Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On April 7, 1868, one year after he helped Canada achieve a measure of independence in the formation of the Canadian Confederation, Irish immigrant to the United States and then Canada, Thomas D’Arcy Etienne Grace Hughes McGee, was assassinated by Patrick J. Whelan, a Fenian Irish nationalist.  McGee goes down in history as one of the Founding Fathers of Canada, what they call the Fathers of Confederation. Digging Deeper Ironically, McGee, born and raised in Ireland as a Catholic that hated the British rule over the Emerald Isle, fought against that British rule for Irish independence and…

A Brief History On April 6, 1888, Thomas Green Clemson died, leaving his fortune for the establishment of The Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, the college that became Clemson University.  Ranked #24 among all public universities in the United States by US News and World Report magazine, Clemson University is much more than just a college football powerhouse.  So happy are Clemson graduates with the education they received there, the school ranks #3 in the US for the percentage of alumni that donate back to the university.  And yet this wonderful institution of learning was founded by a man…

A Brief History On April 3, 2017, an alleged Uzbek/Russian terrorist set off a suicide bomb on a Russian rapid transit train (called the Metro), killing himself and about 15 other people, as well as injuring another 4 dozen or so.  Luckily, a second bomb failed to detonate and was later defused by police bomb technicians.  Once again, a deranged, homicidal person proved that such people do not need guns to commit mass murder. Digging Deeper The suspected terrorist, Akbarzhon Jalilov, was born in Kyrgystan and was of Uzbek ethnic nationality.  He was reportedly upset with the Russian involvement in…

A Brief History On April 2, 1863, Southern women in Richmond, Virginia were at their wits end and had had enough, or more accurately had NOT had enough, because they and their families were starving for lack of food (aka, bread).  Rioting in the Confederate capital ensued, with men, women and children destroying property and looting stores.  Bread riots had become all too common in the American South during the Civil War (what my Southern friends call “The War of Northern Aggression.”), and the Richmond riots were the worst.  (See our article “10 Goofy Named Riots” for more riot history.)…

A Brief History On March 31, 1918, Daylight Saving Time (DST) went into effect for the first time.  For the first time, Americans would be told to “Spring Ahead!” and clocks across the nation had to change by 1 hour in advance.  First things first!  The term is “Daylight Saving Time,” NOT “Daylight Savings Time.”  (This common error seems to drive some people absolutely nuts, so if you have a bit of the devil in you, go ahead and add the unnecessary “S” and watch the fireworks begin.) Digging Deeper The idea of changing the clocks is to get an…