Haven't we already disrespected Trubal Lands of the Native Americans far more than anyone with a conscience can bear? We've been doing this for so many years, I guess Republicans think, "Why stop now?" The last vestiges of their ancestors across this entire nation, are being reclaimed at an alarming rate. Are we deliberately attempting to remove all the remaining hunting and burial grounds, petroglyphs, and other sacred sites to destroy whatever these proud peoples have been able to retain of their culture and their heritage? Mineral mining will poison the land more than we already have in other sections. Do we want to kill them off, too? We never seem to get around to cleaning up the messes we make, the waters we contaminate, the the ground they use to grow some of their own crops. We, put simply, have to stop this desecration of the lands and the animals that are supposed to be those of Native Americans. We took so much from them... is there enough support for them to this time stop this terrible trend before it's too late? I certainly hope so.

And now the money raking republicans want to start a war with the "Indians"; well, there are more of them now then there was a hundred years ago, and they're better educated, more informed, and better organized then they ever were. Should be an interesting war.

History is filled with warfare over the conquest of territory. The winners get to control whatever natural resources exist. The losers are enslaved, annihilated, driven off or made to pay tribute until they rise up against the conquering masters. So, it seems fair that the peoples who have been driven off or forced onto reservations of marginal land be protected now that we are more "enlightened" in our thinking toward earlier conquered peoples. There is a problem with the whole picture. The earth is and justice requires the planet be treated as the equal birthright of all. The planet is our commons from which all that supports life must come. No individual or group of people has any greater claim over any portion of the planet than any other. Centuries of continued or previous occupancy does not override this fundamental human right. Our claims of sovereign control over this or that region of the planet are false claims. The very concept of the nation-state is a violation of human rights. But, how to guarantee to each person our equal birthright to the planet? There is only one means of doing so. Control over any parcel or tract of land must be allocated by a process of competitive bidding, As Thomas Paine wrote in his remarkable essay, "Agrarian Justice," every person who controls any land owes to society the payment of an annual ground rent for this privilege. Later in the 19th century the American writer Henry George expanded this analysis to provide the mechanism for determining what the full annual ground rent is on a regular basis.

I'll have to disagree with you about the Trump Foundation vs. the Clinton Foundation. For one thing, Trump's vanity foundation is peanuts compared with the Clintons', and for another, the Clinton Foundation was clearly a pay-to-play scheme, especially during Hillary's tenure at State. The access afforded donors could pay off in any number of major ways across a range of highly consequential policy decisions that would never be traceable. The access itself was the quid in the quid pro quo.

Trump University, however, is certainly a sleazy operation. But then, how about Bill Clinton's nearly $18 million in pay from a for-profit university for essentially doing nothing?

The best one can say about Hillary Clinton is that she's a horrible choice for president but might be better than Trump across a narrow but important array of issues, notably climate change. On the other hand, a number of serious left-leaning thinkers have lately made the case that she is absolutely a more dangerous choice on foreign policy issues, notably with her reckless neoconservative determination to push Russia to the brink as well as her clearly disastrous preference for upsetting the apple cart in the MIddle East, with endlessly bloody consequences. Trump's proposal to bar Muslims from the US is characterized as racist, but on this score oddly Clinton gets a pass for unleashing madness in the Middle East that kills thousands of Muslims.

Yeah, well, maybe Clinton isn't a "progressive" after all, Thom. No one believes she cares about a progressive agenda. And while you're right that she would do better to avoid reminding people that she has the support of neocons and war criminals, the fact that she isn't talking about progressive issues tells me two things: 1) that she never really believed in these things, and 2) that she is more concerned about winning the votes of republicans.

It's a failing strategy. She is a terrible candidate. Insincere, calculating, a champion of the 1%. And I suspect she will be destroyed in the duopoly debate. I won't watch because there is nothing to learn. Trump and Clinton represent the nadir of our political system. We have no choice, more people identify as independent now than ever before, and third party candidates have been arbitrarily excluded from the debates and, by extension, the general election.

So rather than having a choice, people are "inexplicably" voting for a used car salesman as a protest against the rigged two-party system. I can understand that, even if Mrs. Clinton (see her abysmal 50 point rant today) still doesn't grasp it.

But I'm having none of it. I'm voting for the only genuine progressive left in the race - Jill Stein.

Hara-kiri

{… a limerick and a footnote …}

We’ve grown so very weary

of this tragedy very Shakespearey

where a pompadoured lout

leads us about

as our nation commits hara-kiri*.

…

* by letting Trump prevail,

we’re telling a bad-ending tale.

===========================

Clinton a war hawk ?? Ironic when it was GOP Bush Cheney who lied us into Iraq, waged 2 long failed wars, wasted several trillion of our tax dollars, killed, maimed our veterans, made more enemies than ever, which led to ISIS . Bush & War monger Cheney ( Halliburton made billions off Iraq war ) Bush admin ignored several CIA warnings about a coming Bin laden attack, last warning 8/6/01 . Bush gave up finding Bin laden . Brave Seals / Obama got that job done ! Only reason T rump has any chance is millions of his ' fans ' are ignorant, clueless, very poorly educated, lack ability to think critically . When erratic irrational bombastic Trump gets Pi $$ ed off he may use Nukes - start WW 3 ! Supreme court is in danger of being stacked with Pro Wealth anti middle class right wing Greedy Immoral judges who will rule for decades to come

.

c-gull : I believe your observation is somewhere on the mark regarding usa political parallels with the rise of Nazi germany

The german populace in general did not recognise what was happening either... did they?

However, certain individuals and organisations did and were complicit in despicable actions that subsequently became war crimes

Sadly, the current madness that is going on is likely to result in WW III

Depending on the type of ww, results will always enrich banksters

Of course, total human obliteration will simply leave a few with huge amounts of money they can do nothing with

Nobody gets it yet!

But, that's the trajectory it seems!

The Democrats are always so lame when it comes to playing offense....Why not repeat over and over something as simple as the Teapublic Party played a major role in sending your jobs overseas and continues to desire more of that.....Trump sent his jobs overseas too.

Paul Ryan and the Teapublic party want to hand the trillions in the Social Security trust fund over to Wall Street banksters....and so does Trump....as per his secret meeting with Ryan.

The Teapublic Party denies climate change! ...and so does Trump.

The Teapublic Party is against a living wage. ..and so is Trump.

The Teapublic Party is against single payer! ...and so is Trump.

Paul Ryan and his Teapublic Party want to cut taxes on the billionaires and raise them on the working class. ...and Trump will sign Ryan's budget plan.

My god , it's endless!...why not offense all the time.

The Clinton campaign apparently can't figure out why Bernie's supporters aren't rushing to get behind her. Think maybe it's because she's lying down with dogs. I don't want to see her make a complete left turn as that might turn off some of the folks in the middle, but if they're looking to the hawks to make a difference...

This is the 100 year anniversary of the Irish 1916 uprising, so being Irish American I've been brushing up on their rather fascinating history. One book in particularly stands out as quite relevant to modern day attitudes and ideologies on prominent display around the world by various political leaders, especially in the United States. In "The Famine Plot" (2015), renowned author Tim Pat Coogan fleshes out an old Irish saying that "God brought the blight, but the British brought the famine." The worst atrocity in Irish history (which is saying a lot!) can be boiled down to the intersection of three dynamics at play: religious fundamentalism; ethnic hatred; laizzez-faire economics. Sound familiar?