Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On August 1, 1714, the British people dug deep, really deep, in order to select their next King when Queen Anne died.  Bypassing more than 50 people higher on the royal ladder to the crown in order to select a Protestant instead of settling for a Catholic, George, Elector of Hanover (Germany), became King of Great Britain!  How could so many people higher in the normal hereditary order of succession (the real term for this is primogeniture, but we figure most of our readers are not Professors of History like Dr. Zar!) be passed over?  Simply because…

A Brief History On July 30, 1419, The First Defenestration of Prague took place, which of course, means there was a second Defenestration!  Prague, the capital in what was then called Bohemia and today the capital of the Czech Republic, is a vibrant city as the seat of government today, just as it was back in 1419.  Why would such a beautiful city be the scene of violence? Digging Deeper First of all, we must let you know what “defenestration” means.  Not a word you hear every day although the action described by it is not all that unusual.  (Drum…

A Brief History On July 26, 2016, a bizarre mass killing near Tokyo was reported in which a 26 year old man, a former employee of a facility for disabled people, went to that facility at 2:30 am local time on July 26, 2016 (still July 25 in Eastern Daylight Time) and killed 19 people with a knife and wounded about 26 more.  Police arrived too late to stop the mayhem, and the perpetrator turned himself in at the local police department.  Once again, we have tragic proof that a deranged person does not need a gun to commit mass…

A Brief History On July 23, 1973, American pilot and national hero, Eddie Rickenbacker, died at the age of 82, later buried in his native Columbus, Ohio, the city of his birth.  Rickenbacker was the leading American flying “Ace” in World War I, having shot down 26 enemy aircraft and being awarded the most medals of any American war hero of World War I, including the coveted Medal of Honor.  Prior to his wartime exploits, Rickenbacker had been a premier race car driver and automotive designer.  After various other pursuits, Rickenbacker became the head of Eastern Airlines in 1935, a…

A Brief History On July 18, 1290, King Edward I of England, also known as “Edward Longshanks” or alternatively “The Hammer of the Scots,” issued the Edict of Expulsion, a royal decree ordering all Jews out of England.  At the time, about 16,000 Jews resided in not so Merry Old England.  Along with so many other pogroms, massacres, and forcible expulsions, Jewish people have had such a history of discrimination and exclusion that they have their own day of fasting and remembrance of various calamities and disasters, called Tisha B’Av, known as the “saddest day on the Jewish calendar.” Digging…