All That's Matters: April 2023

Inside The Brutal Cheshire Murders That Rocked Suburban Connecticut

William Petit and Jennifer Hawke-Petit lived a normal, peaceful life in the quiet suburban town of Cheshire, Connecticut — the kind of place where it seemed like nothing bad could ever happen. They resided in a nice two-story house with their two daughters, Hayley, a 17-year-old who was preparing to go to Dartmouth, and 11-year-old Michaela, who had a budding passion for cooking. But that sense of calm was forever shattered when two robbers broke into the Petit family's idyllic home on the morning of July 23, 2007, sexually assaulted Jennifer and Michaela, and burned the house down, leaving most of the family dead. Go inside the horrific true story of the Cheshire murders, the deadly home invasion that rocked suburban Connecticut Now The story is full In July 2007, the sense of calm in Cheshire, Connecticut was shattered when two would-be robbers entered the Petit family home — and viciously killed three people inside. Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events. On July 23, 2007, Jennifer Hawke-Petit entered a bank in the quiet town of Cheshire, Connecticut, and asked to withdraw $15,000 from her account. She told the shocked bank teller that she needed the money because her husband and two daughters were being held hostage, and that her family wouldn’t be harmed if she gave their captors the cash. Tragically, the hostage situation would soon escalate into the Cheshire murders. Until that point, the town of Cheshire struck many as the kind of place where nothing bad ever happened. Jennifer and her family — her husband, William Petit, and daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 — had lived a normal, suburban life. But the town’s sense of calm was shattered that July. Then, in the dead of night, two burglars snuck into the family’s quaint Cheshire home. Though they initially planned to merely rob the place, the home invasion soon escalated into all-out violence, leaving most of the Petit family dead and their house in flames. This is the harrowing story of the 2007 Cheshire murders. The Opposite Worlds Of The Petit Family And The Criminals Who Invaded Their Home By all accounts, the Petit family was a fairly normal one. William was an endocrinologist; Jennifer was a nurse. Their 17-year-old daughter, Hayley, was preparing to go Dartmouth in the fall, and their 11-year-old daughter Michael had a budding passion for cooking, according to Newsweek. The Petits were neither very rich nor very poor, and lived in a simple, two-story home at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive. But the perpetrators of the Cheshire murders came from more checkered backgrounds. Joshua Komisarjevsky, the younger of the two burglars, came from money but had had a difficult childhood. Adopted and diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder at a young age, Komisarjevsky was both a victim and a perpetrator of abuse among his adopted siblings. Komisarjevsky’s highly religious parents refused to seek treatment for him, and Newsweek notes that they blamed a “satanic cult” for his eventual spiral into crime. Komisarjevsky began breaking into houses and using drugs, which led him to meet his accomplice in the Cheshire murders, Linda Hayes. Linda Hayes, born Steven Hayes, changed their name in prison following the Cheshire murders, though according to the New York Times they didn’t specify what pronouns they use. In many ways, Hayes’ childhood was similar to Komisarjevsky’s. Hayes had also been abused as a child, and had turned to petty theft to support a drug habit. Hayes met Komisarjevsky at a halfway house in 2006, and the two became friendly. About a year later, Komisarjevsky and Hayes’ world would violently collide with the Petit family’s. The Night Of The Break-In Joshua Komisarjevsky and Linda Hayes’ decision to break into the Petit home was not random. On July 22, 2007, the day before the Cheshire murders, Komisarjevsky spotted Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughter Michaela at the local Stop & Shop. He followed the pair home and was impressed by their house “[I] started thinking it’s a very nice house and a very nice car and thought it would be nice to be there someday,” Komisarjevsky told police in his confession. “Not have to worry about financial problems and stress.” Komisarjevsky enlisted Hayes’ help and, at around 3 a.m. the next morning, the pair broke into the Petits’ home. They found William Petit asleep in the sunroom, where he had fallen asleep reading the paper. Komisarjevsky grabbed a baseball bat nearby and started to pummel Petit with it, TIME reports. They tied up Petit in the basement, then went upstairs, where they found Hayley in her room and Michaela with her mother, where she’d fallen asleep while reading Harry Potter. Komisarjevsky and Hayes put pillowcases over Jennifer, Michaela, and Hayley’s heads and tied them to their beds before setting out to search the house. When Komisarjevsky and Hayes found fewer valuables than they’d expected, they changed their plans. They grabbed Jennifer and demanded that she drive to the bank with Hayes to withdraw money At the Bank of America branch in Cheshire, Hayes waited in the car while Jennifer entered the bank to withdraw $15,000. According to Mary Lyons, the branch manager, Jennifer seemed “petrified.” “She explained to me that her family was being held and as long as she got the money and got back to the house everybody would be OK,” Lyons recounted to USA Today 10 years later. “I just knew from the look on her face and the look in her eyes that she was telling the truth. Her eyes told me — a look from one mom to another mom.” Lyons approved the withdrawal and called the police as soon as Jennifer and her captor drove away. Sadly, Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters would never be seen alive again. The Gruesome Final Moments Of The Cheshire Murders After the bank called the authorities, the police sent units to the Petit home, but they were instructed not to enter yet, even though a hostage negotiator was on hand and ready to intervene. And as police awaited further instruction, the situation inside 300 Sorghum Mill Drive was rapidly escalating. While Hayes and Jennifer were gone, Komisarjevsky had sexually assaulted 11-year-old Michaela. Then, when Hayes and Jennifer got back to the house, Komisarjevsky instructed Hayes to rape Jennifer to “square things up.” And Hayes did. As the police stood in position outside, several things happened almost at once. First, William managed to escape from the basement. Bloodied and bound, he shot out of the house, yelling for help. Hayes then strangled Jennifer, killing her. And, in the burglars’ final act of cruelty, they poured gasoline throughout the house and over Hayley and Michaela before igniting it with a match. As fire engulfed the Petits’ house, the duo jumped into the Petit family’s car and tried to escape. They almost immediately crashed into a police cruiser and were promptly arrested. It was just after 10 a.m. The Cheshire murders had been going on for seven brutal hours.

On this day in history, 30 April 1943, Operation Mincemeat was performed

On this day in history, 30 April 1943, Operation Mincemeat was performed.

Operation Mincemeat, he codename for the British deception operation aimed at tricking the Germans into believing that the Allies were planning an invasion in two places. The first one in Greece, followed by an advance to the Balkans, the second one in Sardinia to act as a base for an invasion of southern France. Sicily, the actual target, was mentioned as a diversionary operation. The operation was conceived by Ewen Montagu, a security officer of British Section 17 F of the naval intelligence service at the Admiralty in London. For this purpose, a body of a British national who had just died of pneumonia was used, so that it appeared as if he had drowned. The corpse was given the fake name William Martin and the rank of Major of the Marines, staff officer at Combined Operations Headquarters. The corpse was put in the sea by the British submarine P219, HMS Seraph, under the command of commanding officer N.L.A. Jewell, at the Spanish port of Huelva with the intention of having it washed ashore. A rubber rescue boat with only one aluminum paddle was also put overboard. The German consul in Huelva, who was known as a skilled NS spy, had to receive the documents, according to plan, that Martin carried in a leather bag with a chain attached to his wrist. The contents included a collegiate letter from General Archibald Nye to General Harold Alexander, stating that Nye feared the Germans had learned that the next Allied attack was on Greece. The plans to attack Sardinia and Corsica, combined with an attack on southern France, also turned out to be not unknown to the Germans. In order to preclude the mistrust of the Germans that an ordinary major could go on a journey with such important papers, Lord Louis Mountbatten enclosed a personal letter in the bag.

CCTV shows girl, six, being led away before she is raped and murdered in Thailand horror

A CCTV picture has been released in Thailand showing a six-year-old girl being led away by the hand by a stranger before being brutally raped and then strangled. A 32-year-old man is being held for the rape and murder of the six-year-old nicknamed “Cartoon” who was caught on camera being led from a Skytrain station in the capital Bangkok ten days ago. Her father Sayan Petchdon had taken her to a Thai folk music concert on December 6 and shortly after 10pm he took her to sleep in his pick-up truck outside the venue. When he returned at 11pm she was gone. Sayan wept uncontrollably when he was shown the girls floral pants. Her body had been found in a deserted area near the city’s Sukhumvit Soi 105 yesterday. CCTV footage had caught her abductor in Bearing skytrain station. Police reported him as saying: “I’m sorry my girl. I shouldn’t have left you in the truck. The mean man hurt you.” The alleged attacker, known as Nui, had only last August been released from jail in Nong Khai north eastern Thailand after serving just three years and eight months for the abduction of a child under 15 years. CCTV shows girl, six, being led away before she is raped and murdered in Thailand horror A CCTV picture like the one taken in the infamous James Bulger murder case has been released in Thailand showing a 6-year-old girl being led away by the hand by a stranger before being brutally raped and then strangled. In Bangkok a 32-year-old man has be CCTV picture has been released in Thailand showing a six-year-old girl being led away by the hand by a stranger before being brutally raped and then strangled. A 32-year-old man is being held for the rape and murder of the six-year-old nicknamed “Cartoon” who was caught on camera being led from a Skytrain station in the capital Bangkok ten days ago. Her father Sayan Petchdon had taken her to a Thai folk music concert on December 6 and shortly after 10pm he took her to sleep in his pick-up truck outside the venue. When he returned at 11pm she was gone. Sayan wept uncontrollably when he was shown the girls floral pants. Her body had been found in a deserted area near the city’s Sukhumvit Soi 105 yesterday. CCTV footage had caught her abductor in Bearing skytrain station. Do you have the business idea to win a £25,000 prize? Police reported him as saying: “I’m sorry my girl. I shouldn’t have left you in the truck. The mean man hurt you.” The alleged attacker, known as Nui, had only last August been released from jail in Nong Khai north eastern Thailand after serving just three years and eight months for the abduction of a child under 15 years. Police in Nong Khai said they had arrested him at a local address and he had confessed. Nui had allegedly drunk a bottle of lao khao (rice alcohol) prior to leading the girl away. He was a roadie with the same band the father had been to see in Bangkok. Nui was brought down from Nong Khai, bordering the Mekong River and Laos by police truck. The CCTV image echoes the abduction and murder of James Bulger, the toddler who was caught on camera being led away by 10-year-old Jon Venables from a shopping centre in Bottle, Merseyside, in February 1993. Venables and Robert Thompson became the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history when they were found guilty later that year. Just as the Bulger case rocked Britain, Thailand is now reeling from this horror story.

Research Reveals That Black Children Were Fed to Hogs and Used as Alligator Bait in the Early 1900s

A man named Johnny Lee Gaddy recently shared with peonage researcher, Dr. Antoinette Harrell, that in 1957 he witnessed African American children being literally fed to the hogs that were on the campus of the infamous Arthur G. Dozier Reform School in the Florida Panhandle. In addition, a 1923 article in Times Magazine reported from Chipley, Florida that Black babies were being used as alligator bait. Pictures, postcards, and other trinkets were sold to commemorate this evil, dark practice. New Orleans, LA — August 2019 will mark 400 years of the first documented arrival of Africans brought to America as indentured servants. Children suffered and continue to suffer cruelties such as sex slaves, forced child labor, physical abuse, and in some cases, human cannibalism in the United States. These cruelties are a big part of human trafficking where body organs and other body parts are sold to wealthy people. These atrocities, abuse, and modern-day slavery will plague America like incurable cancer until we address this ugly past. When Dr. Antoinette Harrell thought that she had heard the worst of the worst, there was even more to discover. Harrell heard four stories that were so evil that most people didn’t want to talk about what they experienced or repeat the painful experiences told to them by their family members. No one wants to visit things that hurt them. Having these hurtful injustices resurface can take them back to that time, place, and period in their lives that they do not want to remember. Many unfortunate events happened to children during Slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow that continue to this very day. The story that Johnny Lee Gaddy shared with peonage researcher, Dr. Antoinette Harrell, will upset your stomach. Johnny witnessed a child’s hand in the hog pen at the infamous Arthur G. Dozier Reform School in the Florida Panhandle. Gaddy told Harrell during a radio interview that he saw the severed hand of a child in the fire pit while taking the trash to be burned. Gaddy knew it was the body part of one of the boys. After discussing what he saw with one of the boys, he was told never to tell anyone what he saw if he wanted to stay alive. Gaddy alleges they were cooking the boys and feeding them to the hogs. Gaddy told Harrell that he worked as a slave cutting lumber, raising livestock, and farming the land. He worked in the swamp with large alligators and snakes. Boys younger than Gaddy also had to work hard at Dozier. Gaddy said his life was a living hell at the state-operated school. The reform school was in operation from January 1, 1900, to June 30, 2011, by the state of Florida in the panhandle town of Marianna. This was not a surprise to Harrell. She had previously met a family who was held in the system of peonage in Gillsburg, Mississippi in the 1960s. Cain Wall, Sr., who was 107 years old at the time, told Harrell his family’s story. He recalled a time when a man rode a horse throughout the area and picked up black babies, cut them up, and use them for fish bait. Wall said, “I saw the blood dripping from his sack on the side of his horse. Everybody would grab their children when they heard that he was coming. He was a mean and evil man,” said Walls. Some people in the South claim white men used black babies as alligator bait in the swamps of Louisiana and Florida. They used the babies to lure large alligators with human flesh and blood during the era of slavery. They kidnapped the babies, skin them alive, and drop them into the swamp waters. In 1923, a publication in Times Magazine reported from Chipley, Florida that black babies were being used as alligator bait. On June 3, 1908, the Washington Times reported that a zookeeper at the New York Zoological Garden baited alligators with pickaninnies. Pictures, postcards, and other trinkets were sold to commemorate this evil, dark practice. Deangelo and Kirk Manuel, intern researchers with Harrell, recently traveled to Shubuta, Mississippi to investigate six lynchings. The Manuels read how the four young black people were lynched at the Hanging Bridge in 1918. Those lynched were brothers, Major, 20, and Andrew Clark, 16, and sisters; Alma, 16, and Maggie Howze, 20. Maggie was six months pregnant and Alma was due in two weeks. Both of the young women were pregnant by the dentist who employed them. Major signed up for the draft in WWI on September 9, 1918, and was lynched in December of 1918. Ernest Greene and Charles Lang were lynched in 1942 in the same town in Mississippi. “There life was cut short, it’s no telling what the future held for those two young boys. We will never know the effects they could have had on this world,” said Deangelo. It was alleged that Andrew and Major murdered Dr. Everette Lavega Johnston, a married white dentist where the four young people worked. Major and Andrew were working on the farm to pay a debt for their father, Eddie Clark, Sr. Major and Andrew were two of eight children born to Eddie and Charity Clarke. All four were brutally tortured. Maggie was smashed in the face with a wrench and they all were thrown from the bridge. When the victims were buried the next day, some people reported that the unborn baby could be seen moving in Alma’s womb. Harrell and her interns are also investigating a case concerning missing boys in Smith and Simpson County in Mississippi in 1900. Near what was known at Sullivan’s Hollow, lived a man by the name of W.T. Ware, along with his sons and son-in-law, Turner. It was reported that the Wares had been stealing little black boys and selling them to the Mississippi Delta. One of the Wares was a doctor and was responsible for disposing of the boys in the Delta. The Wares were arrested and tried for kidnapping and hiding a boy at the home of Turner in Simpson County until they could transport him to the Delta. A report was filed with the Attorney General in 1900. Another report filed in Montgomery, Alabama, started a young black boy named Young Trammell was taken from the Alabama line and carried into Georgia where he was forced to work off a debt. The boy’s father informed the reporter that he could not get his son back until he paid the amount that Benford claimed was owed plus the alleged costs of the court proceedings. Many have never heard these stories because they are not taught in schools. Montreal Harrell, educator and Grambling State University alumna, knows the reality of this truth. “A limited amount of information is presented to students in the public school system about what actually happened during slavery and the Civil Rights Era. The same information on black history is given to the students year after year. Although the Historically Black Colleges and Universities excel in black history education, there need to be more courses offered that teach students how to properly research their history,” Harrell said. Johnny Lee Gaddy is one of many stories that needs continued research. Johnny Lee Gaddy was taken from his mother in Clearwater, Florida in 1957 and driven to the Arthur G. Dozier Reform School in Marianna, Florida without due process from the courts or legal representation. He served his time and was eventually released to his mother. Harrell’s team consists of photographers, videographers, and screenwriters, who are dedicated to assisting Harrell with bringing these stories to the forefront.

Terry Fox ran a daily marathon to raise money for cancer research

A 21-year-old Canadian named Terry Fox started a cross-Canada marathon to raise money for cancer research after losing a leg to the disease. He ran a full marathon daily before his cancer worsened and forced him to stop, he completed 143 days and 5,373 kilometers (3338 miles). Terrance Stanley Fox CC OD (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$850 million has been raised in his name as of September 2022. Fox was a distance runner and basketball player for his Port Coquitlam high school, now named after him, and Simon Fraser University. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, though he continued to run using an artificial leg. He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships. In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. He hoped to raise one dollar from each of Canada's 24 million people. He began with little fanfare from St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day. Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money. He was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay when the cancer spread to his lungs. His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his run ended when he died nine months later. Fox was the youngest person named a Companion of the Order of Canada and won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation's top sportsman. He was named Canada's Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981 by The Canadian Press. Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, statues, roads, and parks named in his honour across the country.

Startled Bystander At The Annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Startled Bystander At The Annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, 1994 The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the largest Pride event in Oceania. It includes a variety of events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade and Party, Bondi Beach Drag Races, Harbour Party, the academic discussion panel Queer Thinking, Mardi Gras Film Festival, as well as Fair Day, which attracts 70,000 people to Victoria Park, Sydney. The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is one of Australia's biggest tourist drawcards, with the parade and dance party attracting many international and domestic tourists. It is New South Wales' second-largest annual event in terms of economic impact, generating an annual income of about A$30 million for the state. The event grew from gay rights parades held annually since 1978, when numerous participants had been arrested by New South Wales Police Force. The Mardi Gras Parade maintains a political flavour, with many marching groups and floats promoting LGBTQIA+ rights issues or themes. Reflecting changes since the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, participants in the Mardi Gras Parade now include groups of uniformed Australian Defence Force personnel, police officers from New South Wales Police Force, as well as interstate and federal police officers, firefighters and other emergency services personnel from the Australian LGBTQIA+ communities. Marriage equality was a dominant theme in the 2011 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade with at least 15 floats lobbying for same-sex marriage. In 2019 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras submitted a bid to host WorldPride 2023 competing against Montreal, Canada and Houston, Texas. InterPride chose Sydney, Australia to host WorldPride 2023 at their Athens October 2019 Annual General Meeting of three hundred delegate organizations, the first time WorldPride will be held in the Southern Hemisphere or Asia Pacific region. The Australian Queer Archives, City of Sydney Archives, Pride History Group, and State Library of NSW hold an extensive collections of material related to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, including oral history interviews, organisational records, personal papers, posters, clippings, and photographs. The term 'Mardi Gras' The term 'Mardi Gras' derives from the celebration on 'Mardi' (French for Tuesday) when 'Gras' (French for Fat) is eaten prior to the Christian abstinence period of Lent preceding Easter.

The real story behind Princess Diana's 'revenge' dress - and why it's still so influential 28 years on

Duchess Camila’s Attempt (1995) In Recreating Lady Diana’s Famous Revenge Dress Which She Wore When Prince Charles Confessed Cheating On Her With Camila (1994) It's 1994. Your husband has just admitted to cheating on you to the entire world. You're due to be at an event and all eyes will inevitably be on you. The saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold, but Diana chose to serve it piping hot. As she strode out of her limousine towards the Serpentine Gallery in London's Hyde Park, she greeted people full of poise and confidence Her dazzling smile almost outshone the huge sapphire sparkling in the centre of her pearl choker. She held her head high. Her hair caught in the fading sun, and notably she was still wearing her sapphire engagement ring. Yet it was her black off-the-shoulder dress with matching-chiffon scarf flying behind from the waist that said it all. Her message: 'I am not a victim'. At the same time, her estranged husband Charles was being beamed on TVs around the nation being interviewed about his infidelity with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Interviewer Jonathan Dimbleby had asked Charles if he had been 'faithful and honourable' to Diana to which he replied 'Yes,' and added: 'Until (the marriage) became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.' Diana's show-stopping dress was no coincidence. And besides her wedding gown it was to become her most famous frock. The Americans christened the outfit the 'I'll Show You' dress and the 'vengeance' dress. Yet it had sat in her wardrobe collecting dust for three years, until that balmy June 29 evening. It had been leaked that Diana was going to wear Valentino to the event, so instead she wore the daring off-the-shoulder gown by Greek designer Christina Stambolian. She had bought the dress after lunching with her brother Charles Spencer at her favourite restaurant, San Lorenzo, before wandering down Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge and walking into the shop of the little-known Greek designer. Christina Stambolian remembers Princess Diana asking for a 'special dress for a special occasion' in her store back in 1991, according to Claudia Joseph's book, Diana: A Life in Dresses. After a few sketches, they decided on the legendary short hem and after two dressmakers took more than 60 hours to create the dress - and the rest is history. Ms Stambolian added that she 'thrilled to see Diana wear it on that night of all nights.' Referencing Swan Lake - one of Princess Diana's favourite plays - Ms Stambolian added: 'She chose not to play the scene like Odette, innocent in white. She was clearly angry. She played it like Odile in black. She wore bright red nail enamel, which we had never seen her do before. She was saying: ‘Let’s be wicked tonight.’ The dress featured an asymmetrical hem, with a flattering sheer tail which dangled from the cinched waist. With a flirty sweetheart neckline, Diana certainly turned heads, as she paired the dress with sheer tights, onyx coloured stilettos and her beloved pearl and sapphire choker, which was originally a brooch given to her by the Queen Mother that she fashioned into a necklace. Photographer and author of Dicing with Di, Mark Saunders, told the documentary Diana: In Search of Happiness: 'Everyone remembers the night of the Dimbleby interview when Prince Charles admitted an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles and look how Diana turned up at the Serpentine Gallery. 'I mean my God that was brilliant and I applaud her for it, I thought it was great. But that's what Diana does, she manipulates and she's very good at it.' Diana's late former stylist Anna Harvey told the 2013 documentary Princess Diana's Dresses: The Auction, that she wanted to hold her head high in what she chose to wear that evening. Ms Harvey said: 'She wanted to look a million dollars. And she did.' The stylist also wrote in Vogue that it 'thrilled' the Princess to make an impact. But the decision did not come easy to Diana, as according to Paul Burrell, her former butler, he chose the dress for her when she expressed thoughts about not attending the event. He told the Channel 5 documentary, Secrets of the Royal Dressmakers: 'She said, "I can't go, I can't face the world knowing what Charles has just said. And anyway I haven't got anything to wear." I went to her wardrobe room and pulled out the Christina Stambolian dress, and showed it to her.' He also added that she was worried that the slinky dress would not fit her anymore, having bought it three years prior. He said: 'I zipped her up and she looked a million dollars.' For a couple of hours at least her husband's television confession was forgotten. Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana on the Netflix series The Crown, stole the show with the recreation of the iconic revenge dress moment. Sidonie Roberts, buyer and assistant costume designer for The Crown, told The Times that the look represented 'the birth of an icon for women all over the world'. Sidonie, who oversaw the recreation of the fashion moment, said: 'We can’t overestimate its impact. 'In the revenge dress not only do we have the birth of a new woman, we have the birth of an icon for women all over the world. It was a deeply empowering moment.' It would seem Sidonie is correct, as Gen Z remain enthralled by Princess Diana. Video content on the renowned little black dress content racks up millions of views on TikTok - proving that her 'revenge' moment still lives on to this day. One TikTok shows a inspired Diana fan sketching up the famous dress to make herself, before showing a black ruched dress, reminiscent of the one the Princess wore, to show the progress she's made so far. A second video shows a stylist speaking about why Diana's dress worked so well for her, speaking about how flattering the dress was for her body type. She says: 'The impact of this dress is undeniable.... It has that slight promiscuous edge which made it so famous.' Another TikTok shows a woman lip-synching a scene from The Crown between Josh O’Connor (who plays Charles) and Emma Corrin (who plays Diana for this season) where the two characters are arguing about Camilla. The Diana fan stands there in her version of the off-the-shoulder revenge dress and a similar necklace to the one the Princess wore. The global platform hosts thousands of videos of people around the world who are inspired by the moment where Diana took back control and made a statement with a fashion choice that was so bold, there was little that needed to be said. The powerful piece of material that continues to empower women around the world now remains in a bank vault, wrapped in tissue paper and has not been seen in public for years, according to Diana: A Life in Dresses. A replica, which Christina Stambolian made in 2010, is in the Museum of Style Icons, in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.

Does Pic Show Italian Police Ticketing Woman for Wearing Bikini in 1950s?

Does Pic Show Italian Police Ticketing Woman for Wearing Bikini in 1950s

A policeman issues a ticket to a woman for wearing a bikini, 1957 The swimsuit caused a stir when it first emerged in 1946 and was banned from beaches in Italy during the 1950s. The word bikini was coined in 1946 by French engineer Louis Réard who invented it. Réard later described it as a “two-piece bathing suit which reveals everything about a girl except for her mother’s maiden name”. A black-and-white photograph, shared widely in September 2021, shows an Italian police officer issuing a ticket to a woman wearing a bikini in the 1950s. In September 2021, an old photograph re-emerged online, showing what appeared to be a police officer issuing a ticket to a woman wearing a bikini on a beach. On Reddit, one popular post described the picture as follows: A police officer ticketing a woman for wearing a bikini on a beach, which was illegal at the time in Italy, 1950s. The picture has been posted online many times in recent years, with similar or identical descriptions of the scene. Those descriptions were accurate, so we are issuing a rating of "True." The photograph was taken on a beach in Rimini, in northern Italy, in September 1957. It is held in the Ullstein photograph archive, owned by the German company Axel Springer Syndicate. Ullstein told Snopes details were not available about the photographer who captured the scene. Although we were not able to find the exact dates in question, bikinis were indeed banned from beaches in Italy during the 1950s, after the Vatican expressed its disapproval of the swimsuit, which was first marketed in 1946. In the collection of the German agency AKG Images, the photo carries the following caption: On the beach of Rimini (Adriatic coast, Italy): A carabinieri issues a penalty ticket to a young woman wearing a bikini.

How the Ghost Army of WWII Used Art to Deceive the Nazis

Unsung for decades, the U.S. Army’s 23rd Headquarters Special Troops drew on visual, sonic and radio deception to misdirect the Germans In 1944, the US created the Ghost Army - a tactical deception unit consisting of over 1,000 handpicked soldiers, artists, photographers, and fashion designers - to fool the Nazis during WWII. They staged 20 missions across the frontlines of France and kept it secret for 40 years. Bernie Bluestein was 19 years old when he spotted a vaguely worded notice on the bulletin board at his Cleveland art college in March 1943. It was the middle of World War II, and the United States Army was seeking recruits for a new, non-combat camouflage unit that would draw on the art of deception to misdirect the enemy. All for serving his country but not exactly the “fighter-type person,” Bluestein enlisted in the enigmatic unit. He didn’t know it at the time, but the assignment would prove riskier than most non-combat roles: If the Nazis found out that members of the so-called “Ghost Army” were playing them for fools, they were likely to retaliate brutally. “If I had known that before I got into the service, I probably would have made a different decision,” says Bluestein, now 98. A resident of Schaumburg, Illinois, he remains an avid artist, making everything from paintings to ceramics. Known formally as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, the unit carried out more than 20 deception campaigns during the final year of the war. Drawing on members’ artistic talent and technological savvy, the Ghost Army created elaborate illusions featuring inflatable tanks, jeeps and artillery; speakers that blasted prerecorded tracks of troops in action; and falsified radio dispatches. Their goal: to confuse and intimidate the Germans by offering a false sense of the Americans’ numbers and troop movements. In total, the 23rd saved the lives of an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 American servicemen. Their successful missions included D-Day and Operation Viersen, a March 1945 hoax that convinced the Germans their enemies were planning to cross the Rhine River far north of where they actually attacked. Though the unit’s numbers were limited—it comprised 1,023 men and 82 officers—the soldiers’ visual, sonic and radio deceptions managed to convince the Germans that they faced enemy forces of up to 40,000 men. Despite the Ghost Army’s pivotal role in the Allied victory, few outside of the unit knew of its existence until decades after the war. Smithsonian magazine published the first feature-length, public account of the group’s exploits in April 1985; veteran Arthur Shilstone illustrated the article and offered firsthand testimony of his wartime experiences. The U.S. government declassified the unit’s official history around that same time, according to the Ghost Army Legacy Project, but soon reclassified the records and kept them under wraps until 1996. Seventy-seven years after the war’s end, the men who served in the Ghost Army—no more than ten of whom are known to still be alive—have received one of the nation’s highest honors: the Congressional Gold Medal. In February, President Joe Biden signed a bill granting the award to the unit for its “unique and highly distinguished service in conducting deception operations.” “My mouth was wide open,” says Bluestein of the recognition. “It’s a thrill to have that honor. If you ask most of us, we never thought much about what we did. We did what we had to do in the war … and that was it.”

In 1996, a newborn baby girl was left in a garbage can near

In 1996, a newborn baby girl was left in a garbage can near the city of Kolkata, India. Three friendly street dogs discovered and protected her for nearly two days, even attempting to feed the child before authorities were contacted and the young one was saved. Amy S. Grossberg (born 1978) is an American woman who delivered a baby at a Comfort Inn in Newark, Delaware, in November 1996, assisted only by her then-boyfriend Brian C. Peterson (born 1978), who later threw the baby into a dumpster. In March 1998, Peterson pled guilty to manslaughter and served a two-year sentence; on April 22, 1998, Grossberg agreed to a plea bargain, and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on July 9, 1998. Grossberg and Peterson dated while at Ramapo High School, growing up in the affluent suburb of Wyckoff, New Jersey. Amy successfully hid the pregnancy from her parents, wanting mostly to shield it from her mother. Grossberg wore baggy clothes and avoided her parents for the course of the nine months. In September, she enrolled as a freshman at the University of Delaware, while Peterson enrolled at college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In November 1996, the eighteen-year-old's water broke. Peterson drove three hours from his college to hers, and checked them into the Comfort Inn in Newark, Delaware. Grossberg delivered the unnamed child on November 12. Conflicting stories have made the subsequent events a mystery to anyone except the couple, but Peterson and Grossberg claim they believed the infant to be stillborn, wrapped him in a garbage bag, and disposed of him in a dumpster. The bloody sheets were discovered by a cleaning woman, who immediately contacted police. After returning to school, Grossberg began to have severe seizures as a result of not having expelled the placenta. She was taken to a hospital, and it was clear to the doctors that she had just given birth. Not long after, police officials and the hospital put the two incidents together. K-9 Police dogs found the body in the dumpster. The couple's initial claim that the child was stillborn was quickly rejected. An autopsy indicated that the infant was delivered alive and that the cause of death was several head fractures and Shaken Baby Syndrome. The cause of the injuries was inconclusive. The D.A. announced that he would charge the couple with first degree murder and pursue the death penalty against them. Peterson and Grossberg, who at first seemed to remain a loving couple, turned on each other and each began blaming the other. In December 1996 they were indicted for the murder. Peterson stated emphatically that Grossberg told him to "get rid of it!"; Grossberg claimed that Peterson acted alone in putting the boy into the dumpster. In March 1998, Peterson pled guilty to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Grossberg at her trial. In addition to his initial claims, he stated that he tried to get Amy to a hospital, but she refused. When Grossberg heard Peterson's statement in detail, she agreed to a plea bargain, on April 22, 1998. She admitted to unintentionally causing the death of the infant and said that she and Peterson never planned to kill the baby. A concern of attorneys for both defendants regarding going to trial was that the pictures of the baby's head would be displayed in court and lead to more severe penalties.[citation needed] (It was noted on Court TV that such pictures could not be shown on television.) While Peterson was sentenced to two years, Grossberg was held to be more responsible and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years. Peterson was released from prison in January 2000 after serving 20 months. His incarceration was reduced for good conduct and for the time he served before his sentencing. Grossberg was released from prison in May 2000, after serving 22 months. Peterson relocated from Wyckoff with his mother and step-father to Jupiter, Florida, where he works for his family's video company. He then married college student Jaime Chabora. An artist, Grossberg started her own company, called Just Because Invitations, in February 2004.

4000Years Old Skeleton Of Mother And Her Child During A Disaster In China(Photos)

4,000 year old skeletons show a mother trying to defend her child during an earthquake, 2015 The loving embrace of a mother and child has lasted 4,000 years, as Chinese archaeologists found when they discovered their interlocked skeletons. The mother is believed to have been trying to protect her child during a powerful earthquake and flooding that hit and buried the town in Qinghai province, central China, about 2,000 BC. Photographs of the skeletal remains show the mother looking up above as she kneels on the floor, with her arms around her young child as they brace for the hit. Archaeologists say they believe her child was a boy. Another pair of skeletons were also found locked in an embrace at the same site, this time lying down on the floor. A number of other remains have also been discovered huddled together.

A picture of a friendship: The paralyzed Christian and the blind Muslim

Their story implied that if Christian and Muslim agreed as one and joined hands together and work as one, All our world problems will be solved Muhammad and Samir, two orphans in Syria, completed each other's lives in 1890. Muhammad was blind, and Samir, paralyzed. They overcame their conditions to help each other. Muhammad's eyes were Samir's, and Samir's legs were Muhammad's. One was Christian one was Muslim. The inspiring story of a Christian named Samir and a Muslim named Muhammad, who are said to have lived in Damascus in Ottoman Syria during the final years of the 19th century, is circulating on social media. According to accounts shared by dozens of websites and social media posts, and even some news sites such as the Egypt Independent, Samir was a Christian who suffered from paralysis, and Muhammad was a blind Muslim. Each man depended on the other to survive. Their extraordinary friendship literally completed them. What can God do in your life with one Bible verse a day? ~ Subscribe to Aleteia's new service and get one inspiring Scripture passage each morning. Click to bring God's word to your inbox The inspiring story of a Christian named Samir and a Muslim named Muhammad, who are said to have lived in Damascus in Ottoman Syria during the final years of the 19th century, is circulating on social media. According to accounts shared by dozens of websites and social media posts, and even some news sites such as the Egypt Independent, Samir was a Christian who suffered from paralysis, and Muhammad was a blind Muslim. The accounts about the paralyzed Christian and the blind Muslim add that the two were orphans, shared the same poor dwelling, and always lived together. When Samir died, Muhammad is said to have cried for seven days for having lost his other half. Eventually, he would die of grief over the death of his friend—which was also the death of his eyes. There are no sources that document the veracity of the names and personal history of these two men. However, the photograph depicting them is genuine. The paralyzed Christian and the blind Muslim: a real photo The image was captured in 1889 by photographer Tancrède Dumas (1830-1905), who was born in Italy to French parents. Dumas learned to photograph in Florence and opened his photography studio in Beirut in 1860. He was hired by the American Palestine Exploration Society, precursor of the American Schools of Oriental Research, to document the regions east of the Jordan River. Dumas also traveled with the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, which led him to adopt the title of “Photographer to the Imperial and Royal Court of Prussia.” His photograph of the paralyzed Christian being carried by the blind Muslim is available from the Prints and Photographs Division of the United States Library of Congress under the digital identification number cph.3b41806. The image is also available from Wikimedia Commons. May the paralyzed Christian and the blind Muslim, whatever their true story was, be a real inspiration today, when we need to reach out to each other more than ever across differences of ethnicity, religion, and all other barriers.

Trento punishes politicians by putting them in river

Trento punishes politicians by putting them in rive

The event, called Tonca, has gained international attention for its practice of punishing politicians by putting them in a cage and submerging it in the nearby river. Some will be declared innocent and spared a dip in the river, but those who are guilty will have to be condemned to the Tonca as their penalty. This controversial form of punishment has sparked debate about the role of politicians and how they should be held accountable for their actions. The punishments are a way of publicly ridiculing the leaders who fail to deliver on their promises. Immersing people in the river in a cage is a parody of the historical punishment used for most of the last millennium for those who have been convicted of mistakes. Trento is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto in Italy, it is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. Formerly part of Austria and Hungary, it was annexed by Italy in 1919. With 118,142 inhabitants, Trento is the third largest city in the Alps and second largest in the historical region of Tyrol. Watch video here https://twitter.com/HistoryInPics/status/1650653784002150401?t=DFejku50UOi6mvH-YyiQIg&s=09

Driver in a car hops in shorts and cowboy boots, 1940s

In the 1940s, men dressed in short shorts and cowboy boots served up women at a drive through across the street from Love Field. The public’s reaction ranged from amusement to outrage. There were reports of community matrons who reported the “indecent” attire to the police department and demanded action. Other women were annoyed by the objectification of young womanhood. Lawmakers in Austin discussed whether the practice of waitresses exposing so much extra skin posed a health risk to consumers. But it wasn’t until a woman from Oak Cliff piped up that something actually happened. She complained that she didn’t want to look at girls’ legs when she stopped in at her local drive-in — she wanted to look at men’s legs. Drive-in owners thought that was a GREAT idea, and the idea of the scantily-clad male carhop was born.

Porn star August Ames hanged herself in park 20 minutes' drive from her home

Porn star August Ames hanged herself in park 20 minutes' drive from her home and left suicide note in car saying sorry to parents The porn star was told

In December 2017, a popular adult film star named August Ames found herself at the center of an online controversy. Ames had refused to shoot with a fellow performer once she found out that he had also appeared in gay films — and took to Twitter to air her grievances: "Whichever (lady) performer is replacing me tomorrow... you're shooting with a guy who has shot gay film, just to let cha know. BS is all I can say... Do agents really not care about who they're representing?" Ames was soon reprimanded by several Twitter users who accused her of homophobia, with one adult film star even telling her to take a cya**** pill. Just two days later, she hanged herself. Many believe that Ames was cyber-bullied to death, but substantial questions remain. See the photos and go inside the tumultuous last days of August Ames' life — August Ames took to Twitter one last time just hours before she is believed to have taken her own life. The porn star wrote her last tweet at midday on Tuesday - shortly before she was found dead in her California home at the age of 23 The Ventura County Medical Examiner confirmed to The Blast that August - real name Mercedes Grabowski - died of asphyxiation due to hanging. Friends of the star, who had appeared in more than 270 X-rated movies, said she had suffered from long-term depression. Her suspected suicide came just days after being branded 'homophobic' for refusing to film sex scenes with male actors who had had sex with other men. On December 3 she wrote: "Whichever (lady) performer is replacing me tomorrow... you’re shooting with a guy who has shot gay porn, just to let cha know. "BS is all I can say Do agents really not care about who they’re representing?" When a Twitter user wrote to her saying, "So you're homophobic?" she replied: "NOT homophobic. Most girls don’t shoot with guys who have shot gay porn, for safety. "That’s just how it is with me. I’m not putting my body at risk, i don’t know what they do in their private lives." A day later she replied to another Twitter user saying she wasn't going to apologise for her previous tweets. "I don’t have anything to apologize for! Apologizing for taking extra steps to ensue that my body stays safe? "I f**king love the gay community! What the f**k ever! I CHOOSE who I have inside my body. No hate." After the row she was hounded by online trolls and it seems her last tweet was in response to the hate she received. She was found dead just hours later at home in Camarillo, California. Her devastated husband Kevin Moore, 43, said: “She was the kindest person I ever knew and she meant the world to me. “Please leave this as a private family matter in this dif

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