Columbus’s first voyage stirred great interest throughout Europe, above all in trade-minded Iberia and the Italian states. Commentary on Columbian events spread through widely circulated manuscripts. His voyages, and those of explorers who followed, opened a period of European exploration and empire building that breached the boundaries of isolated continents and forever changed the course of human history.

Less well known is that religious speculation played an important role in Columbus’s life and actions. He wanted to finance and personally lead a new crusade to return Jerusalem to Christian control, preparing for the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world.

For the first hundred years after the fateful landfall, the Spanish dominated the Americas. They established hundreds of cities, missions, and churches and created an imperial structure that would remain more or less intact for three centuries. Columbus has been roundly blamed for all the things that went wrong with all the Indians of North America until the days of Junipero Serra in nineteenth-century California. The subjugation, decimation, and misfortunes of the natives in the era of the conquistadores are now universally recorded and lamented.

But for some contemporary historians, remorse is not enough. And grandstanding politicians delight in using the commemorative federal holiday to stir ethnic divisions. For some, Columbus and his monuments stand as loathsome symbols of white supremacy. Those who want to pull Columbus’s statues down are often motivated by unreasoning, destructive anti-white animus.

The war on historical monuments and the heritage of American heroes has less to do with aesthetics or history than it does with the question of who will dominate the present. Ultimately it’s about power—and who will leverage the past to overpower opponents and adversaries. That’s why Americans have found themselves in the midst of increasingly tense culture wars centered on the very definition of Western civilization. At the center of those culture wars stands Christopher Columbus, atop that tall granite column in Manhattan, on hundreds of other pedestals throughout the land, and in the minds of millions of Americans, admirers and detractors alike.

read more:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/christopher-columbus-at-...

Frustrated by his Cabinet and angry that he has not received enough credit for his handling of three successive hurricanes, President Trump is now lashing out, rupturing alliances and imperiling his legislative agenda, numerous White House officials and outside advisers said Monday.

In a matter of days, Trump has torched bridges all around him, nearly imploded an informal deal with Democrats to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and plunged himself into the culture wars on issues ranging from birth control to the national anthem.

In doing so, Trump is laboring to solidify his standing with his populist base and return to the comforts of his campaign — especially after the embarrassing defeat of Sen. Luther Strange in last month’s Alabama GOP special election, despite the president’s trip there to campaign with the senator.

Sen. Bob Corker’s brutal assessment of Trump’s fitness for office — warning that the president’s reckless behavior could launch the nation “on the path to World War III” — also hit like a thunderclap inside the White House, where aides feared possible ripple effects among other Republicans on Capitol Hill. 

read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-pressure-cooker-trumps-frustra...

See image at top...

Donald Trump has challenged his secretary of state to “compare IQ tests” – if Rex Tillerson did call the president a “moron”, as reported.

Trump told Forbes magazine: “I think it’s fake news. But if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.”

The president spoke to the magazine on Friday and the interview was published online on Tuesday.

Trump’s tense relationship with Tillerson burst into public view last week. An NBC story claimed Mike Pence, the vice-president, had to talk Tillerson out of resigning this summer, and that Tillerson had called Trump a “moron”. Some reports said he called the president “a fucking moron”.

In a press conference, Tillerson said he never considered resigning but did not deny calling Trump a moron. His spokeswoman said he never used such language. Trump and Tillerson are scheduled to have lunch Tuesday with Jim Mattis, the defense secretary.

In the Forbes interview, Trump also claimed to have had “just about the most legislation passed of any president, in a nine-month period, that’s ever served. We had over 50 bills passed. I’m not talking about executive orders only, which are very important. I’m talking about bills.”

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/10/donald-trump-forbes-rex-...

99 per cent of The Donald's bills passed are idiotic, dangerous and against the letter of humanity: hence they are moronic. The rest (one per cent) is fucking useless. So there.

The team he assembled wasn’t all stars. With a few notable exceptions, it was a coalition of the willing, and a ragtag one at that. And then, through his example and erratic behavior this year, he systematically diminished these recruits. If they had pride and much of a reputation on their way into the administration, they’ll be lucky to hold on to tatters of either on their way out.

The most effective leaders extract the best from the people around them. Trump provokes the worst. Tom Price, his ousted health and human services secretary, was shady from the get-go, but still: Would he have acted quite so high-flying and mighty — all those regal seats on all those pricey charters — but for Trump, whose entire rule smacks of economically self-aggrandizing brand promotion and whose family is busting the Secret Service budget?

Would Mnuchin be so blasé about his own use of government planes? According to multiple reports, he charged the government $800,000 for military transport when commercial flights were available — and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, too, indulged in needlessly expensive air travel.

Would Scott Pruitt, the director of the Environmental Protection Agency, have spent nearly $25,000 on some special phone booth? This fish rots from the bejeweled head.

And these people have become practiced at humiliation. Maybe their perks are Percocets for the pain.

Sessions twisted in the wind while Trump, in tweets and talk, rued that he’d ever appointed him attorney general and suggested that he might dismiss him any day. Spicer sucked up Trump’s boldly advertised displeasure with his comportment at the lectern and even the color of his suits.

read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/serving-trump-cabinet.html

glimpses of dreamland .....

A top US government official stepped forward to refute allegations about derogatory remarks he reportedly made about the president of the United States.

White House chief of staff John Kelly has denied media speculations about him reportedly calling US President Donald Trump “an idiot,” describing these claims as “total BS,” according to The Guardian.

This development occurred after NBC News reported, citing four government officials, that Kelly had allegedly “referred to Trump as ‘an idiot’ multiple times to underscore his point.”

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/201805011064051504-trump-kelly-slur-allegations/

Acting like an idiot is the correct description... not "being an idiot". Read from top.