry, but as long as Donald Trump*, Putin’s Puppet, and his Republican Reich stay in power, the 4th of July will be a day of mourning.
This is almost identical to last the last three years’ Memorial Day articles, with additions. I did not see how I could express my position more clearly. You may ask why I, as one who opposes war almost by definition, would want to celebrate the day in which we honor those military service people, who have given their lives in service to America. From my earliest days as an antiwar activist opposing the war in Vietnam, I have believed that it is as important to honor the warriors, as it is to oppose the wars. They took an oath to obey and honored it. They had nothing to do with the decisions. I have no doubt that, if those who died in our Revolutionary War, for example, can look at today’s Republican wars for hate and greed, they are shedding tears over the senseless waste of life, but honoring their comrades as they fall. Now, unlike Veterans day, Memorial Day is not intended as celebration of those who served and survived. Nevertheless, to all veterans who read this, thank you for your service. I thank God that you are not among those whom we honor today. Finally, if you are in the service now, I consider your lives far too precious to spend defending criminal Fuhrer Trump’s* personal profit or Russia’s national interest. Even now Trump* is attacking Americans with his virus as part of his War on America. Will he celebrate his 100,000th fatality today? I urge you all to take care to preserve your lives and those of your comrades.
And now, a special message from a very special person!