[Politics_Observer]

An interesting piece of history I didn't know much about:

Liverpool, England (CNN) — Tucked away in Liverpool's Toxteth Park Cemetery, amid the weathered memorials to long-dead residents, lies a link to a little-known part of this famous city's past.

The two lichen-mottled graves sit side-by-side, as ivy slowly encroaches. These are the final resting places of James Dunwoody Bulloch, and his brother Irvine Stephens Bulloch.

The Bulloch brothers died in Liverpool, but they were born an ocean away, in the US state of Georgia, and — like many Southerners of their generation — fought on the Confederate side in the American Civil War.

James, a foreign agent for the Confederacy, was sent to Liverpool to buy and build ships for its navy. Irvine served in that same navy, on board the CSS Alabama and the CSS Shenandoah — the last Confederate ship to surrender, on the River Mersey, months after the war had ended. When hostilities ceased, neither brother was offered a pardon, so they stayed on in England.

Looking at the Bulloch grave markers, historian Laurence Westgaph explained why his city — once the de facto capital of the trans-Atlantic slave trade — has attracted the attention of several groups with Confederate sympathies over the years.

"It was said during the American Civil War that there were more Confederate flags flying here than in Richmond, Virginia — and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy," Westgaph told CNN.

Even the classic Civil War-set movie "Gone with the Wind" — a film now under fire for its depictions of racism — makes mention of Liverpool.

The city had strong ties to the Confederacy through its shipping industry and the trade in cotton, produced on plantations across the southern states. During the war, blockade-running vessels carried arms across the Atlantic from Liverpool.

“I am sure a lot of people here … liked or enjoyed that connection," said Westgaph. "That romanticism of the Deep South — the plantations, sitting on the porch drinking mint juleps, peach cobbler in the oven — people don’t associate it with visceral, racial slavery."

For years, Confederate sympathizers have come to Liverpool to celebrate their heritage.

Now, in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests, the city is reconsidering the symbols of that terrible part of its past, and working out how to use them to educate Liverpool’s future generations.

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/202 ... index.html

[Rich]

And so our British ancestors had hopes and dreams, our British ancestors wanted to better themselves. In pre modern societies the only way to live comfortable existence was on the misery and exploitation of others. I feel I have been blessed with some aptitude in writing software. I have skills that would allow me to follow other vocations if I wanted. But I recognise that not everyone is so fortunate, not everyone can advance though contributing something of value to society.

But these people in Liverpool lived before anyone had heard the name of Simon Cowell. There were no lotteries, no film extras opportunities, or reality TV shows back then to give a path for the average talentless individual to follow his hopes and dreams. The ability to own slaves in the Southern States gave opportunities and hopes to millions of ordinary people. Even slaves often recognised this. This is why so many ex slaves or the descendants of ex slaves were so keen to own slaves themselves. Slave owning amongst America's free so called Black population was nearly as high as among European first nations people.

Oh can anyone explain to me why Liberals are so obsessed with language, why does anyone care what language you say "Black" in, English Spanish or Latin with an extra g? Is it a deadly racist sin to call some one "a Black" in Mexico?

[Brave New World]

An interesting piece of history I didn't know much about:

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/202 ... index.html

Nearby Manchester and it's Mill Workers supported Lincoln and the Union, and Lincoln later wrote a letter thanking the workers of Manchester. There is also a statue of Lincoln in Manchester.

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian ... on-abraham