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India has no native state so rich, potent and extensive as Hyderabad which is about the size of the United Kingdom and there last week the Royal Family of the Asatia Dynasty celebrated the Silver Jubilee of “The Richest Man in the World,” Lieut. General His Exalted Highness Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Nizam of Hyderabad & Berar. 

Because the scheduled Coronation Durbar next winter of British King & Emperor George VI has had to be canceled by His Majesty (TIME, Feb. 15), there is no immediate prospect for the world to see such another Indian spectacle of pomp and power as that of the Jubilee Durbar which began in Hyderabad with warlike display of 10,000 Hyderabad troops last week and will close Feb. 26 when the Nizam prays in the public gardens of the Great Mosque, entertains the eminent Indian theologians of his Dominions, and throws open the characteristic and important Hyderabad Departmental Progress Exposition. 

Some Indian sovereigns are lecherous, champagne-quaffing wastrels with a taste for French women and English horses which they spectacularly gratify from Monte Carlo to Epsom Downs and Hollywood, but decidedly the Nizam is different, and by an honored Hyderabad tradition no Nizam has ever left India no matter how good a reason might exist for doing so. Ever since Hyderabad stood aloof from the great Indian Mutiny of 1857, its Royal Family have been accorded by British Royalty special honors and the Nizam now has the official status of “Faithful Ally.” This gracefully implies that his exalted highness is not so much the inferior as the colleague of His Majesty the Emperor of India — and, during the World War, the dry, grave “Richest Man in the World” contributed to Britain some $100,000,000 cash plus untold supplies and Hyderabad army units. 

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One of the most devastating man-made disasters in human history occurred during the Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961), a period associated with the policies of the Great Leap Forward, launched by . Historians estimate that between 15 and 45 million people died prematurely, while millions of births were lost or postponed due to widespread starvation, disease, and social upheaval. Although natural disasters played a role in some regions, most scholars agree that government policies were the primary cause of the catastrophe.

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One of the most infamous policies was the Four Pests Campaign, which encouraged citizens to eliminate mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. Officials believed sparrows consumed valuable grain and reduced agricultural output. Across China, people banged drums, destroyed nests, and relentlessly chased birds from the sky until many died from exhaustion.

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The campaign had unintended ecological consequences. Sparrows not only ate grain but also consumed vast numbers of insects. With sparrow populations drastically reduced, locusts and other crop-destroying pests multiplied rapidly, causing additional damage to already struggling harvests. While the sparrow campaign alone did not cause the famine, it worsened an agricultural system already under severe strain.

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Other Major Factors Behind the Famine

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1. Faulty Agricultural Policies

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The government promoted untested farming techniques such as close planting and deep plowing, inspired by Soviet agronomist theories that lacked scientific support. Farmers were instructed to sow crops densely and plow much deeper than normal. In practice, these methods often damaged root systems, depleted soil quality, and reduced yields. Instead of increasing production, they frequently led to crop failures and barren fields.

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2. Fear, Political Pressure, and the Absence of Criticism

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During the Great Leap Forward, local officials were under enormous pressure to demonstrate success. Criticism of government policy could be interpreted as political disloyalty. Many officials therefore exaggerated achievements while concealing failures. Individuals who questioned policy risked being labeled "rightists" or opponents of the Party, creating a culture where bad news rarely reached senior leadership.

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3. Delayed Policy Reversals

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As food shortages intensified, authorities were slow to acknowledge the scale of the disaster. Local governments often suppressed reports of starvation, and the central government initially continued many of the policies that had contributed to the crisis. By the time significant changes were implemented, famine conditions had already spread across large parts of the country.

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4. Inflated Harvest Reports

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Local officials routinely overstated grain production to satisfy political expectations. These exaggerated figures convinced planners that China was producing far more food than it actually was. As a result, the state procured excessive amounts of grain from rural communities, leaving many villages with insufficient food to survive.

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5. Problems in Distribution and Procurement

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Even where food existed, it often failed to reach those who needed it most. Grain collection quotas remained high despite falling harvests, and food was sometimes exported or directed to urban areas while rural communities endured severe shortages. Many historians argue that starvation was intensified not only by poor harvests but also by the state's procurement and distribution system.

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6. Droughts, Floods, and Environmental Stress

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China experienced adverse weather conditions during portions of the famine. Droughts and floods affected harvests in several provinces. However, modern research generally concludes that natural disasters alone cannot explain the immense death toll; policy failures and administrative decisions played the central role.

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Censorship and Historical Memory

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Discussion of the Great Famine remains a sensitive topic in China. For decades, official narratives often referred to the period as the "Three Years of Natural Disasters," emphasizing environmental causes while minimizing the role of policy decisions. Access to archives, academic debate, and public discussion has varied over time, and many Chinese citizens have learned about the famine primarily through family stories rather than public education.

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Today, historians continue to study the famine as a powerful example of how centralized decision-making, inaccurate reporting, political pressure, ecological mismanagement, and the suppression of criticism can combine to produce catastrophic consequences. It remains one of the most important and tragic events of the twentieth century, both for its enormous human cost and for the lessons it offers about governance, accountability, and the dangers of ignoring inconvenient facts.

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This harrowing true-crime case revisits the shocking events of July 30, 2008, aboard a Greyhound bus traveling eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway from Edmonton, Alberta, toward Winnipeg, Manitoba. Among the passengers was 22-year-old Tim McLean, a carnival worker returning home after a summer job. Seated beside him was Vince Li, a stranger with whom he had exchanged little to no conversation during the journey.

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As the bus traveled through a remote stretch of highway near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, McLean was asleep against the window when, without warning or apparent provocation, Li suddenly attacked him with a large knife. The assault stunned passengers and the driver, who immediately pulled the bus to the side of the road and evacuated everyone onboard. Terrified passengers fled into the darkness while Li remained inside the bus with the victim.

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The incident quickly escalated into one of the most disturbing crimes in Canadian history. As law enforcement officers established a perimeter around the bus and attempted to negotiate with the attacker, Li mutilated McLean's body and committed acts of cannibalism. The standoff lasted several hours before police were able to apprehend him. The case drew intense media coverage across Canada and internationally due to its horrific nature and the fact that it occurred in a confined public setting with numerous eyewitnesses.

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During subsequent psychiatric evaluations, experts determined that Li was suffering from a severe psychotic episode caused by undiagnosed schizophrenia. He believed he was acting under delusional commands and was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. Rather than being sent to prison, he was committed to a secure psychiatric facility, where he remained under treatment for several years. Medical reviews later concluded that his condition had significantly improved with medication and supervision, leading to a gradual easing of restrictions and, eventually, an unconditional discharge.

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The tragedy remains one of the most chilling incidents ever to occur on public transportation in Canada. It sparked nationwide debate about mental health care, the legal standard for criminal responsibility, victim rights, public safety, and the challenges of balancing treatment for severe mental illness with concerns from victims' families and the broader public. More than a decade later, the case continues to be discussed as a tragic example of how untreated psychosis can lead to catastrophic consequences.

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The Bengal Famine of 1943 was one of the deadliest famines of the 20th century, killing an estimated 2–3 million people in Bengal (today divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal).

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The role of Winston Churchill remains heavily debated by historians, but there is broad agreement that British wartime policies contributed to the disaster. Factors included:

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Loss of rice imports after the Japanese conquest of Burma.

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Wartime inflation that made food unaffordable for millions.

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British "denial" policies that confiscated boats and transport in eastern Bengal to hinder a possible Japanese invasion.

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Prioritization of military needs and other parts of the British Empire over Bengal's food crisis.

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Delays and refusals in providing sufficient grain imports and shipping.

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Churchill has been criticized for dismissive remarks about Indians and for failing to allocate more resources to famine relief. Some historians argue his decisions significantly worsened the famine, while others contend that wartime shipping shortages, local administrative failures, hoarding, inflation, and the wider chaos of World War II also played major roles.

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In short, many historians conclude that British wartime policies under his government exacerbated a crisis that ultimately killed millions of Bengalis. The extent of his personal responsibility remains a subject of historical debate.

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A commonly cited criticism comes from the fact that requests for grain shipments to Bengal were repeatedly rejected or delayed while food continued to be allocated elsewhere in the war effort.

John Stockwell's most famous revelations actually began well before 1989. He resigned from the CIA in 1976, testified before Congress, published the book In Search of Enemies in 1978, and spent the 1980s giving lectures criticizing CIA covert operations in Angola, Vietnam, Central America, and elsewhere.

As for what happened to him afterward:

He was not imprisoned or assassinated.

The CIA sued him after the publication of his book, seeking to enforce secrecy agreements and require prepublication review of future writings. The legal battle was financially damaging, and Stockwell eventually filed for bankruptcy. The lawsuit was later dropped.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s he continued to lecture at universities, appear in interviews, and publish books such as The Praetorian Guard.

After the early 1990s, he largely faded from public attention. There is no evidence that he disappeared under suspicious circumstances; rather, he appears to have retired from the lecture circuit and lived a more private life.

Many videos circulating online today are clips from his 1980s–1990s lectures, especially his 1989 talk often titled "The Secret Wars of the CIA." Those speeches continue to be widely shared because Stockwell was one of the highest-ranking CIA officers ever to publicly criticize the agency after leaving it.

Historically, the issue appears to have several roots:

Medieval hostility toward Christianity

Many Jewish communities in Europe suffered persecution, forced conversions, expulsions, pogroms, and massacres carried out by Christian authorities or mobs.

Some medieval Jewish communities developed symbolic customs expressing contempt for idolatry or for institutions associated with their persecutors. A small number of historical sources mention spitting as a symbolic gesture when referring to idolatry or when passing churches, though it was not a universal Jewish practice and was never a core religious obligation.

Religious rejection of Christian theology

Traditional Judaism rejects the Christian belief that Jesus is divine. Some extremists interpret this theological disagreement in a hostile way toward Christian symbols, clergy, or churches.

Most Jewish authorities, however, distinguish between rejecting a religion's doctrines and mistreating its followers.

Modern religious and nationalist extremism

Christian leaders, Israeli officials, and researchers have linked the recent increase in spitting incidents and other harassment to a small number of ultra-nationalist and extremist religious groups rather than to Judaism as a whole.

In short, the behavior is generally traced to a mixture of historical Jewish-Christian conflict, anti-Christian sentiment among some extremists, and certain localized medieval customs, rather than to any universally accepted Jewish law or practice. Many prominent Orthodox rabbis and Israeli leaders have explicitly stated that spitting on Christians is contrary to Jewish values and should not occur.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYKO1SFj7bZ/?l=1