Tag Archives: history

George Washington Williams, the Congo Genocide and “Crimes Against Humanity”

Posted on June 26, 2020 by toritto

Political cartoon from 1906 showing King Leopold of Belgium entangling the Congolese in rubber coils   So who coined the phrase “Crimes Against Humanity?”  Was it first defined at Nuremberg by the victorious allies?  Or was it used by someone … Continue reading →

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Fascist Italy, Adowa and the Conquest of Abyssinia

Posted on May 14, 2020 by toritto

From the History Archives – 2015 Most folks know of fascist Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia in the 1930’s. The conquering of Abyssinia was greeted in Rome with wild celebration culminating in Il Duce’s famous balcony speech from the Palazzo Venezia … Continue reading →

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Fifty Years Ago – May 4 – Kent and Jackson State

Posted on May 2, 2020 by toritto

  This Monday, May 4, marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State shootings involving the killing of 4 unarmed university students by the Ohio National Guard.  It was a time when armed soldiers of the state shot down unarmed … Continue reading →

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Dancing in the Eye of the Storm – From the Archives – 2014

Posted on April 23, 2020 by toritto

Tired of my old poetry?   How about some history with pictures! Alexander Ulyanov  – executed by Tsar Alexander III in 1887 Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by an organization known as The People’s Will. Instead of hoped … Continue reading →

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A Felon for President – Eugene V. Debs – From the Archives

Posted on March 2, 2020 by toritto

Eugene V. Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1855 to prosperous immigrant parents from Alsace, France.  He attended public schools, dropping out at 14 to take a job on the Vandalia Railroad cleaning grease from freight engines for … Continue reading →

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Rasputin – Part I of II

Posted on June 1, 2018 by toritto

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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The General, History and Revisionist History

Posted on November 5, 2017 by toritto

Robert E. Lee’s plantation home – Arlington Virginia Ah yes.  There is so much going on here in the United States each day it is almost impossible for an old blogger to keep up.  Trying to write a post on … Continue reading →

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“The Ideal German Soldier”

Posted on October 12, 2017 by toritto

“The Ideal German Soldier” –  appearing on the front page of Berliner Tagsblatt newspaper, Sunday edition during the invasion of Poland – 1939. Our soldier’s picture was taken by a Wehrmacht  photographer and  provided to the newspaper for publication.  It … Continue reading →

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Death of the White Rose – February 22, 1943

Posted on February 17, 2017 by toritto

An annual re-post – Originally posted  in February 2010 Core Members of the White Rose – Munich 1942 – (l to r) Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst.  Arrested by the Gestapo and guillotined  on February 22, 1943. The notorious Nazi Judge Roland … Continue reading →

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Rhode Island and the Coming of Religious Liberty

Posted on January 4, 2017 by toritto

Touro Synagogue – Newport Rhode Island – founded by 15 Jewish families arriving in Rhode Island from Barbados in 1658.  It is the oldest synagogue in America. “To hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing civil state may … Continue reading →

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