Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers were kidnapped and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi, an event commemorated in the 1988 feature film, Mississippi Burning.  Advocating or campaigning for civil rights of various groups of people has been an historically dangerous business.  Many people engaged in the struggle for civil rights throughout history have been murdered or executed for their efforts.  Here we list 10 such people who have been martyred in the cause of freedom.   Digging Deeper 10. Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman, 1964. A 21 year old African-American from Mississippi and 2 Jewish New Yorkers…

A Brief History On June 21, 1944, the US Navy was basking in the glow of an enormous victory over the Japanese Imperial Navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.  Yesterday we told you about this battle (The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot) in which we suggested the US aircraft were superior to the Japanese aircraft at this time.  US aircraft developed during the war much faster than did those of Japan, changing the qualitative edge from Japan to the US.  Meanwhile, the Royal Navy was also developing improved models of their own naval aviation planes, though they had used “string…

A Brief History On June 21, 1919, the reactionary establishment of the city of Winnipeg, the province of Manitoba, and the federal government of Canada overreacted to a peaceful labor strike and attacked striking workers (largely war veterans) with the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Digging Deeper While World War I raged,  many Canadian young men left their families and jobs and went to fight in the war.  Upon their return, they found businesses had profited immensely from the war, and a flood of immigrants had taken their jobs.  Compounding the problem was the “Spanish” Influenza epidemic that made huge portions…

A Brief History On June 20, 1991, the German Bundestag moved the capital of the newly reunified Germany back to Berlin from Bonn.  For a variety of reasons, countries and states occasionally change their capital cities.  Here we list 10 of those incidents.  There is no significance to the order listed.  Digging Deeper 10.  Bonn-Berlin, Germany, 1991. When Germany was split after World War II into East and West Germany, each had their own capital, Bonn in the West and East Berlin in the East.  Upon reunification after the fall of the communist Soviet bloc, the government was moved into…

A Brief History On June 20, 2001, a Texas mother of 5, former high school valedictorian and swim team captain, decided she had to save her children from Satan.  Her solution to the “problem” was to drown all 5 of the unfortunate youngsters in the family bathtub. Digging Deeper Almost 37 years old at the time of the tragedy, Andrea Yates suffered from bulimia and depression as a teen despite her academic and athletic success.  Going to nursing school and getting a job as an RN, Yates seemed on course to have a decent life when she married in 1993. …