A Lei Seca norte-americana acabou há 91 anos...!

Pre-Prohibition saloons were mostly male establishments; post-Prohibition bars catered to both males and females

    

The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol on January 17, 1920. The Twenty-first amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933. It is unique among the 27 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a previous Amendment, and for being the only one to have been ratified by the method of the state ratifying convention.

   

Text

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

  

Backgroud

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution had ushered in a period of time known as Prohibition, during which the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 was the crowning achievement of the temperance movement, but it soon proved highly unpopular. Crime rates soared under Prohibition as gangsters, such as Chicago's Al Capone, became rich from a profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol. The federal government was incapable of stemming the tide: enforcement of the Volstead Act proved to be a nearly impossible task and corruption was rife among law enforcement agencies. In 1932, wealthy industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. stated in a letter:

When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.

As more and more Americans opposed the Eighteenth Amendment, a political movement grew for its repeal. However, repeal was complicated by grassroots politics. Although the U.S. Constitution provides two methods for ratifying constitutional amendments, only one method had been used up until that time; and that was for ratification by the state legislatures of three-fourths of the states. However, the wisdom of the day was that the lawmakers of many states were either beholden to or simply fearful of the temperance lobby. For that reason, when Congress formally proposed the repeal of Prohibition on February 20, 1933 (with the requisite two-thirds having voted in favor in each house; 63 to 21 in the United States Senate and 289 to 121 in the United States House of Representatives), they chose the other ratification method established by Article V, that being via state conventions. The Twenty-first Amendment is, thus far in American history, the only constitutional amendment ratified by state conventions rather than by the state legislatures.

    

Proposal and ratification

The Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933.

The proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose. All other amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. It is also the only amendment that was approved for the explicit purpose of repealing a previously-existing amendment to the Constitution. The Twenty-first Amendment ending national prohibition became officially effective on December 15, though people started drinking openly before that date.

    

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Música adequada à data...

Amy Winehouse morreu há treze anos...

Amy Winehouse em 2007

   

Amy Jade Winehouse (Londres, 14 de setembro de 1983 - Londres, 23 de julho de 2011) foi uma cantora e compositora britânica conhecida por seu poderoso e profundo contralto vocal e sua mistura eclética de géneros musicais, incluindo soul, jazz e R&B. Iniciou uma carreira musical ainda na adolescência, apresentando-se em pequenos clubes de jazz em Londres. No fim de 1999, assinou o seu primeiro contrato com uma editora discográfica, a EMI Music, mas após ter sido descoberta por Darcus Breeze, em 2001, assinou contrato com a Island Records.

A sua primeira aparição no cenário musical britânico foi em 2003, com o seu álbum de estreia Frank. O disco foi bem recebido pela crítica especialista, mas, inicialmente, não obteve sucesso comercial e gerou quatro singles, todos sem êxito. Foi em 2006, com o lançamento do seu segundo álbum de estúdio, Back to Black, com o qual Amy Winehouse ganhou proeminência como artista. Este obteve um bom desempenho comercial e alcançou as posições mais elevadas no ranking internacional, tendo atingido o número um em dezoito países, incluindo Reino Unido, Áustria, Alemanha, Dinamarca e Irlanda, enquanto nos Estados Unidos chegou à sua posição máxima no número dois. Deste trabalho foram retirados seis singles, sendo "Rehab" o mais bem-sucedido. Back to Black vendeu seis milhões de cópias e foi o segundo disco mais vendido de 2007. No ano seguinte, o álbum foi nomeado para seis categorias na 50.ª edição dos Grammy Awards, das quais venceu cinco, o que fez de Winehouse a artista feminina britânica mais premiada em apenas uma edição deste famoso prémio. Além disso, as suas conquistas incluem três prémios Ivor Novello Awards, dois ECHO Awards e um total de seis Grammy Awards, entre outros.

Considerada a desencadeadora da nova invasão britânica, Amy Winehouse é denominada como Nova Rainha do Soul pela crítica especialista. Ela é citada como influência musical por várias cantoras, incluindo Adele, Duffy, Rumer e Lady Gaga, e foi a intérprete que mais vendeu a nível digital no Reino Unido em 2007, sendo posicionada no número dez na Lista dos Ricos do jornal inglês Sunday Times, com uma renda total de dez milhões de libras. Foi, ainda, eleita a segunda maior heroína dos britânicos pelo canal de televisão Sky News, com base em uma pesquisa realizada entre pessoas com menos de 25 anos de idade, em 2008, atrás apenas da princesa Diana.

No entanto, apesar de bem-sucedida, a sua carreira foi muitas vezes ofuscada pelos seus problemas pessoais, principalmente pelo seu casamento conturbado com o ex-assistente de vídeo Blake Fielder-Civil, uma vez que as disputas do casal foram diariamente comentadas pela imprensa. Além disso, o seu envolvimento com álcool e drogas e a sua luta para superar as dependências também prejudicaram a sua imagem pública.

Amy Winehouse foi encontrada morta na sua casa, em Londres, a 23 de julho de 2011. A causa da morte foi intoxicação por álcool. Após o falecimento da cantora, Back to Black tornou-se o disco mais vendido do século XXI no Reino Unido. Também em 2011, foi lançada a compilação póstuma Lioness: Hidden Treasures, que recebeu críticas positivas dos media especializados e teve um desempenho comercial favorável. Nesse mesmo ano, o jornal sueco Metro International concedeu à cantora o título de Celebridade do Ano, enquanto o canal VH1 colocou-a na 26.ª posição em sua lista das 100 Grandes Mulheres da Música, em 2012.

    

(...)

    

A sua última aparição pública foi em 20 de julho de 2011, quando ela subiu ao palco para apoiar a sua sobrinha, Dionne Bromfield, que realizava um show em Camden Town, com o grupo The Wanted. Três dias depois Amy Winehouse foi encontrada morta na sua casa por causas até então desconhecidas.

Por volta das 15.54 horas de 23 de julho de 2011 (horário de verão britânico, UTC+1), duas ambulâncias foram chamadas para a casa de Winehouse em Camden, Londres, devido a uma chamada para a polícia britânica, para atender uma mulher desmaiada.
Pouco tempo depois, as autoridades metropolitanas confirmaram a morte da cantora. Posteriormente, foi aberta uma investigação, a fim de determinar a causa da morte de Amy Winehouse, porém os primeiros resultados não foram conclusivos e uma análise toxicológica foi necessária. Apenas em 26 de outubro do mesmo ano, os relatórios finais puderam indicar que a causa da morte decorreu de um consumo abusivo de álcool após um período de abstinência, que mantivera até o dia 22 do mesmo mês. Suzanne Greenaway, médica legista disse que a quantidade de álcool encontrado no sangue da artista era de 4,16 g/l, cinco vezes maior que o suportável.
No dia da morte, a editora discográfica Universal Music Group emitiu um comunicado expressando seu pesar pela morte inesperada da cantora. Além disso, artistas como os U2, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson e Courtney Love fizeram tributos a Amy Winehouse. Diversos fãs também fizeram homenagens a ela, deixando garrafas de bebidas alcoólicas, taças, cigarros e diversas fotos da cantora em frente à sua casa em Camden Town. A sua morte também trouxe de volta os seus materiais discográficos aos rankings ao redor do mundo.
A cerimónia fúnebre ocorreu no dia 26 de julho de 2011, terça-feira, no cemitério Edgwarebury, em Londres. A família e os amigos mais íntimos de Winehouse, além de algumas celebridades, como Mark Ronson, Kelly Osbourne e Bryan Adams, participaram da cerimónia, que seguiu os preceitos da religião judaica. O corpo da artista foi cremado e suas cinzas foram misturadas com as de sua avó, Cynthia. Com a conclusão do funeral, os seus pais declararam a sua intenção de criar uma fundação para ajudar jovens viciados em drogas.
A 17 de dezembro de 2012, as autoridades britânicas decidiram reabrir o inquérito para confirmar a causa da morte de Amy Winehouse e a 8 de janeiro de 2013 os relatórios confirmaram que a cantora morreu devido a uma intoxicação alcoólica.
      

in Wikipédia

 

A Lei Seca norte-americana entrou em vigor há 104 anos

Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the Prohibition era

   

Prohibition in the United States (sometimes referred to as the Noble Experiment) was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933.

The Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Having been approved by 36 states, the 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 and effected on January 17, 1920.

On November 18, 1918, before the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the United States Congress passed the temporary Wartime Prohibition Act, which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages having an alcohol content of greater than 2.75%. (This act, which was intended to save grain for the war effort, was passed after the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.) The Wartime Prohibition Act took effect June 30, 1919, and July 1, 1919 became widely known as the "Thirsty-First".

Congress passed the Volstead Act, the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28, 1919, and established the legal definition of intoxicating liquor, as well as penalties for producing it. Though the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government did little to enforce it. By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.

While Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, it stimulated the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. The bulk of America became disenchanted after the St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929. Prohibition became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression, especially in large cities.

On March 22, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law an amendment to the Volstead Act known as the Cullen-Harrison Act, allowing the manufacture and sale of certain kinds of alcoholic beverages. On December 5, 1933, the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. However, United States federal law still prohibits the manufacture of distilled spirits without meeting numerous licensing requirements that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal beverage use.

 

(...)

Organized crime received a major boost from Prohibition. Mafia groups limited their activities to prostitution, gambling, and theft until 1920, when organized bootlegging manifested in response to the effect of Prohibition. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies, leading to racketeering. In essence prohibition provided a financial basis for organized crime to flourish. Rather than reducing crime it seemed prohibition had transformed the cities into battlegrounds between opposing bootlegging gangs. In a study of over 30 major U.S cities during the prohibition years of 1920 and 1921, the number of crimes increased by 24%. Additionally, theft and burglaries increased by 9%, homicide by 12.7%, assaults and battery rose by 13%, drug addiction by 44.6% and police department costs rose by 11.4%. It has been speculated that this was largely the result of “black-market violence” as well as law enforcing resources having been diverted elsewhere. Despite the beliefs of the prohibitionist movement that by outlawing alcohol crime would surely be reduced, the reality was that the Volstead Act led to worse social conditions than were experienced prior to prohibition as demonstrated by more lethal forms of alcohol, increased crime rates, and the establishment of a black market dominated by criminal organizations.

in Wikipédia

A Lei Seca norte-americana acabou há noventa anos...!

 

Pre-Prohibition saloons were mostly male establishments; post-Prohibition bars catered to both males and females

    

The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol on January 17, 1920. The Twenty-first amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933. It is unique among the 27 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a previous Amendment, and for being the only one to have been ratified by the method of the state ratifying convention.

   

Text

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

  

Backgroud

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution had ushered in a period of time known as Prohibition, during which the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 was the crowning achievement of the temperance movement, but it soon proved highly unpopular. Crime rates soared under Prohibition as gangsters, such as Chicago's Al Capone, became rich from a profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol. The federal government was incapable of stemming the tide: enforcement of the Volstead Act proved to be a nearly impossible task and corruption was rife among law enforcement agencies. In 1932, wealthy industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. stated in a letter:

When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.

As more and more Americans opposed the Eighteenth Amendment, a political movement grew for its repeal. However, repeal was complicated by grassroots politics. Although the U.S. Constitution provides two methods for ratifying constitutional amendments, only one method had been used up until that time; and that was for ratification by the state legislatures of three-fourths of the states. However, the wisdom of the day was that the lawmakers of many states were either beholden to or simply fearful of the temperance lobby. For that reason, when Congress formally proposed the repeal of Prohibition on February 20, 1933 (with the requisite two-thirds having voted in favor in each house; 63 to 21 in the United States Senate and 289 to 121 in the United States House of Representatives), they chose the other ratification method established by Article V, that being via state conventions. The Twenty-first Amendment is, thus far in American history, the only constitutional amendment ratified by state conventions rather than by the state legislatures.

    

Proposal and ratification

The Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933.

The proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose. All other amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. It is also the only amendment that was approved for the explicit purpose of repealing a previously-existing amendment to the Constitution. The Twenty-first Amendment ending national prohibition became officially effective on December 15, though people started drinking openly before that date.

    

in Wikipedia

Música adequada à data...

Amy Winehouse morreu há doze anos...

Amy Winehouse em 2007

   

Amy Jade Winehouse (Londres, 14 de setembro de 1983 - Londres, 23 de julho de 2011) foi uma cantora e compositora britânica conhecida por seu poderoso e profundo contralto vocal e sua mistura eclética de géneros musicais, incluindo soul, jazz e R&B. Iniciou uma carreira musical ainda na adolescência, apresentando-se em pequenos clubes de jazz em Londres. No fim de 1999, assinou o seu primeiro contrato com uma editora discográfica, a EMI Music, mas após ter sido descoberta por Darcus Breeze, em 2001, assinou contrato com a Island Records.

A sua primeira aparição no cenário musical britânico foi em 2003, com o seu álbum de estreia Frank. O disco foi bem recebido pela crítica especialista, mas, inicialmente, não obteve sucesso comercial e gerou quatro singles, todos sem êxito. Foi em 2006, com o lançamento do seu segundo álbum de estúdio, Back to Black, com o qual Amy Winehouse ganhou proeminência como artista. Este obteve um bom desempenho comercial e alcançou as posições mais elevadas no ranking internacional, tendo atingido o número um em dezoito países, incluindo Reino Unido, Áustria, Alemanha, Dinamarca e Irlanda, enquanto nos Estados Unidos chegou à sua posição máxima no número dois. Deste trabalho foram retirados seis singles, sendo "Rehab" o mais bem-sucedido. Back to Black vendeu seis milhões de cópias e foi o segundo disco mais vendido de 2007. No ano seguinte, o álbum foi nomeado para seis categorias na 50.ª edição dos Grammy Awards, das quais venceu cinco, o que fez de Winehouse a artista feminina britânica mais premiada em apenas uma edição deste famoso prémio. Além disso, as suas conquistas incluem três prémios Ivor Novello Awards, dois ECHO Awards e um total de seis Grammy Awards, entre outros.

Considerada a desencadeadora da nova invasão britânica, Amy Winehouse é denominada como Nova Rainha do Soul pela crítica especialista. Ela é citada como influência musical por várias cantoras, incluindo Adele, Duffy, Rumer e Lady Gaga, e foi a intérprete que mais vendeu a nível digital no Reino Unido em 2007, sendo posicionada no número dez na Lista dos Ricos do jornal inglês Sunday Times, com uma renda total de dez milhões de libras. Foi, ainda, eleita a segunda maior heroína dos britânicos pelo canal de televisão Sky News, com base em uma pesquisa realizada entre pessoas com menos de 25 anos de idade, em 2008, atrás apenas da princesa Diana.

No entanto, apesar de bem-sucedida, a sua carreira foi muitas vezes ofuscada pelos seus problemas pessoais, principalmente pelo seu casamento conturbado com o ex-assistente de vídeo Blake Fielder-Civil, uma vez que as disputas do casal foram diariamente comentadas pela imprensa. Além disso, o seu envolvimento com álcool e drogas e a sua luta para superar as dependências também prejudicaram a sua imagem pública.

Amy Winehouse foi encontrada morta na sua casa, em Londres, a 23 de julho de 2011. A causa da morte foi intoxicação por álcool. Após o falecimento da cantora, Back to Black tornou-se o disco mais vendido do século XXI no Reino Unido. Também em 2011, foi lançada a compilação póstuma Lioness: Hidden Treasures, que recebeu críticas positivas dos media especializados e teve um desempenho comercial favorável. Nesse mesmo ano, o jornal sueco Metro International concedeu à cantora o título de Celebridade do Ano, enquanto o canal VH1 colocou-a na 26.ª posição em sua lista das 100 Grandes Mulheres da Música, em 2012.

    

(...)

    

A sua última aparição pública foi em 20 de julho de 2011, quando ela subiu ao palco para apoiar a sua sobrinha, Dionne Bromfield, que realizava um show em Camden Town, com o grupo The Wanted. Três dias depois Amy Winehouse foi encontrada morta na sua casa por causas até então desconhecidas.

Por volta das 15.54 horas de 23 de julho de 2011 (horário de verão britânico, UTC+1), duas ambulâncias foram chamadas para a casa de Winehouse em Camden, Londres, devido a uma chamada para a polícia britânica, para atender uma mulher desmaiada.
Pouco tempo depois, as autoridades metropolitanas confirmaram a morte da cantora. Posteriormente, foi aberta uma investigação, a fim de determinar a causa da morte de Amy Winehouse, porém os primeiros resultados não foram conclusivos e uma análise toxicológica foi necessária. Apenas em 26 de outubro do mesmo ano, os relatórios finais puderam indicar que a causa da morte decorreu de um consumo abusivo de álcool após um período de abstinência, que mantivera até o dia 22 do mesmo mês. Suzanne Greenaway, médica legista disse que a quantidade de álcool encontrado no sangue da artista era de 4,16 g/l, cinco vezes maior que o suportável.
No dia da morte, a editora discográfica Universal Music Group emitiu um comunicado expressando seu pesar pela morte inesperada da cantora. Além disso, artistas como os U2, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson e Courtney Love fizeram tributos a Amy Winehouse. Diversos fãs também fizeram homenagens a ela, deixando garrafas de bebidas alcoólicas, taças, cigarros e diversas fotos da cantora em frente à sua casa em Camden Town. A sua morte também trouxe de volta os seus materiais discográficos aos rankings ao redor do mundo.
A cerimónia fúnebre ocorreu no dia 26 de julho de 2011, terça-feira, no cemitério Edgwarebury, em Londres. A família e os amigos mais íntimos de Winehouse, além de algumas celebridades, como Mark Ronson, Kelly Osbourne e Bryan Adams, participaram da cerimónia, que seguiu os preceitos da religião judaica. O corpo da artista foi cremado e suas cinzas foram misturadas com as de sua avó, Cynthia. Com a conclusão do funeral, os seus pais declararam a sua intenção de criar uma fundação para ajudar jovens viciados em drogas.
A 17 de dezembro de 2012, as autoridades britânicas decidiram reabrir o inquérito para confirmar a causa da morte de Amy Winehouse e a 8 de janeiro de 2013 os relatórios confirmaram que a cantora morreu devido a uma intoxicação alcoólica.
      

in Wikipédia

 

A Lei Seca norte-americana começou, oficialmente, há 103 anos

Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the Prohibition era

Prohibition in the United States (sometimes referred to as the Noble Experiment) was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933.

The Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Having been approved by 36 states, the 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 and effected on January 17, 1920.

On November 18, 1918, before the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the United States Congress passed the temporary Wartime Prohibition Act, which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages having an alcohol content of greater than 2.75%. (This act, which was intended to save grain for the war effort, was passed after the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.) The Wartime Prohibition Act took effect June 30, 1919, and July 1, 1919 became widely known as the "Thirsty-First".

Congress passed the Volstead Act, the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28, 1919, and established the legal definition of intoxicating liquor, as well as penalties for producing it. Though the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government did little to enforce it. By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.

While Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, it stimulated the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. The bulk of America became disenchanted after the St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929. Prohibition became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression, especially in large cities.

On March 22, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law an amendment to the Volstead Act known as the Cullen-Harrison Act, allowing the manufacture and sale of certain kinds of alcoholic beverages. On December 5, 1933, the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. However, United States federal law still prohibits the manufacture of distilled spirits without meeting numerous licensing requirements that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal beverage use.

 

(...)

Organized crime received a major boost from Prohibition. Mafia groups limited their activities to prostitution, gambling, and theft until 1920, when organized bootlegging manifested in response to the effect of Prohibition. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies, leading to racketeering. In essence prohibition provided a financial basis for organized crime to flourish. Rather than reducing crime it seemed prohibition had transformed the cities into battlegrounds between opposing bootlegging gangs. In a study of over 30 major U.S cities during the prohibition years of 1920 and 1921, the number of crimes increased by 24%. Additionally, theft and burglaries increased by 9%, homicide by 12.7%, assaults and battery rose by 13%, drug addiction by 44.6% and police department costs rose by 11.4%. It has been speculated that this was largely the result of “black-market violence” as well as law enforcing resources having been diverted elsewhere. Despite the beliefs of the prohibitionist movement that by outlawing alcohol crime would surely be reduced, the reality was that the Volstead Act led to worse social conditions than were experienced prior to prohibition as demonstrated by more lethal forms of alcohol, increased crime rates, and the establishment of a black market dominated by criminal organizations.

in Wikipédia

A Lei Seca norte-americana acabou há 89 anos

Pre-Prohibition saloons were mostly male establishments; post-Prohibition bars catered to both males and females

  

The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol on January 17, 1920. The Twenty-first amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933. It is unique among the 27 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a previous Amendment, and for being the only one to have been ratified by the method of the state ratifying convention.

   

Text

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

  

Backgroud

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution had ushered in a period of time known as Prohibition, during which the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 was the crowning achievement of the temperance movement, but it soon proved highly unpopular. Crime rates soared under Prohibition as gangsters, such as Chicago's Al Capone, became rich from a profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol. The federal government was incapable of stemming the tide: enforcement of the Volstead Act proved to be a nearly impossible task and corruption was rife among law enforcement agencies. In 1932, wealthy industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. stated in a letter:

When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.

As more and more Americans opposed the Eighteenth Amendment, a political movement grew for its repeal. However, repeal was complicated by grassroots politics. Although the U.S. Constitution provides two methods for ratifying constitutional amendments, only one method had been used up until that time; and that was for ratification by the state legislatures of three-fourths of the states. However, the wisdom of the day was that the lawmakers of many states were either beholden to or simply fearful of the temperance lobby. For that reason, when Congress formally proposed the repeal of Prohibition on February 20, 1933 (with the requisite two-thirds having voted in favor in each house; 63 to 21 in the United States Senate and 289 to 121 in the United States House of Representatives), they chose the other ratification method established by Article V, that being via state conventions. The Twenty-first Amendment is, thus far in American history, the only constitutional amendment ratified by state conventions rather than by the state legislatures.

    

Proposal and ratification

The Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment on February 20, 1933.

The proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose. All other amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. It is also the only amendment that was approved for the explicit purpose of repealing a previously-existing amendment to the Constitution. The Twenty-first Amendment ending national prohibition became officially effective on December 15, though people started drinking openly before that date.

    

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Música adequada à data...

Amy Winehouse morreu há onze anos...

Amy Winehouse em 2007

   

Amy Jade Winehouse (Londres, 14 de setembro de 1983 - Londres, 23 de julho de 2011) foi uma cantora e compositora britânica conhecida por seu poderoso e profundo contralto vocal e sua mistura eclética de géneros musicais, incluindo soul, jazz e R&B. Iniciou uma carreira musical ainda na adolescência, apresentando-se em pequenos clubes de jazz em Londres. No fim de 1999, assinou o seu primeiro contrato com uma editora discográfica, a EMI Music, mas após ter sido descoberta por Darcus Breeze, em 2001, assinou contrato com a Island Records.

A sua primeira aparição no cenário musical britânico foi em 2003, com o seu álbum de estreia Frank. O disco foi bem recebido pela crítica especialista, mas, inicialmente, não obteve sucesso comercial e gerou quatro singles, todos sem êxito. Foi em 2006, com o lançamento do seu segundo álbum de estúdio, Back to Black, com o qual Amy Winehouse ganhou proeminência como artista. Este obteve um bom desempenho comercial e alcançou as posições mais elevadas no ranking internacional, tendo atingido o número um em dezoito países, incluindo Reino Unido, Áustria, Alemanha, Dinamarca e Irlanda, enquanto nos Estados Unidos chegou à sua posição máxima no número dois. Deste trabalho foram retirados seis singles, sendo "Rehab" o mais bem-sucedido. Back to Black vendeu seis milhões de cópias e foi o segundo disco mais vendido de 2007. No ano seguinte, o álbum foi nomeado para seis categorias na 50.ª edição dos Grammy Awards, das quais venceu cinco, o que fez de Winehouse a artista feminina britânica mais premiada em apenas uma edição deste famoso prémio. Além disso, as suas conquistas incluem três prémios Ivor Novello Awards, dois ECHO Awards e um total de seis Grammy Awards, entre outros.

Considerada a desencadeadora da nova invasão britânica, Amy Winehouse é denominada como Nova Rainha do Soul pela crítica especialista. Ela é citada como influência musical por várias cantoras, incluindo Adele, Duffy, Rumer e Lady Gaga, e foi a intérprete que mais vendeu a nível digital no Reino Unido em 2007, sendo posicionada no número dez na Lista dos Ricos do jornal inglês Sunday Times, com uma renda total de dez milhões de libras. Foi, ainda, eleita a segunda maior heroína dos britânicos pelo canal de televisão Sky News, com base em uma pesquisa realizada entre pessoas com menos de 25 anos de idade, em 2008, atrás apenas da princesa Diana.

No entanto, apesar de bem-sucedida, a sua carreira foi muitas vezes ofuscada pelos seus problemas pessoais, principalmente pelo seu casamento conturbado com o ex-assistente de vídeo Blake Fielder-Civil, uma vez que as disputas do casal foram diariamente comentadas pela imprensa. Além disso, o seu envolvimento com álcool e drogas e a sua luta para superar as dependências também prejudicaram a sua imagem pública.

Amy Winehouse foi encontrada morta na sua casa, em Londres, a 23 de julho de 2011. A causa da morte foi intoxicação por álcool. Após o falecimento da cantora, Back to Black tornou-se o disco mais vendido do século XXI no Reino Unido. Também em 2011, foi lançada a compilação póstuma Lioness: Hidden Treasures, que recebeu críticas positivas dos media especializados e teve um desempenho comercial favorável. Nesse mesmo ano, o jornal sueco Metro International concedeu à cantora o título de Celebridade do Ano, enquanto o canal VH1 colocou-a na 26.ª posição em sua lista das 100 Grandes Mulheres da Música, em 2012.

    

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A sua última aparição pública foi em 20 de julho de 2011, quando ela subiu ao palco para apoiar a sua sobrinha, Dionne Bromfield, que realizava um show em Camden Town, com o grupo The Wanted. Três dias depois Amy Winehouse foi encontrada morta na sua casa por causas até então desconhecidas.

Por volta das 15.54 horas de 23 de julho de 2011 (horário de verão britânico, UTC+1), duas ambulâncias foram chamadas para a casa de Winehouse em Camden, Londres, devido a uma chamada para a polícia britânica, para atender uma mulher desmaiada.
Pouco tempo depois, as autoridades metropolitanas confirmaram a morte da cantora. Posteriormente, foi aberta uma investigação, a fim de determinar a causa da morte de Amy Winehouse, porém os primeiros resultados não foram conclusivos e uma análise toxicológica foi necessária. Apenas em 26 de outubro do mesmo ano, os relatórios finais puderam indicar que a causa da morte decorreu de um consumo abusivo de álcool após um período de abstinência, que mantivera até o dia 22 do mesmo mês. Suzanne Greenaway, médica legista disse que a quantidade de álcool encontrado no sangue da artista era de 4,16 g/l, cinco vezes maior que o suportável.
No dia da morte, a editora discográfica Universal Music Group emitiu um comunicado expressando seu pesar pela morte inesperada da cantora. Além disso, artistas como os U2, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson e Courtney Love fizeram tributos a Amy Winehouse. Diversos fãs também fizeram homenagens a ela, deixando garrafas de bebidas alcoólicas, taças, cigarros e diversas fotos da cantora em frente à sua casa em Camden Town. A sua morte também trouxe de volta os seus materiais discográficos aos rankings ao redor do mundo.
A cerimónia fúnebre ocorreu no dia 26 de julho de 2011, terça-feira, no cemitério Edgwarebury, em Londres. A família e os amigos mais íntimos de Winehouse, além de algumas celebridades, como Mark Ronson, Kelly Osbourne e Bryan Adams, participaram da cerimónia, que seguiu os preceitos da religião judaica. O corpo da artista foi cremado e suas cinzas foram misturadas com as de sua avó, Cynthia. Com a conclusão do funeral, os seus pais declararam a sua intenção de criar uma fundação para ajudar jovens viciados em drogas.
A 17 de dezembro de 2012, as autoridades britânicas decidiram reabrir o inquérito para confirmar a causa da morte de Amy Winehouse e a 8 de janeiro de 2013 os relatórios confirmaram que a cantora morreu devido a uma intoxicação alcoólica.
      

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A Lei Seca americana começou, oficialmente, há 102 anos

Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine underground brewery during the Prohibition era

Prohibition in the United States (sometimes referred to as the Noble Experiment) was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933.

The Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Having been approved by 36 states, the 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 and effected on January 17, 1920.

On November 18, 1918, before the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the United States Congress passed the temporary Wartime Prohibition Act, which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages having an alcohol content of greater than 2.75%. (This act, which was intended to save grain for the war effort, was passed after the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.) The Wartime Prohibition Act took effect June 30, 1919, and July 1, 1919 became widely known as the "Thirsty-First".

Congress passed the Volstead Act, the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28, 1919, and established the legal definition of intoxicating liquor, as well as penalties for producing it. Though the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government did little to enforce it. By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.

While Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, it stimulated the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. The bulk of America became disenchanted after the St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929. Prohibition became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression, especially in large cities.

On March 22, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law an amendment to the Volstead Act known as the Cullen-Harrison Act, allowing the manufacture and sale of certain kinds of alcoholic beverages. On December 5, 1933, the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. However, United States federal law still prohibits the manufacture of distilled spirits without meeting numerous licensing requirements that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal beverage use.

 

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Organized crime received a major boost from Prohibition. Mafia groups limited their activities to prostitution, gambling, and theft until 1920, when organized bootlegging manifested in response to the effect of Prohibition. A profitable, often violent, black market for alcohol flourished. Powerful gangs corrupted law enforcement agencies, leading to racketeering. In essence prohibition provided a financial basis for organized crime to flourish. Rather than reducing crime it seemed prohibition had transformed the cities into battlegrounds between opposing bootlegging gangs. In a study of over 30 major U.S cities during the prohibition years of 1920 and 1921, the number of crimes increased by 24%. Additionally, theft and burglaries increased by 9%, homicide by 12.7%, assaults and battery rose by 13%, drug addiction by 44.6% and police department costs rose by 11.4%. It has been speculated that this was largely the result of “black-market violence” as well as law enforcing resources having been diverted elsewhere. Despite the beliefs of the prohibitionist movement that by outlawing alcohol crime would surely be reduced, the reality was that the Volstead Act led to worse social conditions than were experienced prior to prohibition as demonstrated by more lethal forms of alcohol, increased crime rates, and the establishment of a black market dominated by criminal organizations.

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