A Brief History On April 4, 2023, Finland became the 31st member of the NATO alliance, a pact originally meant to counter the threat from the USSR, consisting of 12 European and North American nations. NATO continued to grow after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, and several more nations are awaiting acceptance into the alliance, including Ukraine, with more nations considering applying for membership. Digging Deeper Back when the Cold War was still a thing, the communist bloc countered NATO with the Warsaw Pact, an alliance of the USSR and seven other communist states. The Warsaw Pact dissolved…
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A Brief History On April 2, 2021, a 25 year old African American “Black Nationalist,” Noah Green, murdered a US Capitol police officer and injured another when Green drove his car into the officer and a vehicle barricade at the US Capitol. Digging Deeper Green then attacked the police with a knife before being fatally shot by the police. This murderer’s aggression toward law enforcement officers was and is in no way unusual, as the police face such violence every day. In fact, there are many more ways police face danger than from violent attackers. In 2023, 123 US police…
A Brief History On March 30, 1855, pro-slavery raiders called “Border Ruffians” poured into Kansas from Missouri to sway elections in Kansas to pro-slavery. Digging Deeper Kansas became a state in 1861 that did not permit slavery. The admission of Kansas as a “free” state was a cause of the US Civil War, a topic that has become political kryptonite during the 2024 election year. Why did the US fight the Civil War? This question still baffles some of our contemporary politicians, and so today, we list some of the reasons. First, slavery was not the only issue, although it…
A Brief History On March 26, 1812, the first use of the term “gerrymander” appeared in the Boston-Gazette in conjunction with a political cartoon making fun of the ridiculous boundaries drawn for new Massachusetts Senate election districts. The name came from the name of the governor, Elbridge Gerry and the likeness of a salamander that a district resembled. Digging Deeper The idea behind gerrymandering is to create voting precincts or districts that maximize the chance of a certain political party to have representatives elected. Minority parties’ populations are split up to avoid any one or more places where they might…
A Brief History On March 22, 2024, the Princess of Wales, Catherine Middleton Windsor, the wife of the future King of the UK, William, Prince of Wales, announced that she is being treated for an unspecified cancer discovered during her recent abdominal surgery. Digging Deeper Princess Kate, as she is usually known as, is a beautiful and popular addition to the Royal Family and has borne Prince William a pair of sons and a daughter. The future Queen of the UK, Kate has campaigned for mental health awareness and has earned the respect of her country and the world. We…