May 1, 2025

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Don’t forget to wash your face with morning dew on May 1 for good luck. 
May Day has its roots in astronomy. Traditionally, it was the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. This is one of the Celtic ‘cross quarter days’, which mark the midway points between the solstices and equinoxes of the year.
In the Middle Ages, the Gaelic people celebrated the festival of Beltane, which means “Day of Fire.” People created large bonfires and danced at night to celebrate.

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Communists appropriated the day.
In 1901, The Second International Socialist Congress proclaimed that proletariat groups “energetically celebrate the advent of the eight-hour work day.” The former medieval holiday was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool

Slim to none posting folks for the near term. The power to most of the area is off due to damage caused by the storm front that moved through this morning and another one is on the way.
Castellum Fortis is on limited generator power and we hope that more fuel supplies can be obtained, or power restored, before tomorrow evening.

Spain experienced a nationwide power outage one week after reaching 100% “green” energy.

Across all of Portugal and Spain, people were left without power or cell service of any kind. The nations literally went dark.

Tens of millions of people had to resort to old handheld radios to figure out what was even happening. It could have been an alien invasion for all they knew!

From El Pais:

The outage suddenly set Spain back to the 19th century. Traffic lights out of service, traffic jams forming across the country, pedestrians wandering around cities without public transportation, desperate families trying to communicate with their loved ones, passengers left stranded without trains or flights, canceled medical appointments, rescues underway in subway stations and elevators, lines forming outside small shops due to supermarket closures…

I wonder what could have caused this?

For no reason at all, here’s a video of Spaniards celebrating the destruction of a nuclear power plant three years ago.

Mere low Earth orbit in a space station? It’s too bad we haven’t taken up asteroid mining yet

What’s it like to be 70 years old in space? “All those little aches and pains heal up.”

Not many people celebrate their birthday by burning a fiery arc through the atmosphere, pulling 4.4gs in freefall back to planet Earth, thudding into the ground, and emptying their stomach on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

No one has ever done it on their 70th birthday.

Perhaps this is appropriate because NASA astronaut Don Pettit is a singular individual. His birthday is April 20, and when the Soyuz spacecraft carrying him landed at dawn in Kazakhstan, the calendar had turned over to that date. John Glenn, then 77, was older when he went to space. But no one as old as Pettit had spent as long as he had in orbit, 220 days, on a mission.

On Monday, a little more than a week after returning from orbit, Pettit met with reporters at Johnson Space Center. “It’s good to be back on planet Earth,” he said. “As much as I love exploring space, going into the frontier, and making observations, you do reach a time when it’s time to come home.”

Flying in space at 70 years old

Pettit first went into space at the age of 47 for his first of three long-duration missions to the International Space Station. Since then, he has flown a shorter shuttle mission and two more space station increments. All told, he has lived in space for 590 days, the third-most all-time among NASA astronauts.

“I’ve got a few creaks and groans in my body, but basically I feel the same as I did 20 years ago, and coming back to gravity is provocative,” he said.

After every one of his missions, Pettit said the readjustment to gravity for him has been a challenge. He added that the surprising thing about spaceflight is that it’s not so much your large muscles that ache, but the smaller ones.

“A week ago, I was on station, and I was doing really heavy squats, I was doing dead lifts, I could float around with the greatest of ease, even though I had no trapeze,” he said. “I was at the peak of my game. And then you come back to Earth, and it’s like, God, I can’t even get up from the floor anymore. It’s humbling. But it isn’t about the large muscle groups. It’s about the little, tiny muscles that everybody forgets about because they’re just there and they work. When you’re in weightlessness, these muscles don’t work anymore. And they take a six-month vacation until you come back to Earth. And now, all of a sudden, they start groaning and talking to you, and it takes a while to get all these little muscles tuned back up to being an Earthling.”

In terms of aging, Pettit said, like a lot of older people, he wakes up after a night sleeping on Earth with a sore shoulder or a stiff neck. That’s just part of the process. But microgravity took some of those aches and pains away.

“I love being in space,” he said. “When you’re sleeping, you’re just floating, and your body, all those little aches and pains heal up. You feel like you’re 30 years old again and free of pain, free of everything. So I love being on orbit. It’s a great place to be for me and my physiology.”

The space station isn’t old, either

Pettit has visited the space station on all four of his spaceflights. He lived there, near the beginning of the station’s lifetime, as part of Expedition 6 in 2002. More than two decades later he said the station is operating at full capacity, delivering on its promise of robust scientific research, studies of long-duration spaceflight, and much more. Asked if he felt nostalgic about the station coming to an end in 2030—NASA plans to de-orbit the facility at that time—Pettit said the laboratory should live on.

“I’m a firm believer we don’t need to dump the space station in the ocean at 2030 if we don’t want to,” he said. “If we as a society decided to keep [the] space station, we could keep it like a B-52. I mean, how many years is it they’ve been flying? It’ll be flying close to 100 years by the time the Air Force finally retires the B-52, and it’s basically the same airframe with the same aerodynamics, but everything else is new. There’s no limit to what we can do to [the] space station, except for our will to keep refurbishing it and having the funding necessary.”

And maybe that’s because he wants to go back. Pettit did not rule out flying into space again. For now, he wants to take a few weeks to allow his body time to re-adjust to gravity. He wants to enjoy some time with his family. But soon, he knows, space will start to call to him again.

“I call it the explorer’s paradox,” he said. “When you’re back in civilization, you want to be out there wherever your wilderness happens to be; and then when you’re in your wilderness, it’s like, wow, I need to be back with my family. I think it’s probably gone on for as long as humanity has had people who go off into the wilderness. When the flight docs say I’m ready to go back, I’m ready to do it. And I know John Glenn flew at age 76, something like that, and I’m only 70, so I’ve got a few more good years left. I could see getting another flight or two in before I’m ready to hang up my rocket nozzles.”

This is the way it’s been in Europe for quite a while. Major parts of a gun are serialized, and restricted. You can see this on Glocks and other European made guns where the serial number is on the frame, slide and barrel. Just like for ammo, if the tyrant demoncraps in California do happen to pass such a crap-for-brains law,  people who are interested enough will simply cross the state line to buy.

Beyond ‘Ghost Guns’: California Democrats Push Background Checks for Gun Barrels

California Democrats are pushing legislation to require background checks for gun barrel purchases, effectively taking the “ghost gun” regulatory push to its logical conclusion.

The bill, Senate Bill 704, is sponsored by state Sen. Jesse Arreguín (D).

SB 704 singles out firearm barrels among the many other parts of firearm, requiring a background check for any replacement barrel or aftermarket barrel upgrade purchase:

Commencing on July 1, 2026, this bill would, except as specified, prohibit the sale or transfer of a firearm barrel, as defined, unless the transaction is completed in person by a licensed firearms dealer. The bill would require the licensed firearms dealer to conduct a background check of the purchaser or transferee and to record specified information pertaining to the transaction, including the date of the sale or transfer.

Moreover, SB 704 specifically outlines how the costs of performing background checks for barrels must be handled, making clear that the legislation literally creates “a new crime,” albeit a misdemeanor, in the state California.

Gun rights proponents have long warned that the Democrats’ use of terminology like “ghost guns”–and the resulting regulation of said “guns”–would lead to background checks for aftermarket firearm parts. State Sen. Arreguín’s legislation is doing just that.

Additionally, the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) warns that with a background check, SB 704 would end online barrel sales via the requirement for face-to-face transactions.

NAGR said, “We have warned that this was always the end goal. Target the secondary market — driving up the cost of repairing and maintaining firearms in an effort to win through attrition. The ultimate objective is a complete ban on online sales.”

Reform Minded Board Members Sweep NRA Officer Elections

At the NRA Annual Meetings last weekend I interviewed then-First Vice President Bill Bachenberg for the Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co podcast. During our conversation Bachenberg talked extensively about the reforms he’d like to see implemented within the group, starting with a president who knows a thing or two about running a business.

The NRA, for all its work as an advocacy, litigation, legislative, educational, and training organization, is a non-profit corporation, and Bachenberg believes someone with business acumen and a background in running successful companies is critical in restoring both faith and financial soundness to the organization.

Bachenberg spoke openly about his plan to challenge incumbent president Bob Barr for election, along with a reform-minded slate of additional officers: then-2nd Vice President Mark Vaughn, and Rocky Marshall, who’s been a longtime advocate for increased accountability and transparency.

Though officers are elected annually, traditionally they serve two-year terms, so this was a challenge to a sitting president, and was widely seen as a contest between those who are willing to acknowledge past failings within NRA leadership and those who still want to defend Wayne LaPierre and the misspending from other top executives, or at least refuse to truly acknowledge them.

Well, the 76 board members voted for new officers today, and it was a clean sweep for the reformers. From the NRA Public Affairs office:

Today, the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), elected Bill Bachenberg of Pennsylvania as President of the NRA and Doug Hamlin as NRA Executive Vice President & CEO. The meeting of the Board of Directors followed the 154th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits where over 70,000 NRA members, their families, and supporters of the Second Amendment gathered at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia to check out the latest guns, gear, and accessories from over 600 exhibitors.

“I am deeply honored to be entrusted by my colleagues on the Board to serve as President of the NRA,” said Bill Bachenberg, NRA President. “We are at a pivotal point in our Association’s history as we work to reach out to new members, build upon the trust of existing members, and provide the gold-standard programs that American gun owners expect. As the Nation’s oldest civil rights organization, the NRA plays a critical role in protecting and advancing freedom in America.”

The NRA Board of Directors also elected Mark Vaughan of Oklahoma as NRA First Vice President and Rocky Marshall of Texas as NRA Second Vice President.

“As we conclude a very successful NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, I know one thing for sure: NRA’s best days are ahead of us,” said Doug Hamlin, NRA Executive Vice President & CEO. “This Association is moving forward, full speed ahead, to support the shooting sports, train new gun owners, and defend the sacred right to self-defense. I thank the dedicated staff of the NRA who work day and night on behalf of NRA’s millions of members and America’s more than 100 million firearms owners.”

Following Mr. Hamlin’s reelection, he reappointed John Commerford as the Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and Josh Savani as the Executive Director of NRA General Operations.

The Board of Directors also reelected Sonya B. Rowling as NRA Treasurer, Robert Mensinger as NRA Chief Compliance Officer, and John C. Frazer as NRA Secretary.

The 2026 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits will take place in Houston, Texas, from April 17-19, 2026.

Frazer’s retention as NRA Secretary is a bit of a surprise, not only because he was part of the old regime but because he was implicated in Letitia James’ lawsuit against the NRA (a jury held that he made false statements but did not cause financial harm to the organization and should not be held liable for damages). Whatever their reasons, enough reformers felt comfortable with Frazer in his current role that he was re-elected.

Today’s election results are a clear sign that the Wayne LaPierre days of the NRA are, for better or worse, over. The fact that former NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox, who resigned after being placed on administrative leave by LaPierre during the NRA’s meltdown in 2019, was warmly welcomed at an event celebrating the Institute for Legislative Action’s 50th anniversary was another telling indication that Wayne LaPierre’s influence over the NRA and its leadership is on the wane, if not wiped out completely.

For several years a growing number of NRA members and board members have been advocating for making some big changes to the organization; not in terms of its mission, but its ability to succeed in that mission. There is a recognition that trust needs to be rebuilt, that the institutional arrogance of the past should no longer exist, if it was ever justified to begin with.

The NRA’s been knocked down a peg, and it wasn’t only because of Letitia James’ attempt to dissolve the organization and rob millions of members of their community. To pretend that isn’t the case only hurts the organization. Denial isn’t an option, and it wasn’t just the reformers who won today. I’d say the realists won too.

I’ve said along along that the Second Amendment community needs a strong NRA, and (casting all journalistic neutrality aside and speaking as a Benefactor Life Member) I’m thrilled that the reform slate swept the elections.

I believe this is the moment that many disgruntled and reform-minded NRA members have been working (or at least waiting) for, and after speaking with multiple board members and NRA leadership Doug Hamlin, John Commerford, and Josh Savani, I can honestly say in my more than 20 years of connections with the organization I’ve never seen the sense of energy and purpose that I witnessed in Atlanta.

I’m not saying the NRA is all the way back, but I’m optimistic that the efforts to rebuild and reform that led to today’s election results will now be able to kick into overdrive, and I’m excited to see what comes next.

Market capitalism is the best thing that ever happened to the common man. The rich have always had access to entertainment, often in the comfort of their palaces and mansions. The rich have never had to experience the drudgery of having to beat out carpets, iron their clothing or slave over a hot stove all day in order to have a decent dinner.

They could afford to hire people. Capitalism’s mass production and marketing have made radios and televisions, vacuum cleaners, wash-and-wear clothing and microwave ovens available and well within the means of the common man; thus, sparing him of the boredom and drudgery of the past. Today, the common man has the power to enjoy much (and more) of what only the rich could afford yesteryear.
-Walter Williams

Kansas Supreme Court affirms product liability immunity of gun maker, seller in civil suit

Case centers on wounding of ESU football player in mishandling of Beretta

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court agreed Friday with a district court decision tossing a lawsuit filed by a former Emporia State University football player shot by a teammate who mistakenly believed that disassembling his newly purchased handgun required pulling the trigger.

In 2018, Andre Lewis bought a Beretta APX 9mm handgun at Bass Pro Outdoor World in Olathe. While idling his Dodge Charger at a downtown Emporia stoplight several months later, Lewis decided to show his front-seat passenger, Marquise Johnson, that he knew how to take the gun apart. Court records show Lewis was convinced the gun wouldn’t fire with the magazine removed and that the trigger had to be pulled before disassembly the weapon.

Lewis was wrong on both counts, and the bullet that had been in the chamber struck Johnson in his left leg. The wound resulted in amputation of the limb below the knee.

Johnson’s attorneys filed a product liability lawsuit against gun manufacturer Beretta and retailer Bass Pro Shops. The suit alleged Bass Pro sold and Beretta manufactured a defective and unreasonably dangerous handgun.

“Unintentional shootings like Marquise Johnson’s are preventable,” said plaintiff’s attorney Jonathan Lowy. “Like any other product, guns can and should be made as safe as possible to make injuries less likely.”

The District Court in Lyons County granted summary judgment in favor of the firearm maker and seller based on a reading of the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The PLCAA forbids lawsuits against manufacturers or sellers when a person criminally or unlawfully misused a firearm. This federal immunity designed to shield the gun industry wouldn’t hold if the gun was used as intended or in a reasonable way.

The case attracted an amicus brief from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund that argued the immunity law applied only if the “volitional act, apart from the discharge, constitutes a criminal offense.”

In a split decision, the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed the district court and determined the federal statute didn’t offer immunity to defendants in this case because Lewis didn’t intend to discharge the gun.

In an appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court, however, the firearm manufacturer and dealer argued the Court of Appeals came to the wrong conclusion about application of the federal law and that liability immunity existed because Lewis deliberately pulled the trigger. The state Supreme court found that argument persuasive.

“We hold that firearm sellers’ interpretation is a better reasoned and more accurately reflects Congress’ intent as reflected in the text of the PLCAA,” said Supreme Court Justice K.J. Wall.

Wall, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, said factual disputes about whether Lewis’ actions made him culpable for a criminal offense would typically be resolved by a jury. However, the justice said, it was a violation of state law for Lewis to discharge the gun on a public road.

“Under the unique facts of this case,” Walls wrote, “any dispute about Lewis’ mental state cannot save Johnson’s lawsuit from the PLCAA’s immunity provision.”

He said the Court of Appeals erred by reversing District Court Judge Merlin Wheeler’s decision to grant summary judgement against Johnson.

The court record indicated Lewis purchased the Beretta after reviewing Bass Pro Shop’s “10 commandments of safe gun handling,” which included a rule about keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Apparently, Lewis reviewed the rules before signing a form to acknowledge he had read them.

The Beretta was accompanied by a user manual that explained the gun could fire even after a magazine had been removed. In addition, the booklet stated the gun’s striker-deactivation button allowed users to disassemble the gun without pulling the trigger.

The Beretta APX had a warning stamped on the gun frame that was on point in the case: “FIRES WITHOUT MAGAZINE.”