Whack-a-Mole & Christians

Posted on June 21, 2026 by Professor Taboo

This past week and weekend I’ve been dealing with a seemingly politically motivated, deceitfully maneuvering, redirecting Christian Apologist. His name on WordPress? ColorStorm, or CS as most of us address him. He is the epitome of an avoider, a skirter, a dodger of simple questions directed to him. This is very, very well known by my circle of WordPress friends. He always—and I don’t mean sometimes—but he always avoids simple direct questions to him. You can set your watch by his never-ending slipperiness to hard questions. He will never answer them. I kid you not. I have many WordPress friends that will vouch for this about ColorStorm and his incessant dodging and redirecting. Oh! And by the way he vehemently believes that Earth is flat, not spherical, and he also believes in the YEC, or Young Earth Creationism—that means he is convinced that the Earth is only between 6,000 to 10,000 years old as “implied” by the Holy Bible of Christendom. Again, I kid you not. That’s some brief background.

Back to my post here. When I’ve challenged him with specific questions he apparently doesn’t have any clue about 1 Peter 3:15 and what it means and what it commissions Christian “believers” to do, always. Or he ignores it all together. But he disobeys this Christian commission every single time, except with his few like-minded friends who are merely an echo-chamber for him and he for them. Talking to ColorStorm, if he keeps it civil, is like a never-ending game of Whack-a-Mole and he is always moving the goal-posts. Perhaps he likes to be super annoying to any non-believers. It’s quite Christ-like, isn’t it? 🙄

This past week and weekend I asked ColorStorm a very simple yes or no question about his personal belief-system. Here was my easy, simple question to him:

“Are you working from a (Mishnaic) Hebrew original source (Yeshua’s native tongue) when you falsely claim [the above about Stephen a disciple], or are you strictly working from a half-century to three centuries later GREEK source?”

If any of you are not familiar with the three primary spoken languages in 1st-century CE Palestine and Judea, part of the then Roman Empire under emperor Tiberius, they were first speaking, writing, and reading Mishnaic Hebrew in their Jewish synagogues because the Homeland Jews (as opposed to the Jewish Diaspora) spoke and wrote in Mishnaic Hebrew and public Hebrew (watered down) to each other when around Gentiles/Romans. Mishnaic Hebrew was Jesus’/Yeshua’s primary language. His second language was Aramaic or Syro-Aramaic to be exact. All Hebrews, Persians, Arabs of that vast region spoke fluent Syro-Aramaic. Finally, living under the rule of Rome and the vast Hellenic culture, i.e. Greco-Roman, Jesus/Yeshua and all Jews knew and spoke thirdly adequate Greek, or more specifically Koine Greek—the common language of the Roman Empire. However, Greek was never used among Homeland Jews in or around Jewish synagogues or the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. That was forbidden.

Therefore, again the simple question put to ColorStorm was ‘When he is constantly referring to his holy scriptures while speaking to us non-Christians, does he draw from A) original Mishnaic Hebrew sources from the 1st-century CE, or is he B) strictly drawing from half-century to three centuries later Koine Greek sources?‘ A or B? Simple.

But not with this guy. He refuses to obey the 1 Peter 3:15 commission given him by his Lord and Savior(?) until he dies it seems. It’s quite astonishing really.

As a result of ColorStorm’s belligerence to the/his Holy Scriptures and his God, I was already prepared for his antics and circus dance of avoid, avoid, avoid. This is what I explained to him because for whatever reason he refused to answer:

[Following]… “is a large, large chapter of Jewish/Roman history that is NEVER TAUGHT in Protestant seminaries, ecclesiastical seminaries (in Catholicism), private under-grad or post-grad Christian universities or colleges, and much less so in churches or parishes/chapels. Why is that? It most definitely involves apologetics in any Christian denomination, but why is it ignored? That’s an easy answer.

From my August 2023 blog-post, The Failures of Koine Greek & Christianity:

“Dr. Graham Davies and Robert Gordon, along with J.A. Emerton’s extensive work in Studies on the Language and Literature of the Bible, cover the many problems of vernacular Hebrew and Aramaic in 1st-century CE Palestine being later copied and/or translated into Koine Greek, the language of today’s Septuagint and Codex Sinaiticus, and subsequent later copies of the Greek New Testament. They and many other biblical Jewish and Roman historians indicate just how difficult Greek-speaking, Greek-reading copyists and translators of 2nd — 4th century CE Roman-Hellenist culture, would have had significant problems and errors going from Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic word-of-mouth sources or (non-existent) text-sources… into their Koine Greek.”

Problematic questions also increasingly apply to the Yeshua/Jesus “stories” better known as the canonical Gospels of Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John, in that order:

“The text of the Hebrew Bible that is read today and that is at the basis of all modern translations is called the Masoretic Text. It is called this because the Jewish scholars who devised the rules for copying scripture are known as the Masoretes. The term “masorete” comes from the Hebrew word masorah, which means “tradition.” The Masoretes were the scholars who worked out ways to preserve the traditions of the Hebrew Bible. They were active between 500-1000 CE.

To understand what the Masoretes accomplished, you need to remember that ancient written Hebrew was a language that used only consonants, not vowels. Any language that is written only in consonants is open, obviously, to serious problems of interpretation. Imagine if you were to write English that way. Apart from context, you would have no way of knowing whether the word “npt” was “inept” or “input” or whether “mnr” was “minor,” “manor,” “moaner,” or “manure.””

— Bart D. Ehrman at: https://ehrmanblog.org/the-copying-of-the-hebrew-bible/ , accessed August 5, 2023

Let me emphatically reiterate the active timeline of the Masoretes and their standardized copied texts: 500 — 1,000 CE. That is more than four and a half centuries after Yeshua’s/Jesus’ death; c. 467 years to be more exact! Think about that for a moment. This poses many more suspicions about what was done with the Hebrew Bible stories prior to 500 CE? It gets worse…

“The not so good news is that [precise verbatim] is not the case with all of the books of the Hebrew Bible. Scholars had long noted, for example, that the Septuagint (Greek) text of the book of Jeremiah was about 15% shorter than the Masoretic text (i.e., it had that many fewer verses/words), and scholars had suspected that it was because the Hebrew version of Jeremiah known to the ancient Greek translators was significantly different from the Masoretic Text. As it turns out, one of the scrolls discovered at Qumran has a Hebrew text of Jeremiah that is closer to that lying behind the Septuagint version than the Masoretic text. 15% is a big difference. Other books of the Septuagint are also strikingly different from the Masoretic text, for example, in the books of Samuel and Kings. It is possible that the Hebrew texts of all these books were in serious flux before the text came to be standardized by the end of the first century.”

— Bart D. Ehrman at: https://ehrmanblog.org/the-copying-of-the-hebrew-bible/ , accessed August 5, 2023

These problems beg many further suspicions about the Catholic or Protestant GREEK bibles. However, due to time constraints and ColorStorm’s childish temper and lack of intelligent vocabulary, I will not go into all of them here.

Be this as it may, why on Earth do modern evangelical, fundamentalist, Christian congregationalists, theologians, ministers, pastors, and many Christian biblical historians and amateurs like ColorStorm give the Septuagint and an incomplete 4th-century CE Codex Sinaiticus so much infallible authority? There’s very insufficient evidence, corroboration, or reasoning to support such a (ridiculous) “divine” conclusion regarding the Gospel “stories” much less about the purpose and nature of Yeshua/Jesus—again, due in large part with the many problematic transliterations from Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic… into Koine Greek.

The most glaring colossal problems Greek-following Christians make—because they don’t know better nor do they care about factual, verifiable history—are the many, many intentionally hidden Hebrew idioms or Hebraisms within the Synoptic Gospels. In the ancient shops, forums, and streets of Athens, Rome, or Alexandria the vast majority of Greek Athenians and Romans could not comprehend the Septuagint. To them the Septuagint was disjointed and perplexing, ironically foreign. Foreign? Well DUH!

There is an obvious distinction on this ‘alien dynamic’ between the Homeland Jews and the Hellenistic world around them and in the Roman Empire. As one example and a footnote to this explanation of bad Hebrew-to-Greek transliteration of Yeshua’s “The Way Movement,”

“…in the Septuagint see LXX 1 Samuel 3:10 (compare LXX Numbers 24:1). Some interesting examples in the Greek Matthew are discussed by Grintz pp. 36-39. As one grammar of New Testament Greek puts it, “Major Semitisms… are not only bad Greek but are apt to cause difficulty in translation…”” (Whittaker p. 150).

— Gordon, Nehemia. “The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus” (p. 97). Makor Hebrew Foundation. Kindle Edition.

These types of translation and transliteration Greek mishaps are frequently found throughout the Septuagint, and by descending default, found as well in the current canonical Synoptic Gospels today. This is also verifiable.

And finally, to further emphatically reiterate the corrupted, maligned, wrongly edited, wrongly translated New Testament from Mishnaic Hebrew to Aramaic then to Koine Greek—an impossible task—it is very much worth noting that a less known early Roman Church Father realized, even in about 90–95 CE, that some of the Gospel translations were quite inaccurate and very problematic. This was Papias of Hierapolis, as quoted by Eusebius, stated this:

“Matthew collected the oracles [literally: “words”] in the Hebrew language, and each interpreted them as best he could.”

— Eusebius. “Ecclesiastical history” 3.39.14–17

“Each interpreted them as best he could!” Wow. So not only was it known by Roman Church Fathers that the gospels Mark and Matthew, sometimes referred to as the most Jewish of gospels, but also widely recognized among the earliest 1st– and 2nd-generation Fathers that the Greeks and other non-Hebrews—i.e. Gentiles, Roman pagans, Greeks—notably had very difficult times understanding, translating Mishnaic Hebrew and Hebraisms through Aramaic and then into Greek and other languages. That is a smoking gun if not a serious red-flag for the Septuagint and the descendant Codex Sinaiticus and later renditions of “Jesus Christos” we have in the modern Christian bible.

Therefore ColorStorm, my simple question still stands unanswered by you, but you are too afraid to honestly answer. THAT is a weak and wrong as well as hypocritical testimony from you. Period.”

At this point, and most likely from this time forward, ColorStorm has yet to answer any part of my simple question and explanation behind my simple question. I am not surprised by his disingenuity and fear. As I have learned the last 35-years, this is typical for most fly-by-night lazy Christian Nationalists and Evangelical Fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. It is sad… they know not what they claim to be or what they proclaim as truth. 😔 That is precisely the definition of hypocrite.

U.S. Most & Least Educated States

Posted on May 30, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Every year I like to keep track of how the United States’ levels of education obtained from all fifty states are ranked by comparison to other states in the Union. Why? Because it is an indicator of just how well (or poorly) the Stars and Stripes are performing with the rest of the world. I feel this is important not just from an competitive academic stand point, but critically important when compared to our foreign adversaries like China, Russia, and some Middle Eastern countries. I’d like to think readers and my followers feel the same way.

Some Americans consider an Associate degree or a Bachelor’s degree to be worthless, a waste of time, or at best far too expensive for the end result in career opportunities. However, despite that false thinking and perspective the numbers, simply put, don’t lie. Decade after decade after decade Americans 21–25 or older who have an under-grad degree, and more so a post-grad degree, land higher paying wages and a slew of further career paths beyond in the highly competitive U.S. job market. This is an indisputable fact.

Furthermore, there is another highly valuable ‘advantage’ to young Americans and 30-something Americans that are more subtle and beneficial for life: recognizing more quickly the covert motives and actions of the corrupt and powerful. Considering that often the upper most corrupt and powerful in the U.S. are typically highly educated, experienced, and spoiled brats because of their parents wealth, their circle of acquaintances, family inheritance, or gifted access/ownership to valuable mineral-rights or geological resources such as oil, natural gas, diamonds, or gold, to name only four, if you are not considered one of the aforementioned lucky ones but instead more disadvantaged due to your birth. Like it or not an under-grad or post-grad degree greatly levels the playing field in the U.S. job market.

By the way, another huge gain is in character: having come from a humble background at birth up to your latter teens typically makes a person broader minded and respectful of equality; that is, equality for all Americans without prejudice. Better character, better integrity, selflessness, and compassion for America’s disadvantaged at birth. Usually, not always, but usually these factors turn into better ethical and moral decisions as an adult. Why? For the simple reason that with a broader, higher education, above an associate’s degree, better equips one to avoid the many complex economic trappings of the country’s upper advantaged 1%–10% who did not come from humble beginnings. The stats and numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau bear this out.

BusinessInsider.com took the data from the U.S. Census Bureau and analyzed it for the percentage of 25-years and older who attained a Bachelor’s degree or higher in all 50 states and ranked them according to those percentages from least educated states to the most educated states. Here is that 2025 ranking below. If you’re interested in a detailed explanation for the ranking, click the above link to Business Insider.

West Virginia — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 24.4%
Mississippi — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 27.0%
Arkansas — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 27.1%
Louisiana — Share of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher: 27.8%
Kentucky — 27.9%
Nevada — 28.5%
Oklahoma — 29.3%
Alabama — 29.9%
Indiana — 30.7%
New Mexico — 31.8%
Iowa — 32.1%
Wyoming — 32.3%
(tie @ 37th) Ohio — 32.4%
(tie @ 37th) Tennessee — 32.4%
Alaska — 32.8%
Idaho — 33.0%
(tie @ 33rd) South Carolina — 33.3%
(tie @ 33rd) Michigan — 33.3%
Missouri — 33.5%
North Dakota — 34.0%
South Dakota — 34.2%
Wisconsin — 34.6%
Arizona — 34.7%
Texas — 35.2% (my home state, bottom half for over 35-yrs)
Nebraska — 35.4%
Florida — 35.8%
(tie @ 23rd) Delaware — 36.0%
(tie @ 23rd) Kansas — 36.0%
(tie @ 21st) Montana — 36.3%
(tie @ 21st) Georgia — 36.3%
Pennsylvania — 36.4%
(tie @ 18th) Maine — 37.1%
(tie @ 18th) North Carolina — 37.1%
(tie @ 16th) Oregon — 37.8%
(tie @ 16th) Hawaii — 37.8%
California — 38.1%
Rhode Island — 39.0%
Utah — 39.1%
Illinois — 39.2%
Minnesota — 40.0%
Washington — 41.0%
New York — 41.2%
New Hampshire — 41.5%
Connecticut — 42.6%
Virginia — 43.3%
New Jersey — 44.5%
Maryland — 44.7%
Vermont — 45.1%
Colorado — 47.8%
Massachusetts — 48.3%

The national average percentage of all Americans with a Bachelor’s or higher degree is 36% to 40%. Compared to nations in Europe, Asia, and parts of the Near and Middle East, this percentage is noticeably lower for U.S. citizens than those foreign countries. Good or bad?

Of course there are other minor factors involved in these percentages such as population density, land-mass of the state, and the number of large metropolitan cities in a state; example New York, California, and Illinois. For less densely populated states the percentage will reflect the low number of people, e.g. New Mexico and the Dakotas. These factors also indicate other components involved, such as state history and background. Examples? The former Confederate states of the American Civil War have had from their past large numbers of slaves as well as segregation and Jim Crowe Laws that made it extremely difficult for non-whites to obtain under-grad degrees. That also explains in part why several lower educated states are located in the South and Deep South.

What other factors are you able to deduce that contribute to your home state and other states in the Union? In the comments below briefly explain (or not) why the low or higher ranking exists. What are those state’s modern history, i.e. 1800’s to the present, that contribute to the state’s ranking?

Addendum — June 2, 2026:
A good blog-friend I follow, Steve Ruis, broke down all the above 50-states according to their political dominance. Red = Hard Republican, Blue = Democratic, and Purple = in flux between Red and Blue. Here is a 2026 map of just Red or Blue states:

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

America’s 250th Birthday

Posted on May 24, 2026 by Professor Taboo

As this once great nation called the United States of America celebrates its upcoming 250^th birthday, over the last decade our country has been struggling and fighting within itself to hold fast to its core values as engineered by its famed 18^th-century Core Founding Fathers and its treasured Charters of Freedom were spelled out on parchment.

But this weekend with Monday, May 25th, 2026, bookends the Memorial Weekend, we remember all of our fallen soldiers since 1776 to the present-day who made the ultimate sacrifice for this land, its citizens, their families, and everything this country is supposed to stand for… we face an uncertain, tumultuous next two years and beyond. We Americans are not only memorializing our fallen heroes this weekend and Monday, but we are also literally fighting for this democracy’s survival against an unprecedented, tyrannical King and his regime of sycophants!

*The proposed Arch de Trump on Columbia Island off the Potomac River will stand 250-feet tall and 165-feet wide*

During Memorial Day weekend up until July 4^th, Independence Day, ironically celebrating the break-away 250-years ago from another King and empire abusing its power and authority without representation from its colonists in the “New World,” we should also be remembering today the sacrifices so many soldiers, men then women, their families and closest friends as well as their fellow soldiers gave when it counted most. But very soon this will all be diminished, tainted, and obscured by a gross and gaudy monstrosity blocking the view of Arlington Memorial Cemetery as seen from the Lincoln Memorial and all other war memorials surrounding the National Mall. This construction of a self-imposed triumphal arch known as Arch de Trump will be a classless eye-sore and slap in the face for all veterans living and deceased by nothing less than a sitting President.

*A rendering of the planned arch as seen from Arlington National Cemetery toward Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and Washington Monument*

Does this hideous, self-aggrandizing, Caesar-esque waste of taxpayer dollars demonstrate any level of reverence, patriotism, gratitude, and symbolism of a people’s democracy protected and won by our nation’s soldiers in blood? No, not even close. It is pure and simple one man’s deluded self-perception of unproven, empty greatness. Nothing more. It demonstrates the exact same arrogance all dictators, emperors, and kings throughout history built in their own image and a man’s disregard for his subjects, his people, and the enormous, selfless sacrifices made in their own lives and those to follow. Nothing about this repulsive arch speaks to any of those core values this nation has stood for and fought for in blood. This current mentally-ill president is and has been a shameful disgrace to us, to our foreign allies, and to true American history.

Therefore, let us remember what this Memorial Day weekend is really about: the true heroes who gave the highest price for our freedom, liberty, equality for one and all (E Pluribus Unum) and generations to follow, and who didn’t need or want Roman statues of gold, large glittering pools, flashy currency and coins, an Apian Way, museums and coliseums named after them, massive gold ballrooms, or worse, their face carved into Mount Rushmore. No, all these past, ordinary American men and women wanted was to be remembered for their sacrifice. That’s it.

Today, May 24th on CNN.com and again May 25th at 8pm EST/7pm CST, on normal CNN they are airing a special documentary called Why We Dream. It will be a vivid and intimate reflection by living WWII veterans exploring the power of memory and the quiet persistence of trauma and hope experienced in combat. It blends in rare wartime footage, 16mm home movies, cinematic portraiture, and classic film excerpts all directed by Meredith Danluck who created this emotionally driven examination of war’s lasting imprint. Here is a short trailer:

That is what celebrating 250-years means, or should mean. That is what a spectacular, sobering, unobstructed view of Arlington National Cemetery from the National Mall means to all this country’s veterans, living and passed, and their descendants. Let us not forget them and how humble, willing, and honored they fought and died to win, and then protect what it means to be one of many. I repeat, one of many. As the famous U.S. Army Major Richard “Dick” Winters of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles told his grandson who had asked him if he was a hero in the war, Winters answered:

“No… but I served in a company of heroes.”

That answer is what most great ~~Commander-in-Chiefs~~ leaders give. They do not take all the credit and glory for themselves. They fully realize that in order to lead a platoon, a company, a regiment, a division… a nation, a true leader takes little to no credit for himself and humbly gives praise to those around him and the people he serves.

Remember Our “True” Heroes

Iran & Nuclear Weapons?

Posted on May 5, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Americans have heard a lot recently about how “Iran was 2-3 months away from getting a nuclear bomb/weapon.” And despite the POTUS and his top cabinet members, along with his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and DoD Pete Hegseth, the American people/taxpayers have been repeatedly told lies by tRump, Leavitt, and Hegseth that Iran was about to gain a nuclear bomb(s) to attack the United States. They credit Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) for the “intelligence” (we now know was bait) for justifying an all out war against Iran in March 2026 on their military and possibly Iran’s infrastructure. After being wrongfully attacked by the U.S. and Israeli militaries, based on intentionally bad, inaccurate intelligence from Israel, our POTUS and his administration have spun the war on the American people in all kinds of false misdirection and narratives.

What is more poignant, profound, and telling about this baseless costly tRump war with Iran was that the issue/problem of Iranian nuclear weapons against the West was factually dealt with already and was being successfully managed back in 2015-2016 with President Barack Obama along with our European allies, as well as with China and Russia, in a landmark treaty called the JCPOA championed by President Obama. Watch this 13-min video-clip:

In other words, everything that our current POTUS, Press Secretary Leavitt, and DoD Hegseth keep repeating ad nauseum about Iran’s perceived nuclear capability… is bogus hogwash, flatly wrong within the verified historical context ignored by today’s presidential administration. The Iran nuclear threat to Israel and the U.S. and its European allies was already resolved and working eleven years ago. Period. No debate.

But sadly and very costly to the U.S., our POTUS and his administration completely “obliterated” that deal, the JCPOA, to use one of tRump’s favorite words: obliterated. Iran was complying with the deal, until our current POTUS effed it all up and caused the drastic ripple-effects of self-arrogance and military bullying for all the world to suffer through. Now we are much worse off, no thanks to tRump’s gullibility and his cult-members of MAGA and all their hardline supporters in America.

Here is how well the Iran Nuclear Deal was working. Iran had:

Shipped 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium out of the country
Dismantled and removed two-thirds of its centrifuges
Removed the calandria from its heavy water reactor and filled it with concrete
Provided unprecedented access to its nuclear facilities and supply chain

Because Iran had completed these steps in 2016, the U.S. and international community could have begun the next phase under the JCPOA, which meant the U.S. would begin lifting its nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. However, a number of U.S. sanctions authorities and designations would have continued to remain in place. And along with the above successful deal-points, these six sanctions were to remain in place under Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran:

Sanctions on missile technologies and conventional weapons
Terror-List Sanctions that identify Iran as a state sponsor of terro
Targeted sanctions on anyone connected with Iran’s support of terror
Authority to target Iran’s development of ballistic missiles
Authority to target Iran’s human rights abuses and censorship
Authority to sanction Iran’s destabilizing regional activities, including in Syria and Yemen

*It could be argued that tRump and his Administration intended, planned all along to create a “without a deal” Iranian condition just to start an unnecessary war*

Therefore Americans, remember that back in 2015-2016 everything that tRump and his administration are spewing out of their lying mouths had already been successfully achieved against Iran to secure our safety and of foreign interests. There was no need whatsoever for the current childish POTUS to trash this historic nuclear deal by Obama with Iran, which was achieved and succeeding. Everything that the tRump administration has now royally fucked up was already resolved and working!

This begs the question, was tRump’s trashing and killing of the JCPOA deal of 2015 merely a personal vendetta against Barack Obama? Of course it was. And now look what the baby toddler tRump has caused on ordinary Americans and he has no off-ramp to end it without losing face and consequently making everything much, much worse for the entire globe. So he and his MAGA loyalists continue to lie, redirect, and scramble like Keystone Cops for any approval ratings with the primaries looming in Oct/Nov 2026.

What a royal fuck-up this president has been… in both of his presidential terms! There is no other way to paint this presidential political tragedy and catastrophe created by DJT and his hardline MAGA cult-members.

There was NEVER a real threat from Iran to gain a nuclear weapon any time soon. Fact. But now it is a lot more real BECAUSE OF our current POTUS and his sycophant cult-members. Fact.

To read all the details of the landmark Iran Deal by former President Barack Obama and our allies, along with China and Russia participating, click here.

Not So American History

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Professor Taboo

Back in August 2018 I wrote about more well-rounded, more objective, and more even-handed American history of the late 19^th-century that often is overlooked, intentionally or not, by our modern media, 2-5 minute fast-paced journalism, and in our educational curriculums; curriculums from middle school up to private university standards. What history is that you ask?

It is the shared history, or lack of, our nation’s infancy, growth and expansion by Manifest Destiny and the Dawes Act of 1887, to name just two. It all but ignores a very human side of the cultures and Native American tribes which had already inhabited all of North America, including within the modern borders of the USA, for well over 15- to about 30-millennia before the white man of Europe arrived. Should this portion of authentic American history be stamped in glory and hubris or by some degrees shame and genocide? I know exactly what I label that time in American history. What, why, and how do you or will you label it?

I revisited my blog-post Authentic American History because of Netflix’s new release this past week entitled “Sitting Bull.” As I stated in the August 2018 post:

“I am a big enthusiast of history and personal stories of the past from various perspectives. Why you ask? Because they allow ME to choose where more of the truth and reality of events can be deciphered rather than hearing or reading only one version of those stories and events.”

Normally, I do not care for the History Channel’s overly hyped-up, overly dramatic cinema of actual historical events as they played out. The Channel and its parent corporation, A+E Global Media often go overboard and willingly admit that in order to capture younger audiences—with attention spans of maybe 10-minutes—executives, producers, directors, and actors must hype-up key points of the plot and narrative, sometimes sacrificing the context of historical events. The top corporate executives are fine with “some” cinematic license, or slack-on-facts, to juice-up, fancy-up, grab the younger modern audiences short attention with modern Euro-American music and graphic, bloody battle scenes and not let them rest. Whether it is all pristine, historical, verified facts doesn’t matter so much.

But this particular two-part series had Leonardo DiCaprio as executive director, an A+E Global choice that I would give a long, fair chance and consideration. I was pleasantly surprised.

On top of this fine docu-drama were acclaimed scholars of the American West Era such as Dr. Elizabeth Rule, PhD from Brown and Yale Universities, and none other than Guy Jones whose great-great-grandfather, Chief Gall, fought with Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Guy Jones shared all of his vast knowledge about Chief Gall, and the Hunkpapa band of Lakota Indians who stood up to and fought against aggressive U.S. westward expansion and the U.S. Army’s atrocities and war-crimes against his ancestors and people.

The entire cast of Sitting Bull is packed with great contributing historians as well, such as Christy S. Coleman, MA – Hampton University, Dr. Douglas Brinkley, PhD – Georgetown University, and Dr. Edward T. O’Donnell, PhD – Columbia University, all providing perspectives surrounding Sitting Bull and the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes. Also featured in the two-part series was Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and others that played significant roles in the fate of the Sioux nations. I recommend watching this docu-drama series if for no other reason than it tells the true history of these chiefs and peoples of the Great Plains from their perspective and personal, firsthand accounts passed down from generation to generation. They still “live” today along with their traditional customs and beliefs.

*Sitting Bull in Dakota Territory, c. 1883 – photo D.F. Barry, Bismarck, ND*

∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼

However, there was another recognition I gained from watching this excellent docudrama series. It was disturbing to me because the series showed how much appalling history we (white) Americans are repeating or allowing to repeat since the 1850’s and into the 21^st-century today. What is it? Why haven’t we learned once and for all the worst times of human history, the clear behaviors of war-crimes, genocide, and atrocities on non-combatant civilians, even on children?

I hope you will watch the series Sitting Bull because in between the lines I couldn’t help but recognize the similarities, in some cases the identical behaviors, of crimes against humanity committed against the Native Americans. More poignantly I realized how indistinguishable our American white ancestors treated (removed, exterminated) those people they labelled as “savages” and “blood-thirsty barbarians” under the guise of “Divine Ordination” and those behaviors and treatment by the Nazis and SS under the Third Reich.

And now today, inside our own national borders and abroad, what is happening in Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, or what happened in the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela, or how I.C.E. and our current DHS is treating normal U.S. citizens as well as well-behaved legal immigrants in detention and in their court hearings! Are we going backwards toward the Wannsee Conference and A Final Solution, so to speak, of atrocities against humanity all the way back to Sitting Bull, the Sioux nations, and all other Native Americans wiped out? Are we back to that point or nearing it? …

So Americans… it must be asked, have we really evolved for the better after only 150-years and Sitting Bull? If you never learn the painful lessons of deep regret done in history, then how will you avoid repeating them in the future? Have we really progressed past those previous times and eras of sheer brutality, massacres, genocide, and depravation of societal values for other “different” peoples and cultures? I know what my answer is and has been for some time. What is your answer?