A Brief History On January 10, 49 B.C., Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River as he marched toward the city of Rome with his legions.  Since it was forbidden to cross the Rubicon with an army, it was seen as a threat to the Republic, and by doing so, Caesar made a bold statement about his intentions to seize power.  Ever since, when we say someone has “crossed the Rubicon,” we are talking about someone who has taken a fateful and irreversible step, such as when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  A point of no return if you will, what aviators call the “Bingo”…

A Brief History Dear Readers, As events in Paris, France unfold, this past week has been particularly tragic for free speech and journalists.  We mourn the loss of our fellow writers and fellow human beings and condemn any attack on free speech and on civilization in general. Digging Deeper Yet, we also do not want our spirits to be overwhelmed by sadness. And so, to bring a smile to our faces, in the two videos below, we also look back at the funniest media moments from this past year where hopefully the reporters were able to laugh at themselves as much as we…

A Brief History On January 9, 1941, the premier British bomber of World War II, the Avro Lancaster, made its maiden flight.  “The Lanc,” as it was known, was the main British bomber that carried the war to Germany. Digging Deeper With its enormous bomb bay, the Lancaster was capable of carrying the biggest bomb load and the largest single bomb.  It was the only airplane of the war that could haul “blockbuster” giant bombs of 8,000, 12,000, and 22,000 pounds, while also carrying all the conventional bombs as well as anti-ship mines, incendiaries (fire bombs), and the “dam buster” specialty…

A Brief History On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson announced his “War on Poverty,” just one more of the “wars” lost by the United States.  50 years later, poverty still exists, despite the U.S. government having spent trillions of tax dollars to combat it.  Far from being an invincible superpower, the United States has actually lost many wars, and here we list 10 of them.  Depending on your politics and opinions, you may not agree with all of them.   Digging Deeper 10.  War on Poverty. With the U.S. poverty rate at 17% when the initiatives introduced by Johnson were…

A Brief History A few days ago, we featured an article hailing mixed martial artist Jon Jones for having cemented his position as greatest light heavyweight champion ever.   Digging Deeper Unfortunate news has come out on Tuesday, January 6, 2015, that he had tested positive for cocaine use in a pre-fight drug test (the results of which were only made public after the fight).  As can be read here, the MMA community is deeply disappointed by this news.  Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: The full consequences of this revelation are yet to be revealed, but we ask our…