Browsing: Society

A Brief History On October 26, 1979, Kim Jae-kyu, the head of the South Korean CIA, assassinated the country’s president, Park Chung Hee.  The president died on the spot of gunshot wounds to the chest and head. Digging Deeper One pervasive conspiracy theory regarding the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy is that the American CIA was somehow involved.  While such theories are usually treated as forays into fiction, the assassination of the South Korean president by his own CIA show that the idea might not be all that farfetched. Director Kim used a Walther PPK to shoot his…

A Brief History On October 25, 1924, the Daily Mail, a London based British newspaper, published a fake letter called “the Zinoviev letter,” a letter said to be from Grigory Zinoviev, a Moscow based leader of the Communist International.  The letter was a fake and intentionally presented to sway public opinion against the Labour Party in Britain’s 1924 elections. Digging Deeper The fake letter was successful in stoking anti-communist public hysteria and getting the Conservative Party a victory in the elections. While calling the media “Fake News” is often seen as a conspiracy theory ploy used by one side or…

A Brief History On October 23, 2022, the Air Force of Myanmar conducted a bombing raid with a few fighter-bombers against a music concert!  At least 80 civilians were killed in an incident called the “Hpakant massacre.” Digging Deeper Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been undergoing a civil war since a military coup took over the government in 2021.  The “junta” government claimed the air raid was against a military post of the rebel Kachin Independence Organisation and that no civilians were targeted or killed.  The large crowd present at the bombing disagrees with that claim. Performers and concert…

A Brief History On October 21, 2021, film actor Alec Baldwin fired a single shot from a movie prop pistol on the set of Rust, a movie being filmed at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.  Sadly, Halyna Hutchins, a Ukrainian cinematographer involved in the film, was struck and killed by the bullet fired by Baldwin. Digging Deeper The tragic incident appeared to have been an accident, although at this time we still are not sure how a live round ended up in a prop gun that should only have blank rounds either in the pistol or on the…

A Brief History On October 20, 1827, an international coalition of British, French, and Russian ships fought against a fleet of Turkish Ottoman and Egyptian ships in the Battle of Navarino, the last major naval battle fought by wooden sailing ships. Digging Deeper Part of the 1821 to 1829 Greek War of Independence, Navarino pitted 1,252 naval guns spread across 10 ships of the line, 10 frigates, two schooners, four sloops, and one cutter on the European side against the Ottoman fleet of 2,158 guns dispersed among three ships of the line, 17 frigates, 30 corvettes, five schooners, 28 brigs,…