July 21

356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World in antiquity, is destroyed by arson.

1798 – Napoleon’s forces defeat an moslem Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids.

1861 –  At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the Civil War ends in a victory for the Confederate army.

1865 – In the town square of Springfield, Missouri, James ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok and Davis Tutt engage in what is regarded as the first western showdown gun fight with Hickok killing Tutt with a single shot.

1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the U.S.

1904 – Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph barrier on land, driving purpose built, 13.5-liter engine powered Gobron-Brillié racing car in Ostend, Belgium to 103.561 mph.

1907 – The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company’s passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Company’s steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, killing 88 passengers and crew aboard Columbia

1919 – The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company’s dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 3 passengers and crew aboard and 10 people in the building.

1925 – In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in his school class and fined $100.
Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph on land, driving the Sunbeam 350HP at Pendine Sands in Wales, at a 2 way average speed of 150.33 mph

1944 – American troops land on Guam to retake it from the Japanese, starting a battle that will end on August 10.
In Berlin, 5 conspirators are executed for the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

1949 – The Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO.

1952 – The 7.3 Mw  Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.

1954 – The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

1959 – The U.S. government owned NS Savannah, the first nuclear powered cargo/passenger ship, is launched at Camden, New Jersey, as a showcase for President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative.

1961 – Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission astronaut Gus Grissom, piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space
Alaska Airlines Cargo Flight 779, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Shemya Air Force Base in Shemya, Alaska killing all 6 crew aboard.

1969 – At 02:56 UTC, at Tranquility Base, astronaut Neil Armstrong leaves the Lunar Lander Eagle and becomes the first person to walk on the Moon. At 17:54 UTC, the Eagle lifts off from the Moon to redock with the Command Module Columbia at 21:35 UTC

1970 – After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.

1979 – Mohawk Jay Silverheels becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1983 – The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −128.6 °F

2011 – NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135.

The thing is, it’s not really a joke. The criminals are in fact tools of the Democrats — that’s why they promote crime when they’re in power — in a war to demoralize the normies. And “racism” is a tool the lefties use to try to keep their opponents from organizing against them. It’s true here, and it was true with the Yellow Jacket protests in France:

Talking about the yellow-vest movement, French geographer Christophe Guilluy observes: “Immediately, the protesters were denounced as xenophobes, anti-Semites and homophobes. The elites present themselves as anti-fascist and anti-racist, but this is merely a way of defending their class interests. It is the only argument they can muster to defend their status, but it is not working anymore.”

Any person or group in opposition to the Democrats is smeared as racist or bigoted because that’s their excuse for suppressing them. And there’s a whole infrastructure — see, e.g., the Southern Poverty Law Center — to promote the smears and launder them as coming from “nonpartisan” sources. – Glenn Reynolds

 

Why’s the left so hot and bothered by “Try That in a Small Town”?

If you tune in to the weekly VIP Gold live chat with HotAir’s Ed Morrissey and myself (which is coming up at 1:30 ET today), I’m sure you’ve heard me say that “everything is stupid and it’s only getting worse” in response to the latest social media-fueled outrage of the day. That phrase definitely applies to the hysterics from the left when it comes to Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town,” which has now been yanked from rotation on CMT and is in the crosshairs of anti-gun activists like Shannon Watts, who’s claiming credit for CMT’s move and now trying to get the country singer cancelled from a fundraiser benefitting Covenant School in Nashville.

When I first wrote about this “controversy” a couple of days ago, I figured it would be a one-off. After all, how much traction could Watts and her allies in the tribe of the perpetually outraged really get by complaining about a song in praise of small town living, even if it did mention those small-town residents keeping their guns instead of allowing them to be “rounded up”?

Well, we’re now on day three of the attacks on Aldean and his song, and the outrage mob is still gathering their torches and pitchforks. Aldean has been accused of fostering racism and violence with his lyrics, even as the singer himself has pushed back on the criticism.

Aldean denied the allegations against his song in a tweet on Tuesday.

“In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song … and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” he wrote. “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.”

On social media some users were offended by the lyrics, especially since Aldean was performing onstage at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 when a shooter opened fire and killed 60 concertgoers and injured hundreds more. In his tweet, the Grammy-nominated star referenced the tragedy: “NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.”

“‘Try That In A Small Town,’ for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences,” he continued. “My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to- that’s what this song is about.”

I have a theory about why Watts is so incensed by Aldean’s song, and it isn’t just that he’s warning against trying to round up guns; something gun control activists swear they’re not interested in doing anyway. I think it goes back to the Las Vegas shooting, and Aldean’s comments not long afterwards that it was “too easy” to get a gun in the U.S. As long as the singer was siding with Watts, there was no reason for her to complain. But now that Aldean is singing about hanging on to the guns we already own, instead of stumping for gun control it’s time for him to be cancelled.

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On Point: The Korean Armistice’s Iffy Anniversary: Korea Is a Forever War

The Korean War Armistice agreement was signed July 27, 1953 — 70 years ago this month. It’s a very iffy anniversary, for the Korean War remains unfinished business.

Internet factoids claim the armistice concluded the war with “a complete cessation of hostilities.” Dub those factoids “faketoids” — disinformation posing as historical fact. First point: an armistice is not a peace treaty. Second point: along the Korean peninsula’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the fighting has never stopped.

Examples abound. The DMZ Conflict is a collective name for skirmishes, raids and assassination attempts that occurred from October 1966 to October 1969. The fighting cost South Korea 299 dead and 550 wounded. Forty-three Americans were killed and 111 wounded.

The fighting included the January 1968 Blue House Raid. Thirty-one North Korean commandos infiltrated South Korea to assassinate South Korea’s president. They attacked the president’s residence (the Blue House) but failed to kill the president. Ultimately South Korea suffered 26 killed and 66 wounded; 29 communist commandos were slain, one captured. Call it “gray zone war” and you nail it.

At this immediate moment we see a kinda-sorta conflict lapse, except for nuclear warfare threats and missile launches.

This July 12 North Korea test fired an intercontinental ballistic that traveled some 650 miles and splashed into the Sea of Japan. The missile’s loft trajectory and flight time indicates it can hit Guam and Hawaii — a nuclear Pearl Harbor. Seattle, San Francisco and Phoenix, stay tuned.

The Biden administration’s Afghanistan skedaddle debacle has ongoing security consequences. The Taliban, however, hasn’t tested ballistic missiles and acquired nukes.

Was North Korea’s test a bluff? The Wall Street Journal quoted Sung-Yoon Lee (Korea expert at Tufts University) as saying “North Korea excels in pretextual provocations… resorting to illegal and menacing behavior while blaming the U.S. or South Korean actions or statements as the pretext for its kinetic ‘protest.'”

Lee believes North Korea “is gearing up for a major provocation.”

Which makes my third point: The Korean War isn’t over. When you hear TV talking heads call Afghanistan America’s longest war, click the remote and silence the ignorant poseurs.

On the armistice’s 70th anniversary, North Korea’s major export is the threat of war magnified by potential nuclear holocaust. It’s an international version of an alley bully’s extortion game. “Pay me off,” the punk waving the pistol says, “or I’ll burn your store.” The analogy, however, goes only so far. North Korea’s Kim waves a nuclear weapon as his miserable people suffer from endemic communist famine.

Maybe North Korea’s nuke is still a primitive fizzle nuke. But quick tech help could modernize the Kim regime’s nukes. Next door China is a possible culprit. Historical point: At its height the Korean War was a war between the U.S. and communist China.

The more likely nuke upgrade culprit– a desperate Vladimir Putin seeking political leverage. A nuke detonation in Asia might shake Ukraine.

Far-fetched? Let’s hope so. However, dictators experiencing a crisis of authority grasp at horse hairs — an indirect reference to the Sword of Damocles.

Twenty years ago, I wrote a column reflecting on the Korean War armistice’s 50th anniversary. In 1951 my father was in combat in Korea. My mother told me that year more than anything she wanted a quick end to the Korean War.”

Dad fought in the Punch Bowl, a collapsed volcano where the Chinese and American armies slugged it out in a series of bitter attrition battles. He censored his own letters. He didn’t tell Mom about the human wave assault that overran his bunker, with Chinese soldiers racing past him as he fired his pistol at fast shapes in the night.

For years, Dad’s commentary on Korea amounted to little more than “I was always too damn cold.”

Korea wasn’t the first post-World War Two “war of integration and disintegration.” That distinction arguably goes to China, where the fighting never stopped. Red China still wants to invade Taiwan.

Biden investigation: Grassley releases FBI document accusing Joe and Hunter Biden of bribery scheme.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Thursday released the now-infamous FBI form that contains a witness’s account of President Joe Biden allegedly partaking in a bribery scheme when he was vice president.

Grassley published in full the lightly redacted FD-1023 form, which several congressional Republicans have already seen but that the public did not have access to until Thursday.

The Iowa Republican accused the FBI in an accompanying statement of seeking to “obfuscate and redact” the form before the bureau ultimately cooperated with congressional Republicans to show it to them.

“The American people can now read this document for themselves, without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats, thanks to brave and heroic whistleblowers,” Grassley, who acquired the document via legally protected disclosures by Justice Department whistleblowers, said.

Read a copy of the form below.

The FBI uses FD-1023 forms to record “raw, unverified” information from confidential human sources.

Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced the existence of the form in question in May and subpoenaed the FBI for a copy of it. The FBI at first resisted cooperating with the committee, expressing concern about the “sensitive” nature of the document.

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Not the only judge to get Bruen wrong. They hate it.

Wyoming Judge Dismisses Wapiti Man’s Lawsuit To Make His Own Machine Gun

Wyoming’s chief federal judge has dismissed a Wapiti man’s lawsuit against the U.S. Attorney General challenging whether people have a Second Amendment right to make machine guns.

Jake DeWilde sued both U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in January.

DeWilde alleged that the ATF’s decision to deny his permit request to make his own M16 machine gun is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

The M16, DeWilde argued, is in common military use and therefore may be manufactured by citizens to possess to uphold their militia right.

‘Tanks, Bombs, Nuclear Weapons?’ 

Wyoming Chief U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl said he couldn’t permit DeWilde’s argument because it’s contrary to U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

“Plaintiff’s argument logically would demand that the entire law-abiding citizenry is permitted to possess the same weapons our armed forces utilize,” wrote Skavdahl in a Monday order dismissing DeWilde’s lawsuit from the federal court. “Where is the limit? Tanks, bombs, nuclear weapons?

“This is beyond outlandish, yet it is the logical result of Plaintiff’s argument that provides no limit. The Court declines to permit such an astonishing result.”

Courts throughout U.S. history have held that weapons normally in use by law-abiding citizens are allowed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but “dangerous and unusual” weapons are not allowed without limit.

The M16 manufacture isn’t necessarily allowed by the Second Amendment, wrote Skavdahl.

DeWilde had based much of his argument on the 2022 Supreme Court case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. Bruen.

In it, the high court said governments can’t outlaw weapons that are in the “common use.” DeWilde argued that the M16 is in “common use” by the military, so potential militia people or citizens should be allowed to make them.

But Bruen didn’t disturb key Second Amendment cases before it, the judge wrote, which allowed for some restrictions on the kinds of weapons people may possess.

“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, but it also is not without limits,” wrote Skavdahl.

No Standing 

Skavdahl also dismissed DeWilde’s suit for another reason: It was DeWilde’s trust that applied for and did not win the permit to build an M16, but DeWilde sued the federal government as an individual.

Originally, DeWilde included his trust in the lawsuit, but re-filed without the trust after the federal government noted that DeWilde could not represent the trust since he’s not an attorney — though he can represent himself pro se.

With the ATF’s denial of DeWilde’s trust’s machine gun application no longer a factor in the suit, Skavdahl concluded that the remaining claim – that DeWilde wanted a machine gun and believes he has a right to make one – was not enough to give him standing in a federal case.

Armed Carjacker Shot By Victim In D.C.

WASHINGTON D.C. – A suspect in an armed carjacking was shot by his victim yesterday morning in Southeast, D.C. The Washington, D.C. Metro Police Department is investigating the carjacking and have made an arrest, and are searching for the another suspect.

The incident unfolded at approximately 6:30 am at the 2300 block of R Street. The victim, positioned near his vehicle, was approached by two suspects traveling in a car. One of the suspects retrieved a gun and demanded the victim surrender his car. The victim drew his own firearm and discharged a shot at the suspect, 27-year-old Marcus Thompson, injuring him.

The victim assisted the suspect until help arrived. Simultaneously, the other suspect fled the scene while the victim provided aid to Thompson. Thompson was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The suspect was taken into custody and faces multiple charges, including armed carjacking. According to detectives, the victim possessed a valid concealed carry permit in the District, and his firearm was duly registered.

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July 20

356BC – Alexander the Great is born in Pella, Macedon.

70 – Titus’ Roman army storms the Fortress Antonia north of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

1189 – Richard the Lionheart of England is officially invested as Duke of Normandy.

1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.

1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia) declare independence from Spain.

1831 – The Seneca and Shawnee tribes agree to cede land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.

1864 – Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman at Peach Tree Hill near Atlanta

1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.

1923 –José ‘Pancho Villa’ Arámbula, is killed by a group of 7 assassins in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico

1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

1944 – Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

1950 – In Federal Court held in Philadelphia , Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying, by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs to the Soviet Union.

1960 – The Polaris submarine launched ballistic missile – SLBM – is successfully launched from the USS George Washington

1969 – At 20:17:40 UTC,  Apollo 11’s Lunar Module, Eagle, piloted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin makes the first manned landing on the Moon at Lunar coordinates 00°41′15″N 23°26′00″E, in the Sea of Tranquility, becoming Tranquility Base

1976 – The Viking 1 probe successfully lands on Mars.

1977 – Heavy rain in Cambria County, Pennsylvania overtops 6 dams which fail which causes a flash flood through the Conemaugh River Valley, killing 84 people in several towns and cities.

1993 – Vince Foster reportedly commits suicide in Fort Marcy Park, Fairfax County Virginia

1997 – The Navy celebrates the 200th birthday of the fully restored USS Constitution by setting sail on it for the first time in 116 years.

2012 – James Holmes, later sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms plus 3318 years without parole, opens fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others.

2013 – 17 government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.

2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after 5 decades.

2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole from prison after serving 9 years of a 33 year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

2021 – American businessman Jeff Bezos flies aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

4 Thugs Break Into Armed Philadelphia Woman’s Home, Instantly Regret it

Four suspected burglars thought they were in for an easy ride when they broke into the home of a Philadelphia woman who lived alone.

However, unbeknown to the gang of thugs, the woman is a Second Amendment patriot who knows her constitutional rights and is ready and willing to exercise them.

When the crooks illegally entered the apartment in the city’s Germantown neighborhood around 1 am Sunday, they got far more than they bargained for.

Police said the woman found four men inside her home, on the 4900 block of Germantown Avenue, without her permission, WPVI-TV reported.

Amid a confrontation, the woman opened fire and shot two of the four robbers, all of whom fled the scene.

Officers arrived around 1:30 a.m. and found the pistol-packing woman outside, standing over 48-year-old suspect Jermaine Parker. Parker had gunshot wounds to his hand and leg, WTXF-TV reported.

A short time later, police found 45-year-old Randy Miller a few blocks away. Miller had a gunshot wound to his back.

Both Parker and Miller were taken to Einstein Medical Center and later charged with burglary and related offenses, WTXF said.

Police revealed that the thugs were armed with a weapon which was recovered. Miller was listed in stable but critical condition, WPVI reported.

Police are still looking for the other two men, WTXF said.

New Zealand’s gun control laws to stop ‘mass shootings’ didn’t work.

Man lets loose with pump-gun shotgun in Auckland

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Three people are dead and many are injured following a shooting in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, on Thursday morning.

The shooting took place at a construction site on the city’s best known thoroughfare, Queen Street,

“Multiple injuries have been reported and at this stage we can confirm two people have died,” New Zealand Police said in a statement. The alleged shooter, a 24-year old man, is also dead.

The alarm was raised at around 7:23am Thursday when reports were received of a person discharging a pump-action shotgun inside the site at 1 Queen Street.

A significant number of police responded and cordoned off the area. The Police Eagle helicopter was also deployed and provided oversight.

The alleged shooter moved through the building site and continued to discharge his firearm, killing two and injuring 6, including police. Three of them are in serious condition.

Upon reaching the upper levels of the building, which is owned by Precinct Properties Group, the man contained himself within the elevator shaft while police officers attempted to engage with him.

Further shots were fired from the man and he was discovered dead a short time later.

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Sen. Chris Murphy Targets Military Gun Owners In Defense Bills

It takes a certain amount of brazenness to put the responsibility of defending the nation on a young American and then, in the next breath, demand they forfeit those freedoms they are literally willing to die to protect.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is never one to disappoint, though. His latest legislative move is to put a target on the back of every service member as someone who cannot be entrusted to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Military members already sacrifice many of their freedoms to protect the United States. Sen. Murphy, who has never served a day in uniform, doesn’t think that’s enough.

Sen. Murphy thinks Second Amendment freedoms for those in uniform is, well, too much freedom.

Gun control isn’t anything new to Sen. Murphy. He’s made a career of attacking the Second Amendment and the firearm industry. That’s made him the darling of gun control groups but now he’s putting the Second Amendment rights of military gun owners in his crosshairs.

Sen. Murphy introduced an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which empowers our government to fund and support our nation’s military. As a “must-pass” bill, it naturally attracts thousands of amendments for pet projects every year. Most of those are ruled out of order, or not defense related, so they can’t be attached to the bill.

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Think about what he just said. In his mind, and the minds of most Democrats, we’re not a constitutional republic with three branches of government accountable to the people. We should instead be ruled by un-elected bureaucrats and intelligence agencies who do their bidding. Mfume just completely epitomized everything that is wrong with our government.
– Greg Price