‘1619 Project' author lectures woman who escaped communist regime about oppression



Over the weekend, Nikole Hannah-Jones, the author of the New York Times Magazine series "The 1619 Project," attempted to lecture a woman who escaped Mao's communist regime about oppression, Fox News Digital reported.

On Sunday, Hannah-Jones posted a three-part thread on Twitter rejecting "the narrative of American exceptionalism" and arguing that black history is under attack.

"Someone asked me why is Black history, specifically, being targeted. I said it's because our history has always been political *by definition*: Our very presence on these lands is the greatest rebuke to the narrative of American exceptionalism. We give lie to the lie," Hannah-Jones wrote on Sunday.

"Blk history is the most inconvenient to American mythology. In a country founded on ideals of liberty, we were enslaved. The greatest democracy in the world violently suppressed democracy amongst its Black citizens for 100 years after the end of slavery. These truths are hard," she continued.

The controversial journalist insisted that America's "accurate history" has been suppressed.

Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao's Marxist Cultural Revolution in China, replied to Hannah-Jones' Twitter posts by stating, "Yourself and I, an immigrant from China with 200 borrowed dollars in my pocket when I arrived more than 30 yrs ago, are the proof of American Exceptionalism."

\u201c@nhannahjones Yourself and I, an immigrant from China with 200 borrowed dollars in my pocket when I arrived more than 30 yrs ago, are the proof of American Exceptionalism.\u201d
— Ida Bae Wells (@Ida Bae Wells) 1677415078

In response, Hannah-Jones asked Van Fleet to elaborate and "be specific."

Van Fleet argued, "Natural rights is unique to American founding. Bc of it we were able to abolish slavery, Jim Crow, anti-Chinese laws … to allow individuals to succeed. What is not unique to America is slavery, which still exists today. Ppl fighting for human rights in China are jailed by CCP."

Hannah-Jones fired back by stating that not all people were granted natural rights when America was founded.

"Ma'am, the idea of natural rights may have been unique, but 1/5th of the population was enslaved at our founding and had no 'natural rights,'" Hannah-Jones wrote.

She then asked Van Fleet, "Further, you do not think protesters in the US face state violence and arrest? You think the US has no political prisoners?"

Hannah-Jones recommended that Van Fleet watch an episode of her Hulu show, "The 1619 Project," an adaption of her 2019 series with the New York Times Magazine.

"I'm afraid your vision of America does not match the reality," Hannah-Jones claimed.

"Mine is not a 'vision,'" Van Fleet explained. "Mine is 'lived experience' under the enslavement of Communism, freedom in America, and the current Woke Revolution aiming to undo America."

Van Fleet attributed the end of slavery in America to the country's "persevering principles and humanity."

During a 2021 Loudoun County School Board meeting, Van Fleet spoke out against the district's critical race theory agenda, the Independent Women's Forum reported.

She argued that CRT is "the American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution" and that the ideology has "roots in cultural Marxism."

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Italian police capture most wanted mafioso who ran Cosa Nostra clan, was on run for 30 years



The 60-year-old mafia don whose criminal gang Cosa Nostra inspired "The Godfather" was captured Monday by Italian police after spending 30 years on the run. Matteo Messina Denaro was previously one of Europe's most wanted fugitives.

What is the background?

Denaro, who went by the nicknames "the devil" or "the skinny one," was the son of an influential Cosa Nostra boss, Don Ciccio. According to the Guardian, Denaro built an unlawful multibillion-euro empire in the wind energy, waste, and retail sectors.

The godfather is linked to over 50 murders, such as the bombings that claimed the lives of renowned anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino — after whom the international airport outside of Palermo was named.

These bombings also claimed the lives of Falcone's wife and the family's bodyguards. The overwhelming majority of Italians reckon Falcone to have died a hero.

Denaro was also wanted for the heinous strangling of Giuseppe Di Matteo, a former mafioso's son whose body the mobster dissolved in a vat of acid.

The New York Times noted that Denaro allegedly murdered a pregnant woman on June 15, 1992.

Denaro went on the run in June 1993. Despite having abandoned his headquarters in Trapani, he was still considered the head of the Cosa Nostra, reported the Los Angeles Times. Italy's Carabinieri (national) police indicated last year that Denaro was still giving orders.

While he allegedly managed his illicit affairs in exile and continued to profit from wind farm deals, various collaborators throughout Sicily reportedly helped the murderer evade arrest.

Prosecutors suggested that the mobster relied heavily upon a network of powerful freemasons to maintain his freedom, reported the Times.

While underground, Denaro was nevertheless tried and convicted of dozens of murders. Denaro now faces multiple life sentences.

Justice as a gift

Police caught Denaro, the last "godfather" of the Sicilian mafia, in Palermo, where he had been living under the assumed name "Andrea Bonafede."

Carabinieri police intercepted him at a private health clinic on Jan. 16, where, according to Carabinieri Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, the mobster had been receiving treatment at the clinic for an undisclosed medical condition.

A pair of Carabinieri officers marched the defeated and feeble mobster out of the clinic and dumped him into black van. They then took Denaro to a secret location.

\u201c\ud83d\udd34 Le prime immagini di #MatteoMessinaDenaro, arrestato questa mattina a Palermo.\u201d
— RTL 102.5 (@RTL 102.5) 1673865189

Some people took to the streets to applaud the mobster's arrest:

\u201cVedere le persone che esultano per la cattura di Matteo Messina Denaro \u00e8 la cosa pi\u00f9 bella che vedrete oggi (a parte l'arresto).\u201d
— Ida De Vico (@Ida De Vico) 1673860928

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, "This is a great victory for the Italian state, which shows we should never surrender to the mafia."

Meloni thanked police and government forces for Denaro's arrest in the "aftermath of the anniversary of the arrest of [Salvatore] Totò Riina."

\u201cUna grande vittoria dello Stato che dimostra di non arrendersi di fronte alla mafia. All'indomani dell'anniversario dell'arresto di Tot\u00f2 Riina, un altro capo della criminalit\u00e0 organizzata, Matteo Messina Denaro, viene assicurato alla giustizia.\u201d
— Giorgia Meloni (@Giorgia Meloni) 1673859841

Riina, also a murderous mobster, ordered hundreds of murders, including Falcone's and Borsellino's in 1992. Riina had begged to die in his home, but succumbed to cancer behind prison bars at the age of 87 in November 2017.

Concerning Denaro's arrest, Lamberto Giannini, Italy's chief of police, said, "It is a victory for all the police forces that have worked together over these long years to bring the dangerous fugitive to justice."

Once known for his lavish lifestyle, expensive cars, and designer clothes, Denaro will likely die behind bars in his prison uniform.

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Crook caught on video shoplifting 10 steaks — and leftist actually chides Al Sharpton for complaining: 'There have always been thefts from stores'



After a man was caught on video Tuesday morning walking out of a New York City Trader Joe's with an armful of steaks — 10 to be exact — and then admitting he stole the items, the Rev. Al Sharpton called it out, along with the ever-increasing wave of similar crimes.

"You cannot have a culture where people are just ... robbing and stealing and it's out of control," Sharpton said Wednesday on MSNBC.

An alleged shoplifter has been caught on tape appearing to steal 10 steaks from NYC Trader Joe\u2019s. I joined MSNBC to speak on the need for public safety and to address criminal justice concerns.\n\n#MorningJoepic.twitter.com/bWrNC8d8rQ
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@Reverend Al Sharpton) 1644415833

But a fellow leftist — Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the controversial 1619 Project — didn't like Sharpton's take, telling the reverend on Twitter that "a person stealing steak is not national news, and there have always been thefts from stores."

This drumbeat for continued mass incarceration is really horrific to watch. A person stealing steak is not national news, and there have always been thefts from stores. This is how you legitimize the carceral state.
— Ida Bae Wells (@Ida Bae Wells) 1644460773

How did folks react?

As you might expect, some Twitter users weren't sympathetic with Hannah-Jones' decidedly light-on-crime philosophy:

  • "There’s no drumbeat for mass incarceration," one commenter stated. "There is a drumbeat for criminal behavior to stop, but that theme can’t seem to gain traction within certain agendas."
  • "Thieves should always be prosecuted," another user declared. "In cities like SF where theft has been essentially legalized, it has led to more violent crime and hurt the poor."
  • "A person who feels SO comfortable to walk in a store and have the balls to walk out and not even have the thought to hide what he’s stealing IS national news," another commenter said. "It means the criminals are feeling they are untouchable."

Here's video of the the man walking out of the store. At first he claimed that he paid for the steaks, but when confronted again and asked why he stole the food, he told the person recording the video that he did it because he's homeless:

Anything else?

The suspect is now wanted by police, the New York Post reported, adding that the incident took place at around 8:30 a.m. at the popular grocery store chain's East 14th Street location.

Two Trader Joe’s employees followed the man up an escalator that leads to the store's exit but only stopped him from taking a shopping basket, the Post said.

“They basically just tell us not to do anything, just let them go,” a Trader Joe’s worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the paper. “We get in trouble if we do anything. ... It don’t bother me. I’ve been working here for two years, I see it happen every day. After a while, you just don’t care.”

The Post said Trader Joe’s didn't respond to its request for comment.

Retail theft complaints citywide have jumped 36% from 2020 to 2021, the NYPD added to the paper.

Nursing home owner under investigation after 800 elderly residents are found packed inside a leaky warehouse during Ida — 4 tragically died



State and local authorities in Louisiana are investigating after four nursing home residents have died and more than 800 others were found languishing inside of a mass shelter while riding out Hurricane Ida.

What are the details?

WWL-TV reported Thursday that residents from seven different area nursing homes had been transported to a large warehouse in Independence recently in preparation for the severe storm. The warehouse, however, was not suitable enough to provide care for the patients.

One nursing home worker who spoke with the outlet on the condition of anonymity said that inside the shelter, residents were forced to lie down on mattresses on the floor and were not given privacy from each other.

Video: Inside the warehouse where 4 nursing home residents died during Hurricane Ida youtu.be

He said that while there was enough food and water for all the residents, there simply weren't enough staff to provide care. The worker admitted he wasn't "surprised" that four people died.

"The conditions weren't good enough," he said. "I knew they weren't going to be safe for the residents and for the workers. We did the best we could with what we had."

At one point, water started pouring into the warehouse and the facility started flooding. Residents had to be moved from that area to another part of the warehouse, making the packed conditions even tighter.

"It was intense," the worker said. "We didn't have privacy to take care of them. We were changing everybody right by everybody and with the COVID there just wasn't enough space. It was awful."

What else?

After being tipped off about the poor living conditions at the shelter, Louisiana Department of Health investigators reportedly attempted to investigate but initially were turned away by staff at the door.

The department, along with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), has since taken control of the situation and moved all 843 of the residents to other nursing homes or special needs shelters, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said Thursday.

The governor vowed an investigation into the owner of the seven nursing homes from which residents were evacuated. That individual is also the owner of the warehouse where they were moved.

4 nursing home residents die after Ida evacuation www.youtube.com

"At a minimum, when the situation degrades to the point that happened fairly quickly starting on Monday, then the owner, the homes, have an obligation to either move those residents themselves to a better facility or to ask for help," Edwards said. "He did neither."

"In fact, what he did was try to prevent the Department of Health from coming in and ascertaining the condition of those residents earlier in the week," he continued.

Anything else?

Relatives of the residents told media outlets this week that they were blindsided after learning about the warehouse conditions.
WWL reported that they "never got a call or any kind of message from the nursing homes, but instead had to find out on the news."
"If we'd known, I would've come and got her for sure," said one woman whose mother was in the warehouse.
"They could've made any kind of phone call," added another relative during an interview with CBS News.

WWL reported that three of the deceased residents were as a 59-year-old woman from Jefferson parish, a 52-year-old man from New Orleans and a 77-year-old man from Terrebonne Parish, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Ida kills at least 1, leaves more than a million without power. Louisiana governor's office expects 'many more' fatalities as trapped residents desperately post on social media for help.



Tropical storm Ida — which made landfall on Louisiana Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane — continued to batter the Gulf Coast on Monday, after killing at least one person and leaving more than a million others without power.

The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed on Monday that a 60-year-old male was killed after a tree uprooted by the storm fell on his house. It was the first reported death related to the devastating storm, but officials fear that more deaths could soon follow.

Christina Stephens, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, predicted Monday that given the level of destruction wrought by Ida, "We're going to have many more confirmed fatalities."

The governor's office added that the damage to the power grid appeared "catastrophic" and warned it could be weeks before power is restored.

According to NBC's "Today," several trapped Louisiana residents have turned to social media for help, desperately posting their locations in hopes that emergency responders can get to them.

Louisiana Residents Trapped By Ida Floods Turn To Social Media For Help www.youtube.com

Ida slammed Louisiana's coast on Sunday as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S., immediately blowing the roofs off buildings with winds up to 150mph and flooding several towns in its path. According to the Associated Press, the storm even reversed the flow of the Mississippi River.

New Orleans, Louisiana's most populous city, has been completely shut down and remains without electricity. In a Monday morning Twitter update, Democratic New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell informed residents that power is still out and access to 911 remains unavailable.

Morning #Ida updates in #NOLA:🚨911 remains out🔌Power remains out⚠️Downed trees & power lines in roads🦺Emergenc… https://t.co/s0HbnRMIax

— Mayor LaToya Cantrell (@mayorcantrell) 1630324648.0

New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson on Monday warned criminals against taking advantage of the shutdown to loot and ransack.

"Without power, that creates opportunity for some, and we will not tolerate that," Ferguson said. "We will implement our anti-looting deployment to ensure the safety of our citizens and ensure the safety of our citizens' property."

"Now is not the time to leave your home," the New Orleans Police Department tweeted. "There is no power. Trees, limbs, and lines are down everywhere. It is not safe to leave your home right now. Please remain sheltered in place."

Other small towns nearby, including Houma, experienced raging winds and torrential downpours, as well.

Footage taken from a backyard in Houma, Louisiana, shows raging winds and rain from Hurricane Ida. https://t.co/B8F7MwJRLA

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) 1630297153.0

"This is not the kind of storm that we normally get," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday. "This is going to be much stronger than we usually see and, quite frankly, if you had to draw up the worst possible path for a hurricane in Louisiana, it would be something very, very close to what we're seeing."

I have never heard anything like this! Stay safe from Hurricane Ida everyone #Hurricane #HurricaneIda #ida… https://t.co/HuQU62Uiwc

— EvieAviation (@EvieAviation) 1630270234.0

The Louisiana National Guard activated 4,900 Guard personnel and readied 195 high-water vehicles, 73 rescue boats, and 34 helicopters in preparation for the storm's landfall. Local agencies have reportedly added hundreds more. Those teams are now performing search and rescue operations.

Footage in #GrandIsle, Louisiana from #HurricaneIda.#Ida #idahurricane #Hurricane_Ida #Louisiana https://t.co/7uCFxfsr5y

— M.H. Fahad (@MH_Fahad211) 1630265436.0

While most of the destruction is likely to occur in Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center on Monday reported that Ida, now a tropical storm, was moving northward into Mississippi.

The weather center warned that tornadoes could put residents in danger through Monday night, "mainly across southeast Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle."

Terrifying videos show Hurricane Ida blast Louisiana, tear off hospital roof, intense storm surge floods Gulf Coast



Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana on Sunday, pounding the shoreline with devastating wind and dangerous storm surges.

Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday at 12:55 p.m. near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, which is 16 years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the state. The Category 4 storm packed powerful winds of 150 mph, which makes Ida one of only three hurricanes that made Louisiana landfall with sustained winds of that magnitude, joining Laura (2020) and the Last Island Hurricane (1856). The National Hurricane Center declared Ida still to be a Category 4 hurricane in its 6 p.m. EST update.

The storm surge, which was projected to be up to 15 feet in some parts of the region, was so intense that it forced the mighty Mississippi River to flow in reverse as massive amounts of seawater was pushed ashore, according to Bloomberg.

EYE OF A MONSTER: @NOAA's #GOESEast 🛰️ gives an up-close look at the lightning swirling around the eye of… https://t.co/SCH7Sn7PMh

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) 1630247465.0

"This is not the kind of storm that we normally get," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said. "This is going to be much stronger than we usually see and, quite frankly, if you had to draw up the worst possible path for a hurricane in Louisiana, it would be something very, very close to what we're seeing."

Edwards requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration, "Hurricane Ida is one of the strongest storms to ever hit Louisiana. It is our goal to assist our local agencies and the citizens of the state as quickly as possible, and we have pre-positioned search and rescue teams, boats and other assets to begin helping people as soon as it is safe."

Hurricane Ida made landfall in the United States as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm that could plunge much… https://t.co/uSmE9Nu6ko

— Reuters (@Reuters) 1630274760.0

Security camera footage from a fire station in Delacroix shows how much water rushed into the coastal areas in only one hour.

Before and after security camera footage from Fire Station #12 in Delacroix within a 1 hour time span.… https://t.co/SThvDscj4y

— St. Bernard Parish (@StBGov) 1630262121.0

Terrifying video shows Hurricane Ida tear off the roof of the Lady of the Sea General Hospital in Galliano, Louisiana.

LAFOURCE PARISH: Part of the roof of Lady of the Sea General Hospital, in Galliano, blew off. 😳@BrennanMatherne tol… https://t.co/ANINQffSNT

— Christina Watkins (@CWatkinsWDSU) 1630269527.0

The monster storm ripped off a roof and tossed it onto the street in New Orleans' French Quarter, where there is a flash flood warning.

1:45pm: Remarkable wind damage already taking place on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. https://t.co/xs8387Ngtx

— Markie Martin (@MarkieMartin) 1630262886.0


Part of a roof flew off in the #frenchquarter taking out a street light. Stay safe during #HurricaneIda @CBSMiami https://t.co/CzNt8YXuKF

— Ted Scouten (@CBS4Ted) 1630263375.0

Furious winds and pelting rain blasted Houma, Louisiana.

A large tree was uprooted and fell on a home in Morgan City.

Large tree uprooted and topped onto home in Morgan City, LA. Woman was asleep when it hit her house. She is fine.… https://t.co/jZD0L2U56D

— Charles Peek (@CharlesPeekWX) 1630267176.0

Nearly 600,000 customers in Louisiana are without power.

Hurricane Ida shut down more than 95% of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, according to regulators, which is expected to increase gas prices.

Check out this video from an off-shore oil rig right as Hurricane #Ida gets set to make landfall. Maximum sustained… https://t.co/MCHBUgpMrn

— MyRadar Weather (@MyRadarWX) 1630256318.0

The Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flew through Ida's eye twice.

Second pass: https://t.co/h7IyGApoXe

— Hurricane Hunters (@53rdWRS) 1630269853.0

Tom Cotton blasted as a 'racist piece of trash' for criticizing NYT article describing 'cruel history' of Thanksgiving



Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is being called "a racist piece of trash" and a "white supremacist" after defending the legacy of the Mayflower Compact and criticizing an article in the New York Times that called the story of the Pilgrims a "myth" and re-examined the "cruel history" of Thanksgiving.

In a speech delivered on the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday, Cotton honored the anniversary of the Pilgrims' arrival in America in 1620 and lamented that "there appear to be few commemorations, parades, or festivals to celebrate the Pilgrims this year."

The Thanksgiving season is upon us once again. This year we ought to be especially thankful for our ancestors, the… https://t.co/ERs9jtsNZK
— Tom Cotton (@Tom Cotton)1605752785.0

The Pilgrims were a group of settlers who traveled on the Mayflower and arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, establishing the first permanent New England colony in America. The Mayflower Compact was a covenant signed by the settlers giving honor to God, pledging their loyalty to the King of England, and establishing rules for self-government in the new colony to "covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering."

Cotton said that "revisionist charlatans of the radical left" who have "lately claimed the previous year as America's true founding" were at fault for causing the Pilgrims to fall out of fashion. He was referring to the New York Times' 1619 Project — a series of articles that seek to reframe American history from the perspective of African slaves and claim 1619, the year the first slaves were brought to America, as the true founding of the United States.

"Some—too many—may have lost the civilizational self-confidence needed to celebrate the Pilgrims," Cotton said. "Just today, for instance, The New York Times called this story a 'myth' and a 'caricature'—in the Food Section, no less. Maybe the politically correct editors of the debunked 1619 Project are now responsible for pumpkin-pie recipes at the Times, as well."

That line of Cotton's speech provoked the 1619 Project's chief author, New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, to respond, saying the Pilgrims' story "literally is a caricature."

It literally is a caricature. And if the 1619 Project was in charge of recipes everyone knows it would be sweet pot… https://t.co/fQXxO2a8ne
— Ida Bae Wells (@Ida Bae Wells)1605797033.0

The Times article Cotton cited is titled, "The Thanksgiving Myth Gets a Deeper Look This Year."

"The caricature of friendly Indians handing over food, knowledge and land to kindhearted Pilgrims was reinforced for generations by school curriculums, holiday pageants and children's books," Brett Anderson wrote for the Times. He went on to describe the "brutality of settlers' expansion into the Great Plains and American West," which he said has been "drastically underplayed in popular myths about the founding and growth of the United States."

Cotton rejected this interpretation of Thanksgiving in his speech, instead celebrating the Pilgrims as "our first founders," reflecting on the Mayflower Compact as "America's very first constitution," and recounting the history of the first Thanksgiving meal shared between the settlers of the Plymouth colony and members of the Massasoit and the Wampanoag Native American tribes.

"Now, the Thanksgiving season is upon us and once again we have much to give thanks for. But this year we ought to be especially thankful for our ancestors, the Pilgrims, on their four hundredth anniversary," Cotton said. "Their faith, their bravery, their wisdom places them in the American pantheon. Alongside the Patriots of 1776, the Pilgrims of 1620 deserve the honor of American founders."

Cotton's critics and his political opponents blasted the senator on social media. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) mocked him, tweeting his "sense of history doesn't go beyond your 3rd grade coloring books."

When your sense of history doesn’t go beyond your 3rd grade coloring books and actual history terrifies you. https://t.co/gaVeDRgaMW
— Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan Omar)1605749383.0

Others accused the Republican senator of being a white supremacist or a racist.

The fact that overt white supremacist, Tom Cotton, ran unopposed by a Dem is a great example of why the party needs… https://t.co/wWpV4LofyI
— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph)1605786695.0
Tom Cotton pontificated on the virtue of government, the pilgrims, and the “natural equality of mankind” like the s… https://t.co/DHANGBHHeK
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@Bishop Talbert Swan)1605790989.0
Malcolm X to Tom Cotton: “Our forefathers weren’t the Pilgrims. We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was lande… https://t.co/YVzhsOt7Q7
— Keith Boykin (@Keith Boykin)1605797299.0

Below is the video of the speech, followed by the full text as posted by the senator's office:

November 18, 2020: Senator Cotton Delivers Speech Ahead of 400th Anniversary of Pilgrimswww.youtube.com

A great American anniversary is upon us. Four hundred years ago this Saturday, a battered old ship called the Mayflower arrived in the waters off Cape Cod. The passengers aboard the Mayflower are, in many ways, our first founders. Daniel Webster called them "Our Pilgrim Fathers" on the two hundredth anniversary of this occasion. Regrettably, we haven't heard much about this anniversary of the Mayflower; I suppose the Pilgrims have fallen out of favor in fashionable circles these days. I'd therefore like to take a few minutes to reflect on the Pilgrim story and its living legacy for our nation.

By 1620, the Pilgrims were already practiced at living in a strange land. They had fled England for Holland twelve years earlier, seeking freedom to practice their faith. But life was hard in Holland and the Stuart monarchy, intolerant of dissent from the Church of England, gradually extended its oppressive reach across the Channel. So the Pilgrims fled the Old World for the New.

In seeking safe harbor for their religion, the Pilgrims differed from those settlers who preceded them in the previous century, up to and including the Jamestown settlement just thirteen years earlier. As John Quincy Adams put it in a speech celebrating the Pilgrims' anniversary, those earlier settlers "were all instigated by personal interests," motivated by "avarice and ambition" and "selfish passions." The Pilgrims, by contrast, braved the seas "under the single inspiration of conscience" and out of a "sense of religious obligation."

Not to say all aboard the Mayflower felt the same. About half of the 102 passengers were known as "Strangers" to the Pilgrims. The Strangers were craftsmen, traders, indentured servants, and others added to the manifest by the ship's financial backers for business reasons. The Strangers did not share the Pilgrims' faith, suffice it to say. Winston Churchill in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, wryly observed that the Strangers were "no picked band of saints."

So these were the settlers who boarded the Mayflower, which Dwight Eisenhower once characterized as "a ship that today no one in his senses would think of attempting to use." One can only imagine the hardships, the dangers, the doubts that they faced while crossing the north Atlantic. The ship leaked chronically. A main beam bowed and cracked. The passage took longer than expected—more than two months. Food and water (or beer, often the beverage of choice) ran dangerously low.

But somehow, through the grace of God and the skill of the crew, the Mayflower finally sighted land. Yet the dangers only multiplied. William Bradford, a Pilgrim leader whose Of Plymouth Plantation is our chief source for the Pilgrim story, recorded those dangers:

"They had now no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies; no houses or much less town to repair to, to seek for succor.… And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness…"

And to those physical dangers, you can add legal and political danger. While the Mayflower had found land, it was the wrong land. For, you see, the Pilgrims' patent extended to Virginia, but Cape Cod was hundreds of miles to the north. According to Bradford, "some of the Strangers," perhaps hoping to strike out on their own in search of riches, began to make "discontented and mutinous speeches." These Strangers asserted that "when they came ashore, they would use their own liberty; for none had the power to command them" in New England.

Maybe they had a point. But Pilgrim and Stranger alike also had a problem: they couldn't survive the "desolate wilderness" alone. Before landfall, then, they mutually worked out their differences and formed what Bradford modestly called "a combination."

This "combination" is known to us and history, of course, as the Mayflower Compact. But this little compact—fewer than two hundred words—was no mere "combination." It was America's very first constitution; indeed, in Calvin Coolidge's words, "the first constitution of modern times."

Likewise, Churchill called the Mayflower Compact "one of the more remarkable documents in history, a spontaneous covenant for political organization." High praise, coming from him, so it's worth reflecting a little more on a few points about the Compact.

First, while the Pilgrims affirmed their allegiance to England and the monarchy, they left little doubt about their priorities. The Compact begins with their traditional religious invocation: "In the name of God, Amen." They expressed as the ends of their arduous voyage, in order, "the Glory of God," the "advancement of the Christian faith," and only then the "honor of our King and Country." And much like the Founding Fathers' famous pledge to each other before "divine Providence" one hundred fifty-six years later, the Pilgrims covenanted with each other "solemnly and mutually in the presence of God."

Second, they respected each other as free and equal citizens. Whether Pilgrim or Stranger, the signatories covenanted together to form a government, irrespective of faith or station.

Third and related, that government would be self-government based on the consent of the governed. The Pilgrims did not anoint a patriarch; they formed a "civil body politic" based on "just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices." And immediately after signing the Compact, they conducted a democratic election to choose their first governor.

Fourth, again prefiguring the Declaration, the Pilgrims did not surrender all rights to that government. They promised "all due submission and obedience" to the new government—not their "total" or "unquestioning" or "permanent" submission and obedience. That obedience would presumably be "due" as long as the laws remained "just and equal," and the officers appointed performed their duties in "just and equal" manner.

Finally, even in that moment of great privation and peril, the Pilgrims turned their eyes upward to the higher, nobler ends of political society. They listed their "preservation" as an objective of their new government, but even before that came "our better ordering." The Pilgrims understood that liberty, prosperity, faith, and flourishing are only possible with order, and that while safety may be the first responsibility of government, it's not the highest or ultimate purpose of government. This new government would do more than merely protect the settlers or resolve their disputes; it would aim for "the general good of the Colony."

There, aboard that rickety old ship, tossed about in the cold New England waters, the Pilgrims foreshadowed in fewer than two hundred words so many cherished concepts of our nation. Faith in God and His providential protection. The natural equality of mankind. From many, one. Government by consent. The rule of law. Equality before the law, and the impartial administration of the law.

Little wonder, therefore, that Adams referred to the Mayflower Compact and the Pilgrims' arrival as the "birth-day of your nation." Or that Webster, despite all the settlements preceding Plymouth, said "the first scene of our history was laid" there.

But that history was only just beginning. The Pilgrims still had to conquer the "desolate wilderness" and establish their settlement. Considering the challenges, it's a wonder that they did. As Coolidge observed, though, the Compact "was not the most wonderful thing about the Mayflower. The most wonderful of all was that those who drew it up had the power, the determination, and the strength of character to live up to it from that day."

They would need all that and more to survive what has been called "the starving time." Upon landfall, the Pilgrims "fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean." But it would be a "sad and lamentable" winter of disease, starvation, and death, as half the settlers died and seldom more than half a dozen had the strength to care for the ill, provide food and shelter, and protect the camp.

As anyone who has endured a New England winter knows, at that rate there might not have been any camp left to protect by spring. But what can only be seen as a providential moment came in March, when a lone Indian walked boldly into their camp and greeted them in English. His name was Samoset. He had learned some broken English by working with English fishermen in the waters off what is now Maine. Samoset and the Pilgrims exchanged gifts, and he promised to return with another Indian, Squanto, who spoke fluent English.

Squanto's tribe had been wiped out a few years earlier by an epidemic plague; he now lived among the Wampanoag tribe in what is today southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The plague had also weakened the Wampanoags, though not neighboring, rival tribes. The Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, thus had good reason to form an alliance with the Pilgrims. Squanto introduced him to the settlers and facilitated their peace and mutual-aid treaty, which lasted more than fifty years.

Squanto remained with the Pilgrims, acting, in Bradford's words, as "their interpreter" and "a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectations." He instructed them on the cultivation of native crops like corn, squash, and beans. He showed them where to fish and hunt. He guided them on land and sea to new destinations.

And you probably remember what happened next. As the Pilgrims recovered and prospered throughout 1621, they received the blessings of a bountiful fall harvest. The Pilgrims entertained Massasoit and the Wampanoags and feasted with them, to express their gratitude to their allies and to give thanks to God for His abundant gifts. This meal, of course, was the First Thanksgiving.

Now, the Thanksgiving season is upon us and once again we have much to give thanks for. But this year we ought to be especially thankful for our ancestors, the Pilgrims, on their four hundredth anniversary. Their faith, their bravery, their wisdom places them in the American pantheon. Alongside the Patriots of 1776, the Pilgrims of 1620 deserve the honor of American founders.

Sadly, however, there appear to be few commemorations, parades, or festivals to celebrate the Pilgrims this year, perhaps in part because revisionist charlatans of the radical left have lately claimed the previous year as America's true founding. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Pilgrims and their Compact, like the Founders and their Declaration, form the true foundation of America.

So count me in Coolidge's camp. On this anniversary a century ago, he proclaimed, "it is our duty and the duty of every true American to reassemble in spirit in the cabin of the Mayflower, rededicate ourselves to the Pilgrims' great work by re-signing and reaffirming the document that has made mankind of all the earth more glorious."

Some—too many—may have lost the civilizational self-confidence needed to celebrate the Pilgrims. Just today, for instance, The New York Times called this story a "myth" and a "caricature"—in the Food Section, no less. Maybe the politically correct editors of the debunked 1619 Project are now responsible for pumpkin-pie recipes at the Times, as well.

But I for one still have the pride and confidence of our forebears, so here today, I speak in the spirit of that cabin and I reaffirm that old Compact.

As we head into the week of Thanksgiving, I'll be giving thanks this year in particular to "our Pilgrim Fathers" and the timeless lessons they bequeathed to our great nation. For as Coolidge observed, "Plymouth Rock does not mark a beginning or an end. It marks a revelation of that which is without beginning and without end."

May God continue to bless this land and may He bless the memory of the Pilgrims of 1620. I extend my best wishes to you and your family for a Thanksgiving as happy and peaceful as the First Thanksgiving.