June 17

1967 - China became the world's fourth thermonuclear power.

Producing a hydrogen-bomb is a huge achievement; an enormous event for any nation able to pull it off...It's important to understand the difference in power between atomic and thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs:  Atom bombs = approximately 20,000 tons of TNT.  Hydrogen bombs = Over 1,000,000 tons of TNT.

Welcome to the club, China...An awesome club: U.S., Russia, U.K., France, China, and maybe Israel and North Korea.

There will be more, and the question isn’t who will get them, but who will use them...And where.

1775 - The Battle of Bunker Hill took place near Boston:  American Revolutionary War.

This was one of the first battles of the war, and even though it was a victory for the Brits it was a rude awakening for them as well.

The Battle of Bunker Hill (fought mostly at Breed’s Hill, by the way) showed the Colonists could and would fight, would not be intimidated by the sight of the ‘Red Coats,’ and woke the Brits to the reality the ‘Colonial skirmish’ had turned into a war.

Troops/Casualties: Brits = 2600/1200, Colonists = 1400/450...By no means should these Colonials be considered troops, though.

1940 - France asked Germany for terms of surrender:  WWII.

Four words: THE FRENCH ARE PATHETIC!!!

Especially compared to the fight the Brits and Ruskies put up under even worse conditions against the Nazi beasts.

1991 - Wilson v. Seiter:  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled prison conditions such as overcrowding, poor sanitation, and exposure to violence do not violate the 8th Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

They are prisoners!! Prison isn’t supposed to be easy, and we shouldn’t even try to make it so...Otherwise it becomes a more preferred home than some people’s regular life.

If prisoners don’t like the prison homes they choose to occupy by being criminals, they should be given the option of execution...Or quit committing crimes.

1994 - After leading police on a slow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

I still have visions of the white Bronco driving through the freeways of L.A. followed by police on the ground and in the sky...Equally bizarre was the sight of crowds lining up watching the event occur - some even had signs cheering on the murderer.