#Spokane Tribe of Indians

[polyglot-thought]

Critically Endangered Language Introduction:

Spokane Language

Npoqínišcn

Some information about the Spokane language:

It’s critically endangered, meaning there are very few native speakers left, who are also elderly, and young people are not picking up the language, but the Spokane Tribe website offers language classes, so hopefully things are improving! Spokane doesn’t have its own original writing system, so a modified Latin script is used. You can read more about the Spokane and Salish languages and people on Wikipedia, here, here and here.

Example Words & Phrases ↓

Provided by Spokane Tribe at this link

ʔa x̣est skʷekʷst

Hello, good morning

ʔa x̣est sx̣lx̣alt

Hello, good day

ʔa x̣est sč̓luxʷ

Hello, good evening

ʔa x̣est skʷkʷʔec

Hello, good night

n̓em heł wíčtmn

I will see you again.

kʷʔec̓ščén̓?

How are you?

hi čn x̣is

I’m fine.

čn ayx̣ʷt

I’m tired.

čn weyt

I’m sick.

stem̓ ha skʷest ?

What is your name?

hi skʷest ____.

My name is…..

____ łuʔ hi skʷest.

My name is…..

Please correct me if I made a mistake

[fenrislorsrai]

The Biden administration agreed Thursday to spend more than $200 million to fully fund Native tribes’ plans to reintroduce salmon in the upper Columbia River basin — more than 80 years after construction of the Grand Coulee Dam rendered the fish extinct in parts of Washington, Idaho and British Columbia.

The unprecedented show of federal support is a course correction from the previous efforts of some federal agencies to resist tribal salmon restoration, which were documented in an August 2022 investigation by Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica.

“This agreement is the start of fixing a wrong,” Greg Abrahamson, chair of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, said during the announcement of the agreement. “Grand Coulee Dam allowed the desert to bloom, and many faraway cities enjoyed the cheap electricity it produces, at my people’s expense.”

The announcement is also a recognition of the federal government’s long-standing violations of the fishing rights of sovereign tribes, some of whom have signed treaties with the U.S. government. Construction of Grand Coulee Dam destroyed the Columbia River fishing site of Kettle Falls, a regional trading hub and sacred site for many salmon-dependent tribes. It cut off hundreds of miles of river habitat for salmon, who migrate to the ocean as young fish and return to their home waters to spawn as adults. Salmon and other oceangoing fish once accounted for an estimated 60% of the historic diet for Northwest Indigenous people. After the construction of Grand Coulee and other dams in the upper Columbia basin, those fish disappeared.

After nearly 80 years without those fish, a coalition of tribes along the upper Columbia River developed in 2015 a multiphase plan to reintroduce salmon into areas where they’d been blocked.

The tribes’ long-term plan involves building hatcheries, releasing fish into waters above Grand Coulee, tracking their migration and developing plans to pass fish safely around the dams through techniques like trapping them and trucking them up or downstream. They designed the plan to ensure it does not interfere with hydropower generation at the federal government’s biggest dam on the Columbia.

[harmonyhealinghub]

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: A Captivating Journey of Identity and Resilience

Shaina Tranquilino

October 26, 2023

Sherman Alexie's novel, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," is a powerful coming-of-age story that delves into the challenges faced by Native American teenager Arnold Spirit Jr., also known as Junior. Through humour, heartbreak, and introspection, Alexie skillfully explores themes of identity, resilience, friendship, and the pursuit of dreams. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at why this novel has resonated with readers worldwide.

A Glimpse into Reservation Life: "The Absolutely True Diary" offers readers an authentic glimpse into reservation life on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. As Junior navigates between his community and the predominantly white school he chooses to attend outside the reservation, we witness firsthand the stark disparities in resources and opportunities. This contrast underscores deeper issues like poverty, alcoholism, racism, and cultural assimilation that many Indigenous peoples face daily.

Humour as a Coping Mechanism: Alexie brilliantly infuses humour throughout the narrative to alleviate some of the weighty topics addressed in the book. Junior uses his wit to cope with difficult situations while providing readers with moments of genuine laughter. These humorous anecdotes serve as reminders that even amidst adversity, it is essential to find joy wherever possible.

The Quest for Identity: One of the central themes explored in "The Absolutely True Diary" is Junior's quest for identity. Struggling with feeling like an outcast both within his tribe and at his new school, he embarks on a journey to find his place in the world. Alexie paints a complex picture of how one's sense of self can be shaped by culture, heritage, family dynamics, personal experiences, and societal expectations.

Friendship as a Lifeline: Throughout his journey, Junior develops profound friendships that provide solace during challenging times. With his best friend, Rowdy, and a new ally in Penelope, Junior finds unwavering support, loyalty, and understanding. These relationships highlight the significance of connection and how it can help individuals overcome adversity.

Resilience and the Power of Education: As Junior leaves behind the reservation to attend a predominantly white school outside his community, he faces numerous obstacles. However, his determination to pursue education becomes a symbol of hope for both himself and those around him. Alexie emphasizes the transformative power of knowledge and the importance of breaking free from societal constraints to achieve one's dreams.

An Authentic Voice: One cannot discuss "The Absolutely True Diary" without acknowledging its semi-autobiographical nature. Drawing from his own experiences growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, Alexie brings an authentic voice to every page. This personal touch adds depth and rawness to the story while allowing readers to gain insights into Native American culture often overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream media.

Final Thoughts: Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is a profound exploration of identity, resilience, friendship, and the pursuit of dreams against all odds. By blending humour with heart-wrenching moments, Alexie crafts a novel that resonates with readers from different backgrounds worldwide. Through Junior's journey, we are reminded of the importance of cultural pride, empathy, understanding, and perseverance in navigating life's complexities.

Whether you're seeking an emotionally charged coming-of-age story or hoping to gain deeper insight into Native American experiences, "The Absolutely True Diary" is sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who embarks on this remarkable literary adventure.

[pluckedanarchist]

My high school changed its mascot a few years back, from the Indians to the Wolves. According to my history teacher at the time, our school had an agreement with the Spokane tribe to enable them to use the Indian as a mascot, provided that the tribe retain the right to revoke permission at any time.

Old people are BIG MAD about this. So whenever I feel like stirring the pot I go to Facebook and reply to people being racist and call them out for it

[mancalledhorsenoname]

Spokane Indians - part of the Interior Salish Group, which has inhabited northeast Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana for many centuries. In earlier times, the Spokane Tribe lived on, protected, and respected over three million acres of land.

[kristenreviewsmedia]

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Realistic Fiction from Diverse Perspectives  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Alexie, S. (2007). The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 3.5 Stars "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is a coming-of-age novel by Sherman Alexie. Set on the Spokane Indian Reservation, the story follows Arnold Spirit Jr. or Junior.  Junior is faced with the harsh realities of poverty, alcoholism, and systemic racism, and he struggles to find his place in the world. The novel provides a candid and raw portrayal of life on the reservation, highlighting the challenges faced by Native American communities, including alcoholism, poverty, and systemic racism. 

Junior feels trapped by the limited opportunities available on the reservation because of the lack of opportunities and resources available to its members. So, he transfers to a predominantly white high school off the reservation. A choice that will bring both opportunities and challenges. Junior must navigate the unfamiliar territory of a new school, where he is ostracized and bullied, while also dealing with members of his tribe who view his decision as a betrayal and see this as him abandoning his heritage and turning his back on his community.

Despite the obstacles, Junior refuses to give up. With the support of his family, friends, and unexpected allies, Junior begins to carve out a path for himself, pursuing his passion for drawing and ultimately finding a sense of belonging and identity. This book is essential because literature has many white narratives; white experiences are often prioritized and centered as the norm. However, we must expand our horizons beyond only white authors as readers. Stories from marginalized communities tend to be marginalized or overlooked. Lack of representation can perpetuate stereotypes, reinforce inequalities, and contribute to a limited understanding of diverse experiences and perspectives. This book provides representation, raises awareness, fosters empowerment, and advocates for education. It is a powerful and meaningful narrative that resonates with Indigenous readers and helps others better understand different cultures and their aspects. Providing representation, raising awareness, fostering empowerment, promoting cultural pride, and advocating for education. It is a powerful and meaningful narrative that resonates with Indigenous readers and contributes to the conversation about Indigenous rights and representation.

Awards: National Book Award for Young People's Literature: 2007 American Indian Youth Literature Award: 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award: 2008 California Young Reader Medal: 2009 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award: 2007

[gillis77]

What has PRESIDENT TRUMP and his cabinet accomplished.....?

Here you go:

1. Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

2. Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.

3. Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.👀👀

4. Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.

5. Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.👀👀

6. Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.

7. Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.

8. Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.

9. Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.👀👀

10. Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.

11. The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.

12. Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.

13. Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.

14. Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.👀👀

15. He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.

16. Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.

17. When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.

18. Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.

19. In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.

20. He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.👀👀

21. VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.

22. Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.

23. Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.

24. Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.

25. Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.👀👀

26. All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.

27. Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price👀👀

28. President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.

29. In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.

30. The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.👀👀

31. The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.

32. Over 90% of those benefitting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.

33. The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.

34. Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.👀👀

35. Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.

36. New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.

37. Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

38. Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.

39. The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.👀👀

40. Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.

41. President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

42. Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.👀👀

43. Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all-time high.

44. More than 7 million jobs created since election.

45. More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.

46. More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.

47. Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.👀👀

48. Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

49. Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.

50. In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.

51. Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.

52. Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.

53. Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.

54. The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.

55. Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.👀👀

56. The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.

57. President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.👀👀

58. The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.

59. The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.👀👀

60. Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.

61. ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.

62. Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.

63. Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

64. Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.

65. Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.

[bposnerpublishing]

Pacific Northwest artist

The fact that the class is being taught remotely, with students from across the state and the nation, actually contributes in a way. On a virtual map from native-land.ca, Bunn-Marcuse asks students to plot where they currently are, and the map converts it to Native terms—most of which are still recognizable to us. Today’s students are in land that first belonged to the following tribes: Seattle, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Tulalip, Yakima, Spokane, Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Butte, Okanagan, Massachusett, and Cherokee. This exercise lets the students think about how the class is inhabiting or occupying a wide swath of Indigenous land because they’re not at UW.

The class has a particular weight this quarter because of the passing of the legendary Bill Holm in December 2020. Holm, a leading scholar of Native art and art history, mentored Bunn-Marcuse, ’98, ’07, and was like a grandfather to her children. Even though Holm is no longer with us, students at the UW continue to learn through the people who learned from him, teaching the classes he helped shape. Holm taught a three-quarter sequence of Native art to UW students in the 1970s, inviting anyone in the community to sit in on the class. The auditors included Indigenous artists like Pacific Northwest artist Ron Hamilton and Joe David. People crowded in and sat in the aisles in Kane Hall.

That’s because Holm knew his stuff. As an outsider to Native arts and culture, he had immersed himself in the Burke Museum beginning as a teenager in the 1940s, learning from director Erna Gunther before traveling the region to meet Native artists and learn about their craft. “They were really interested in talking to him, because he was really interested in talking to them,” says Bunn-Marcuse. “His strength was that he was incredibly humble and generous.”Holm became an encyclopedia of archival history and a bridge between cultures, mastering the contents of museum collections and traveling the world to give what he had learned to the next generation. In 1965, he published the book “Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form,” which became a Rosetta Stone for generations of Native artists looking to converse with their ancestors. His personal collection of 30,000 images of Northwest art was the stuff of legend: Young artists and scholars reached out by letters, then emails, asking him for copies of images or for advice about technical instruction or cultural history.

[bunkershotgolf]

Stellar Field, Ideal Conditions Set for Epson Tour Event at Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort, Aug. 26-28

Circling Raven Championship Returns and Features Top Women Pro Golfers on #Road2LPGA

Many of the world’s top professional golfers will tee it up in the Circling Raven Championship presented by KXLY News 4 Now, as they compete in the Epson “Road to the LPGA” Tour’s season-long pursuit for 2023 LPGA Tour membership.

Players from more than one dozen countries and several continents will descend upon Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel’s award-winning golf course – rated the No. 1 public course in Idaho and one of the best casino courses in America – for the second consecutive year.

They will battle for shares of the $200,000 prize purse and they include two golfers with Idaho ties – Sophie Hausmann, who attended University of Idaho and has hovered around the tour’s top 10 throughout the 2022 season, and Gabby Lemieux (Caldwell, ID), the only Native American on a professional golf tour.

Hausmann, a native of Germany, particularly enjoys coming back to Idaho and is a fan of Circling Raven and its tournament as she articulates in this video clip.

Lemieux is a three-time Idaho Golf Association Women’s Amateur Champion who played collegiately at Texas Tech. Her participation is fitting as the Coeur d’Alene Tribe owns and operates the casino resort and golf course. Perhaps the Native American essence that permeates Circling Raven – named after a seminal Tribal Chief and honoring generations of forebears via paying homage to them throughout the ancestral homelands – inspired Lemieux last year when she recorded her career-best Epson Tour finish of T3 at the 2021 Circling Raven Championship presented by KXLY 4 News Now

A compelling aspect of professional tour events is the option of host venues to secure participant exemptions for players who would not have been eligible to compete. Such is the case with Suzie Tran, a rising high school junior from Poulsbo, WA. Tran shot 71-70-65—206 (10-under par) to win the Notah Begay III (NB3) National Junior Golf Championship in Coushatta, La., last November in the girls 14-18 age group.

Other players of note expected to tee play in the Circling Raven Championship include Linnea Strom and Grace Kim, nos. 3 and 6 on the money list, respectively, and both have won tournaments during the 2022 season. Other winners during the 2022 season who are currently committed to the field include Dottie Ardina, Gabriela Then, and Alexa Pano, currently no. 4 on the money list.

Spectator passes are available for purchase here and offer options of 1-, 2-, or 3-day passes. A week-long pass offers the best value ($40). One-day passes start at $10.

Circling Raven garnered rave reviews from players in the inaugural event last August and motivated players to return this year as this video testimonial from standout player Bailey Tardy illuminates.

Testament to the exceptional talent found on the Epson is seen through its “graduates” who include Nelly Korda, Inbee Park, Patty Tavatanakit, Lorena Ochoa, and Madelene Sagstrom. Fourteen graduates competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.

“We’re excited to host these exceptional players in the Circling Raven Championship presented by KXLY News 4 Now,” said Laura Penney, CEO, Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel. “We support empowering women and youth through the game. Speaking of support, we couldn’t undertake this immense endeavor without our sponsors who have stepped forward to help us stage a premier regional event.”

Circling Raven Championship sponsors include:

Alliant

Amerind

Bank of America

Callaway

Coeur d’Alene Tribe

Coeur d’Alene Casino

Centennial Distributing

Coke

Doyle’s Wholesale

Empire Cycle & Power Sports

Foundry

Garco Construction

Golf Cars Etc.

Hayden Beverage

IGT

KXLY News 4 Now

Light & Wonder

Northern Capital

Northern Quest

Pacific Golf & Turf

Randall & Hurley

Schaefer Financial Planning

Spokane Indians/Chiefs

Structured

The Printer Inc.

US Foods

Wildhorse Casino

Yokes

  For more details about this year’s tournament, contact Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel and Circling Raven at: 1.800.523.2464 or visit www.cdacasino.com.

About Circling Raven Golf Club and Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel

Owned/operated by Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Circling Raven is in the scenic Idaho panhandle approximately 55 minutes from Spokane International Airport (GEG). Measuring 7,189 yards from the rear tees, the 18-hole layout sprawls magnificently through 620 acres of woodlands, wetlands, and Palouse grasses. Its gleaming white sand bunkers are large and strategically placed and its hole variety ingenious. Other Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel amenities and activities include the full-service Spa Ssakwa’q’n (pronounced Sock-wock-en); 300 hotel rooms; bars, restaurants, lounges, and eateries; cultural immersion options; and more. The casino just completed a $15 million renovation of its gaming floor and Events Center in 2019.  Circling Raven has garnered numerous best-in-kind honors since opening, including being rated a Top 100 Resort Course, Best in State, and a Top U.S. Casino Course. Its golf shop has won national and regional awards for its excellence and its variety of products, displays, and performance.

ABOUT EPSON TOUR

The Epson Tour (formerly the Symetra Tour) is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour and enters its 42nd competitive season in 2022. With the support of entitlement partner Seiko Epson Corporation, the Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best female professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour. In the last decade, the Epson Tour has grown from 15 tournaments and $1.6 million in prize money to $4.41 million awarded across 20+ events in 2022. With more than 600 graduates and alumnae moving on to the LPGA Tour, former Epson Tour players have won 459 LPGA titles.

Follow the Epson Tour at www.epsontour.com, as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

ABOUT EPSON

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson’s goal is to become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion. Epson America, Inc., based in Los Alamitos, Calif., is Epson’s regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

[teerlinck]

Check out my new article for Sizzle Magazine: Inland Fun for Everyone, especially if you are in or from northern Idaho or eastern washington!

[scottbcrowley2]

Spokane Indians baseball team, Spokane Tribe featured in national discussion of Native American imagery in sports - Mon, 03 Aug 2020 PST

In the days and weeks following the killing of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter movement and campaign to rid society of racist language and images, the use of Native American terms and imagery in sports has once again become a national headline. Spokane Indians baseball team, Spokane Tribe featured in national discussion of Native American imagery in sports - Mon, 03 Aug 2020 PST

[rwood2477]

Dude has been in office for 3 years.... what has he done? Other than dodging the darts the media and Pelosi have thrown?!?

what has PRESIDENT TRUMP and his cabinet accomplished.....

Here you go.

* Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

* Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.

* Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.👀👀

* Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.

* Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.👀👀

* Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.

* Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.

* Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.

* Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.👀👀

* Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.

* The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.

* Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.

* Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.

* Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.👀👀

* He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.

* Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.

* When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.

* Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.

* In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.

* He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.👀👀

* VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.

* Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.

* Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.

* Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.

* Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.👀👀

* All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.

* Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price👀👀

* President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.

* In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.

* The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.👀👀

* The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.

* Over 90% of those benefitting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.

* The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.

* Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.👀👀

* Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.

* New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.

* Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

* Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.

* The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.👀👀

* Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.

* President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

* Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.👀👀

* Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all time high.

* More than 7 million jobs created since election.

* More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.

* More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.

* Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.👀👀

* Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

* Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.

* In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.

* Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.

* Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.

* Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.

* The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.

* Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.👀👀

* The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.

* President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.👀👀

* The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.

* The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.👀👀

* Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.

* ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.

* Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.

* Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

* Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.

* Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.

* President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.

* Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.

* Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.

* Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.👀👀

* Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.

* Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.

* Okay’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.👀👀

* Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.

* Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.

* Trump secured Billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.

* The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.

* Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.👀👀

* President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.

* 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.

* Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.

* Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

* Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.

* Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.👀👀

* Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.

* Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.

* Stock Market has reached record highs.

* Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.

* African-American unemployment is at an all time low.

* Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all time low.

* Asian-American unemployment is at an all time low.

* Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65-year low.

* Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.

* We have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.

* The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.

* 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future— the highest ever.

* As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.👀👀

* Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.

* Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.🙌🙌

* Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.

* Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.👀👀

* Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.

* Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.❤️❤️

* Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.👀👀

* U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.

* The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.

* NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.

* Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.👀👀

* Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.

* Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.

* Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.👀👀

* Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.

* Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.

* Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.

* Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.👀👀

* Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.

* The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.

* It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.

* In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.

* The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20-35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.

* In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.👀👀

* In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.

* Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s thelaw, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.

* US stock market continually hits all-time record highs.

* Because so many people asked for a document with all of this listed in one place, here it is. No links provided to remove bias as Google search is easy. Print this out for family, friends, neighbors, etc. I encourage you to drop this list off to voters before the 2020 election too!

*Trump did all of this while fighting flagrant abuse and impeachment charges.

——-please explain to me why you have a problem with OUR president? Because he has misspoke a few times? Tell me when you find a perfect person, please....I’ll wait! I’ll tell you why, because the media has skewed him in such a negative light and unfairly report his accomplishments to undermined those achievements! Why? Because the media is complicit in every single thing this man is trying to undo! Start thinking for yourself!

🇺🇸WWG1WGA🇺🇸

🇺🇸🇺🇸Are you tired of winning yet?🇺🇸🇺🇸

❤️SHARE THIS❤️

[fatehbaz]

Uranium mining and its resulting highly-radioactive water at milling ponds: “Over ninety percent of all milling done in the U.S. occurred on or just outside the boundaries of American Indian reservations.”

Excerpt:

-- Laguna Pueblo Tribe: The Village of Paguate (Laguna Pueblo), 40 miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico was host to the largest open-pit uranium mine in the United States, the Jackpile Mine. The mine was the largest producer of uranium ore in the Grants District. [...] The Laguna Pueblo, representing a population of about 8000, rejected mining company offers to oeprate a uranium mill on tribal land. The mill was built just down the road at Bluewater, now another superfund site.

-- The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Nations: Uranium mining and processing has also left a legacy of contaminated groundwater and tailings on the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming, home to Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indians. Increased incidences of cancers among its peoples are attributed to the old Susquehanna-Western uranium mill tailings site. The site is a few miles southwest of Riverton, the ninth most-populated city in Wyoming. In some areas of the Wind River Indian Reservation groundwater contamination is so bad that the Department of Energy (DOE) estimates drinking water from contaminated aquifers could make residents up to 10 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population. [...]

-- The Sioux Nations: Uranium mining in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota began in the middle of the 1950s. [...] More than 1000 open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in the four state region according to U.S. Forest Service maps. There were numerous uranium mines throughout the southern Black Hills National Forest as well as in Custer National Forest near the Lakota-Sioux lands in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which also had mines. Most of these have not been reclaimed.

-- The Spokane Nation: The only uranium mining in Washington State was on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The mines were the Sherwood Uranium Mine and the Midnite Uranium Mine, which opened in the 1950s [...]. About 33 million tons of radioactive waste rock and ore remain at the 350-acre site above the Spokane River. The mines have been closed since the 1980s. The Midnite Mine site, the larger of the two uranium mines on the reservation is a superfund site [...].

A disaster of huge consequence for the Navajo Nation occurred at the Church Rock uranium mill spill on 16 July 1979, in New Mexico when United Nuclear Corporation’s Church Rock uranium mill tailings disposal pond breached its dam. Over 1000 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and 93 million gallons of acidic, radioactive tailings solution flowed into the Puerco River, and contaminants traveled 130 km downstream onto the Navajo Nation. The mill was located on privately owned land approximately 27 km north of Gallup, New Mexico, and bordered to the north and southwest by Navajo Nation Tribal Trust lands. Local residents, who were mostly Navajos, used the Puerco River for irrigation and livestock and were not immediately aware of the toxic danger. The Navajo Nation asked the governor of New Mexico to request disaster assistance from the U.S. government and have the site declared a disaster area, but he refused, limiting disaster relief assistance to the Navajo Nation. In terms of the amount of radiation released, the accident was larger in magnitude than the Three Mile Island accident of the same year but received little public attention.

[hippography]

Title: Colville women including Nellie Friedlander on horseback, Washington 

Photographer: Little Art Studio 

Studio Location: United States--Washington (State)--Spokane 

Notes: Three women wearing beaded dresses & headbands on horseback in front of tepees.  Woman in middle holds a toddler. Note from unidentified source: L-R. ?, Nellie Friedlander (her grandmother was Mary Moses), baby may be Lucy Covington, ?. Per Adeline Fredin, Colville Tribe. 

Negative Number: L92-86.77 

Digital Collection: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Images 

Collection: Roy Berk 

Repository: Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture 

Washington University Libraries. [x]

[occasionalcoherence]

What are your top five book quotes?

I have taken FOREVER with this question and I’m so sorry. I hope you see it. It’s an impossible question, but I needed to attempt it. The thing is I can’t remember everything I’ve read and loved at one time. Also I was so well-read as a kid, and I find it kind of embarrassing how little I’ve read in more recent years. Still love books, though. I’m going to try and hit a mix of the kinds of things that bring me joy/meaning.

“I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms. And the tribe of cartoonists. And the tribe of chronic masturbators. And the tribe of teenage boys. And the tribe of small-town kids. And the tribe of Pacific Northwesterners. And the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers. And the tribe of poverty. And the tribe of funeral-goers. And the tribe of beloved sons. And the tribe of boys who really missed their best friends. It was a huge realization. And that's when I knew that I was going to be okay.“ --Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

I read this when I was fourteen and the way Alexie writes about the human need for belonging and love hasn’t let go of my brain. 

“After I grew up, I heard the chant of Fa Mu Lan, the girl who took her father’s place in battle…. I had forgotten this chant that was once mine, given me by my mother, who may not have known its power to remind. She said I would grow up a wife and a slave, but she taught me the song of the warrior woman, Fa Mu Lan. I would have to grow up a warrior woman.” --Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior

All of the content warnings for The Woman Warrior, but there’s this sense of longing for independence that Kingston spins into these romantic narratives. Plus I need to read more books written by Asian women. Or Asian authors in general. It’s a part of my identity I don’t get to see a lot in books.

“’What the hell is Havarti?’ Gus asked. 

‘Semisoft Danish cow cheese,’ Casey said. ‘You’ll love it.’ 

‘That… sounds disgusting,’ Gus said. ‘You should have just called it cheese. I don’t know if I can eat cheese from a semisoft Danish cow.’” -- TJ Klune, How to Be a Normal Person

Ridiculous comedy is extremely important to me. I love this book more than I can explain. Gus is so easy to love, and he doesn’t realize it.

“’He is not alone,’ Marlie objected. ‘Rowan is with him.’ Val and Ellis stared at her as though she were mad. 

‘Of what use to Jonn is a scared weakling like Rowan?’ Val demanded. ‘He needs a strong, courageous companion to—’

‘He had five strong, courageous companions.��

Allun lifted his head and looked her straight in the eye. ‘They all ran away.’”--Emily Rodda, Rowan of Rin

Look. This is a kid’s book. It’s a total predictable cliche:  “weakling outcast kid was the hero all along.” But Rowan’s gentleness is portrayed as his Great Strength. As a masculine-identifying person, that’s a message I still need all the time. He doesn’t go through a Change to become Socially Acceptable. He was always like this, and it turns out to be what they need.

“Perhaps home is not a place but an irrevocable condition.” --James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

I don’t have an addendum to this one.

[leviathangourmet]

(ARCHIVE LINK)

Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

True, but tribal leaders credit bipartisan efforts in Congress for those bills. In 2019, Mr. Trump signed the Spokane Reservation Equitable Compensation Act for the loss of land that was flooded by the Grand Coulee Dam. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited the reservation and pledged to support the bill. But Carol Evans, chairwoman of the Spokane Tribal Business Council, said most of the credit for the law goes to two members of Congress from Washington, Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican. Mr. Trump also signed the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Programs Reauthorization Act, which revises an existing grant program. That bill was introduced by Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico. Lastly, Mr. Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, which included a provision that gave long-overdue federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe. Tribal Chairman Gerald Gray credits the bipartisan efforts of Senators Jon Tester, a Democrat, and Steve Daines, a Republican, both of Montana, for tucking the tribal recognition provision into the military spending bill.

Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences. 

True. A bipartisan group in Congress also deserves credit for the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.

Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal. 

True. Congress also deserves credit for the inclusion of this measure in the 2018 Farm Bill, which Mr. Trump signed.

Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.

Both President Barack Obama and Mr. Trump deserve credit for this allocation, which was set in motion before Mr. Obama left office.

Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.

True. Mr. Trump tweeted in support of this law and deserves credit for using the bully pulpit of the presidency to demand transparency in drug prices. But Congress deserves most of the credit for the unanimous 2018 passage of this transparency law, which prohibits gag orders that prevent pharmacists from sharing prescription drug prices with customers.

Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.

True. The bill was crafted and pushed through Congress by Representative Ann Wagner, a conservative Republican from Missouri, who thanked Ivanka Trump for advocating its passage.

Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.

True. Congress also deserves credit for the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act of 2017, which was championed by Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, and former Representative Stephen Knight, Republican of California.

Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean. 

True. The credit for the passage of this legislation goes to a bipartisan group in Congress, namely Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, and Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey.

Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.

True.

Trump signed into law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.

True. Tucked into the National Defense Authorization Act was a provision that gave all federal workers 12 weeks of paid parental leave for the first time in history.

President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.

True. Congress passed this act with broad bipartisan support, including 190 co-sponsors in the House.

In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill that enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.

True. The Trump administration championed these reforms. Credit also goes to criminal justice reform advocates from across the political spectrum who pushed these changes for years.

The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes. 

True.

Over 90% of those benefiting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.

True.

Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.

True.

Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.

True. Students protested.

Trump’s U.S.D.A. committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure. 

This is true, though in 2016 Mr. Trump pledged to spend more than $800 billion on infrastructure.

Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors. 

True.

Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

Richard Grenell is leading an effort to decriminalize homosexuality around the globe. Mr. Grenell has said that Mr. Trump supports this effort, though its existence appeared to take Mr. Trump by surprise.

Signed the first Perkins C.T.E. reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.

True.

Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

True. Attempts to expand and modernize apprenticeships, a goal shared by Democrats, are widely seen as a bipartisan bright spot in the Trump administration.

Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.

True, though the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern that the order could be used to punish constitutionally protected criticism of Israel or the Israeli government.

Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners. 

This is true, though it is unclear how many people have been able to participate in it.

Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core. 

Mr. Trump promised in 2016 to end Common Core, but according to PolitiFact, 37 states still use some version of it.

Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.

True. TCJA refers to the president’s 2017 overhaul of federal tax law.

The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.

In 2018, President Trump launched the Pledge to America’s Workers, aimed at boosting the private sector’s role in training American workers. Companies signed on, to much fanfare. But there is evidence that resources for training are actually going down.

Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.

True. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, was praised for his efforts to streamline the process of drug approval before he left the administration.

Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs — saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone. 

It’s true that the Trump administration changed the rules for how Medicare pays for prescription drugs through the 340B program, lowering the rate that hospitals are reimbursed for drugs, which in some cases lowers co-payments for seniors, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. It is not clear how much seniors have saved through this change.

Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic. 

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, $9 billion in new grant funding was awarded to states and local communities to help increase access to treatment and prevention services during the first three years of the Trump administration.

NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.

True. Although NATO countries were already modestly increasing their military spending before Mr. Trump took office, there is evidence that his public complaints led to a deal that allowed the United States to decrease its own spending, while some other countries increased their share each year that he has been in office.

Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. 

True.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.

True. According to the Tax Foundation, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act doubled the maximum child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000, while the phaseout threshold was increased from $75,000 to $200,000 for single filers and $110,000 to $400,000 for married couples filing jointly.

It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.

True. There is now a nonrefundable $500 credit for certain dependents who do not meet the child tax credit eligibility guidelines.

In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to states to fund child care for low-income families.

It is true that Mr. Trump signed this bill. Congress should also get the credit for passing it.

In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law, which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families. 

It is true that Mr. Trump signed this bill into law. Congress deserves the credit for passing this legislation, which received such broad support that 173 House members and 41 senators were co-sponsors.

In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.

True. The measure was championed by the bipartisan Congressional Lupus Caucus.