Browsing: Crime

A Brief History On March 15, 2017, one of the hotly debated subjects in the news is a video released by an amateur film maker made from edited surveillance tapes of the store allegedly robbed by 18 year old Black man Michael Brown shortly before Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer. Digging Deeper If you recall, the Brown case became international news and spawned the false narrative, “Hands up, don’t shoot.”  Brown was walking down the middle of the street in August of 2014 when he was approached by an officer in a cruiser.  Brown…

A Brief History On March 12, 1993, Janet Wood Reno, was sworn in as the first female Attorney General of the United States, and served as such through the entire Bill Clinton presidency, leaving office in January of 2001.  (Note: March is Women’s History Month) Digging Deeper Born in Florida in 1938, Reno was an exceptional student, earning Valedictorian honors at her high school and going on to Cornell University where she earned a BS in Chemistry.  Reno continued her education at Harvard Law School where she graduated with a JD (Juris Doctor) in 1963, as one of 16 women…

A Brief History On March 1, 1953, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin suffered an alleged stroke that led to his death on March 5, 1953 at the age of 74.  Although the official reason the brutal dictator died was a common medical malady, high blood pressure leading to a cerebral hemorrhage complicated by a stomach hemorrhage as well, speculation that he may have been murdered persists to this day.  (You may note that there are various spellings of Stalin’s name, the one we have used is the Anglicized version.) Digging Deeper Born Ioseb Jughashvilli in Gori, Georgia of the Russian Empire…

A Brief History On February 27, 1902, a British firing squad carried out the execution of convicted war criminal, Australian Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant.  A rare thing indeed for the British Army to prosecute one of their own for war crimes in those days, Morant and fellow soldier Lt. Peter Handcock stood accused of the murders of several South African (Boer) prisoners of war and civilians. Digging Deeper The Second Boer War between the British and Dutch settlers of South Africa (Boers) started in October of 1899 and was near its end when Morant and Handcock were tried and executed. …

A Brief History On February 23, 2017, news outlets were awash with stories and video of an incident that took place Tuesday, February 21, 2017 in Anaheim, California (home of Disneyland).  An off duty Los Angeles police officer residing in Anaheim had been having trouble with local youngsters (teens) trespassing in his yard on their way to and from school, when a confrontation broke out when the officer yelled at the kids and the kids, one in particular, made the mistake of mouthing off back at the officer. Digging Deeper Normally it is not against the law to be disrespectful,…