I concur. The average American is woefully uneducated as to the workings of our government.
This Day In History
- Thread starter August West
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I concur. The average American is woefully uneducated as to the workings of our government.
The average American has plenty of education of how our government works, but doesn't retain it. The reasons why are a matter of speculation, but education ranges from School House Rock's "I'm a Bill on a Hill," to a study of the US Constitution in high school, and political science in college.
I take it that most Americans don't even retain the difference between a indictment and conviction. Judges here always remind traverse juries that an indictment does not mean the accused is guilty, only that there is sufficient evidence to hold a trial. If jurors retained that, judges wouldn't need to remind them.
I have meant to check whether news reports manage to use the term appropriately. I suspect they do not may just see it as an easy shorthand.
"Traverse juries"--wow, excellent phrase.
I would guess that judges will always have to remind jurors of lots of stuff. Your point is an interesting one, though. It may not be a lack of education, but a lack of retention. I wonder what can be done about that. Of course folks talk about the importance of an educated and informed electorate, but political discourse is rarely all that accurate, and that may be the nature of the beast.
"Traverse juries"--wow, excellent phrase.
I would guess that judges will always have to remind jurors of lots of stuff. Your point is an interesting one, though. It may not be a lack of education, but a lack of retention. I wonder what can be done about that. Of course folks talk about the importance of an educated and informed electorate, but political discourse is rarely all that accurate, and that may be the nature of the beast.
May 31
1859 - The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high Elizabeth Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, for the first time.
1889 - The South Fork Dam collapses on this day, causing a flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that kills more than 2,200 people.
1902 - In Pretoria, representatives of Great Britain and the Boer states sign the Treaty of Vereeniging, officially ending the three-and-a-half-year South African Boer War.
1997 - Ila Borders becomes the first woman to pitch in a minor league baseball game, when she enters a game in relief for the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Borders had a bad day. She hit the first batter, balked while pitching to the second batter, forcing in a run, and then committed an error after inducing that batter to hit the ball back to her. After the third batter she faced hit a double, she was pulled. The next day, she pitched again, striking out the side this time in her one inning of work.
1859 - The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high Elizabeth Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, for the first time.
1889 - The South Fork Dam collapses on this day, causing a flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that kills more than 2,200 people.
1902 - In Pretoria, representatives of Great Britain and the Boer states sign the Treaty of Vereeniging, officially ending the three-and-a-half-year South African Boer War.
1997 - Ila Borders becomes the first woman to pitch in a minor league baseball game, when she enters a game in relief for the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Borders had a bad day. She hit the first batter, balked while pitching to the second batter, forcing in a run, and then committed an error after inducing that batter to hit the ball back to her. After the third batter she faced hit a double, she was pulled. The next day, she pitched again, striking out the side this time in her one inning of work.
June 3
1965 - One hundred and twenty miles above the earth, Major Edward H. White II opens the hatch of the Gemini 4 and steps out of the capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to walk in space. Attached to the craft by a 25-foot tether and controlling his movements with a hand-held oxygen jet-propulsion gun, White remained outside the capsule for just over 20 minutes.
1989 - With protests for democratic reforms entering their seventh week, the Chinese government authorizes its soldiers and tanks to reclaim Beijing’s Tiananmen Square at all costs. By nightfall on June 4, Chinese troops had forcibly cleared the square, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of demonstrators and suspected dissidents.
1965 - One hundred and twenty miles above the earth, Major Edward H. White II opens the hatch of the Gemini 4 and steps out of the capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to walk in space. Attached to the craft by a 25-foot tether and controlling his movements with a hand-held oxygen jet-propulsion gun, White remained outside the capsule for just over 20 minutes.
1989 - With protests for democratic reforms entering their seventh week, the Chinese government authorizes its soldiers and tanks to reclaim Beijing’s Tiananmen Square at all costs. By nightfall on June 4, Chinese troops had forcibly cleared the square, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of demonstrators and suspected dissidents.
This was a good documentary about that: pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/
June 4
1896 - In the shed behind his home on Bagley Avenue in Detroit, Henry Ford unveils the “Quadricycle,” the first automobile he ever designed or drove.
1919 - The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
1942 - The Battle of Midway–one of the most decisive U.S. victories against Japan during World War II–begins. During the four-day sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its own, the Yorktown, to the previously invincible Japanese navy.
1896 - In the shed behind his home on Bagley Avenue in Detroit, Henry Ford unveils the “Quadricycle,” the first automobile he ever designed or drove.
1919 - The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
1942 - The Battle of Midway–one of the most decisive U.S. victories against Japan during World War II–begins. During the four-day sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its own, the Yorktown, to the previously invincible Japanese navy.
1974- 10 cent beer night. Like most Cleveland history, it is uniquely Cleveland. 
Ten Cent Beer Night - Wikipedia
Ten Cent Beer Night - Wikipedia
June 6
1967 - Israel responds to an ominous build-up of Arab forces along its borders by launching simultaneous attacks against Egypt and Syria. Jordan subsequently entered the fray, but the Arab coalition was no match for Israel’s proficient armed forces. In six days of fighting, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem, both previously under Jordanian rule.
1968 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a presidential candidate, is shot three times in a hail of gunfire in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Five others were wounded. The senator had just completed a speech celebrating his victory in the California presidential primary.
1967 - Israel responds to an ominous build-up of Arab forces along its borders by launching simultaneous attacks against Egypt and Syria. Jordan subsequently entered the fray, but the Arab coalition was no match for Israel’s proficient armed forces. In six days of fighting, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem, both previously under Jordanian rule.
1968 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a presidential candidate, is shot three times in a hail of gunfire in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Five others were wounded. The senator had just completed a speech celebrating his victory in the California presidential primary.
Home | D-Day | June 6, 1944 | The United States Army
It is shameful that today's "Google doodle" is not about the crusade for the freedom of Europe, for which thousands - of many nations, (not just Americans, Google) - died.
AA
It is shameful that today's "Google doodle" is not about the crusade for the freedom of Europe, for which thousands - of many nations, (not just Americans, Google) - died.
AA
I don't Google. That's not why, but it makes me glad I don't.
I was a grown man before I knew one of my uncles was in the D-Day invasion. He never talked about it. I learned about it from my aunt, who said he still had nightmares about it.
In point of fact, "Big Ben" is the name of the largest bell within the Clock Tower, rather than the Tower itself.
Aside from today being the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy...
June 6
1865 - William Quantrill, the man who gave Frank and Jesse James their first education in killing, dies from wounds sustained in a skirmish with Union soldiers in Kentucky.
1918 - The first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I begins in Belleau Wood, northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road.
1949 - George Orwell's novel of a dystopian future, 1984, is published. The novel’s all-seeing leader, known as “Big Brother,” becomes a universal symbol for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy.
1966 - James H. Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, is shot by a sniper shortly after beginning a lone civil rights march through the South.
June 6
1865 - William Quantrill, the man who gave Frank and Jesse James their first education in killing, dies from wounds sustained in a skirmish with Union soldiers in Kentucky.
1918 - The first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I begins in Belleau Wood, northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road.
1949 - George Orwell's novel of a dystopian future, 1984, is published. The novel’s all-seeing leader, known as “Big Brother,” becomes a universal symbol for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy.
1966 - James H. Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, is shot by a sniper shortly after beginning a lone civil rights march through the South.
And he died 6 months later.
June 7
1776 - Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduces a resolution for independence to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia; John Adams seconds the motion. Lee’s resolution declared: “That these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.”
1913 - Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, leads the first successful ascent of Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley) the highest point on the American continent at 20,320 feet.
1776 - Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduces a resolution for independence to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia; John Adams seconds the motion. Lee’s resolution declared: “That these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.”
1913 - Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, leads the first successful ascent of Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley) the highest point on the American continent at 20,320 feet.
Fixed it. Aconcagua in South America is higher, at 22,800+
Hmm... apparently my source is not as good as advertised!
I only learned it was the bel about 15 yrs ago.
June 7
The USA wins Midway. From Wikipedia:
The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea.[6][7][8] The United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruancedefeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare".[9]
The USA wins Midway. From Wikipedia:
The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea.[6][7][8] The United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruancedefeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare".[9]
