November 17 (A Double)

1558 - Elizabeth I ascended to the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary (Bloody Mary).

Elizabeth is also known as 'The Virgin Queen' (since she never married or had children), 'Gloriana,' or 'Good Queen Bess'...She is also one of the few people in history to have an era named after her: 'The Elizabethan Era.'

Her reign proved to be one of the most important in English history, and saw the rise of England from a minor power to becoming one of the greatest powers ever.

1869 - The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and Red seas.

The importance of the Suez Canal cannot be minimized, because it allows direct, north-south trade between Europe and Asia without the need to go around the African continent.

Since the time of the Ancient Egyptians, attempts have been made to link the two continents through the Mediterranean water route, and at various times temporary canals have succeeded...It wasn't until the Suez Canal, however, that a permanent, reliable mode of passable transport was accomplished.

Sadly, the canal is in the middle of Jihadistan and has been, and will forever be, a tool used by Egypt and the Jihadists against the West.

1800 - The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington D.C. in the partially completed Capitol building.

The U.S. Congress is the greatest legislative body in the history of the world, even though it is, and has always been, filled with a bunch of lying, cheating, scoundrels...Which speaks volumes about the rest of the world.

1917 - Vladamir Lenin defended the "temporary" removal of freedom of the press.

Quite the funny guy, ol' Vlad was...There was no such thing as a 'temporary removal' of anything in the Soviet Onion (spelling by intent).

I'll never understand how the Beatles got away with singing "...you don't know how lucky you are, boy, back in the U.S.S.R." These dumb SOB's obviously never read Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

1956 - "We will bury you," said U.S.S.R. Premier Khrushchev at the end of a long speech given at the Polish Embassy in Moscow.

Nikki was a beauty, but he was a true believer in the communist system...And truly believed it would 'bury' the capitalist system.

Thankfully, he and the Soviet Hell Sate have long since been 'buried.'

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve legislation implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement in what was seen as a major political victory for President Clinton.

NAFTA is a complete mess, and the politics of it brought strange bedfellows together: The Republicans in Congress sided with Clinton, and the Democrats in Congress sided with traditional Conservatives.

I will say the acronym was at least proper: North American Frequent Trafficking of Aliens (NAFTA).