May 17 (A Double)

1756 - Britain declared war on France, beginning the Seven Years War - known as the French and Indian War in North America.

Victory in this war greatly expanded Britain’s empire, but also played a large role in the beginning of the American Revolution.

Much of the war was fought in the American colonies, and the Brits leaned very heavily on the colonial population (taxes, direct housing, feeding its troops, and pressing the population into service), which increased colonial discontent with the mother country...It is also where George Washington got his first real schooling in war - even though he performed miserably it was a good education.

1954 - Brown v. Topeka Board of Education: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled racially segregated public schools are inherently unequal.  Overturning the court's 1896 'Plessy v. Ferguson' ruling.

Of course segregation creates 'unequal' conditions...That said, it's interesting how the public has 'self segregated' schools (whites, blacks, Hispanic, etc) without any mandate from the government?

It is unfortunate, but it is normal...So maybe it's not unfortunate - it just is what it is.

1792 - The New York Stock Exchange was established when a group of 24 brokers and merchants met by a tree on what is now Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.

From a meager beginning came the largest financial market in the history of the world...For better or worse.

1809 - Napoleon annexed the Papal States.

Just another in a long line of French interference in Papal politics.

1938 - The U.S. Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act - providing for a two-ocean navy.

This seems to be a common-sense decision, but prior to this time the U.S. thought it could avoid the rest of the worlds conflicts...We were terribly unprepared when entering WWII in 1941, but thankfully due to this act had enough foresight to have the logistics in place to fight a two ocean war.

1946 - President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.

One year after WWII ended and the unions couldn't wait to go on strike? Typical.

Truman may or may not have been correct in grabbing the railroads, but he wasn't afraid to make decisions.
 
1961 - Fidel Castro offered to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers.

Such is the value of human life in communist nations.

1994 - The U.N. Security Council approved a peacekeeping force and an arms embargo for violence-racked Rwanda.

How gracious of the U.N...After sitting on their thumbs and watching 800,000 people be executed in a 13-week period, they decided to 'help.'

”France, a close ally of the Hutu government in Rwanda, has been accused of sending them military support both before and during the genocide. Although France did send 2,500 soldiers to Rwanda before withdrawing, which estimated saving 15,000 to 17,000 lives, the U.N. forces were unable to save twice as many lives before withdrawing their troops as well.”

What a sad joke...The U.N., that is.

1996 - President Bill Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. 'Megan's Law' is named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and slain in 1994.

This sounds nice, and is better than the previous system, but there is no way sex offenders should be released on the public...They are every bit as bad as murderers, because they kill their victim’s spirit, and should be executed.

2004 - In Massachusetts, same-sex couples exchanged marriage vows for the first time in the United States.

Time will tell how this affects our nation.  I can't imagine how it will be positive, but I could be wrong.