American History

Politics A ‘Magic Bullet’ Loses Luster—Again One of America’s “smelly orthodoxies” just edged closer to history’s dustbin. Credit: rblfmr A surviving member of President John F. Kennedy’s Secret Service detail on November 22, 1963 has revealed something which, if true, discredits the official version of the assassination. Only 28 when he witnessed the brains of the 35th commander-in-chief blown out...

Donald Trump, who described himself as “very pro-choice” on Meet the Press in 1999, came almost full circle on the same program this weekend. He called Florida’s ban on abortions after six weeks “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” He talked of brokering a compromise between the pro-lifers and pro-choicers to craft a federal law leaving both sides pleased, a scenario as outlandish as...

Julie Caron/iStock/Getty Images Plus Dried coca leaves What are the implications for a country when its most lucrative business is one considered illicit throughout the world? According to a report from Bloomberg Economics, cocaine is poised to become Colombia’s top export, surpassing even oil. This comes amid the South American country’s efforts to legalize the cocaine trade. Whereas oil exports...

AP Images David Scanlan As a growing number of states look to keep former President Donald Trump out of the 2024 presidential election, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan has announced that he doesn’t have the power to decide such a thing. Scanlan made the comments on Wednesday at a news conference in answer to a September 12 letter...

Jacob Sullum When New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued “a public health emergency order” that purportedly suspended the right to bear arms in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County last week, her justification was seemingly straightforward. “I have emergency powers,” she told The New York Times. “Gun violence is an epidemic. Therefore, it’s an emergency.” Grisham’s stunt was widely condemned...

koi88/iStock/Getty Images Plus Count a Biden-nominated judge among those anti-gun Democrats who think that New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham went too far in issuing an order banning the carrying of firearms in Albuquerque and its surrounding county. David Urias, a district judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, nominated by Joe Biden two years...

John Whitehead We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. — Abraham Lincoln Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. It is there to protect, defend...

Photo courtesy of Matthew Monfore Private landowners and farmers attend the Public Utilities Commission meeting South Dakota has once again said no to carbon-capture pipelines. On Monday, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously denied Summit Carbon Solutions’ application for a state permit to install a carbon-capture pipeline across central and eastern South Dakota. The motion came from the PUC’s lead...

Library of Congress As perhaps you’ve noticed throughout this series of articles on the events of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, clauses — important clauses — were agreed upon by delegates, only to be completely rewritten when this or that committee was assigned to compile a complete draft of the approved provisions.  It is this unassailable historical truth that gives...

Pbroks13 (talk)/Wikimedia Commons Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is seeking information from the Biden administration regarding U.S. military operations in Niger and other countries around the world: Under what authority are these operations being undertaken, what is their purpose, and how many U.S. casualties have resulted from them? After 10 years of a U.S. military presence in Niger, the ostensible purpose...

Biden administration Cabinet members Take out your copy of the United States Constitution. Better yet, pull up a copy online so you can search for a specific word. Now, search for the word “cabinet.” Spoiler alert: You won’t find the word “cabinet” in the Constitution. Why, then, does the president have a Cabinet, and where did it come from?  These...

Jim Webb, a former U.S. senator from Virginia, former secretary of the Navy, man of letters, and a Vietnam platoon leader with a heroic combat record, recently rendered a public service in coming to the defense of the endangered century-old Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in a Wall Street Journal commentary.  “I cannot imagine,” Webb wrote, “that the removal...

endfossilfuels.us We are fast approaching an important anniversary in our nation’s history. September 17 is Constitution Day, on which we celebrate the formal establishment of the United States of America in 1787. Our Founding Fathers instituted an extremely limited federal government, and as a result, for more than two centuries, our Constitution has been in the crosshairs of those who...

alancrosthwaite/iStock/Getty Images Plus The federal government — including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches — has for decades implemented and enforced unconstitutional and increasingly-socialist policies. These policies and programs have significantly increased the size of government, and are pulling our Republic away from the U.S. Constitution and its founding principles as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. However, the situation...

richterfoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus On August 31, after a gathering of EU foreign ministers in Toledo, Spain, European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell declared that the European Union has to prepare for a future expansion that may entail up to 10 new members. Borrell said that Ukraine and the Western Balkan nations were the main candidates for EU accession, elaborating that the...

Marion Doss/flickr Standing at this end of history, we know that as the calendar changed from August to September the historic Constitutional Convention of 1787 was just a couple of weeks from being adjourned by convention president George Washington. The representatives assembled, however, had no idea how much longer it would take to produce a document that could attain the...

AP Images COS co-founder Michael Farris The Convention of States (COS) organization is calling out The Washington Post for publishing a “hit piece” on COS co-founder Michael Farris.  In their response to the Post’s article, COS describes the article’s message as “a simple one: Michael Farris … is a terrifying threat to American society.” To be fair, the Post’s piece...

AP Images Andrew Bailey Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey put St. Louis City Mayor Tishaura Jones on notice this week after she announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit “military-grade weapons” on city streets and make it a crime for “insurrectionists and those convicted of hate crimes” to possess firearms.  A press release shared that Bailey sent Jones a...

MCCAIG/iStock/Getty Images Plus “It is not to be expected, that criminals will destroy their own handiwork; that they will either reform or punish themselves; or, that men, who have brought our misfortunes upon us, will go about in good earnest to redress them, or even own that there are any such.” — Cato’s Letter No. 69 (March 10, 1722) “Government...