As published in the Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789

Mike Franc, at Human Events in 2005, identified the real reason for celebration at the first Thanksgiving.

Writing in his diary of the dire economic straits and self-destructive behavior that consumed his fellow Puritans shortly after their arrival, Governor William Bradford painted a picture of destitute settlers selling their clothes and bed coverings for food while others “became servants to the Indians,” cutting wood and fetching water in exchange for “a capful of corn.” The most desperate among them starved, with Bradford recounting how one settler, in gathering shellfish along the shore, “was so weak– he stuck fast in the mud and was found dead in the place.”

The colony’s leaders identified the source of their problem as a particularly vile form of what Bradford called “communism.’ Property in Plymouth Colony, he observed, was communally owned and cultivated. This system (“taking away of property and bringing [it] into a commonwealth’) bred “confusion and discontent” and “retarded much employment that would have been to [the settlers’] benefit and comfort.”

Just how did the Pilgrims solve the problem of famine? In addition to receiving help from the local Indians in farming, they decided allow the private ownership of individual plots of land.

On the brink of extermination, the Colony’s leaders changed course and allotted a parcel of land to each settler, hoping the private ownership of farmland would encourage self-sufficiency and lead to the cultivation of more corn and other foodstuffs.

As Adam Smith would have predicted, this new system worked famously. “This had very good success,” Bradford reported, ‘for it made all hands very industrious.” In fact, “much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been” and productivity increased. “Women,” for example, “went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn.”

The famine that nearly wiped out the Pilgrims in 1623 gave way to a period of agricultural abundance that enabled the Massachusetts settlers to set down permanent roots in the New World, prosper, and play an indispensable role in the ultimate success of the American experiment.

A profoundly religious man, Bradford saw the hand of God in the Pilgrims’ economic recovery. Their success, he observed, “may well evince the vanity of that conceit–that the taking away of property– would make [men] happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God.’ Bradford surmised, ‘God in his wisdom saw another course fitter for them.”

The real story of Thanksgiving is the triumph of capitalism and individualism over collectivism and socialism, which is the summation of the story of America.

Babylon Bee:

KENOSHA, WI—In a stunning reversal, Kyle Rittenhouse awoke this morning to discover that he had been found guilty after all.

Prosecutors explained that during the night, they had found dozens of mail-in jury votes declaring the defendant guilty on all counts. Apparently, boxes of these mail-in votes arrived in a truck at the courthouse around 3:00 am.

Attorneys for Mr. Rittenhouse were dumbfounded as to how such a thing could have happened, raising questions as to the validity of mail-in jury voting. They stated: “We’ve never heard of this. This isn’t part of the legal system. Where did these votes even come from?”

“How DARE you question the sanctity of our criminal justice system!” cried the prosecuting attorneys. “There is no justice until EVERY vote is counted!”

Prosecutors then explained that it was a new COVID measure they had just instituted. “But given how well it’s worked out,” they said, “we’re planning on making it permanent.”

RTWT

He looks rather menacing.

Photo: Siobhan English.

Great picture of eight-year-old Stephen Murphy enjoying his first ever day’s hunting today, clearing a double bank!, and wearing the Wexford colors, with the Ballinagore Harriers near Enniscorthy.

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Here’s a 2016 video of the same hunt.

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Babylon Bee: Prosecutor Proves How Deadly AR-15 Is By Accidentally Shooting 7 Jurors.

Reuters has a poignant shooting story from Switzerland.

Surrounded by other sharpshooters, scraggly-beareded Toni Hacki lifted his long rifle and took aim across the Ruetli meadow where Switzerland was founded in 1291, just as he had done for the past 51 years.

But this time, his performance didn’t live up to his standards, and he decided it would be his last.

“Today went badly. My vision failed me,” grumbled Hacki, who blamed the sun getting in his eyes as he aimed.

More than 1,000 sharpshooters gathered on the shores of Lake Lucerne last week for the annual Ruetli Shooting, an event that has been held since the 19th century, which pays homage to the country’s foundation as a medieval confederation of cantons.

Many of the shooters competed using military-style black rifles, wearing contemporary sports gear. Hacki wore a thick button-up leather jacket. The barrel of his gun was wooden (sic)*.

Two decades ago, Hacki was the champion. Next year, he will return as a spectator, he said.

“I will come back but I won’t shoot. That’s over now.”

* He means the stock is wood.

RTWT

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There’s a famous story the Swiss like to tell:

“In 1912, the German Kaiser visited Switzerland and asked a Swiss minister what the quarter of a million strong Swiss army would do if Germany invaded with 500,000 troops. The minister replied: “Shoot twice and go home.”