Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On January 23, 1795, one of the most unusual battles in history took place when a force of French cavalry galloped across the frozen Zuiderzee to capture 14 Dutch ships and seize 850 guns (cannon). Known as The Battle of Texel, or otherwise known as The Capture of the Dutch Fleet at Den Helder, the action took place during The War of the First Coalition, one of a series of wars that started with the French Revolution and ended with The War of the Seventh Coalition when Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at Waterloo in 1915. Digging Deeper…

A Brief History On January 22, 1917, President of the United States Woodrow Wilson called upon the warring European nations to end the Great War (World War I) in a “peace without victory.”  At this stage of the war, the major combatant nations had invested so many lives and so much national treasure that to quit without victory was political suicide for the leaders.  Wilson, with the US still neutral at that point, was clearly wasting his breath.  Wilson’s plea is just one of many times someone made an effort at peace despite having virtually no chance at actually gaining…

A Brief History On January 21, 2018, in the earliest hours of the day, suburban Cleveland native Stipe Miocic successfully defended his UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) mixed martial arts (MMA) title for the third consecutive time, the first MMA heavyweight to accomplish this feat. At the UFC 220 event held in Boston, Massachusetts on January 20, 2018 (spilling over past midnight), Miocic faced the fearsome puncher Francis Ngannou in the main event. Digging Deeper Miocic, a Croatian-American from Euclid, Ohio, works part-time as an EMT and firefighter for a couple Cleveland suburbs.  A clean cut and popular champion, he first…

A Brief History On January 21, 1997, an historic event took place when the sitting Speaker of the US House of representatives, Newton Leroy “Newt” Gingrich of Georgia, was reprimanded by his peers by a vote of 395 to 28 for “ethics violations.”  Gingrich was the first Speaker ever censured by the House, a shameful blot on the record of just one more shady politician!  A phony and a hypocrite, it is hard to believe Newt Gingrich was once only 2 heartbeats away from being President! Digging Deeper Born in Pennsylvania, Newt’s parents (mother age 16 and father age 19…

A Brief History On January 20, 1920, a new organization devoted to the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution of the United States (and its amendments) was formed from the National Civil Liberties Bureau, an organization formed in 1917 to protect the Freedom of Speech, mainly by those Americans opposed to the US joining in World War I.  With the motto, “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself” the ACLU is a premier civil rights organization active all over the United States, supporting the rights of a wide variety of Americans in a wide variety of causes. Digging Deeper Among…