A Brief History On January 16, 2014, one year ago today, The Guardian, a British newspaper, reported that the American National Security Agency (NSA) had been recording billions of global telephone messages, texts, emails and financial transactions in the name of national security. To put this into perspective, at the time of the British article’s publication, 200 million text messages were being collected daily! Digging Deeper This mountain of data is not just being collected from foreigners but also from American citizens! Supposedly done as part of an anti-terrorism program and with the oversight of Congress, many Congressmen and Senators were outraged and reported being previously…
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A Brief History On January 6, 2014, only one year ago today, former Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear, age 29, was murdered on a lonely Venezuelan roadside along with her ex-husband during a botched robbery. Digging Deeper The beauty had previously reigned as Miss Venezuela 2004 and came in as the 4th runner up in the 2005 Miss Universe contest. She had married British citizen Thomas Berry in 2008 and had a daughter, but the couple divorced in 2012. Of German and English extraction, Monica’s family had emigrated to Venezuela prior to her birth. Monica herself had moved to Orlando, Florida…
A Brief History On December 14, 2012, in Chenpeng Village of Henan Province, Chinese citizen Min Yongjun stabbed an 85-years-old lady in her own home with her own knife and then took the knife to the primary school next door and began stabbing children aged 6 to 11. Digging Deeper Apparently China’s emergence as a world economic and industrial power has caused changes in society that have unsettled many of its citizens, and for the past few years, there have been several such attacks on school children as a result. In them meantime, security guards are posted at all Chinese schools. Although…
A Brief History On December 6, 1952, Vladimir Nabakov finished his novel Lolita. With a subject matter concerning a mature man and a young girl in a love affair, it was no surprise that prudes would find the subject “unfit” for public dissemination. The Soviets and the Nazis banned and burned many books that were not in line with their concepts; the Chinese go so far as to also censor the internet. Here 10 reviled written works that someone at one point in time or another wanted to ban are listed. Digging Deeper 10. Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler). Although the…
A Brief History On December 4, 1969, the Chicago Police took the “war” with the militant African-American extremists, the Black Panthers, right into the bedroom when they shot Fred Hampton, a high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party (BPP), to death while he was sleeping. Digging Deeper The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Police had been keeping tabs on Panther activity with the help of an informant, William O’Neal. O’Neal had given information on Panther whereabouts and weapons as well as details about the house that was raided at 4 a.m. on December 4, 1969. Expecting to find as many as 20 armed Panthers willing to…
