A Brief History On January 18, 2021, the United States celebrates the birthday of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., an icon in the Civil Rights Movement and an African American man of historic importance. In honor of Reverend King, we take a look at some notable African American “firsts” in American History, although some of the entries may cause the reader to wonder at the dates involved. Was the United States really that far behind in racial equality at such late dates? Judge for yourself. (See our many other articles concerning African American accomplishments.) Please do not fret if you…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On December 9, 2020, we had the opportunity to review a new feature film, Songbird, scheduled for digital release on December 10, 2020. With the basis of the film being a mutated Covid virus that has sent the United States (and presumably the World) into a dystopian future (4 years from now), there are sure to be critics that find the subject matter to be in bad taste. (Note: We do not provide spoilers.) Digging Deeper Touted as a “Michael Bay” film, it must be noted that Bay is the producer, not the director or screenwriter. Other…
A Brief History On January 4, 2013, the Philippines were the scene of mass shooting carnage when a 41 year old man went on a rampage that left 20 people and a dog shot, with 7 of those people dying of their wounds and sadly, also the dog. The locale of the shootings was Kawit, a city of over 83,000 people on the shores of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon. Digging Deeper As we have pointed out on several occasions, mass shootings are not a strictly American occurrence, as such tragedies happen in other countries as well as…
A Brief History On December 28, 1999, Western actor/action hero Clayton Moore died. If you are not familiar with this star of the small and large screen, he played The Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1957 on television and starred in 2 related big screen movies about the same character. Even if you never saw the Clayton Moore versions of the Lone Ranger, you are probably familiar with “The William Tell Overture” by Rossini, the theme music played for Moore’s Lone Ranger character. In the Covid-19 plagued year of 2020, we have lost another host of notable people, both to…
A Brief History On December 25, 2020, people around the world celebrate the Christian holiday of Christmas, honoring the birth of Jesus Christ. During this Christmas season, we are likely to hear many Christmas carols and holiday songs, but none of them are arguably as touching and universal as “O Holy Night,” also known as “Cantique de Noël” in the original French. We take this opportunity to reflect on the song that, in our opinion, is the greatest Christmas carol. Digging Deeper While the famous carol is of course, Christian, the backgrounds of the men involved in creating the song…