A Brief History On November 18, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law legislation (Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988) that made certain drug trafficking offenses punishable by the death penalty, a sharp escalation of the “War on Drugs.” In hindsight, the War on Drugs is seen today as having been an abject failure and perhaps mismanaged, and the national sentiment about capital punishment has also shifted toward decreased support for executions and increased support for banning the death penalty. Digging Deeper Reagan had been elected President in 1980 as the oldest (at the time) man elected to that office. Having…
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 November 17, 2019, we celebrate another one of those made up holidays (actually, ALL holidays are made up holidays), National Homemade Bread Day. Obviously, the fact that we have to have a day to celebrate homemade bread means Americans have gotten away from baking bread at home and almost exclusively buy bread from stores and bakeries. The subject of bread brings up certain questions, which we will try to answer! Digging Deeper What Was the Greatest Thing Before Sliced Bread? A topic so important, we have previously addressed this question in its own article. A partial…
A Brief History On November 16, 1871, the National Rifle Association received its charter from the State of New York, starting a long and distinguished history as a major force in encouraging marksmanship by Americans as preparation for possible military service and promoting the shooting sports. Later emphasis on the rights of gun owners and shooters embroiled the organization in political mire and in recent years the once universally admired organization has generated much backlash against its political activities, including hatred from those that oppose the 2nd Amendment. How did things go so wrong? The answer is a bit complex,…
A Brief History On November 15, 2019, fans of the 1976-1981 television franchise by the same name and the two feature films that continued the story line, Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003) will be treated to the latest iteration of the “jiggle” oriented action adventure series when this year’s version of Charlie’s Angels makes its debut across the United States. Digging Deeper A little background is in order, as the television series featured 3 beautiful women (Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith) as undercover crime fighters of extraordinary smarts and fighting abilities working for an…
A Brief History On November 14, 1978, 40 years ago today, the #1 Song in the United States was the disco dance tune, “MacArthur Park,” by the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in 1948, this powerful singer unfortunately died in 2012, at the too young age of 63 from lung cancer though she was a non-smoker. (She thought all the contaminated air she breathed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York is what caused her cancer.) Summer was certainly not the first or the last musical artist to take a…