Nations have fought wars over seemingly insignificant objects. There was the bloody war about a bucket, the revolution that began with a dispute about an unpaid wig, and the big kerfuffle over […]
The Tree That Almost Caused a Second Korean War
What Happens When You Declare War and Forget About It?
Robert E. Lee famously said, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” Whether terrible or otherwise, war should be so significant that it […]
That Time the United States Had an Emperor
Suppose fortune fails to smile upon you. Despite your best efforts at gaining wealth, you are bankrupt and have no professional skills to speak of. You could give up and embrace a […]
Did a Missing Constitutional Amendment Take Away the Citizenship of All Lawyers?
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers!” (Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2). When William Shakespeare wrote those infamous words about lawyers in 1591, he parodied the […]
Who Was the Richest Person in History?
When you think of countries with vast wealth and power, there’s a good chance Mali is not on that list. The United Nations ranks Mali 121st out of 213 on its list […]
How a Bad Musical (Plus a Whole Bunch of Really Bad Ideas) Bankrupted the World’s Wealthiest Country
Whenever the elements of government corruption, shady characters, monumental stupidity, mind-numbing monetary mismanagement, and poop all come together, it’s a safe bet that it is a story that will make it into […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Adlai Stevenson
Few people came to political life with a quicker wit than Adlai Stevenson II (1900-1965). He made his mark in politics as governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and received the […]
Some Brief Insanely-Long Remarks
India’s Minister of Finance, V.K. Krishna Menon stepped to the podium at the United Nations on January 23, 1957, to address his nation’s policies regarding Kashmir. Anyone who hoped to be hearing […]
What’s With the Sovereign Citizen Movement?
I spent a good part of my career as a prosecuting attorney. I had been at it long enough to think I had seen and heard just about everything, but one gentleman […]
Bare Diplomacy
Prime Minister Winston Churchill was staying at the White House as a guest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They had been discussing their vision for a new-and-improved League of Nations that would […]
Looking for a Hot Deal on Some Real Estate?
When Maria Angeles Duran of Vigo, Spain started her real estate venture, she knew there was great demand to purchase property that gets plenty of sunlight. What better place than the source […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 