By Editor Emeritus and some-time, infrequent contributor, former State Senator Rod Adair

THE TRUE STORY of THANKSGIVING, November 28, 1621

After a harrowing, challenging year in which the total number of passengers on the Mayflower had been reduced from 102 to 53 by the numerous deaths in the terrible winter of 1620-21, the congregation (which was made up of Separatists, not Puritans) decided that a Thanksgiving celebration should be held for them and for their fellow travelers (who, in their view, may or may not have been saved Christians because they were most likely members of the Church of England).

The true Pilgrims lovingly and affectionately referred their fellow Englishmen as "strangers." (The names of all are provided below.**)

Exactly 398 years ago today at exactly 2:00 PM (EST—though it was then known locally as Wampanoag Time*) our Calvinist forebears gathered for the very first Thanksgiving Dinner with their Indian neighbors whom they had invited out of Christian charity and some concern that they were not eating properly.

(*The Wampanoag's time measurement system had been selected by a vote of surrounding tribes at a standardized time gathering in 1602, with delegates from the Narragansett, Nauset, Pocomtuc, Pennacook, Nipmuc, Mahican, and Massachuset tribes recognizing that their own systems were more primitive, and much less accurate.)

Indians Not on Time

The Indians showed up quite late, perhaps 30 minutes to an hour behind schedule. But the Pilgrims being a tolerant and non-judgmental people, carried on as if nothing had happened. Far be it from Calvinists to point out failings in others.

The Indians brought five deers (a correct rendering, as the Pilgrims were still speaking a good deal of Middle English) which they still had to dress out and prepare—an unpleasant task as we all know, which considerably delayed the proceedings even further.

But a ball was produced for the youths to pass the time—which they did. And it is from this first Thanksgiving Day ball game which we get the current tradition of football on Thanksgiving Day (largely because the 1934 owner of the Detroit Lions was a descendant of the Mayflower expedition and had long wanted to revive the tradition, which he did 85 years ago).

Beginning of the Feast

At last, when all was in readiness, a prayer of blessings was offered up—for all in attendance, including the Pilgrims as well as the assembled Strangers and Indians. And their prayers included the Anglicans and Catholics (both of whom the Pilgrims loved with all their heart, though they believed them to be lost, most likely) back home across the sea. From that prayer, emanating from these most ecumenical and forward-thinking Calvinists, we get the American tradition of religious tolerance, to be enshrined in the First Amendment only some 170 years later.

The entire crowd of 143 included the 53 surviving Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag warriors (yes, they’d only brought 5 deers with them, but of course the Pilgrims didn’t even bat an eye, didn’t whine about it — all in the Christian spirit of Thanksgiving). It was fortunate the Pilgrims had shot more than 50 geese, turkey, and ducks.

Shellfish Tradition no Longer Survives. Thanks be to God.

The record shows they also served shellfish. (NOTE: This was a “tradition” that was most fortunately abandoned later as it can result in violent vomiting caused by such things as raw oysters — resulting in a scene that could easily ruin an idyllic, Norman Rockwell setting).

The Pilgrims provided a vast array of vegetables, including onions (largely abandoned today); carrots (ditto); beans (if the chroniclers mean “green,” well, okay, but if “kidney” or “pinto,” well, largely abandoned today); pumpkins—more on that below; spinach, lettuce, cabbage, peas (all pretty much gone the way of the buffalo on T-day).

There was also corn — and this was a big deal because until a year earlier the Pilgrims had never even seen it before. It was also very weird because the English called virtually every grain “corn,” especially wheat. But when they actually were introduced to corn by the extremely famous Squanto, oddly enough he called it “maize.” (This is something the University of Michigan later, inexplicably, adopted as a “color.”) But at last the English had an actual foodstuff that linked up with a word they had been using all this time. Who knew?

But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that over the course of the year the Pilgrims had produced corn syrup — and that allowed them to take the pumpkin and turn it into a pie — a concept totally unknown to the Indians. They also added spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg — which was remarkably generous since they cost approximately £1 per ounce—which in today’s currency is about $100,000.

No Potatoes, But Native Cranberries in Abundance

There were no potatoes — even though they were native to America and the Indians had tons of them — as the Pilgrims were suspicious of them. The Irish and Germanics later became enamored of them. And of course the Russians and Finns used them exclusively to produce vodka, which, as a "spirit" the Pilgrims would have condemned (though they themselves did drink barrels and barrels of beer). It is noted that so much Vodka is consumed in Finland and Russian today that its usage as actual food is of course virtually unheard of.

As for fruit, the Pilgrims did use the locally-found, brand new (to them) cranberry, confecting a sauce for the turkey. This led to an outcry from both the Indians and English alike about the “tartness,” which was agreed by all to be a problem. This, in turn, caused a massive demand for the importation of sugar — thus the beginnings of British plantations in the West Indies and an industry and sweet tooth that afflicts millions of Americans to this day with its accompanying obesity and derivative illnesses.

Pilgrim Tolerance

In any case, it was a successful meal, lasting some five hours into the night, the Indians famously being overcome with the effects of tryptophan, and becoming increasingly listless and drowsy, finally falling asleep to a man. But the Pilgrims were careful to cover them with blankets (after all it was Massachusetts in late November) and to not touch their arms at all.

This same schedule and the same sequence occurred for three consecutive days.

This kind of openly demonstrated trust and humanity touched the hearts of both the Indians and Pilgrims alike and ushered in nearly 400 years of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between settlers and the native peoples of the First Nations — only to finally be marred in very recent times by demonstrations and clashes in North Dakota over a proposed pipeline.

Thus occurred the very First Thanksgiving, November 28, 1621. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may God bless us, everyone!

** FAMILY GROUPS REMAINING ALIVE for the FIRST THANKSGIVING:

(On the voyage over, there had been 28 adults, 16 children, for a total of 44 True Pilgrims.)

THE CONGREGATION REMAINING: 21 True Pilgrims, plus 3 servants/wards (most likely not congregants)

ALLERTON: Isaac with children Bartholomew, Mary, Remember; and the Allerton servant William Latham • BRADFORD: William • BREWSTER: William & Mary with sons Love, and Wrestling; and their ward Richard More • CHILTON: Mary (13) • COOKE: Francis with son John • CRACKSTON: John (18) • FULLER: Samuel with nephew Samuel 2d • ROGERS: Joseph (17) • TILLEY: Elizabeth (15) • WINSLOW: Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White & Peregrine White; Winslow servant George Soule

STRANGERS REMAINING

Strangers: 23, plus 7 servants/wards

ALDEN: John • BILLINGTON: John & Eleanor with sons Francis and John Jr. • BROWNE Peter • CARVER: The Carver ward Desire Minter; the Carver servant John Howland; the Carver maidservant Dorothy. • EATON: Francis with son Samuel • ELY: Unknown adult man • GARDINER: Richard • GOODMAN: John • HOPKINS: Stephen & Elizabeth with Giles, Constance, Damaris, Oceanus; their servants Edward Doty and Edward Leister. • MULLINS: Priscilla • STANDISH: Myles • TILLEY: Tilley wards Humility Cooper and Henry Samson • TREVOR: William • WARREN: Richard • WINSLOW: Gilbert

EDWARD & SUSANNA WHITE:

An Object Lesson in Today's "Gay Marriage" Debate—Make it a Civil Ceremony

(Also, the following true story provides a history lesson which can be instructive to both libertarians and conservatives alike with regard to the considerable mess which has ensued in the wake of the so-called "Gay Marriage" uproar.)

Listed above among the true Pilgrims are the Winslow family, Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White and Peregrine White as having survived the first year. (Susanna, by the way, was one of only four adult women to have survived.)

Susanna's first husband, William White, had died almost exactly nine months earlier and Elizabeth Winslow, Edward's first wife, had died almost exactly eight months earlier, on February 21 and March 24, 1621, respectively. The surviving spouses Edward and Susanna then experienced something of a whirlwind romance (perhaps suitable for a fairly racy HBO Miniseries), somehow fell in love, and ended up marrying on May 12, 1621, 49 days and 81 days after the deaths of their spouses.

(The congregants, naturally, wanted to be able to help the newlyweds off on a two-week honeymoon — perhaps to the Caribbean, or a ski vacation in Vermont — but neither had been invented yet, plus no one had any money or transport. So, by all accounts they honeymooned right on site.)

HOW WAS THIS MARRIAGE POSSIBLE?

You may be thinking this was practically impossible because of the requirement of the reading of the Banns (for three consecutive Sundays) in front of the congregation as well as the publication of the same in the marketplace or local municipality. 

However, keep in mind that the Pilgrims at Plymouth were "Separatists" unlike those arriving in the follow-on landings within the next decade at present-day Boston, which was t be established about 40 miles to the north.

The newer arrivals were "Puritans," technically still affiliated with the Church of England, with hopes of finishing off its purification by eliminating the last of its more ghastly Romish habits.* (Pilgrims held out no such hope.)

The Pilgrims, therefore, viewed marriage as strictly a legal contract in the civil realm rather than a religious rite. This is because Puritans and other Protestants saw no biblical foundation for church control over marriage. Marriage was only established as a sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th century, and Separatists viewed that phenomenon as a vain and un-biblical invention. So the marriage ceremony was performed by Governor William Bradford.
________________________________________
* It must be noted that when royal government control was firmly asserted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630), marriage came under the purview of the state church (Anglican). This may be seen by libertarians and conservatives alike as a classic example of how the entanglement of church and state leads to coercion in the area of religious belief.

For the Pilgrims, because marriage was a civil contract, questions of inheritance were handled by the state rather than the Church. Edward Winslow who became a prominent leader within the colony, later paid the price for his civil marriage when he was thrown into a Fleet Street prison in London for 17 weeks for not following the church/state law.

** Plenary NOTE: While much of this account was true, it must be said that there is some embellishment, strictly for the purposes of adding color to the story. But any and all additions are well within the standards adopted by Hollywood when a movie provides the opening statement: "Based on a True Story." For example, all the embellishments are just as true as virtually anything contained in any Oliver Stone production, but also as true as the work of many other directors/producers, including those who have labeled their finished products "documentaries."

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Washington, DC (AP) Congressman Eric Swalwell has been alerted by the EPA that he must appear at a hearing later this week for violating new pollution guidelines. "It isn't just the Holsteins in dairies or the random Angus crossbreed in a pasture somewhere that has us concerned," said an EPA spokesman, "but human beings are increasingly becoming more and more of a concern, especially if people like Mr. Swalwell openly encourage this kind of behavior."

The EPA later issued a fact sheet noting that while there are 95 million head of cattle in the US, it must also be recognized that there are also some 325 million people. "It all adds up," said the white paper, "and this kind of thoughtless human behavior can have a debilitating effect."

An EPA employee who asked to remain anonymous went further, adding with a smirk: "And Mr. Swalwell's gas attack actually lasted longer than his presidential campaign."

For his part, Swalwell (not known for honesty) has denied the gas attack. However, according to national commentators [we refuse to watch it] the video shows considerable movement on his part to accompany what they say is an unmistakable noise.

Stay tuned to this channel for updates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XK797-vj4k

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When selectively leaked to Patrick and Bloomberg, they jumped in.

Email us with your feedback, comments, questions, and ideas.

[NOTE: Let's dispense with the stupid media folly that the tweet "intimidated the witness". It could not have because she didn't know about it. She was busy testifying, not looking at Twitter! The only reason she even found out about it was because Adam Schiff read it to her.]

Trump hurt his cause for other reasons: Sending out an illogical and fairly stupid tweet served only to make her a sympathetic character. And also served to make yet another bad impression among that part of the electorate—the 8-10%—who will decide his fate.

While we are not Trumpistas, NMPJ believes the Trump Administration has been highly successful and that Trump merits re-election. That makes us a mere supporter of his re-election—in the same camp with many other Trump voters who are not Trumpistas.

The “Trumpista” segment is a different group, however. That group firmly believes—as we have heard in emails and texts hundreds of times—that he is “brilliant,” that he “thinks in 3-D,” and that he “plays chess while everyone else is playing checkers.”

In contrast to that, one of the many things that distinguish our viewpoint (and that of the simple Trump voter) from the viewpoint of Trumpistas is that we have long held that he is terribly awkward, ill-educated in history, and is remarkably inarticulate when not following the TelePrompTer.

Today he offered another example of behavior and communication that illustrates one of the differences between NMPJ/Trump supporters and the personally-devoted Trumpistas.

WHISTLEBLOWER POLL:

If the Republicans were trying to impeach Obama, or anyone else, and had some sort of "whistleblower" stashed away...

WOULD THE DEMOCRATS/MEDIA BE ALL CALM ABOUT IT AND SAY NOTHING?

OR WOULD THEY BE "ON IT" NOT RESTING TILL HE/SHE WAS REVEALED?

DEMOCRATS ARE NOW SAYING THIS:

If you are a Democratic presidential candidate, you cannot be scrutinized. Neither you or anyone related to you.

Here is how this works for the Democrats:

1) Joe Biden is a presidential candidate; therefore
2) He is termed a "rival" or an "opponent" of Trump; so
3) Any questioning of Biden about corruption is invalid;
4) Such questions arise ONLY because he is a "rival"
5) There can be no questions based solely on corruption;
6) It is impossible for corruption to be an actual concern

So, those conditions being in place, then (again, according to the Democrats)

Even though the following things may seem strange to the American people,

they CANNOT be discussed:

1) Hunter Biden not knowing anyone in Ukraine
2) Hunter Biden knowing nothing about petroleum
3) Hunter Biden not speaking a word of Ukrainian
4) Hunter Biden having no experience in anything at all
5) Hunter having NOTHING other than a father who is VP

BUT 6) Getting $50,000 per month for doing nothing

These concerns are ALL completely out-of-bounds to raise.

In fact, it angers the Democrats for ANY of these things to be raised. Why?

Democrats' Circular Answer: Because Joe Biden is a candidate for president. [Remember: He is a "rival." So all of these concerns must be raised only because of that status. They cannot be being raised because anyone with common sense can see the obvious corruption involved.

TRUMP's ONLY POSSIBLE MOTIVE

By virtue of Biden having filed for president, any inquiries about Biden's "weird" relationship with Ukraine are IMMEDIATELY dismissed because President Trump is--we are told--not asking about that "wrongdoing," or a potential "crime." NO. He can only be asking about a "rival."

IF BIDEN WERE NOT A CANDIDATE

This begs the question: If Biden had skipped the 2020 race, just like he did in 2016, would any questions about his (fairly obvious) corruption be legitimate? Of course they would be.

But Biden, because he is running for president, holds the ultimate "get-out-of-jail-free" card. The Democrats have ruled that ANY question about Hunter Biden or Joe Biden (shown below with Ukrainian oil execs) is automatically completely illegitimate and cannot be valid.

"Baseless," they say. And so do the media. They say the exact SAME WORDS as the Democrats. "Wholly without foundation." "Outrageous." "Totally Exonerated." "No Evidence."

Does all this really make sense?

Is it us or is it them? It's them, isn't it?

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Sanford implied he would’ve swept to an easy nomination but for the impeachment crisis, saying:

“You gotta be a realist, and what I did not anticipate is an impeachment.”

This leaves three other Republicans in the race, Trump, plus Illinois congressman Joe Walsh, and former Massachusetts governor William Weld, who has run or threatened to run for office so many times he is now officially classified a “perennial candidate.”

Sanford’s alternate nickname is Argentine Mark. While serving as South Carolina governor in 2009, Sanford suddenly disappeared. His staff’s cover story was that Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail. But after exhaustive searches in Appalachia, Sanford turned up in Argentina with his mistress.

It’s unclear how his thousands (or possibly millions) of votes will be reallocated among Trump, Walsh, and Weld.

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