April 15, 1966: UK release of the Rolling Stones album Aftermath.
From Wikipedia: Aftermath, released…by Decca Records, is the fourth British studio album by the Rolling Stones. It was…the group’s sixth American album. The album is considered an artistic breakthrough for the band: it is the first to consist entirely of Mick Jagger–Keith Richards compositions, while Brian Jones played a variety of instruments not usually associated with their music, including sitar, Appalachian dulcimer, marimbas and Japanese koto, as well as guitar, harmonica and keyboards, though much of the music is still rooted in Chicago electric blues. It was the first Rolling Stones album to be recorded entirely in the US, at the RCA Studios in California, and their first album released in true stereo. It is also one of the earliest rock albums to eclipse the 50-minute mark, and contains one of the earliest rock songs to eclipse the 10-minute mark (“Goin’ Home”).
The album covers differed and as was often the case, the track listings for the US and UK releases differed. The US release had:
Side One:
Paint It Black
Stupid Girl
Lady Jane
Under My Thumb
Doncha’ Bother Me
Think
Side Two:
Flight 505
High and Dry
It’s Not Easy
I Am Waiting
Goin’ Home
The album cover and track listing for the UK release was:
Side One:
Mother’s Little Helper
Stupid Girl
Lady Jane
Under My Thumb
Doncha Bother Me
Goin’ Home
Side Two:
Flight 505
High and Dry
Out of Time
It’s Not Easy
i Am Waiting
Take It or Leave It
Think
What To Do
April 15 Music et al
Something Stupid
April 15 – May 12, 1967: “Something Stupid” by Frank and Nancy Sinatra #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became the first father-daughter song to hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
April 15 Music et al
Beatles/Let It Be
April 15, 1971: Let It Be movie received an Oscar for “Best Film Music-Oriented Film Score.” (next Beatles, see June 6)
The documentary film “Let It Be” gives an unparalleled insight into the Beatles getting back to basics at Twickenham and at their own recording studios in Savile Row. It spans two weeks of recording of what was to be their final album, Let It Be.
Highlight of the film is their legendary gig on the roof of the Apple Building. The sound of their music attracts hundreds of people in the streets below. The crowd spills over into the streets, blocks traffic, frustrates the police. Windows in nearby buildings pop open as other people strain for sight and sound of their favourite performers. Even rooftops serve as precarious perches for Beatles’ fans.
Let It Be was produced by Neil Aspinall and directed by Michael Lindsey-Hogg. It includes tracks such as Don’t Let Me Down, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Two Of Us, I’ve Got A Feeling, Oh Darling, One After 909, Across The Universe, Dig A Pony, I Me Mine, For You Blue, Besame Mucho, Dig It, Get Back and Let It Be.
April 15, 1817: the first American school for the deaf was opened in West Hartford, CT. (ASD site)
Eugenic Sterilization Law
In 1907: Indiana becomes the first state to enact a eugenic sterilization law—for “confirmed idiots, imbeciles and rapists”—in state institutions. A similar law was enacted in 24 other states. (UVM dot edu article)
Eugenic Sterilization Law stopped
In 1909: new Indiana governor, Thomas Marshall, stopped the Eugenic sterilization process by threatening the funding of institutions that used the law.
World War I Veterans program
In 1918: as a result of the large number of World War I veterans returning with disabilities, Congress passes the first major rehabilitation program for soldiers.
Ohio Society for Crippled Children
In 1919: Edgar Allen, a businessman in Elyria, Ohio, founds the Ohio Society for Crippled Children, which will become the national Easter Seals organization. It served as a model for many of today’s charitable organizations—in its methods and, some activists say, in its exclusion of people from the community being helped. (CABI article)
Vocational rehabilitation
In 1920: a bill funding vocational rehabilitation guarantees federal money for job counseling and vocational training for disabled in the general public. (see August 1921)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Thomas Gilyard lynched/Joplin Blacks Routed
April 15, 1903: a mob of several thousand of white people in Joplin, Missouri, battered down the wall of the city jail, forcibly removed a 20-year-old Black man named Thomas Gilyard, and lynched him in broad daylight. The mob hanged Mr. Gilyard from a telephone pole two blocks from the jail.
Mr. Gilyard had been accused of killing a white police officer.
Unsatisfied by killing Mr. Gilyard, the mob was intent on destroying the lives of the hundreds of Black people who lived in Joplin.
First, the crowd demanded that a local white man, named “Hickory Bill,” who was in jail for attacking a Black person, be released, which city officials willingly accommodated.
The white mob then gathered on Main Street, and drove all of the Black people from downtown into a segregated Black district north of Joplin. There, the white residents of Joplin launched a devastating terrorist attack on the Black community—they robbed and burnt down their homes, shot and stoned the Black people they came across, and forced every Black person from the district out of the city. They blocked the local fire department from extinguishing the flames on the burning homes, ensuring that the Black community would have nowhere to return.
Determined to force every Black person from Joplin, the mob then traveled to another Black district south of the town, and found that all of the Black residents had already fled out of fear. The mob proceeded to burn their homes down too. It is unknown how many people were killed by the white mob’s ruthless violence. [EJI article](next BH, see Apr 27)
Jackie Robinson
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson became the first African-American in the major leagues when he played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The common date for major league baseball’s beginning is April 22, 1876, thus it had been 71 years that major league baseball was segregated. (see Robinson for expanded story) (next BH, see May 3, 1948)
March to Montgomery/Viola Liuzzo
April 15, 1965: all charges against Gary Rowe were dropped and he was identified as a paid undercover FBI informant who would testify for the prosecution. [It will later be revealed that Rowe had participated in the beatings of Freedom Riders in Birmingham in 1961 and was suspected of involvement in the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.] (see Liuzzo for expanded story)
George Whitmore, Jr
April 15, 1965: Whitmore’s 46-year-old father, George Sr., suffers a heart attack in the courtroom. He will died four years later in early 1969. (see Whitmore for expanded story)
SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID
April 15, 1985: South Africa ended its ban on interracial marriages. (July 20)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Israel
April 15, 1948 (technically between April 15 and May 15 depending on the Hebrew calendar): Israel independent from British Mandate for Palestine. (Jewish Virtual Library article) (see Sept 9)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
American Federation of Teachers
April 15, 1916: teacher unionists gather at the City Club on Plymouth Court in Chicago to form a new national union: the American Federation of Teachers. (AFT site) (seeApr 16)
Rutgers University Strike
April 15, 2023: after agreeing to a tentative contract with the school, the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, representing part-time lecturers; the AAUP-AFT, which represents full-time faculty, graduate workers, postdoctoral associates and counselors; and the AAUP-BHSNJ, which represents faculty in the health and sciences departments announced that they had reached a “framework” agreement for new faculty contracts and that they were ending a week-long strike, effective immediately,
Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway said in a school news release that the deal included substantial increases to the salaries of graduate workers and part-time lecturers, and significantly strengthens job security for part-time faculty,.
The labor organizations — referring to the strike’s status as not a cancelation but a “suspension” — said that while they secured “profound victories for our unions,” some issues remain unresolved, and leave open the option of returning to the picket line if they aren’t able reach a resolution during bargaining. [NPR article] (next LH, see May 2)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
Technological/Cultural Milestones
Insulin
April 15, 1923: insulin became available for general. It was first discovered in 1922. (see March 16, 1926)
McDonald’s
April 15, 1955: Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s — in Des Plaines, IL. Kroc began his career by selling milk shake machines. Among his first customers were the McDonald brothers from southern California. After selling them several machines and watching the efficiency of their drive-in restaurant, Kroc bought the rights to market the brothers’ good fortune and hired them to work for him. (2016 Time dot com article) (July 12, 1960)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
Cold War
Fidel Castro
April 15, 1959: Fidel Castro visited the US for the first time since the overthrow of Batista. The trip got off to an inauspicious start when it became clear that President. Eisenhower had no intention of meeting with Castro. Instead, Eisenhower went to the golf course to avoid any chance meeting with Castro. (see July 24)
Mariel boatlift
April 15, 1980: the Castro regime announced that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. were free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift. The first of 125,000 Cuban refugees from Mariel reached Florida the next day. (see April 25, 1983)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
DRAFT CARD BURNING
April 15, 1967: protests to Vietnam policy were held in New York and San Francisco. In New York, police estimated that 100,000 to 125,000 people listened to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spock. Prior to the march, nearly 200 draft cards were burned by youths in Central Park. (Vietnam, see Apr 24; DCB, see October 9, 1967)
Spring Mobilization
April 15, 1968: start of Spring Mobilization against the Vietnam war. (see Apr 22)
1st Infantry Division
April 15, 1970: as part of the third phase of U.S. troop withdrawals announced by President Nixon, the 1st Infantry Division left Vietnam. Its soldiers won 11 Medals of Honor, 67 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 905 Silver Stars for bravery. The division suffered 20,770 soldiers killed or wounded in action, slightly more than the 20,659 casualties the division suffered in World War II. (see Apr 29)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
April 15 Music et al
Aftermath
April 15, 1966: the Rolling Stones release Aftermath.
Something Stupid
April 15 – May 12, 1967: “Something Stupid” by Frank and Nancy Sinatra #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became the first father-daughter song to hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
Let It Be
April 15, 1971: Let It Be movie received an Oscar for “Best Film Music-Oriented Film Score.” (see June 6)
Daniel Ellsberg/Pentagon Papers
April 15 – 18, 1973,: Ellsberg testified in his own defense. (see Papers for expanded story)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
Symbionese Liberation Army
April 15, 1974: Patty Hearst and four members of the S.L.A. were caught on camera holding up the bank at gunpoint. The bank robbers get away with $10,000. (see Hearst for expanded story)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
Student Activism
April 15, 1989: Chinese students begin demonstrating for a democratic government. (see Apr 21)
Stop and Frisk Policy
April 15, 2008: The Center for Constitutional Rights amended its initial complaint to seek class-action status in Floyd v. City of New York. A few days later they seek stop-and-frisk data going back to 1998. (see May 30)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
TERRORISM
April 15, 2013: two bombs go off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three spectators and wounding more than 260 other people in attendance. (CBS News pictures) (see Nov 21)
LGBTQ
April 15, 2018: Judge Marsha Pechman, who served as Senior Judge of the US District Court of Western Washington, issued a ruling in the case of Karnoski v. Trumpthat once again shut down the trans military ban. This replicated her previous decision (December 22) that the trans ban policy violated equal protection statutes as well as First Amendment rights of transgender troops and recruits. (see Apr 25)
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
April 15, 2018: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan announced that the Reverend Patrick J. Conroy would step down as House Chaplain on May 24 after seven years in the post. Ryan thanked Conroy for his service to the people’s House.
Most lawmakers thought Conroy’s resignation was voluntary, but Ryan faced a bipartisan backlash, particularly among the more than 140 Catholics in the House, when word spread that he had forced the priest into retirement. (see May 3)
April 15 Peace Love Art Activism
LSD
April 15, 2021: In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, psychiatrist David Nutt, psychologist Robin Carhart-Harris and other researchers, all then at Imperial College London, conducted a six-week trial of 59 participants split into two groups. One group was given a full dose of psilocybin (the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms”) in combination with psychotherapy. The other received daily amounts of the SSRI escitalopram plus two minuscule amounts of psilocybin with psychotherapy. All of the participants suffered from major depressive disorder (MDD), which affects roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population in a given year.
The study found that the former improved symptoms of depression just as well on an established metric—and had fewer side effects. The study was fairly small, however, and was not explicitly intended to show how well the drugs stacked up on other measures of well-being. [Scientific American article] (next LSD, see May 10)
AD 336: in an old list of Roman bishops, compiled in A. D. 354 these words appear for A.D. 336: “25 Dec.: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae.” December 25th, Christ born in Bethlehem, Judea. Thus this day in 336 AD was the first recorded celebration of Christmas.
Before then, birthdays in general were not given much emphasis–not even the birth of Christ. The day on which a saint died was considered more significant than their birth, And Christ’s baptism—celebrated on January 6 with the Feast of the Epiphany—received more attention than his birthday.
Why December 25? When a consensus arose in the Roman Catholic Church to celebrate Christ’s conception on March 25th, it was reasonable to celebrate his birth nine months later.
Noah Webster
April 14, 1828: Noah Webster, a Yale-educated lawyer with an avid interest in language and education, published his American Dictionary of the English Language. Webster’s dictionary was one of the first lexicons to include distinctly American words. The dictionary, which took him more than two decades to complete, introduced more than 10,000 “Americanisms.” The introduction of a standard American dictionary helped standardize English spelling, a process that had started as early as 1473, when printer William Caxton published the first book printed in English. The rapid proliferation of printing and the development of dictionaries resulted in increasingly standardized spellings by the mid-17th century. (Noah Webster House site bio) (see March 23, 1839)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Pennsylvania Abolition Society
April 14, 1775: The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (aka, Pennsylvania Abolition Society) founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Anthony Benezet and others. It was the first American abolition society. Seventeen of the 24 men who attended initial meetings of the Society were Quakers, or members of the Religious Society of Friends. Thomas Paine was also among the Society’s founders. (Paabolition dot org article) (see Nov 12)
Harriet Tubman
April 14, 1853: Harriet Tubman made her first trip back South to ensure that other slaves won their freedom. She helped hundreds of slaves escape North. She was never caught, despite a $40,000 reward for her capture. (see February 28, 1854)
United States v. Cruikshank
April 14, 1873: the Louisiana state militia under the control of Republican Governor William Kellogg arrived at the scene and recorded the carnage. New Orleans police and federal troops also arrived in the next few days to reestablish order. A total of 97 white militia men were arrested and charged with violation of the U.S. Enforcement Act of 1870 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). A handful of them were convicted but were eventually released in 1875 when the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Cruikshank ruled the Enforcement Act was unconstitutional. (harriet-tubman dot org article) (see June 28, 1874)
Horace Duncan, Fred Coker, and Will Allen lynched
April 14, 1906: two innocent black men named Horace Duncan and Fred Coker (aka Jim Copeland) were abducted from the county jail by a white mob of several thousand participants and lynched in Springfield, Missouri.
The day before, a white woman reported that two African American men had assaulted her. Despite having “no evidence against them,” local police arrested Duncan and Coker were “on suspicion.”
Local law enforcement did little to stop the mob from seizing the two men, though the officers were armed. When the mob dragged Duncan and Coker outside, the gathered crowd of nearly 3,000 angry white men, women, and children began shouting, “Hang them!” and “Burn them!”
Gottfried Tower
At the public square, the mob hanged both men from the railing of the Gottfried Tower, then set a fire underneath and watched as both corpses were reduced to ashes in the flames.
Continuing their rampage, the mob returned to the jail and proceeded to lynch another African American man—Will Allen.
Two days after the lynchings, the woman who reported being assaulted issued a statement that she was “positive” that [Mr. Coker and Mr. Duncan] “were not her assailants, and that she could identify her assailants if they were brought before her.”
Four white men were arrested and twenty-five warrants issued, but only one white man was tried and no one was ever convicted. [EJI article] (next BH, see Sept 22; next Lynching, see February 10, 1908; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)
Scottsboro 9
April 14, 1933: a meeting of Communists listened in NYC’s Union Square to speakers for the International Labor Defense plead for unity among white persons and Negroes to fight for the release of the “Scottsboro boys.” The meeting attracted approximately 10,000 people. (see Scottsboro or expanded story)
School Desegregation
April 14, 1947: Mendez v. Westminster. Five Mexican-American fathers, (Thomas Estrada, William Guzman, Gonzalo Mendez, Frank Palomino, and Lorenzo Ramirez) challenged the practice of school segregation in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. They claimed that their children, along with 5,000 other children of “Mexican” ancestry, were victims of unconstitutional discrimination by being forced to attend separate “schools for Mexicans” in the Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and El Modena school districts of Orange County.
On February 18, 1946 Senior District Judge Paul J. McCormick, had ruled in favor of Mendez and his co-plaintiffs, finding segregated schools to be an unconstitutional denial of equal protection.
The school district appealed to the Ninth Federal District Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which upheld Judge McCormick’s decision, finding that the segregation practices violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
On April 14, 1947, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling, but not on equal protection grounds. It did not challenge the “separate but equal” interpretation of the 14th Amendment announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. (PBS article) (see January 20, 1951)
Malcolm X
April 14, 1957: Malcolm X led a demonstration outside the police station in Harlem to protest the beating of a Muslim, demanding his transfer to a hospital. (BH, see May 17; MX, see May 5, 1962)
George Whitmore, Jr
April 14, 1964: Minnie Edmonds, a 46-year-old African American cleaning woman and mother of five, was stabbed to death by a man who attempted to snatch her purse near Sutter Avenue and Chester Street in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.
Detective Joseph Di Pima
A year later, on April 14, 1965: Detective Joseph Di Pima testified that George Whitmore, Jr.’s confessions were voluntary, telling the jury, “All I had to say to him was: “What happened next George?” (see Whitmore to expand story)
Trayvon Martin Shooting
April 14, 2013: Sgt. Ron King, who had been with the Port Canaveral police force for two years, was fired after it was discovered he was conducting practice with targets resembling Trayvon Martin wearing a hoodie, reports CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG. “Whether it was his stupidity or his hatred, (this is) not acceptable,” said Port Authority interim CEO Jim Walsh. Walsh said it happened at a training exercise earlier this month. King was teaching a shooting course to other officers and allegedly had the posters in his patrol car. (BH, see Apr 18; Martin, see June 20)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
Dust Bowl Black Sunday
April 14, 1935: another devastating storm of the Dust Bowl era. High winds kicked up clouds of millions of tons of dirt and dust so dense and dark that some eyewitnesses believed the world was coming to an end.
The day is known as “Black Sunday,” when a mountain of blackness swept across the High Plains and instantly turned a warm, sunny afternoon into a horrible blackness that was darker than the darkest night. Famous songs were written about it, and on the following day, the world would hear the region referred to for the first time as “The Dust Bowl.”
The wall of blowing sand and dust first blasted into the eastern Oklahoma panhandle and far northwestern Oklahoma around 4 PM. It raced to the south and southeast across the main body of Oklahoma that evening, accompanied by heavy blowing dust, winds of 40 MPH or more, and rapidly falling temperatures. But the worst conditions were in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, where the rolling mass raced more toward the south-southwest – accompanied by a massive wall of blowing dust that resembled a land-based tsunami. Winds in the panhandle reached upwards of 60 MPH, and for at least a brief time, the blackness was so complete that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. It struck Beaver around 4 PM, Boise City around 5:15 PM, and Amarillo at 7:20 PM. (PBS American Experience article) (see April 16, 1947)
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
April 14, 2010: six days before the explosion, Brian Morel, a BP drilling engineer, emailed a colleague “this has been a nightmare well which has everyone all over the place.” (see Apr 20)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
The Cold War
Bay of Pigs Invasion
April 14, 1962: a Cuban military tribunal convicted 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers. (Cold War, see Apr 25; see Bay of Pigsfor expanded story)
April 14, 1962: during a weekend furlough, Hendrix and Billy Cox go to Indianapolis to enter a talent contest. After many delays in getting back to base, Hendrix failed to report for bed check. Hwas was given fourteen days of restriction between April 16 and 29. (see Hendrix militaryfor expanded chronology)
1968 Oscars
April 14, 1969: 1968 Oscars held. No host. This year was the first in which the telecast on television was beamed worldwide – to 37 nations. Best Picture award Oliver.
The Ballad of John and Yoko
April 14, 1969: Paul and John recorded of ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko.’ Paul played bass, drums and piano with John on guitars and lead vocals. The song was banned from many radio stations as being blasphemous. On some stations, the word ‘Christ’ was edited in backwards to avoid the ban. (see May 9) (see Ballad for expanded story)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
173rd Airborne
April 14, 1965: the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered the deployment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade from Okinawa to South Vietnam. The 173rd arrived in Vietnam in May 1965 and was the first major U.S. Army ground combat unit committed to the war. (see Apr 17)
Richard Nixon
April 14, 1967: private citizen Richard Nixon visited Saigon and stated that anti-war protests back in the U.S. were “prolonging the war.” In San Francisco and New York thousands march against the Vietnam War. (see Apr 15)
Vietnamese orphans
April 14, 1975: the American airlift of Vietnamese orphans to the US ended after 2,600 children were transported to America. (2016 Daily Mail article) (see Apr 21)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
Women’s Health
Harry Blackmun
April 14, 1970: President Nixon nominated Harry Blackmun to the Supreme Court. He is best known as the author of the Court’s opinion in Roe v. Wade. (Oyez article on Blackmun) (see May 12)
Mifepristone
April 14, 2023: the Supreme Court it was temporarily keeping in place federal rules for use of mifepristone, an abortion drug, while it took time to more fully consider the issues raised in a court challenge.
In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, the court put a five-day pause on the case so the justices can decide whether lower court rulings restricting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, should be allowed to take effect in the short term. [AP article] (next WH, see April 21)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
IRAQ War I
April 14 – 16, 1993: former President George Bush visited Kuwait to commemorate the allied victory in the Persian Gulf War. (see June 18)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
April 14, 1998: Kenneth Starr filed a sealed motion in U.S. District Court to compel testimony of uniformed Secret Service agents, according to the Wall Street Journal. (seeClinton for expanded story)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
Jack Kevorkian
You Don’t Know Jack
April 14 , 2010: the HBO film You Don’t Know Jack premiered at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. Kevorkian walked the red carpet alongside Al Pacino, who portrayed him in the film. Pacino received Emmy and Golden Globe awards for his portrayal, and personally thanked Kevorkian, who was in the audience, upon receiving both of these awards. Kevorkian stated that both the film and Pacino’s performance “brings tears to my eyes – and I lived through it”. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
Maryland
April 14, 2014: Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed a bill into law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill made possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a fine of up to $100 for a first offense, up to $250 for a second offense, and up to $500 for subsequent offenses. Third-time offenders and individuals under 21 years of age would be required to undergo a clinical assessment for substance abuse disorder and a drug education program. (Washington Post article) (see Apr 28 or seeCCC for expanded chronology)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
DEATH PENALTY
April 14, 2017: the Arkansas Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of execution for Bruce Ward and less than two hours later an Arkansas circuit judge issued a temporary restraining order the executions of six other murderers. The judge’s restraining order barred the state from administering one of three drugs it planned to use in the executions, which were scheduled to begin on Monday and stretch over 11 days. An eighth inmate who had been scheduled to die also won a stay earlier, removing him from the list for April execution. (see Apr 20)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
War in Afghanistan
April 14, 2021: the Biden administration set a new timetable for withdrawal: it said it would begin pulling out its remaining 3,500 troops on May 1 and complete the pullout at the latest by September. 11 — the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida terror attack on the U.S. that had triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO announced it would follow the same timetable for withdrawing nearly 10,000 troops.
In leaving, Washington calculated that it could manage its chief security interest — ensuring Afghanistan doesn’t become a base for terror attacks on the United States — from a distance. [AP article] (next Afghanistan, see Aug 31)
April 14 Peace Love Art Activism
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
