February 2019

Some folks need to ‘fall back’ from the “Fauxcahontas” nonsense, and stop the ‘bashing banter’ bandwagon on issues they don’t understand, as in those claiming that Senator Elizabeth Warren claimed Native American ancestry to get benefits.  Warren’s 2018 DNA test showing only a trace amount of Native American ethnicity SUGGESTS she had a distant Native American ancestor, say critics.  But DNA is a complex and complicated subject; it’s difficult to predict what level of ethnicities will be represented by your sample.   Being passionate about genealogy, having studiously and conscientiously worked on building out my family tree, having sent in my own DNA, I can tell you that ethnicity percentage results can be surprising.  I have searched out my father’s maternal Swedish lineage nearly to the Vikings, and his paternal Scots line back beyond the Stuart/Stewart royals (Mary, Queen of Scots, being my first cousin, 15 times removed; and that I’m also a descendant of the English Tudor royal line).  My mother’s paternal ancestors were Spanish and her mother’s Native American.  My ethnicity results show that I’m only 4 percent Scots and 2 percent Scandinavian, 17 percent Native American, 17 percent Spain, 53 percent Great Britain, with a few other trace results.   I love the Ancestry TV commercial of the man, who after viewing his DNA results, said he had to trade in his lederhosen for a kilt; and exclaimed that he was even in a German dance troupe!  His family history was that they were German!

I didn’t understand why Native Americans were so upset over Elizabeth Warren identifying herself thusly, as she explained that this was her family’s shared sense of their history and heritage.  She apologized to Native American Chiefs and others for identifying herself as American Indian for the past couple of decades and stated, “I can’t go back, but I am sorry for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship, and harm that has resulted”; and apologized for not being more mindful of this earlier in her life.  In a 2015 national Pew study, 68 percent of people claimed they were part American Indian.  Amanda Blackhorse, Native-issues advocate, who lives in Phoenix said, “When it comes to our land issues, our water rights, to the constant battles we have to face every single day, where are these people that claim to be Natives?   Those who determine Tribal Sovereignty are reasonably sensitive to “white’s false claims of Native ancestry” to acquire native lands and benefits.

Trish Forsyth Voss

President Trump declared a National Emergency from the White House Rose Garden, after stating that he would sign the bipartisan compromise spending bill, to avert a second government shutdown.  In a long, rambling harangue he asserted, “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country”; he warned again of gangs and human-traffickers.  Democrats and some Republicans are calling this an “unconstitutional abuse of his authority”; and Dem leaders, Pelosi & Schumer put-forth a joint statement, “This is plainly a power-grab by a disappointed president, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process”.

“Presidents have declared national emergencies under a 1970-era law 58 times, and 31 of those emergencies remain active; but most of those dealt with foreign crises and involved freezing property or taking other actions against national adversaries, not redirecting money without explicit congressional authorization.  Only twice were such emergency declarations used by presidents to spend money without legislative approval — once by President H.W. Bush and the other by President G.W. Bush — both cases responding to new events, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Al Qaeda’s assault on America, and involved moving military money around to use for military purposes.  Neither was taking action specifically rejected by Congress.”

In Trump’s ‘doozy’ diatribe he jawed long enough to diminished the argument for an emergency saying, “I could do the wall over a long period of time; I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.  I don’t have to do this for the 2020 election; I’ve already done a lot of wall for the election.”  So there you have it!  So much for a National Emergency!  Pique and politicking are the real motives!    “The goal of the national emergency is to end illegal immigration”, wrote Daniel Horowitz, conservative lawyer.  Ann Coulter, political provocateur, tweeted back, “the goal is to get Trump’s stupidest voters to say “He’s fighting!”  No, he’s not; if he signs this bill, it’s over!  The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot!”  Coulter has also said that “Trump is lazy and incompetent”; this from one of his former fans!

I must remind you all: the Republicans controlled the ENTIRE Congress and the presidency for the past two years; had they wanted a wall, they could have legislated to build that wall, but THEY DIDN’T WANT IT!

Trish Forsyth Voss

A 42-page Annual Worldwide Threat Assessment was released on 1/29/19 and intelligence chiefs testified before a Senate Intelligence Committee, first publicly, then in closed session, as usual.  “In testimony before the committee the nation’s intel chiefs tried to avoid directly questioning administration policies.  They detailed a different ranking of the threats facing the U.S, starting with cyberattacks and moving on to the endurance of the Islamic State and the capabilities of North Korea and Iran.” In answers to queries from Senators, Dan Coats, National Intelligence director, stated that “North Korea was unlikely to give up its nuclear stockpiles, some activity is inconsistent with denuclearization; most of what they dismantled is reversible”.  Gina Haspel, CIA Director said, “Pyongyang is committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that would pose a direct threat to the U.S”.  Haspel stated that Iran is presently “not taking the steps necessary to make a nuclear bomb”.

The written report “found that American trade policies and unilateralism’s central theme of Trump’s ‘America First’ approach have strained traditional alliances and prompted foreign partners to seek new relationships”. It stressed growing cyberthreats from Russia and China, which are more aligned than ever.  “Cyberweapons are still in their infancy, but the threat is growing and the worst is yet to come.  We’re living in yet another new age, a time characterized by hybrid warfare, weaponized disinformation, all occurring within the context of a world producing more data than mankind has ever seen”, said Senator Richard M. Burr, R/NC, the committee’s chairman.  “Foreign enemies want to see the U.S. weakened, if not destroyed, they want to see us abandon our friends and our allies.  They want to see us squabble and divide.”

The global threat review detailed “Russian’s ability to conduct cyberespionage and influence election campaigns, and stressed the greater concern that Moscow is now staging cyberattack assets to allow it to disrupt or damage the U.S. civilian and military infrastructure during a crises.  It specifically noted Russia’s planting of malware in the U.S. electricity grid.   Russia already has the ability to bring the grid down at least for a few hours, and is now mapping our critical infrastructures with the long-term goal of being able to cause substantial damage.”

Putin recently boasted, “America is no longer a super-power!”   We must weigh the most critical security threats to our nation and apply our resources wisely to build and strengthen our security infrastructures.  There are security threats to our nation far more urgent than the need for building a steel wall on our southern border.

Trish Forsyth Voss