A Brief History On February 8, 1993, General Motors Corporation announced a lawsuit against NBC’s Dateline “news” show for falsely portraying Chevrolet pickup trucks as fire hazards! Digging Deepr Digging deeper, we find the announcement accompanied by a 2+ hour rebuttal to the November 1992 show where Dateline showed Chevrolet trucks exploding from side impacts. It turns out, however, that Dateline could not get the trucks to burst into flame by broadsiding them with another vehicle, so they used explosives to make their “news” happen! The show generated much disgust and hatred toward General Motors and encouraged lawsuits against them, although…
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A Brief History On February 4, 1999, New York City police fired 41 bullets at an unarmed immigrant, Amadou Bailo Diallo, hitting him 19 times! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the aftermath of this shooting going across the country like a tidal wave, with cross currents of both support for the police yet condemnation for the officers involved. Early morning in the Bronx on that tragic day, fate paired Amadou Bailo Diallo, a 23-year-old born in Liberia, with 4 undercover NYPD officers who were on the lookout for a serial rapist known to be armed. With the misfortune of looking…
A Brief History On February 3, 1913, a dark day indeed for Americans, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was adopted, making it legal to institute an income tax! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find that income taxes did not meet constitutional requirements for the federal government to levy such taxes and an amendment was required to allow congress to pass laws levying such taxes. Prior to implementation of the income tax, the main sources of revenue for the United States government were tariffs and excise taxes. Since those taxes raised prices for everyone, they proportionately…
A Brief history On January 30, 1661, Oliver Cromwell, former Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was removed from his grave and “executed” 2 years after his death! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Cromwell the ultimate winner of the English Civil War, having deposed the monarchy and becoming the de facto ruler of Britain. After leading the anti-royalist forces known as the Roundheads against the forces of King Charles I, known as the Cavaliers, Cromwell was among those who decided Charles I should be executed after his defeat. Charles I was executed in 1649. Cromwell was a…
A Brief History On January 24, 41 A.D., the Roman emperor known as Caligula was assassinated by his own Praetorian Guard! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (his actual name) usually referred to as Caligula or “little boot,” a nickname. By any name, Caligula is remembered as perhaps the worst of the worst of the Roman emperors, and his excesses are legendary! Although some of these excesses are probably exaggerations made by his enemies and detractors, the idea that his most loyal body guards would kill him should serve as a clue! (Imagine how bad…