Category Archives: History

Happy Flag Day and Honor America Days

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NATIONAL — While listening to President Donald J. Trump speak on June 6, 2023 at North Carolina, he mentioned a few interesting things. One thing he said he would hold a year long celebration to honor America. I’m not sure, but I think I recall that he said he would start in on July 4th. I guess that is as good a day as any. Though I still cringe when people say “July 4th” instead of the appropriate “Independence Day,” July 4th was not the true Independence Day. It was the date the proclamation was issued for a vote that was taken on July 2nd. Thus, July 2nd was the date that Independence was actually declared.
36 United States Code §110 designates June 14th as Flag Day. The law “requests” that the President issue a proclamation calling on “…United States Government officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings…” The President is also supposed to urge “…the people of the United States to observe Flag Day as the anniversary of the adoption on June 14, 1777, by the Continental Congress of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States.” That is the flag that has thirteen red and white stripes with stars on a blue background. That is the ONLY flag that is supposed to be displayed and honored. Whether it be the current flag with fifty stars or thirteen, it should not matter. The so-called Betsy Ross flag was, of course, the original honoring the thirteen colonies.

Most people do not know, however, that there is an actual “Pride” month celebration during this period. 36 USC §112 designates the 21-day from Flag Day to Independence day as “…a period to honor America.” 36 USC §112 (b) is a declaration in which “…Congress declares that there be public gatherings and activities during that period at which the people of the United States can celebrate and honor their country in an appropriate way.” It is not “appropriate” to loot and burn. That is not appropriate at anytime no matter what the current “administration” says. Likewise, drag queen hour and grooming of children.

What we suggest is that you take the time to review history. One thing you can do is watch the mini-series John Adams. The Patriot is another good selection (not the 1928 version). There are others; pick your favorite. You might be able to find these movies on line for free or they might be available through one of your streaming subscriptions, such as Prime or Sling.

How about doing a little study? Check out The Federalist Papers. These are the arguments by John Jay, James Madison and the first corrupt official in our government, Alexander Hamilton. Hilldale college has a free course on the Federalist Papers. I strongly recommend No. 29

You might find some interesting things on the Archive.org web site. It is packed with Public Domain videos, audio books, old magazines. Even donated video and audio from around the country; e.g. “home movies.” You might want to listen to this selection.

We hope that what ever you do to celebrate will bring you to the conclusion that you should never show your total ignorance by wishing some one a “Happy Fourth of July.” You should reply to that greeting with “Happy Independence Day” without slapping them in the face though you are very tempted to do. There is a reason that the current government wants you to celebrate the date on the calendar rather than what it represents. Be a rebel. Go ahead and say Happy Independence day.

The flag of my Country.

How Facebook “fact checkers” skew the truth

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Opinion by Glen Davis
Research credit goes to J.d. Benfer.

Facebook “fact checkers” are freaking out about a meme with JFK talking about needing a strong militia. They twist it around to say that it does not say JFK was against gun control. As J.D. Benfer pointed out in his comment, the quote says nothing about gun control. A strong Second Amendment stance, of course, IS implied by the quote.

The quote is from a speech that can be found on the President Kennedy Presidential library online:

PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S COMMEMORATIVE MESSAGE ON ROOSEVELT DAY, JANUARY 29, 1961
January 29, 1961

This year, the celebrations of Roosevelt Day has special significance for Democrats everywhere; for we celebrate not only the triumphs of the past but the opportunities of the future.

Twenty-eight years ago Franklin Roosevelt assumed the leadership of a stricken and demoralized nation. Poverty, distress and economic stagnation blanketed the land. But it was not long before the great creative energies of the New Deal had lifted America from its despair and set us on the path to new heights of prosperity, power and greatness.

Today America is the richest nation in the history of the world. Our power and influence extend around the globe. Yet the challenges and dangers which confront us are even more awesome and difficult than those that faced Roosevelt. And we too will need to summon all the energies of our people and the capacities of our leaders if America is to remain a great and free nation — if we are to master the opportunities of the New Frontier.

The dimensions of our problems overwhelm the imagination. At home millions are unemployed and the growth of our economy has come to a virtual halt. Abroad, we are faced with powerful and unrelenting pressure which threaten freedom in every corner of the globe, and with military power so formidable that it menaces the physical survival of our own nation.

To meet these problems will require the efforts not only of our leaders or of the Democratic Party–but the combined efforts of all of our people. No one has a right to feel that, having entrusted the tasks of government to new leaders in Washington, he can continue to pursue his private comforts unconcerned with America’s challenges and dangers. For, if freedom is to survive and prosper, it will require the sacrifice, the effort and the thoughtful attention of every citizen.

In my own native state of Massachusetts, the battle for American freedom was begun by the thousands of farmers and tradesmen who made up the Minute Men — citizens who were ready to defend their liberty at a moment’s notice. Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of America, cannot succeed with any lesser effort.

It is this effort and concern which makes up the New Frontier. And it is this effort and concern which will determine the success or failure not only with this Administration, but of our nation itself.

Source: White House Central Subject Files, Box 111, “FDR”.

Other Information Sources:

“Know your Lawmakers,” Guns Magazine, April 1960.
“Letter to President John F. Kennedy from the NRA,” [NRAcentral.com].
“New Minute Men Urged by Kennedy,” The New York Times, 30 January, 1961, pg. 13.
“Kennedy Says U.S. Needs Minute Men,” Los Angeles Times, 30 January, 1961, pg. 4.
“Minutemen’s Soft-Sell Leader: Robert B. DePugh,” The New York Times, 12 November 1961, pg. 76.

The quote on the meme is clearly correct.

So you need to watch for this. When Facebook “fact checkers” cannot deny something outright, they twist it around.

Did the founders believe the same? Did they actually add the Second Amendment to prevent the government from becoming tyrannical and acting in opposition to the Constitution? I refer to Federalist Paper No. 29 written by the hip-hop guy Alexander Hamilton. The non-President on the ten-dollar bill whom is not being removed from our currency.

The attention of the government ought particularly to be directed to the formation of a select corps of moderate extent, upon such principles as will really fit them for service in case of need. By thus circumscribing the plan, it will be possible to have an excellent body of well-trained militia, ready to take the field whenever the defense of the State shall require it. This will not only lessen the call for military establishments, but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.

I could go on, but it is clear that the Second Amendment was not written to protect hunters. It did not protect muskets. The Second Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

It states that the right to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. That means I keep and bear any arm in the arsenal of the United States military unhindered, so long as I am doing so lawfully, i.e. not robbing banks, killing people, etc. Although my M1 Abrams does have to be converted to tires if I want to drive it in the streets.

The argument that the founders could not foresee the development of arms today is false. They saw the progression from swords, to cannons, to rifles. The advanced concept of “rifling,” in fact, was invented by German gunsmiths right here in the good old colonies.

With all of this said, there are certain REAL common sense restrictions that can be applied. For example if you want to hang onto a case of grenades, they could be restricted to being stored in a bunker that would prevent damage to neighbors property should they explode. You cannot just set up an ad hoc shooting range on your property unless you have enough property to prevent your shots from reaching roads and neighbors property. In other words, your right to arms cannot interfere with the rights of your neighbors.

March Archaeology Month schedule at Kaibab National Forest

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WILLIAMS – Here is our calendar of archaeology month programs beginning in March, with Thursday evening programs starting at 6:30 PM at the Williams Visitor Center. Please have folks call in advance at 928-635-5600 to give us an idea on how many will attend each event.Every Saturday in March, we will also lead interpretive hikes to Keyhole Sink Petroglyphs, meeting at the Oak Hill Snow Play area at 2 PM. The hike is 0.6 miles each way, and last about 2 hours. Participants should dress warmly and prepare to get wet and muddy, especially if the waterfall is running!

Thursday March 2: South Kaibab Heritage Accomplishment Report
South Kaibab Zone archaeologist Neil Weintraub will highlight how volunteers, contractors, and other partners helped Kaibab archaeologists document, protect, and preserve archaeological sites during Fiscal Year 2016.

Thursday March 9th: History of Williams Mountain Men
Alan Messimer, Volunteer for the Williams Historic Photo Project, will present a history of the Williams Mountain Men.

Thursday March 16th: History of Williams Baptist Church
Alan Messimer, Volunteer for the Williams Historic Photo Project, will present a history of the Williams Baptist Church.

Thursday March 23rd: 1928 Bunion Run across Northern Arizona
South Kaibab Zone Archaeologist will discuss the history of the First Transcontinental foot race as it went across Northern Arizona in 1928. Weintraub will discuss newspaper accounts and historic photos in the weeks and days surrounding the event in the Williams area.

Thursday March 30th: African Americans of Williams or other project (Hangan)
Forest Archaeologist Margaret Hangan will present her research on African Americans of the Williams area.

Happy Birthday Milton Friedman

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milton_friedmanNobel award winning economist Milton Friedman was born July 31, 1912 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY. Friedman was the undisputed champion of the proper capitalist system as described by Adam Smith in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations published in 1776. He embarrassed the unconstitutional Federal Reserve by proving how they caused the Great Depression. Ben Bernake later admitted they “accidentally” caused the collapse of economies around the world.

Friedman correctly pointed out that in the era of less government regulation, the mass of the people were more well-off than in highly regulated society of today. In fact the “gap” between the poor and the wealthy continues to rise and the mainstream media questions what government regulation it will take to stop it. They championed the $15 an hour minimum wage in Washington which had the result of the loss of jobs as fast food restaurants installed ordering kiosks.

Of his many books, his most noted work is probably Capitalism and Freedom published in 1962. In it he points out the fallacy of “progressives” usurping the term “liberal” to describe their Marxist political philosophy.

His emphasis was on education in skills, instead of degrees in poetry and feminine studies, as a means to escape poverty. He founded the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

Milton Friedman passed away in November of 2006.


Get out of town: Explore Route 66

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UPDATED 7/29 4:02 Thanks to Linda Messimer for the correction on Davenport Lake.

WILLIAMS— Williams has the distinction of being the last route 66 town bypassed by interstate 40. The mural on the wall by Circle K is a tribute to that. So while you are here you might want to stay an extra day in Williams to explore the Mother Road.

"On Arizona Highway 87, south of Chandler. Maricopa County, Arizona." by Dorothea Lange - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

“On Arizona Highway 87, south of Chandler. Maricopa County, Arizona.” by Dorothea Lange – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Route 66 gained the name of the Mother Road because of its significance to history. During the depression when tragedy struck the Great Plains—in what was called the great Dust Bowl—thousands took to Route 66 to travel west in search of a better life. This was depicted in the book and movie The Grapes of Wrath.

Route 66 was instrumental in winning World War I and World War II. Old-timers told me of the days when they would watch convoys of men and material moving down Route 66 to be shipped off to war. Most people don’t realize that Interstate 40, and all other freeways for that matter, were started by President Eisenhower who brought the idea back from the German autobahn.

Route 66 has seen a resurgence of interest since it was decomissioned. Williams and Flagstaff have a significant amount of Route 66 still available for travel. The stretch we will examine in this article is from Bellmont to Williams.

Of course it goes down to Ash Fork which is another significant Route 66 town, as well as a railroad center in the old west. Ash Fork history can be seen at the Route 66 Museum in Ash Fork on, well… Route 66.
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Hillsdale College new course on Federalist Papers

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640-federalistpapersMICHIGAN — Hillsdale College of Michigan has been doing courses on the Constitution for a couple of years, now. Their most recent course on the Federalist Papers is available for immediate sign up.

The Federalist Papers course concentrates on the government-approved arguments to ratify the Constitution of the United States. These papers are considered to have been written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and the Father of the Constitution James Madison.

The courses run 10-weeks with an examination at the end of each week. The course has already started so a couple of weeks of courses may be available. It is recommended, however, that you take your time and read all of the course material.

These were not the only papers arguing for and against the new form of government.

Once you sign up, you can find a list of their older courses including a course on great historic literature. You will, of course, receive the inevitable emails asking for donations and a subscription to their Imprimis Magazine. They even give you a certificate suitable for framing when you complete each course.

The course should inspire you to look at all of the arguments surrounding the ratification of the Constitution. I believe they are incorrect in their premise that the anti-Federalist, those opposed to the Constitution, wanted slavery, for example. If you read the anti-Federalist arguments you will find that many of them were written in the North—very much against slavery. Still the online video lectures and reading material provided are all free and give you a good basis for further research on your own.

The biggest contribution by the anti-Federalists was to convince James Madison—formerly against a Bill of Rights in the Federalist Papers—to change his mind and lobby for an inalienable Bill of Rights.

Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage exposed

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UPDATED: Feb. 15, 8:35
640-bp-bw-i-001WILLIAMS – We discussed a little about the history of the Babbitt-Polson warehouse in our last article. The warehouse is the last example of warehouses that lined the railroad.

Eventually shipping via the road declined with the expansion of Route 66. These use of these warehouses as temporary storage for trade goods gave way to other uses. Like many other abandon buildings, there was also the inevitable graffiti. Opal Means obtained one of the warehouses and said that the inside wood had been removed, so any history is gone. This warehouse seems to be the only one with graffiti remaining.
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The inside is a conspiracy theory tribute to one of the truly forgotten wars fought by the United States. The now imprisoned isle of Cuba was seeking independence from Spain which began in 1895. What is interesting is that the American media was used to portray the brutality of the Spanish in an effort to gain support for the war. It worked. It was this event that caused the term yellow journalism to be coined. An article in Wikipedia explains:

The most famous example of a claim is the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington telegrammed Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and “There will be no war.” Hearst responded “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Historians now believe that no such telegrams ever were sent.

But Hearst became a war hawk after a rebellion broke out in Cuba in 1895. Stories of Cuban virtue and Spanish brutality soon dominated his front page. While the accounts were of dubious accuracy, the newspaper readers of the 19th century did not expect, or necessarily want, his stories to be pure nonfiction. Historian Michael Robertson has said that “Newspaper reporters and readers of the 1890s were much less concerned with distinguishing among fact-based reporting, opinion and literature.”

The sinking of the Maine on February 15, 1898 was the impetus for this war.

There is a local Arizona historic connection with the sinking of the USS Maine. Along Route 66 in Parks you will find a railroad sign that says Maine. There is a town which still exists called Maine near Parks. They took on the name after the sinking of the Maine. There is no downtown Maine, of course. The metropolitan of Parks absorbed the town of Maine over time. The Parks school is still the Maine Consolidated School district.

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The national government and the media portrayed it as a sinking by a Spanish mine. Because of the media fervor, no one questioned it. It was only years later that it began to leak that the USS Maine was probably sunk because of an explosion in their own magazine. This was probably not a “false flag” like the Gulf of Tonkin. It was probably just a happy coincidence for Theodore Roosevelt who was pining for war. He was able to convince President McKinley to convince Congress to declare war over the incident. Particularly since public opinion was set by the media.

The result of the war was the acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam and other territories from Spain.

It appears from the dates that the warehouses probably were abandon around 1911. That is when the graffiti seems to have started. Some of the graffiti in the warehouse refer to the sinking of the USS Maine. Some of the graffiti are simply names of people in Williams history.
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Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage move

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640px-Stage-001

Northern Arizona Citizen photo.

WILLIAMS – You have probably seen the Babbitt-Polson Warehouse Stage in the visitor center parking lot. Some may remember its construction in 2011. A few may remember when the warehouse was moved into its present location around October of 1997. You may have never seen this one if not for the efforts of Laura Cole and the Historic Committee at the time.

Photo by Opal Means.

Photo by Opal Means.

The example in Williams is not the only one that was built. According to Vice-Mayor Don Dent—councilman when the warehouse was moved—these warehouses were built all along the road. This is one of the last examples in existence.

He credits Laura Cole for saving this historic piece. It was her efforts that led to obtaining the grant to move it to its present location.

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Photo by Opal Means.

The Babbitt-Polson warehouse was not the only warehouse. There were a few in the area where the Skate Park is located now. They were used by Tru-Value Hardware when they were located in what is now the Recreation Center.

In October of 1997, they were moved out of the area to make room for the Skate Park. The Babbitt-Polson Warehouse was moved into its present location by Dale Perkins. Williams resident Opal Means said that she acquired one of the warehouses for her own property.

The Williams Historical Society originally hoped to turn it into a museum. It eventually morphed into its original use as a warehouse by the City of Williams. Mr. Dent stated that this was not intentional. He explained that after the $35,000 grant to move the building was used up, it left little money to do any repairs or set up.

Northern Arizona Citizen photo.

Northern Arizona Citizen photo.

He said that the cost of making the warehouse safe for a museum in addition to hiring a full-time curator turned out to be prohibitive at the time. He did say that using the building as a warehouse is not necessarily the final use. If the city receives a proposal for a better use for the structure they will consider it.

In July of 2011 the community stage addition was approved and completed by the end of the year.

The interesting thing about the warehouse is the inside.
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Apparently, not everyone remembers the dream

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Today is Martin Luther King day. Today is meant to celebrate the civil rights leader of the sixties who made the following speech on August 28th, 1963.

Almost 52-years later, Mark Dice, a political activist in San Diego, asked people about King. The trick is that he asks in the same way that he does many historic topics. His claim to the people is that Martin Luther King just passed away and he wanted to know if they people were going to attend the memorial services.

Bear in mind that he edits the videos showing the goofiest answers he received. He did show one person who knew who the civil rights leader actually was and there were probably other examples.

What is sad is that even when he went off the deep end, as he often does in his videos, some people followed simply because they had a camera in their face.

Time capsule dating to 1795 included coins, newspapers

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capsuleinternal8989BOSTON – Early residents of Boston valued a robust press as much as their history and currency if the contents of a time capsule dating back to the years just after the Revolutionary War are any guide.

When conservators at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston gingerly removed items from the box Tuesday, they found five tightly folded newspapers, a medal depicting George Washington, a silver plaque, two dozen coins, including one dating to 1655, and the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

While some of the coins appeared corroded, other items were in good condition and fingerprints could be seen on the silver plaque.

The capsule was embedded in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse when construction began in 1795. It was placed there by Revolutionary era luminaries including Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, governor of Massachusetts at the time.

Read more at FOX News