A Brief History On June 14, 1954, Flag Day that year, President Eisenhower signed a joint resolution of Congress amending the 1942 Flag Code, adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. The president had only recently been baptized a Presbyterian and was apparently in a religious feeling when he declared “the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.” Digging Deeper Not surprisingly, not everyone agreed. The backdrop to this issue was the Cold War, the struggle of atheistic communism against “Christian” democracy and capitalism. Eisenhower and Congress clearly wanted to differentiate us from them. Many people already were against the Pledge of Allegiance on…
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 June 13, 1966, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Miranda in Miranda v Arizona, creating the requirement for police to inform people of their rights before questioning. On March 13, 2014, we ran an article about that, and on May 20, 2014, we wrote a list about things commonly misunderstood about the law. Here we list another 10 of those commonly misunderstood legal things. Remember, laws may vary from state to state and local laws might have differences as well, so we are talking what is generally the case, not always. If you need actual…
A Brief History On June 12, 1939, for the first time production began on a horror film filmed in “three strip” Technicolor. At this time, color movies were just beginning to reach the masses and were still quite a novelty, so Dr. Cyclops was expected to make quite a stir. Digging Deeper The plot centers around a mad scientist (Dr. Thorkel) deep in the South American jungle that sends for several other scientists. When they arrive, he has them look at samples under a microscope, is delighted by what they see, and then asks them to leave. Irritated that they traveled so…
A Brief History On June 12, 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cooperstown, New York. The Hall had been established 3 years earlier, and the physical building was dedicated at this time (1939). Despite the 310 players, umpires, managers, and various officials inducted, their ranks are missing some of the biggest stars of all time. Digging Deeper Pete Rose is the all time major league hits leader, and yet he is refused entry based on his admitted involvement in gambling on baseball games, an activity expressly forbidden in virtually any sport. Home run kings Mark…
A Brief History On June 12, 1987, Emperor Bokassa, former leader of the Central African Empire, was sentenced to death for atrocities during his reign of 13 years. At least he was acquitted of cannibalism! Goofy leaders like Bokassa have appeared throughout history and continue to appear. Here we list 10 such buffoons, people of massive egos, incredible cruelty, sub-standard intellect, or just plain old buffoonery. We are talking about goofs that could just as easily be a cartoon character villain. These guys have pictures of themselves all over their country, statues, too. Sometimes they declare themselves a god or…