Here is the official account by the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Division:
For many years the United States had maintained peace with the Muslim controlled Barbary States (Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli) by buying treaties and paying tribute to the reigning [Muslim] Pasha. Although Algiers, Morocco, and Tunis were not entirely satisfied, they were more or less complacent, whereas Tripoli continued to make threats against the United States while demanding larger and more frequent payments. Finally, on 14 May 1801, the Muslim Pasha of Tripoli, Yusut Karamanli, indicated his extreme dissatisfaction with our tribute by having the flagstaff cut down in front of our U.S. Consulate.
This act led Congress to a Declaration of War against Tripoli and the sending of U.S. war vessels to the Mediterranean. During a storm one of the ships, the USS Philadelphia, went on the rocks off Tripoli and her crew was captured and imprisoned at Derne. After a bombardment of Tripoli by U.S. vessels and the offer of $100,000 ransom for the crew of the Philadelphia had failed to move the Pasha, William Eaton, Navy Agent for the several Barbary Regencies, suggested forming an alliance with Hamet, elder brother of the reigning sovereign of Tripoli. The plan was approved by the U.S. Government and Eaton commenced putting his plan into execution.
On 29 November 1804, Eaton, First Lieutenant O’Bannon, Midshipmen George Mann, U.S. Navy, and seven Marines landed at Alexandria, Egypt, from the USS Argus, and a few days later proceeded to Cairo. The party arrived at Cairo on 8 January 1805, where they learned that Hamet and a few Tripolitans had joined a band of rebellious Mamelukes who were defying the rule of the Turkish viceroy. Eaton then pushed on to Fiaum where he communicated with Hamet and made arrangements with him for his cooperation with the expedition against Derne, Tripoli. On 8 April, Eaton and his motley army of about 500 men, 100 camels, and a few mules started the long march across the Libyan desert. He arrived at Derne the night of 25 April, and the next day, under a flag of truce, offered terms of amity to the Governor of Derne on condition of allegiance and fidelity to Hamet. The Muslim reply to this offer was ”My head or yours.”
Why would some idiot even do this? These animals are notoriously unpredictable and have very different requirements than a dog. Stupidity abounds. I did not know we had a wolf shelter/sanctuary here in New Jersey.
From March 31, 2016
I suppose stuff like this is only to be expected in an age when Real Smart People with advanced degrees argue, with a straight face, that it’s rational and praiseworthy to become disabled on purpose ( http://leeduigon.com/2015/06/23/an-all-new-perversion-become-disabled-on-purpose/ ). They advance very smart-sounding–but utterly vacuous–intellectual “reasons” for having sound, healthy limbs amputated.
Even so, when I read yesterday that the National Basketball Assn. has joined the National Football League in threatening the state of North Carolina that the state will lose major sporting events unless its legislators restore the “right”–really: the right?–of a grown man to enter a girls’ bathroom with girls in it, I could not continue. That our country could have ever come to this…
Because North Carolina does not accept that a man has a “right” to use the ladies’ bathroom, the whole American ruling class is coming down on the state like a ton of bricks. New York City and state, Vermont, and San Francisco mayors and governors have banned official travel to North Carolina. Chambers of commerce, huge corporations, and other business entities have threatened to pull out of North Carolina unless this “right” is restored.
Oh, well, it’s only public rest rooms, is that the hill to die on?
The retreat of decency (not to mention sanity!) has got to stop somewhere.
I join with those readers who have cited Acts 4:29.
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word…
Big sports, big business, big politics–in the name of the most holy God, we defy you.
From November 11, 2016
In the wake of Donald Trump’s win over the Clinton crime family, collidge students throughout the land have pleaded with their professors to postpone the mid-term exams, the precious little pipsqueaks being much too emotionally traumatized to take exams; and more than just a few professors have been granting that request ( http://www.weeklystandard.com/schools-offer-counseling-professors-postpone-exams-after-trump-win/article/2005314 ). American University even provided students with a “vigil”–you know, like liberals have for multiple murderers who are about to get executed and oh, it’s so cruel and heartless! Gimme one of those candles…
Y’know, I think I’ve finally figured out what college is for, what role it plays in the life of America.
College is for storage.
Yup, that’s all it is–a really expensive and deceptive way to keep unemployable people off the streets and out of mischief, while giving the Left another four years–or more!–to turn the kiddies’ minds to mush. With an economy hamstrung by the government unable to generate jobs for everyone, we have millions of young people who need to be warehoused.
While keeping them out of the soup kitchens, college provides thousands and thousands of jobs for persons who would otherwise be completely useless. The lib/prog/Democrat dream of “universal free college” is already almost a tautology: virtually everybody who wants to go is already going. Of course, it ain’t “free.” It won’t be free until Dems are able to stick America’s defenseless working people with the tab.
But suddenly we’re not quite as defenseless as we used to be:
Because, by the mercy of God, the bad guys didn’t win this election and have lost their power to direct events.
Learn to love the sound of brainwashed college students howling in the night. It is the sound of victory.
From April 10, 2020 (I remember these days) PD
America is not supposed to look like this.
If you want to buy cauliflower, you’re in luck. Anything else, you’re not.
We have just returned from an unsuccessful trip to the supermarket.
“Did I put yogurt on the list?”
No, there was no yogurt on the list. So back we go. Or we could go to Whole Foods, where today they had a nice long line outside.
My bad knee and my heel spur have had enough of walking around today; but now they’re gonna get more.
This is not America. America is not freakin’ shortages. Suddenly we are plunged back into the Jimmy Carter Dark Age. It’s like the good old Soviet Union used to be. Please remember that Democrats have been rooting and praying for a recession ever since the Trump economy started heating up. They wanted something bad for America and now they’ve got it. They asked for it, they’ve got it.
I don’t know who’s worse–Democrats or Red China.