Friday, March 31, 2023

The Bangorian Controversy on This Day in History

 

Benjamin Hoadly

This Day in History: The Bangorian Controversy started on this day in 1717. The Bangorian Controversy was a theological argument within the Church of England in the early 18th century, with strong political overtones. The origins of the controversy lay in the 1716 posthumous publication of George Hickes's Constitution of the Catholic Church, and the Nature and Consequences of Schism. In it, Hickes, as Bishop of Thetford, on behalf of the minority non-juror faction that had broken away from the Church of England after the Glorious Revolution, excommunicated all but the non-juror churchmen. Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, wrote a reply, Preservative against the Principles and Practices of Non-Jurors; his own Erastian position was sincerely proposed as the only test of truth.

The controversy itself began very visibly and vocally when Hoadly delivered a sermon on 31 March 1717 to George I of Great Britain on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ. His text was John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world" and from that, Hoadly deduced, supposedly at the request of the king himself, that there is no Biblical justification for any church government of any sort. He identified the church with the Kingdom of Heaven. It was therefore not of this world, and Christ had not delegated His authority to any representatives.

"Hoadly, in a sermon preached on March 31 1717, put forward the view that the church was not justified in having any form of government as it was concerned with matters not of this world. Sincerity of belief rather than any church structure was what mattered." Source

The reading of this one Scripture at John 18:36 became an act of civil disobedience and questioned the authority, not only of the Church, but the divine right of kings.


Thursday, March 30, 2023

The Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: On this day in 1981, President of the United States Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession.

White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and DC police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady had brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by his injury.

What is never talked about is the caliber of the bullet, a small .22lr. "Everyone scoffs at the .22 cartridge. They say it’s useless for self defense. They say it’s too small. They say it isn’t powerful enough. But I’ve yet to see one of these people volunteer to be shot by one.
Look at the attempted assassination of Reagan. John Hinckley Jr. used a .22 revolver. Secretary Brady was hit in the head, critically wounded and crippled for life. A New York City police officer was hit in the neck and died instantly. A secret service agent went down and stayed down with a bullet in his liver. And finally, Reagan was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery for a bullet in his lung. And the bullet in question did this AFTER bouncing off the side of Reagan’s armored limousine." Source


Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Copenhagen Hypnosis Murders on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: The Copenhagen hypnosis murders happened on this day in 1951. The Copenhagen hypnosis murders were a double-murder case in connection with a failed bank robbery that happened in Denmark on 29 March 1951. After extensive police, psychiatric and psychological investigations and the ensuing trial proceedings, two people were convicted of the murders: Palle Hardrup and Bjørn Schouw Nielsen. It was the view of the trial court, in a decision that the Danish Supreme Court affirmed, that Schouw Nielsen had hypnotized the 28-year-old Hardrup to carry out the robbery and the murders. When Hardrup committed the robbery, he shot one of the bank's cashiers and then the branch manager. Hardrup then fled by bicycle to a nearby street and entered a building. Several eyewitnesses went in after him, and the police were directed to the stairwell where Hardrup had tried to hide. Hardrup quickly surrendered to the police without resistance.

After the robbery, the police department began to suspect that Nielsen might have used hypnosis to manipulate Hardrup to commit the bank robbery and the related murders. The theory was corroborated by forty witness statements from prisoners and guards at Horsens State Prison: these statements suggested that Hardrup was already under Nielsen's mental control in prison. The guards and prisoners reported that Nielsen manipulated Hardrup like a puppet and that he was able to make Hardrup behave as if he were in a trance. Hardrup had also told several fellow inmates that Nielsen hypnotized him regularly.

After an extensive set of legal proceedings that ended eventually in 1955, Palle Hardrup was sentenced to be imprisoned indefinitely at the Institution of Herstedvester. The Danish Supreme Court upheld Bjørn Schouw Nielsen's sentence to life imprisonment, and declined to reopen the case. At the time of the Supreme Court's decision, the Danish Medico-Legal Council had stated that they were unable either to confirm or dispute the theory that you can hypnotize someone into committing a crime. However, in December 1956, after a thorough examination of the case file, the Council issued its final public statement on the case, finding that there had been a significant mental disorder in Hardrup's state of mind - the influence of another person, which in these circumstances involved hypnosis. A few years later, the subcommittee of the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights reopened the case for special consideration. In 1960, the subcommittee found that Nielsen had been properly convicted by the Danish judiciary. This decision was further upheld by the Human Rights Court in 1961. Both Nielsen and Hardrup were released, independently, in 1967. Bjørn Schouw Nielsen committed suicide with potassium cyanide in 1974. Palle Hardrup died in 2012.


Tuesday, March 28, 2023

The Cincinnati Riots of 1884 on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, attacked members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter on this day in 1884. Over the next few days the mob would riot and eventually destroy the courthouse.

The Cincinnati riots of 1884, also known as the Cincinnati Courthouse riots, were caused by public outrage over the decision of a jury to return a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder. A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, attempted to find and lynch the perpetrator. In the violence that followed over the next few days, more than 50 people died and the courthouse was destroyed. It was one of the most destructive riots in American history.

"The event that precipitated the riot was the murder trial of William Berner. In a high profile case, Berner stood accused of beating his employer to death in the act of stealing $285. When the jury convicted him of manslaughter, instead of murder, the judge called the decision 'a damned outrage' and the irate crowd packing the courtroom threatened to lynch the jury." Source 

"...thousands of citizens stormed the county jail and courthouse. The riots lasted three days requiring forces from the Sheriff's Office, city police, and local and state militia to restore order. Fifty-four people were killed and more than 200 wounded. The courthouse and jail suffered enormous damage, and valuable records were destroyed from the assault and fire. The riot gained international notoriety and helped pave the way for removal of political favoritism and a larger police force." Source 


Monday, March 27, 2023

The Tenerife Airport Disaster on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on this day in 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The collision occurred when KLM Flight 4805 initiated its takeoff run while Pan Am Flight 1736 was still on the runway. The impact and resulting fire killed everyone on board KLM 4805 and most of the occupants of Pan Am 1736, with only 61 survivors in the front section of the aircraft. With 583 fatalities, the disaster is the deadliest accident in aviation history.

The disaster had a lasting influence on the industry, highlighting in particular the vital importance of using standardized phraseology in radio communications. Cockpit procedures were also reviewed, contributing to the establishment of crew resource management as a fundamental part of airline pilots' training. The captain is no longer considered infallible, and combined crew input is encouraged during aircraft operations.




Sunday, March 26, 2023

Atheist/Agnostic Richard Dawkins on This Day in History

This day in history: Richard Dawkins was born on this day in 1941. Dawkins is a British author, biologist, evolutionist, leftist, agnostic and militant atheist. That last part may be confusing. In 2002 Richard Dawkins publicly argued for the position of militant atheism and claimed that he will not feel anything after death, however, in later years, when interviewed, he claimed that, on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is perfect faith in God and 7 is perfect confidence in atheism, he is a 6.9. Dawkins declared that he was an agnostic in 2006 and 2012. (In his book The God Delusion, Dawkins said that "permanent in agnosticism in principle" is "fence-sitting, intellectual cowardice.") 

In a debate with Giles Fraser (former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral) Dawkins said that most Christians weren't Christian because they couldn't tell you the first book of the New Testament. Giles asked Dawkins if he could recite the full title of Darwin's Origin of the Species, and Dawkins boasted that he could. When challenged, Dawkins dithered and said: "Oh God." (The full title of Charles Darwin's book is On the The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life and evolutionists rarely cite the book's full title as it is racist.)

On February 14, 2012, an editorial in The Daily Telegraph claimed regarding the radio debate: "Dr. Fraser skewered the atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins so fabulously, so stylishly, and so thoroughly that anti-religion’s high priest was reduced to incoherent mumbling and spluttering."

Theodore Beale wrote concerning the embarrassing incident for Dawkins:

“As I have said repeatedly, Richard Dawkins is a huge intellectual fraud, and perhaps those who previously expressed incredulity at the idea that I would quite easily trounce the old charlatan in a debate will find it just a bit more credible now. This behavior isn't an outlier or a momentary lapse of memory, it is entirely characteristic. The man quite frequently pretends to knowledge that he patently does not possess and assumes he knows things that he obviously does not, which is why he avoids debate with those who are aware of his intellectual pretensions and are capable of exposing them.

It's bad enough that Dawkins couldn't come up with the name of what he considers to be the most important book ever written immediately after claiming he could do so, but in addition to stumbling a little on the subtitle, he even forgot the rather important part of the title that refers to the actual mechanism supposedly responsible!"

See also Does God Exist? - 300 Books to Download

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Robert the Bruce on This Day in History

 

This day in History: Robert the Bruce became the King of Scots (Scotland) on this day in 1306. 

"In 1317, the Pope demanded that King Robert I of Scotland (better known as Robert the Bruce) embrace a truce with the English in the First War of Scottish Independence. He didn't. For his refusal to follow the Pope’s orders, Robert was excommunicated. Scottish nobles took their King’s defiance to the next level in 1320 in a letter known as the Declaration of Arbroath. It was the first time in history that an organized group of people asserted it was the duty of a King to rule by the consent of the governed and the duty of the governed to get rid of him if he didn’t. 'It is not for honors or glory or wealth that we fight,' they declared, 'but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life.' See Seven Centuries Since William Wallace." Source

The snubbing of the pope by Robert the Bruce came to be one of the greatest and oldest acts of civil disobedience.


Friday, March 24, 2023

The Wisest Fool in Christendom on This Day in History


 See also The King James Version Bible Companion: 100 Books to Download, and

Rare Olde English Bibles to Download (Tyndale, Matthews, Coverdale, AV1611) and
Over 60 Different Editions of the King James Bible to Download

For a list of all of my digital books on disk click here

James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I on this day in 1603. James was dubbed the wisest fool in Christendom.

Even though James became the impetus in what came to called the King James Bible, he did not encourage a translation of the Bible in order to enlighten the common people: his sole intent was to deny them the marginal notes of the Geneva Bible. The marginal notes of the Geneva version were what made it so popular with the common people.

James had a superficial education, and barely knew what his courtiers were talking about when they referred to classical literature etc,, and he was politically less than savvy, and made some very silly decisions out of sentiment and personal prejudice. He was inclined to praise his own knowledge too, beyond the level which was justified, since although he was educated as regards the Scottish aristocracy, there were a lot of genuine scholars among the English upper class he met after becoming king of England in 1603, who outclassed him effortlessly. As an older man, also, he had the distressing habit of picking up and promoting pretty boys, (like Robert Carr the stone mason’s apprentice, and Buckingham, his ‘Steenie’ (St Stephen), not quietly, but in the sight of his Queen and court, hanging round their necks and stroking them, calling himself their Daddy, and being generally tactless about it.

"He was a flaming homosexual. His activities in that regard have been recorded in numerous books and public records; so much so, that there is no room for debate on the subject.

The very people who use the King James Bible today would be the first ones to throw such a deviant out of the congregations.

The depravity of King James I didn't end with sodomy. James enjoyed killing animals. He called it 'hunting.' Once he killed an animal, he would literally roll about in its blood. Some believe that he practiced bestiality while the animal lay dying.

James was a sadist as well as a sodomite: he enjoyed torturing people. While King of Scotland in 1591, he personally supervised the torture of poor wretches caught up in the witchcraft trials of Scotland. James would even suggest new tortures to the examiners. One 'witch,' Barbara Napier, was acquitted. That event so angered James that he wrote personally to the court on May 10, 1551, ordering a sentence of death, and had the jury called into custody. To make sure they understood their particular offense, the King himself presided at a new hearing — and was gracious enough to release them without punishment when they reversed their verdict.

History has it that James was also a great coward. On January 7, 1591, the king was in Edinburgh and emerged from the toll booth. A retinue followed that included the Duke of Lennox and Lord Hume. They fell into an argument with the laird of Logie and pulled their swords. James looked behind, saw the steel flashing, and fled into the nearest refuge which turned out to be a skinner's booth. There to his shame, he 'fouled his breeches in fear.'" Source

*For verification of King James homosexuality, I got my info from Global Insights. You can also find more info at Otto Scott's "James I: The Fool As King" (Ross House: 1976), pp. 108, 111, 120, 194, 200, 224, 311, 353, 382; King James-VI of Scotland/I of England by Antonia Fraser (Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1975)pp. 36, 37, 38; King James VI and I by David Harris Willson, pp.36, 99; James I by his Contemporaries by Robert Ashton, p114; and A History of England by Samuel Rawson Gardiner, Vol. 4, p.112. Check also A LITERARY HISTORY OF THE BIBLE by Geddes MacGregor who has devoted a whole chapter entitled "QUEEN" JAMES.

In the Beginning, by Alister McGrath, pp. 170-71

The Mammoth Book of Private Lives by Jon E. Lewis, pp. 62,65,66

James White also makes mention of it in his book, THE KING JAMES ONLY CONTROVERSY.

See also King James and the History of Homosexuality by Michael B. Young and King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire by David Moore Bergeron, both available on amazon.com

For those people who feel that the above is a result of the attack on King James by the 17th century tobacco industry are ignorant of the fact that his behavior and personal life were quite well known to his contemporaries. "He disdained women and fawned unconscionably on his favorite men." ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA-pp. 674,675



Thursday, March 23, 2023

A Tornado and a Flood on This Day in History

 

Main Street in Dayton Ohio

A tornado outbreak killed more than 240 people in the central United States, while an ongoing flood in the Ohio River watershed was killing 650 people on this day in 1913.

The tornado outbreak sequence of March 1913 was a devastating series of tornado outbreaks that affected the northern Great Plains, the Southern United States, and sections of the upper Midwest over a two-day-long period between March 21–23, 1913. 

The Great Flood of 1913 occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain. Related deaths and damage in the United States were widespread and extensive. While the exact number is not certain, flood-related deaths in Ohio, Indiana, and eleven other states are estimated at approximately 650. The official death toll range for Ohio falls between 422 and 470. Flood-related death estimates in Indiana range from 100 to 200. More than a quarter million people were left homeless. The death toll from the flood of 1913 places it second to the Johnstown Flood of 1889 as one of the deadliest floods in the United States. 

This book, "The Impersonality of the Holy Spirit by John Marsom" is available on Amazon for only 99 cents. See a local listing for it here; Buy The Absurdity of the Trinity on Amazon for only 99 cents by clicking here - see a local listing for this here



Wednesday, March 22, 2023

JFK and his Extramarital Affairs on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover met at the White House with John F. Kennedy, to advise him about what findings from a wiretap revealed on this day in 1962. Not only was Hoover aware that President Kennedy was conducting an extramarital affair with Judith Exner, Hoover advised that Ms. Exner was also romantically involved with organized crime figures Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, and with Frank Sinatra. After the meeting, Kennedy called Exner to terminate the relationship. The affair would not become public knowledge until Congressional hearings were held in 1975.

This was not the only affair that JFK had, and this should not be surprising to anyone who has kept up with the young president. The most famous affair was with actress Marilyn Monroe, who mysteriously overdosed at age 36 in 1962.

He had an affair with Mary Pinchot Meyer, who was murdered, shot twice at a close range, in Georgetown in October 1964. Beginning in 1976, Pinchot Meyer's life, her relationship with Kennedy, and her murder became the subjects of numerous articles and books, including a full-length biography by journalist Nina Burleigh.

JFK also had affairs with a Mimi Alford, Jill Cowan, Priscilla Wear, Blaze Starr, Pamela Turnure, Gunilla Von Post, Ellen Rometsch...even Angie Dickinson. According to Maria Riva, her mother Marlene Dietrich had an affair not only with JFK, but also his father Joe Kennedy. 

The History and Mystery of Alchemy is now available on Amazon...and it is only 99 cents.



Tuesday, March 21, 2023

The Murder of a Toddler on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: One-year-old Antonio Santiago was murdered on this day in 2013, during an attempted robbery in Brunswick, Georgia. As Santiago and his mother, Sherry West, were returning home from the post office, they were confronted by two youths, 15-year-old Dominique Lang and 17-year-old De'Marquise Elkins. Elkins, who had previously shot another victim he tried to rob, pointed a gun at West and demanded money. When she did not comply he fired two .22-caliber bullets, one of which grazed her head, and the other of which went through her leg. He then shot Santiago in the face, killing him. The murder received national as well as international attention due to the victim's young age.

Lang pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, and was sentenced to eight years of probation. Elkins was tried and convicted in August 2013 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He did not receive the death penalty because he was under 18 at the time of the crime. Several of Elkins's relatives were also convicted of, and pleaded guilty to, charges related to covering up the crime.


Monday, March 20, 2023

The Mi-T-Fine Car Wash Killings on This Day in History


This Day in History: On this day in 2000, Robert Wayne Harris walked into a Mi-T-Fine Car Wash in Irving, Texas where he was fired from only days earlier, so that he could exact vengeance. 

He forced manager Dennis Lee, 48, assistant manager Augustin Villasenor, 36, and cashier Rhoda Wheeler, 46, into the office. Harris had Wheeler open the safe, then forced her and the two others onto the floor and shot them. He also slit Lee's throat. When three other employees arrived, Harris forced them onto the floor in the lobby and shot them. Benjamin Villasenor, 32, and Roberto Jimenez, 15, were killed. The other victim survived but was left with permanent disabilities. All of the victims were shot once in the back of the head.

Harris just got out of prison a year earlier after serving an 8 year sentence. On November 29 of that year, Harris abducted and fatally shot 37-year-old Sandra Scott. He later said he killed her after suspecting her of stealing money from him. Harris was initially questioned about Scott's disappearance, but was not charged. 

While he was on death row, Harris's lawyers claimed he was mentally disabled and thus ineligible for execution. However, experts for both the state and the defense agreed Harris was not mentally disabled.

Harris was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on September 12, 2012. 


 

Sunday, March 19, 2023

The First Bank Heist in America on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: What has been termed the first documented bank heist in U.S. history, happened when burglars stole $245,000 (1831 values) from the City Bank (now Citibank) on Wall Street happened on this day in 1831.

The amount stolen would come to over $52 million in 2013 currency. Initial reports variously reported the name of the culprits as Edward Smith, Edward Jones, James Honeyman and James Murray. A modern source, drawing on period newspapers, names James Honeyman and William J. Murray.

"The pair had gained entry with a set of duplicate keys carefully made from wax impressions of the door locks by Honeyman's brother in law, a locksmith. They emptied out the vault and some safe deposit boxes and disappeared undetected.

When the theft was discovered the next day, suspicion fell on the employees because there was no sign of forced entry." Source

Murray and Honeyman, who used both "Smith" and "Jones" as aliases, spent $60,000 before they were caught. Murray fled to Philadelphia while Honeyman remained in New York under an alias. Both were captured, convicted, and both sentenced to five years in Sing Sing prison.

While this is posited as the first bank heist in US history, there was actually an earlier one in 1798. Read more here.


Saturday, March 18, 2023

The Riverview Murders on This Day in History

On this day in 2018, in Riverview, Florida, 29-year-old Ronnie Oneal III fatally shot his girlfriend, 33-year-old Kenyatta Barron, and hacked their 9-year-old daughter, Ron'Niveya Oneal, to death with an axe. He stabbed their 8-year-old son Ronnie Oneal IV, who survived and told detectives "My father shot my mother" before being escorted to a local hospital.

During the trial in which he defended himself, Oneal stated: “Do I look like I’m insane to you? And if I don’t look insane, and if I’m able to represent myself in trial, you have to ask yourself why would a man kill his own children who he loved?”

Voices shouted out from the courtroom, “Because you’re evil.”

Oneal was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse, one count of arson, and one count of resisting a law enforcement officer. On July 23, 2021, he was given three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 90 years.



 

Friday, March 17, 2023

The First Fatal Aircraft Hijacking on This Day in History

This Day in History: Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320, carrying passengers from Newark to Boston, was hijacked on this day in 1970, by John J. Divivo who was armed with a .38 caliber revolver. Captain Robert Wilbur Jr., 35, a former United States Air Force pilot who had been promoted to captain six months prior, was shot in his arm by the suicidal hijacker. Despite his wounds, he flew his aircraft safely to a landing while talking to air traffic control, telling them his copilot was shot and needed emergency services. His copilot, James Hartley, 30, was shot and collapsed. Despite being mortally wounded, Hartley was able to force the gun from Divivo's hand, and shoot the would-be hijacker three times before lapsing into unconsciousness, and eventual death. Despite his injuries, Divivo arose and began clawing at Captain Wilbur, attempting to force a crash. Wilbur hit Divivo over the head with the gun he had retrieved from the center console. The pilot was able to land the plane safely at Logan International Airport, and the hijacker was arrested. On October 31, 1970, Divivo hanged himself while awaiting trial at Charles Street Jail.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

The Mystery Of Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: The Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 disappeared with all 107 passengers on this day in 1962. 

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 was a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner chartered by the United States military that disappeared on March 16, 1962, over the Western Pacific Ocean. The aircraft was transporting 93 U.S. soldiers and three South Vietnamese from Travis Air Force Base, California to Saigon, Vietnam. After refueling at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, the Super Constellation was en route to Clark Air Base in the Philippines when it disappeared. All 107 aboard were declared missing and presumed dead.

The day prior "marked the first day of the Vietnam War Campaign, according to U.S. Army historians. It was a time when the U.S. was quietly increasing its presence in Vietnam, sending advisers and equipment, such as those on Flight 739, to bolster the government of the Republic of Vietnam against the VietCong insurgency.

'There’s nothing, no trace of anything,' said Jennifer Kirk, niece of an Army Ranger who was on board Flight 739. 

Sixty years later, there’s still little trace that the lives of the service-members were even lost to the Vietnam War. Their names have been excluded from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., a wrong their families are trying to right.

'They’re being pushed aside to be forgotten,' Kirk said. 'That’s incomprehensible. They can’t be forgotten.'" Source

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

The Godfather Movie on This Day in History

 

The Godfather movie debuted on this in 1972. The Godfather is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, as well as a landmark of the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and is ranked the second-greatest film in American cinema (behind Citizen Kane) by the American Film Institute. 

The Godfather of Libertarianism Murray N. Rothbard weighed in on The Godfather movie: 

"It is interesting to observe the contrasting attitudes of our left-liberal culture to the two kinds of crime, organized versus unorganized. Organized crime is essentially anarcho-capitalist, a productive industry struggling to govern itself; apart from attempts to monopolize and injure competitors, it is productive and non-aggressive. Unorganized, or street, crime, in contrast, is random, punkish, viciously aggressive against the innocent, and has no redeeming social feature. Wouldn’t you know, then, that our leftist culture hates and reviles the Mafia and organized crime, while it lovingly excuses, and apologizes for, chaotic and random street punks violence which amounts to “anarchy” in the bad, or common meaning. In a sense, street violence embodies the ideal of left-anarchism: since it constitutes an assault on the rights of person and property, and on the rule of law that codifies such rights.

One great scene in The Godfather embodies the difference between right and left anarchism. One errant, former member of the Corleone famiglia abases himself before The Godfather (Marlon Brando). A certain punk had raped and brutalized his daughter. He went to the police and the courts, and the punk was, at last, let go (presumably by crafty ACLU-type lawyers and a soft judicial system). This distraught father now comes to Don Corleone for justice.

Brando gently upbraids the father: 'Why didn’t you come to me? Why did you go to The State?' The inference is clear: the State isn’t engaged in equity and justice; to obtain justice, you must come to the famiglia. Finally, Brando relents: 'What would you have me do?' The father whispers in the Godfather’s ear. 'No, no, that is too much. We will take care of him properly.' So not only do we see anarcho-capitalist justice carried out, but it is clear that the Mafia code has a nicely fashioned theory of proportionate justice. In a world where the idea that the punishment should fit the crime has been abandoned and still struggled over by libertarian theorists it is heart-warming to see that the Mafia has worked it out in practice."

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Chick-fil-A Founder S. Truett Cathy on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: S. Truett Cathy was born on this day in 1921. Samuel Truett Cathy was an American businessman, investor, author, and philanthropist. He founded the fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A in 1946.

Chick-fil-A is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest specializing in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in College Park, Georgia, Chick-fil-A operates 2,898 restaurants across 48 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Cathy was a member of the Second Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Georgia, and taught Sunday School there for more than 50 years. He said that the Bible is his guidebook for life. Due to his strong religious beliefs, all of the company's locations, whether company-owned or franchised, are closed on Sundays to allow its employees to attend church and spend time with their families. This policy began when Cathy was working six days a week, multiple shifts. He decided to close on Sundays.

His vision for the company worked.

"The American Customer Satisfaction Index released its list of best fast-food restaurants, and Chick-fil-A took the top title for the seventh straight year. Of the fast-food places, also known as limited-service restaurants, Chick-fil-A came in first place with a score of 83 out of 100. The chain beat out all full-service restaurants included in the survey, including LongHorn Steakhouse, which topped that category with a score of 80."~Source

McDonald's made the bottom of the list.

This book, "The Impersonality of the Holy Spirit by John Marsom" is available on Amazon for only 99 cents. See a local listing for it here; Buy The Absurdity of the Trinity on Amazon for only 99 cents by clicking here - see a local listing for this here

Monday, March 13, 2023

Ian Fleming and JFK on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: James Bond author Ian Fleming shared a memorable dinner with JFK on this day in 1960. Fleming was a dinner guest at the home of future American President John F. Kennedy, and described to those assembled there some humorous suggestions for how James Bond would get rid of Fidel Castro.

"As one scare tactic, he proposed the CIA fly a huge cross across the Cuban night sky as sort of a Second Coming, a fake divine warning to Catholics about their atheist leader. Fleming also suggested showering Havana with pamphlets claiming that nuclear testing by Fidel's pals in the Soviet Union would bring about radiation poisoning, enough to cause impotence and for bearded men to have their hair fall out." Source

CIA official John Bross, another dinner guest, called agency director Allen Dulles afterward and reported Fleming's "ideas", some of which were tried later.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

The McKinney Quadruple Murder on This Day in History

This Day in History: The McKinney quadruple murder happened on this day in.

The McKinney quadruple murder, also called the Truett Street massacre, was when four people were gunned down in a house in McKinney, Texas on March 12, 2004. The incident received notable national coverage on the July 22, 2006, episode of America's Most Wanted, leading to the capture of a suspect. 

On March 12, 2004, Eddie Williams, Javier Cortez, and Raul Cortez entered the home of Rosa Barbosa (46), a clerk at a local McKinney check-cashing business. Javier Cortez allegedly had been watching Barbosa and believed she took cash home from the business daily. When the men couldn't find any money in the home, they forced Barbosa to give them the key and alarm code to the check cashing business. One of the men then shot and killed Barbosa.

Before the shooters had left, Barbosa's nephew Mark Barbosa (25) entered the home with friends Matt Self (17) and Austin York (18). The three burglars forced Mark Barbosa, Self, and York into a bedroom and shot them before fleeing the scene. Shortly following the botched robbery, Robert Barbosa - Mark Barbosa's brother and a resident in the house - entered the residence to find the four victims. Self was still alive and was rushed to the hospital. He died the following day.

The killings were also the subject of an episode of the Investigation Discovery channel documentary Nightmare Next Door.  The episode first aired in January 2011.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

The Lululemon Murder on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: On this day in 2011, Brittany Norwood crushed her co-worker Jayna Murray's skull and severed her spinal cord in a brutal 2011 attack now known as the "Lululemon murder."

Statements by police officials and testimony during the trial indicated that on the evening of the murder, Murray and Norwood checked each others' bags for unpaid merchandise, a routine security procedure at Lululemon and other retail stores. Murray found a pair of pants in Norwood's bag, and called their manager after she left the store. The manager said she would deal with it in the morning. A few minutes later, Norwood called Murray to say she'd forgotten something, and asked Murray to return to the store and let her in. When Murray arrived, Norwood attacked her, moved her car, then staged the scene to look like a robbery, putting on a pair of men's shoes to track blood across the floor; tossing mops, broom, and chairs around the store; and finally cutting herself and binding her own wrists and ankles with zipties.

This crime was so savage that Jayna Murray had no fewer than 331 injuries on her body that came from at least five different weapons.

In January of 2012, Brittany Norwood was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder.