A Brief History On April 9, 2017, Dr. David Dao, age 69, found out how bad flying on commercial airlines can be when he was forcibly dragged off of a United Express jet to make room for United employees. Digging Deeper This incident shows our point, that flying commercial can be a horrible experience. Here are some more recent examples: In January 2024, a door panel blew off of a Boeing 737 while in flight, terrifying passengers and sucking property out of the jet. Christmas Eve of 2023 brought no joy to a Delta flight that had a passenger poop…
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A Brief History On February 24, 2022, days after recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Digging Deeper Russia’s invasion has had five major phases thus far. The first phase covers the period from February 24th, 2022, when Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, to April 7th, 2022 when fighting focused away from the northeast and Kyiv and towards the south and east of Ukraine. The second phase covers the period from April 8th, 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of…
A Brief History On April 8, 1945, in the waning weeks of World War II, a German train transporting about 4,000 concentration camp inmates, including Ukrainians, Poles, Russians, Dutch, and French nationals, was accidentally bombed by an Allied air raid targeting German military rail traffic. Digging Deeper By April of 1945, Allied air forces ruled the skies over Germany and a favorite target was railroad trains. On the fateful day cited here, the prison train was next to an ammunition train in a rail yard at Celle, in Prussian Hanover. The ammo train was hit, and the explosions killed many…
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 6, 2017, President Trump ordered an attack against Shayrat Airbase in Syria. The 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles sent by the US impacted early on April 7th and killed about 16 Syrian troops while destroying between 9 and 20 aircraft and a SAM missile battery. Digging Deeper Those cruise missiles cost a cool $2 million apiece to deliver 1,000 pounds of explosives as far as 2,500 km away. Modern weapons are not cheap, and even private citizens are aghast at the cost of rifle and pistol ammo at their local sporting goods stores. Some weapons’ prices…
