Author: James Wesley Rawles

April 19th marks a multiple anniversary. April 19th was the original Patriot Day in honor of the battles of Lexington and Concord, known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”. This first battle, leading to our nation’s independence, was the then-dictator’s (United Kingdom King George III’s) failed attempt at “gun control”– an act being carried out in too many parts of our USA right now. This first gun control of the colonies was a failure, because of the will and determination of a small part of the population (about 3% actually fought for our independence actively, with many others supporting) …

April 18th is the birthday of Washington Representative Matt Shea. (Born 1974). On April 18th, 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck northern California, killing hundreds of people as it toppled numerous buildings and started fires that engulfed whole neighborhoods. The quake was so powerful that it knocked down chimneys in the Anderson Valley, 120 miles north of the city.

On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Due to the Cuba/Soviet intelligence network as well as loose talk by members of the brigade, which was repeated in US and foreign newspaper reports, the Cuban government knew, in advance, of the planned invasion. The Washington Post also reported that the Soviets knew the exact date of the attack, that the CIA was aware that they knew, and that the CIA did not inform president Kennedy. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest …

April 16th is the birthday of two notable novelists– J. Neil Schulman and Samuel Youd. Agorist-Libertarian activist J. Neil Schulman (born April 16, 1953) is best known as author of the novel Alongside Night. The late Samuel Youd (born 1922, died February 3, 2012) was the British novelist who was best known for his science fiction writings under the pseudonym John Christopher, including the survivalist novel Death of Grass (titled No Blade of Grass, in the American edition) as well as the Tripods Series of young adult sci-fi novel series. A fascinating man, Youd wrote prolifically, using eight pen names. …

April 15th, 1912, is the anniversary of the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic. 1,517 people lost their lives on the maiden voyage. As research into the incident has progressed over the last 100 years, it seems as if, one way or another, the ship was just going to sink. Impact with an iceberg, raging coal fires in the fuel supply, wrong turns, locked-up binoculars, weak rivets, too few lifeboats, and more. Perhaps this whole incident was really the result of man’s hubris.