Browsing: Society

A Brief History On January 12, 2006, during the ceremony associated with the final day of the Hajj (annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca), 362 Muslim pilgrims were stampeded to death in a sudden movement of the vast crowd.  The Stoning of the Devil takes place in Mina, outside of Mecca. Digging Deeper The annual Hajj gets enormous crowds of Muslims from around the world to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, with as many as 500,000 people crossing one small bridge in only an hour!  This sort of crowd density is highly dangerous and even minor crowd movement often results in large…

A Brief History On January 11, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 convicted murderers in Illinois prisons due to the scandal of Chicago Police Detective Jon Burge having allegedly tortured confessions out of the then suspects. Digging Deeper Burge, a Vietnam Veteran and US Army soldier who earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart in Vietnam had joined the Chicago Police Department in 1970 while only 22 years old.  Burge had a spectacular police career, becoming a Detective in 1972 and promoted to Lieutenant, gaining command of a Violent Crimes unit, then Bomb and Arson…

A Brief History On January 9, 2015, a southern African funeral in the country of Mozambique was the horror scene of a mass (believed intentional) poisoning in which 75 people died and another nearly 200 were hospitalized.  Reports said the mourners were poisoned when they drank beer that had been spiked with crocodile bile (There is such a thing?). Digging Deeper People from the villages of Chitima and Songo were at the funeral drinking the traditional beer brewed for the occasion, a concoction of sorghum, corn, sugar and bran with a type of yeast unlike that used in European brewing. …

A Brief History On January 7, 1797, the first use of the Green, White, and Red tricolor Italian flag was seen in use by the Cisalpine Republic (formerly Milan) after Napoleon Bonaparte’s conquest of that region in 1796.  It seems obvious that the tricolor pattern of what became the modern flag of Italy was much influenced by the French tricolor flag adopted by the Revolutionary French Government in 1790. Digging Deeper Napoleon Bonaparte, former Emperor of the French, is one of history’s most influential characters, as evidenced by the fact that more has been written about him than any other…

A Brief History On January 1, 2016, we started a new year with the same hopes and expectations we normally start every year.  Despite all the acrimonious politics, the Obama years had actually been slowly improving across the economy, for rich and poor alike.  Job numbers had grown for 81 consecutive months (a record) and Obamacare resulted in more Americans than ever having health insurance.  A Presidential election year had begun, and it was widely thought that this year would see the first ever woman nominated by a major political party (Hillary Clinton by the Democrats) and that she would…