Browsing: February

A Brief History On February 17, 1801, the Presidential election of the United States faced its first major test of the system put in place to elect the President when the Electoral College voted, and the result was that the contest between Thomas Jefferson/Aaron Burr, incumbent President John Adams/Charles Pinckney, and John Jay resulted in a failure of a candidate to earn an electoral majority. The vote for President was then forwarded to the US House of Representatives, and that legislative body voted to make Thomas Jefferson the third President of the United States in what was probably the most…

A Brief History On February 16, 1968, the first emergency 9-1-1 (we prefer 911) system was put into service in Haleyville, Alabama, a town of about 4100 people. Part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) of telephone numbering systems, 911 is a rapid way for people to dial the police or emergency rescue services such as fire fighting or ambulance service. Covering the United States and Canada, 911 service is available in about 98% of all locations in these 2 countries. Digging Deeper In addition to connecting the caller with an emergency dispatcher, about 96% of the United States…

A Brief History On February 15, 2018, the nation mourns as the United States is rocked by another mass shooting at a school, this time a public high school in Florida. A former student, 19-year-old Nicholas Cruz, is charged with the murder of 17 people and wounding another 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. His apparent weapon, an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. Digging Deeper Gun grabbers reflexively blamed the gun, calling the AR-15 pattern rifle an “assault weapon.” Despite its appearance, the AR-15 is NOT an assault weapon, the definition of an assault weapon including an…

A Brief History On February 15, 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a Bill allowing women attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Although this bill represented a major advancement towards the political equality of women in the US, women still could not even vote in every state and were under many other serious legal limitations. Digging Deeper (A quick word about President Hayes: Hayes, born and raised in Ohio, fought bravely during the American Civil War and was wounded a total of 5 times! Compared to our recent bunch of draft dodging Presidents and…

A Brief History On February 14, 1400, England’s King Richard II (aka Richard of Bordeaux) died in captivity, most likely starved to death. Ruling England since 1377, Richard had in his last 2 years on the throne (1397-1399) become a bloodthirsty tyrant, ruthlessly killing his enemies. Usurped in 1399 by Henry of Bolingbroke (who became King Henry IV), Richard was imprisoned under harsh conditions until he died at the age of 33, just one more lousy King written off and replaced by another. Digging Deeper As you may infer from my previous articles, I am not a fan of monarchy.…