The Weekly Sam: How to Dumb Down a Nation By Samuel L. Blumenfeld
It’s easy. Destroy its literacy, and you’ve dumbed it down. And once dumbed down, it
becomes the potential victim of any power that wants to dominate it.
If you look at the most illiterate nations on the planet, you find that they are ruled by
despots, their people live in abject poverty and have no hope for a better future. That
doesn’t mean that literate nations, like Germany, can’t produce monsters. But when they
do, we know that satanic influences are behind it.
America, from its beginning, was the most literate nation on earth, and the result was
positive in every respect. Why was it so literate? Because the people and their leaders
were governed by the precepts of the Bible, and biblical literacy was paramount in the
education of the country’s children.
But once we got a government schooling system, which was taken over by atheist
progressive educators, the God of the Bible was removed from the schools. It then
became possible to introduce a new socialist curriculum with teaching methods
calculated to reduce American literacy. The Bible was now relegated to an hour of study
in church on Sundays. And because it was no longer part of the curriculum, children no
longer considered it important to life.
A blatant, anti-biblical morality was introduced in the schools through such programs as
values clarification, sensitivity training, transcendental meditation, sex education, death
education, drug education, multiculturalism, psychotherapy, evolution, secular
humanism, and other such programs. Moral degeneration has been the inevitable result.
The result is that America has been greatly dumbed-down.
(Sam’s solution was for parents to remove their children from the government schools and either homeschool or send them to private Christian schools.)
The Blumenfeld Archives http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm
Join the Sam Blumenfeld Archive today. It is a free resource.
Public School Whistle Blower Ramona Bessinger Speaking at Camp Constitution Ladies’ “Spring Fling Held Friday May 1 to Sunday May 3
We are pleased to announce that Ramona Bessinger will be attending and speaking at our Ladies “Spring Fling” which runs from Friday May 1 to Sunday May 3 at the Alton Bay Christian Conference center.
Ramona was a 22-year veteran public school teacher in Rhode Island. In 2021, she took a stance against the DEI curriculum that was promoting race hatred in the classroom. This stance led to threats and intimidation, but she didn’t relent. Her story went national. She now dedicates her time exposing government schools and offers resources for parents.
Here is a speech she recently gave at the Rhode Island First Rally:
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A link to her website: www.ramonabessinger.com/about-4
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Activities include arts and crafts, Bible studies, optional marksmanship training, and an evening campfire. Our guest speaker will be Michelle Gallagher, author of Monumental Prayers and Forefathers Monument Guidebook.
The cost for the weekend which includes two nights of lodging, five meals and materials will be $200. per person. Payments can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website’s homepage https://www.campconstitution.net or by check payable to Camp Constitution and mailed C/O Hal Shurtleff146 Powder Mill Rd. Alton, NH 03809. For an application or more information, please call or E-mail Hal Shurtleff 857-498-1309 campconstitution1@gmail.com
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Ivy League Credentials Used to Mean Something Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth bars military officers from Ivy League programs — here’s why he’s right.
by
On February 27, 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed an order barring U.S. military officers from attending professional education programs at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Princeton, and MIT, among others, beginning in the 2026–27 academic year. His reasoning was direct — these institutions have become hostile to the values, mission, and culture of the American military.
The reaction from the left was immediate. Racism. Transphobia. Culture war. Political theater. Retaliation. The usual playbook.
Before accepting that framing, it is worth looking at what these schools actually did.
Hegseth didn’t arrive at this conclusion from the outside looking in. He went to Princeton. He earned his graduate degree at Harvard. He sat in those classrooms, walked those campuses, and watched how that world thinks and operates. He knows what is taught, what is rewarded, and what is quietly punished inside those walls.
When he signed that order, he wasn’t taking a political shot. He was doing what the record demanded.
And the record backs him up completely.
School by School
Columbia
The federal government froze $400 million in funding after finding the university had systematically failed to protect Jewish students. Swastikas drawn in classrooms. Formal complaints left uninvestigated for nearly two years. Columbia eventually settled — $200 million, federal oversight of its Middle East studies department, and a full overhaul of student discipline. One of the wealthiest universities on earth couldn’t bring itself to protect its own students. That is not a policy failure. That is a character failure.
Harvard
More than $2.2 billion in federal research funding frozen. President Claudine Gay was asked directly by Congress whether calling for the genocide of Jewish people violated campus policy. She couldn’t answer. She resigned shortly after — the shortest presidency in Harvard’s 386-year history — and was later found to have plagiarized portions of her own dissertation. Harvard is now in federal court fighting the freeze. They would rather litigate than lead.
Penn
$175 million in funding suspended. President Liz Magill resigned the same week as Gay, following the same congressional hearing, for the same reason. Two Ivy League presidents. One straightforward moral question. Neither could answer it.
Brown
A $510 million freeze threatened. Settled for $50 million. Brown’s administration had previously negotiated with protest encampments, promising a board vote on divesting from Israel. The board voted no. But the moment a university starts bargaining with the people shutting it down, it has already told you who is really in charge.
Yale
The ADL gave Yale a D on its 2025 Campus Antisemitism Report Card. The Department of Education opened two separate federal investigations for failing to protect Jewish students. Jewish students were physically blocked from entering campus events. Yale receives nearly $900 million annually in federal funding. All of it now sits under a cloud. They spent more energy watching what Harvard did than protecting their own students.
MIT
When the federal government offered universities a straightforward compact — merit-based admissions, free speech, no DEI — MIT’s president rejected it. MIT then sued the federal government to block funding cuts. When pressed on a DEI nonprofit under federal investigation, they cut ties only after being forced into the open. Brilliant institution. Wrong priorities. Every time.
The Diversity That Isn’t
These schools sell diversity as their highest virtue. It’s on every website, every banner, every commencement speech.
What they mean is representation of every identity — except the ones that built this country.
Their faculties vote for one party at rates above 95 percent. Not 51 percent. Not 60 percent. 95 percent. You won’t find conservative professors. You won’t find many Christians. Anyone who thinks differently learns quickly — keep your mouth shut or find somewhere else to work.
And Jewish students? They’re leaving. Between 2023 and 2025 Jewish enrollment dropped at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and Penn — nearly 100 fewer Jewish students per class. One in three Jewish students on these campuses now says they censor themselves out of fear. In 1967 Columbia’s student body was 40 percent Jewish. These schools didn’t just fail their Jewish students. They drove them out.
That is not diversity. That is a closed system that costs families anywhere from $83,000 to nearly $100,000 a year — and hands you a credential at the end.
And they don’t survive on tuition alone. These institutions collect billions in federal funding every year. Taxpayer money. Working-class money. From the very people they look down on.
And for decades, that credential has flowed directly into the officer corps of the United States military.
What the Military Needs
The American military is built on people the Ivy League has never fully understood.
Young men and women who enlisted at eighteen. Families who prayed for their safe return. Communities that buried their own and kept going.
The military promotes on merit because failure costs lives.
What it needs from leaders is moral clarity, decisiveness, and a belief in the country they defend. What it does not need is officers shaped by institutions that have spent years teaching that America itself is the problem.
Thirteen service members were killed in Kabul. The Afghan government collapsed in seventy-two hours. Billions in equipment handed to the Taliban on live television. The leadership class overseeing that outcome held the finest credentials in the world.
The diplomas didn’t help.
The Bottom Line
Trump and Hegseth are not anti-education. They are anti-failure.
Institutions that couldn’t protect Jewish students, couldn’t answer basic moral questions, and have spent decades producing leaders more comfortable with ideology than strategy are not worthy partners for the United States Armed Forces.
For years, the Ivy League told working-class America that their faith was a crutch, their patriotism was naive, and their values were relics of a less enlightened time.
They were wrong.
The people carrying this country — in uniform, in factories, on job sites, in towns far from any Ivy campus — knew it all along.
Here is something worth remembering. Harvard was founded in 1636 to train clergy. Yale was founded by ten pastors. Princeton’s original seal still reads “Under God’s Power, She Flourishes.” Columbia’s first president said the school’s purpose was to teach students “to know God in Jesus Christ.” Brown was founded by Baptist churches. These were not secular institutions that happened to tolerate faith. They were built on it.
Every one of them.
They abandoned that foundation a long time ago. What replaced it was on full display when two of their presidents couldn’t tell Congress that calling for genocide is wrong.
You either stand for something or you don’t. These schools do stand for something. Just not America. Not her military. Not the Judeo-Christian values that built this country — and built them.
The families who send their sons and daughters to fight for this country never forgot where this nation came from.
The Pentagon hasn’t either.
It’s about time.
The Weekly Sam: Gavin Newsom Can’t Read. Sam Blumenfeld’s “Alpha Phonics” Can Help
In this short video, Hal Shurtleff, host of the Camp Constitution Report, discusses Gavin Newsom’s admitted illiteracy, what Sam Blumenfeld had to say about dyslexia and Sam’ solution: The use of phonics. Hal pointed out that the dismal results that we see in our nation’s government schools are the desired results as Sam proved many years ago.
A link to the archive: http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/
The Weekly Sam: Politicization of Public Education by Sam Blumenfeld
Our late friend and mentor Sam Blumenfeld was ahead of his time. He made this presentation in 1988
A Republic Requires Courage John Adams, moral courage, and why renewal begins in our communities. by Alex Destino
Today is Presidents’ Day. One of Massachusetts’ own, Founding Father John Adams—the principal author of the Massachusetts Constitution and later our first Vice President and second President—warned in 1798:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
For decades, we’ve watched this country slowly lose its moral footing. This cultural and moral collapse didn’t happen overnight. It seeped into many of our institutions—our universities, public schools, city halls, libraries, corporate America, and even local chambers of commerce.
Sadly, in many cases it has also reached our churches. Some have drifted to become more like the world around them, losing focus on their mission to preach and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When that happens, they are no longer churches—only buildings.
Freedom only works when people can govern themselves. And self-government begins in the heart. That means faith. It means repentance. It means turning back to God.
This isn’t just a national issue. It plays out in every community. I see it here at home on Cape Ann, and many of you see it where you live.
When I was growing up, we had two strong Catholic schools in our community—St. Ann’s and St. Mel’s—both first through eighth grade, packed with students and families deeply connected to their faith. These schools were not just places of learning. They were pillars of our community. They strengthened the moral foundation of generations of children through faith, discipline, and religious education, while also supporting and sustaining the local Catholic Church and parish life.
Today, both are gone, and they are missed deeply. As those institutions disappeared, much of that shared foundation weakened. Many families were left with fewer choices, and increasing numbers of children were pushed into government-run education, which in many places has continued to decline in quality and performance.
St. Peter’s Catholic Church in East Gloucester closed more than 20 years ago and has since been converted into condos. When I was growing up, it was a vibrant, healthy parish filled with families and deeply connected to the life of the community.
These changes did not happen overnight. They unfolded over years. This cultural and spiritual drift is not new. It has been building quietly for decades.
These battles don’t start in Washington. They start locally—in our homes, our churches, and our schools. The alarm is sounding. More people are waking up. The question is simple: Can we recover?
Yes—but only if we turn back to God first.
“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven… and I will heal their land.”
— 2 Chronicles 7:14
For decades, people of faith were told it’s not polite to talk about faith or politics. You’ve heard that your whole life, haven’t you? That advice is certainly not biblical. It encouraged silence at a time when truth needed to be spoken.
But the culture kept moving. While many were trying to be polite, the foundations of our country were being reshaped.
We cannot afford that silence any longer.
Jesus spoke directly to this:
“Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before My Father in heaven.”
— Matthew 10:32–33
This is the calling of every believer—to go, to speak, and not to stay silent. It isn’t about being loud or political. It’s about being faithful.
We are called to go into the world and share the Gospel—to speak the truth with love and courage. Because to truly love someone is to be honest with them, not to mislead or stay silent when the truth matters most.
When even a few people are willing to stand, others find the strength to do the same. Courage spreads.
Renewal begins in our communities. It begins with each of us.
Godspeed.
Alexander J Destino, Jr
Gloucester native. Husband and father. Writing plainly about faith, family, America, and the cultural battles shaping our future. For my community and anyone who cares about the truth.
THE ORIGIN OF THE RESOLUTE DESK
THE ORIGIN OF THE
RESOLUTE DESK
In 1852, the HMS Resolute was one of
five ships belonging to the British Royal 
Navy sent to the Arctic Circle to search
for the missing Franklin Expedition, lost
while on a mission to search for a North
west Passage. The Resolute was equipped
with an ironclad bow to help make a path
through the ice. On arrival, four ships
sailed farther into the Circle while the
Northstar stayed back as a supply ship.
The attempt to locate the expedition was
unsuccessful. The Resolute became ice
bound. The Commander made the deci
sion to desert the ship. The men walked
miles back to the Northstar in the cold
and snow to reach the safety of the
Northstar. Upon arriving in England, the
Commander was court marshalled.
The Resolute broke loose and drifted
1000 miles before it was found by an
American whaling ship, the George Hen
ry, captained by James Buddington. Real
izing its’ value as salvage, the men righted
the ship and brought it back to New Lon
don, CT.
At the time, relations between Britain
and the U.S. were very tense. President
Pierce was ready to go to war for a third
time over fishing rights, a border dispute
between British Columbia and the Wash
ington Territory, and the British presence
in South America. Britain’s First Lord of
the Admiralty also felt war was a possibil
ity over these disputes.
In 1856, at the suggestion of philanthro
pist, Henry Grennell, Congress passed a
bill signed by President Pierce to buy the
ship for $40,000. It was restored, refitted,
HMS Resolute and HMS Trepid
Drawn by George F. Mc Dougall,
Sailing master of the Resolute
and returned to England as a good
will gift to calm the tensions between
the two countries.
It arrived in Portsmouth, England
on December 12, 1856. Queen Victo
ria and Prince Albert accepted the gift
presented by Captain Henry
Hartstene at Cowes Harbour, Isle of
Wight.
The Resolute served in the Royal
Navy for 23 years as a supply ship and
was decommissioned in 1879. Upon
the order of Queen Victoria the sal
vaged wood was used to make three
desks. Designs were submitted. A
partners desk was chosen to gift the
President of the United States. Two
smaller writing desks remained in
England to be used by the Queen.
The desk was presented to president
Hayes and was known as the Hayes
desk or the Resolute desk.
Copies of various qualities have
been made for display at presidential
libraries and museums.
Research, Wikipedia and Beatrix
Cochrane
The above article was in the Pierce Brigade February Newsletter
Saint Valentine’s Day Origins – American Minute with Bill Federer
Origin of Saint Valentine’s Day
The origin of Saint Valentine’s Day goes back to the early Christian history of Roman persecutions.
Today, at a time when many governments are increasing persecution of Christians, it is important to remember that the Church was born into a one-world anti-Christian government – the Roman Empire.
In the Book of Acts 1:8, Jesus told His disciples:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the word for “witness” in Greek is “martus,” which is the root word for “martyr.”
Eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred, with John boiled in a pot of oil but miraculously surviving and banished to the Island of Patmos.
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there were ten major persecutions, along with innumerable smaller ones.
Initially, Romans persecuted Jews and Christians together. Christians met in catacombs, which were caves carved underground, for their church meetings, and risked their lives every time they gathered together.
Government agents shut down churches, arrested pastors, sentenced believers to death, even throwing them to the lions in the Colosseum.
64-68 A.D.: Emperor Nero blamed fire in Rome on Christians and began first persecution; 69-79 A.D.:
Emperors Vespasian and Titus persecuted Christians, in addition to destroying the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem;
89-96 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Domitian included boiling the Apostle John in oil then banishing him to Patmos, in addition to hunting down and killing descendants of David;
108-117 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Trajan;
117-138 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Hadrian crushed the Jewish Bar Kokbah Revolt and renamed the Roman province of Judea to Syria Palaestina;
161-180 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Marcus Aurelius killed Polycarp, the disciple of John;
192-211 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus;
235-238 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Maximinus the Thracian;
249-251 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Decius;
253-260 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Valerian;
268-270 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus, during which Saint Valentine was reportedly martyred;
274-285 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Aurelian;
285-305 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Diocletian, considered the worst of them all, decimating the entire Roman Theban Legion, which had become Christian, in addition to imprisoning Saint Nicholas;
305-313 A.D.: Finally, the persecution under Emperor Galerius.
Roman soldiers raided meetings and arrested believers, dragging them before corrupt judges, and also confiscated and destroyed Christian writings, scriptures and church records.
As a result of this, records of the life of Saint Valentine are scant.
What little is known is from the works like Eusebius of Caesarea, and the Martyrologium Hieronymianum – Martyrology of Jerome, compiled around 460-544 A.D.
Passio Marii et Marthae, published in the 5th or 6th century includes a story of the martyrdom of Saint Valentine of Rome.
Saint Valentine is mentioned in Legenda Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine in 1260 and in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.
Though several individuals may have had that name, it appears Saint Valentine was either a priest in Rome or a bishop in Terni, central Italy.
In the third century after Christ, the Roman Empire was being invaded by Goths.
Claudius II defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus, 268-269 A.D., driving them across the Danube River, gaining him the additional name “Gothicus, meaning conqueror of the Goths.
At the same time, the Plague of Cyprian, c. 270 A.D., probably smallpox, broke out killing at its height 5,000 people a day.
So many died that the Roman army was depleted of soldiers.
Emperor Claudius II Gothicus needed more soldiers to fight the invading Goths.
He believed that men fought better if they were not married, so he banned traditional marriage in the military.
Valentine risked the Emperor’s wrath by standing up for traditional marriage, secretly marrying soldiers to their brides.
Rome was also being torn from internal rivalries which continued since the assassination of the previous Emperor Gallienus in 268 A.D.
Claudius quelled political tensions by requesting the Roman Senate deify Emperor Gallienus, so he would be worshiped along with the other Roman gods.
Government mandates were issued forcing citizens to worship them by placing a pinch of incense on a fire before their statues.
It was a simple act, and some Christians caved, but since it clearly “an act of worship,” others chose rather to die in the Colosseum before they would worship anything other than the one true God.
Those who refused worship of the Roman gods were considered “politically incorrect” or “unpatriotic” enemies of the state.
They were cancelled and killed. Emperor Deccan’s persecution, 250-251 A.D., intentionally targeted Christians by issuing government mandates and executive orders forcing them to deny their consciences or die.
An example of persecution was Roman Governor Pliny the Younger, who wrote to Emperor Trajan, 111 A.D.:
“I ask them if they are Christians. If they admit it, I repeat the question … threatening capital punishment; if they persist, I sentence them to death.”
Emperor Trajan replied, 112 A.D.:
“If anyone denies that he is a Christian and actually proves it by worshiping our gods, he shall be pardoned as a result of his recantation.”
A pietist movement began of withdrawal from the corrupt society, with some believers living in caves as hermits or joining monasteries.
When Claudius II Gothicus demanded that Christians worship pagan idols and statues of deified Emperors, Saint Valentine refused.
The name Valentine is derived from the word “valor,” which means, strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness and personal bravery.
Venerable Bede’s Martyrology, compiled in the 8th century, described St. Valentine being arrested and interrogated by Claudius II Gothicus.
Claudius was impressed with Valentine and tried to convert him to paganism to save his life.
Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead.
Because of this, Claudius was offended.
Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to die.
While awaiting execution, he preached to guards and other prisoners.
His jailer, Asterius, asked Saint Valentine to pray for his blind daughter.
When she miraculously regained her sight, the jailer converted and was baptized, along with his entire family.
Right before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, encouraging her in the faith, signing it, “from your Valentine.”
Saint Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones, and when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on FEBRUARY 14, 269 A.D.
I Timothy 4:8: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
I John 4:18 “Perfect love casteth out fear.”
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius is credited with designating FEBRUARY 14th as “Saint Valentine’s Day.”
The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14.
How did St. Valentine’s Day get associated with love?
In the High Middle Ages, circa 1393, Geoffrey Chaucer, called the father of English literature, wrote a poem called Parliament of Foules – Assembly of Fowls, or Birds. “Fowl” is an old word for “bird.”
It it he described how many bird species birds, chose their mates in mid-February:
“For this was Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate.”
Chaucer made another mention in the final chapter of The Cantebury Tales:
“The book of the Duchesse; the book of Seint Valentynes day of the Parlement of Briddes – Birds.”
The association of birds with fidelity in marital love came about because the majority of bird species are believed to be monogamous.
Many bird species are considered to mate for life, such as varieties of:
Swans, Geese, Ravens, Cranes, Blue Jays, Owls, Hawks, Woodpeckers, Ospreys, Raptors, Puffins, Pigeons, Dove, Penquins, and Bald Eagles.
After elaborate courtships, depending on the species, these birds remain together until one partner dies.
Birds that mate for life often take turns sitting on the eggs, females at night and males during the day.
They have offspring that require more extensive care and instruction from parents.
These species mate earlier in the season which allows their young more time to develop before the fall and winter seasons of long migrations or harsh winter weather.
After Chaucer’s poems, more references appeared in literature associating Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly love.
William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1600, Act IV, Scene I:
“Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past.
Begin these woodbirds but to couple now?”
John Donne wrote in Marriage Song, 1613:
“HAIL Bishop Valentine, whose day this is;
All the air is thy diocese,
And all the chirping choristers
And other birds are thy parishioners
Thou marriest every year
The lyric lark, and the grave whispering dove,
The sparrow that neglects his life for love …
This day more cheerfully than ever shine;
This day, which might enflame thyself, old Valentine.
Till now, thou warmd’st with multiplying loves
Two larks, two sparrows, or two doves …
Whose love and courage never shall decline,
But make the whole year through, thy day, O Valentine.”
In Hamlet, 1623, Act IV, Scene 5, Shakespeare had the maddened Ophelia sing a ballad:
“Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.”
This eventually developed into the 18th-century English traditions of presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending St. Valentine’s Day greeting cards.
People often sign Valentine cards with X’s and O’s.
Where did this come from?
To answer this, we must go back to Rome.
Remember Emperor Diocletian’s terrible persecution.
Believers prayed and Diocletian was struck with an intestinal disease so painful he abdicated the throne on May 1, 305 A.D.
The next Emperor, Gallerius, continued the persecution and was also struck with an intestinal disease, dying in 311 A.D.
Four Roman generals fought it out as to who would be the next emperor.
Two were defeated and it came down to Constantine and Maxentius and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D.
Reportedly, the day before the battle, Constantine saw the sign of Christ in the sky, put it on his shields and banners, and won the battle.
Afterwards he stopped the persecution of Christians.
What was the sign of Christ?
It is said to be the first two letters of the Greek name for Christ.
Just like we often abbreviate states with the first two letters, Greek abbreviated names with the first two letters.
The Greek name for Christ Xριστό begins with the first letter which makes the “ks” sound.
It is written as an “X” and is called “Chi.”
The second letter, that makes the “er” sound is written as a “P” and is called “rho.”
These two letters were called the “Chi-Rho.”
Over the centuries, it got shortened just to the Chi or X.
“X” became a common abbreviation for the name Christ.
This is why Christ-mas is abbreviated as X-mas.
In Medieval times, the “X” was called the Christ’s Cross, or “Criss-Cross.”
In colonial America, young students were taught the alphabet, but before it was an “X.”
Children would begin their recitation of the alphabet with the saying, May Christ’s cross grant me speed – or success.
It reminded students that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
One of the colonial school books had the rhyme:
“Mortals ne’er shall know —
More than contained of old the Chris’-cross row.”
The Christ’s Cross was a form of a written oath.
This came down to us as, “put your X here”; or “sign at the X,” or saying, “I swear, cross my heart.”
Similar to the ancient practice of swearing upon a Bible, saying “so help me God,” then kissing the Bible, people would sign a document with or next to the Christ’s Cross to swear before God they would keep the agreement, then kiss it to show sincerity.
This is the origin of signing a Valentine’s card with an “X” to express a pledge before God to be faithful, and an “O” to seal the pledge with a kiss of sincerity.
History is intertwined with Valentine’s references:
On February 14, 1688, William and Mary were placed by Parliament on the English throne.
On February 14, 1778, John Paul Jones, sailing the USS Ranger, was given a nine-gun salute by French Admiral Lamotte-Picquet.
This was the first time the Stars and Stripes flag was formally recognized by a foreign nation.
On February 14, 1779, British Captain James Cook is killed in Hawaii.
On February 14, 1817, Frederick Douglass, the Republican advisor to President Lincoln, was born a slave on a southern Democrat plantation.
He was separated from his mother as a child and only remembers that his mother would call him, “my little Valentine,” leading him to assume he was born on Valentine’s Day.
On February 14, 1844, John C. Fremont was the first explorer to discover Lake Tahoe. He later became the first Republican candidate for President.
On February 14, 1859, Oregon became a state.
On February 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone.
On February 14, 1884, Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died on Valentine’s Day.
Depressed, he dropped out of New York politics, left his infant daughter with his sister, and went off to ranch in the Dakotas. He later came back to New York, took his daughter back, remarried and had five more children, then ran for President.
On February 14, 1912, Arizona became a state.
On February 14, 1929, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in Chicago during the Prohibition era as Al Capone’s Chicago hitmen dressed as police took out seven members of Bugs Moran’s Irish gang.
On February 14, 1949, the first Jewish Knesset meeting was held, with Israel’s first President Chaim Weizmann.
Since the Roman persecutions, Christianity has become the most persecuted faith in the world, with over 300 being martyred each day, or one every five minutes, mostly in communist and fundamentalist Islamic countries.
The Center for Studies on New Religions reported that in 2016, 90,000 Christians killed, 30 percent by sharia Islamic terrorists.
Several organizations keep track of this, such as the Persecution Project, Voice of the Martyrs, Christian Solidarity International, Equipping the Persecuted, and SavethePersecutedChristians.org
Saint Valentine’s love for Christ and his loving example of heroic valor still inspires believers to follow the scriptures:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:44
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10
“We love him, because he first loved us.” I John 4:19
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
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The Weekly Sam: Subscribe to the Blumenfeld Archive-a Free On-Line Resource for Homeschoolers, Educators, and Historians
In this 2019 interview of Hal Shurtleff by Dr. Duke Pesta of the Freedom Project, Mr. Shurtleff discusses the Sam Blumenfeld Archive which contains much of the writings, and recordings of the late homeschool pioneer. The archive includes Sam’s “Alpha-Phonics” with all 128 lessons in audio and video, cursive lessons, Sam’s monthly newsletters, and publications from American Friends of Algeria and the Society of Jewish Americanists. Here is a link to subscribe to the archive: http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm
How Democratic Party Politicians Destroyed Gloucester’s Fishing Industry Over Decades The sellout of a working waterfront and the people who built it
The Slow Destruction of a Working City
For decades, the fishing industry in Gloucester was not destroyed by the ocean. It was dismantled by government, year by year. Regulations piled up. Fishing grounds were closed. Seasons were compressed.
Fishermen were forced into narrower windows, making one of the most dangerous jobs in America even more dangerous. Boats disappeared. Permits vanished. A working waterfront was hollowed out.
All of this happened in my lifetime. I grew up in Rocky Neck, watching fishing boats come in and out of the harbor. Over the years, there were fewer boats, fewer trips, and less activity on the waterfront. It wasn’t sudden. It was steady. I watched the fishing industry disappear in real time.
The fishing industry was already shrinking before I was born. Every election cycle brought promises from Democratic politicians to protect it. The outcome tells the story.
As Fishing Shrunk, Government Grew
At the center of this story is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal government agency that regulates commercial fishing through quotas, closures, and rules about when and where fishermen can work.
As Gloucester’s fishing fleet shrank, NOAA expanded. It built a massive federal building in Gloucester, added staff, and grew its budget. It now pays long-term government pensions. The industry declined while the government bureaucracy flourished.
The Local Betrayal
What happened to the fishing industry in Gloucester was not driven only by federal policy. It was enabled locally. Mayors, city councilors, and state representatives supported the political environment that allowed regulation to pile up year after year.
Many of those local officials were Democrats. Many came from fishing families. They understood the docks, the boats, and the risks of the job. Over time, many left that world, entered government and political institutions, and worked against the fishermen they claimed to represent.
Those local Democratic politicians sold a lie. They told fishermen that more regulation meant safety and sustainability, even as the fleet shrank, seasons were compressed, and fishing became more dangerous.
Publicly, they talked about protecting fishermen. In practice, they aligned themselves with federal agencies and political priorities instead of the people who built this city. The industry was dismantled, boat by boat, permit by permit, while local leadership stayed silent or actively supported the process.
That same mindset showed itself clearly in 2020, when the City of Gloucester issued a permit allowing a Black Lives Matter protest at the Fishermen’s Memorial. That decision was approved by local officials who knew exactly what that memorial represents.
The Fishermen’s Memorial exists to honor men lost at sea and to give their families a place to remember them. It is not a general-use space and it is not meant for political events. Allowing a political protest there showed a clear disregard for fishermen and for the families who lost loved ones on the water.
The loss of the fishing vessel Lily Jean and all seven crew members brings that reality into focus. For people who do not live here, the Fishermen’s Memorial may look like a landmark. For Gloucester families, it is personal. It carries names, loss, and history. A younger generation should understand what that memorial means to this community and to the families left behind.
The only local politician I can think of who consistently stood up for the fishing industry was Gus Foote. He opposed the direction things were heading more than forty years ago. He was mocked for his stance, outvoted, and ignored. Looking back, he was right.
The Federal Timeline
This didn’t begin with Barack Obama, but under his administration the mindset became unmistakable.
In 2016, Obama permanently closed a massive offshore area to commercial fishing by creating the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. It was done without meaningful input from fishermen and reflected a belief that government control mattered more than working people.
Under Donald Trump, that mindset briefly changed. Trump reopened those waters to commercial fishing. It didn’t bring the industry back, but it mattered. It showed a different way of thinking—fishermen as people who work, not problems to be managed.
Then Joe Biden reversed course and reinstated the Obama-era restrictions.
When Trump returned to office in 2025, he reopened the waters again. And just yesterday, President Trump signed a proclamation to unleash commercial fishing in the Atlantic, advancing America First fishing policy by restoring access to 4,900 square miles of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument located off the coast of New England.
The timeline is clear. One approach favors government control. The other favors freedom to work.
The Truth
Gloucester fishermen will tell you this now. Even if every restriction were lifted tomorrow, Gloucester no longer has the processing plants, buyers, or supply chain to support a real comeback. Rebuilding would take decades. For people alive today, that era is gone. That is the cost of decades of political decisions.
Seeing It Clearly Now
For a long time, people here were told one story while living another. Regulation was sold as protection. Decline was framed as inevitable.
More people in Gloucester are starting to see that clearly now. Once you see it, it doesn’t go away.
Clarity doesn’t bring back what was lost. But it does change what comes next.
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