Category: Note

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress learns of General George Washington’s refusal to accept a dispatch from British General William Howe and his brother, Admiral Richard Viscount Howe, opening peace negotiations, because it failed to use the title “general”. In response, Congress proclaimed that the commander-in-chief acted “with a dignity becoming his station,” and directed all American commanders to receive only letters addressed to them “in the characters they respectively sustain.”

July 16th is the anniversary of the death of American volunteer Hugh John McCall, in Rhodesia, in 1979. o o o As pointed out in The Daily Caller opinion piece French Lessons, we should have learned by now that passing bans on firearms only disarms the law abiding citizen. The criminals are still criminals and will just ignore such laws. France is about as “Gun Free” as you can make a country, yet we have still seen significant terrorist activity there that use guns. Even if you could remove 100% of firearms from the country, how will you deal with …

July 15th is the birthday of actor Brian Austin Green. Many SurvivalBlog readers associate him with his role in The Sarah Conner Chronicles. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 65 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value), A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course …

July 14th is the birthday of Colonel Einar A. Malmstrom. He was born in 1907 and died August 21, 1954 near Great Falls, Montana, in the crash of a T-33 jet. He was a decorated Air Force pilot, a Luft Stalag POW survivor, and test pilot. Malmstrom AFB was one of the settings for JWR’s novel Founders. (The base was named in Malmstrom’s honor.) o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 65 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator …

On this day in 1787, Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance structuring settlement of the Northwest Territory and creating a policy for the addition of new states to the nation. The members of Congress knew that if their new confederation were to survive intact, it had to resolve the states’ competing claims to western territory. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 65 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is …

On July 12, 1865, George Washington Carver, the African-American scientist whose numerous discoveries helped to improve agriculture in the South, was born. He died on Jan. 5, 1943. o o o Yesterday’s mentioned press reports–attributed to a Dallas Police Department spokesman–incorrectly identified Micah X. Johnson’s rifle as an SKS. (My apologies for repeating that bad intel.) If these photos are to believed, then the rifle was actually a more modern Saiga (a Russian-made AK variant.) Take a close look. What strikes me as quite odd is the presence of the factory gray rubber protective shipping cap on the rifle’s charging …

July 11th is the birthday of John Quincy Adams. He was born in 1767 and died in 1848. Not to be confused with his father– John Adams– the younger Adams also served as a diplomat, congressman, and as president.

July 10th is the birthday of British novelist John Wyndham. (His full name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, but Harris shortened that to just John Wyndham for his pen name.) He was born in 1903 and died March 11, 1969. Harris was a good friend of fellow novelist Samuel Youd (1922-2012), who wrote under several pen names, including John Christopher. Both men were famous for writing what are often called “cosy catastrophies”. Several of Wyndham’s novels and short stories have been adapted to film, with varying degrees of success. One of the best of these was a parallel …

July 9, 1956 was the birthday of actor/director/producer Tom Hanks. His acting in the movie Saving Private Ryan is riveting. The same day in 1938 was the birthday of Brian Dennehy. He is most often remembered for his role as the alien leader in Coccoon, but he was cast in many other movies and in hundreds of television shows. o o o Unbelievable! FBI didn’t record Clinton interview, did not administer sworn oath. JWR’s Comment: Years ago, preppers started predicting Without Rule of Law (WROL) situations. I never thought that we’d see it come about quite this way. And on …

Today marks the birth of actor Kevin Bacon (born 1958.) Preppers usually associate him with the campy movie Tremors.

July 7th, 1907 was the birthday of novelist Robert A. Heinlein. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 65 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value), A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize …

July 6th is the anniversary of the 1994 Storm King Mountain wildfire that took the lives of 14 firefighters. Weather changes, resulting in 45 mph wind gusts, caused a modest wildfire to erupt into a blazing inferno, which threatened homes in and around the town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Firefighters from around the country were called to assist in fighting this

On July 5, 1810, P. T. Barnum, the great American showman, was born. He died on April 7, 1891. He is often credited with the phrase “There is a sucker born every minute.” While the actual attribution of the quote is suspect with many versions of the story abounding, the concept remains valid, especially when one considers the economic state of the entire world. Only in a world of fools could the economy of entire nations, indeed the vast majority of the world, be driven solely off of debt.

As Americans go through the motions of celebrating the remnants of our once preciously cherished liberty whilst in the throes of presidential election campaign, we are reminded that it is high time to pluck a few chickens and warm up the tar pot. Independence Day is also the birthday of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) and of General Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882) – JWR