Hal Shurtleff

Director and Co-Founder of Camp Constitution.

The History of Veterans Day

 

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.

However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples. (The above is from the Veterans Administration.)

Camp Constitution salutes our nation’s veterans and active-duty military.

 

Shooting Back The Right and Duty of Self Defense: A Presentation by Charl van Wyk

 

In September, Camp Constitution Speaker’s Bureau hosted six speaking engagements for Charl van Wyk in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

Charl Van Wyk was just an ordinary Christion man until July 25, 1993 – the day that would become known as the St. James Massacre. It was on this date that Charl van Wyk shot back at the terrorists who were attacking an innocent congregation gathered in worship and saved many lives in the process. Charl tells his story on this video. Charl, now a missionary in Africa is the author of several books including Shooting Back The Right and Duty of Self Defense, Reloaded  Shooting Back Again, and How to Win A Gunfight Without Being a Great Shot available as a free PDF download here: https://campconstitution.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/How-to-Win-a-Gunfight-Even-If-Youre-Not-a-Good-Shot.pdf

 

This presentation took place at the Lane House in Lexington on Monday September 18, and videotaped by our friend Bill McNally

 

 

You can visit Charl’s website at https://www.shootingbackbook.com/

 

The Weekly Sam: You Don’t Need Puppets Popping out of Trash Cans to Teach Children How to Read

My late friend Sam Blumenfeld remarked “You don’t need puppets popping out of trash cans to teach children how to read.  Indeed, in his highly acclaimed Alpha-Phonics, he used no pictures as Sam explained “pictures distract the students.”  Here is a video playlist of Sam teaching all 128 lessons of his Alpha-Phonics:

 

The on-line version of Alpha-Phonics can be found here: https://campconstitution.net/blumenfelds-alphaphonics/

And, readers can order copies of the  Alpha-Phonics from our on-line shop:  https://campconstitution.net/product/alpha-phonics-by-sam-blumenfeld/

United Nations Day of Shame

Today, October 24, marks the birthday of the United Nations-the House That Hiss Built.  It was sold to a war weary world as “mankind’s last and best hope for peace.”  The true purpose for its creation was to be the vehicle towards a one world government.  Its first acting secretary who wrote the United Nation’s charter was Alger Hiss, a spy for the Soviet Union.  Its “peacekeepers” have engaged in atrocities including bombing hospitals, rape, child prostitution. It has a history of enabling terrorists, and its agents support abortion and homosexuality.

Below are a few educational recourses that are available on Camp Constitution’s on-line bookstore.

 

Freedom on the Altar | campconstitution.net

William Norman Grigg convincingly shows that the fulfillment of UN objectives would mean not only an end to nationhood, but the destruction of traditional morality, culture, and values, and the supplanting of the family with the totalitarian state. Paperback 1995 264 pages

The United Nations has been in existence for more than a half-century but has brought the U.S. nothing but trouble. It has involved us in many wars, sapped our financial and economic resources, worked to change our laws, and gradually undermined our national sovereignty. This book reveals the hard reality of the UN system, its dangerous objectives, and what you can do about the UN’s tight grasp on American policies. 127 pages. Paperback

 

The United Nation’s Conspiracy by Robert W. Lee | campconstitution.net

Published in 1981, this book is an excellent expose of the United Nations.

https://campconstitution.net/product/freedom-from-war/

This document was created during the Kennedy Administration.  The U.S. State Department’s goal is the disarm the American people and turn our military over to the United Nations.

And a short video from the early 1960s by Dan Smoot:

 

 

 

 

 

Resources to Fight the Green Mafia

Recently, I made a posting on a local Facebook page making the claim that climate change is a hoax.  While most in the group agreed with me, one member of the group took serious exception to my post and wrote: “CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX??? Are you KIDDING ME??? If at this point you still think it’s a HOAX, you are an absolute FOOL.”

It is quite understandable why this person believes that climate change is real, and anyone who opposes the idea is an “absolute fool’ or worse.  We are inundated with climate change or global warming chicken littles from Greta “How Dare You” Thunberg to the corporate media to government schools to the Democrat Party, to the big non-profit foundations that fund every United Nations friendly non-government organization.  Some of these chicken littles are genuine ideologues while some are in it for the money.    They make up what I call the Green Mafia. And while they may not have their opponents “sleeping with the fishes,” they love to fire, ban, boycott and demonize their opponents.

Like the vast majority of members of the Green Mafia, I am not a scientist, but I have many friends who are.  In addition to my many scientist friends, I have been around almost sixty-five years and remember past predictions of the chicken littles that have come to naught.  One of the earliest was my eighth-grade teacher who told us that we may be facing an ice age or global cooling.

 

Then in the mid-1980s, the chicken littles told us that acid rain would kill all of the fish in the oceans, lakes, and ponds.  Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis gave a press conference at Turners Pond in Milton, MA.  He said that acid rain killed all of the fish in the pond.  A few weeks later, I visited the pond and to my surprise, I saw people catching fish.  I had been lied too.  Around the same time, The Boston Globe published an article reporting that acid rain is killing the maple trees in Vermont.  A few years later while visiting Vermont, I picked up a local paper and read an article reporting that Vermont has experienced its largest maple sugar crop in the state’s history.  Then, it was the ozone hole.  We were all going to get skin cancer because we were destroying the ozone layer by using aerosol cans.  The ozone hole was huge in the Antarctic during the winter months. The chicken littles failed to report is that the sun is needed to make ozone, and it is dark in the Antarctic during the winter but when the sunlight returns, the ozone is replenished.

Resources:

My scientist friends and friendly acquaintances that the Green Mafia calls “climate deniers” and whom I call climate realists:

Willie Soon

 

The first on the list is Professor Willie Soon, an instructor at Camp Constitution’s annual family camp.  His organization is Ceres Science  https://www.ceres-science.com/willie-soon  Our YouTube channel has a playlist of his presentations: https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/PL7jnzBzBiNYDpYp8KORgRjO5tIsDsjyh-/videos

(Professor Willie Soon)

 Joe D’Aleo 

Joe is the co-founder of the Weather Channel, and a New Hampshire resident.  His organization is Weather Bell https://www.weatherbell.com/ 

CFACT-Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow: https://www.cfact.org/

 

  CFACT’s Marc Morano is a regular on Fox and Newsweek, and Camp Constitution’s blog reposts the articles by Paul Driessen, its senior policy advisor.

 

Lord Christopher Monckton

Lord Monckton was an advisor to Margaret Thatcher and an instructor at Camp Constitutions’ annual family camp.  Most of his work can be found at The Heartland Institute. https://heartland.org/

 Tony Heller

My interview of Tony Heller where he gives an historical overview of climate and weather over the last 200 years, and by doing so, refutes today’s climate alarmists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60bSYcOc3ng

A link to his website: https://realclimatescience.com/

Noah Webster:

Yes.  Noah Webster the famous lexicographer wrote and spoke on the subject of climate change.  He even debated Thomas Jefferson who conceded defeat.  In 1810, he published  On the Supposed of Change of Temperature of Winter.  https://www.amazon.com/Supposed-Change-Temperature-Winter/dp/0983521956 For a free download, please E-mail  me at campconstitution1@gmail.com

Finally, the late John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel.  I had the opportunity to interview him at an event sponsored by the Heartland Institute back in 2009. In the interview, Mr. Coleman said that global warming now rebranded as climate change was a hoax:

https://youtu.be/Vk8km7C8-EU?si=viMfDbIbIMoW0Lt4

 

The above list is not exhaustive. There are many more resources, but the ones above are a good start.  Those who are reading this article in hard copy format, may E-mail me for an on-line version making it easier to access the linked videos and websites  campconstitutrion1@gmail.com )

George Floyd Was Not Murdered: Tucker Carlson Interview Vince Ellison, Producer of “Will You Go to Hell For Me” and an instructor at Camp Constitution

 

Tucker Carlson interviews Vince Ellison, producer of the documentary Will You Go to Hell For Me, author of 25 Lies Exposing the Democrats Most Seductive, Damnable and Destructive Lies and How to Refute Them, and instructor at Camp Constitution on the subject of Georg Floyd.   In this short interview, Vince explains how Floyd was a habitual criminal whose death was used to promote the Democrat’s Marxist agenda.

Camp Constitution will be sponsoring speaking engagements in the Spring of 2024 for Vince in the New England region.

Pro-Life Flag Flies in Billerica, Massachusetts

 

Fly the Pro-Life Flag is a group based in Billerica, MA, a town 25 miles Northwest of Boston.   Led by Mrs. Dee Dee Clark Dorrington,  the group successfully petitioned the town to fly the Pro-Life flag.

A hearing by the town selectmen was held on Monday September 11.   The group reached out to our friends at the Massachusetts Family Institute   https://www.mafamily.org/  and on the day of the meeting, the selectmen received a letter from the Institute’s attorney Sam Whiting citing   “Shurtleff v Boston  www.lc.org/flag 

Dear Members of the Select Board,

My name is Sam Whiting and I am an attorney with Massachusetts Family Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the family in Massachusetts. I write on behalf of pro-life citizens of Billerica who recently submitted an application to fly the pro-life flag on a town flag pole located at the Billerica Public Library during the month of October. The purpose of this letter is to advise you of the legal implications of Billerica’s policies and practices in the context of this request.

As you know, the Supreme Court recently unanimously held in Shurtleff v. City of Boston that when a city allows a flagpole to be used as a public forum for expression by various groups, it cannot discriminate against any group’s flag based on the message it conveys.[1] A critical factor in the Court’s analysis in deciding whether Boston had turned its flagpole into a public forum was the extent to which the government had “actively shaped or controlled the expression” at issue.[2] Because Boston had allowed numerous other private groups to fly their flags on the city flagpole and had never turned away an applicant, it could not discriminate against a Christian applicant because of the religious content of the flag he requested to fly.[3]

It is our understanding that in the past, Billerica has approved the requests of a number of private groups to fly their flags on city flagpoles, including but not limited to:

 

  • The Italian flag, to celebrate Italian Heritage Month;
  • The Armenian Genocide Commemoration flag;
  • The Indian flag, to commemorate Indian Independence Day;
  • The LGBTQ Pride flag, to commemorate LGBTQ Pride month.

 

Some of these flags have been raised multiple times over multiple years at the request of private groups. An ordinary citizen observing private groups raising these flags would understand that the flags represent the groups’ private expression, and not the government speech of Billerica.[4] It should also be noted that some of these flags, such as the Armenian Genocide flag or the LGBTQ Pride flag, touch on sensitive and/or potentially contentious political issues over which Billerica residents may strongly disagree.

By engaging in a practice of allowing any and all private groups to use town flagpoles for private expression, Billerica has opened its flagpoles as a public forum, just as Boston did. This means that this Board may not deny the pro-life group’s request to fly its own flag based on the content of its message. To do so would violate their First Amendment right to free expression. While some may see the flag as controversial, it is no more controversial than other flags the Board has allowed to fly in the past and should be given equal treatment.

It is true that Billerica may close the forum it has opened by passing a policy stating that town flag poles are no longer forums for public expression but are instead forums for government speech. However, until such a policy is passed, the flagpoles remain a public forum. The fact that the Board is now moving to pass such a policy in apparent response to the request to fly the pro-life flag indicates that the Board is acting to discriminate against the pro-life group based on the content and viewpoint of their message. This is unfortunate. Should the Board deliberately and unnecessarily delay acting on the pro-life group’s request to fly their flag until it can pass a new flag policy, this would also violate the group’s First Amendment rights.

For the foregoing reasons, I would strongly advise the Board to approve the pro-life group’s request to fly the pro-life flag at some point during the month of October.

Very truly yours,         Samuel J. Whiting, Esq.

Staff Attorney

Massachusetts Family Institute

401 Edgewater Drive, Suite 580

Wakefield, MA 01880

Tel: 781.589.0400

Michael King of Mass Family Institute reached out to me the day of the hearing, and asked if I would Zoom and testify.  I was happy to do so and during my brief testimony, I reminded the selectmen that it cost the City of Boston more than $2.1 million in legal fees.  The selectmen voted 4-1 to let the group fly the Pro-Life flag for two weeks in October.  And, on Monday October 16, a brief flag raising ceremony took place in the center of Billerica.

 

After the flag raising, DeeDee made these remarks on the group’s Facebook page:

“Christina Marie and I are beyond overwhelmed and still flying high (pun intended) with the amount of support that the prolife community received tonight.
The flag raising ceremony went on without a hitch (well, maybe a brief tangle of the ropes🙃) and we feel truly blessed to have seen this initiative thorough.
We will share videos and pictures as we collect and prepare them, but for now it’s time for tacos and ice cream.
Thank you to everyone who attended tonight and showed your support for life.”
  Camp Constitution salutes the folks at Fly the Pro-Life Flag and hopes that this event inspires others around the nation.

Camp Constitution’s Third Quarter Report for 2023

 

 Camp Constitution in the News:

We continue to be mentioned in the media as local Christians petition to have the Chrisitan or Pro-Life flags fly on town or city halls. 1819 News in Alabama as Christian activists interviewed us are in the process of having Montgomery declare Christian Heritage Month and have the Christian fly in front of City Hall for a month:

https://1819news.com/news/item/montgomery-city-council-delays-american-christian-heritage-month-resolution-again

Christians in Torrington, CT raised the Christian flag on their city hall with over two hundred people including the mayor on hand:

And in Billerica, MA,  Deedee Clark Dorrington and members of her group Fly the Pro-Life Flag with the help from our friends at the Massachusetts Family Institute were able to get the town selectmen vote 4-1 in favor of flying the Pro-Life flag for two weeks in October:  MFI’s Advocacy Leads Billerica to Raise Pro-Life Flag on Town Property – MFI | Massachusetts Family Institute (mafamily.org)

The Claremont, NH Eagle Tribute did a story on our annual family camp:  https://www.eagletimes.com/news/camp-takes-on-swimming-and-the-bill-of-rights/article_e3f74b08-0d14-545d-b9a0-876343786082.html  The reporter asked us how we teach the Constitution to five year olds, we sent him a link to this video of our Junior Campers led by Mrs. Edith Craft singing a song about the Constitution

https://youtu.be/_Tw6Lz2QoOk?si=wVvNeZ2EayAtzSiX

We received some national media attention from NBC and Fox News with the appearance of presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami at our annual family camp.

Special Projects: 

We had a float in the annual Old Home Week Parade in Alton, NH, and we presented their salute to America event held at Alton Bay. We had info tables at numerous events including the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival, the Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society’s Future of Christendom forum, the National Heritage, and the Mass HOPE homeschool convention where we also conducted a workshop on the Sam Blumenfeld Archive. We co-sponsored a Patriot Day Camp in Maine led by Mrs. Jessica Whitworth.

In April, Camp Constitution donated 1,500 pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to the Alton-Barnstead, NH School District, and in January, we donated 1,100 copies to the Laconia Junior and High School, Laconia, NH Junior High, and High Schools. This has opened up the doors to other donations to schools in the region.

We hosted a group of homeschoolers at the Lane House for a field trip overnight to take in the Midnight Night Ride and Battle of Lexington Reenactments.

We hosted the Hillside College’s Constitutional Study Course in Alton, NH and Lebanon, ME.

Camp Constitution Media:

We videotaped all of the classes and some of the activity at our annual family camp and at our second weekend retreat the Lexington Reenactment, Alton, NH’s Memorial Day Parade, speeches as our 3rd Annual Memorial Day Weekend Barbecue in Lexington, the classes and activities at our annual family camp, and speeches of our speakers Julie Wilkinson, Pastor William Levi, and Charl van Wyk.

YouTube, Rumble Channels and Bitchute Channels

We have received 90,000 thousand views on our YouTube Channel this year with new subscribers giving us close to 8,000 subscribers overall. Our Rumble channel has received 6,388 views this year with seven likes, and our Bitchute channel has 2,3126 views this year.

The Sam Blumenfeld Archive:

552,168 hits

3,592 Marlow-Shakespeare Book

3,288 Alpha Phonics Workbooks

2,543 Alpha Phonics Manuals

Our friend Godknows Matizirofa principal of Nottingham School in Harare, Zimbabwe, is building a new school and will name it in honor of Sam Blumenfeld. We have been donating copies of Sam’s Alpha Phonics to the school.

We reached out to Mrs. Joyce Burges of National Black Home Educators and donated a case of Sam’s Alpha-Phonics, and plan to interview her on our radio show.

If you haven’t already, please visit and subscribe to the archives: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/ 

Camp Constitution Radio on Podomatic:

We remain in the top ten for the conservative category with 7,614 downloads, and 862 plays   https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal 

 Facebook Page:

We continue to average fifty likes per month. We also admin about eight groups including Friend of the Constitution in ME, NH, MA, CT, RI. PA, VT, and Stop the Constitutional Convention.

Speaker’s Bureau:

For the first nine months, we had over thirty speaking engagements. We recently held six engagements for Charl van Wyk author of Shooting Back in MA, NH, and ME. In September, we spoke to the Mid Atlantic Reformation Society, and we were one of the featured speakers at the Norfolk County (MA) Second Amendment Rally and Constitutional Day Celebration. We spoke at the Michigan Republican Party’s Mackinac Island event where we shared a podium with the likes of Alan Keyes and Jim Caviezel. We had speaking engagements in Maine including being the featured speaker at the Homeschoolers of Maine Annual State House Day, and presentations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Loudon, NH. We hosted four engagements for Juli Wilkinson who played the abortion nurse in the movie Unplanned. And we hosted Mrs. Bau Chau Kelly at the Lane House. Mrs. Kelly described life in Communist Vietnam:

 

(Rev. Craft ans Charl van Wyk at the Lane House)

Camp Constitution’s Website:

We had 27.000 views for this period, and posted 147 blogs:  https://www.campconstitution.net

Camp Constitution Book Sales:                           

We have raised close to $3.500 from donated books from our Amazon, Facebook page, and on-line bookstore. https://campconstitution.net/shop/

  Article V Convention: 

We worked with legislatures to have an Article V rescission resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House in 2024. Despite the onslaught of Article V resolutions all over the U.S. not a single one passed. We helped defeat two Article V resolutions in New Hampshire, several in Maine, and authored articles on the subject in on-line and print media and participated in a national conference call hosted by Tamara Scott who hosts a show on Frank Speech. One article we published was an expose on the leadership of the Convention of States. https://granitegrok.com/mg_lakesregion/2023/04/poisoning-the-well-is-not-working-in-new-hampshire-but-we-cant-help-ourselves  We worked with legislatures to have an Article V rescission resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House in 2024.

 Radio and Cable TV: 

We were a first time guest on several radio shows including the Chris Arn Show based in Carliyle,  and returned to the  the Duke Pesta Show:  https://www.freedomproject.com/2023/05/30/dds53023/ and earlier  in the year, we were guests on “Chattin with Janine: a popular Cable TV Show hosted by NH State Rep and long-tine friend Janine Notter. And  appeared as a guest on Tamara Scott’s show on Frank Speech, https://frankspeech.com/video/tamara-scott-show-joined-hal-shurtleff-camp-constitution and an appearance on the Ed Martin Radio Show which is nationally syndicated:  https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/constitution/wynk-back-to-basics-with-hal-shurtleff/

      Camp Constitution Ladies Group:

The Third Annual Spring Fling took place May 5-7 at the Singing Hills Christian Camp. Speakers include Valerie McDonnell, the youngest elected official in the United States and former abortion nurse turned Pro-Life activist Julie Wilkinson. Julie played a role in the movie “Unplanned.”  

                                           

Julie Wilkinson                                                       Valerie McDonnell

 

Our friend and Camp Constitution camp parent Steve Wanager has relocated to Maine and donated one of his replica cannons to Camp Constitution. We are now the proud owners of a replica Revolutionary War howitzer. Contrary to the view of Mr. Biden, the 2nd Amendment does not prevent us from owning a cannon.

Camp Constitution’s 15th Annual Family Camp

We had another successful family camp with new guest speakers’ author and documentary producer Vince Ellison. And, for the first time in our history, a presidential candidate visited us. Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy spoke to the campers and took their questions.

   

Second Annual Family Retreat:

We just completed o our 2nd Annual Weekend Family Retreat which ran from Friday September 29 to Sunday October 1. Guest instructors were Jim Perloff and former Gubernatorial candidate Karen Testerman. Returning instructors included Catherine White, and Rev. Steve Craft. Jessica Whitworth conducted the program for the junior campers.

 

How you can help Camp Constitution grow:

* Keep Camp Constitution and our nation in your prayers.

* Become a donor. Monthly and/or one-time donations can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website https://www.campconstitution.net

* Host one of our speakers

Host a Constitutional Study Course

*  Introduce Camp Constitution to family and friends.

*Author an article for our camp blog.

Thank you for all you did in the freedom movement, and for helping to make Camp Constitution possible.

 

Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution

 

 

The Weekly Sam: The Gospel at War With the Yellow School Bus

This is a short and powerful presentation not just urging parents to get their children out of government schools but the evil ideology promoted in the government schools making the acceptance of abortion, gender mutilation and the destruction of the morals of a nation.

Sam Blumenfeld’s  work is well known to the folks at the Mid Atlantic Reformation Society, the organization that hosted this event https://www.midatlanticreformation.org/

 

Second Amendment Rally Newton, MA

Camp Constitution is having a busy and productive September with speaking engagements in PA, MA, NH, ME and MI and in a few days, our 2nd annual family weekend retreat.  This video is from the Sunday September 17 Constitution Day and 2nd Amendment forum sponsored by the Norfolk County Republican Committee.  I was one of the speakers and we also had a information table at the event.

Norfolk County Republican Committee’s 2nd Amendment and Constitution Day Forum held of Sunday September 17, 2023 at the American Legion in Newton, MA. Hal Shurtleff of Camp Constitution, Toby Leary of Cape Cod Gun Works, Mike HARRIS Gun Owner’s Action League (GOAL) – Charlie COOK “Riding Shotgun with Charlie” – Committeewoman Lynne ROBERTS 2nd Amendment Sisters – Hal SHURTLEFF from Camp Constitution – Moderator Bob HISS – Toby LEARY of Cape Gun Works – Kerri Ann AUCLAIR from the DC Project – Jim WALLACE from GOAL