Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On April 17, 1912, Russian Imperial soldiers fired on a crowd of protesting goldfield workers in Siberia that were upset about the arrest of their strike committee.  Perhaps 270 striking workers were killed and a similar number wounded.  Such brutal treatment ultimately led to the Russian Revolution and the formation of the USSR, a self-described “workers’ paradise.” Digging Deeper Soviet authorities, especially the Cheka secret police, killed protesting and striking workers on a grand scale, both by gunning down workers and by executing arrested workers.  Killings of disgruntled workers and soldiers included drowning as well as shooting!…

A Brief History On April 7, 1141, the daughter of King Henry I of England, Matilda, became the first female to rule England when she had already been known as “Empress Matilda.”  Why the title “Empress?”  Because she was the “Holy Roman Empress, Queen consort of the Romans.” Digging Deeper Born in England around 1102, she was sent to Germany to become the child bride of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.  Widowed at the age of 23, her father married her to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, known as “The Handsome.” The “Game of Thrones” that was the English monarchy…

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…

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…