311 AD – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.

In 303, the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the gods.

If the Left thought they could get away with it, they’d to this today.

1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. It lasted as long as Henry did. What the government giveth, the next government taketh away.

1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States. See? See??!! That’s where the country went wrong! The first president was sworn in on WALL STREET!!!! {/moonbat}

1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation. Down side? This is where we get New Orleans, bringing the worst of France into the nation.

1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.

1863 – A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico. The Legionaires take a butt-kicking in a brave and public fashion and the day is still celebrated by the Foreign Legion. This would be roughly equivalent to the Seventh Cavalry celebrating Little Big Horn Day.

1897 – J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London. Since then, we electrical folks have identified the homoton, a gay electron that runs around blowing fuses.

1900 – Casey Jones dies in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, while trying to make up time on the Cannonball Express.

1938 – The animated cartoon short Porky’s Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit, who would evolve into Bugs Bunny, my favorite of all animated characters.

1945 – World War II: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building. Charles de Gaulle congratulates himself on single-handedly ending the Third REcih.

1957 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force in a typically toothless UN move. It is ignored in many Muslim nations.

1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh. With the demise of the evil South Vietnamese government, Vietnam can get on with “Giving Peace a Chance”, refugees of which have provided a new ethnic enrichment to America. Thousands who couldn’t get out died in ‘re-education’ camps. Other thousands died by drowning as they tried to escape in overloaded boats. I was in the army in Germany at the time. Many veterans of service in Viet Nam gathered in the battalion square and burned the decorations given them by the Vietnamese government.

1993 – The World Wide Web is born at CERN. Al Gore curiously absent.

2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks. The Left will never let children stand in the way of Progress.

2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Again.