Browsing: Crime

A Brief History On December 25, 2009, one of the most bizarre terrorist plots to destroy an airliner and its passengers failed when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was unable to get his bomb hidden in his underwear to explode. Digging Deeper The 23 year old Nigerian man was educated at the University College in London, England and had earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 2008.  He attempted to further his education with classes toward a Master’s degree at Wollongong University in Dubai.  Unfortunately, this son of one of the richest men in Nigeria squandered his education by becoming a radicalized…

A Brief History On December 24, 1942, French Patriots got their Christmas wish when Nazi collaborator and opportunist Admiral Francois Darlan was murdered by 20 year old French Monarchist, Fernand de la Chapelle. Digging Deeper A career military man from a naval family, Darlan graduated from the French naval academy and served in the artillery during World War I.  A successful naval career followed culminating with Darlan being promoted to Amiral de la Flotte, a special rank just for him, in 1939. When war with Germany broke out in 1939 and the Germans invaded France in 1940, Darlan was overly…

A Brief History On December 14, 835, Emperor Wenzong of the Chinese Tang Dynasty was given the news that “sweet dew” had formed on a pomegranate tree outside a military headquarters, a sign of divine favor for the Emperor.  It was suggested that the Emperor and his court travel to the lucky tree to observe the blessed event for themselves, which was readily agreed to.  In reality, this story and movement of the officials was all a ruse to get the powerful court Eunuchs (castrated public officials dedicated to a life of government service) to a place where they could…

A Brief History On December 13, 1945, Irma Ida Ilse Grese, age 22, was executed in accordance with her sentence of death for the crime of committing War Crimes (Crimes Against Humanity) for her service as a concentration camp guard at Ravensbruck and Auschwitz Nazi death camps during World War II. Digging Deeper The apparently attractive young lady thus became the youngest female executed by British authorities during the 20th Century. Irma was born in 1923 to a dairy working family in Germany, but her mother committed suicide by drinking acid in 1936, after finding out her husband was having…

A Brief History On November 27, 1835, two Englishmen were hanged for the crime of sodomy (Section 15, Offences Against the Person Act of 1828) and a third man was convicted of being an accessory, receiving a sentence of 14 years “penal transportation.” (Not to be confused with “penile transportation!” Penal transportation means being hauled off to a penal colony.) The law the men were charged under had replaced the Buggery Act of 1533. Digging Deeper James Pratt (age 30) and John Smith (age 40) were allegedly engaged in intimate homosexual acts when the building’s landlord and the landlord’s wife…