Browsing: Society

A Brief History On June 29, 1972, the Supreme Court of the United States stunned the nation by ruling in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty violated the 8th and 14th Amendments.  This decision basically outlawed capital punishment until each state that wanted to reinstate it reworked their laws and procedures to meet Supreme Court guidelines. Digging Deeper It seems that over 200 years of previous experience had not perfected the procedure.  The court found judicial practices so arbitrary and inconsistent that a grossly uneven administration of capital punishment was the result.  So much so, that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment.  In wake…

A Brief History On June 28, 1997,  shocked referee Mills Lane stopped the heavyweight championship fight between “Iron Mike” Tyson and Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield because Tyson had bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear. Digging Deeper Tyson is known to be erratic, with a checkered past that included juvenile offenses, jail time for rape (convicted 1992), another jail stint (assault, 1998), domestic violence and getting a tattoo over his face the day before a fight, causing the fight to be cancelled.  In one fight he would not stop punching his opponent when the fight was over and ended…

A Brief History On June 25, 1998, the US Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down the Line Item Veto Act of 1996.  It is said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, and this attempt to stifle congressional pork barrel tactics was an example of just that. Digging Deeper After Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992, the Republicans mounted a major surge in the mid-term elections of 1994 and achieved their dreamed of majority in congress.  One promise these Republicans had made was to enact a line item veto law allowing the President to veto only a specific…

A Brief History This article provides a table of contents and timeline or sorts for History and Headlines’ editor Beth Michaels’ series of counterfactuals concerning the wives of King Henry VIII of England in which she takes a less-than-conventional approach and highlights aspects from their lives about which even Tudor enthusiasts may not have thought. Digging Deeper Introduction: A Timeline of Tudor Britain Wife no. 1: Could Catherine of Aragon have Lied? Wife no. 2: What if Anne Boleyn Had Slept with Henry VIII? Wife no. 3: What if Jane Seymour Had Survived? Wife no. 4: What if Anne of Cleves Had Been Beautiful? Wife no. 5:…

A Brief History On June 22, 1990, Checkpoint Charlie, the best known crossing point between Soviet-occupied East Germany to Western-occupied West Germany was torn down, a sign that the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation since 1947 was drawing to an end.  Here we list 10 prominent symbols or icons that are closely associated with this time period.  (Honorable mention to the AK-47 and the M-16 assault rifles.) Digging Deeper 10. MiG-15 and F-86.  These are the best of the early jets from both sides that faced off during the Korean War; the fierce debate over which was the…