By all measures, 2015 will be remembered as a banner year for LGBT rights in the United States
The Supreme Court gave gays and lesbians the right to wed.
Popular culture and public opinion continued to increasingly accept transgender identities and same-sex relationships. Corporate advocacy beat back state religious-freedom laws that would have provided a defense for discrimination. And there are more than 450 openly gay elected officials currently serving across the country.
But backers don’t expect the good news to continue, at least in the short term.
This is a topic which isn’t really taught in schools.
I went to a private, Catholic school in Puerto Rico, and don’t remember any teaching about the genocide of the Native Americans.
For that matter, I wasn’t taught about the atrocities committed to the indigenous people of Puerto Rico either.
It is now, after my retirement, that I have plenty of time on my hands, that I’m catching up to history.
This is a topic that has always been interesting to me.
As I keep abreast of the event in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, I’ve been looking for information about this topic and many other related ones.
#StandingRockSiouxTribe
#NoDAPL
It’s a shame that we are so consumed with the presidential campaign and the antics of one of the candidates, that many other events are taking place without the media informing viewers about them.
Seems that we have to do the investigating ourselves.
Numerous atrocities against Native Americans span the hundreds of years from the first arrival of European explorers to the modern era under a wide range of circumstances.
Today there are over 500 Native American tribes in the United States, each with a distinct culture, way of life and history. Even today, Native Americans face large challenges to cope with the disadvantages history has left them and ongoing cases of discrimination.
10 million+ estimated number of Native Americans living in land that is now the United States when European explorers first arrived in the 15th century
Less than 300,000 estimated number of Native Americans living in the United States around 1900
5.2 million identified as American Indian or Alaska Native in the 2010 census
Colonization
While the Native Americans’ history began thousands of years ago, their European encounter started with one man.
Determined to find a direct route from Europe to Asia, Christopher Columbus stumbled on the Americas in 1492.
The Genocide of Native Americans/Crimes against humanity
~~Published on Mar 29, 2015~~
Where Did Largest Genocide In The World Happen?
Most people would answer Germany, and the Jewish Holocaust. Actually though, the largest genocide happened in the USA, with the native American Indians, with an estimated 60 million to 120 million indigenous people killed.
American Holocaust
60 To 120 Million Native Inhabitants Exterminated By Illegal ‘Settlers’, After Living On Continent For 200,000 Years In Sustainable Way.
(the biggest genocide in the history of humankind).
A 200,000 YEAR OLD CIVILIZATION WAS ‘DISAPPEARED’ AND 500 NATIONS WERE WIPED OUT
AMERICAN WAS BORN IN GENOCIDE, BATHED IN MURDER, RACISM, BLOOD AND VIOLENCE
~Martin Luther King Jr.~
“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.
Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shore, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy.
We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.
Our children are still taught to respect the violence which reduced a red-skinned people of an earlier culture into a few fragmented groups herded into impoverished reservations.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.~
While the Rio Olympics are going on, while the incessant “bombardment” of inane politics goes on, while children are getting ready to start this school’s term, while politicians continue their unwarranted push to dominate the little domains they oversee, this child suffers.
This child’s world has been up-ended.
He seems to be in shock, he’s alone, he’s hurt, he’s bleeding.
It this was humanity has come to?
Multiply that by thousands and you will see the results of humanity’s effort to dominate others.
CNN’s Kate Bolduan Begins to Cry While Sharing Video of Bloodied Syrian Child
~~Published on Aug 18, 2016~~
CNN’s Kate Bolduan is a reporter who asks tough questions and is often expressive and emphatic when she does it. Today, however, she was expressive in a very different way. While sharing a video of a five-year-old Syrian named Omran Daqneesh sitting in the back of an ambulance with blood and soot all over him, Bolduan was tasked with explaining that he and his family were pulled from the rubble that was once their house. She said that there had been an air strike — which is common, as the country has been embroiled in a violent civil war for years — but had to stop and compose herself a few times.
There is little point in describing her visceral reaction when you can watch it right here for yourself:
“What strikes me is we shed tears, but there are no tears here,” she observed as her voice cracked. “He doesn’t cry once. That little boy is in total shock. He’s stunned, inside his home one moment and the next, lost in the fury and the flurry of war and chaos.”
After sharing how many thousands have died in Aleppo, Syria, alone, she closed with, “This is Omran.
Even at a distance, “my star” looks simply beautiful.
My Puerto Rican flag.
Mi bandera Borinqueña!!
Like no other.
The three red stripes represent the blood from the brave warriors. The two white stripes represent the victory and peace that they would have after gaining independence. The white star represented the island of Puerto Rico. The blue represents the sky and blue coastal waters.
Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September.
It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.
Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, who organized the first parade in New York City. After the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago on May 4, 1886, U.S. President Grover Clevelandfeared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the affair. Therefore, in 1887, the United States holiday was established in September to support the Labor Day that the Knights favored.
In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the holiday while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882,[3] after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada. Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.
Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday; President Grover Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.
The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation’s trade unions for the previous several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers’ Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent socialist and anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers’ Day. All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.
What I needed! Soft music, a sweet guitar and attraction. Swaying melody, seductive. Pulls me toward you. Because I love you!
I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You
I do not love you except because I love you; I go from loving to not loving you, From waiting to not waiting for you My heart moves from cold to fire.
I love you only because it’s you the one I love; I hate you deeply, and hating you Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.
Maybe January light will consume My heart with its cruel Ray, stealing my key to true calm.
In this part of the story I am the one who Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you, Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.
It is a well known fact that we can’t live without water. It’s an essential substance to sustain life.
~~WATER IS IMPORTANT~~
Two thirds of the earth’s surface is covered by water The human body consists of 75 percent of it. Evidently water is one of the prime elements responsible for life on earth. Water circulates through the land just as it does through the human body, transporting, dissolving, replenishing nutrients and organic matter, while carrying away waste material.
In the body, it functions as a “regulator” of the activities of fluids, tissues, cells, lymph, blood and glandular secretions.
Yet, we must never forget the role water plays in spirituality and soul renewal. Looking and listening to running water have been proven to release stress and promote relaxation.
I’m presenting a gallery of photos portraying bodies of water. Look at the pictures and be transported. Let go of the daily stress, the daily routine and travel to places of wonder, beauty and renewal.
The body needs nourishment … the soul does too.
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~~Meditation music~~
~~Published on May 31, 2014~~
As it appears on the video description:
“Meditation” music by Cosimo Antitomaso photos (in the video) by Scott Wright
~~Video created by Scott Wright~~
“I had the inspiration for this video one day recently as I sat meditating by the side of a stream. The message of water, and it’s symbolism can be found throughout history. One of my favorite quotes from Rumi came to mind, “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” The first time I read this quote it burned the truth of it in my Soul, as we are All One, and part of everything. Our Creator designed things like that, and we can connect to that Source in Nature.
As I sat by the stream, I felt impressed that making a video about the story of water would be something which would carry a message for those who will see and hear the significance of the symbolism. The name of Cosimo came to mind, as I love his music, and felt he might have something to fit what I had in mind. I contacted him on Facebook, and told him what I was looking for. He sent me a version of this song to listen to, and I immediately know it was perfect. I asked if he would allow me to make a video, and he readily agreed. He even went as far as to make a new recording of it which is the one you will hear in this video. Many Thanks to Cosimo, and his wonderful talent on the guitar. I have been blessed to meet people on this journey who speak the same language of Love in spite of being from different parts of the World …
~~November 5, 2018~~ 
It Is What It Is 