Category Archives: history

Rasputin – Part I of II

Posted on June 1, 2018 by

ov Everyone has heard of Rasputin.  Well perhaps not if you are a recent product of the American public school system.  Rasputin has been dead now about a century and six months or so.  Not exactly  ancient history.   He … Continue reading →

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Eunuch

Posted on May 28, 2018 by

Photo post-card of the Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, photographed at the Imperial Palace. The Qizlar Agha, was one of the most powerful and sometimes the richest men in the Ottoman Empire until 1908. He supervised … Continue reading →

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Gina Haspel and CIA Torture

Posted on May 11, 2018 by

The Dark Side So Gina Haspel, Emperor Trump’s nominee to head the C.I.A. went before a Senate Committee a few days ago. These folks, charged to advise and consent to the fitness of the candidate to hold this office asked … Continue reading →

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The Wallis Collection

Posted on May 9, 2018 by

Wallis Simpson Well next week across the pond Prince Harry will marry Meghan Markel in one of those anachronistic royal ceremonies the British do so well.  And  all the world will watch. Everyone wants to see Cinderella live. The British … Continue reading →

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The Iconoclasts

Posted on April 25, 2018 by

Iconoclast:  One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions. Well the above definition is the modern secular version of the word.  Originally it derives from the Greek eikonoklastēs, formed from the elements eikōn, “image, likeness,” … Continue reading →

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The Crusader Conquest of Constantinople

Posted on April 22, 2018 by

It is the Year of Our Lord 1075 and a great disaster has befallen Christendom. The Islamic armies of the Seljuk Turks have taken Jerusalem. In Western Europe the Roman Empire is gone some 600 years.  In the East the … Continue reading →

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March 17- St. Pat’s and Italian Unification Day – a Re-Post

Posted on March 16, 2018 by

Giuseppe Garibaldi Yes, March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. And a happy St. Patrick’s Day to all, especially my Irish friends! But March 17 is also the birthday of Italian unification. Italy as a nation will be 157 years old on … Continue reading →

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