Battle of Gettysburg, 162 years ago July 2, 1863

 The Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg - Gettysburg National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Happening this day at Gettysburg   "These special 2- to 3-hour programs explore key episodes and phases of the battle and involve significant hiking and walking, occasionally over rough terrain. Water, headgear, sun protection, insect repellent and comfortable, sturdy walking shoes are highly recommended.

10:00 AM The Redemption of the Harper's Ferry Cowards
Forced to surrender at Harper’s Ferry months earlier, these four New York regiments had much to fight for. Hereafter branded as "the Harper's Ferry Cowards," they were pulled from their post parole duty in the Washington Defenses and added to the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg campaign. One Union officer wrote that when the brigade finally saw battle, to look out for blood. Now, on July 2, the brigade will have a chance to prove their bravery and fighting ability.
Meet at Brian Farm. Park along Hancock Avenue.

2:00 PM Hiram Berdan and the 2nd US Sharpshooters
Recruited by Hiram Berdan under the auspices of the War Department, the eights companies of the 2nd US Sharpshooters Regiment contained some of the top marksmen from six different Union states. On July 2, 1863, these hand-picked men played a pivotal role in stretching the Confederate line to the breaking point. Join a Park Ranger for a program focusing on this elite Union Army sharpshooter unit, their progenitor, Berdan, and their stand against Longstreet’s July 2 assault.
Meet at the Bushman Farm. Park along South Confederate Avenue.

6:00 PM “Is that not a magnificent sight?”-The 69th New York Storms the Wheatfield
So remarked a Confederate officer of the appearance of the famed Irish Brigade and 69th New York Infantry opposite his position that July afternoon. Learn about the men who filled this decimated regiment’s ranks, relive their dramatic battlefield Absolution, and follow in their footsteps into the bloody Wheatfield during this experiential program. Join a Park Ranger and The Liberty Rifles living history organization as they recreate the sights and sounds of this famous unit and their actions on July 2, 1863." . . .

July 2, 1863:July 2, 1863 | American Battlefield Trust:      "On July 2, 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee advanced five of his infantry divisions against the Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, who had arranged his force in the shape of a fishhook. Southerners captured Devil’s Den, the Peach Orchard and portions of Culp’s Hill and, for a time, held on to Big Round Top, the Wheatfield, and East Cemetery Hill.  But the Union line held firm, and Lee was unable to capitalize on his gains the next day.

"The blood-stained second day’s battle sites were particularly atrocious in the wake of the battle — to the soldiers, local citizens and visitors who toured the field and contemplated the impossible scenes firsthand. Reporters sent graphic accounts of the indescribable sites and scents to newspapers across the country. Photographer Alexander Gardner reached the field before all the dead had been buried and captured more images of the war’s human toll than on any other battlefield. In fact, more than 25 percent of all known photos showing Civil War dead on the field were recorded at just two second day places — Devil’s Den and the Rose Farm. Many of the areas where the armies struggled on July 2 were particularly rocky, which made digging graves a difficult chore." . . .

Preservation of the Second Day's Battlefield | American Battlefield Trust

The decision of Assistant Secretary of War Breckinridge to issue no licenses to fakers, relic dealers, refreshment booths, and campers preserved the park and historic locations from unseemly desecration and received the approval of all the soldiers who were interested in the preservation of the battlefield.

 Gettysburg Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust  . . . "Hooker also heads north, but he is reluctant to engage with Lee directly after the Union’s humiliating defeat at Chancellorsville. This evasiveness is of increasing concern to President Abraham Lincoln. Hooker is ultimately relieved of command in late June. His successor, Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, continues to move the 90,000-man Army of the Potomac northward, following orders to keep his army between Lee and Washington, D.C. Meade prepares to defend the routes to the nation’s capital, if necessary, but he also pursues Lee.

"On June 15, three corps of Lee’s army cross the Potomac, and by June 28 they reach the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. While Lee loses precious time awaiting intelligence on Union troop positions from his errant cavalry commander, Gen. Jeb Stuart, a spy informs him that Meade is actually very close. Taking advantage of major local roads, which conveniently converge at the county seat, Lee orders his army to Gettysburg."

Van Jones officially throws in the towel: ‘Trump is NOT an idiot. This dude is phenomenal’…

 Revolver  

"For almost a decade now, the Left’s favorite insult has been to call Donald Trump an idiot. They toss it around like it’s some kind of magic word that automatically disqualifies him from being taken seriously. Not only is it juvenile, it’s also lazy, smug, and totally out of touch. 

"This is what happens when people are so blinded by hate that they can’t even see what’s right in front of them. It’s easier for them to dismiss Trump as “dumb” than to admit they underestimated a guy who just keeps winning in court, in the polls, and in the public eye.

"In fact, right now, President Trump is the most popular Republican president in history.

"Watch:

 Van Jones DROPS A TRUTH BOMB: “Guys, can we cut it out? Donald Trump is not an idiot… Donald Trump is smarter than me, you, and all the critics… this dude is a phenomenal—he is the most powerful human on earth.”  pic.twitter.com/dUAKvYUMGm

— TRUMP ARMY (@TRUMP_ARMY_) May 18, 2025

CNN Reports Viewership ‘Largely Intact’ (Babylon Bee parody)

 

CNN Reports Viewership ‘Largely Intact’   "ATLANTA, GA — CNN is reporting that in spite of several ruthless attacks by the Trump administration, its audience is still largely intact.

"The news outlet is dismissing claims of "total victory against the fake news CNN" as premature and based on faulty intelligence.

" 'Trump may be claiming to have dropped a so-called 'bunker-buster' on our credibility and ratings, but all early intelligence reports indicate that our audience is still mostly intact," said CNN CEO Mark Thompson. "Yep, totally still there. We definitely have tons of viewers all over the world. Nothing wrong with our audience or ratings whatsoever. Any suggestion to the contrary is misinformation."

"322 officials from the intelligence community anonymously corroborated the report, anonymously claiming that CNN's ratings are "totally not in the toilet."

" 'If you question this report from our highly reliable anonymous sources that we totally talked to, you're a conspiracy theorist," added Thompson.

"At publishing time, CNN's ratings had dropped another 32%."

The Democrats’ Phony Freakout About Mamdani

Issues & Insights  

"Defunding the police was a mainstream Democratic position in the wake of the George Floyd riots – which Democrats also supported. Party officials reluctantly stepped away from this only after crime rates skyrocketed in “defund” cities."

"It has been amusing to watch Democrats struggle to cope with the success of 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani’s decisive win in the New York mayoral primaries. Why all the handwringing? Mamdani is now the mainstream of the once great Democratic Party.

"The only difference is that Mamdani isn’t afraid to say what other Democratic politicians try to hide.

"Think about what Mamdani has proposed or supported:A yearlong freeze on rent

A $30 minimum wage

Free bus service

City-owned grocery stores

Defunding the police

Calling Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide.

“Mainstream Democrats” support every one of these positions in one way or another.

"Consider, first, the label “socialist.” While Democratic politicians try to pretend that they aren’t that, 57% of self-identified Democrats have a positive view of socialism, according to a 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center. Just 46% had a positive view of capitalism.

"A 2021 Fox News poll found that 59% of registered Democrats had a positive view of socialism, compared to just 49% who felt that way about capitalism.

Democrats voted for a Castro-loving leftist, Karen Bass, to run the nation’s second-largest city, Illinois Democrats elected far-left leftist Brandon Johnson to run Chicago, and a “trust fund billionaire extremist” to run the state. Minnesota Democrats did the same when they tapped Tim Walz as governor.

"In other words, socialism is the beating heart of today’s Democratic Party.

"Mamdani’s proposal of a rent freeze is also right in line with the Democratic Party’s endless push for rent control.  It was Biden, after all, who ran for reelection promising to impose a nationwide 5% cap on rent increases for the next two years, an idea Kamala Harris later endorsed.

"On the minimum wage, Mamdani is in synch with many other Democrats. In Los Angeles, for example, Democrats approved a plan to raise the minimum wage for workers in hotels with more than 60 rooms to $30 by 2028. California already has a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee has proposed a $50 minimum wage." . . .

"Fellow socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, now considered a legitimate presidential candidate, called Israel’s war against Hamas “genocide,” a view that the last Democratic presidential candidate, Harris, essentially endorsed when she responded to a heckler screaming “genocide” by saying “Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real. It’s real.' ”

So many leftist failures, I can hardly keep track

 Ted Tsaltas 

 . . ."Peaceful protests involve chanting, signs, marches, and in these latter days, permits. Riots involve burning buildings and cars, looting, fights, police, and tear gas. You go take a look, then tell me which one it is."

. . ."A few things stand out from the view of a month, and these thoughts coalesce around a leftist protest against the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

"What are these people protesting, a peace treaty? A safe and successful deployment of force that only America has? A willingness to do more than nothing? It seems, for this crowd, as well as much of the UN and the EU, that doing anything more than nothing is to negatively disturb a delicate balance. The possibility of something bad completely drowns the effort to do anything good, the story of the impotent West for decades now. What kind of balance are you defending here, the right of Hamas or Hezbollah to periodically lob rockets at Israeli civilians? Is it your willingness to watch Iran enrich enough uranium to make an atomic weapon?

"3– 5% U235 is needed to make a reactor, and 20% to make a research reactor, where a faster production of electrons makes experiments run faster. Anything beyond that is for a weapon. There is no other purpose. 90–95% is needed for “weapons grade uranium”. Iran was at 83% enrichment when we attacked. Were you waiting for Iran to explode a bomb over Tel Aviv?

"What is something bad that has come from the 12-day war? Hamas and Hezbollah are effectively neutralized, the EU, Gulf nations, even the American press, have all thanked and/or congratulated Donald Trump. We have renewed world standing. It’s fantastic, the best day in the Middle East in decades.

"Even as the U.S. was acting overseas, the Supreme Court was acting nationally, and like the 12-day war, liberals were on the losing end of every case. Parents can pull their children from reading books with explicit discussion of homosexual bedroom behavior. Church-run charities really are tax-exempt, unlike what Wisconsin tried to claim. Nationwide injunctions can no longer be made from local or district federal courts. Tennessee’s ban on “gender-affirming care” for minors is legal. Anti-white discrimination is a real thing." . . .

Dr. Theodore Tsaltas is an obstetrician-gynecologist practicing in Chattanooga, TN. Dr. Tsaltas specializes in women's health, particularly the female reproductive system, pregnancy and childbirth. As an obstetrician-gynecologist, or OB-GYN, Dr. Tsaltas can treat a number of health issues related to the vagina, uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes and breasts. Dr Tsaltas can also treat women during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and the postpartum period. 

The Crimson Mask: Harvard’s Institutional Antisemitism Finally Laid Bare

Charlton Allen  

"One senior administration official put it starkly: Harvard has earned “the regrettable distinction of being among the most prominent and visible breeding grounds for race discrimination” in American higher education. The warning was clear: comply—or lose access to billions in federal funding."

"Harvard’s reputation rests on prestige, but its foundation has long harbored—and indeed, has long embraced—exclusion. For generations, Americans may have accepted that Harvard was elite, even aloof, but assumed its exclusivity was academic in nature.

"No more. The truth is far more insidious. Exclusion isn’t incidental at Harvard—it’s institutional. It is woven into the DNA of the Crimson, the natural consequence of deliberate choices made by the Harvard Corporation, the oldest continuous corporate body in the Western Hemisphere, and university administrators.

"From race-based admissions policies to the uncritical embrace of DEI orthodoxy, recent years have peeled away the façade. What’s been revealed is not merely a campus of cloistered minds but a closed caste system—insular, intolerant, and impervious to dissent.

"And standing at the center of this revelation is Harvard itself: not a victim of cultural decay, but an architect of it.

"Nowhere is that decay more malignant than in the elite-sanctioned discrimination directed at Jewish students, scholars, and voices. At Harvard, antisemitism has long been more than tolerated—it’s been rationalized, embedded, and enforced by the very structures that claim to champion equity and inclusion." . . .

. . ."The findings are blunt. According to the report, Harvard didn’t merely overlook antisemitism—it allowed it to fester." (Emphasis mine, TD) 

Charlton Allen is an attorney and former chief executive officer and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He is founder of the Madison Center for Law & Liberty, Inc., editor of The American Salient, and host of the Modern Federalist podcast. His commentary has been featured in American Thinker and linked across multiple RealClear platforms, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearWorld, RealClearDefense, RealClearHistory, and RealClearPolicy.

What Happened In 2013-2014 That Caused Democrat Pride In America To Fall Off A Cliff?

 Legal Insurrection

  "It’s pretty easy to see the inflection point in Democrat (lack of) pride occuring in 2013-2014, and never recovering. Independents also showed a decline but not as steep or severe:"

"The Black Lives Matter hashtag and slogan was developed in 2013 in reaction to the (lawful self-defense) shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. The following year, 2014, the organization was formalized by self-avowed “trained Marxists” after the (lawful) police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

"Those two shootings falsely were portrayed as racially motivated, while the facts (which we covered in exhaustive detail at the time) proved otherwise. Nonetheless the narrative was set and hating America and being American was necessary to be accepted into Democrat spaces. Even Bernie was not spared the wrath of BLM activists.

"The formation of Black Lives Matter as an organized movement led to over a decade of non-stop virtue-signaling activism deriding the U.S. as systemically racist and worthy of deconstruction. It all culminated in the post-George Floyd riots and “anti-racism” activism whose bubble finally appears to have burst.

"But not before severe damage was done to the nation, particularly Democrat pride in being American.

"In fact, 2013-2014 is when Democrats’ pride in being American fell off a cliff and never recovered, as a just-released Gallup survey shows:

A record-low 58% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” (41%) or “very” (17%) proud to be an American, down nine percentage points from last year and five points below the prior low from 2020. The 41% who are “extremely proud” is not statistically different from prior lows of 38% in 2022 and 39% in 2023, indicating most of the change this year is attributable to a decline in the percentage who are “very proud.” … 

 The land of loathing: When privilege breeds contempt  . . . "So many ordinary Americans, teachers, cops, mechanics, and moms are growing weary of these lectures.  They know struggle.  They know service.  And they’re tired of being told they’re part of the problem by people who couldn’t change a tire if their Tesla had a flat.

"This isn’t a partisan issue.  It’s a moral one.  You don’t need to love every war, law, or leader.  But you should love the nation that gave you the freedom to protest in the first place."   

Musk must end his jackassery in the foothills

 Noel S. Williams

  . . ."Here’s a brief video of donkeys (AKA jackasses) trying to escape their confines in the foothills.  The first two fail, but the third one has a neat trick to get them out.  He’s the smart one, but still a jackass in the foothills."

MSNBC, CNN, and The View harridans love it!

"I appreciate even more now what Trump meant when he said that Elon is wearing thin.  After a brief truce, the pluto-crat who wants to go to Mars is at it again.  He is threatening to primary members of Congress who vote for the BBB.

"He’s also teasing a new America Party as an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty.  Some may consider that a good idea — in theory.  In practice, under the influence of mercurial Musk, it could create more problems than it solves, for, while Trump is a stable genius, Musk is an unstable one.

"Unlike the forgiving, magnanimous, and sagacious Trump (who’ll meet with just about anybody), Musk comes across as cross, petty, and petulant.  No wonder so much of his best talent is abandoning him; for example, Tesla executives are jumping ship in droves.

"Musk did great at DOGE, no one can take that away from him, but the core team is also very talented.  It remains intact and continues its noble work.  Indeed, it is even poised to run the rule over Musk’s companies.  Now that’ll be some comeuppance for the South African plutocrat who threatens the Trump agenda.

"It appears that what’s really eating Musk are provisions in the BBB to accelerate removal of E.V. tax credits, which may dampen Tesla sales if they can’t compete in the vibrant marketplace.  He’s used to ruling his companies with an iron fist, and getting what he wants while trampling over others.  Still, he has possibly received more subsidies than anyone ever has; without which, Trump says, he’d have to “…close up shop and head back home to South Africa.” No worries, there are plenty of native Americans who can run the companies — without scaring away the talent." . . .

BREAKING: Mass ASSASSINATIONS Of IRGC Leaders In Tehran

Tousi TV

From the comments to this video: " I hope and pray this ends with a better government and freedom for the Iranian people."

In the End, Everyone Hated the Iranian Theocracy   "It is hard even to digest the incredible train of events of the last few days in the Middle East.

"Iran had been reduced to an anemic, performance-art missile attack on our base in Qatar—the last Parthian shot from a terrified regime, desperate for an out—and a ceasefire.

"Iran would have been better off not launching such a ceremonial but ultimately humiliating proof of impotence.

"Even worse for the theocracy, Iran’s temporary reprieve came from the now magnanimous but still hated U.S. President Donald Trump.

"So ends the creepy mystique of the supposedly indomitable terror state of Iran, the bane of the last seven American presidents over half a century.For Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, it was hard to swallow that U.S. bombers got their permission to fly into Iranian airspace from the Israeli air force." . . .

The anti-Trump Democrats and loony left? Their talk of impeaching Trump for the supposedly “illegal” 35-minute, one-off strike will fade.

Victor Davis Hanson 

George Soros control: The collaboration between State Department and Soros NGOs

The Herland Report  

"It is our pleasure at The Herland Report to present interviews with leading American officials, senators, politicians, CIA and NSA directors, Judicial Watch directors and senior officials, whistleblowers, Black Lives Matter leader and many more." 

 

. . ."George Soros Inc. control: TV Interview with William Marshall: “George Soros is operating in several dozen countries and literally hundreds of these little non-profits if you will that are focused in the new media, a space primarily with what they like to advocate very liberal leftist policies.”

“They tend to be very anti-American in nature, they are pro-socialists, they advocate for the breakdown of traditional institutions, they push abortion, the legalization of abortion, the legalization of drug laws or decriminalization of drug laws of marijuana, for example. They like to stir up young people and have them engage in violent protests.” . . .

Hanne Nabintu Herland is a Scandinavian historian of comparative religions, bestselling author, commentator and TV producer, known from the media for sharp analysis and fearless speech. She was born and raised in Africa, has lived in Europe, South America, in the Middle East, and travelled extensively in Asia.

Chairman highlights the scale of damage to Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility

Sky News Australia  "Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine presents a graphic that analyses the scale of Operation Midnight Hammer, while detailing the impact of MOP weaponry on the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant."

Did US destroy Fordow? (Animated)  "The GBU-57 can very likely penetrate deeper than 60m because the US usually understates these types of weapon parameters. For example, officially the B-2 has a payload capacity of 40,000lbs yet on this mission each B-2 carried two GBU-57s, which together weigh 60,000lbs. Furthermore, even if one GBU-57 could only penetrate 60m, follow-on GBU-57s dropped down the same hole in succession would penetrate deeper. In addition, after penetration each GBU-57 explodes 5,300lbs of the most powerful conventional explosive known to man, which send intense shockwaves further downward."

Oregonians Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #49: Judge’s Gender Identity More Important Than Knowledge & Experience

 AFNN 

 "What happened to “they?” During a recent interview Brown referred to herself as a “she?” So, six years after she was “training” other attorneys in a new language, “she” has apparently reverted back to real English."

"Ted left the “legal” seminar in Oregon City, Oregon almost in shock. In order to keep his law license, he had been forced to listen to three individuals, attorneys all, explain how and why, if one did not want to be labeled “transphobic,” a term Democrats made up two minutes after Obama created this new category of victims, one must refer to a transgender man and a transgender woman as “they” and “them” instead of he, she, him, her. “They” did not bother to explain what one does if one cannot discern that the stranger across the room is transgender. Indeed, don’t most transgendered people want to be viewed as the opposite gender? The audience asked not one question.

"The next day, when Ted ran into his neighbor, also an attorney,^ as she was walking her dogs, he struggled to explain what he had learned from the three speakers. He stuttered as he tried, unsuccessfully, to explain the reasoning behind the bastardization of the English language by this nasty, violent Leftist lobby who claims to be representing a tiny, tiny, tiny minority: transgendered Americans. Ted described how the 20 or so attorneys attending this seminar sat through it, blank-faced, fearing to ask a single question. Likely, each audience member had many questions but were afraid to ask. Ted did not ask any questions. They worried about being labeled transphobic by the Oregon State Bar who holds his/her license to practice law.

IN 2025 OREGON, MERIT DOESN’T COUNT WHEN APPOINTING JUDGES

"One of the speakers at the “Trans 101” seminar on April 25, 2019 was Cierra D. Brown. The powers that be were fast-tracking her up, up, up, to become the first trans judge in Oregon. Bypassing 14 other applicants, most more qualified than her, Governor Tina Kotek, the second Lesbian Marxist in a row (Kate Brown left office in January 2023) in the Oregon governor’s mansion, appointed Brown to an open judgeship in Clackamas County, where this writer lived and practiced law for over 30 years." . . .