“Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.” Thomas Jefferson (1775) In […]

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 311 days remaining until the end of the year (312 in leap years). Holidays Christian Feast Day: Polycarp of Smyrna (Catholic Church) Blessed Isabelle of France Serenus the Gardener February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Lindel Tsen and Paul Sasaki, (commemoration, Anglicanism) Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana) National […]

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library Special Thanks to Homer J Simpson  

Good morning, it’s February 23, 2020. Seventy-five years ago today, the U.S. Marines raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, the image became an instant classic that helped buck up a war-weary nation. It is still an iconic symbol of the war in the […]

I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving. Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was an American soldier best known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American […]

By NCC Staff The national holiday called Washington’s Birthday may have passed, but today is George Washington’s real 284th birthday. Here are 10 interesting facts about the first president, including his amazing wealth, his career as a moonshiner, and the truth about those teeth. Washington served a unique role as a military leader during the Revolution, as president of the Constitutional […]

” We are either a nation of laws, or we are lawless.” Marsha Blackburn The House voted 236 to 191 to cancel legal protections for millions of illegal immigrants. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sponsored the measure to overturn President Obama’s executive mandate that seeks to give them legal status. She is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, […]

February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 312 days remaining until the end of the year (313 in leap years). Holidays Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance: Founder’s Day or “B.-P. day” (World Organization of the Scout Movement) World Thinking Day (World Association […]

Six historians weigh in on the biggest misconceptions about black history, including the Tuskegee experiment and enslaved people’s finances. By Jessica Machado and Karen Turner  To study American history is often an exercise in learning partial truths and patriotic fables. Textbooks and curricula throughout the country continue to center the white experience, with Black people often quarantined to a short section about slavery and quotes […]

It is not democracy but unlimited government that is objectionable, and I do not see why the people should not learn to limit the scope of majority rule as well as that of any other form of government. At any rate, the advantages of democracy as a method of peaceful change and of political education seem to be so great […]

On FEBRUARY 21, 1848, ‘Old Man Eloquent’ John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke at his desk in the House chamber. He had just given an impassioned speech against the Democrat plan to expand slavery into the Western territories acquired after the Mexican-American War. He died 2 days later without regaining consciousness. A bronze marker on the U.S. House floor indicates […]

February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 313 days remaining until the end of the year (314 in leap years). Holidays Christian Feast Day: Pepin of Landen Peter Damian Randoald John Henry Newman (Episcopal Church (USA) February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) International Mother Language Day (UNESCO) Language Movement Day (Bangladesh) The first […]

A government-spending watchdog says a recently discussed plan for raising tax revenue for America’s roads should scare anyone who drives a car. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently stated that he would be willing to implement a plan that will tax motorists on the amount of miles driven. Massachusetts lawmakers have considered such a plan, and pilot programs have been implemented […]

Good morning. It’s Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. That was some debate in Nevada last night — and when television cameras are involved, what happens in Vegas definitely doesn’t stay in Vegas. I was up too late watching and up too early this morning editing, so I’ve reached into the vault to reprise a topic I’ve written about before — the […]

To prevent government from becoming corrupt and tyrannous, its organization and methods should be as simple as possible, its functions be restricted to those necessary to the common welfare, and in all its parts it should be kept as close to the people and as directly within their control as may be.  Henry George Henry George was an American economic […]

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 314 days remaining until the end of the year (315 in leap years). Holidays Christian Feast Day: Eucherius of Orleans Eleutherius of Tournai Wulfric of Haselbury Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA)) February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) World Day of Social Justice (International) History In 1339,  […]

“Need” now means wanting someone else’s money.  “Greed” means wanting to keep your own.  “Compassion” is when a politician arranges the transfer. Joseph Sobran

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. This morning we have a thoughtful review of a new book by a refreshingly nonpartisan political voice. The review is by Morton Kondracke, a shining light in American journalism for more than 50 years. The uplifting voice belongs to Neal Simon, who ran for a Senate seat in Maryland in 2018 as an […]

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 315 days remaining until the end of the year (316 in leap years). Holidays Armed Forces Day (Mexico) Birthday of Shivaji or Shivaji Jayanti (Maharashtra, India) Christian Feast Day: Barbatus of Benevento Conrad of Piacenza February 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Commemoration of Bulgaria’s Apostle of […]

Democracy passes into despotism. Plato Plato was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in Classical Greece. He is considered an essential figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition, and he founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with Socrates and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the […]