"Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily – whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence – whenever we tear at the fabric of life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded." & Robert F. Kennedy, 1925 – 1968, American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th U.S. Attorney General
The Great Wall Street/Main Street Disconnect
In August 1624, during the Eighty Years' War, which pitted imperial Spain against the fledgling Dutch republic, the commander of the Spanish army, Ambrogio Spinola, besieged the fortress city of Breda, a vital Dutch stronghold. The strategically located city was heavily fortified and strongly defended by a large and well-trained garrison of 7,000 men, which the Dutch thought was impenetrable. By September, Spinola's army had succeeded in erecting a fortification around the city, and little by little, shortages of food and especially medicines worsened. The siege dragged on for months and conditions inside the city grew desperate. Malnutrition and catastrophic diseases such as scurvy and the plague were spreading among the despondent community.