The height of cruelty
This is the text of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
The courts have ruled that because it takes so long for an inmate on California's "Death Row" to finally get to the execution chamber; that the uncertainty involved makes execution in our state a cruel and unusual punishment. But that doesn't come close to the level of cruelty that took place in an execution in Arizona this week.
Joseph Wood was given the so-called "lethal injection" and it took over 100 minutes for him to die. He was gasping for air most of that time. That's just unacceptable. It is the very personification of cruel and unusual. If we're going to make people suffer for nearly two hours, perhaps we should just go back to drawing and quartering. Or the stocks, or the rack.
We already know the death penalty is a bad decision from a fiscal standpoint. It costs far more to execute a prisoner than it does to keep that prisoner behind bars for 40 or 50 years. Adding lawsuits against state governments for the kind of execution that Mr. Wood went through only exacerbates the financial issue.
Is the death penalty a deterrent to murder or other crimes punishable by death? Depends on who you ask. If you ask the proponents of the death penalty, they're convinced it is a deterrent. Ask those opposed to the death penalty and they'll tell you all day long is it NOT a deterrent. Numbers can be manipulated to do almost anything, but there are some numbers that I find interesting when it comes to determining if the death penalty is a deterrent.
In 1990, the murder rate in states with a death penalty was 9.5 per 100,000. States without a death penalty had a slightly lower rate that year, 9.16 per 100,000. That was a 4% difference. Now we know that murder has been on a sharp decline. If we move forward to 2006, death penalty states had a murder rate of 5.9 per 100,000 while the states that do not have a death penalty rate were at 4.22 per 100,000. The differential widened from 4% to 40%. Based solely on those numbers, it would seem the death penalty is not deterring murders in the states that still have a death penalty.
If a state wants to continue using the death penalty, that's the choice of its residents. But a better way has to be found to avoid any more situations like that suffered by Joseph Wood.
* * *
When I was very young and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I'd often tell a joke I had thought up all on my own. I'd tell them whatever I was fascinated with at the time and then add "but I don't want to be President of the United States." They would ask why and I'd retort "because there's no room for advancement."
In this era of hyper-partisanship, why would anyone want to take on the task of following Barrack Obama in the White House, which is a worse no-win scenario than the Kobayashi Maru as shown here.
Ronald Reagan was the oldest man to be inaugurated as President, back in 1980. He was 69. Joe Biden is going to turn 72 this November, and would be 74 at his inauguration if he were to win the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton is almost exactly five years younger than Biden, which would make her roughly Reagan's age were she to win in 2016. Not all people who are old, are truly "old" and no longer capable of doing a difficult job. But the Presidency is by definition the most important job in the nation. Yet whoever win the election in November of 2016 will be vilified by the other party, criticized harshly in the media for every position they take and that's just what will go on before the inauguration.
I'd cast my ballot for Pat Paulsen, but he stopped running for the Presidency when he died about 17 years ago.
* * *
Cory Tschogi owns a 600 square foot condo in the Palm Springs area and she'd heard good things about AirBNB. www.airbnb.com if you want to see their website. A renter was found who wanted to stay for 44 days. It went well the first month, but then the renter refused to pay the balance due. Worse yet, when the 44 days was up, the renter (identified as Maksym Pashanin) refused to leave.
So she should have just had the cops remove them, right? Wrong. In California, a rental of 30 days or more creates tenancy and tenants have rights. Now Ms Tschogi is going to have to evict these squatters and that will take time and money. Her electricity bills have more than tripled. AirBNB didn't respond to her at first, but has now promised to pay the full amount of the rental and they are working with her to provide legal support.
Rule #1. Never rent out your home to anyone for 30 days or more in California. Anaheim and Buena Park are just two examples of cities that have ordinances preventing motel owners from renting a room to someone for more than 30 days in a row.
Rule #2. If you're going to rent out your home on a short term with a business like AirBNB, make sure to have your contract with them reviewed by a competent attorney to make sure your rights are protected.
BTW, if you rent out your home for more than 14 days in any calendar year period, the rent you receive is taxable income.
* * *
Billy Joel has received a very prestigious honor, the Gershwin Prize, which is awarded by the U. S. Library of Congress. He is clearly deserving of this honor.
When the Library of Congress begins to decide who will be thusly honored next, they need to consider someone you may not be familiar with. However, I am convinced you are familiar with her music. She's written six songs that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (yes, one of them was co-written with Albert Hammond). She has won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy. A partial list of the hit songs she's written includes:
Can't Fight the Moonlight
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
Because You Needed Me
How Do I Live
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
There You'll Be
Live for Loving You
Solitaire
Rhythm of the Night
I Get Weak
I'm referring to the brilliant Diane Warren, who should be the next recipient of this honor.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Snoop Dog has no good excuse for lighting up a blunt in a White House restroom. Now if you want to blaze up with the President in his quarters and he's willing, that's different.
Eddie Murphy's girlfriend, model Paige Butcher is hot! But she shuns the spotlight. Good for her.
I'm a big fan of Frank Caliendo. The video below is damn funny.
Would someone tell Britney Spears that just because she looks good again doesn't mean she'll be successful with a line of lingerie?
I feel bad for that doctor who was fighting Ebola in Africa and contracted the disease himself. Ebola is nasty. There are mixed reports, some claiming the doctor has died and others that he is responding well to treatment.
I don't care that Olivia Munn loves to dress up as Wonder Woman. The question is can she fill out Lynda Carter's old bustier?
A Chinese multimillionaire used his American Express Black card (http://creditcardforum.com/blog/american-express-black-card-requirements/ if you want to know more) to buy a $36 million vase at auction. The bonus is he earned over 422 million rewards points with his purchase. Pretty neat.
Robert Samuel earns up to $1,000 a week as a professional line sitter. After finding the need, he's hired his friends. One of them stood in line 43 hours for an audition for "Shark Tank" and brought in $800 in revenue for that one job alone. I'd hire someone to stand in a long line for me. It's worth the expense.
San Francisco has a new ordinance making it much more expensive for a landlord to exit the rental real estate business. It vastly increases how much a property owner must pay a tenant they evict under the state's Ellis Act. The ordinance is bad law and almost certainly unconstitutional. I hope the family challenging it now prevail in court.
Did a donut shop in Connecticut really ban a 4 year old boy from its premises because he asked a female patron if she was expecting? If so, that sucks!
The two women accused of second degree murder in the Kim Pham beating death were found guilty, but of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Given the confusion surrounding the case, that seems fair.
I don't always agree with her columns, but Robin Abcarian of www.latimes.com nailed it today with her column on the conviction of former L. A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife on charges they lied about their address and thusly committing fraud. More on this in my next blog.
A poll says 74% of the population polled is opposed to lowering the national drinking age back to 18. I agree, with one exception. Members of the U. S. armed forces on active duty should be allowed to drink, on military installations. If you're old enough to die defending your country, then you deserve a drink; and bases are controlled environments.
It is high time that Weird Al Yankovic had the #1 album on the charts. He's been churning out quality parodies for decades. In fact, his first single was "My Bologna" in 1979.
A hospital is being sued for amputating a man's penis instead of circumcising him. The hospital claims "...the suit lacks merit." Reporter's note: How do you make that mistake???
In Gainesville, FL, a man who was engaged in road rage was run over by his own truck. Joseph Carl plowed into a vehicle stopped at a red light and got out and began banging on the driver's window. The frightened woman sped away and with nothing holding his truck, it ran him down. He suffered fractures in the feet and hands.
* * *
July 24th in History:
1132 – Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1411 – Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.
1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against a ban on foreign beer.
1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.
1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI.
1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit, Michigan.
1783 – The Kingdom of Georgia and the Russian Empire sign the Treaty of Georgievsk.
1814 – War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward the Niagara River to halt Jacob Brown's American invaders.
1823 – Slavery is abolished in Chile.
1823 – In Maracaibo, Venezuela the naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo takes place, where Admiral José Prudencio Padilla, defeats the Spanish Navy, thus culminating the independence for the Gran Colombia.
1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. Celebrations of this event include the Pioneer Day Utah state holiday and the Days of '47 Parade.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown – Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1866 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.
1901 – O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
1910 – The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.
1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas".
1915 – The passenger ship S.S. Eastland capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
1922 – The draft of the British Mandate of Palestine was formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations; it came into effect on 26 September 1923.
1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.
1924 – Archeologist Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
1927 – The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
1929 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers).
1931 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.
1935 – The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (43°C) in Chicago, Illinois and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1937 – Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys".
1938 – First ascent of the Eiger north face.
1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1950 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.
1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".
1963 – The iconic Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.
1966 – Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.
1967 – During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1972 – Bugojno group is caught by Yugoslav security forces.
1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
1977 – End of a four day long Libyan–Egyptian War.
1980 – The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level.
1982 – Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
1983 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
1983 – George Brett batting for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".
1990 – Iraqi forces start massing on the Kuwait-Iraq border.
1991 – Manmohan Singh presents his budget speech to the Indian Parliament which led to economic liberalisation in India
1998 – Russell Eugene Weston, Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
2001 – Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
2001 – Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos, all died in this attack. They destroyed 11 Aircraft (mostly military) and damaged 15, there are no civilian casualties. This incident slowed down Sri Lankan economy.
2002 – Democrat James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.
2009 – The MV Arctic Sea, reportedly carrying a cargo of timber, is allegedly hijacked in the North Sea by pirates, but much speculation remains as to the actual cargo and events.
2011 – Digital switchover is completed in 44 of the 47 prefectures of Japan, with Iwate, Miyagi[disambiguation needed], and Fukushima television stations terminating analog broadcasting operations later as a result of the Tōhoku earthquake.
2013 – A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit at 190 km/h (120 mph), killing 78 passengers.
Famous Folk Born on July 24th:
Emperor Suzaku of Japan
Simon Bolivar
Alexandre Dumas
Vicente Acosta
Ernest Bloch
Amelia Earhart
Bella Abzug
John Aniston
Ruth Buzzi
Dan Inosanto
Walt Bellamy
Dan Hedaya
Chris Sarandon
Gallagher
Robert Hays
Michael Richards
Gus Van Sant
Pat Finn (he hosts Shop Til You Drop and I met him when my now ex-girlfriend and I were contestants on it)
Julie Krone
Karl Malone
Barry Bonds
Kadeem Hardison
Kristen Chenoweth (she may stand only 4'11" but her talents are at least 8' tall)
Laura Leighton
Rick Fox
Jennifer Lopez
Stephanie Adams
Rose Byrne
Elisabeth Moss
Anna Paquin
Joey Kovar
Mara Wilson
The courts have ruled that because it takes so long for an inmate on California's "Death Row" to finally get to the execution chamber; that the uncertainty involved makes execution in our state a cruel and unusual punishment. But that doesn't come close to the level of cruelty that took place in an execution in Arizona this week.
Joseph Wood was given the so-called "lethal injection" and it took over 100 minutes for him to die. He was gasping for air most of that time. That's just unacceptable. It is the very personification of cruel and unusual. If we're going to make people suffer for nearly two hours, perhaps we should just go back to drawing and quartering. Or the stocks, or the rack.
We already know the death penalty is a bad decision from a fiscal standpoint. It costs far more to execute a prisoner than it does to keep that prisoner behind bars for 40 or 50 years. Adding lawsuits against state governments for the kind of execution that Mr. Wood went through only exacerbates the financial issue.
Is the death penalty a deterrent to murder or other crimes punishable by death? Depends on who you ask. If you ask the proponents of the death penalty, they're convinced it is a deterrent. Ask those opposed to the death penalty and they'll tell you all day long is it NOT a deterrent. Numbers can be manipulated to do almost anything, but there are some numbers that I find interesting when it comes to determining if the death penalty is a deterrent.
In 1990, the murder rate in states with a death penalty was 9.5 per 100,000. States without a death penalty had a slightly lower rate that year, 9.16 per 100,000. That was a 4% difference. Now we know that murder has been on a sharp decline. If we move forward to 2006, death penalty states had a murder rate of 5.9 per 100,000 while the states that do not have a death penalty rate were at 4.22 per 100,000. The differential widened from 4% to 40%. Based solely on those numbers, it would seem the death penalty is not deterring murders in the states that still have a death penalty.
If a state wants to continue using the death penalty, that's the choice of its residents. But a better way has to be found to avoid any more situations like that suffered by Joseph Wood.
* * *
When I was very young and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I'd often tell a joke I had thought up all on my own. I'd tell them whatever I was fascinated with at the time and then add "but I don't want to be President of the United States." They would ask why and I'd retort "because there's no room for advancement."
In this era of hyper-partisanship, why would anyone want to take on the task of following Barrack Obama in the White House, which is a worse no-win scenario than the Kobayashi Maru as shown here.
Ronald Reagan was the oldest man to be inaugurated as President, back in 1980. He was 69. Joe Biden is going to turn 72 this November, and would be 74 at his inauguration if he were to win the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton is almost exactly five years younger than Biden, which would make her roughly Reagan's age were she to win in 2016. Not all people who are old, are truly "old" and no longer capable of doing a difficult job. But the Presidency is by definition the most important job in the nation. Yet whoever win the election in November of 2016 will be vilified by the other party, criticized harshly in the media for every position they take and that's just what will go on before the inauguration.
I'd cast my ballot for Pat Paulsen, but he stopped running for the Presidency when he died about 17 years ago.
* * *
Cory Tschogi owns a 600 square foot condo in the Palm Springs area and she'd heard good things about AirBNB. www.airbnb.com if you want to see their website. A renter was found who wanted to stay for 44 days. It went well the first month, but then the renter refused to pay the balance due. Worse yet, when the 44 days was up, the renter (identified as Maksym Pashanin) refused to leave.
So she should have just had the cops remove them, right? Wrong. In California, a rental of 30 days or more creates tenancy and tenants have rights. Now Ms Tschogi is going to have to evict these squatters and that will take time and money. Her electricity bills have more than tripled. AirBNB didn't respond to her at first, but has now promised to pay the full amount of the rental and they are working with her to provide legal support.
Rule #1. Never rent out your home to anyone for 30 days or more in California. Anaheim and Buena Park are just two examples of cities that have ordinances preventing motel owners from renting a room to someone for more than 30 days in a row.
Rule #2. If you're going to rent out your home on a short term with a business like AirBNB, make sure to have your contract with them reviewed by a competent attorney to make sure your rights are protected.
BTW, if you rent out your home for more than 14 days in any calendar year period, the rent you receive is taxable income.
* * *
Billy Joel has received a very prestigious honor, the Gershwin Prize, which is awarded by the U. S. Library of Congress. He is clearly deserving of this honor.
When the Library of Congress begins to decide who will be thusly honored next, they need to consider someone you may not be familiar with. However, I am convinced you are familiar with her music. She's written six songs that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (yes, one of them was co-written with Albert Hammond). She has won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy. A partial list of the hit songs she's written includes:
Can't Fight the Moonlight
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
Because You Needed Me
How Do I Live
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
There You'll Be
Live for Loving You
Solitaire
Rhythm of the Night
I Get Weak
I'm referring to the brilliant Diane Warren, who should be the next recipient of this honor.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Snoop Dog has no good excuse for lighting up a blunt in a White House restroom. Now if you want to blaze up with the President in his quarters and he's willing, that's different.
Eddie Murphy's girlfriend, model Paige Butcher is hot! But she shuns the spotlight. Good for her.
I'm a big fan of Frank Caliendo. The video below is damn funny.
Would someone tell Britney Spears that just because she looks good again doesn't mean she'll be successful with a line of lingerie?
I feel bad for that doctor who was fighting Ebola in Africa and contracted the disease himself. Ebola is nasty. There are mixed reports, some claiming the doctor has died and others that he is responding well to treatment.
I don't care that Olivia Munn loves to dress up as Wonder Woman. The question is can she fill out Lynda Carter's old bustier?
A Chinese multimillionaire used his American Express Black card (http://creditcardforum.com/blog/american-express-black-card-requirements/ if you want to know more) to buy a $36 million vase at auction. The bonus is he earned over 422 million rewards points with his purchase. Pretty neat.
Robert Samuel earns up to $1,000 a week as a professional line sitter. After finding the need, he's hired his friends. One of them stood in line 43 hours for an audition for "Shark Tank" and brought in $800 in revenue for that one job alone. I'd hire someone to stand in a long line for me. It's worth the expense.
San Francisco has a new ordinance making it much more expensive for a landlord to exit the rental real estate business. It vastly increases how much a property owner must pay a tenant they evict under the state's Ellis Act. The ordinance is bad law and almost certainly unconstitutional. I hope the family challenging it now prevail in court.
Did a donut shop in Connecticut really ban a 4 year old boy from its premises because he asked a female patron if she was expecting? If so, that sucks!
The two women accused of second degree murder in the Kim Pham beating death were found guilty, but of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Given the confusion surrounding the case, that seems fair.
I don't always agree with her columns, but Robin Abcarian of www.latimes.com nailed it today with her column on the conviction of former L. A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife on charges they lied about their address and thusly committing fraud. More on this in my next blog.
A poll says 74% of the population polled is opposed to lowering the national drinking age back to 18. I agree, with one exception. Members of the U. S. armed forces on active duty should be allowed to drink, on military installations. If you're old enough to die defending your country, then you deserve a drink; and bases are controlled environments.
It is high time that Weird Al Yankovic had the #1 album on the charts. He's been churning out quality parodies for decades. In fact, his first single was "My Bologna" in 1979.
A hospital is being sued for amputating a man's penis instead of circumcising him. The hospital claims "...the suit lacks merit." Reporter's note: How do you make that mistake???
In Gainesville, FL, a man who was engaged in road rage was run over by his own truck. Joseph Carl plowed into a vehicle stopped at a red light and got out and began banging on the driver's window. The frightened woman sped away and with nothing holding his truck, it ran him down. He suffered fractures in the feet and hands.
* * *
July 24th in History:
1132 – Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1411 – Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.
1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against a ban on foreign beer.
1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.
1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI.
1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit, Michigan.
1783 – The Kingdom of Georgia and the Russian Empire sign the Treaty of Georgievsk.
1814 – War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward the Niagara River to halt Jacob Brown's American invaders.
1823 – Slavery is abolished in Chile.
1823 – In Maracaibo, Venezuela the naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo takes place, where Admiral José Prudencio Padilla, defeats the Spanish Navy, thus culminating the independence for the Gran Colombia.
1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. Celebrations of this event include the Pioneer Day Utah state holiday and the Days of '47 Parade.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown – Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1866 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.
1901 – O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
1910 – The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.
1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas".
1915 – The passenger ship S.S. Eastland capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
1922 – The draft of the British Mandate of Palestine was formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations; it came into effect on 26 September 1923.
1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.
1924 – Archeologist Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
1927 – The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
1929 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers).
1931 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.
1935 – The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (43°C) in Chicago, Illinois and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1937 – Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys".
1938 – First ascent of the Eiger north face.
1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1950 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.
1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".
1963 – The iconic Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.
1966 – Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.
1967 – During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1972 – Bugojno group is caught by Yugoslav security forces.
1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
1977 – End of a four day long Libyan–Egyptian War.
1980 – The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level.
1982 – Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
1983 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
1983 – George Brett batting for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".
1990 – Iraqi forces start massing on the Kuwait-Iraq border.
1991 – Manmohan Singh presents his budget speech to the Indian Parliament which led to economic liberalisation in India
1998 – Russell Eugene Weston, Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
2001 – Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
2001 – Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos, all died in this attack. They destroyed 11 Aircraft (mostly military) and damaged 15, there are no civilian casualties. This incident slowed down Sri Lankan economy.
2002 – Democrat James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.
2009 – The MV Arctic Sea, reportedly carrying a cargo of timber, is allegedly hijacked in the North Sea by pirates, but much speculation remains as to the actual cargo and events.
2011 – Digital switchover is completed in 44 of the 47 prefectures of Japan, with Iwate, Miyagi[disambiguation needed], and Fukushima television stations terminating analog broadcasting operations later as a result of the Tōhoku earthquake.
2013 – A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit at 190 km/h (120 mph), killing 78 passengers.
Famous Folk Born on July 24th:
Emperor Suzaku of Japan
Simon Bolivar
Alexandre Dumas
Vicente Acosta
Ernest Bloch
Amelia Earhart
Bella Abzug
John Aniston
Ruth Buzzi
Dan Inosanto
Walt Bellamy
Dan Hedaya
Chris Sarandon
Gallagher
Robert Hays
Michael Richards
Gus Van Sant
Pat Finn (he hosts Shop Til You Drop and I met him when my now ex-girlfriend and I were contestants on it)
Julie Krone
Karl Malone
Barry Bonds
Kadeem Hardison
Kristen Chenoweth (she may stand only 4'11" but her talents are at least 8' tall)
Laura Leighton
Rick Fox
Jennifer Lopez
Stephanie Adams
Rose Byrne
Elisabeth Moss
Anna Paquin
Joey Kovar
Mara Wilson
posted by me at 6:05 PM
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