Lost and Found – November 30th Edition

What to remember about November 30th…

• 1804   Signer of the Declaration of Independence Samuel Chase is 1st and only Supreme Court Justice to be impeached; acquitted of all charges in 1805
• 1835  American author and humorist Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri (d. 1910)
• 1864  Assault by General Hood’s Army of Tennessee at Battle of Franklin leave Confederates with disastrous losses
• 1874  Nobel laureate and British WWII Prime Minister Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is born (d. 1965)
• 1947  Civil War breaks out in British controlled Palestine with escalating Arab attacks on Jewish settlers, Brittain prepares to withdraw
• 1954  In Sylacauga, Alabama a sleeping woman is struck by the Hodges Meteorite; only documented case of human hit by object from space
• 1993  President Clinton signs Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Bill into law
• 2001  Green River Killer is arrested in Reston, Washington; Gary Ridgeway believed to have murdered more than 70 women

Lost and Found – November 29th Edition

What to remember about November 29th…

• 1775  Continental Congress establishes Committee of Secret Correspondence to elicit aid from European nations
• 1864  Aspiring Colorado politician John Chivington leads militia band in massacre of Native Americans at Sand Creek
• 1929  American explorer Admiral Richard Byrd and 3 companions make 1st flight over the South Pole
• 1947  United Nations approves the partition of Palestine and creation of Israel, an independent Jewish State
• 1963  President Johnson appoints Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy
• 1972  Atari Corporation announces the release of Pong; 1st commercially successful video game
• 1981  Actress Natalie Wood drowns in controversial boating accident off Catalina Island, California (b. 1938)
• 1990  United Nations passes resolution requiring Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991 or face “all means necessary” for their removal by allied nations
• 2004  Godzilla receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Lost and Found – November 28th Edition

What to remember about November 28th…

• 1777  John Adams is appointed commissioner to France by Continental Congress
• 1785  Signer of the Declaration of Independence for New Hampshire, William Whipple dies riding circuit as a judge (b. 1730)
• 1925  Country and western music goes national with 1st radio broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry
• 1943  President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet at Teheran Conference
• 1964  NASA launches Mariner IV spacecraft to perform 1st successful flyby of the planet Mars
• 1987  New York teenager Tawana Brawley falsely claims she was kidnapped, held for 4 days, and raped by 4 whites, 1 a policeman
• 1994  Cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is beaten to death by a fellow inmate claiming God told him to do it
• 2002  Palestinian terrorists detonate suicide bomb targeting hotel for Israeli tourists; 13 killed and 80 injured
• 2010  Canadian-born American comedian and actor Leslie Nielson dies of pneumonia in Florida (b. 1926)

Lost and Found – November 27th Edition

What to remember about November 27th…

• 1746  American founding father Robert R. “R.R.” Livingston is born in New York; negotiator of Louisiana Purchase (d. 1813)
• 1863  Confederate cavalry raider John Hunt Morgan breaks out of Ohio state prison and escapes to the South
• 1924  1st Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is held in New York City
• 1940  Martial-arts expert and actor Bruce Lee is born in San Francisco, California (d. 1973)
• 1942  American guitarist Jimi Hendrix is born in Seattle, Washington (d. 1970)
• 1942  French Admiral Jean de Laborde orders French fleet scuttled in Toulon harbor in order to keep it out of German hands
• 1945 After almost 4 years in prison for perjury, suspected Soviet spy Alger Hiss is released
• 1978  Angry over the loss of his job, Dan White murders San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk

Lost and Found – November 26th Edition

What to remember about November 26th…

• 1776  Peyton Randolph, 1st president of the Continental Congress, is laid to rest at College of William and Mary
• 1863  1st annual Thanksgiving Day is celebrated; established by President Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving
• 1922 British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon are first to enter Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings in over 3000 years
• 1942  Oscar-winning World War II film Casablanca opens in New York City; stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
• 1950  Hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops counter-attack in support of North Korean allies; Korean War enters new phase
• 1968  Instead of returning after his last mission, Air Force helicopter pilot James P. Fleming diverts and rescues Army Green Berets pinned down by heavy fire; his actions are later recognized with the presentation of the Medal of Honor
• 1998  Wrestling star Hulk Hogan announces he is retiring and will run for President in 2000; later revealed as publicity stunt
• 2008  Pakistani Islamist terrorists launch 10 coordinated bombings and shootings in Mumbai, India; 164 killed and 300 wounded

Lost and Found – November 25th Edition

What to remember about November 25th…

• 1783  3 months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the last British troops withdraw from New York
• 1863  Union troops crush Rebels at Battle of Missionary Ridge; Confederates forced to withdraw from Chattanooga, Tennessee
• 1864  Confederate “Copperhead” sympathizers start over 20 fires in attempt to burn down New York City
• 1947  After being cited for contempt of Congress, the “Hollywood 10” are blacklisted by the major studios
• 1963  Johnson proclamation declares a day of national mourning as President Kennedy is buried in Arlington Cemetary
• 1985  Former National Security Agency (NSA) employee Ronald W. Pelton is arrested for attempting to sell secrets to the Soviets
• 1986  Attorney General Edwin Meese reveals that profits from arms sales to Iran used to supply arms to Nicaraguan Contra rebels
• 1999  International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women established by the United Nations
• 2002  President Bush signs bill creating Department of Homeland Security
• UPDATE:  2016  Murderous communist dictator Fidel Castro dies in Havana, Cuba (b. 1926); celebrations break out in communities of Cuban exiles and refugees – especially in Miami, Florida

Thanksgiving For The Troops – Part 2 (Repost)

Earlier I did a brief post on thanking our veterans this season.  I thought I’d continue the theme today with our serving soldiers.

Thanksgivings of the Past (Repost)

For those that would argue that our Founders and this nation were secularists that intended to keep God and faith out of the public square, I invite you to read some of their own words on the occasion of Thanksgiving.

George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation – October 3, 1789

Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving – October 3, 1863

I would argue that their greatest concern was that NO faith or become the officially endorsed religion of this country.  The right to practice your beliefs, s long as they caused no harm to another,was to be sacrosanct and inviolable.  Their intent was not to prevent one from speaking of religion, hearing of religion or being offended by another’s religion.  The Founders saw America as a moral nation whose various faiths gave them the strength and values to surmount any challenge and strive towards the greatness in every individual… no matter their creed.  Stop trying to get God out of the public square.  He has the right to free speech too.

Lost and Found – November 24th Edition

What to remember about November 24th…

Thanksgiving Celebrated (USA)

• 1784  Future 12th President of the United States Zachary Taylor is born in Barboursville, Virginia (d. 1850)
• 1863  Union troops capture Lookout Mountain; begin to lift Confederate siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee
• 1877  Future 35th Vice President Alben W. Barkley is born in Graves County, Kentucky; elected with President Harry S. Truman
• 1944  Mass air raid over Tokyo by 111 B-29 Superfortresses; 1st bombing of the city since 1942 Doolittle raid
• 1963  Nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas police station basement
• 1969  Army officials announce 1st Lt. William Calley will be court-martialed for massacre of 109 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai
• 1971  Mysterious hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes from airliner into a nighttime thunderstorm over Washington state with $200,000

Lost and Found – November 23rd Edition

What to remember about November 23rd…

• 1749  Edward Rutledge, reluctant signer of the Declaration of Independence, is born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1800)
• 1804  14th President Franklin Pierce is born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire (d. 1869)
• 1814  Elbridge Gerry ,Vice President to James Madison, dies of heart failure while still serving in office (b. 1744)
• 1863  General Grant’s Union troops counter-attack; Battle of Chattanooga begins
• 1943  Islands of Tarawa and Makin fall to U.S. forces
• 1981  President Reagan signs secret order ordering CIA to organize and recruit Nicaraguan Contra rebels
• 1985  Palestinian terrorists hijack Egyptian airliner; 60 hostages die either at captors hands or during botched rescue attempt
• 2004  World of Warcraft MMORPG is released