Why THIS Story NOW?

This week, I have been thinking about how issues which have been in the background for a considerable amount of time suddenly become part of "The Narrative".

First up today, Ken Burns' new series on The American Revolution.

Timing: just before Christmas.

Questions:

Why does this series seem different from, say, his Civil War epic?

It's not long now until the 250th anniversary of the country. Has anything else about the Founding of the Country made the news lately? Why is Ken Burns introducing the subject?

Burns’ latest PBS six-episode documentary, The American Revolution, explores the founding of the United States and the subsequent war with the British Empire. It could have been an excellent start to the upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary of the founding, but sadly, it steers away from celebration and emphasizes both explicit and implicit criticism of the Founders.
Within the first five minutes of the first episode, we are told that the Founders (specifically Benjamin Franklin) used the Iroquois “flourishing democracy” as a blueprint for the United States Constitution. The evidence, however, is sparse, if non-existent, in the documentary.

Franklin frequently commented on the lives of Native Americans, but we have to be careful how we evaluate Franklin’s words on the subject. He was famously satirical, whether he spoke about the British, Americans, or Indians. In a letter to James Parker, dated 20 March 1751, Franklin writes,
It would be a very strange Thing, if six Nations of ignorant Savages should be capable of forming a Scheme for such an Union, and be able to execute it in such a Manner, as that it has subsisted Ages, and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like Union should be impracticable for ten or a Dozen English Colonies, to whom it is more necessary, and must be more advantageous; and who cannot be supposed to want an equal Understanding of their Interests.
Much later, in 1784’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” Franklin speaks highly of the “Civility” of Indians in comparison to the Americans. However, he ends up satirically and equally alluding to a hypocrisy of both groups, as well as the human need to praise the group that he or she is part of.
But Burns doesn’t seem to be interested in nuance and leaves out certain complexities of political and philosophical thought. The entire series is devised around an oppressor-oppressed dialectic.

Concerning Benjamin Franklin and satire, I just read somewhere that the Founders didn't allow Franklin to write the Declaration of Independence because they thought he might include a joke in it somewhere.

Concerning Ken Burns, we do not need another oppressor-oppressed dialectic at this time.

After watching the entire series, Burns’ objective is to claim that principles played no role in the founding of the United States. Rather, it was based on low self-interest. But this creates a contradiction for Burns and his co-directors. One does not speak of liberty and yearning for it unless one has experienced tyranny. Tyranny creates destructive conditions for an individual, be it existentially, economically, or politically. As historian Bernard Bailyn says in the documentary, the creation of the United States is about the “struggles between the possibilities of power and liberty.” It still is. It would have behooved the filmmakers to include a few philosophical points about what the American mind truly is. And why the Americans have loved liberty and limited power.

Got any better ideas for recognizing the American Revolution as an important anniversary approaches?

Compare to the principles made clear in Sullivan Ballou's letter from the Ken Burns Civil War epic. There are versions of the letter floating around in which the part of Sullivan Ballou's letter to his wife concerning the future growth of their sons into "honorable manhood" has been removed. Could not upset The Left with a reference to "Manhood" once "gender" became an issue.

Watch on YouTube

* * * * *

Minnesota and Somalia

When did this become a national issue?

Was it when the NYT finally acknowledged that there were problems under the watch of Tim Walz? Was their piece a personal message to Tim Walz?

Was the NYT piece a response to the piece by Ryan Thorpe and Chris Rufo revealing that terrorists in Somalia were profiting from public program fraud in Minnesota?

If you have been tracking these issues over at Powerline, you know that they have been urging people to give credit to responsible prosecutors (for seven years!), to local reporters and to government whistleblowers who have not gotten much national attention. WHY?

Additionally, a little before the Thorpe/Rufo piece hit, a 7,000 word story was written by Armin Rosen in County Highway.

Thank you to the Wall Street Journal for graciously mentioning and quoting from Armin Rosen’s “superb” 7000 word report on the Minneapolis Somali welfare scams — and crediting local journalists.https://t.co/TzDBu4kZSA

Here is a link to Armin’s story:https://t.co/YgTgC2fzHv
— County Highway (@countyhwy) December 4, 2025

So, when and why did this really become a national issue?

Rosen's X feed has been kind of interesting, whether you agree with it or not.

And here's the other thing, the third rail of this whole topic isn't immigration or Islamophobia or whatever—it's the, uh, frequency with which major politicians drift in and out of the margins of these schemes. It's not smart to go after an Ellison or an Ilhan or a Tim Walz…
— Armin Rosen (@ArminRosen) December 2, 2025

* * * * *

WEEKEND

The Week In Pictures: Minnesota Meltdown Edition

The FBI apprehended the J6 pipe bomber, something the Biden FBI had somehow been unable to do. Weirdly, he turned out to be a left-wing extremist. The The FBI apprehended the J6 pipe bomber, something the Biden FBI had somehow been unable to do. Weirdly, he turned out to be a left-wing extremist. The Democrats chose their latest cause: standing up for Venezuela’s narco-terrorist regime. They advanced a novel “legal” theory, that it is perfectly OK to kill drug dealers in the Caribbean by blowing up their boat, but only if you do it in a single explosion. Makes perfect sense, just like how we fought World War II.
But the biggest story of the week was corruption in Minnesota–billions stolen from taxpayers, mostly by Somalis, under the somnolent eye of Governor Tim Walz. Actually, that was the big story of 2022, but better late than never. We welcome the national press to the fray, and have participated enthusiastically in their reprise of the stories we have been writing for years.

* * * * *

Music

Winter, original version

Meahwhile, in Poland, the Energy Chamber orchestra

Allegero non molto, First Movement

If you don't think it's different from the original, check at 2:09.

Largo, Second Movement

Allegro, Third Movement

* * * * *

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

* * * * *

Last week's thread, November 29, Reaching a State of Readiness After Thanksgiving

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

Posted by: K.T. at 11:20 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 hola

Posted by: alpine_beer at December 06, 2025 11:22 AM (van9r)

2 Unlike Burn's Civil War Documentary, I think only a relative handful of people are paying any attention to this one. Most likely due to the collapse in the numbers of those who tune in to PBS over the last couple of decades.
Oh, they'll still get all the Righteous and Faithful who will swear that it is Holy Doctrine, and they control the pages of the NYT - but not many people are really paying attention to them, either. Not anymore.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 06, 2025 11:26 AM (uWKK8)

3 After watching the entire series, Burns’ objective is to claim that principles played no role in the founding of the United States. Rather, it was based on low self-interest.

I was wondering if he would go all 1619 on us. He did. FOAD.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:29 AM (Riz8t)

4 Good morning KT

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 11:33 AM (Ia/+0)

5 Got any better ideas for recognizing the American Revolution as an important anniversary approaches?

At the Bicentennial, there were a whole bunch of community cookbooks to celebrate it. I’ll be releasing my own Sestercentennial Cookery (one TexasMoMe attendee got a one-off AOSHQ ashcan in October) in January.

But what about a second AOSHQ cookbook, with not just heritage recipes but also Moronic history lessons and other revolutionary advice? I’m thinking Junior Moron Guidebook; I think we have a lot of historical writers here on the HQ as well as other practical writers that might be able to contribute one-page or one-paragraph essays related to American history.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at December 06, 2025 11:34 AM (EXyHK)

6 Question:

Who TF died and made Ken Burns the expert on US history?

When I first heard he was going to 'do' the American Revolution, I could sense his deconstruction of it coming a mile away.

Ken Burns is a sawed-off leftist prick, and we should pay him no mind.

Posted by: Don Black at December 06, 2025 11:35 AM (ZxPkt)

7 Burns is obsessed with the nobility of the Black Man! He will do anything to tear down the institutions that he thinks enslaved him or kept him servile (baseball).

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 06, 2025 11:36 AM (GLocS)

8 This little charmer from a (claims to be Somalian) X account:

"...after close to a century of attacking Islam they’ve never been successful. Their plans to demonize and vilify Islam have never worked. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. --You can never defeat a people who only fear Allah.--"

Pulling them off the gubmint tit won't be pretty...and that's just the politicians. Then comes the millions of newly arrived gimmegrants from sheitholes that hate us.

Posted by: ju at December 06, 2025 11:36 AM (EgpoY)

9 I guess it's a good thing that PBS can't survive without taxpayer money, otherwise we'd all be paying for this.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:36 AM (Riz8t)

10 Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at December 06, 2025 11:34 AM (EXyHK)

Nag Ace. We are all set and ready to go with a second edition, but would prefer his okay.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 06, 2025 11:37 AM (GLocS)

11 Ken Burns is, was and always will be an Ass Head.

Why anyone watches his anti-white, anti-American and anti-truth propaganda nonsense is beyond me.

Posted by: Zombie Leni Riefenstahl at December 06, 2025 11:37 AM (R/m4+)

12 >>> Within the first five minutes of the first episode, we are told that the Founders (specifically Benjamin Franklin) used the Iroquois “flourishing democracy” as a blueprint for the United States Constitution. The evidence, however, is sparse, if non-existent, in the documentary.

Yes, Franklin only credits the Iroquois for inspiring the idea of banding together in a confederacy of shared interests. He has no western influences to draw on...like the Greeks or the Swiss. Nope, Indians only! It is to laugh.

Ken Burns luckily has faded in relevancy. Who cares about him anymore? The only threat this documentary has is if it's shown in high schools to young skulls full of mush, who are too uneducated to be critical thinkers yet, and don't realize it's all bogus info. Thats where the danger happens.

Posted by: LizLem at December 06, 2025 11:38 AM (gWBY1)

13 Ken Burns?

Isn't he the guy that played “Feels So Good” in '77?

LOL - Well, that's who he looks like to me.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 06, 2025 11:39 AM (cYBz/)

14 I'm burning all my Channel 13 Tote Bags in protest!

Ken Burns can go squeeze a a breeze!

Posted by: NYC Refugee Since 1988 at December 06, 2025 11:39 AM (oftw2)

15 What Key is Largo in?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 06, 2025 11:39 AM (pkeXY)

16 Does Burns still have that goofy haircut?

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at December 06, 2025 11:40 AM (L9Jmf)

17 Ken Burns is, was and always will be an Ass Head.

Why anyone watches his anti-white, anti-American and anti-truth propaganda nonsense is beyond me.

He kind of restrained himself in The Civil War. That was before he was famous and could let his freak flag fly. Now, it's "I hate whitey". He blends right in at PBS.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:40 AM (Riz8t)

18 Saw but a long trailer on Ken Burns Propaganda 6 part miniseries. But watched a couple hours of videos taking down Ken's Propaganda miniseries.
Actually best wasn't as much as taking apart as what Ken's Propaganda didn't say. The synopsis the video said was it was about the war, not the Revolution. Besides all the Propaganda filled war, was about nothing the Revolution was about. Nothing hardly on the Constitution they fought for, the Bill of Rights they fought for. Just a lot of what Ken wanted it to be for which wasn't historically correct.
I might be able to find that video but can't be sure to find it.

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 11:41 AM (Ia/+0)

19 The only threat this documentary has is if it's shown in high schools to young skulls full of mush, . . .
Posted by: LizLem

We need the likes of Professor Houseman once again.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 06, 2025 11:41 AM (cYBz/)

20 What Key is Largo in?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr.

The key of Sea.

Duh.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 06, 2025 11:42 AM (cYBz/)

21 Ken Burns lost his virginity to his mommy's black maid, who was then fired for stealing the silver.

He has felt guilty ever since!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 06, 2025 11:42 AM (GLocS)

22 Ken Burns or Howard Zinn. What a choice!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 06, 2025 11:43 AM (pkeXY)

23 It will be interesting to contrast the upcoming "Young Washington" movie with Burns' agitprop.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:44 AM (Riz8t)

24 >>> But what about a second AOSHQ cookbook, with not just heritage recipes but also Moronic history lessons and other revolutionary advice?

That could be fun! I've made George Washington's favorite cornbread recipe and it's really good.

Posted by: LizLem at December 06, 2025 11:45 AM (gWBY1)

25
Her Majesty and The Big Dummy have set off on their trip.

I love my wife, but by the time she leaves I'm ready for her to be gone for three weeks.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 06, 2025 11:46 AM (tgvbd)

26 Ken Burns is the Howard Zinn of PBS.

Posted by: no one at December 06, 2025 11:47 AM (W7XSX)

27
We need the likes of Professor Houseman once again.
Posted by: Tonypete

John Houseman reads the phone book:

https://youtu.be/S_LA4gJeCio

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 06, 2025 11:49 AM (pkeXY)

28 https://tinyurl.com/2z2xv4rn
Bit as said think I did a good quick synopsis on his video

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 11:49 AM (Ia/+0)

29 There's speculation that the Somali fraud will approach much more than the $1 billion being reported.

More like $8 billion.

Or more.

And, yea, Walz and many MN state/federal politicos are in on it.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 06, 2025 11:50 AM (NwnyJ)

30 My mom was surprised I wouldn't want to watch a nice history of the Revolution

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 11:50 AM (Ia/+0)

31 That could be fun! I've made George Washington's favorite cornbread recipe and it's really good.
Posted by: LizLem

Doesn't dry, old cornbread stick to wooden teef?

Posted by: Affordable Dentures, Inc. at December 06, 2025 11:52 AM (oftw2)

32 Reportedly, the cocaine street prices in Europe have gone up by a quarter to a third. This is hurting someone or someones bigly.

The Dutch navy has been patrolling the Dutch Antilles and waters off Suriname for 20 years, boarding and sinking the drug couriers, and have not been able to make this much of a dent in the supply.

I have heard speculations that if the drug trade out of South America were ended, it might collapse some countries' economies

Posted by: Kindltot at December 06, 2025 11:52 AM (rbvCR)

33 My mom was surprised I wouldn't want to watch a nice history of the Revolution

To which the correct response is "when they make one, I will".

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:53 AM (Riz8t)

34 Thing of State Fraud is the fraud is shoveled out by state bureaucracy who earns lots of salary and no doubt bonuses how much they can shovel out.

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 11:53 AM (Ia/+0)

35 we do not need another oppressor-oppressed dialectic at this time.

Oh, honey chile, that just shows how badly we need reeducation camps in this so-called country.

Posted by: Jasmine C. from Dallas at December 06, 2025 11:53 AM (0sNs1)

36 That could be fun! I've made George Washington's favorite cornbread recipe and it's really good.

I’m making Thomas Jefferson’s beans & rice for tonight, and it’s making the house smell ridiculously good.

I’ll bet that cornbread would be great with it.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at December 06, 2025 11:53 AM (EXyHK)

37 Ken Burns is the Howard Zinn of Herbert Marcuses.

Posted by: no one at December 06, 2025 11:53 AM (W7XSX)

38 If the gop cuts $1B spending they’re the worst monsters on earth.

Somalia steal $1B, what the big deal guys?

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 06, 2025 11:53 AM (wrRTB)

39 But the biggest story of the week was corruption in Minnesota–billions stolen from taxpayers, mostly by Somalis, under the somnolent eye of Governor Tim Walz.

Somalis are all over X explaining how wonderful Somalia is.

It's just that they don't want to live there.

And, of course, you have Minnesota AWFLs on X (who probably live in lily-white small towns) explaining what wonderful neighbors the Somalis are.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 06, 2025 11:54 AM (xTIDn)

40 That could be fun! I've made George Washington's favorite cornbread recipe and it's really good.

I'd say you should try his rye whiskey, but I've had his rye whiskey. Bleccchhhh.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:54 AM (Riz8t)

41 Ken Burns is the Howard Zinn of Herbert Marcuses.

Ken Burns is the Lloyd Christmas of Moe Howards.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:55 AM (Riz8t)

42 Problem with Ken Burns is 20 or 30 years from now it will be THE truth. Like if you say it’s nonsense that Indians wrote the constitution people will say no it’s true, the great historian Ken Burns did a show on it and everything.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 06, 2025 11:56 AM (wrRTB)

43 To which the correct response is "when they make one, I will".

Allen Guelzo’s America’s Founding Fathers was quite good. I don’t think it’s ever been aired on TV, though.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at December 06, 2025 11:56 AM (EXyHK)

44 Could not upset The Left with a reference to "Manhood" once "gender" became an issue.
----

As a power lesbian, Ken Burns felt particularly targeted by such engorged speech.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 11:56 AM (kpS4V)

45 Burns' Civil War completely ignored the religious revival that was happening at the same time. I finished an annotated diary and collected letters of an Illinois volunteer who was in the Army of the West, and he speaks regularly about camp meetings and church services.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 06, 2025 11:56 AM (rbvCR)

46 Allen Guelzo’s America’s Founding Fathers was quite good. I don’t think it’s ever been aired on TV, though.

Agreed, and I actually saw it, but can't remember where. Possibly Netflix?

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:57 AM (Riz8t)

47
Take out the Cat Ballou letter from his "The Civil War" series and Burns would have had have nothing special.

He's a nullity who is flying above his clearance level.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at December 06, 2025 11:57 AM (f0f+R)

48 Breaking News: Famous astronaut Katy Perry and distinguished Canadian political figure Justin Trudeau are now an official couple!

Posted by: AoSHQ Celebrity News Bureau and Rumour Centre at December 06, 2025 11:57 AM (0sNs1)

49 Take out the Cat Ballou letter from his "The Civil War" series and Burns would have had have nothing special.

He's a nullity who is flying above his clearance level.

No, I don't agree with that. Between the music, Shelby Foote, and what was at the time a revolutionary way of presenting a documentary, it was quite good (IMHO). You could tell, though, that he had to fight the urge to make it all a polemic about the evil white man.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 11:59 AM (Riz8t)

50
And, yea, Walz and many MN state/federal politicos are in on it.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 06, 2025 11:50 AM (NwnyJ)

____________

My guess: this will not be pursued vigorously because nobody wants to know how bad and so widespread it really is.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 06, 2025 12:01 PM (tgvbd)

51 Apparently many of the whistleblowers on MN's mega-corruption are in fact from state agencies, and much of the digging/reporting has been done by actual local journalists. For years.

It's actually a pretty stark (if redundant) illustration of how normal, good things and people still exist across the country, even in the worst-run places - but the de facto blackout on information by MSM and the indolence of Congress, supplemented by collaboration by key federal agencies (except during the black swan Trump periods), conceal such mega-scandals from most of the public.

Posted by: rhomboid at December 06, 2025 12:02 PM (U/Byj)

52 If Somalia is so great when Trump deports their asses they should be delighted to return to the homeland. Right?

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 06, 2025 12:02 PM (wrRTB)

53 I had a history teacher at UH who loved all the woke tropes, and this was the late 80's. So I heard that Iroquois Confederact thing. Also, Cleopatra was black, and other shite.

But, he was a very engaging speaker and did point out that the Aztecs were an imperialist power who engaged in a bit of cannibalism to boost the protein content of their food.

It was a fun class if you already read a lot of history and took his words with a bag of salt.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 12:04 PM (kpS4V)

54 12 >>> Within the first five minutes of the first episode, we are told that the Founders (specifically Benjamin Franklin) used the Iroquois “flourishing democracy” as a blueprint for the United States Constitution. The evidence, however, is sparse, if non-existent, in the documentary.

Yes, Franklin only credits the Iroquois for inspiring the idea of banding together in a confederacy of shared interests. He has no western influences to draw on...like the Greeks or the Swiss. Nope, Indians only! It is to laugh.
Posted by: LizLem
=======
Ben proposed a unified colonial structure to deal with the British Empire during the midst of the French and Indian War in a meeting of colonies.
Here are some original sources directly from the NY Historical Society (meeting occurred in Albany NY 1754)

His later colonial agency to the Crown as a lobbyist for the colonies also played into his interest in the matter later.
https://tinyurl.com/k4mm3a68

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:06 PM (WDjG6)

55 Breaking News: Famous astronaut Katy Perry and distinguished Canadian political figure Justin Trudeau are now an official couple!
Posted by: AoSHQ Celebrity News Bureau and Rumour Centre at December 06, 2025 11:57 AM (0sNs1)

And didn't think Justin liked girls.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at December 06, 2025 12:06 PM (L9Jmf)

56 Watch 1776 and April Morning, will get more history from those movies than Ken Burns' 'documentary.'

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 06, 2025 12:06 PM (e2cjy)

57 >>> Breaking News: Famous astronaut Katy Perry and distinguished Canadian political figure Justin Trudeau are now an official couple!
Posted by: AoSHQ Celebrity News Bureau and Rumour Centre at December 06, 2025 11:57 AM (0sNs1)

This is not the "suck it, Orlando!" Flex she thinks it is. Apparently her ex was pursuing Sydney Sweeney at the Bezos wedding. Why pine for Perry's two fjords when you could have Sydney's?

She tried to buy a convent in LA and the nuns there were fighting against the sale. Apparently the stress of it killed one of them. I never heard who eventually bought the property. But I hope it's not some satanic worshipper after being such holy ground.

Posted by: LizLem at December 06, 2025 12:07 PM (gWBY1)

58 In middle school I had a history teacher tell us how Indians invented some kind of farming technique. Also something about them discovering strawberries 12 year old me had no clue that he was full of shit. I figured it out later.

But I’d bet 75% of the class still believes it (assuming they paid attention in class to begin with).

This is how the left wields its power in education.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 06, 2025 12:08 PM (wrRTB)

59 In middle school I had a history teacher tell us how Indians invented some kind of farming technique.

Burying a fish at the base of each corn plant?

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 12:11 PM (Riz8t)

60 used the Iroquois “flourishing democracy” as a blueprint for the United States Constitution. The evidence, however, is sparse, if non-existent, in the documentary.

At the time, the Iroquois didn't have a written language.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 06, 2025 12:11 PM (xTIDn)

61 Agreed, and I actually saw it, but can't remember where. Possibly Netflix?

I got it from one of those Great Courses catalog sales about a year ago. I used to get them all the time, but haven’t received one in probably over a year now.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (EXyHK)

62 In middle school I had a history teacher tell us how Indians invented some kind of farming technique.

Ummmmm. . . . pooping in the garden.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (cYBz/)

63 Shamans vs Antibiotics - who you gonna trust?

Posted by: Pudinhead at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (NBPRu)

64 If Somalia is so great when Trump deports their asses they should be delighted to return to the homeland. Right?

Minnesota is full of Somalis who are allegedly here because they would be killed in Somalia who periodically return to Somalia on vacation.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (xTIDn)

65 Katy Perry did win a lawsuit against an aging veteran to get his mansion.

Stay classy Katy.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (e2cjy)

66 "And, of course, you have Minnesota AWFLs on X (who probably live in lily-white small towns) explaining what wonderful neighbors the Somalis are."

One would think Somalis could at least pretend to be wonderful neighbors, while they are stealing billions from us. I have no idea what their US neighborhoods are really like ... probably 10X better than Somalia.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (vbXSk)

67 53 I had a history teacher at UH who loved all the woke tropes, and this was the late 80's. So I heard that Iroquois Confederact thing. Also, Cleopatra was black, and other shite.
Posted by: All Hail Eris
========
Academia got into thing where the latest fad became a contest to see how outrageous one could be in assertions rather than the actual and rather dull accumulation of knowledge. The strange, queer, and atypical was the ticket to getting published and grants so that became what academia favored.

Add in leftist capture of the institution, you basically got a leftist version of Ripley's Believe It or Not where all the villians were of pallor and wealth and all the various imagined oppressed groups were the true heroes of history. Add in conspiracy based crap on no evidence, then you get Cleopatra had to be black as did Jesus, or even the nutty sun people versus whitey promoted by Hakeem Jeffries uncle Leonard.

Denialism of accepted historical explanations backed by documented original sources and derivative secondary ones and archaelogical evidence became the norm.

White guilt is one of the most destructive things promoted by neo marxists to destroy the West.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:13 PM (WDjG6)

68 65 Katy Perry did win a lawsuit against an aging veteran to get his mansion.

Stay classy Katy.
Posted by: Anna Puma
-------
I would prefer she stays in Canada and keeps up with Justin Trudeau. They deserve each other.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:14 PM (WDjG6)

69 I think Sullivan Ballou's letter may tell us more about the principles behind the American Revolution that Ken Burns' new series. And the music they put with it really fits.

Posted by: KT at December 06, 2025 12:15 PM (7vIsy)

70 62 In middle school I had a history teacher tell us how Indians invented some kind of farming technique.

Ummmmm. . . . pooping in the garden.
Posted by: Tonypete
=====
Ecclesiastes nothing new under the sun comes to mind here and mainly sells because Colleges of Education admit some of the lowest performing students on campus and then fill their heads full of rubbish. These students then become teachers spouting rubbish to the students who promptly internalize the rubbish themselves and then proceed to build their own rubbish heaps in their minds.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:17 PM (WDjG6)

71 "Burying a fish at the base of each corn plant?"

We all seemed to have learned that in 5th grade. Probably urban legend. If they had that many fish, they should have eaten the fish rather than the possible ear of corn months later.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 06, 2025 12:18 PM (vbXSk)

72 I did read how South American Indians developed a kind of living soil made from burnt plant and animal matter, plus pottery shards and of course poop from various sources, that they would use in farming plots since the soil of the jungles was, oddly enough, so deficient.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 12:19 PM (kpS4V)

73 Katy was in the McLaren garage at the F-1 qualifying this morning

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 12:19 PM (Ia/+0)

74 Matt Walsh does a long take down of Ken's Propaganda inserts

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 12:22 PM (Ia/+0)

75 It can be lunch time, but then it's Saturday

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 12:23 PM (Ia/+0)

76 69 I think Sullivan Ballou's letter may tell us more about the principles behind the American Revolution that Ken Burns' new series. And the music they put with it really fits.
Posted by: KT

Liberty! The American Revolution by noted historian Thomas Fleming is the far better bet. History Channel when it actually had history used to run that series over and over again. Better yet, actually read many of Thomas Fleming's historical works (or his historical fiction where he doesn't make up key historical events nor facts if that is your cup of tea).

One of the most thorough eviscerations of FDR and his WWII performance is in Fleming's The New Dealer's War book. Unlike Schlaes who tends toward the polemic, Fleming admits he began the project being favorable toward FDR and his legacy but the historical evidence he uncovered of FDR's nasty/vicious personality and his minions ideology over practicality changed his mind when writing the book.

His book on Washington's Fabian tactics to win the Revolutionary War is also quite excellent. Basically his political opponents to his strategy wanted to rerun Bunker Hill over and over again. Washington, after the NYC debacle, declined.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:23 PM (WDjG6)

77
I have an in-law, a white person, publicly declaim that she was tired of white people.

Sure thing, dearie.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at December 06, 2025 12:26 PM (xG4kz)

78 " ... we do not need another oppressor-oppressed dialectic at this time. "

and yet here we are.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at December 06, 2025 12:27 PM (Cjt/F)

79 72 I did read how South American Indians developed a kind of living soil made from burnt plant and animal matter, plus pottery shards and of course poop from various sources, that they would use in farming plots since the soil of the jungles was, oddly enough, so deficient.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Heavy rains tend to wash out the key ingredients of biomass. Even in the US, many areas of primeval forests actually had a thin layer of fertile soil over rocky or clay soils that needed biomass to become fertile for crops. That decline in soil fertility from continuous crop cultivation and erosion of the humus was in part drove Western expansion from the Eastern colonies by farmers.

A few wise farmers, like George Washington did crop rotations, allowing animals to graze the stubble and poop, and other practices to keep the soil fertile but most simply sold up back east to buy new fresh land in the West.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:28 PM (WDjG6)

80 Tim Pool claims his house was shot at by an unknown gunman who approached his property in a vehicle.

Posted by: one hour sober at December 06, 2025 12:30 PM (Y1sOo)

81 Eris, the Amazon Indians are descended from Polynesian and Australia. They are the ones that knew how to enrich sandy soil. DNA has confirmed the Kon Tiki story.

Posted by: Pudinhead at December 06, 2025 12:31 PM (NBPRu)

82 "Burying a fish at the base of each corn plant?"

We all seemed to have learned that in 5th grade. Probably urban legend. If they had that many fish, they should have eaten the fish rather than the possible ear of corn months later.

I always assumed they just picked up dead and rotting fish on the shore.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 12:33 PM (Riz8t)

83 And, yea, Walz and many MN state/federal politicos are in on it.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 06, 2025 11:50 AM (NwnyJ)

Tim Walz reminds me of that episode where the retarded kid shows Archie Bunker he had the blade in backwards while planing the bathroom door and no little crinkles were coming out.

Posted by: Meathead at December 06, 2025 12:35 PM (R/m4+)

84 18 Saw but a long trailer on Ken Burns Propaganda 6 part miniseries. But watched a couple hours of videos taking down Ken's Propaganda miniseries.
Actually best wasn't as much as taking apart as what Ken's Propaganda didn't say. The synopsis the video said was it was about the war, not the Revolution. Besides all the Propaganda filled war, was about nothing the Revolution was about. Nothing hardly on the Constitution they fought for, the Bill of Rights they fought for. Just a lot of what Ken wanted it to be for which wasn't historically correct.
I might be able to find that video but can't be sure to find it.
Posted by: Skip

If you are interested in real history, one of the more interesting collections of Revolutionary War original documents is one of ministerial sermons that were recorded and passed around.

Here is a link to a general discussion of Revolution as seen from the pulpit.
https://tinyurl.com/yw77cncr
Link goes to Academia website. Article is about 46 pages.

Online Library of Liberty from the Liberty Fund has a two volume compliation of ministerial sermons about the Revolution and precursor events to it.

https://tinyurl.com/2vfpwzww

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:36 PM (WDjG6)

85 77
I have an in-law, a white person, publicly declaim that she was tired of white people.

Sure thing, dearie.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot:
-----
I suppose it would be rude to suggest that Canada has a solution for that issue.

Being direct, I would probably just mention that bigotry is pernicious even if you think badly of yourself. Actions matter more than color.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:38 PM (WDjG6)

86 This is a timely thread - but I have nothing optimistic to say about it. I will note ... take a look at Fox News right now. Number One article ? A puff piece about Little Mogadishu.

What do I think - not that you care ? We've hit critical mass here. Regardless of what IronGrampa says - we collectively are going to give this country away. Partly as a rejection of nationalism, partly as a pursuit of the quarterly-profit capitalism that prevails here, but mostly as a rejection of anything remotely resembling a collective treatment of groups - commonly called racism or stereotyping.

That thought process, before certain folks start howling, didn't begin with Gen Z. It was taught in public schools to all ages in the 80s. Gen Z wasn't doing the teaching 40 years ago. No more than Millennials made their own participation trophies.

Posted by: The Slow Decline at December 06, 2025 12:39 PM (k2Vk4)

87 One of the most thorough eviscerations of FDR and his WWII performance is in Fleming's The New Dealer's War book.

I read that one recently and it was excellent. I'm currently reading "The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance" by David T. Beito. As if I needed another reason to hate FDR.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 12:42 PM (Riz8t)

88 One of the most thorough eviscerations of FDR and his WWII performance is in Fleming's The New Dealer's War book.

Or just read anything - pretty much anything - late by Morgenthau.

FDR doesn't reside on my Mt. Rushmore of Presidential Pricks for nothing.

Posted by: The Slow Decline at December 06, 2025 12:44 PM (k2Vk4)

89 78 " ... we do not need another oppressor-oppressed dialectic at this time. "

and yet here we are.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez
=====
They do it for power and to raise their social status over others. I call it bullshit. And most normal people of any race don't try to pull that shit. It is almost wholly the conceit of overeducated and maleducated twits that are trying to compete among other perceived opponents in their social class for personal benefit.

History periodically records such idiotic enthusiasms among the perceived elite classes such as iconoclasm, witchcraft, or traditional economic based Marxism. All bullshit and designed to make the bien pensants think they are better than others in society because their shit doesn't stink.

1776's line in the song about the triangular trade comes to mind, "who stinketh the most!" illustrating hypocrisy.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:45 PM (WDjG6)

90 Thx K.T.
Liked Burns Civil War largely because of Shelby Foote. Also because Ashokan Farewell is written by people from my county and the Ashokan Resovoir is about 12 m from my house.
His Baseball series kind of sucked.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at December 06, 2025 12:45 PM (bfwj/)

91 My people buried a penguin at base of every corn plant, which led to mass starvation and the end of the tribe. Except for me.

Posted by: Heap Big Lizzy Warren at December 06, 2025 12:45 PM (vFG9F)

92 I'm going to pick up Rick Atkinson's second book on his Revolutionary War trilogy. It includes the burning of my city . The first book was good

Posted by: Smell the Glove at December 06, 2025 12:47 PM (bfwj/)

93 A six tribes of savages ocracy if you can keep it.

Posted by: Boss Moss at December 06, 2025 12:47 PM (H12NW)

94 His Baseball series kind of sucked.

In all fairness to Ken Burns - any series about a sport that sucks is gonna' suck just because.

Ken Burns does Manual Bowling Pin Placement Through The Ages could be incredibly insightful and factual. Yet suck by default.

Posted by: The Slow Decline at December 06, 2025 12:47 PM (k2Vk4)

95 Oops. We call it maze.

Posted by: Heap Big Lizzy Warren at December 06, 2025 12:48 PM (vFG9F)

96 He did one documentary on the African Space Program.

Posted by: Boss Moss at December 06, 2025 12:49 PM (H12NW)

97 Have not watched this series. My sister loved it, so I assume that it was leftist revisionism with musket volley sound effects.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at December 06, 2025 12:49 PM (R86kT)

98
Oops. We call it maze.
Posted by: Heap Big Lizzy Warren

That's where you get lost.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 06, 2025 12:50 PM (pkeXY)

99 The American Revolution started a little too early. We let some trouble makers drag us into the war early.

Posted by: Boss Moss at December 06, 2025 12:50 PM (H12NW)

100 The American Revolution started a little too early. We let some trouble makers drag us into the war early.

Probably Ukraine.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 12:52 PM (Riz8t)

101 Or just read anything - pretty much anything - late by Morgenthau.

FDR doesn't reside on my Mt. Rushmore of Presidential Pricks for nothing.
Posted by: The Slow Decline

What I think was unique about Fleming is in the foreword where he admits that he was a FDR fan in part due to the FDR saved Democracy trope. Fleming spent much of his career investigating the Revolutionary War and its aftermath but not much on more recent history. So he kind of just went with the flow of his generation (he died in his 90's fairly recently (1927-2017) and so did not seriously consider FDR as a historical figure until quite late in his career. That Man, by confidant and later Scotus Justice Robert Jackson is also not a flattering portrayal of the man whether Jackson realized it or not.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:52 PM (WDjG6)

102 "At the time, the Iroquois didn't have a written language."

Nor wheels.

Posted by: no one at December 06, 2025 12:52 PM (W7XSX)

103 Fox News: Somalis are just like all immigrants guyzzzz.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at December 06, 2025 12:54 PM (wrRTB)

104 Good morning everyone,

The comment below clearly outlines what we have lost. (Thanks whig)

"Denialism of accepted historical explanations backed by documented original sources and derivative secondary ones and archaeological evidence became the norm."

Now, how do we return to any accepted historical explanations? Trust in any historical claims has been destroyed. Wasn't there a quote that came out of communist Russia along the lines of "the present we know, it is the past that keeps changing"?

Our country's history should be a shared heritage, but is now fractured by competing views. It is difficult for me not to be discouraged when trying to see a way forward.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at December 06, 2025 12:55 PM (La8zG)

105 Ken Burns no longer has Shelby Foote to hold up the series and it clearly shows. He should do what he really wants to do and that's Black History

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at December 06, 2025 12:56 PM (FCrpy)

106 John Adams:"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." It is inadequate for savages from another culture, especially those who have no respect for Euro-American traditions

Posted by: JM in Illinois at December 06, 2025 12:56 PM (tyDOg)

107 Roundheads were the hot heads. Oddly. It was the American Anglicans that won the Rebellion.

Posted by: Pudinhead at December 06, 2025 12:57 PM (NBPRu)

108 Yet Shelby had a plagiarism hanging over his head and somehow I decided never to read any of his books.

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 12:57 PM (Ia/+0)

109 If Netflix does a Washington movie he'll be black and gay. They'll get Jussie Smollett to play the part.

Posted by: Aren't you that faggot nagger from Mt. Vernon? at December 06, 2025 12:58 PM (TbWk/)

110 Academia got into thing where the latest fad became a contest to see how outrageous one could be in assertions rather than the actual and rather dull accumulation of knowledge.

Several years ago Biblical Archaeology ran something from some nutcase about how Adam’s rib should actually be translated as Adam’s penis.

In unrelated news, this appeared shortly before I let my subscription lapse.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at December 06, 2025 12:58 PM (EXyHK)

111 Yet Shelby had a plagiarism hanging over his head and somehow I decided never to read any of his books.

AI:
While
Shelby Foote himself wasn't accused of plagiarism, his letters and personal life were central to a major plagiarism controversy involving Wallace Stegner's Pulitzer-winning novel Angle of Repose (1971), where Stegner heavily used Foote's (and his wife Mary Hallock Foote's) unpublished letters without full attribution, sparking debates on fair use, appropriation, and literary ethics that continue today, with critics calling it literary theft while others defended it as creating authentic depth

I think you can read Shelby Foote in peace.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 12:58 PM (Riz8t)

112 His Baseball series kind of sucked.
Posted by: Smell the Glove

Heroes and Villians bullshit, most documentaries are actually propaganda disguised as information. Using tricks of the trade, a documentarian can easily omit conflicting stories and evidence, manipulate emotions at the lizard brain level through images and music, and choose which features to highlight and which to downplay.

So Burns made Ty Cobb a monster which was a gross overstatement for example while making other not so nice players into saints.

Documentaries that feature panels of experts can be a bit better but often books and original sources are far better in information presentment, more recognizant of nuance, and more dense in actual information than what is put into a documentary.

Harder to manipulate emotions through printed matter than by storytelling with music and images. Easier for most to spot tricks in printed matter by going back to the specific page than rewinding to 32:17 on the tape to replay something unfair, distorted, or downright a lie.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 12:59 PM (WDjG6)

113 Ken Burns has always been a Leftist, and the difference between his Civil War documentary and his American Revolution documentary is reflective of the journey made by the Left over the last four decades. Leftists have become increasingly Marxist, totalitarian, and now hate the U.S., and they admit it. Leftists have gone off the rails. That was not generally the situation in 1990 when Burns did his Civil War documentary.

Posted by: Ralph at December 06, 2025 12:59 PM (8WZD4)

114 Putting on YouTube see VDH has a take down on Ken Burns Propaganda miniseries

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 12:59 PM (Ia/+0)

115 As if I needed another reason to hate FDR.
Posted by: Archimedes at December 06, 2025 12:42 PM (Riz8t)

FDR should have been dug up and placed in the docket at Nuremberg alongside Goering and Dr. Gurgles.

Posted by: FDR was a communist and War Criminal at December 06, 2025 12:59 PM (R/m4+)

116 What I think was unique about Fleming is in the foreword where he admits that he was a FDR fan in part due to the FDR saved Democracy trope.

Interesting.

I've done - like I always do - my own reading on FDR. And Lincoln. And Nixon. And on and on.

I decided, at least by my 30s, that FDR was much more Communist than Hitler. Morgenthau's writings told the tail. Good ol' FDR wanted to convert the entire war effort to everyone collecting their paycheck from the Fed. FDR had to be talked down from simply Nationalizing entire "critical corporations". Even Hitler never considered these things.

On these simple number-lines of how to look at WW II ? We were to the Right of the Soviets but Left of the Nazis when it came to Economic Freedom.

So, of course, two generations deified the guy and statues and schools were built in his name. FDR was a tyrant.

Posted by: The Slow Decline at December 06, 2025 01:00 PM (k2Vk4)

117 Obligatory

https://youtu.be/T6xJzAYYrX8

Posted by: toby928(c) at December 06, 2025 01:00 PM (jc0TO)

118 I cannot tell a lie. Two white men in King George III hats forced me to chop down the cherry tree. Then they wrapped a noose around my neck, poured a solution of ashen lye upon me, shouted "THIS IS RED COAT COUNTRY" and ran away.

Posted by: George Faggington at December 06, 2025 01:01 PM (TbWk/)

119 Katy Perry did win a lawsuit against an aging veteran to get his mansion.

Stay classy Katy.

Meh. The veteran sold the property to Perry and then tried to back out of the deal. His defense was that he didn't know what he was signing.

This was probably the correct legal result, although Perry might wonder whether the hit to her reputation was worth the money.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 06, 2025 01:01 PM (8DR9B)

120 Several years ago Biblical Archaeology ran something from some nutcase about how Adam’s rib should actually be translated as Adam’s penis.

In unrelated news, this appeared shortly before I let my subscription lapse.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair
=======
Yep. And opposite the truth, increasingly academic presentations as a discussant meant that any criticism became politically charged as whitey putting POC down or some other stupid bullshit. Simple epistemology observations of shoddy research became verboten. Even when it was kindly packaged as "what make you think this 'finding' is generalizable beyond your classroom".

Millennials ruined academia. And Colleges of Education ruined millennials before that because k12 ideology from teachers from these education mills in the 70's and 80's preceded millennials being maleducated.

Posted by: whig at December 06, 2025 01:05 PM (WDjG6)

121 NG Andrew Wolfe I take it still clings onto life, one can only hope he recovers fully but it will be a very long road I guess

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 01:05 PM (Ia/+0)

122 KT,
Thanks for including the Voices of Music video using period correct instruments and original score. Bach and Vivaldi played like that is different, so much better and richer than modern versions. The other video is a talented burlesque with the foot stomping.

Posted by: JTB at December 06, 2025 01:05 PM (yTvNw)

123 I cannot tell a lie. Two white men in King George III hats forced me to chop down the cherry tree.

But you could exceed orders - by quite a bit - and if you didn't start the French and Indian war by yourself ? Well, you at least got in the Team Photo.

Ol' George was politically ambitious right out the gate. It really is amazing that he didn't try to hold onto power more than two terms. Because George liked power.

Posted by: The Slow Decline at December 06, 2025 01:06 PM (k2Vk4)

124 107 Roundheads were the hot heads. Oddly. It was the American Anglicans that won the Rebellion.
Posted by: Pudinhead

Charlie Brown was a Roundhead.

No, on second thought, he was a Blockhead.

Posted by: Lucy Van Pelt at December 06, 2025 01:06 PM (oftw2)

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