The Top Ten Things that were in my Journal Index from 1986 to 2000 (ie subjects that were non-places and non-people):

1. Poems / Poetry... 9 lines in the index
2. Television... 8
3. Blacks / African Americans... 7
Drugs... 7
5. Iran-Contra Scandal... 6.5
6. Christmas... 5.5
Football (American)... 5.5
Marriage... 5.5
9. AIDS... 5
Republicans... 5

Excerpts from an internet source:

Western stereotypes of Gypsies as criminals arose when Gypsies first entered Europe.

Confusion reigned over Europe's attempts to know who the Gypsies were.

... "many early [European] accounts describe Gypsy bands as conglomerations of various segments of the underclass of society,"

... Gypsies were widely thought to be ( Read more... )

Although Europeans have historically treated Gypsies poorly, Gypsies tended to fare better in Western Europe than in Eastern Europe, where they suffered the extremes of racial prejudice, including enslavement.

...

Some Gypsies were annexed into America with territory itself: for example, Napoleon transported hundreds of Gypsy men to Louisiana during ( Read more... )

More info about Gypsies... from an internet source.

Although a Persian story has been cited as proof they came from a single caste of entertainers, more recent evidence, including blood-type research, points to a gathering of diverse peoples in the Punjab region of India to form an army and its support groups to counter Muslim invaders.

In the ( Read more... )

I think another of my earliest memories of the wider world was when Hank Aaron was closing in and finally beat Babe Ruth's homerun record in April 1974. Aaron died just the other day at age 86 ( Read more... )

Some more excerpted info from Wikipedia ( Read more... )

So... I voted for the Green Party again... What's the point? They aren't going win ! ...I hear you say.... Well, I just want them to get a decent percentage... This is the third presidential election in a row that I've voted for the Green candidate ( Read more... )

Here are some excerpts from the Guardian newspaper concerning the Democratic debate last night, which I didn't watch ( Read more... )

So... one of the news stories lately that I've been interested in is the stuff around Jeffrey Epstein ( Read more... )

( Read more... )