On this day in
1431, in Rouen, France, shortly after being captured by Burgundian troops in the English-occupied French region then known as Compiègne, the virgin-warrior "Maid of Orleans",
Joan of Arc, is burned at the stake as a heretic. She was only 19 years old, but in the two years that she'd led a devoted army of rugged warriors to numerous impressive victories in the name of the
Charles Dauphin (whom she lived to see crowned King of France), she had managed to transform the
Hundred Years War into a religious war, terrifying superstitious English soldiers and inspiring French warriors to the point of fanaticism... which made her brutal execution all the more devastating to her many devoted admirers. Twenty-five years after her execution, an Inquisitorial court authorized by
Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent and declared her a martyr. Joan was beatified in 1909, and canonized in 1920...
Saint Joan, Patron Saint of France. Some modern historians think Joan fell prey to a plot by the very King Charles she'd helped to crown, because he wanted to make a deal with the Burgundians while she favored destroying them, militarily. It's impossible to know for sure at this point, but it does make for one hell of a story, that's for sure.
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On this day in
1778, renowned French philosopher and author
François-Marie Arouet - better known as
Voltaire - passes away at the tender age of 84. He is still widely read today, and
his works still have the power to amuse, inspire, and offend, in equal measure. I recommend
Candide, in which he rails hilariously against the naive philosophical optimism of
Jean Jacques Rousseau and
Leibniz.
***
On this day in
1972, in Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Japanese
Red Army carry out the
Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others, leaving everybody scratching their heads, wondering what in the high holy FUCK kind of gripe those Japanese goofs could possibly have against the Jews, anyway?!
The Lod airport operation was IRGUN orchestrated by MKULTRA bots to gain more sympathy for Israel and more antipathy against Palestine. The same thing was done with the "terrorist" attack on the Star of David Hotel, orchestrated by Begin for the same reason. Begin has publically bragged about killing 80 of his own people in the bombing and he can be seen cavorting through the new Star of David hotel running around there like a little kid on Christmas day on a youtube video. Add those to the murdered 80 US Navy men on their attack on the USS Liberty and you understand why the Lod incident makes no sense. Red Army: CIA terrorists under CIA control: operation Gladio.
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