Debunking another NRA Myth — “I think if you look to Chicago, where you had over 4,000 victims of gun-related crimes last year, they have the strictest gun laws in the country. That certainly hasn’t helped there.” — Trump Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, following the Las Vegas mass shooting. The NRA, in its endless…

Why did the South Secede? Ask a Confederate. — The Civil War is the deadliest armed conflict in American history. Southern conservatives committed treason against the United States and triggered a war that led to an [estimated] 360,222 Union deaths and 258,000 Confederate deaths (newly released research raises total deaths to somewhere 650,000–850,000). Southern states and their leaders were…

The Highland Park, Buffalo Tops Supermarket, and Uvalde massacres. Normal days in America. We built this. It’s who we are. — How did Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old who was previously investigated for threatening “murder-suicide” at his high school and referred for a mental health evaluation, get an XM-15 Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle with a high-capacity magazine, a shotgun, and a bolt-action rifle, and murder 10 people and injure 3 more in a…

Anne Gorsuch Burford and the EPA. Apple meet tree. — The EPA is Born A series of environmental disasters in the 1960s led to widespread public concern over the environment. The 1966 New York [Smog Disaster] sickened 10% of its population. The book Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson increased awareness and scrutiny over the indiscriminate use of pesticides. While corporations were dumping toxic chemicals…

A brief history of the Pledge of Allegiance — The Origins of our Pledge of Allegiance “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” — The original Pledge of Allegiance. The official end of the devastating American Civil War in 1856 at Appomattox Courthouse didn’t end the animosity between North and South…

Full text of Henry Benning’s Speech to the Virginia Secession Convention, February 18, 1861. — (This is supporting material for “Why did the South Secede? Ask a Confederate.” [Click here] for that full article.) Henry Lewis Benning, lawyer, Georgia Supreme Court justice, and ardent secessionist strongly opposed abolition. In an 1849 letter, Benning predicted the coming calamity: “The only safety of the South from abolition…

Full text of “An address to the citizens of Alabama, on the constitution and laws of the Confederate States of America” — (Supporting material for “Why did the South Secede? Ask a Confederate.” [Click here] for that full article.) “In my opinion, we shall have no war. We shall have none because we are ready to meet and maintain the stand we have taken, and because we are right, and the soldiery…

Governor Isham Green Harris’ message to the Tennessee General Assembly on January 7, 1861. — (This is supporting material for “Why did the South Secede? Ask a Confederate.” [Click here] for that full article.) “If you think you have rights & are the superiors of the black man then vote for the men who will not sell you out to the Yankee.” Isham Green Harris…

The Arkansas Ordinance of Secession — (This is supporting material for “Why did the South Secede? Ask a Confederate.” [Click here] for that full article.) “A party in the North which has as its principles hostility to the institution of African slavery as it exists in the southern states.” — Hugh French Thomason AN ORDINANCE to…