Today in History - February 18

1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy (Source)

Recommended sermons and podcasts:

Second Crusade and Saladin, by Dr. Paul Ferguson

Church History: the Crusades, by Matt Powell

Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau (Source)

Recommended sermons and podcasts:

The French Revolution, by Dr. Peter Hammond

The French Revolution: Life, Liberty, Fraternity, or Death - Satanic Politics and God's Wrath Upon Nations That Turn Upon Him, by Francis Nigel Lee

The following is a quote taken from Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left:

"...both the Wilson and the FDR administrations were descendants - albeit distant ones - of the first fascist movement: the French Revolution...It produced the first modern dictators, Robespierre and Napoleon, and worked on the premise that the nation had to be ruled by an enlightened avant-garde who would serve as the organic, authentic voice of the 'general will.'...Robespierre summed up the totalitarian logic of the Revolution: 'There are only two parties in France: the people and its enemies. We must exterminate those miserable villains who are eternally conspiring against the right of man...[W]e must exterminate our enemies.'"

1885 - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States (Source)

Recommended sermons and podcasts:

 The Dreadful Legacy of Mark Twin - Interview with Ray Comfort, by Pastor Kevin Swanson

1972 - The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6Cal. 3rd 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment (Source)

Recommended sermons and podcasts:

 Jesus, George Floyd, and the Death Penalty - Three Uses of the Law, by Pastor Kevin Swanson

 Wanted: An Honest Debate About the Death Penalty - dailysignal.com

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The following two quotes are from books written by Ann Coulter and John Grisham. I don't recall which books I found them in:

Ann Coulter: "[The death penalty is]...'a primitive act of retribution'...What is primitive about being arraigned, formally charged, tried, convicted by a jury, having that conviction upheld on appeal, and then being executed in a manner far gentler than their victims?...('Okay, it will only sting for a minute, Mr. Bundy!')"

John Grisham:  "In white America, prisons are good places where bad men pay for their crimes. In  black America, prisons are often used as warehouses to keep minorities off the streets."