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Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

January 15 Peace Love Art Activism

January 15, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Emma Goldman

January 15, 1909: San Francisco police arrested Goldman and Ben Reitman just before they were about to hold a meeting. Police charged them with rout—the assembly of two or more persons at a meeting where measures are advocated where if they were actually carried out would lead to a riot.

Police also arrested William Buwalda for his protest of their arrest. (see Goldman for expanded information)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Environmental Issues

January 15, 1919: fiery hot molasses flooded the streets of Boston killing 21 people and injuring scores of others. The molasses burst from a huge tank at the United States Industrial Alcohol Company building in the heart of the city. (NYT article) (see May 11, 1934)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Religion and Public Education

Separation of church and State

January 15, 1927: the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the Butler law (forbid the teaching of evolution) was constitutional. However, it overturned Scopes’ verdict on a technicality, ruling that his fine should have been set by the jury hearing the case instead of by Judge Raulston. The justices declared in their ruling that “[n]othing is to be gained by prolonging the life of this bizarre case.” (Butler Act, see May 17, 1967; Separation, see see February 5, 1953)

Champaign, IL

In 1940: in Champaign, IL, interested members of various Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths formed an association named the Champaign Council on Religious Education. This association obtained permission from the Champaign Board of Education to offer voluntary religious education classes for public school students from grades four to nine. These weekly 30- and 45-minute classes were led by clergy and lay members of the association in public school classrooms during school hours. (see 1944 below)

Released time

In 1942: “Released time” participation reached 1.5 million students in 46 states. Some districts held the classes in the public school buildings.

James McCollum

In 1944: Vashti McCollum’s son, James McCollum, then a fourth grader enrolled in the Champaign public schools, came home with a parental consent form for his attendance at “voluntary” religion classes during the school day. The form allowed choice between Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish instruction. She permitted James’s participation.

Cold War/Religion

In 1945: in the postwar era, Americans flock to church in record numbers, swelling the growth of traditional denominations — Methodists, Baptists, Disciples of Christ, Lutherans and Presbyterians. Church building booms; Bible sales skyrocketed. Amid the prosperity, the United States and the Soviet Union face off in the Cold War, a spiritual struggle that pits Christian America against “godless communism.” (Religion, see July 1945; CW, see Feb 4)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

BLACK HISTORY

President Truman & civil rights

January 15, 1947: President Truman, condemning “a tendency in this country” toward revival of bigotry and intolerance, called for legislation to implement the Bill of Rights and protect the civil rights of citizens in those local areas from which Federal enforcement agencies have been excluded. (BH, see Feb 17; C on CR, see May 1)

Viola Liuzzo car for sale…a “crowd-getter”

January 15, 1966: on March 25, 1965, terrorists had assassinated civil rights volunteers Viola Liuzzo and Leroy Moton while they were driving. On this date, the Birmingham News newspaper published an ad offering Liuzzo’s bullet-ridden car for sale. Asking $3,500, the ad read, “Do you need a crowd-getter? I have a 1963 Oldsmobile two-door in which Mrs. Viola Liuzzo was killed. Bullet holes and everything intact. Ideal to bring in crowds.” (BH, see Jan 31; see VI for expanded chronology)

Brown v. Board of Education

In 1972, a federal court ordered the Board of Education of Oklahoma City Schools to adopt a busing program to desegregate the city’s public schools in compliance with the United States Supreme Court’s desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The school board complied for five years and then filed a motion to lift the order. The federal court found that integration had been achieved, granted the motion, and ended the busing program.

In 1984, the school board adopted a new student assignment plan that significantly reduced busing and re-segregated Oklahoma City schools. Local parents of African American students initiated litigation challenging the new assignment plan and asking for reinstatement of the 1972 busing decree. In 1989, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit re-instituted the decree, and the school board appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

On January 15, 1991, the Court declared in a 5-3 decision written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist that federal desegregation injunctions were intended to be temporary. Despite troubling evidence that Oklahoma City schools were re-segregating under the district’s new plan, the Court sent the case back to the lower federal court for assessment under a less stringent standard, which ultimately permitted the school board to proceed with the new plan. Justice Thurgood Marshall, joined by Justices Harry Blackmun and John Paul Stevens, argued in dissent that a desegregation decree should not be lifted when doing so recreates segregated “conditions likely to inflict the stigmatic injury condemned in Brown.” (NYT article) (BH see Mar 3; SD, see March 31, 1992)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

FREE SPEECH

On March 8, 1949 authorities had arrested Irving Feiner after speaking to a crowd of 75 or 80 people in Syracuse, New York. Feiner, a college student, had been standing on a large wooden box on the sidewalk, addressing a crowd through a loud-speaker system attached to an automobile. He made derogatory remarks about President Harry S. Truman, the American Legion, the Mayor of Syracuse, and other local political officials. Feiner urged that they rise up in arms and fight for equal rights.

On January 15, 1951 in Feiner v. New York, in a 6–3 decision delivered by Chief Justice Fred Vinson, the US Supreme Court upheld Feiner’s arrest.

Focusing on the “rise up in arms and fight for their rights” part of Feiner’s speech, the court found that Feiner’s First Amendment rights were not violated, because his arrest came when the police thought that a riot might occur. The court found that the police did not attempt to suppress Feiner’s message based on its content, but rather on the reaction of the crowd. The court reaffirmed the fact that a speaker cannot be arrested for the content of his speech. The court also reaffirmed that the police must not be used as an instrument to silence unpopular views, but must be used to silence a speaker who is trying to incite a riot.

New York won, the Chief Justice wrote, because by law, Feiner’s actions created an imminent threat: the police arrested him because the police wanted to protect the city government and the people of New York. (see June 4)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

see January 15 Music et al for more

Supremes

January 15, 1961: Motown Records signed The Supremes. Their first release will be ” I Want a Guy.”

Rock Venues

January 15, 1964: the Los Angeles Whiskey a Go Go opened. The club’s opening night featured Johnny Rivers as the headlining act. The club quickly became famous for its music (rock ‘n’ roll), dancing (the patrons on the floor and the go-go dancers inside elevated glass cages) and the Hollywood celebrities it attracted. The Whisky played an important role in many musical careers, especially for bands based in southern California. The Byrds, Alice Cooper, Buffalo Springfield, Smokestack Lightning, and Love were regulars, and The Doors were the house band for a while – until the debut of the “Oedipal section” of “The End” got them fired. (see Whisky a Go Go for more) (see August 13, 1965)

LSD

January 15, 1966: Portland, Oregon Acid Test. (see Jan 17)

The Rolling Stones

January 15, 1967: The Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. At Ed Sullivan’s request, the band changed the lyrics of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s spend some time together”.

Byrds

January 15, 1968: Byrds released Notorious Byrd Brothers album.

January 15, 1969: all four Beatles met to discuss their future, Harrison was in a commanding position, following a series of dismal sessions at Twickenham Film Studios, and was able to set down his terms for returning to the group. During the five-hour meeting he made it clear that he would leave the group unless the idea of a live show before an audience was dropped. (see Jan 30)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Vietnam

JFK: no troops fighting in Vietnam

January 15, 1962: asked at a news conference if U.S. troops are fighting in Vietnam, President Kennedy answered “No.” He was technically correct, but U.S. soldiers were serving as combat advisers with the South Vietnamese army, and U.S. pilots were flying missions with the South Vietnamese Air Force. While acting in this advisory capacity, some soldiers invariably got wounded, and press correspondents based in Saigon were beginning to see casualties from the “support” missions and ask questions. (see Jan 18)

… & Feminism

January 15, 1968: Jeannette Rankin, a renowned pacifist, made history as the first woman elected to Congress in 1916. At age 87, Rankin made one final push for peace by leading an anti-Vietnam War march: the Jeannette Rankin Brigade — a demonstration of thousands of women in Washington, D.C.

Some marchers were unhappy with the Brigade’s image of mourning wives and mothers. A group of between 200 to 500 women wearing “miniskirts and high boots,” called the Radical Women’s Group, tried to commandeer the microphones. They alleged that Coretta Scott King had been coerced into giving peaceful speeches to appeal to “church women” in the march.

The splinter group invited the marchers to a staged funeral procession of “traditional womanhood” at Arlington National Cemetery. They paraded a dummy in “feminine getup” with “blonde curls,” to a funeral dirge “lamenting woman’s traditional role which encourages men to develop aggression and militarism to prove their masculinity. (V, see Jan 16, F, see Sept 7)

Peace talks stumble forward

January 15, 1973: citing “progress” in the Paris peace negotiations between National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam, President Richard Nixon halted the most concentrated bombing of the war, as well as mining, shelling, and all other offensive action against North Vietnam. The cessation of direct attacks against North Vietnam did not extend to South Vietnam, where the fighting continued as both sides jockeyed for control of territory before the anticipated cease-fire. (see Jan 22)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Clarence Earl Gideon

January 15, 1963: the Gideon v. Cochran case was argued at the US Supreme Court. Abe Fortas was assigned to represent Gideon. Bruce Jacob, the Assistant Florida Attorney General, was assigned to argue against Gideon. Fortas argued that a common man with no training in law could not go up against a trained lawyer and win, and that “you cannot have a fair trial without counsel.” Jacob argued that the issue at hand was a state issue, not federal; the practice of only appointing counsel under “special circumstances” in non-capital cases sufficed; that thousands of convictions would have to be thrown out if it were changed; and that Florida had followed for 21 years “in good faith” the 1942 Supreme Court ruling in Betts v. Brady. The case’s original title, Gideon v. Cochran, was changed to Gideon v. Wainwright after Louie L. Wainwright replaced H. G. Cochran as the director of the Florida Division of Corrections. (see Gideon for expanded chronology)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Super Bowl

January 15, 1968: first Super Bowl...Packers vs. Chiefs. Packers 35, Chiefs 10.

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Feminism

NY Radical Women

January 15, 1968: Members of the New York Radical Women led an protest event, a “burial of traditional womanhood.” held in Arlington National Cemetery. (see Vietnam above)

National Press Club

January 15, 1971: National Press Club, Washington, DC, voted to admit women to membership after excluding women from membership since the club’s founding. (see January 25, 1971)

Equal Rights Amendment

January 15, 2020: Virginia became the 38th state to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, a symbolic victory for those who for generations had been pushing for a constitutional guarantee of legal rights regardless of sex.

Virginia’s decision did not seal the amendment’s addition to the United States Constitution. A deadline for three-quarters, or 38, of the 50 states to approve the E.R.A. expired in 1982, so the future of the measure was uncertain, and experts said the issue would likely be tied up in the courts and in the political sphere for years. [NYT article] (next Feminism, see Feb 6)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Native Americans

January 15, 1972: Russell C Means, director of the Cleveland American Indian Center, said the symbol used by the Cleveland Indians was “racist, degrading and demeaning” to the American Indian and that he would file a lawsuit to halt use of the symbol. (NYT article) (see Oct 31)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

United Farm Workers

January 15, 1974, César E. Chávez awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize by Coretta Scott King. (see June 5, 1975)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Sara Jane Moore

January 15, 1976: Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison by Federal district judge Samuel Conti who said that Moore would not have tried to kill President Ford here on Sept. 22 “if we had in this country any effective capital punishment law.” Conti called Moore “a product of a permissive society.” (NYT article) (see also Lynette Squeaky Fromme and/or Oliver W Sipple) (see February 5, 1979)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Student Rights & Fourth Amendment

January 15, 1985: New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) Students have a reduced expectation of privacy in school. A teacher accused “T.L.O.” of smoking in the bathroom. When she denied the allegation, the principal searched her purse and found cigarettes and marijuana paraphernalia. A family court declared T.L.O. a delinquent. The Supreme Court ruled that her rights were not violated since students have reduced expectations of privacy in school. (SR, see July 7, 1986; 4^th, see Mar 27)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

IRAQ

IRAQ War I

January 15, 1991: The UN deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expired, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm. (see Jan 16)

Iraq War II

January 15, 2005: a military court sentenced Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years behind bars for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison. (IW II, see Mar 3; mistreatment, see March 20, 2015)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Dissolution of Yugoslavia

January 15, 1992: the Yugoslav federation effectively collapsed as the European Community recognized the republics of Croatia and Slovenia. (see D of Y for expanded chronology)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Technological Milestone

January 15, 2001: Wikipedia, the free web-based encyclopedia, made its debut. (see Oct 23)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Westboro Baptist Church

January 15, 2006: members of the Westboro Baptist Church (Topeka, Kansas) protested a memorial for Sago Mine disaster victims, claiming that the mining accident was God’s revenge against America for its tolerance of homosexuality. (see March 2, 2011)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Capt Chesley Sullenberger

January 15, 2009: US Airways Capt Chesley Sullenberger guided a jetliner disabled by a bird strike just after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to a safe landing in the Hudson River. All 155 people aboard survived.

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

The Cold War

January 15, 2015: the Obama administration announced a set of new regulations regarding Cuba that eased decades-old restrictions on travel, business and remittances, putting into reality some of the changes promised by President Obama last month when he announced plans to resume normal diplomatic relations with Havana.

Under the new regulations, Americans would be allowed to travel to Cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons without first obtaining a special license from the government. Airlines and travel agents would be allowed to provide service to Cuba without a specific license. And travelers would be permitted to use credit cards and spend money while in the country and bring back up to $400 in souvenirs, including up to $100 in alcohol or tobacco. The new regulations would also make it easier for American telecommunications providers and financial institutions to do business with Cuba. Americans would be allowed to send more money to Cubans, up to $2,000 every three months instead of the $500 then permitted. (NYT video) (see Apr 10)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

LGBTQ

Idaho

January 15, 2015: Idaho state officials authorized paying $456,000 in legal fees incurred defending Idaho’s ban on same sex marriage, including $401,000 in fees to the attorneys who successfully sued last year to overturn the ban. The fees would be paid from the state’s special Constitutional Defense Fund.

Caspar v. Snyder

January 15, 2015: in Caspar v. Snyder U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled that three hundred Michigan same-sex couples had a “fundamental right” for their marriages to be legal, a after the state refused to recognize the unions.

The 16 individuals and about 600 more were married in March when Michigan’s gay marriage ban was struck down. For one day, several county clerks were able to issue licenses to same-sex couples and perform wedding ceremonies before an appeals court stayed the ruling.

Goldsmith wrote, “The same-sex couples who married in Michigan during the brief period when such marriages were authorized acquired a status that state officials may not ignore absent some compelling interest — a constitutional hurdle that the defense does not even attempt to surmount…In these circumstances, what the state has joined together, it may not put asunder.” (see Jan 16)

Fair Housing

January 15, 2019: U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton dismissed a lawsuit that alleged a suburban St. Louis senior living community discriminated against a married lesbian couple by denying them housing.

Hamilton said in the decision that the Fair Housing Act did not protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Mary Walsh and Bev Nance sued the Friendship Village location in Sunset Hills in July 2018.

After they submitted their application and a $2,000 deposit, they were notified that their request was denied. They were told Friendship Village’s cohabitation policy defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman, “as marriage is understood in the Bible.” (LGBTQ, see Jan 22; FH, see Jan 25)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

DEATH PENALTY

January 15, 2015: the US Supreme Court declined to halt the execution of Oklahoma inmate, Charles Warner, who was convicted of raping and murdering an 11-month-old baby. The court was divided 5-4, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing a dissenting opinion. (NYT article) (see Jan 23)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Environmental Issues

January 15, 2018: the majority of members of the National Parks System Advisory Board, which advises the federal government on management of the country’s national parks, jointly resigned to protest Trump administration policies that the board members said had ignored science, squelched efforts to address climate change and undermined environmental protections.

“From all of the events of this past year I have a profound concern that the mission of stewardship, protection, and advancement of our National Parks has been set aside,” wrote Tony Knowles, the head of the advisory board, in a resignation letter that was co-signed by eight other members of the 12-member panel. [NYT report](see Feb 6)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Immigration History/Census

January 15, 2019: U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York blocked the Commerce Department from adding a question on American citizenship to the 2020 census, handing a legal victory to critics who accused the Trump administration of trying to turn the census into a tool to advance Republican political fortunes.

Several states and activists had said immigrants, fearful of volunteering their immigration status to the Trump administration, would refuse to respond. The plaintiffs in the suit ― 18 states, the District of Columbia, several cities and a handful of immigrant rights groups ― argued the Trump administration intended to drive down the response rate among those groups when it added the question. [NYT article] [next IH, see Jan 16; next Census, see Mar 6)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

January 15, 2019: the governing body for the Jesuit order in the northeastern United States released a list of 50 priests under its jurisdiction who had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct with minors.

All but 15 of the Roman Catholic priests on the list released by the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus were dead, and all of the alleged abuse all took place before 1997. (see Feb 13)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Trump Impeachment

January 15, 2020: Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Representatives Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Representatives Zoe Lofgren of California, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Val B. Demings of Florida, Jason Crow of Colorado and Sylvia R. Garcia of Texas to serve as managers of the impeachment case against President Trump. [NYT story]

Later that same day, the House voted to send articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for a trial. The House voted 228 to 193 largely along party lines to send the Senate the two articles accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. [CNN story] (next TI see, Jan 18 or see Trump for expanded chronology)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

January 15, 2021: North Korea unveiled a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, described by state media as “the world’s most powerful weapon”.

Several of the missiles were displayed at a parade overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, reported state media. The weapon’s actual capabilities remain unclear, as it is not known to have been tested.

It also followed a rare political meeting where Mr Kim decried the US as his country’s “biggest enemy.” [BBC article] (next N/C N, see Feb 18)

January 15 Peace Art Love Activism

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

January 14, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism in the US

January 14, 1910: using section 497 of the Postal Laws and Regulations Act of 1902, Mother Earth magazine was banned from the mails after Anthony Comstock complained about Emma Goldman’s essay, “The Traffic in Women.“” The issue will be released by the Post Office after Comstock is forced to withdraw his objections. (see March 26, 1910)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

January 14, 1914: Henry Ford announced the newest advance in assembly line production of cars. The new continuous motion method reduced assembly time of a car from 12½ hours to 93 minutes. (see Mar 14)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Raymond Gunn lynching

January 14, 1931: black residents of Maryville, Missouri fled the town after the lynching of Raymond Gunn on January 12. More than 20 percent of Maryville’s black population fled the town in fear. Despite investigations initiated by state officials, no one was ever arrested or convicted of any crime related to the lynching of Raymond Gunn. [EJI article] (next BH, see July 15, 1931; next Lynching, see April 2, 1933; see AL3 for expanded chronology of early 20th century lynching)

A. Philip Randolph

January 14, 1941: Civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph on this day proposed a march on Washington to demand equal employment opportunities for African-Americans in the defense industries. Full employment had returned to the U.S. as a result of the war in Europe.

The idea of an African-American protest march in Washington, D.C., shocked and scared many Americans –and drew more African-American support than Randolph had imagined. (BH, see Apr 18; March, see June 18)

Segregation Forever

January 14, 1963: in Nov 1962 Alabama elected George Wallace governor in a landslide victory. He took the oath of office standing on the gold star marking the spot where, 102 years earlier, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America. In his inaugural speech, Wallace used the line for which he is best known: In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever… Let us send this message back to Washington . . . that from this day we are standing up, and the heel of tyranny does not fit the neck of an upright man . . . that we intend to take the offensive and carry our fight for freedom across the nation, wielding the balance of power we know we possess in the Southland. . . . that WE, not the insipid bloc voters of some sections will determine in the next election who shall sit in the White House of these United States. (see Jan 20)

Lawrence Douglas Wilder

January 14, 1990: Lawrence Douglas Wilder was sworn in as the governor of Virginia by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. Wilder was the first African-American to be elected governor of a U.S. state. (see May 17)

de la Beckwith extradited

January 14, 1991: Chattanooga, TN. Judge Joe DeRisio of Hamilton County Criminal Court ordered that Byron de la Beckwith be returned to Mississippi to face a charge of first-degree murder in the 1963 slaying of Medgar Evers, but DeRisio delayed putting the extradition order into effect until January 22 to give Mr. Beckwith time to file an appeal with the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. (see June 3, 1991)

Antwon Rose

January 14, 2019: Judge Alexander Bicket ordered that a jury be selected from another county for the trial of East Pittsburgh officer Michael Rosfeld accused in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr.

Rosfeld is charged with homicide in the death of Rose Jr., who was shot June 19, 2018 as he fled a traffic stop.

Bicket ordered that a jury be chosen from outside Allegheny County, citing “pervasive prejudicial pre-trial publicity” that could deny Rosfeld an impartial jury. He said he expected media coverage to intensify with jury selection for a trial scheduled to begin in late February. (B & S, see Jan 16; AR see Mar 19)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

Proclamation No. 2537

January 14, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring aliens from World War II-enemy countries–Italy, Germany and Japan–to register with the United States Department of Justice. Registered persons were then issued a Certificate of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationality. (see JIC for expanded chronology)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

January 14 Music et al

Sgt Presley

January 14, 1960: Elvis Presley promoted to sergeant in the U.S. Army (see Mar 5)

LSD

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism — Poster for San Francisco Human Be In

January 14, 1967: the Human Be-In was held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It was a prelude to San Francisco’s Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture and introduced the word “psychedelic” to suburbia. (see San Francisco Human Be In for more) (LSD, see March)

John Lennon

January 14, 1970: a display of John Lennon’s erotic “Bag One” lithographs opened in London. 2 days later Scotland Yard seized prints as evidence of pornography. (see Jan 27)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam & My Lai Massacre

January 14, 1971: During his trial for charges of assault with intent to murder at least six My Lai civilians, Sergeant Charles Hutto admitted to killing a group of unarmed civilians with an M60 machine gun. Hutto’s acquittal (on the 14^th) set the precedent that “obeying orders” is a viable defense for mass murder. (see My Lai for expanded chronology; Vietnam, see Jan 18)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare

January 14, 1975: after 37 years of civil liberties abuses involving investigations of freedom of belief and association, almost all of which involved left-wing, labor and liberal individuals and groups, the House of Representatives on this day abolished the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). (see May 2)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear news

January 14, 1994: President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed accords in Moscow to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine. (see May 31)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Monica Lewinsky

January 14, 1998: Monica Lewinsky gave Linda Tripp a document headed “Points to make in an affidavit,” coaching Tripp on what to tell Jones’ lawyers about Kathleen Willey, another former White House staffer. Willey recently had testified about alleged unsolicited sexual advances made by the president in 1993.

Opening statements

January 14, 1999: thirteen House prosecutors begin a three-day opening statement, laying out the case for the Senate to convict President Clinton and remove him from office. (see Clinton for expanded entry)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

January 14, 2005: Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (see Jan 15)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

LGTBQ

January 14, 2014: U.S. District Judge Terence Kern ruled that Oklahoma’s ban on marriage equality was unconstitutional. His ruling was stayed pending appeal, meaning marriages would not occur immediately in the Sooner State.

Two plaintiff couples, Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin and Gay Phillips and Susan Barton, filed their case, Bishop v. Oklahoma, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in November 2004. [NYT article] (see Jan 23; Oklahoma, see July 18)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

January 14, 2019: more than 30,000 Los Angeles public-school teachers began a long-planned strike, pressing demands for higher pay, smaller classes and more support staff in the schools.

The strike affected roughly 500,000 students at 900 schools in the district, the second-largest in the nation. The schools remained open staffed by substitutes hired by the city, but many parents said they would not send their children across picket lines. [NYT article] (LH, see Jan 18; strike, see Jan 22)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Climate change continues

January 14, 2021: an analysis of global temperatures by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies found that 2020 was slightly warmer than 2016. But the difference was insignificant, the institute’s director, Gavin Schmidt, said in an interview.

“Effectively it’s a statistical tie,” he said.

Other analyses issued, one by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and another by Berkeley Earth, an independent research group in California, found that 2020 was slightly cooler than 2016, as did one published last week by the Copernicus Climate Change Service in Europe. But the difference was small enough to not be statistically significant.

With the 2020 results, the last seven years have been the warmest since the beginning of modern record-keeping nearly a century and a half ago, Dr. Schmidt said.

“We are now very, very clear about the underlying long-term trends,” he said. “We understand where they come from. It’s because of the greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere.”

The planet has warmed more than 1 degree Celsius (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the late 1800s, when the spread of industrialization led to rising emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and the pace has accelerated in recent decades. Since 1980, warming has averaged about 0.18 degree Celsius (about 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. [NYT article]

Electric Vehicle Study

January 14, 2021: data published by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed that despite the higher sticker price, electric cars might actually save drivers money in the long-run.

o reach this conclusion, the MIT team calculated both the carbon dioxide emissions and full lifetime cost — including purchase price, maintenance and fuel — for nearly every new car model on the market.

They found electric cars were easily more climate friendly than gas-burning ones. Over a lifetime, they were often cheaper, too. [NYT article] (next EI, see Jan 19)

January 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

January 13, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

January 13, 1874: New York City Police Department crushed a demonstration involving thousands of unemployed in New York City’s Tompkins Square Park. (NYT article) (see May 8)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Voting Rights

January 13 – 31, 1919: twenty-two women arrested January 13 for lighting watch fires at White House and in Lafayette Park. Other arrests followed, including two women on January 24, five women on January 27, and five women on January 31. Suffragists continued to burn watch fires in various locations through first part of February. (see Feb 9 – 13)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Willie Francis

January 13, 1947: in the case of Louisiana ex rel Francis v. Resweber, the Supreme Court confronted the situation of Willie Francis who was condemned to die in the electric chair. For some reason, the chair was faulty, and although electric current apparently shot through Francis, he survived. The issue was whether a second electrocution could proceed or whether it was barred by the constitutional proscription of cruel and unusual punishment, double jeopardy and other violations of due process. Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter, finding that the chair’s deficiency was entirely accidental, concurred in the decision of the 5 – 4 majority of the Supreme Court that nothing in the Constitution prevented the state from proceeding with a second execution, but he also implied that the situation was one in which a governor might be expected to intercede with executive clemency. Not content with this, Frankfurter, after the opinion was filed, wrote a personal letter to the governor urging the extension of mercy. The governor allowed the execution. (see June 19, 1953)

Lisa M. Montgomery

January 13, 2021: the Trump administration executed Lisa M. Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, whose death marked the first federal execution of a woman in nearly 70 years.

Montgomery, 52, was sentenced to death for murdering a pregnant woman in 2004 and abducting the unborn child, whom she claimed as her own. In pleas to spare her life, Montgomery’s supporters argued that a history of trauma and sexual abuse that marred her life contributed to the circumstances that led to the crime. Her case, unusual in part because so few women are sentenced to death, ignited debate over the role of offenders’ past trauma in criminal sentencing.

Despite a series of court orders that briefly blocked her execution, she was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind., the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. Her death, by lethal injection, is the 11th execution since the Trump administration resumed use of federal capital punishment in July after a 17-year hiatus. [BBC article] (next DP, see Mar 24 )

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Church burnings

January 13, 1957: three days after terrorists bombed four black churches and two pastors’ homes in Montgomery, Alabama, the congregations held Sunday services amidst the debris.

The bombings, which injured no one but caused significant damage, came at a time of racial tension and civil rights progress in Montgomery. Less than a month before, a year-long boycott protesting racial segregation on city buses ended after achieving desegregation. Some local whites were threatened by this victory and reacted with acts of terrorism.

Each of the churches bombed – Bell Street Baptist Church, Hutchinson Street Baptist Church, First Street Baptist Church, and Mt. Olive Church – had supported the bus boycott and the targeted pastors were civil rights leaders: Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy of First Street Baptist Church was a prominent boycott leader and proponent of desegregation and Reverend Robert Graetz, white minister of the predominantly black Trinity Lutheran Church, actively supported the bus boycott.

Two days after the bombings, Reverend Abernathy announced plans for Sunday service, telling a reporter that “despite the wreckage and broken windows we will gather as usual at our church” and offer special prayers for “those who would desecrate the house of God.”

Two white men affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, Raymond Britt and Sonny Livingston, were indicted in February 1957 after confessing to the bombings. An all-white jury acquitted them of all charges in May 1957, while spectators cheered. [1993 NYT report] (see Jan 18)

Robert C. Weaver

January 13, 1966: Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson. (see Jan 15)

Black Panthers

January 13, 1970: Soledad prison guard Opie G. Miller shot and killed three black inmates during a yard riot with members of the Aryan Brotherhood. Following the deaths Black Panther and inmate George Jackson became increasingly confrontational with corrections officials and spoke often about the need to protect fellow inmates and take revenge on guards for the deaths in what Jackson referred to as “selective retaliatory violence” (see Jan 17)

UK New Cross Fire

January 13, 1981: thirteen Black youths died in the New Cross fire. The police quickly dismissed a racial motive for the apparent arson attack. The local Black community waa dismayed by the indifference shown in the press towards the deaths. 15,000 people marched demanding action to Central London, in the largest Black issue demonstration seen in the UK. (see Apr 11)

Attica Prison Riot

January 13, 2005: NY Governor George E. Pataki reached a $12 million settlement with the surviving state workers who were involved in the 1971 riot at Attica state prison and the relatives of 11 employees killed then….

A $2 million payment would be included in the settlement for the survivors’ group, the Forgotten Victims of Attica, with the allocation of $10 million more over the next five years to the state employees or their survivors, the lawyer, Gary Horton, said.

“There is language that acknowledges the suffering of the people in this group,” Mr. Horton said. “My group is satisfied and they’re happy to see a resolution.” (see May 26)

BLACK & SHOT

January 13, 2017: more than a year (see December 6, 2015) after it was announced by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Justice Department released a report that said CPD engages in abuse against citizens, excessive force and unfair treatment of minorities. The city and the Justice Department are now negotiating a consent decree that would include specific reforms overseen by an outside monitor. (see Jan 19)

UK New Cross Fire

Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

January 13, 2014: the U.S. Supreme Court denied a rehearing request from Edgar Ray Killen, convicted in 2005 for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. The justices issued the order without comment. (BH, see Feb 28; Murders, see Nov 10)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

January 13, 1958: the Supreme Court, in One, Inc. v. Olesen, ended the Post Office ban on homosexual materials. The Court issued a per curiam decision on this day, citing its landmark Roth v. United States decision on obscenity (decided on June 24, 1957). The court did not comment on the legal status of homosexuality, but the decision marked the first occasion in which the Court ruled on the free press rights of material related to homosexuality. The idea for One, Inc. arose at a meeting of the Mattachine Society (founded on November 11, 1950 as the first national gay men’s rights group) in Los Angeles in October 1952, and the first issue was published in January 1953. The Post Office declared the magazine obscene and barred it from the mails in 1954. One, Inc. sued and succeeded in achieving the verdict on this day. (2013 Business Insider article) (see January 1, 1961)

Military marriage

January 13, 2018: Apache helicopter pilots Capt. Daniel Hall married Capt. Vincent Franchino in the Cadet Chapel at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., It was believed to be the first active-duty, same-sex couple to exchange vows at West Point. (see Jan 18)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

January 13 Music et al

Chubby Checker

January 13 – 26, 1962: “The Twist” by Chubby Checker #1 Billboard Hot 100 for the second time.

Bob Dylan

January 13, 1964, Bob Dylan released his third album, The Times They Are a-Changin’ (see Feb 3)

Johnny Cash

January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash recorded At Folsom Prison. It will be released in May.

Yellow Submarine album

January 13, 1969, The Beatles released Yellow Submarine album. (see Yellow Submarine album)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

January 13, 1967, Operation Popeye: they declared the project a success a “Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Kohler) to Secretary of State Rusk” Its proposal stated, ” The Department of Defense has requested our approval to initiate the operational phase of Project …. The objective of the program is to produce sufficient rainfall along these lines of communication to interdict or at least interfere with truck traffic between North and South Vietnam. Recently improved cloud seeding techniques would be applied on a sustained basis, in a non-publicized effort to induce continued rainfall through the months of the normal dry season.” (V, see “In February“; see OP for expanded chronology)

Student Rights

January 13, 1988: Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Administrators may edit the content of school newspapers. The principal of Hazelwood East High School edited two articles in the school paper The Spectrum that he deemed inappropriate. The student authors argued that this violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court disagreed, stating that administrators can edit materials that reflect school values. (see May 16)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

Linda Tripp wired

January 13, 1998: wired by FBI agents working with Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr, Linda Tripp met with Monica Lewinsky at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel bar in Pentagon City, Va., and recorded their conversation.

Clinton lawyers outline acquittal

January 13, 1999: President Clinton’s lawyers file their pre-trial brief, outlining the case for the president’s acquittal. Clinton tells reporters he wants to focus on the nation’s business, not the trial. “They have their job to do in the Senate, and I have mine,” Clinton says.”And I intend to do it.” (see Clinton for expanded story)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Religion and Public Education

January 13, 2005: in Selman v. Cobb County, a US District Court rules that the stickers placed on science books by a Georgia school district stating that “evolution is a theory, not a fact” represent a violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. (see Dec 20)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

January 13, 2014: an appeals court upheld the conviction and sentence of the so-called “underware bomber” Umar Abdulmutallab. (Reuters article) (Terrorism, see Jan 25 ; Abdulmutallab, see October 17, 2017)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

January 13, 2014: the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Arizona officials seeking to revive a state law that barred most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The justices offered no reasons for turning down the appeal, as is their custom.

The case concerned an Arizona law, enacted in 2012, that prohibited abortions, except in certain medical emergencies, when the fetus reached 20 weeks gestation, dated from the woman’s last menstrual period. The law’s definition of medical emergency was narrow, encompassing conditions requiring an immediate abortion to avert a pregnant woman’s death or a “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” [NYT report] (see Jan 17)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

January 13, 2018: misinterpreted testing instructions from a supervisor and thinking that there was an actual threat, an Hawaii emergency management services worker sent a live alert to the cell phones of all Hawaii residents and visitors to the state of an incoming ballistic missile. [Jan 30 NYT report] (NCN, see Jan 16; Hawaii, see Jan 30)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

January 13, 2020: U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled the Trump administration acted within its authority when it separated more than 900 children from their parents at the border after determining the parents to be unfit or dangerous.

Sabraw’s ruling rejected the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) claims that the administration was returning to the previously condemned policies of widespread child separation by using minor criminal history as criteria to separate families.

Sabraw indicated he was uncomfortable questioning the administration’s choices to separate children if the parents were designated as unfit or dangerous or based on other factors like criminal history, communicable diseases and doubts about parentage.

He said in his 26-page decision that he found no evidence to conclude the government was abusing its power.

Sabraw did rule that the administration would have to resolve parentage disputes through 90-minute DNA tests, which the government had objected to due to “operational concerns.” [AP article] (next Immigration, see Jan 19)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

January 13, 2021: Rick Snyder, the former governor of Michigan who oversaw the state when a water crisis devastated the city of Flint, was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty, according to court records.

The charges were misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment of up to one year or a maximum fine of $1,000.

Prosecutors in Michigan reported their findings in a wide-ranging investigation into the water crisis, officials said, a long-awaited announcement that is also expected to include charges against several other officials and top advisers to Mr. Snyder. [NYT article] (next EI, see January 14)