Let's Go Back Through the Listening Tube June 15-19

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Let's go back through the listening tube for this week in history.

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I'm Bob Woodley from the Listening Tube. This week in 1215, King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta is the foundation of many of today's laws and rights. The Constitution of the United States has commonalities with the Magna Carta. Perhaps the most important and long-lasting part of the Magna Carta is Clause 39, which reads, No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned, or desized, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way victimized. Neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. Today that very passage has led to the foundation of due process. It could be interpreted as innocent until proven guilty. It gives the individual the benefit of the doubt, assuming that most people are good people, and an alleged transgression may have been committed without malice or any intended harm. In addition, it put a burden on the government to prove a crime, rather than incarcerate someone for simple suspicion as had been the case. At best. In reality, the Crown had no limitations on judicial punishment until the Magna Carta. No suspicion was needed. Only the desire of the king could land you in a dungeon never to be seen again. Which is why it's funny when we hear people claiming the US government is disappearing people when they send them back to from where they came if they're not in the country legally. They have no king's rallies to protest a figure that doesn't exist in America. The Magna Carta established that the rule of law is an advantage to the citizen, and the government is obligated to maintain the law. More than that, it opened the door for citizens to have a voice in what the laws are, through representative government, all beneficial to the citizens under which the Magna Carta held sway. The fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in eighteen sixty eight, can trace its roots to the Magna Carta from twelve fifteen. In America today, there's a faction of people who have refused to uphold the laws that are designed to protect the citizens. Radical district attorneys and activist judges have turned away the laws meant to protect the citizens and instead promoted more crime and more victims. Bail laws meant to decrease jail populations have resulted in increased recidivism and victimization without perpetrators being held responsible. The Magna Carta reminds us that the laws are put in place to benefit the citizen, and the government is responsible for enforcing the laws. The people have a voice in establishing laws through representation. The laws that have been established by the citizens of the United States are being undermined by people who are in positions of power and influence, such as politicians and judges, and even police unions to selectively enforce the laws of the people. In America today, those people are called progressives. They profess to be advanced in their thinking, but upon further examination, they're just socialists. Socialists have a history of creating havoc until the citizens plead for the government to step in and take control of everything.

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You can hang your hat on that. The 1500s.

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This week in 1586, English colonists leave Roanoke Island after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in North America. What a bunch of quitters. This week in 1864, Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres of land around Arlington Mansion, formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. My wife and I spent this past weekend in Washington, D.C., and our first stop there was Arlington National Cemetery. This was our second time there. She wanted to see the changing of the guard again, so we took the trolley up to the tomb of the unknown soldier. It was very hot. We watched the solemn ceremony, the twenty one steps, the precision, the meticulous preparation for a routine task unlike any. When the change was over, we made our way back to the tram stop for the rest of the ride. No sooner did we climb aboard than it started to rain. I mean hard. And the tram didn't have any windows on the sides. The wind was blowing the rain horizontal so that everybody was drenched. Through it all the tour guide kept schooling us on who was buried where. He and his microphone were more protected than were my wife and I and the rest of the passengers. But although I had to close my eyes because of the wind and rain pummeling my face, I could still hear him, even though I'm completely deafened my right ear. While still a solemn occasion, it wasn't the experience I anticipated. Then I thought of the soldier who had just assumed his post a few minutes ago. He'll perform his solemn duty for a half hour before he's relieved. It's ninety five degrees and he's standing in the direct sunlight in a ceremonial uniform. I wondered if he welcomed the rain, and if the wind put some purpose in his posture? Did he think Oh great, as soon as it's my turn it starts to rain? Or did he think Oh right, this rain is the best thing that could have happened? It wouldn't help to ask because I'm sure he wouldn't answer. This week in eighteen sixty five, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and thirteen other contiguous states as Juneteenth. It's since been declared a national holiday. So next time you see someone wearing a t-shirt that says, None of us are free until all of us are free, well, there you go. Free since 1865.

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The 1900s.

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Not just them, but also Chinese Christians. The foreigners and Christians wound up huddled together in a walled district where they lasted for fifty-five days under siege. Almost five hundred foreigners were threatened. Fifty-five soldiers were killed, one hundred and thirty five wounded, according to Wikipedia. Thirteen civilians were killed, twenty four wounded. The rest were eventually rescued. This week in nineteen thirty nine, the last public guillotining takes place in France. Eugene Weidman, a convicted murderer, is guillotined and for a sigh outside the Saint Pierre prison. Not a bad way to go. I'd see how long I could keep talking after my head was chopped off.

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This week in 1982, in one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University in Beirut, is kidnapped. One year later, ten women are sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran, because of their faith. Today, Iranian women are perhaps the most suppressed women on the planet. Only women in Afghanistan have it worse. Perhaps now that the Iranian conflict is coming to a close, the people there will be able to overthrow the theocracy there and establish a government that treats citizens with respect. And in the year 2000, 26 years ago now, Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years of its issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon except the disputed Sheba Farms. Today, Israel is again occupying Lebanon, thanks to the constant threat from Hezbolla rockets being fired into Israel. Bankrolled by the Iranian regime, Hezbollah may have a tougher time of it now that Iran has been subdued by the United States and Israel. I'm Bob Woodley from the Listening Tube. Follow the listening tube at thelistening tube.com.