Browsing: Crime

A Brief History On March 26, 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, alias “Dr. Death,” was convicted of second-degree murder in Michigan for giving a terminally ill man a lethal injection at the man’s request.  The 52-year-old man was succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), a particularly dreadful way to die. Digging Deeper Kevorkian had previously championed the right of dying people to end their own suffering with medical assistance and had devised machines that allowed the patient to kill themselves by either adding a lethal drip to an IV or by inhaling lethal gas through a mask they put on themselves.  He had already been tried…

A Brief History    On March 25, 1996, a “Christian Patriot” group called the Montana Freemen began an 81-day standoff with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  How exactly a group that does not recognize the government of the United States or any local or state government for that matter is considered patriotic, we are not sure. Digging Deeper These so-called Freemen were based outside of Jordan, Montana, on a farm they had unofficially named “Justus Township.” (Get it?  Wordplay at work.)  Engaged in an ongoing campaign of fraud that included writing bad checks, printing counterfeit legal documents and the like, the Freemen were just…

A Brief History On March 16, 1988, Marine Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.) Oliver North and National Security Adviser Vice Admiral John Poindexter were indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.  Despite legislation specifically prohibiting the aiding of the “Contra” rebels in Nicaragua (the Boland Amendment to the 1982 Appropriations Bill), North had masterminded a shell game of maneuvering funds in order to finance them. Digging Deeper As if blatant disregard for the law was not bad enough, part of the conspiracy that became known as the Iran-Contra Affair included selling weapons to Iran to fund the Contras and possibly to…

A Brief History On March 13, 1964, Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, a 28-year-old resident of Queens, New York City was stabbed to death near her neighborhood.  The media reported that at least 38 people in the vicinity witnessed the attack but had done nothing to help, even failing to call the police, which allowed the attacker to return to the scene and finish his killing. Digging Deeper These reports were repeated in nearly all major media outlets, creating an uproar and outrage about the “bystander effect” in which citizens witness a crime but offer no assistance.  Americans became disgusted with one another, and the country engaged in…

This Just In! In February 2015, news broke that singer-songwriter and comedian Rolf Harris would be stripped of his Order of Australia honors amidst revelations that he is still under investigation for alleged sexual offenses.  He has also had his two honorary doctorates rescinded, and he has been removed from the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame.  These are just some of multiple honors he has been stripped of in the past year. Digging Deeper Just a week ago, we ranked Harris third on our list of “10 More Fantastic Novelty Songs” for his memorable “Tie Me Kangaroo Down…