November 23

534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first actor on record to portray a character on stage, and later has the things relating to the acting arts named after him – Thespian. 

1248 –  Troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile conquer Seville during the Reconquista of Spain.

1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship in England

1876 – Tammany Hall leader, William “Boss” Tweed arrives in New York City, under arrest for bribery, contract kickbacks and embezzlement, after being extradited from Spain.

1914 – The last U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, Mexico occupied 6 months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair, an incident when U.S. sailors were detained by Mexican forces of General Huerta during the Mexican Revolution.

1924 – Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the Andromeda nebula is actually another “island galaxy” far outside of our own was first published in The New York Times.

1943 – Despite heavy casualties, the battles for the Tarawa and Makin atolls end in U.S. victories against the forces of Imperial Japan.

1963 – The BBC broadcasts the first episode of Doctor Who

1976 – French free diver Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 meters undersea without breathing equipment.

1981 – President Reagan signs National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the CIA authority to recruit and support anti-Communist ‘Contra’ rebels in Nicaragua.

1992 – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at the COMDEX, a computer expo trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

2015 – Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft becomes the first rocket to successfully fly to space and then return to Earth for a controlled, vertical landing.

 

Salon Says ‘Guns Are Winning.’ Why That’s a Good Thing

Guns have been part of the American way of life since before this nation was this nation. The American people have had guns for hunting and self-defense as well as defending this land from foreign aggression all that time.

But some people are less than thrilled about this fact.

Today, marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. In the wake of that murder, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, in part to prevent someone like Lee Harvey Oswald from being able to get a gun in the manner in which he obtained it.

Yet over at Salon, they have a piece titled, “60 years after the assassination of JFK: The guns are winning.”

Since JFK’s murder, more Americans have died from civilian gunfire than the well over one million American soldiers killed in all of our wars, according to a flyer circulated by the Virginia Center for Public Safety back in January of 2016. A PolitiFact review of the claim noted that the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention analysis “of yearly gunfire deaths in the U.S. from 1968 to 2014” all added up to 1.5 million gun-related deaths, greater than the 1.4 million lost to armed conflict since the creation of the nation.

Between 2015 and 2020, the United States had an additional 237,000 gun deaths. In 2021, the United States set a record with 48,830 gun-related deaths, with 54 percent flagged as suicides and 43 percent as murders. Overall, that reflected a 23 percent spike since 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

It is sixty years after JFK’s murder and the guns are winning with the nation’s children and their families that are increasingly losing.

Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re going to look at total numbers since JFK’s assassination, particularly with regard to guns, then maybe we should look at trends from that time and not cherry pick things to look as scary as possible.

JFK was killed in 1963. The Gun Control Act followed five years later. Not an immediate reaction, to say the least, but looking at the provisions in that law makes it clear it was, in part, a response to the assassination.

And what happened immediately after JFK was killed and continued after the GCA was passed? The homicide rate increased.

That’s from the New York Times. What it shows is an increase in the homicide rate that spiked up in the aftermath of the Gun Control Act and continued to be sky high until the early 1990s and didn’t really get down to the early 1960s homicide rate until around 2010 or so.

During that time, we didn’t see a whole lot of gun control being passed. The Brady Bill was passed in 1993 and we had the now-sunset Assault Weapon Ban in 1994, but violent crime was already starting its downward trend, nearly 30 years after JFK’s assassination.

While the last few years have seen a spike in violent crime, that too is trending downward.

So what happened? Well, during that time period, we also saw the rise of concealed carry. States began empowering people to carry guns for their own protection and people started taking advantage of it. That likely contributed

The Assault Weapon Ban spurred a lot of people to buy AR-15s and similar weapons, creating a demand that still hasn’t been satiated. As these are good weapon for self-defense inside the home, this probably also contributed.

See, the issue with the Salon piece is that it’s blaming recent laws and recent actions from the last 30 years for violent crime that took place in the 30 years immediately after JFK’s death.

As guns have become more popular and people are carrying them more often, the homicide rate has trended downward. Even the spike of 2020 was nothing compared to the murder rates of the 1970s and ’80s.

So, in a way, the premise is right, even if not for the reason the author wants us to think. The guns really are winning. They’re making us safer.

The media might not make it seem that way, especially when you can see all the violence with a few keystrokes, but we’re much better off than we were shortly after JFK’s assassination, and I’m tired of pretending we’re not.

NW Austin homeowner fatally shoots intruder in self-defense

Police say a man was shot and killed after breaking into a northwest Austin home last month.

It happened Saturday, Oct. 21, in the 10500 block of Foundation Road, in a neighborhood just off FM 620.

The Austin Police Department says officers responded to the home at around 11:43 p.m. for a shooting call.

The caller reportedly stated that he had shot 55-year-old Ricardo Cortez, who had broken into his home. Upon arrival, officers found Cortez with a gunshot wound. He died shortly after the incident.

Initial findings by APD’s homicide detectives suggest Cortez broke into the house and then entered the homeowner’s bedroom, prompting him to shoot in self-defense, police said.

West Michigan town forms militia to protest red flag gun laws

Holton Township in Muskegon County last week voted to declare itself a “Second Amendment sanctuary,” and went one step further than the 50-plus Michigan communities and counties that have passed similar resolutions.

The township of about 2,500 residents also passed a resolution to create a militia and refuse to enforce any gun restriction law passed before 2021.

The resolution was passed days before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed legislation that prevents those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from owning firearms for eight years.

Holton Supervisor Alan Jager told Bridge Michigan the overwhelming majority of township residents support the move because they fear their rights are slipping away, especially after Michigan adopted a “red flag law” that allows judges to seize weapons of those deemed a danger to themselves or others.

“You just can’t come in and take our weapons away without giving us a fighting chance to stand up for ourselves because we may not be guilty of anything,” Jager said.

“We would just like to see local people stand up and say, ‘You just can’t do this and pass these laws’ because it may be good for the city but not good for rural communities.”

The township tried and failed to pass a similar resolution last year. The new resolution — which was approved unanimously — also creates a militia open to anyone 18, and older who primarily lives in Holton Township.

“ Holton Township will not acknowledge any new laws that are associated with red flag laws, or any other infringement of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Holton Township will not acknowledge any new regulation that prohibits open carry or concealed carry,” the resolution reads.

Michigan in May became the 21st state to adopt a red flag law, but the measure doesn’t take effect until Feb. 13. The law would allow relatives, current and ex-spouses, dating partners, police and mental health professionals to petition courts for an extreme risk protection order to take away guns from those with mental health issues.

A judge would have up to 24 hours to rule on the petition. If granted, police would notify the gun owner, who then has up to 24 hours to turn over their weapons before they are confiscated.

In Michigan, at least 53 of 82 mostly rural counties have passed resolutions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. While some law enforcement have questioned how the red flag law would be enforced, the sanctuary resolutions are nonbinding, since county and township officials can’t direct sheriffs or police to flout the law.

“This is all political grandstanding for the far-right gun extremists,” said Ryan Bates, executive director of End Gun Violence Michigan, an organization dedicated to passing gun violence prevention laws.

“We’ve seen this in other states, where gun-sense majorities have passed laws like safe storage, like extreme risk protection orders, like protection for domestic violences survivors.”

In Illinois,68 of 102 counties are Second Amendment Sanctuaries, while over a dozen counties in Indiana have also passed similar resolutions.

“At the end of the day, most law enforcement officials understand that laws aren’t suggestions or guidelines, they are laws,” Bates said.

Harvard Poll: 6 in 10 Voters Say Owning a Gun is a Necessary Part of Self-Defense Against Crime

A Harvard/Harris poll conducted November 15-16, 2023, shows six in ten voters believe owning a gun is a necessary part of protecting themselves from criminals.

Poll researchers asked: “Do you think crime and safety in your community is getting better, worse, or staying about the same?”

Forty-two percent of voters said “worse,” versus 21 percent who said better. (Forty-nine percent of independents were among those who said crime is worsening.)

Researchers asked, “Do you think you need to have a gun today in case you are attacked by criminals, or do you think owning a gun is unnecessary?”

A majority of voters across the board–whether Democrat, Republican, or independent–answered in the affirmative.

Broken down by party affiliation, 54 percent of Democrats said owning a gun is necessary, 77 percent of Republicans, and 56 percent of independents.

Moreover, a majority of American voters believe “woke politicians” are a driving force behind crime in the United States.

Fifty-five percent of voters concurred that “Woke politicians are to blame for rising crime,” while 45 percent disagreed. An even larger majority of voters–67 percent–support “removing DA’s who are soft on crime.”

Happy 101th Birthday Eugene Stoner!

Indiana’s own Eugene Morrison Stoner cut his teeth in small arms as a Marine Corps armorer in World War II and left the world some of the most iconic black rifles in history.

Born on Nov. 22, 1922, in the small town of Gosport, just outside of Bloomington, Indiana, Stoner moved to California with his parents and graduated from high school in Long Beach. After a short term with an aircraft company in the area that later became part of Lockheed, the young man enlisted in the Marines and served in the South Pacific in the Corps’ aviation branch, fixing, and maintaining machine guns in squadrons forward deployed as far as China.

Leaving the Marines as a corporal after the war, Stoner held a variety of jobs in the aviation industry in California before arriving at ArmaLite, a tiny division of the Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation, where he soon made his name in a series of ArmaLite Rifle designs, or ARs, something he would later describe as “a hobby that got out of hand.”

Continue reading “”

“By calling attention to ‘a well regulated militia,’ ‘the security of the nations,’ and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms,’ our founding father recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy…The 2nd Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the 2nd Amendment will always be important.”
-John Kennedy

On this day, in 1963 John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas.

While I have no doubt Oswald was shooting, and his skill and the rifle he used were ‘adequate to the task’, there’s been so much controversy in the several investigations, that short of the Eschaton, I think we’ll never know the whole truth of it.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in Dallas during a campaign visit. Kennedy’s motorcade was turning past the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza with crowds lining the streets—when shots rang out. The driver of the president’s Lincoln limousine, with its top off, raced to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital, but after being shot in the neck and head, Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. He was 46 years old…………

The first lady and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been three cars behind Kennedy in the motorcade, returned to Air Force One at Dallas Love Field with Kennedy’s body, in a bronze casket.

Johnson was sworn in at 2:38 p.m. as the 36th president of the United States while aboard the airplane prior to takeoff. Jacqueline Kennedy, still in a pink suit splattered with blood, stood at Johnson’s side. An autopsy on Kennedy’s body was performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed,” Johnson said in his first public statement as president. “For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God’s,”

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.