Browsing: Society

A Brief History On February 28, 2018, we stop to recognize those people that make us feel good about ourselves, the idiots that absolutely have to be worse people than we are! Today we list 10 of the biggest jerks of February 2018. Digging Deeper 1. New York University. Well, not so much the school, but the contractor that provides cafeteria service. To “celebrate” Black History Month, a special meal of barbecued ribs, collard greens, cornbread, smashed yams, mac and cheese, all washed down by red Kool Aid and watermelon flavored water! When confronted about the insensitive choice of cuisine,…

A Brief History On February 24, 1942, an “order in council” was passed by the Canadian government that authorized the internment of all persons of Japanese ancestry in Canada. (On the same day, the United States passed a measure under the “War Powers Act” to also intern Japanese Americans. See our article, “Forced Internment of Japanese During World War II”) The internment order followed a series of other measures taken against Japanese people in Canada, including the seizing of Japanese owned fishing boats, interrogations, curfews and general harassment and discrimination. Incredibly, some of these measures stayed in effect until 1949!…

A Brief History On February 23, 1903, the United States signed a lease with Cuba for a 45 square mile chunk of land on Guantanamo Bay on that island, a lease for $2,000 per year, payable in gold, and lasting in perpetuity (forever). Known by the US military as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, it is the oldest US naval base outside the United States. Used as a coaling station (when ships were powered by coal) and as a general purpose naval base, the station known as “Gitmo” has since 2002 housed a prison for suspected terrorists captured during the War…

A Brief History On February 21, 1975, the highest ranking culprits in the Watergate Scandal were sentenced, including former Attorney General John Mitchell, and White House aides John Ehrlichman and HR Haldeman. Of course, the top banana in that bunch, President Richard M. Nixon, was forced to resign in 1974 in the face of certain impeachment. How does this compare to the “Russiagate” (or “Trumpgate”) Scandal that has tarnished the 2016 US Presidential election? Digging Deeper During the 1972 reelection bid by Richard Nixon for a second term as President, members of his campaign paid some burglars to break into…

A Brief History On September 17, 1978, Battlestar Galactica, an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson, that began the Battlestar Galactica franchise debuted on television.  The Battlestar Galactica, the namesake of the series, is an example of a large, fictional, capital military spacecraft. Frequently called space battleships and space cruisers, these spacefaring warships most often found in science fiction play similar roles to contemporary warships, although real spacecraft are used for military purposes.1 They may fight slow-paced battles across vast distances with long range guided weapons, never attaining visual contact,2 or fast-paced, relatively close range combat with unguided weapons and combat maneuvering.3 Smaller “space fighters” are fictional spacecraft analogous to fighter aircraft. Space fighters…