Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On June 26, 1997, the first of the Harry Potter series of novels by JK Rowling was published in Britain.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the first of what have been seven novels so far, featuring the young title wizard and his friends in their schooling and other adventures. Digging Deeper Not only have the books sold over 600 million copies, eight feature films starring the characters have also been made, pulling in a staggering $7.7 billion at the box office. Obviously, Ms. Rowling has profited greatly from the success of her iconic creation, and…

A Brief History On June 21, 1973, the US Supreme Court handed down a decision in Miller v. California, establishing a way to determine if something is “free speech” guaranteed by the 1st Amendment or if it is obscene. Digging Deeper Referred to as the “Miller Test,” SCOTUS determined that three factors must be present for some sort of expression to be considered obscene and not covered under “free speech.”  These three factors are: “Whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, Whether the work depicts…

A Brief History On June 20, 1787, Connecticut attorney and a Founding Father of the United States, Oliver Ellsworth, made a motion at the Federal Convention to call the government of our new country, the United States of America. Digging Deeper While not an everyday name taught to school children as a major “Founding Father,” Ellsworth is notable for serving as a Senator from Connecticut, being a framer of the Constitution, serving as the third chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and even winning 11 electoral votes in the presidential election of 1796. A patriot that…

A Brief History On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed the law that made “Juneteenth,” the 19th day of June each year, a National Holiday, the first designated as such since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 1983. Digging Deeper The origin of the “Juneteenth” holiday dates back to June 19, 1865, when Union Army Major General Gordon Granger pronounced that all previously enslaved people in Texas were now emancipated.  The proclamation by General Granger was among the last events in the process of the freeing of slaves in the United States, and African Americans have celebrated this date since…

A Brief History On June 15, 1858, Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli called the Thames River in London, England, a “Stygian pool, reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors.”  The growth of London as a major industrial giant had turned the river into an open sewer that became so foul the Queen and Prince Consort were forced off the waters and Parliament could not conduct business due to the stench! Digging Deeper The summer of 1858 was a hot one, with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit, grossly aggravating the stench from a river that took in human and industrial waste…