[Recovering_Democrat]

Nice to see Columbus being defended instead of denigrated.

[Recovering_Democrat]

The whole article is like a seven minute read.

[albie]

I Learned a lot from this post. Thank you!

[FLT-bird]

It was to the great good fortune of all mankind that European Christians discovered America and not someone else.

Those same European Christians would go on to make so many scientific advances as well as advances in law, business, culture, etc that they would come to dominate the world. They in fact created the entire modern world. Hospitals, antibiotics, germ theory, DNA, Gene Sequencing, the internal combustion engine, cars, trains, airplanes, the telegraph, telephone, television, the Internet, movies, refrigeration, air conditioning and central heating, electricity, space travel, satellites, and on and on and on. All of it and much much more...White, Western, Christian men. All of it.

While they were at it, they also came up with Democracy and the Rights of Man.

Yes, its a very good thing that such people were the ones who discovered and largely populated two more vast continents. Some cultures are better than others. Western Civilization is simply better than the rest. No, I don’t care if anyone is upset by that obviously true statement.

Just shut up and enjoy the benefits of Western Civilization such as the free speech you are using to whine about it.

[rlmorel]

I am a big fan of Columbus. My favorite book on him is Samuel Eliot Morison’s spectacular and approachable book Admiral of The Ocean Sea

The “indigenous day people” can go pound sand.

[SaveFerris]

[Why Columbus Day Should Be Celebrated]

But, it’s really cool to be attacking Columbus and stuff these days!!

[Telepathic Intruder]

Modern political correctness says we need to rewrite history to make Native Americans look like saints while Europeans are white devils. The reality is far different but we can’t let that stand in the way of people’s feelings. Especially minorities who need a boogeyman in order to feel special.

[piytar]

I have a lefty acquaintance who went on about how Europeans coming here was the worst thing that could have happened to native Americans. I asked, what do you think the Nazis would have done to them in WWII without the European descendants in America helping beat them in WWII? Mechanized troops vs natives on horseback. He had no answer, but it’s obvious: complete extermination. That usually ends these discussions if I bother with them.

[Jolla]

I hope on a visit to Costa Rica to go to Limon where Columbus washed ashore.

[escapefromboston]

If Indians want some special Indian holiday we don’t need to put it on the same date as Columbus Day.

[Nateman]

For the Left to succeed in destroying America part of the plan is to paint our history as evil. Americans proud of their past won’t tolerate the kind of change they want.

[Clemenza]

He never set foot on or even saw what is now the US or Canada, sailed for the Spanish monarchy, and the only reason it is a federal holiday is because FDR needed Catholic votes and it coincided with the Knights of Columbus lobbying Congress and the administration. Can he be admired? Yes. Should he have his own holiday in the United States. No.

[Clemenza]

He never set foot on or even saw what is now the US or Canada, sailed for the Spanish monarchy, and the only reason it is a federal holiday is because FDR needed Catholic votes and it coincided with the Knights of Columbus lobbying Congress and the administration. Can he be admired? Yes. Should he have his own holiday in the United States. No.

Happy Italian heritage MONTH.

[lightman]

Columbus Day should be celebrated with foods incorporating potatoes and tomatoes, new world plants brought back to Europe.

Hard to imagine pre-Columbus Italian cuisine!

[Ezekiel]

The dove is one of my favorite subjects!

The real Columbus, whom few today know much about, is an exemplary figure worthy of celebrating for many reasons. He was born in 1451 in the port city of Genoa, in what is now Italy, and was named Cristoforo Colombo. It has been said that he chose to call himself Christopher Columbus because he liked what this name meant. In Latin, Columbus means "dove" while Christopher means "Christ-bearer."

I simply observe and document what I see, regardless of detractors and the fleeing "do not want" crowd. Ironically, it's a public service.

Columbia (/kəˈlʌmbiə/; kə-LUM-bee-ə), also known as Miss Columbia, is a female national personification of the United States. It was also a historical name applied to the Americas and to the New World. The association has given rise to the names of many American places, objects, institutions and companies, including the District of Columbia; Columbia, South Carolina; Columbia University; "Hail, Columbia"; Columbia Rediviva; and the Columbia River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_(personification)

The Apollo 11 Command Module, "Columbia," was the living quarters for the three-person crew during most of the first crewed lunar landing mission in July 1969. On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were launched from Cape Kennedy atop a Saturn V rocket.

>>>

The Command Module is the only portion of the spacecraft to return to Earth.

It was physically transferred to the Smithsonian in 1971 following a NASA-sponsored tour of American cities. The Apollo CM Columbia has been designated a "Milestone of Flight" by the Museum.

Key Accomplisment(s)
First Lunar Landing Mission

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11/nasm_A19700102000

Callsign
CSM: Columbia
LM: Eagle
On surface: Tranquility Base

Saturn V Mock Up, Davidson Center for Space Exploration (Huntsville, Alabama, USA)

U.S. Space & Rocket Center

King David is symbolized by the moon (Tiferet Shlomo), explaining why we declare “David, Melech Yisrael, chai v’kayam” every month when we stand before the moon and recite Birkat HaLevana. As the moon grows and is diminished, so too David had times of ascendancy and power as well as times of trouble and powerlessness. Most meaningful is that, like the moon, David humbly “diminished” his “light,” always pointing to God as his source of strength and victory and not taking the glory for himself. It was this trait of King David that endeared this military hero/psalmist to Hashem.

And why we await for his descendant to usher in the Messianic era.

https://jewishlink.news/king-david-and-the-moon/

Visiting Marshall

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is situated on the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Visitors are welcomed at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Marshall’s official Visitor Center. U.S. Space & Rocket Center visitors can learn more about Marshall’s legacy and ongoing work.

Interactive exhibits and historic artifacts demonstrate our critical role in supporting the breadth of NASA’s exploration and science missions. Visitors will learn how Marshall develops, integrates and manages complex space systems and scientific research projects that continue to yield exciting and innovative scientific discoveries.

https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/visit-marshall-space-flight-center/

essay: a short work on a particular subject.

Jonah: "dove"

The "you" essay:

You are Jonah. The real you, for "Jonah" -- in Kabbalistic parlance -- is another name for the soul. Hence, the story of Jonah is the story of a soul's journey here on earth. Thus, on Yom Kippur, as we examine our lives and consider our purpose in this world, we remember the historical Jonah whose real-life narrative symbolizes our spiritual odyssey.

Your story begins at birth. A soul from on high is plunged into an earthly body...

The Story of Your Life

Suffering injustice from Great Britain many years later, those colonists reluctantly banded together to fight for independence. Over the six years of the Revolutionary War, they lost more battles than they won. But like the course of Columbus, George Washington's persistence, courage, and faith in God empowered an underequipped and underfunded colonial army to get to final victory and achieve independence. That, in turn, enabled the founding of a new nation unlike any other -- one based on the revolutionary idea that people's life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness were inviolable because those rights came from God and not the state.

***

"In 1492 Colombus sailed the ocean blue.
His interpreter was lou, he was a Jew and that is true."

Christopher Columbus, Secret Jew

According to the biblical story (Genesis 8:11), a dove was released by Noah after the Flood in order to find land; it came back carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf (Hebrew: עלה זית alay zayit),[7] a sign of life after the Flood and of God's bringing Noah, his family and the animals to land. Rabbinic literature interpreted the olive leaf as "the young shoots of the Land of Israel"[8] or the dove's preference for bitter food in God's service, rather than sweet food in the service of men.[9][10][11]

The Talmud compares the spirit of God hovering over the waters to a dove that hovers over her young.[12][13][14]

In post-biblical Judaism, souls are envisioned as bird-like (Bahir 119), a concept that may be derived from the Biblical notion that dead spirits "chirp" (Isa. 29:4). The Guf, or Treasury of Souls, is sometimes described as a columbarium, a dove cote. This connects it to a related legend: the "Palace of the Bird's Nest", the dwelling place of the Messiah's soul until his advent (Zohar II: 8a-9a). The Vilna Gaon explicitly declares that a dove is a symbol of the human soul (Commentary to Jonah, 1). The dove is also a symbol of the people Israel (Song of Songs Rabbah 2:14), an image frequently repeated in Midrash.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doves_as_symbols#Judaism

July 24, 1969
Columbia floats on the ocean as Navy divers assist in retrieving the astronauts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11#Splashdown_and_quarantine

***

"And the spirit of G-d hovered upon the waters." (Gen. 1:2) Midrash Rabba explains that this "spirit of G-d" hovering upon the waters is actually the "soul of Mashiach," a term that refers to the highest possible G-d awareness/truth awareness that human beings are capable of...

Tisha B'Av, 5729 (July 24, 1969):

Remembering the Apollo 11 splashdown 50 years later (~1 min)

Seen from the big picture, Columbus Day is worth keeping and honoring because it was foundational to founding a new nation by people who largely shared the core beliefs and the qualities of character that were also exhibited by Columbus. It could even be said that Columbus Day is the holiday that commemorates the character, attitudes, and choice of human action that made the other American holidays possible.

I simply observe and document what I hear, regardless of detractors and the fleeing "do not want" crowd. Ironically, it's a public service.

Keep a dream in your pocket and a song in your heart
Keep the lamp of your learnin' burnin' bright
Keep your eye on your horizon and a smile on your face
As you travel down the highway of your life

Don't listen to those voices that say it can't be done
They build walls where there was never one before
No, there's nothing that can stop you, nothing that can drag you down
If you keep lookin' for that ever-open door

So, if you follow your dream to the end of the road
Taking care not to let it fade away (not fade away)
If you follow your dream and you follow it well
It will lead you to the promise of a bright, shiny day

Well, imagine if Columbus had not dreamt the world was round
And Armstrong had not walked upon the moon
If John and Paul never wrote a song for (called?) "Yesterday"
If all of them had given up too soon

Yes (yet?), they were always taking chances
Looking for the answers
That took the whole world to higher ground..

Seekers - Keep A Dream In Your Pocket Extended Fan Version

🕊️

On a personal note, I've been living in this one location for quite a few years. Mourning doves come and go all day long, year round, right outside of the house. Every year, a bumper crop, foraging on the ground, perching in the trees, sitting on the utility lines...

Yet, even though I've listened closely, not once have I heard any of them "mourn". Not a peep, except for the distinctive sound of their wings as they take off and land. In that case, it's a rather busy and noisy airfield.

Perhaps there's something in the water.

Mourning Doves are known for their gentle cooing sounds. But sometimes they can really make a racket!

At the all-about-birds link to the sounds,

"Females sometimes call ohr ohr while sitting on the nest."

The Talmud compares the spirit of God hovering over the waters to a dove that hovers over her young.

Genesis 1

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. {P}

And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good = 1776

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness = 1776

...the number 17, for the 17th of Tammuz, is equivalent in gematria to the word טוב (Tov) or "good (9+6+2=17)."

"What's good about the 17th of Tammuz?"

Happy Birthday to You...

17th of Tamuz, 5536 = Thu, 4 July 1776

1776: the Spirit of '76

[Retain Mike]

The Post Office was closed on Monday. The guy I met in the lobby checked his phone and saw it said it was Indigenous Peoples Day. Hold it. I am an indigenous people. It really is supposed to be Columbus Day.

Columbus chose the incorrect science supporting a narrower longitude to convince the financing of his exploration. He then had to hope he would find Asia before the plants growing on his ships slowed him enough for the Teredo worms to eat through his wooden hulls. He would have to find land to careen ships to repair the damage. He then had to hope he found a strong, persistent wind in the right direction to allow sailing ships of the 15th century to return to Europe. He used state of the art navigation instruments and punched holes in an animal skin to return to Europe within 200 miles of where he left. Way long on guts.

To get a perspective on this subject read Guns, Germs, and Steel. You will then have the answer to the question of why the Aztecs never invaded Europe.

[faucetman]

Federal holidays like Columbus Day should be eliminated!

I LOVE Columbus! Celebrate him EVERY day, but why should the country stop working? Are they having Columbus parties?

No NEED, for ANY federal holiday days off. Celebrate all you want to... AFTER WORK!

[Paal Gulli]

1. Columbus never set foot in North America. American Indians who protest Columbus are showboating.

2. No natives were mistreated while Columbus was present. The only significant instance of harming of the indigenous peoples occurred when Columbus had returned briefly (in 15th Century seafaring terms) to Spain to bring back more men and supplies. Before he left he had given specific orders that his charges were to treat the Indians benevolently, which they violated.

[Vaduz]

Indeed