May 29

1453 - The Byzantine Empire fell to Turkish Sultan Mehemet II, who captured Constantinople.

This is the 'real date' of the Fall of the Roman Empire...The Western capital (Rome) fell in the 5th Century, but the Eastern capital lasted for almost another 1,000 years.

It's sad this isn't properly taught in schools. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not - probably not.

The splendor of the Byzantines was every bit as impressive as that of Rome, and the power of the Roman Empire was centered in the East long before the West fell.

Unfortunately, I see no way the West ever regains this magnificent piece of territory...Not so much because the Islamic world is so powerful, but because the West has become to pathetic to reclaim it.

1765 - Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses. Responding to a cry of "Treason!," Henry replied, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"

Henry is one of my favorite Patriots, and one of the leading advocates of revolution...Check out some of his famous quotes, and you'll see why I'm so fond of him.

1864 - Archduke Maximilian of Austria arrived in Mexico to become Emperor.

Gotta love the a Euros trying to reestablish themselves in the Western Hemisphere while the U.S. was in the middle of a civil war.

It's too bad Lincoln didn't have a few extra divisions to send to Mexico and mop up on these pukes...Pathetically, the Euro-scum couldn't even handle the Mexican force, which tossed them out.

1943 - Meat and cheese rationing began in the U.S.:  WWII.

CALL OUT THE ACLU(seless)...How dare the government restrict anyone's liberty of eating meat and cheese!!!

Of course we were in the middle of a world war, but this would mean nothing to the current group of anti-American POS's...In fact, they'd probably be crying we had no business fighting Germany, because they didn't attack us.

2001 - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of Elkhart v. Books, letting stand the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that the display of the Ten Commandments on an Elkhart, Indiana, city monument was in violation of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

How ridiculous!! Most of the laws we have are based on a scriptural reference or concept...And the Bible (Old and New) has always been a motivating force behind American justice.

I'm sure they'd have no problem if a judge decided to post the Code of Hammurabi, though! Which was codification of religious laws as well, but it isn't Judeo-Christian so it would pass...Hell, they'd probably allow Sharia to be posted, as well.

May 11

330 - Constantinople, named after Emperor Constantine and built over the ancient city of Byzantium, was dedicated as the new capital of the Roman Empire.

This was one of the greatest cities in the ancient world, and succeeded Rome as capital of the 'Roman Empire' after the fall of the Western Empire...I hope you understand the Roman Empire was much greater than Rome itself, and continued on for another thousand years after the 'fall of Rome.'

If you did not know this, you must come back to this blog more regularly.

You should also know, this great city is now Istanbul, Turkey.

1864 - The Battle of Yellow Tavern: U.S. Civil War.  J.E.B. Stuart was mortally wounded.

Lee lost Stonewall at Chancellorsville, and here he lost his next most trusted commander...Stuart was no Stonewall, but those who followed him weren’t his equal either; the result of which was another factor in the final Confederate defeat.

1960 - Israeli agents captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

Eichmann was a special Nazi, as Head of the Gestapo Jewish Section (Final Solution), with the nickname of 'Chief Executioner of the Reich'...He escaped his day at Nuremberg but could not run forever from the Nazi Hunters, and received justice at the end of a rope in 1962.

Eichmann's last words: "I was just following orders."

That's what they all said.

1994 - Arkansas put to death two convicted murderers.  It was the first time a state executed two people on the same day since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to restore the death penalty in 1976.

What a beautiful day...Every murderer and  every rapist should be executed, and the more they do per-day the better.

1995 - A United Nations conference indefinitely extended the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was originally set to expire after 25 years.

Hahahaha!! What a waste of time...These ‘pie-in-the-sky’ morons have such wonderful ideas, but exactly how are they going to prevent nations from joining the Nuke Club?

Truth is, if the U.S. doesn't stop other nations from getting nukes, no one will...Least of all the clowns at the U.N.

April 12 (A Double)

1861 - The American Civil War began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina.

Lincoln would have loved to have crushed the Confederates in the month of April, but he didn’t have the forces (much of the U.S. Army was from the South and remained with the Confederacy), nor did he have adequate leadership...This was the reality of the time, which resulted in a four year war instead of a short one.

1945 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage, and was succeeded by Vice President Harry S Truman.

As far as the war effort went this was a positive for the U.S., even though the Germans and Japanese saw it as a possible ray of hope for themselves...They couldn't understand the U.S. isn't defined by its leader, and thought the war might have turned in their favor, which was wishful and stupid thinking.

FDR’s health was horrible, and he should never have run for a fourth term - nor a third to be honest. Luckily he chose Truman as his V.P., a man with the testicular fortitude to do what was necessary to end the war, including pulling the trigger on the 'Atom Bombs.'

1204 - The Fourth Crusaders captured Constantinople and mercilessly sacked it.

Most don’t understand this event, because they weren't properly taught history...Which is why you must come here every day.

At the time, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, a Christian city, not an Islamic city - it is Istanbul, Turkey, today.

Why did the Crusaders sack it? Pure greed and blood lust. There was no logical, logistical, tactical or strategic reason. They simply did it because they could - and it was an opportunity to take a few shots at the Orthodox Patriarch and Byzantine Emperor.

1782 - The Battle of Saints: The British Navy won its only naval engagement against the Colonists in the American Revolution, off the coast of Dominica.

The war was all but over, but the Brits figured they might as well give the Americans a going away present.

1864 - The Fort Pillow Massacre: General Nathan Bedford Forrest's men slaughtered black Union troops:  U.S. Civil War.

General Forrest was one of the most brilliant Civil War commanders, and one of the most bizarre - he's also one of my favorite to study...He was a slave trader, an untrained soldier who entered the war as a volunteer, the most feared commander by the Union, and the most hated by his own Confederate leaders.

He was also the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

All that said, the Fort Pillow Massacre has as many versions to the story as there were participants in the event, and I’d advise you to read up on NBF and the battle.

1935 - Germany prohibited the publishing of 'non-Aryan' writers.

Why these clowns decided on the term 'Aryan' instead of Germanic or Nordic is beyond me.

Aryan = An English word derived from the Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan term arya, meaning 'noble' or 'lord.' In the 19th century, the term was often used to refer to what we now call the Proto-Indo-Europeans. More accurately, and more modernly, Aryan refers to the Indo-Iranian language sub-family, or to its Indian sub-branch known as Indo-Aryan (Iranian).

I highly doubt this was Hitler's aim...But no one ever accused the Nazi’s of historical accuracy.

1944 - The U.S. Twentieth Air Force was activated to begin the strategic bombing of Japan:  WWII.

By this time Japan was pretty much neutered, having few planes or ships to protect herself from the American onslaught...Japan could have surrendered, which would have ended it's suffering.

Instead they refused to capitulate, and forced the U.S. to destroy it...Never forget, they brought their suffering on themselves by attacking Pearl Harbor and refusing to give up.

1955 - Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was termed "safe, effective and potent" by the University of Michigan Polio Vaccine Evaluation Center.

How many millions of people owe their life, or at least their quality of life, to the genius of Dr. Salk? The number is uncountable, which is why he should be acknowledged as one of the century's great men.