May 5

1260 - Kublai Khan became ruler of the Mongol Empire.
 
Kublai was Genghis Khan's grandson, and proved to be one of the greatest Mongol leaders; ruling until 1294, and founding the Yuan Dynasty in China...That said, his insistence on consolidating his rule in Mongolia and China was one of the reasons for the dissolution of the Mongol Empire - which became splintered from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe.
 
It's unfortunate most Westerners - myself included - are ignorant about the Mongol Empire, but one thing most of us are familiar with is Marco Polo's travels to China...Marco was a guest at Kublai Khan's court.

614 - The Persians captured Jerusalem and seized the 'True Cross.'

"According to Christian tradition, the True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. According to medieval legend, the True Cross was built from the Tree of Jesse (father of King David), which became identified with the Tree of Knowledge that had grown in the Garden of Eden."

You can imagine Christians were pissed to have this fall to the Persians...I hope you also know Islam was in its infancy, and Persia certainly wasn’t a Muslim nation at this time.

1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the island of St. Helena.

He went to the island in 1815 (for a second time)...How was he not executed? These Euro’s are pathetic.

1862 - The Battle of Puebla: Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeated French troops sent by Napoleon III.

What a pathetic event for the French...But not surprising considering the ridiculous state of the French military after the fall of Napoleon.

- 1870 = Prussian debacle.
- 1914-18 = WWI (didn’t lose, but surely didn’t win).
- 1941 = Rolled over like a cheap whore for the Germans.
- 1954 = Whipped by the Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu (FYI: The U.S. wasn’t beaten in Nam, it quit - which is actually worse.)

No wonder the Frenchies wanted no part of the war in Iraq. Besides the bribes of course.

By the way, Cinco de Mayo is proof we have too many illegals in the U.S....Think I'm wrong? Then name me a Canadian national holiday celebrated in any fashion in the U.S.

1864 - The Battle of the Wilderness began:  American Civil War. General Lee had just over 60,000 men against Grant's 100,000 men, but the Confederates heavily defeated the Federal troops who lost over 17,000 men.

Lee won the battle, but like every battle from 1864-65 he couldn’t afford the losses associated with his 'victory.'

Grant may have lost 17,000, but at the end of the battle he still had 83,000 troops, more than Lee started with, which was Grants overall strategy...It was costly but as long as Grant was willing to do put his men into battle, Lincoln knew he couldn’t fail in the long run.

1892 - The U.S. Congress passed the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act, which required Chinese in the United States to be registered, or face deportation.

How horrible to single the Chinese out like this...We need a Foreigner Exclusion Act, which requires all foreigners to be registered or be deported.

Every American is registered at birth (Birth Certificate and SS#), so why is it unreasonable to expect every non-American to be registered as well?

1893 - The 'Panic of 1893' hit the New York Stock Exchange.

You mean there were recessions and depressions before 1929 and 2008?  How long were they?  Were they as long as the Great Depression and Great Recession?  Of course not...Because they weren't 'fixed' by government intervention.

1912 - The first issue of the Soviet Communist Party newspaper 'Pravda' was published.

I’m sure the LA and NY Times, along with other American Commie rags, celebrate this day like no other.

1925 - Biology teacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution in violation of Tennessee state laws.

In less than 100 years we went from one extreme to another. Now a teacher would be fired for teaching anything other than evolution...The sooner we get to a happy medium of teaching both, the better we will be.

1932 - Japan and China signed a peace treaty.

Such is the value of paper...Japan invaded Manchuria in September 1931 and this treaty was little more than a stop-gap until they looked to take more of China.

1936 - Italian troops under Field Marshal Badoglio took Addis Ababa in Ethiopia (Abyssinia).

The grand Italian Army was flexing its muscle by conquering the great world power of Ethiopia...What a joke.

Amazingly this conquest impressed Hitler, who believed Italy would be a strong ally.

1942 - Sales of sugar resumed in the United States under a rationing program:  WWII.

How un-American for sugar to be withheld from any citizen...I can’t believe the ACLU didn’t step in and fight for the right to make as much Kool-Aid as we wanted.

A different time. A better time. A pre-psycho Liberal America.

1945 - In the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children.

They bombed the American mainland!!! Imagine if we hadn’t dropped the A-Bombs and they had been successful in their atomic or bio/chem program...These balloons were tests to see if it could be done.

1987 - The U.S. government began a year-long amnesty program, offering citizenship to illegal immigrants who met certain conditions.

It was supposed to be a 'year long'...The offer of citizenship ended, but the illegal immigrants have never quit coming. In fact they are coming more than ever in the hope another 'offer' will eventually come.

I hate to admit it, but Reagan really blew it on this one.

1994 - Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Clinton, who considered the punishment too harsh.

We’d have a lot less crime here in the U.S. if we’d be a little more harsh...Funny though, Clinton didn’t think lighting up Waco was too harsh. Hmmm!