May 10 (A Triple)

1521 - Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes began the siege of Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City).

Cortes surely wasn’t Quetzalcoatl, but the fact he conquered the Aztecs and their million man empire with his 600 man, 20 horse and 10 cannon force is almost godly. At the very least it was an Alexandrian effort...Having tons of moxie, as well as gunpowder, luck, and superstition, was helpful - but smallpox was Cortes' best ally.

1607 - The first permanent English colony in North America, the Jamestown Settlement, was founded near what is today Williamsburg, Virginia.

This settlement could have easily had the same fate as the 'Lost Colony of Roanoke Island'...Thankfully it didn’t and Anglo-American history took hold from this point.

1940 - Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.
 
The Krauts invaded Western Europe, Neville Chamberlain resigned as P.M., and the Brits threw a 'Hail Mary' - named Winston!

Very few British citizens wanted Churchill to ever get close to the top spot; even fewer politicians did - even among his own Conservative Party...But he was a man of extremes (genius and crazy), and the Nazi invasion of Western Europe called for extreme measures.

The Soviets and Americans did the heavy lifting when it came to defeating Germany, but it was Winston Churchill who kept the Nazis from winning the war...He was able to string the Germans out across the map, buying space and time - allowing the Germans and their allies to make strategic mistakes; strategic mistakes no one could have predicted, but mistakes the Brits have always been able to create for their enemy in times of extremis.

Most important, Churchill refused to surrender.  Decades later it's easy to say 'of course the Brits didn't surrender', but at the time there were many who thought it was a smart idea; an inevitable reality - including many Brits...Winston refused to surrender, offering only "blood, toil, tears and sweat", and truly helped save the world from "the abyss of a new dark age."

1497 - Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sailed on his first voyage to the New World. America was named after him.

This was a strange twist of history, because the New World should have been called Columbia.

FYI: America was originally going to be called Americus, but was changed to America (the female version) instead.

1752 - Benjamin Franklin first tested the lightning rod.

Franklin was a true genius - the Da Vinci of his time...It's incredible so many difference-making men appeared in the American Colonies in such a short period of time.

It's impossible to rank the American revolutionaries in order of importance, but Ben Franklin belongs in the top two or three easily.

1775 - The Second Continental Congress named George Washington supreme commander of the revolutionary forces.

Like Franklin, above, Washington is one of those 'top three' guys...Actually, the top guy.

The congress didn't pick a perfect general, but it did pick a perfect supreme commander for this war.

1801 - The First Barbary War began:  The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declared war on the U.S.

"...to the shores of Tripoli."

Our young Navy and Marines proved themselves more than worthy, and set a precedent for the U.S. not being messed with...Until modern times, that is.

1837 - The Panic of 1837.

Recessions and depressions have come and gone through all of American history.  None were 'good times', but they were a by-product of America's tremendous growth.  Luckily, they were always followed by more times of growth...Only in the last couple decades have we become so pathetic as to think things have never been so bad, which is part of the reason our recoveries have been so poor.

1863 - Confederate General Stonewall Jackson died after being accidentally shot by his own troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville:  U.S. Civil War.

A great general met his end.  Only Lee was more important to the Confederate cause...It's not surprising, his troops and country started a downward slide from this point on.

1869 - The 'golden spike' was driven at Promontory Point, Utah, joining the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific lines to form America's first transcontinental railway.

The Gold Rush was huge, but linking the nation via rail was the source of the population boom in the American West.

Amazingly, California alone comprises 1/8 of the current U.S. population...And that doesn’t even include the illegals.

1924 - J. Edgar Hoover became FBI Director.

Hoover was an extremely important person in American history, but no one should hold a government post for 48-years...New blood is vital to any organization, especially in doing the 'people’s business.'

1940 - Germany invaded France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg:  WWII.

It’s hard to believe the French surrendered almost as quickly as the other three...Something to keep in mind when marveling at the Brits holding out alone for the next year.

1941 - Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission:  WWII.

Hess was Deputy Fuhrer of the Third Reich, and technically only behind Hitler and Goering on the Nazi food-chain.

In reality, however, Hess was a 'deputy' without duties, nothing more than Hitler’s lapdog, and by fleeing he saved his tail from the real power-brokers in the Reich: Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Heydrich, Borman, etc., who would have eventually swallowed him up.

1969 - The Battle of Hamburger Hill began: Vietnam War.

This was a controversial battle, but in no way a large-scale, strategic or tactically important battle...It was a meat-grinder, however.

1984 - The International Court of Justice said the U.S. should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua's ports. The U.S. previously said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue.

Thankfully we had a president in Ronald Reagan who told the globalists to stick it up their arse.

Do you think any of the (D)-boys would have done this? Jimmy (D) Carter, William (D) Clinton, John (D). Kerry, Barack (D) Obama? Hell NO!!

American sovereignty trumps any global authority and we run serious risks of losing such sovereignty every time we elect a Democrat president.

1993 - Members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee visited the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia for a hearing on the issue of homosexuals in the military.  Most of the sailors said they favored keeping the ban on gays.

I was in the military and can guarantee you many more than 'most of the sailors (military)' don’t want gays in the service...Probably over 95% of them would say NO WAY!!

1994 - The state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.

Good riddance to serial killers.

It’s hard to believe a bunch of Liberal pukes protested the execution of this human piece of crap, but they did...Per normal, they were on the wrong side of humanity.

Oh, and I'm sure these same scum would fight like hell for the right to execute the unborn.

2000 - High winds drove what began as a deliberately set fire into a New Mexico canyon, forcing the evacuation of the entire town of Los Alamos and its 11,000 residents. The fire was set to contain an earlier blaze intended to clear brush.

Nice 'controlled burn.'