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Origins of the Greek debt crisis - Kraut > .
Monday, October 17, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
1919-1-16 Prohibition 1933-12-15
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1933-12-15: 21st Amendment to the US Constitution repeals prohibition - HiPo > .
By the late 19th century the temperance movement in the United States had grown to include a number of organizations that sought to dramatically reduce and, in some cases, completely stop the consumption of alcohol. It was seen as the root cause of a number of the social problems that activists who flourished in the Progressive Era sought to address.
Although some individual counties and states had begun to introduce alcohol controls, the emergence of the Anti-Saloon League as a national organization saw the arrival of powerful and coordinated lobbying. In 1906 the ASL began a major campaign to encourage states to ban the sale of alcohol by making speeches, taking out advertisements, and staging public demonstrations. All these methods sought to promote the view that prohibition would improve society by eliminating poverty, violence, and antisocial behavior. The campaign also saw occasional violent action by more radical campaigners such as Carrie Amelia Moore Nation who became well-known for vandalizing saloons and smashing kegs of alcohol.
By 1916 almost half the states in America had already introduced laws against saloons. In December the following year the Eighteenth Amendment, which would prohibit the manufacture, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages, comfortably passed both chambers in Congress. However, it would need to be ratified by at least three-quarters of the states in order to pass into law. It wasn’t until 16 January 1919 that Nebraska became the 36th to ratify the amendment. Nationwide prohibition began on 17 January the following year, and existed until its repeal by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.
By the late 19th century the temperance movement in the United States had grown to include a number of organizations that sought to dramatically reduce and, in some cases, completely stop the consumption of alcohol. It was seen as the root cause of a number of the social problems that activists who flourished in the Progressive Era sought to address.
Although some individual counties and states had begun to introduce alcohol controls, the emergence of the Anti-Saloon League as a national organization saw the arrival of powerful and coordinated lobbying. In 1906 the ASL began a major campaign to encourage states to ban the sale of alcohol by making speeches, taking out advertisements, and staging public demonstrations. All these methods sought to promote the view that prohibition would improve society by eliminating poverty, violence, and antisocial behavior. The campaign also saw occasional violent action by more radical campaigners such as Carrie Amelia Moore Nation who became well-known for vandalizing saloons and smashing kegs of alcohol.
By 1916 almost half the states in America had already introduced laws against saloons. In December the following year the Eighteenth Amendment, which would prohibit the manufacture, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages, comfortably passed both chambers in Congress. However, it would need to be ratified by at least three-quarters of the states in order to pass into law. It wasn’t until 16 January 1919 that Nebraska became the 36th to ratify the amendment. Nationwide prohibition began on 17 January the following year, and existed until its repeal by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933.
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On 15 December 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution came into effect, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment which had made the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol illegal.
Some members of the public were consequently willing to break the law, and this ushered in a period of criminal activity focused around the production of illegal bootlegged alcohol. Al Capone, one of prohibition’s most famous gangster bosses, made around $60 million a year from bootlegging alcohol and selling it in so-called ‘speakeasies’.
Izzy Einstein, one of the government’s best-known prohibition agents, demonstrated the scale of the problem facing the authorities who were trying to enforce the ban on alcohol. When visiting New Orleans it took him just thirty-five seconds to obtain liquor after his taxi driver offered him a bottle of whisky.
Combined with the problem of police officers being paid by the criminals to turn a blind eye to illegal activity, prohibition brought lawlessness and corruption to America. In the wake of the Wall Street Crash, repealing prohibition also made sound economic sense as alcohol taxes created a new revenue stream for the government. However, the introduction of the Twenty-first Amendment ensured that individual states were still able to enforce their alcohol laws.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Red Scare USA
February 1950 - McCarthyism Red Scare
23-3-16 Powers-That-Be vs. Media | Morrow vs McCarthy (subs) - Katz > .
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism, and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term originally referred to the controversial practices and policies of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and covers the period of the late 1940s through the 1950s. It was characterized by heightened political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals, and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and socialist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents.
After the mid-1950s, McCarthyism began to decline, mainly due to Joseph McCarthy's gradual loss of public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false, and sustained opposition from the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren on human rights grounds. The Warren Court made a series of rulings on civil and political rights that overturned several key laws and legislative directives, and helped bring an end to the Second Red Scare. Historians have suggested since the 1980s that as McCarthy's involvement was less central than that of others, a different and more accurate term should be used instead that more accurately conveys the breadth of the phenomenon, and that the term McCarthyism is now outdated. Ellen Schrecker has suggested that Hooverism after FBI Head J. Edgar Hoover is more appropriate.
The term McCarthyism has since taken on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts to crack down on alleged "subversive" elements. In the early 21st century, the term is used more generally to describe reckless and unsubstantiated accusations of treason and far-left extremism, along with demagogic personal attacks on the character and patriotism of political adversaries.
73-1-22 Roe v Wade
.22nd January 1973: SCOTUS issues decision on Roe v. Wade abortion case - HiPo > .
In 1969 Norma McCorvey, a 25-year-old single woman from Texas, sought an abortion after becoming pregnant with her third child. However, since abortion was illegal in the state except in cases where the mother’s life was at risk, McCorvey was eventually referred to lawyers who filed a lawsuit on her behalf, using the alias Jane Roe to protect her identity.
The case was initially heard in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade defended the State. The three-judge panel found Texas law to be unconstitutional as it violated the Ninth Amendment’s right to privacy, although by this time McCorvey had given birth to a child who had been put up for adoption. Meanwhile Texas appealed the ruling, and the case was sent to the Supreme Court who heard arguments on 13 December 1971. They also heard the case Doe v. Bolton, which challenged Georgia’s abortion law.
After an initial tentative agreement to strike down the Texas law, the Supreme Court agreed for the case to reargued in October 1972. Eventually, on 22 January 1973, the Court issued a 7–2 decision in favor of McCorvey. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution gives women in the United States the ‘fundamental’ freedom choice in family matters, including whether or not to have an abortion. However, ‘at approximately the end of the first trimester’ this had to be balanced with the government’s interests in protecting women’s health and the potential life of a fetus. The ruling continues to be a divisive issue in American politics.
In 1969 Norma McCorvey, a 25-year-old single woman from Texas, sought an abortion after becoming pregnant with her third child. However, since abortion was illegal in the state except in cases where the mother’s life was at risk, McCorvey was eventually referred to lawyers who filed a lawsuit on her behalf, using the alias Jane Roe to protect her identity.
The case was initially heard in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade defended the State. The three-judge panel found Texas law to be unconstitutional as it violated the Ninth Amendment’s right to privacy, although by this time McCorvey had given birth to a child who had been put up for adoption. Meanwhile Texas appealed the ruling, and the case was sent to the Supreme Court who heard arguments on 13 December 1971. They also heard the case Doe v. Bolton, which challenged Georgia’s abortion law.
After an initial tentative agreement to strike down the Texas law, the Supreme Court agreed for the case to reargued in October 1972. Eventually, on 22 January 1973, the Court issued a 7–2 decision in favor of McCorvey. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution gives women in the United States the ‘fundamental’ freedom choice in family matters, including whether or not to have an abortion. However, ‘at approximately the end of the first trimester’ this had to be balanced with the government’s interests in protecting women’s health and the potential life of a fetus. The ruling continues to be a divisive issue in American politics.
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sī vīs pācem, parā bellum
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