November 22

1497 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope during his first voyage from Europe to reach India

1574 – Spanish navigator Juan Fernández discovers islands off the coast of Chile that, for reasons lost to historians, are now known as the Juan Fernández Islands.

1718 –Edward “Blackbeard” Teach aboard Adventure is killed in battle off the coast of North Carolina by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard commanding HMAV Jane.

1842 – Mount St. Helens in then British Oregon Country, erupts, covering area as far as Vancouver and the Dalles with ash

1858 – Denver Colorado, is founded.

1913 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun of Imperial Japan, who was deposed by Emperor Meiji, dies in Tokyo.

1935 – Pan American Airways China Clipper, a Martin M-130 Ocean Transport flying boat, inaugurates the first commercial transpacific air service, connecting Alameda, California with Manila.

1942 – General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army at Stalingrad is surrounded by Soviet Forces.

1943 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.

1955 – The Soviet Union detonates it’s first thermonuclear bomb, RDS-37, a 1.6 megaton two stage bomb designed by Andrei Sakharov over Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan

1963 – In Dallas, Texas, President Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor Connally is seriously wounded by rifle fire. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as President

1975 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.

1988 – The prototype B-2 Spirit bomber is presented to public viewing in Palmdale, California

1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature length film created completely using CGI – computer generated imagery.

2003 – Shortly after takeoff from Baghdad International Airport, a DHL Express Airbus A300 cargo plane is struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land.

2019 – Walmart expands it grocery delivery and pickup service into southwest Missouri.

2022 – A shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia leaves 7 workers dead, including the shooter, and 4 others injured.

Nebraska has state preemption of gun control laws. This is simply virtue signaling and will result in a waste of taxpayers money

Omaha Mayor Signs Ban on ‘Bump Stocks,’ Gun Kits

Omaha, Nebraska, Mayor Jean Stothert signed two gun-control measures this month, one that bans “bump stocks” and the other that bans gun-building kits.

Nebraska’s elections are nonpartisan, but Stothert identified as Republican “in her filing for the 2017 election,” Ballotpedia reported.

The Nebraska Examiner noted that Stothert signed the ban on “bump stocks” Thursday, and she signed the ban on gun-building kits November 9.

The gun controls signed by Stothert appear to be leading to legal challenges against Omaha. Those readying the legal challenges point to legislation Gov. Jim Pillen (R) signed earlier this year removing the “local charter authority” Omaha had used to pass stricter controls than exist at the state level.

In the spring of 2023, Stothert issued an executive order prohibiting concealed carry in “every building owned or leased by the city,” according to WOWT. She did this in response to Nebraska’s shift to constitutional carry.

Except for the gas ring wear test (explained there), not bad at all.

7 Things Every AR-15 Owner Needs to Know How to Do.

While driving to an open shooting position on a recent range trip, I saw AR-15 type firearms in every bay as I looked around. Some bays had as many as 10 different varieties of the AR-15 platform rifle. I saw another local gunsmith test firing the fruits of his labors.

I watched a group of 20-somethings challenge each other on a timed course of fire. I observed a dad helping his daughter to hold the gun up while she shot ground-mounted clay pigeons. I even saw a married man in what appeared to be his 60’s trying to tell his wife how to pull the charging handle back.

The common theme in what I saw was this — all of these people had different reasons for purchasing their version of America’s most popular rifle. And none of them appeared to have had any standardized training in their use, care, accessories, or capabilities.

While looking for some common ground, I made a list of seven skills that every AR owner should know.

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Huge: Fourth Circuit Declares Maryland’s ‘Handgun Qualification License’ Unconstitutional

A decade ago, Maryland lawmakers imposed a new burden on residents hoping to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear a handgun by creating a “Handgun Qualification License.” Before any would-be gun owner can take possession of a pistol, they must first jump through several state-mandated hoops, from submitting fingerprints as part of a background check investigation to taking a four-hour-long “firearms safety training course” that includes the firing of at least one live round of ammunition. After waiting 30 days or more for approval, the would-be gun owner then has to go through another background check and an arbitrary seven-day waiting period before they can take possession of their pistol, though they must run another bureaucratic gauntlet before they’re actually allowed to carry the sidearm in self-defense.

On Monday a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded what Second Amendment activists have been arguing for years; the Handgun Qualification License is an unconstitutional barrier to exercising a fundamental right. In a 2-1 decision, the majority declared that the “plaintiffs challenge must succeed”; reversing a district court opinion and delivering an important victory to the Firearms Policy Coalition, Maryland Shall Issue, the Independence Institute, Atlantic Guns, and several individual residents who’d sued over the permit requirement.

The challenged law restricts the ability of law-abiding adult citizens to possess handguns, and the state has not presented a historical analogue that justifies its restriction; indeed, it has seemingly admitted that it couldn’t find one.

Under the Supreme Court’s new burden-shifting test for these claims, Maryland’s law thus fails, and we must enjoin its enforcement. So we reverse the district court’s contrary decision.

Applying the Supreme Court’s “history, text, and tradition” test to the Maryland statute, the Fourth Circuit panel determined that there are no historical analogues to the modern-day gun control law. Importantly, the panel ruled that while the HQL doesn’t directly deal with either keeping or bearing arms, but rather their acquisition, the gun control law still directly implicates and imposes on the Second Amendment rights of residents.

The answer is not complicated. If you do not already own a handgun, then the only way to “keep” or “bear” one is to get one, either through sale, rental, or gift. And the challenged law cuts off all three avenues—at least, for those who do not comply with its terms.

That brings us to the next wrinkle: The challenged law does not permanently prohibit Plaintiffs from acquiring or carrying handguns. Instead, it imposes certain requirements that they must meet before they can obtain a handgun. And those requirements rely on “objective” criteria, which Plaintiffs admit that they can satisfy. Once they do so, the law commands that the state “shall issue” them handgun-qualification licenses.

But even though Maryland’s law does not prohibit Plaintiffs from owning handguns at some time in the future, it still prohibits them from owning handguns now. In order to get a handgun, Plaintiffs still have to follow all of the law’s steps. And, although they will be able to complete each one, it is impossible to do so right away.

Plaintiffs can’t receive a license to legally acquire a handgun until the state reviews their applications, which can take up to thirty days. So, no matter what Plaintiffs do, there will be a period of up to thirty days where their ability to get a handgun is completely out of their control.

In other words, though it does not permanently bar Plaintiffs from owning handguns, the challenged law deprives them of that ability until their application is approved, no matter what they do.

As the panel reasoned, there’s nothing in the language of the text of the Second Amendment or the Bruen decision that suggests the amendment protects “only against laws that permanently deprive people of the ability to keep and bear arms.” A right delayed is a right denied, and the “temporary deprivation that Plaintiffs allege is a facially plausible Second Amendment violation.”

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Argentina Elects Pro-Gun Chainsaw Wielding Libertarian

Javier Milei chainsaw

Argentina elected a libertarian head of state yesterday with some views I think many people can relate to.

I don’t know exactly what some labels the media are using mean, like “anarcho-capitalist” and “radical libertarian populist.” So, I spent a few hours reviewing his policies and listening to his speeches last night.

What Does Javier Milei Stand For?

He has proposed some significant reforms that many call radical, but I’m seeing some common sense. He can be very abrasive and blunt, so I can’t use his actual words for some of his views.

His governing philosophy is that “you can’t give s**t leftists an inch.”

  • He’s Anti-China
  • Thinks teaching gender education in school is brainwashing
  • Anti-socialism
  • Anti-woke
  • Anti-globalist
  • Anti-establishment
  • He’s said, “redistributing wealth is a violent act”
  • Climate change is a “lie of socialism”
  • He believes criminals shouldn’t be allowed to immigrate to his country.
  • You’ll have to look up what he said about Pope Francis and Mickey Mouse, but use your imagination.
  • Pro-gun and wants to loosen gun control.

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November 21

164 BC – Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias, restores the Temple in Jerusalem after retaking the city, and relighting the lamps, keeps them burning from a 1 day supply of oil that lasts 8 days.  This is commemorated by the festival of Hanukkah.

1676 – The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.

1783 – In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

1789 – North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.

1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph

1902 – The Philadelphia Football Athletics defeats the Kanaweola Athletic Club of Elmira, New York, 39–0, at Elmira, in the first professional American football night game.

1905 – Albert Einstein publishes 4 papers in the German science journal Annalen der Physik., one of which; Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig? – “Does the Inertia of an object Depend Upon Its Energy Content?” – leads to the mass/energy equivalence formula, E = mc²

1922 – Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female Senator.

1943 – During World War II, continuing operations in the Gilbert Islands, a company sized element of U.S. Marines offload from the submarine USS Nautilus to assault Abemama Atoll, 94 miles southeast of Tarawa.

1944 – On combat patrol in the Taiwan Strait during World War II, the crew of the American submarine SS-315, USS Sealion becomes the only one to sink a battleship when they torpedo the IJN Kongō. 

1945 – Members of the the United Auto Workers begin labor strikes at 92 General Motors plants in 50 cities.

1953 – The Natural History Museum in London announces that the “Piltdown Man” skull is a hoax.

1963 – Robert Stroud the ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ dies, completing his life sentence in solitary confinement for murder at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri

1964 – The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, opens to traffic. At the time it is the world’s longest bridge span.

1969 – The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute .

1970 – In Operation Ivory Coast, a joint U.S. Air Force and Army team raids the Sơn Tây prisoner of war camp 23 miles west of Hanoi in North Vietnam, in an attempt to free American prisoners of war believed to be held there. The failure to detect the removal of the prisoners prior to the raid leads to a major reorganization of the U.S. intelligence community.

1979 – The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, is attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing 2 U.S. service members, Marine Security Guard Corporal Steven Crowley, and Army Chief Warrant Officer Bryan Ellis

1980 – A fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada killing 87 people and injuring more than 650.

1985 – U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations

1992 – A major tornado outbreak, the largest tornado ever to occur in the US during November, spawns over 100 tornadoes through the southeast and midwest over a period of 3 days, causing 26 deaths and over $300 million in damage,

1995 – The Dayton Agreement is initialed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, at Dayton, Ohio, ending 3 1/2 years of war between Bosnia and Herzegovina of the former Yugoslavia.

2002 – NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.

2019 – Tesla introduces the SUV Cybertruck.

2021 – A man driving an SUV plows through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing 6 people and injuring 62.  A little less than a year later, he is convicted at trial and sentenced to 6 terms of life imprisonment without parole, to be served consecutively.

 

 

Police are investigating a shooting at the Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio

Police are responding to a report of a shooting with multiple victims at a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio, Monday night.

The Beavercreek Police Department responded to a report of an active shooter, according to Enquirer media partner Fox19.

The Dayton Daily News said there were at least three gunshot victims, according to reports. A CareFlight medical helicopter took flight around 9:50 p.m. for Miami Valley Hospital. The Greene County Coroner’s Office also was called to the scene. Law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions in Greene, Montgomery and Clark counties responded to the store, where police could be seen inside on the grocery side.

“There is no active threat at this time,” the department said in a Facebook post.

Beavercreek is home to about 46,000 people and is a western suburb of Dayton. In 2019, Dayton was the site of a mass shooting in its Oregon District. Connor Betts killed nine people and wounded many more before he was shot and killed by police.

In 2014, John Crawford III was shot and killed by a police officer at the same Walmart where the shooting occurred in Beavercreek Monday. Crawford was holding a pellet gun that he had picked up in the store.

Kyle Rittenhouse announces book detailing his court story

Kyle Rittenhouse has announced that his new book, titled Acquitted, is now available for pre-order.

Rittenhouse caught the attention of the nation during his court hearing in November 2021, which was held after he shot and killed two people during the 2020 riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse’s pre-order announcement of his new book, which details the story of his legal battle, was made on Sunday, the two-year anniversary of his acquittal.

“My case split the nation into opposing sides fueled by emotions, politics, and misconceptions driven by media and political figures,” Rittenhouse posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Today, I want you to learn the truth, and know the real and honest version of my story – without filters or an agenda.”

Rittenhouse claims that he originally wanted to be a police officer or paramedic prior to the shooting in August 2020, but that the direction of his life was changed “in less than three minutes” through the shooting. Both prior to and after Rittenhouse’s court hearing, many stories were spread about him that were “not true,” and that this book is his chance to “tell my story,” according to the book’s website.

The shooting that Rittenhouse was a part of occurred during the 2020 riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which were held a few days after Jacob Blake, a black man, was shot by police in August. Rittenhouse has maintained that his actions were necessary for self-defense and was found not guilty on all charges on Nov. 19, 2021.

In the wake of his legal battle, Rittenhouse has advocated protecting gun ownership and the Second Amendment. In August, it was revealed that he had filed paperwork with the Texas secretary of state to launch a nonprofit organization committed to fighting against gun control.

 

Anti Constitutional Carry Study Assumes Gun Laws Stop Criminals

A John Hopkins study critical of constitutional carry rests on the assumption that gun laws and/or regulations deter criminals from being armed in the commission of crimes.

The study was conducted by researchers at the John Hopkins/Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

Researchers began the presentation of their study by pointing to various means of concealed carry permit issuance, specifically “may issue” and “shall issue,” noting that a “may issue” scenario allows a local sheriff or other issuing authority the discretion to deny a concealed carry permit even if the applicant has no criminal record. On the other hand, in a “shall issue” state, the issuing authority must approve a concealed carry application if the applicant has no criminal or mental health history preventing issuance.

The researchers note certain requirements/regulations tied to “shall issue” that they view in a positive light:

Some states require applicants to undergo live firearm training, requiring a certain number of hours at a firing range and/or proficiency (e.g., applicants must hit a designated target with 70% of their shots). These provisions ensure all CCW permit holders have demonstrated that they can safely discharge a gun prior to carrying a loaded handgun in public. Other shall issue states prohibit those with violent misdemeanor convictions from obtaining a CCW permit.

The researchers then make the leap and, in the second paragraph of the study, reveal their belief that gun laws and/or regulations deter criminals from being armed: “In the absence of a state law prohibiting the purchase or possession of guns by violent misdemeanants, these provisions serve as the only legal means from keeping previously dangerous individuals from carrying a loaded handgun in public spaces.”

There are immediate problems with the researchers’ assumption. One such problem is that the state with the most stringent gun control–California–is also the state that had the most “active shooter incidents” in 2021. Moreover, it is the state in which over 17 percent of annual firearm deaths in the United States occur.

Additionally, CNN noted that California had four mass shootings during one week in January 2023.

The gun violence in California appears to counter John Hopkins researchers’ assumption that gun laws deter criminals from using guns.

How to Fix Damage Done to 2nd Amendment by Joe Biden

The Biden-Harris administration has done more harm to the Second Amendment than all previous administrations combined. Biden and his unelected, behind-the-scenes shot-callers have been methodical in their multifaceted war on our civil rights.

The next administration — if it’s one that actually respects the law and its citizens — will have a lot of work to do to restore the Second Amendment to what the Framers had in mind. It will be a daunting task. The Biden-Harris administration has hammered law-abiding Americans with dozens of infringements — aided and abetting by the legacy media and a variety of anti-civil rights groups, some of which received taxpayer dollars.

What follows is a list of suggestions for how to restore our civil rights. The list is neither complete nor comprehensive. It’s more of a starting point and, unlike the Constitution, a living document. It includes actions that can be taken immediately and long-term goals that may require Congressional support.

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Side bar news flash, all firearms can be used to inflict mortal wounds.

Sugarmann Still Twisting the Narrative as Anti-Gun Groups Attack Ruger

As Second Amendment supporters, we may not have heard it all, but we sure have heard a lot. And by what I’m speaking about is the bovine excrement served as rhetoric from the anti-civil liberties camp. Josh Sugarmann is about as deceptive as they come concerning verbiage used to damage the Second Amendment. Sugarmann is the force behind so-called “assault weapons,” noting an ignorant public won’t be able to discern the difference between semi-automatic firearms and fully-automatic firearms. Recently Sugarmann went on a deceptive tear against Ruger, and the other anti-civil liberty vultures followed suit – or perhaps coordinated.

Two weeks ago in Lewiston, Maine, we saw once again the horrific price our nation pays as the gun industry relentlessly innovates for lethality—and mass shooters repeatedly use military-bred semiautomatic assault weapons for the exact purpose for which they were designed.

Soon after this most recent attack, the VPC released a 13-page backgrounder on the Ruger assault rifle reportedly used in the shooting, which one gun magazine describes as “easy to carry, fast to the shoulder, and packing the punch of an old school .30-caliber battle rifle.”

The report’s release is just one way in which the VPC continues to focus attention on America’s unregulated gun industry and works to hold it accountable for the deaths and injuries that result from its products.

At the same time, nearly 134 Americans die each day in gun suicides, homicides, and unintentional deaths.

As illustrated above, Sugarmann continues to use the term he coined, “assault weapons” pairing the descriptor with the modifier “military-bred” – whatever that is. The 13 page “backgrounder” referenced is worth a gander if you have the stomach for garbage. The report lists alleged mass shootings that were conducted with Ruger manufactured firearms.

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It’s Simple Why No Arab Countries Are Taking Palestinian Refugees. They Know Better.

When Israel began conducting airstrikes in Gaza, everyone knew there was going to be displacement. The military operation comes after Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, murdering 1,200-1,400 civilians in a coordinated assault involving well over 1,000 terrorists. The level of barbarity was unprecedented, leading to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forming a unity government that aims to destroy Hamas. On October 28, the ground invasion began, leading to scores of Palestinians attempting to make their way south to safety. Hamas shot some who tried to flee.

As the Left rages against Israel, hurling antisemitic slurs and chanting for more Jews to die, some might want to consider why the civilians have nowhere to go. Okay, maybe these folks do know but don’t care, but liberals are historically illiterate, so who knows? It goes beyond geography. The Palestinians bring trouble and have a long, sordid history of fomenting mayhem and terrorism in other Arab nations.

Egypt is the logical destination for these Palestinians, but Cairo doesn’t want them, and for good reason: terrorism. The border crossing at Rafah remains closed, with tanks now deployed to ensure their border is secure. Egypt’s prime minister even said his country is willing to sacrifice millions to ensure no Palestinians ever enter Egypt en masse (via WSJ):

If Hamas cared about Palestinian civilians, it would encourage them to leave Gaza. But instead it is demanding that they remain. The terror group intends to use its own people and the hostages it abducted from Israel as human shields. Their hope is that either Israeli concern about causing collateral damage or global opprobrium will force Israel to scale back its counter-invasion.

Egypt is the only place to which Gaza’s civilians can flee for now. Yet Cairo insists on maintaining its strict quota for entries from Gaza via the Rafah crossing—with only 800 able to leave on Monday, and the crossing reportedly closed in recent days.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi bears no warm feelings toward Hamas, which is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood that tried to impose an Islamist regime in his country not too long ago. He’s concerned that Hamas terrorists might slip across the border into Egypt with a tide of civilians.

One way to reduce that possibility would be to house refugees in camps while they’re vetted for Hamas ties. The rest of the world should support a United Nations effort to help. But taking on this practical and financial burden is a risk Mr. Sisi may not want to take two months before Egypt holds what pass for elections there.

The timing is bad for Mr. Sisi, but unless he budges Egypt will become partly responsible for what could become a terrible humanitarian crisis—and that’s if Israel succeeds in rooting out Hamas. If Hamas’s strategy succeeds and Israel is forced by international pressure to scale back its defensive operations, Egypt will have to live with an entrenched and emboldened Hamas on the other side of the Rafah crossing.

If Hamas and the Palestinians aren’t freely moving into Egypt, they’ll be okay with it. Also, Israel has resisted ceasefires and has continued to chip away at the terror group’s infrastructure in Gaza, but a humanitarian crisis could still emerge.

As the tweet above mentioned, the Palestinians tried to take over Jordan in the 1970s, leading to the late King Hussein declaring war on them and driving them out. They were booted from Kuwait after collaborating with Saddam Hussein’s forces before the Gulf War. They set off a powder keg in Lebanon, a nation that has yet to recover from its brutal civil war that lasted 15 years. No Arab country wants these people because they bring instability and trouble. They’re not importing terrorism; that’s what we’re doing wholesale.