Are there any Native American accounts of the Civil War? How did they perceive it?
The two most direct connections that Native Americans had to the Civil War was a Sioux (Lakota) uprising in Minnesota and in the Indian Nations or currently Oklahoma. The Indian Nations were widely split and some tribal members participated on both sides. Cherokee and other of the “civilized tribes” were slave owners and openly allied themselves along factional lines to the Confederate States of America. Part of this was a continuation of ante-bellum tribal rivalries going back to the “Trail of Tears.” The Cherokee were split along a John Ross vs. Stand Watie leadership rivalry. The “John Ross” faction had a tendency to side with the Union while the “Stand Watie” faction tended to side with the Confederacy although this is a bit of an overgeneralization. There were both pro-Union factions within the Indian Nations usually referred to as “pin” Indians due to an insignia they wore to identify them and pro-Confederacy Indians. Stand Watie became a general in the Confederate army and was one of the last to surrender in 1865. It should not be surprising in the “brothers war” that Native American tribes were also split in a similar fashion.Dakota War of 1862 - Wikipedia. Who was Stand Watie?https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/cherokees-pea-ridge
What are the differences between the Democratic Party and Republican Party?
First the basic similarity. Both parties are supported by the wealthy. Both parties have had a similar approach to the economy for the last 50 years and by that I mean market based solutions have been stressed to solve problems such as making college more affordable or improving access to healthcare. Anti-trust isn’t the big issue it once was even if market domination by large companies is as strong today as in the heyday of anti-trust litigation.The differences between the party are based on the alliances that make up the 2 parties. The GOP is an alliance between the old Northern GOP and the White South. The party has been taken over by the conservative movement and that movement is an alliance of economic and social conservatives.The Democratic party is an alliance of urban people, suburbanites and minorities. It is still the party of the New Deal and Great Society, even if it hasn’t always embraced that legacy.Selected Issues:Immigration: The Republicans want to crack down in illegal immigration by repatriating illegal immigrants. The Democrats want to target employers who hire immigrants. The Democrats also want to give children of illegal immigrants who are not citizens a path to citizenship. The GOP opposes this.Social Security: The GOP wants to slowly turn programs like Social Security into means tested program. They would like to give workers a chance to opt out of the current systems by replacing it with private investment. The Democrats oppose both ideas.College Education: The younger Democrats are looking to move from a system that relies on student loans to pay for tertiary education. The GOP opposes efforts like this.Healthcare: The younger Democrats would like a wholesale revamping of our healthcare system. Currently our system discourages employees from changing jobs since affordable health insurance is tied to your job. The Republicans have mostly talked about market based approaches and changes in the tort laws. A truly market based system would be a radical a change as a state supported system.Taxation: The Republicans support lower taxes for the wealthy and low taxes on capital gains. The Democrats talk about higher taxes but have been loathe to actually raise them.
With Hollywood running out of ideas wouldn't it be interesting to make one about Canadians serving in the Civil War?
Damn straight. According to the BBC article you linked, 40,000 Canadians served (the overwhelming majority of whom fought for the Union), and 7,000 Canadians died in the American Civil War - a pretty high toll for a neutral country whose population at the time of Confederation, according to Wikipedia, was about 3.46 million. Among the most notable Canadians who served, according to http://www.thecanadianencycloped... :Calixa Lavallée, the composer of "O Canada", who enlisted in a Rhode Island regiment in 1861 and was reportedly wounded at Antietam;Edward P. Doherty, the leader of the Union cavalry detachment that tracked down and killed Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth;Anderson Abbott, the first Canadian Black person to serve in the Union military and also one of only 13 black surgeons to serve, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln;Sarah Edmonds, who disguised herself as a man to serve as a nurse with the Union army and also a spy who conducted numerous missions behind Confederate lines (now THERE'S a subject for a whiz-bang movie!)According to Wikipedia, 29 Canadians serving in the Union Army were awarded the Medal of Honor.Hollywood scriptwriters, pay attention. There's some real Oscar material here if you write it up right.
Why does everyone hate Hot Rod from Transformers?
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime was put in an unenviable position as being the character to replace Optimus Prime but fans weren’t ready for that change. Optimus was still the star of Transformers, the comics were still centred around him and largely ignored the new characters like Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr and Arcee beyond time travelling adventures in the Marvel UK comics.At the time it’s safe to say that Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime was something of a flop as the new leader character. The cartoon with a lower budget and all new cast of characters ended up being cancelled after one series set in the future while the comics ignored him. The Hot Rod toy sold well as it was a highlight amongst a toyline that was in definite decline but the Rodimus toy wasn’t as well received and looked fairly bad.As those young fans grew older it became apparent that fans liked Hot Rod but not Rodimus Prime. In the interim Hasbro didn’t renew the trademark on the Hot Rod name requiring the 2000 reissue of the original toy to be named Hot Rodimus.When IDW rebooted the Generation One universe they cleverly depicted Hot Rod as being of a fairly high rank but also somewhat ambitious and arrogant. When Optimus Prime surrenders to human authorities, Hot Rod takes command of the remaining Autobots and creates a union with some Decepticons in order to leave Earth. During this time, Swindle is manipulating Hot Rod and constantly flatters his leadership ability, suggesting Hot Rod adopt the name Rodimus Prime.Swindle and the Decepticons betray the Autobots but when Starscream steals the Matrix, Rodimus Prime sets off alone and retrieves it, handing it back to Optimus. Dropping the Prime part of his name, Rodimus leads a large group of Autobots in a quest to find the lost Knights of Cybertron in the comic series More Than Meets The Eye. This series was much more comedic in nature than other Transformers comics and portrayed Rodimus as vain, egocentric and lazy but yet charismatic and skilful. This depiction of Rodimus being driven by ego and not always planning ahead made him hugely popular and one of the most loved characters of the series.For the first time in a number of years a figure was released in the Power of the Primes line which saw a smaller Hot Rod figure that could combine with an additional trailer to become Rodimus Prime. The figure was really popular so it seems that after MTMTE, fans have finally accepted him.