Articles by Steven Gilchrist

The federal government does not currently have accurate records on how many civilians are killed by police officers annually in the U.S. However, since 2015, The Washington Post has been tracking police shootings of civilians nationwide. Also, the advocacy group Mapping Police Violence maintains a database of police killings of civilians. According to Mapping Police Violence, from 2013 – 2020, 98.3% of police killings of civilians have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime. The state of California has one of the highest rates of police-civilian shootings in the country. In 2018, lawmakers in California worked to create legislation to make police misconduct records available to the public and to require police departments to release body camera footage. In addition to being the most populous state in the U.S., California has more police shootings than any other state. On average, there are about 100 to 200 civilians in California who are killed by police every year. In...

The United Nations has described ongoing social unrest in Burma (also known as Myanmar) involving the Rohingya community as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” The Rohingya Muslims represent the largest percentage of Muslims in Burma. In August 2017 the Burmese army attacked several Rohingya Muslims, the majority of whom live in the Rakhine state. The coordinated attacks against Rohingya civilians caused over 740,000 people to leave the southeast Asian country into Bangladesh as refugees. Contrary to the reports by the United Nations pertaining to violence against the Rohingya, Burmese officials deny targeting civilians. Burmese officials have countered these claims by saying that the Burmese military has been targeting their efforts to fight against the Rohingya militant group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The Rohingya refugees started fleeing to Bangladesh on August 25, 2017 after ARSA militants launched attacks against more than 30 police posts. The S...

Portland, ME. – At 78 acres the Eastern Promenade is the largest developed park in Portland, Maine. The Promenade was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and John Olmsted. The Promenade includes a community garden, a multi-use trail, and scenic views of the Casco Bay. Another feature of the Eastern Promenade is a memorial dedicated to Corporal Jacob Cousins. Cousins, who was an Army soldier, died on October 14, 1918 less than a month before the conclusion of World War I. During World War I, approximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers served in the United States military. 3,500 of the Jewish soldiers who served died in the war. Jacob Cousins bronze plaque - Portland, ME. The boulder memorial dedicated to Cousins includes a bronze plaque which reads: “This boulder erected by the Jacob Cousins Post No. 99 Portland, Maine of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States to the memory of Corporal Jacob Cousins Company C who was killed in action at Meuse-Argonne, France on October 14, 1918. He w...

Monterey, CA. –  Don Gaspar de Portolá (1716 – 1786) was a soldier and explorer from Spain. He led expeditions in the 1760’s & 1770’s in what is now modern-day California. During one of his expeditions to California, Portolá’s sailing crew became the first known Europeans to view and record San Francisco Bay. Portolá’s travels along the California coastline led to the establishments of San Diego and Monterey. In Monterey, there is a monument dedicated to Gaspar de Portolá. The monument reads: “Captain Don Gaspar de Portolá of the Army of King Carlos III of Spain. First Governor of California, 1768 — 1770. With Father Junipero Serra founded Monterey on June 3, 1770. Donated by H.M. King Juan Carlos I of Spain to the city of Monterey on the Bicentennial of the United States of America. Fausto Blazquez – Sculptor. Rededicated by H.M. King Juan Carlos I of Spain. October 3, 1987.” Don Gaspar de Portolá 

The nuclear armed nations of Pakistan and India have been locked in a contentious border dispute since 1947. In that year, India and Pakistan gained independence from Great Britain. Since achieving independence, India and Pakistan have fought three wars in 1947, 1965, and 1999. The most recent chapter in the ongoing dispute occurred in February 2019 when an Indian Air Force pilot was shot down and captured by the Pakistani military. The pilot’s MiG-21 jet was shot down while flying in the disputed Kashmir region (which is located to the north of India and to the east of Pakistan).   The Indian Air Force’s response stemmed from a suicide bombing attack on February 14, 2019. The attack took place in the Indian controlled section of Kashmir. More than 40 Indian troops were killed when a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a group of Indian soldiers. The Pakistani government denied any involvement in the attack. Nonetheless, the Indian government retaliated by conduc...

World-wide debt reached an all-time record high of $253 trillion as of the end of September 2019, according to research from the financial advocacy and research group the Institute of International Finance (IIF). In the IIF report it states: “Spurred by low interest rates and loose financial conditions, we estimate that total global debt will exceed $257 trillion in the first quarter of 2020, driven mainly by non-financial sector debt.” Economists believe that the drastic world-wide debt increase can be attributed to record-low interest rates in nations across the globe. The historically low interest rates have caused consumers, corporations, and governments to borrow more – which leads to increased debt levels. The report also noted that the governments of the United States and Australia hit all-time debt highs in the 3 rd quarter of 2019. The IIF report also shows that the global-debt-to-global-GDP ratio reached an all-time high of 322% as of the 3 rd quarter of 2019. Sources...

Blithewold Manor                        Bristol, RI.  – Situated along the Narragansett Bay, the Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum is a 33-acre estate. In 1896 the estate was purchased by coal baron Augustus Van Wickle and his Bessie Van Wickle McKee. The Blithewold estate served as the summer retreat from their home in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Bessie was involved in planti ng most of the gardens, structures, and trees on the estate. The Blithewold man sion is a 1908 English style  45-room ma nor. Marjorie Lyon, the daughter of Augustus and Bessie, inherited the Blith ewold estate. Marjorie continued her mother’s preservation of the estate. In 1976, Lyon bequeathed the estate to the general public for educationa l purposes. On November 13, 1911, John DeWolf, Blithewold’s landscape architect,  planted one of a dozen sequoia t rees on the estate. Today, this tree is the tallest sequoia tree ...