Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On October 20, 2022, British Prime Minister Liz Truss was obliged to step down after only 49 days as head of government, the shortest reign of any British Prime Minister.  Some other incredibly brief stints of being in charge include: Digging Deeper William Henry Harrison was President of the US for only 32 days, dying of some sort of cold or illness, possibly contracted from not wearing a coat or hat during his inauguration ceremony and two hour speech during cold and wet weather. Karl Dönitz got to be in charge of Germany in the final 24…

A Brief History On October 18, 2019, a recent hike in subway fares served as the tipping point for disaffected citizens of Santiago, Chile, upset about a variety of social issues they had been protesting for the previous couple weeks turning into a full-scale set of riots and battles with authorities that claimed 36 lives, 11,564 injuries, and 28,000 people arrested. Digging Deeper We have previously discussed many riots over all sorts of seemingly minor causes, although few such social battles have matched the scale of the Chile Riots of 2019 to 2020.  The massive protests caused Chileans to vote…

A Brief History On October 17, 2018, an 18-year-old student went on a shooting rampage at the Kerch Polytechnic College, in Crimea, killing 20 people and himself while wounding another 67. Digging Deeper As we have previously reported, mass shootings and school shootings are not an American phenomenon.  Using a pump action shotgun, the shooter fired for about 15 minutes before ending his rampage.   The teen also exploded a nail bomb, although several other pipe bombs that he had placed were deactivated by the responding military. Russia had illegally occupied the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, despite condemnation from other nations.…

A Brief History On October 14, 2021, John Deere & Company was hit by a labor strike, with 10,000 American employees walking off the job.  The UAW agreed to a new contract a month later. The John Deere strike pales in comparison to the biggest strikes by American workers. Digging Deeper The US does not even make the top 10 countries with the most days lost to strike in recent years, but certainly has seen some major labor strikes, including: The 1959 Steel Workers Strike with 500,000 workers off work for four months, The 1922 Railroad Shop Workers Strike with…

A Brief History On October 13, 1307, King Philip the Fair of France had hundreds of the Knights Templar arrested on trumped up charges of heresy, even though Pope Clement knew the charges were false! Digging Deeper King Phillip IV of France was known as “Phillip the Fair,” but the nickname was based on his good looks, not his equitableness . His critics called him “The Iron King” and perhaps less flattering epithets. Reigning from 1284 to 1305, Phillip engaged in wars with England and with Flanders as well.  Driving the country and the throne into financial straits, Phillip found…