July 18

452 – After an earlier defeat on the Catalaunian Plains in modern France, Attila The Hun lays siege to the metropolis of Aquileia near the border in far northeast Italy and eventually destroys it.

1195 – During the reconquista, the Castilian army of Alfonso VIII are defeated by Almohad moslem forces at Alarcos, and are forced to retreat to Toledo

1723 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz – Search me, O God, and know my heart (Psalms 139:23-24 ) in Leipzig

1841 –  Pedro II at age 15, is crowned Emperor of Brazil after reigning under a regency since age 5.

1863 – The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry attempts an unsuccessful assault on Confederate held Battery Wagner, south of Charleston harbor.

1914 –  Congress forms the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, U.S. Army

1925 – Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf

1942 – The Germans test fly the jet fighter Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe ‘Swallow’,  under power for the first time.

1966 – Gemini 10, crewed by John W. Young and Michael Collins is launched from Cape Kennedy Launch Complex LC-19 on a 3 day mission

1968 – Intel Corporation is founded in Mountain View, California

1976 – At the age of 14 (which is no longer allowed per an age limit 16 enacted in 1997) Nadia Comăneci becomes the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the Summer Olympics.

1984 – James Huberty opens fire at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people and wounding 19 others before being shot dead by police.

2002 – While performing aerial firefighting operations on the Big Elk Fire, a  Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer owned by Hawkins & Powers Aviation  crashes near Estes Park, Colorado, killing both crew members.

2013 – The Government of the City of Detroit files for municipal bankruptcy

The Left’s Culture of Death V: What Can We Do?

This series I have been writing on, “The Left’s Culture of Death” could go on, well, almost endlessly.  I have quoted a very, very small part of one book (Frank Dikötter’s The Tragedy of Liberation); he has three in his series, and they are about only one brutal Leftist, mass-murdering, totalitarian thug, Mao Zedong.  There are books on Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Che, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, Robespierre, etc.  This is my fifth article.  I doubt Townhall will let me write an entire encyclopedia—which is what it would take to list all the horrors of the application of Leftist philosophy in the last 200+ years, the dominant philosophy of today’s elite, including the Democratic Party of America.

But then, what I have recorded in these articles is sufficient, or at least should be, to spur the interest of decent, intelligent people who truly care about their families and others.  If you are still skeptical, read Dikötter yourself, and follow it up with other studies on Stalin et al.  The cure for ignorance is knowledge; sadly, there is no cure for stupidity and a closed, bigoted mind.  Hate can be overcome by love, but one must be willing, and too many Leftists have demonstrated they aren’t.  Barbarity is cured by civilization, and Leftists don’t want that, either.  Civilization isn’t the road to totalitarian power.  Many naïve believers always exist, and they are forever swept up in the torrent of true Leftism.  They don’t open their eyes until it is too late.  “I’m a proud liberal!” One Leftist recently emailed me.  He’s going to be a dead one if his side wins.

But the history I have recorded in these articles is accurate and fairly portrays what the Left did in the 20th century in China, is still doing there and in many places in the world, and will continue to do wherever they have power and opportunity.  It is simply intrinsic to the Leftist worldview.  We know that because it is always the result of their philosophy wherever it gains ascendancy.  A tree is known for its fruit.  And they are doing it—so far, in moderation in America—but they will follow the Stalinist and Maoist mass murdering model if they ever feel they need to and can get away with it.  Keep buying guns and ammo, Americans; it is your best line of defense and might be the only salvation for the country.

But the problem is…what can we do?  Leftism has infiltrated deeply into America and is making every effort to spread its tentacles as far and wide as possible.  Decent, God-fearing people are at a disadvantage.  We have morals; they don’t.  We believe in the sanctity of human life; they don’t.  We want to practice “love thy neighbor” and “mind your own business;” they don’t.  Leftists practice hate and want to tell you how you MUST live, or you will be shot.  Conservatives try to teach people the best choices in life, too, but we don’t kill people when they don’t do what we suggest.  We CAN’T kill people.  It isn’t in the true philosophy of God-fearing people to do things like that.  Unlike Leftists, we aren’t the kind of people who will line our enemies up against a wall and shoot them.  Leftists do that.  We can’t, at least not to innocent people, six-year-olds, women, and poor farmers.  The Left has no qualms about it.  You and I do.

So, again, what can we do?  We can fight, of course; we have every right to defend ourselves to the death if necessary.  But we can’t commit mass murder like communists do.  We can’t throw people into gulags and labor camps and work them to death.  We can’t steal people’s land and businesses and terrorize them if we don’t like how they look (“white supremacists”).  That’s what Leftists do.  That’s what they have done, and that is what they will continue to do—even in America.  And we aren’t Leftists.

I’m not saying we always must “fight fair” (all is fair in love and war?).  But mass murder is totally, well, it’s simply beyond the capability of people like you and me.  We would never think of doing something like that or of stealing somebody’s property and goods; honor simply forbids it, and most conservatives are honorable people.  So, again, that puts us at a disadvantage because we cannot use many of the weapons—terror, mass murder, rape, theft, gulags—that Leftists use.  A decided disadvantage, indeed.

We can only win by the word, by persuasion, by faith in God; the gun is our last resort, and even then, only in self-defense.  But, as history is our witness, our hope is not great.  Decency, persuasion, and self-restraint can’t stop bullets.  Our nation rose in decency and civility.  It will end in decadence and barbarity—in other words, the path the Democratic Party is leading the country down right now.  The American people, from our Founding, have been some of the best people the world has ever produced.  Not perfect by any means, but by comparison, far superior to almost any other people’s history has ever witnessed.  And I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that.  And that sort of person, by the millions, still exists in the United States today.  I suspect the people reading this article are among them.  The problem is…are we outnumbered now?  That is a question I don’t know the answer to.  Decadence and barbarity are rampant in America, including in the highest echelons of power.  Indeed, Joe Biden is the number one trash cheerleader.  Are good words and persuasive arguments enough to gain victory?  They never have been before.

America produced great people, but there is nothing special about us as human beings.  That is what the Democratic Party is demonstrating to us today.  So, it may already be too late.

This is legal stonewalling by a judge who purposefully flips what SCOTUS ruled in Heller, Caetano and Bruen in what she hopes will take years of legal wrangling in the off chance that either or both Justices Alito and Thomas pass on and a demoncrap administration can appoint anti-gun Justices and get all these case law restorals of the 2nd amendment protections on RKBA undone…because the unwashed masses really shouldn’t have the means to tell goobermint where to go, and make it stick.

Federal Court Ruling Upholding Oregon Gun Law Will be Appealed

U.S.A. — A federal district judge’s ruling upholding the constitutionality of Oregon’s restrictive gun control Measure 114 will definitely be appealed, the head of the Second Amendment Foundation assured via email with a terse one-word statement.

SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, responding to an email inquiry asking, “Certainly, there will be an appeal, right?” responded bluntly: “Right.”

The ruling was immediately blasted by the Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF), one of several plaintiffs challenging the law in a consolidation of four federal lawsuits, two of which involve SAF and several partners. In a scathing reaction, OFF declared Judge Immergut’s ruling “absurd” and further said her decision was “against gun owners, the Second Amendment and a basic understanding of the English language.”

Immergut’s ruling does appear oblivious to facts involving firearms and self-defense when, on Page 120, she states, “The Supreme Court has held that Second Amendment protects an individual right to self-defense inside and outside of the home. LCMs are not commonly used for self-defense, and are therefore not protected by the Second Amendment.”

This seems to ignore the prevalence of modern semi-automatic pistols, which are commonly used for personal protection, and which come from the factory with magazines holding more than 10 cartridges.

According to The Hill, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum praised the ruling while acknowledging the law still cannot be enforced because it is still being challenged in state court. A judge in Harney County has scheduled a trial in September. By that time, Judge Immergut’s decision will likely have been appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Rosenblum, a Democrat, was quoted by The Hill, stating, “Our team looks forward to ultimately prevailing in the state courts as well.”

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A Modest Proposal for Increased Firearms Fees

We have 23-thousand firearms regulations on the books already. Gun-control lobbyists say this is only a first step and they need even more laws to protect us. While that is a fascinating story, real evidence calls it a lie. That is why I propose a different sort of fee and licensing structure for armed America. To make this more interesting, gun-control lobbyists say it would hardly cost a thing.

Gun-control lobbyists say we need “safe guns”, mandatory firearms training, and mandatory psychological evaluations of gun owners. They say we need more “gun free zones”, and higher taxes on gun and gun owners. Again, those are simply more “first steps” to make us safer and the last gun-control law is nowhere in sight.

The mainstream media plays along. Gun-control politicians say gun owners and gun manufacturers should be taxed to pay for the harm that firearms cause. In short, we’re told that a government employee is the only person who can really keep us safe and everyone else who has a gun is a danger to society. The mainstream media and gun-control lobbyists tell us that self-defense doesn’t happen, or if it happens at all it is vanishingly rare.

Since armed citizens need training in order to safely handle a firearm, I propose that ordinary citizens should be reimbursed by the state when they take a firearms training class. Those classes always talk about firearms safety, and the gun-control groups say we certainly need more of that. Let’s add another $200 dollars reimbursement per year towards bedside gun safes to safely store a firearm.

If firearms instruction and frequent practice make all of us safer, then let’s have the state and federal government reimburse the first $200 dollars spent on ammunition each year. To quote gun-control lobbyists, ‘This is only a first step, and it’s all worth it if it only saves one life.’

The news media and gun-control lobbyists tell us that we don’t need to protect ourselves or the people we love, and we’re simply supposed to call the police and let them take care of crime. Since armed defense “never happens”, I have another low-cost solution to make us even safer.

Since there are so many calls to “defund the police”, then let’s have the city and county pay $200 to each citizen who reports they used a personal firearm in self-defense. Also, let us wave all the state and federal taxes on the next firearm the defender buys. Likewise, both the firearm and the ammunition manufacturer should be paid $200 for each defensive use of a firearm.

Since gun-control advocates say it is the government’s job to keep us safe, then we should ask the state and county to pay for their mistakes when an honest citizen protects the public after the government failed to do its job of public safety.

According to the gun-control lobbyists, the state wouldn’t have to pay anything at all
since armed defense “never happens.”

It is odd that the mainstream media and the gun-control lobby deliberately ignore the 7,600 times a day that we use a firearm in self-defense. Just like the police, honest citizens touch their guns in armed defense far more often than they are forced to press the trigger and fire a shot.

In fact, the number of lives saved by ordinary citizens each year is amazing. The monetary benefits are enormous as honest citizens prevent injuries to innocent victims. The emotional costs are even larger.

There is so much more we can do to make us safer. If licensing and regulation is important, then our gun-control laws should apply to police and politicians too. That can come later, but this is a good first step.😉

One year ago, Elisjsha Dicken stopped a mass shooter. He’s not alone.

One year ago today, on July 17, 2022, a mass shooter was stopped by an armed citizen at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana. This incident, which happened two months after the horrific massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, stood as a stark contrast that made the case for immediate, defensive intervention by armed citizens in lieu of waiting for law enforcement whose performance may be appalling.

Like a typical predator, the assailant chose the time and place of his attack, his weapons, and did extensive preparations including destroying his laptop and cellphone. He unfortunately managed to take the lives of three innocent human beings and would have taken many more lives, but what he was not prepared for was an armed defender who could fight back.

Within fifteen seconds, the armed citizen engaged the attacker with his Glock handgun from forty yards, scoring an incredible eight out of ten hits. The attacker was thus stopped.

That quiet hero, Elisjsha Dicken, has avoided the media spotlight and gone about his life. In celebration of his act of heroism, here is a list of other mass shooters who have been stopped by armed citizens:

2014

Media, PA: Doctor ignores gun-free zone, stops mass shooter – A doctor shot a psychiatric patient and prevented a mass shooting.

2015

Chicago, IL: Uber driver stops a mass shooting – An Uber driver shot a man who began firing into a crowd of pedestrians. No other injuries were reported. Uber banned drivers from carrying guns after this act of heroism.

Philadelphia, PA: Lawful concealed carrier stops a mass shooter at a barbershop – A man saved the lives of several people when he shot and killed a gunman inside the Falah Barber Shop.

2016

Townville, SC: School shooter taken down by an armed citizen – A volunteer firefighter armed with a handgun stopped a school shooting by restraining the attacker.

Spartanburg, SC: Concealed carrier stops a mass shooting at a nightclub – An armed citizen shot and wounded an attempted mass shooter at the Playoffz nightclub.

2017

Sutherland Springs, TX: Armed hero stops mass shooter – Stephen Willeford ran barefoot across the street to confront the attacker who took the lives of 26 innocents at the First Baptist Church.

Arlington, TX: Good Samaritan kills active shooter in Texas Sports Bar – An armed citizen shot and killed an active shooter at the Zona Caliente Sports Bar.

2018

San Diego, CA: Off-duty border patrol agent stops a mass shooter – When a white supremacist started shooting people at the Chabad of Poway, an armed off-duty border patrol agent stopped him.

Titusville, FL: Armed Florida citizen stops park shooting – An assailant who began shooting at a back-to-school backpack giveaway was shot by an armed citizen with no one else injured.

Oklahoma City, OK: Armed bystanders kill shooter at Oklahoma City restaurant – Two bystanders used their handguns to confront and fatally shoot an attacker at Louie’s Grill & Bar.

2019

White Settlement, TX: Churchgoer stops a mass shooter – Jack Wilson stopped a mass shooting at the West Freeway Church of Christ within six seconds.

2021

Syracuse, NY: DA says armed citizen saved several lives in NY shooting – Perpetrator Demetrius Jackson fired a handgun into a crowd. Another man, who was on scene and in possession of a 9mm handgun returned fire striking and killing Jackson.

2022

Charleston, WV: West Virginia armed citizen stops mass shooting – A woman who was lawfully carrying a pistol shot and killed a man who began shooting at a crowd of people attending a graduation party. No injuries were reported from those at the party.

2023

Las Vegas, NV: Mass shooter stopped by an armed citizen in Las Vegas with zero casualties – A building employee at Turnberry Towers shot a gunman who walked in and fired shots at the front desk.

The above list doesn’t include incidents like Garland, TX because those involved law enforcement, not ordinary armed citizens. Here are several more mass shootings stopped by armed citizens:

Note that a lot of the above incidents don’t receive even a fraction of the coverage from the disarmament agenda-driven media. Armed citizens play an important role in public safety. Self-defense is a fundamental human right. Without stories like these getting out to the world, this right will be chipped away one bit at a time by those who want us disarmed and servile.

It’s incumbent upon us to publicize these and spread the word. So, please pass this story along to your family and friends and remind them of what’s at stake. Also, please share the Heritage Foundation’s Defensive Gun Use Database.

An Anti-Gunner’s Progress Or How I Finally Discovered the Truth About Guns.

By Amfivena

I like guns. I’ve always liked guns. I appreciate them for their history, their aesthetics and their engineering. I enjoy shooting guns, smelling the burnt powder, and cleaning them afterwards. I even enjoy just holding and looking at guns.

No doubt most readers share my sentiments. The problem is I grew up in an anti-gun family in an anti-gun state. So, for most of my life this interest in guns was a guilty pleasure. I kept the guns I owned hidden from friends and family, treated like a porn collection under the mattress.

I never really questioned why I felt guilty living in a safe, wealthy suburb and I never saw any practical and positive application for guns. The people around me didn’t hunt and weren’t victims of violent crime. Mainstream media told me guns were bad and the source of all sorts of problems and I believed them. I even wished we could be more like Britain or Australia. Without giving it any thought to the matter, I had accepted the mantra of gun control.

The Virginia Tech massacre was the first time I was forced to critically think about the fact I could be a victim. My time in Blacksburg was spent during the Clinton years. I was long gone by 2007, but the attack was still personal for me. It disturbed me in ways that reports of violence never had before.

Virginia Tech shooting
Injured students are removed from Norris Hall as police continue to hunt for the Virginia Tech gunman. (Alan Kim/The Roanoke Times/AP Photo)
I dated a woman in the dorm where the shooting started and had classes in the building where most of the carnage took place. I distinctly remember feeling uncomfortable with the calls for more gun control laws. At that point, I was still firmly in the ‘guns are bad’ camp, but for the first time, I finally began to think about the issue.

I taught American politics in Canada for a couple years after the VT shooting. When I teach I make a point of helping students form their own opinions about important issues. I do my best not to tell students what to think and my grading rewards forming and supporting strong opinions. I like controversial subjects because they tend to engage students the most.

A three-way discussion including me and two students who were destined for an A grade, while 17 others snooze doesn’t strike me as effective teaching. You need topics like drugs, guns, or sex to get the back row to wake up and participate.

I found most Canadian students viewed the Second Amendment in the same light as fugitive slave laws…outdated and barbaric. The overwhelming view of my students was that the USA is a violent place because of the Second Amendment. At first, I can’t say I completely disagreed.

In every class there were a few Canadians who held a minority view. I generally dismissed them as “gun nuts.” Yes, that was hypocritical given my own personal interests. My self-imposed duty to present both sides of a matter forced me to take them seriously though.

Over a few semesters I dug into the history of the Second Amendment looking for material to present both sides. I soon found myself making a case for the Second Amendment to the class and actually believing the words coming out of my mouth. I also found myself somewhat proud of the views as an American. It’s indicative of the bias prevalent inside the academic bubble that my new-found knowledge still stirred some guilty feelings.

I returned to the US a modest supporter of Second Amendment rights. I was generally in favor of civilian ownership of firearms, but still all too willing to randomly outlaw something in the interest of the greater good. It was an improvement for sure, but I was still more an enemy than a friend of the cause.

I continued to teach and always looked forward to discussing firearms. I developed stronger opinions on the importance of the Second Amendment with each passing semester. Despite this, my views on gun control remained soft. At that point I fully understood the geographic distribution of violence and crime, but I also cared about human life.

The daily body counts in our cities bothered me. I wanted to do something, even if the problem mostly occurred somewhere other than in my northern New England home. I remained willing to sacrifice some of my liberty if it might help others.

It took the Sandy Hook massacre for me to fully reconcile my conflicting views on guns. My daughter was the same age as most of the victims. So, like the Virginia Tech shooting, news of Sandy Hook was profoundly disconcerting despite the fact it had no direct impact on my life.

The inevitable calls for more gun control laws and more gun-free zones suddenly made no sense to me. Mainstream media shouted ‘we’ve got to do something!’ For the first time in my life I asked the question; How will punishing law-abiding Americans make any difference to people willing to kill?

Thankfully, the internet enabled me to see that others were asking the same question.

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House committee imposes major cuts to Justice, FBI, Commerce.

As had been suggested by its decision to not impose any cuts (or increases) to the NASA budget, the House appropriation subcommittee in charge of Commerce, Justice, Science-related agencies imposed all of the 28.8% cuts required by the House leadership on the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Commerce department.

Overall, the bill appropriates $58.4 billion for programs under the jurisdiction of the committee, a $23.8 billion cut compared to the current fiscal year. It eliminates 14 “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs in the covered agencies, cuts spending on “wasteful” climate change programs, and saves more than $50 million by ending the Biden administration’s plan to replace auto fleets at the Department of Commerce and Department of Justice with electric vehicles.

According to the GOP summary, the Commerce Department would see a $1.4 billion cut in discretionary funding, and the Department of Justice would see a $2 billion cut. Federal science agencies together would face a $1.1 billion cut under the bill.

The FBI’s budget is to be cut $1 billion, or 9% (an actual cut, not a reduction in the increase in spending), with $400 million of that coming from salaries and expenses. It also forbids the agency from spending a dime on its planned dream of a new posh and palatial headquarters in the DC suburbs, twice the size of the Pentagon and costing more than $3 billion.

This is exactly what Republicans should have been doing for decades, and were too cowardly to attempt. If an agency of unelected employees in the executive branch abuses its power and causes harm to innocent citizens, something the FBI and the Justice Department have been eagerly doing since Trump became president, then it is the responsibility and obligation of Congress to use its power of the purse to cut those agencies’ funding.

Even now, however, no one should be confident these cuts will end up in the final bill. This is only the recommendations of one subcommittee. There are still many Republican cowards in the full House, and even more in the full Senate, who will gladly team up with the Democrats (who are all in favor of the abuse of power and the harm to innocent citizens) to reinstate the cuts.

Nonetheless, this is a start. It indicates that we might finally have turned a real political corner towards reform.

New Details: Man shoots, kills aggressor attacking three women in hotel

WACO, Texas (KWTX) – A man is dead after police say a bystander shot and killed him when he heard three women calling for help inside a room at Hotel Indigo on 211 Clay Ave. The shooter cooperated with police and was not arrested.

Police say it started around 3 a.m. when a man staying at the hotel heard people yelling for help in the hallway.

He found a room where a man was in a fight with three women. Police say in a press release, the bystander tried to help, but it upset the “original aggressor”.

The original aggressor attacked the bystander, which prompted the bystander to fire one shot at the original aggressor.

Police and emergency crews were called. When they arrived on scene they performed life saving measures, transported the original aggressor to the hospital where he later died.

One of the women involved had a minor injury.

Police say the bystander cooperated with their investigation and was not arrested.

Everyone involved was staying at Hotel Indigo.

July 17

180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, in modern day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.

1203 – The Army of the Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople

1821 – The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the U.S.

1850 – Vega – Alpha Lyrae – at 25 light years distance, becomes the first star, other than the Sun, to be photographed by William Bond and John Adams Whipple at the Harvard College Observatory.

1867 – The Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston, Massachusetts.

1881 – Mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide Jim Bridger dies, age 77, at his home near Kansas City.

1918 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered by Bolsheviks

1936 – An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the Spanish Civil War

1938 – Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the “wrong way” to Ireland and becomes known as “Wrong Way” Corrigan.

1944 – During World War II, at Port Chicago, California, the San Francisco Bay, the Liberty ship SS E. A. Bryana explodes while being loaded with ammunition, killing 320 people and injuring 390.

1945 – The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam.

1953 –  A Marine Corps Fairchild Packet transport aircraft crashes on takeoff from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, causing the largest number of United States Midshipman casualties in a single event, killing 38 of the 40 aboard and 5 of the 6 crew.

1955 – Disneyland is opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.

1962 – The 18 TNT ton equivalent yield W54 “Small Boy” test shot Little Feller I  becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site.

1975 – An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.

1981 – A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.

1996 – TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747-100, explodes in the air and crashes off the Atlantic Ocean coast of Long Island, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 230 passengers and crew aboard.

1998 – A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court, seated in The Hague, Netherlands, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

2007 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, crashes into a warehouse after landing too fast and missing the end of the São Paulo–Congonhas Airport runway, killing all 187 passengers and crew aboard, and 12 more on the ground.

2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777, is shot down by Russian supported forces while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew aboard.

2018 – American astronomer Scott S. Sheppard announces that his team at the Carnegie Institution for Science, has discovered a dozen new moons of Jupiter.

2022 – Indiana resident Eli Dicken takes matters into his own hands and shoots down a mass shooter at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana.using a bog standard Glock 19 loaded with Blazer fmj ‘hardball’.

God’s Children Are Not for Sale: Why the Left Hates Sound of Freedom

I recently went to see the movie Sound of Freedom. It was the first time I had gone to a movie theater since before Covid and it was well worth the wait for such a superb and important film. I was curious about a number of things including whether, in the midst of a heatwave (and rumors that AMC Theaters were sabotaging the air-conditioning in theaters showing the film), the theater would be air-conditioned and why the left has been so distraught over a movie about child sex trafficking – a seemingly nonpartisan issue about which all people of good conscience should be concerned.

I am happy to report that the theater, in West Nyack, NY, was air-conditioned and comfortable. I’m also happy to report that other than the first two rows, every seat was occupied. In fact, when I went to purchase the ticket, the 6:30pm and 7:30pm showings were completely sold out other than the first two rows, so I attended a 9:15pm showing.

And leftists won’t be pleased to hear that the composition of the audience was “representative” of the country’s demographics, i.e., it was quite diverse. In fact, the vast majority of the audience was Hispanic (my guess with the amount of Spanish I heard is first generation), Black, and much of the audience was likely 30 and under, although there were definitely people a bit older as well (I spotted only one white man who appeared to be older than 50). These are people the left thinks they own.

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KAMALA, ON A ROLL
First, Kamala Harris committed an epic “Kinsley Gaffe” (that is, where someone in Washington accidentally tells the truth) with this amazing remark a couple days ago:

Pretty sure she just blurted out what lefty environmentalists really want to do (reduce population). Even the White House saw that this could not be ignored, and tried their best to clean it up:

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LCSO says man was shot by homeowner during break-in

STANFORD – A man was shot three times by a Lincoln County homeowner after he allegedly used a chainsaw to break into a home Sunday morning.

The male owner of the home on Martin’s Trail woke up to the sound of glass breaking, according to Sgt. Michael Mullins with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. “It was this male subject that was coming through their back door, that was a full glass door, with a chainsaw in his hand,” Mullins said.

Mullins added that he doesn’t believe the chainsaw was running, and it was just used to break the glass. “At that point the homeowner encountered him, approximately four shots were fired, striking the subject three times.”

It appears the alleged intruder – identified as 44-year-old Richard A. Hamadany – was suffering from a psychotic episode, according to Mullins. “I think he was suffering from some mental illness issues. He thought he was hearing voices and thought somebody was screaming for help. That’s when he tried to gain access to the residence,” Mullins said.

There was a husband and wife and two children in the home, Mullins said. Other than the chainsaw he picked up from the porch, Hamadany did not have any weapons on his person. At this time, Mullins said there is no indication of drug or alcohol use. “It just appears he was having a psychotic episode,” he said.

Hamadany was transported to Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford and then on to the University of Kentucky Hospital. “He is in serious, but stable condition,” Mullins said. Hamadany was cited while in the hospital and charged with first-degree burglary and four counts of wanton endangerment. No one, aside from Hamadany, was injured, Mullins said.

The ongoing investigation is being overseen by Sgt. Mullins with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

New Jersey’s new “smart gun” reliability standards are missing something vitally important

New Jersey is one very small step closer to implementing it’s latest “smart gun” law, which requires gun stores to carry at least one such firearm for sale once its been approved by the state’s Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission.

This week acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced a “major milestone” had been reached, with the commission finally releasing the performance standards and qualifying criteria that all potential “smart guns” must meet before being sold in the state; an incredible four years after the commission was formed with the intent of hurrying the law into effect.

The committee didn’t even start meeting until 2022, but after months of deliberation the panel has at long last made its decision, and it’s clear why it took so many months to come to their conclusion.

Under the new criteria, manufacturers seeking to be added to the state’s personalized handgun roster must demonstrate the handguns have reliable personalization technology, features to avoid accidental discharge or damage and comply with state and federal law, the AG’s office said.

I wish I were kidding, but this is what apparently took months and multiple meetings to come up with: a smart gun must be reliable, safe, and compliant with state and federal law before it can be sold in New Jersey. What makes this even more laughable is the exuberant press release issued by Platkin’s office celebrating this nothingburger.

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced today that the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission (PHAC) has taken a major step forward by defining the features of smart guns to be made available for sale in New Jersey.

PHAC’s members have now established that manufacturers seeking to be added to the State’s personalized handgun roster must demonstrate the handguns have reliable personalization technology, features to avoid accidental discharge or damage, and comply with state and federal law.

The establishment of these performance standards and qualifying criteria is a milestone in New Jersey’s first-in-the-nation efforts to improve public safety by encouraging the development and rollout of safer firearms that prevent unauthorized users from being able to discharge a firearm. PHAC will next design protocols for testing proposed personalized handguns, create a formal application process, and prepare to review applications.

“Too many times gun violence is the result of an individual gaining access to someone else’s gun. These can be criminals, or people in crisis, or young children who do not understand that they are not playing with a toy. We know the effects of these repeated tragedies far too painfully in New Jersey and they must end,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The actions that we announce today are the result of extensive conversations among the commissioners and are another important step in New Jersey’s comprehensive efforts to make New Jersey a leader in gun safety.

I applaud the work of the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission for developing and uniting behind a thoughtful set of standards that moves our important work forward and that will save lives.”

… “The Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission has established specific and clear standards and qualifying criteria that are worthy of its mandate,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Ershow, who serves as Chair of the PHAC as the Attorney General’s designee. “This was a team effort that benefited from the diverse expertise and input of the commission members and will allow us to take the next steps to implement the laws that have been passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor.”

A major milestone! Clear and specific standards like “it has to be reliable.” I wonder how many meetings it took before they figured that one out?

I can’t help but notice, however, that nowhere in his press release does Platkin actually detail the test that will be used to determine reliability, which seems like an awfully important thing to leave out. How many rounds will be fired in testing the reliability of any potential “smart gun” before it comes to market? What is an acceptable failure rate according to the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission? To that end, what are the specific features to avoid accidental discharges that must be a part of any “smart gun” offered for sale?

Amazingly, the PHAC has approved a set of standards that examine only the reliability of the firearm in not discharging a round, completely neglecting to test for the reliability of the gun going bang when you need it to fire in self-defense.

Here’s the pertinent text of the resolution approved by the PHAC at its June 23rd meeting.

The Commission has reviewed American National Standard “SAAMI Z299.5 – 2016 – Voluntary Industry Performance Standards Criteria for Evaluation of New Firearms Designs Under Conditions of Abusive Mishandling for the Use of Commercial Manufacturers,” and at this time has identified no other apparent “reliability standards generally used in the industry for other commercially available handguns;” and,

The Commission held public meetings on May 12, 2023 and June 9, 2023 in which it discussed and deliberated on the below performance standards and qualifying criteria, The Commission hereby establishes the following performance standards and qualifying criteria which a personalized handgun shall meet in order to be placed on the personalized handgun roster:

1. The handgun shall be reasonably resistant to being fired by anyone other than the handgun’s authorized user as defined in N.J.S. 2C:39-1.

2. The personalized technology shall be incorporated into the design of the personalized handgun and shall be a permanent, irremovable part of the handgun and any device or object necessary for the authorized user to fire the handgun.

3. The personalized handgun shall not be manufactured so as to permit the personalized characteristics of the handgun to be readily deactivated.

4. The handgun shall not discharge in response to abuse or mishandling of the handgun.

5. The handgun shall not physically deform or deteriorate as a result of firing rounds.

Most of those enumerated recommendations are simply quotes from the smart gun legislation itself, and the commission decided to simply adopt the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures Institute’s “voluntary industry performance criteria” as its own; literally cribbing from the very gun industry that Platkin and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy demonize on a regular basis. And none of the criteria listed in the SAAMI report have anything to do with the major concern when it comes to “smart guns”; a lack of pew pew when the trigger is pulled.

I guess I understand now why Platkin’s press release was so short on details. The more you dig in to what the commission came up, the more laughable it is. It’d be pretty embarrassing to tout the fact that the new reliability standards for smart guns won’t even test how reliable these smart gun features are when seconds count and lives are on the line. Much better, at least from Platkin’s perspective, to keep quiet on the details since they show that after more than a year of meetings the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission, of which Platkin is a member, has done nothing but beclown itself and the state’s “smart gun” law.

These days, whenever something goofy turns up on the news, chances are it involves a fellow called Mohammed. A plane flies into the World Trade Centre? Mohammed Atta. A gunman shoots up the El Al counter at Los Angeles airport? Hesham Mohamed Hedayet. A sniper starts killing petrol station customers around Washington, DC? John Allen Muhammed. A guy fatally stabs a Dutch movie director? Mohammed Bouyeri. A terrorist slaughters dozens in Bali? Noordin Mohamed. A gang-rapist in Sydney? Mohammed Skaf. Mark Steyn

Was There Just a Jihad Terror Attack in Fargo, North Dakota?

On Friday afternoon, police in Fargo, North Dakota, responded to a report of a car crash at 9th Avenue South and 25th Street South. Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski said it was a “routine traffic accident,” but what happened when they arrived on the scene was anything but routine. A Fargo resident named Mohamad Barakat, 37, opened fire on the officers, killing one and injuring three others. Zibolski said that Barakat attacked the officers “for no known reason,” and authorities have as yet offered no hints as to the shooter’s motive. One of the most obvious possibilities, however, is being steadfastly ignored, as one might expect given today’s media narrative.

A witness said, according to the Associated Press, that Barakat “appeared to have ambushed the officers.” He was standing behind a car that was parked in the parking lot of a bank near the scene of the crash, and he quickly opened fire on the police officers from about twenty feet away. The witness added, “He was holding up the trunk of the car with his arm, and then I see the gun come up, and he set it on his shoulder and just pointed it directly at an officer in front of him. It was like 10 shots right away.”

When Barakat began shooting, the police were busy with the traffic accident and weren’t even looking in his direction, but they quickly began to return fire. Another witness recounted, “I saw them firing at each other, both at once. But soon as the shooter took a break, the cop came walking towards him, letting off round after round. There was already an officer down, and a family hiding just on the other side of the vehicle next to the shooter.”

Zibolski, however, declined to confirm that Barakat had ambushed the officers, saying only, “The investigation into that is still ongoing.” He did reveal, however, that Fargo police had previously dealt with Barakat, although he downplayed these encounters as “not anything significant.”

Above all, Zibolski was puzzled. “The first thing we always want to know in a situation like this is, ‘Why?’” said Zibolski. “Why would somebody do this? What happened?” And he expressed amazement that such an incident could take place in Fargo, North Dakota: “This is an unconscionable act. It’s hard to fathom, it’s unbelievable that something like this would happen in our community. Many of us think this stuff can’t happen. It just happened.”

Yes, it did. And Zibolski added that the FBI had been called in, but given the fact that the feds are now far more interested in finding “domestic terrorists” at school board meetings and Catholic churches than in hunting down actual terrorists, Zibolski may still not get an answer to his question of why someone would do such a thing. FBI agents today would likely not recognize an Islamic jihadist if he stood behind a car and started shooting at them, but Mohamad Barakat may have been one. There is no indication that anyone is looking into this possibility, but it would provide an immediate explanation for the details of the case.

This is because the Islamic State (ISIS) has repeatedly called upon Muslims in the West to attack police officers as well as other authorities. Back in September 2014, the Islamic State exhorted Muslims in the West not to “let this battle pass you by wherever you may be.” It called upon them to “kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be.”

Specifically, the jihadis said: “Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves.” The jihadis should take advantage of all opportunities and means to kill: “If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.”

Now, Mohamad Barakat may have had entirely different reasons for his attack. But the possibility that this was a jihad terror attack in Fargo, North Dakota, cannot be dismissed out of hand, even as authorities appear disinclined even to consider it as a possibility. The FBI and the entire Biden regime have never given any indication that they’re aware that the global jihad continues. Unfortunately, it does.

I think we need to end the bossy class instead.

Climate Expert: Gas Car Cancellation Is Intended to End Private Transport.

Soon after a World Economic Forum partner was caught calling for an “end” to private car ownership, a climate expert is warning that the push to cancel gas-powered cars is just a ploy to end private transport. The climate crisis is a hoax, but it’s such a darn useful hoax for authoritarian globalists.

Climate Depot’s Marc Morano went on Fox Business Thursday and discussed how the Democrat and globalist push to replace gas cars with electric vehicles (EVs) isn’t about helping the environment but restricting Americans’ freedom of movement. “This really isn’t about them driving an electric car,” Morano said, highlighting how this is a top-down decision not based on popular demand. “This literally is — the banning of gas-powered cars — is being done just like a COVID lockdown without a vote,” he added. From California to the Biden Environmental Protection Agency to Australia, leftists are trying to force ordinary citizens into a corner with their gas car restrictions.

Indeed, Pew Research Center published the results of its new survey on June 28, which found that “Less than half of the [U.S.] public (40%) favors phasing out the production of gas-powered cars and trucks.” It’s also significant that EV batteries actually generate lots of toxic waste, so they’re not better for the environment.

“The intent is not to necessarily force people into an electric vehicle,” Morano went on. “The intent is to collapse our plentiful freedom of movement and force us to use mass transit. They want us on the subway.” It’s a global collusion. “They want us on buses. That is what this is about,” Morano insisted. “[Former UK PM] Boris Johnson’s transportation secretary said owning a car was outdated ’20th-century thinking’. They are rationing vehicle use. It’s very simple. You can look at Cuba to see how that turned out; you are going to have a lot of used cars.”

Morano also called out the hypocrisy and deception of U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who just testified to Congress and denied owning a private jet (though his family owned a private jet for years):

Now, keep in mind when John Kerry was confronted publicly last time was in Iceland. He flew on a private jet to Iceland to pick up an environmental award, and he gave the original defense, the equivalent of ‘Do you know who I am? I am so important I have to fly a private jet. I am trying to save the climate.’ But he doesn’t have time to be with the masses on a commercial airplane.

What he said today was, ‘I don’t own a private jet’, and ‘We don’t own one,’ meaning his wife owned one — until last year. And now he says he has been on only one flight and that goes against a lot of contradictory evidence. There is evidence that shows that since the Biden administration started, he has been on several dozen private jet flights.

Bill Gates was asked the same thing, and he said he gives to carbon offset funds when he flies a private jet.  Al Gore actually had the same exact line about 20 years ago, he said he didn’t own a private jet without addressing whether he flew in them. This is Bill Clinton-level parsing.

Climate alarmists have been wrong for 50 years, and they’re not right now. But many of the top-level climate propagandists don’t believe their own lies (which is why they fly private jets). As Morano emphasized, climate hysteria is a political tool to end private transport and thus give governments ever more control over people’s lives.

July 16

1054 – Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing a Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during divine liturgy. This is generally considered as the start of the East–West (Roman Catholic- Orthodox Catholic) Schism.

1212 –After Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, the forces of Kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal inflict a serious defeat on those of the Berber moslem leader Almohad near Santa Elena, Jaén, marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista

1536 – French navigator and explorer, Jacques Cartier returns home to the port of St. Malo after claiming Stadacona (Quebec), Hochelaga (Montreal) and the River of Canada (St. Lawrence River) region for France.

1661 – The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.

1769 – FR Junípero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá.

1779 – The Continental Army seizes a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
What Is The Spirit Of The Bayonet? To KILL!!
What Makes The Grass Grow? BLOOD!!

1790 – The Residence Act establishes the District of Columbia as the capital of the U.S.

1809 – The city of La Paz, Bolivia declares its independence from the Spanish Crown

1861 – Union troops begin a march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of Bull Run.

1862 – David Farragut is promoted to Rear Admiral, becoming the first officer in the United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.

1886 – Edward Judson Sr.,  more well known by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, dies at his home in Stamford, New York

1931 – Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.

1935 – The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

1941 – Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game

1945 – The U.S. Army’s G Division successfully detonates the ‘Gadget’, a implosion type plutonium nuclear device, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The cruiser USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco, bound for Tinian Island, with parts for the gun type uranium nuclear weapon ‘Little Boy’.

1948 – The city of Nazareth capitulates to Israeli troops during the Arab–Israeli War.

1950 – During the battle of Taejon, 30 American POWs are murdered by the North Korean Army.

1956 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its last “Big Tent” show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due to changing economics. All subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas.

1969 – Apollo 11, commanded by astronaut Neil Armstrong, with crew Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins aboard is launched from launch complex LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center

1979 – Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.

1994 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is destroyed in a head on collision with Jupiter as predicted by the astronomers who discovered it.

1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the aircraft, a Piper Saratoga PA-32R,  he was piloting crashes off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

2015 – Four U.S. Marines die in an attack by a moslem terrorist targeting military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.