.. 1095 – At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade, declaring holy war against the Muslims who had occupied the Holy Land, beginning the first of at least nine Crusades. “The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes.”
.. 1895 – Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death. The awards for the sciences – physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine – remain widely considered to be the more prestigious award one can receive in those fields.
.. 1978 – Assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, “the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet.” The killing was regarded by many as a hate crime.
.. 2009 – First day of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim celebration of one man’s willingness to kill his son for no other reason than his God told him to.
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Regarding Harvey Milk:
Milk’s death is more seen as a result of a political feud between Harvey Milk and Dan White. Both were Supervisors at the time, and White had gotten into a feud with Milk and several other supervisors following White’s own resignation .
When White tried requested that he be reappointed to his supervisor seat, Milk and several of the city supervisors had advised Mayor Moscone to turn down the request.
White felt betrayed, and while he was suffering from mental instabilities, snuck back into City Hall on November 27 with a gun.
We know how that ended – White’s trial eventually popularized the fabled “Twinkie Defense”
I don’t like White, and I don’t think his experience justifies him murdering Milk or Moscone. I’m just posting this to clarify that given the circumstances behind Milk’s death, it was hardly a hate crime.
Pope Urban II must be the most kick-ass pope ever!
Well, mostly ass at least.
I’m betting if you tried to kill your kid these days because your god commanded you to, you won’t be getting a holiday.