October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

TERRORISM

October 17, 1872: President Grant declared martial law and suspended the writ of habeajs corpus in nine South Carolina counties. Once he did so, federal forces were allowed to arrest and imprison KKK members and instigators of racial terrorism without bringing them before a judge or into court. Many affluent Klan members fled the jurisdiction to avoid arrest but by December 1871 approximately 600 Klansmen were in jail. More than 200 arrestees were indicted, 53 pleaded guilty, and five were convicted at trial. Klan terrorism in South Carolina decreased significantly after the arrests and trials but racial violence targeting black people continued throughout the South for decades. (see Nov 28)

Lunch counter desegregation

October 17, 1960: in response to the sit-ins that had began on February 1, several chain stores announced on this day that they would desegregate their lunch counters in North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and seven other southern states. This decision was arguably the greatest single victory for the sit-in movement, but many restaurants continued to segregate. (see Oct 19)

BLACK & SHOT

October 17, 2010: in Pleasantville, N.Y police officer, Aaron Hess shot and killed Danroy Henry, a college running back sitting next to his best friend Brandon Cox from Easton, Mass. Hess fired four rounds, his lawyer said, into the Nissan Altima with Cox and Henry inside, killing Henry, wounding Cox. (B & S, and Henry, see February 14, 2011)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Formation

October 17, 1887: French Indochina was officially formed from Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina (which together form modern Vietnam) and the Kingdom of Cambodia following the Sino-French war (1884–1885). Laos was added after the Franco-Siamese War in 1893. (see May 19, 1891)

Henry Kissinger peace talks

October 17, 1972:  Kissinger, in Paris again, was said by Hanoi to have “reached agreement on almost all problems.” North Vietnam said only two unspecified points of disagreement remained. Mr Kissinger flies to Saigon. (see Oct 18)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

Loyalty oath invalidated

October 17, 1952 : a loyalty oath for University of California employees was a major controversy for many years, beginning in 1949. The Board of Regents finally adopted a required oath on April 21, 1950. On August 25, UC fired 31 faculty for refusing to sign the oath. On this day, the California Supreme Court invalidated the law in Tolman v. Underhill. (The university oath was separate from, and in addition to, the Levering Act oath, which was required of all California public employees, signed into law by Governor Earl Warren on October 3, 1950.) (see Nov 1)

Che returned

October 17, 1997: Guevara’s remains, with those of six of his fellow combatants, were laid to rest with military honors in a specially built mausoleum in the Cuban city of Santa Clara, where he had commanded over the decisive military victory of the Cuban Revolution.  (NYT article) (see April 10, 1998)

Fernald School

October 17, 1995: in a lawsuit over radiation experiments MIT researchers conducted at a home for mentally retarded children during the 1950s was filed. The lawsuit came only days after an advisory committee to President Clinton released findings about thousands of human radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War, including tests done at the Fernald School. The committee concluded that the experiments were wrong and warranted apologies to the test subjects but that only a few should receive monetary compensation. [CBS story] (ADA, see February 8, 1996; CW, see May 12, 2002)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

see October 17 Music et al for more

“Save the Last Dance for Me”

October 17 – 23, 1960: written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, “Save the Last Dance for Me” by the Drifters #1 Billboard Hot 100. The song was written on the day of Pomus’ wedding while the wheelchair-bound groom, who had polio as a child, watched from his wheelchair as his bride danced with their guests.

Beatles first Christmas disc

October 17, 1963: among other things, the Beatles recorded a free flexi-disc to be given away to members of the Official Beatles Fan Club. This was the first of seven such recordings made between 1963 and 1969, and was posted to members on 9 December. (see Oct 21)

“Do Wah Diddy Diddy”

October 17 – 30, 1964: “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” by Manfred Mann #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Cultural Milestone

October 17, 1967: the play, Hair premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theatre and ran for a limited engagement of six weeks. Although the production had a “tepid critical reception”, it was popular with audiences. (CM, see Oct 18; Hair, see  Dec 22)

Brian Epstein

October 17, 1967: John, Paul, George, and Ringo attended a memorial service for Brian Epstein at the New London Synagogue, Abbey Road. (see Nov 27)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Homosexual League of New York

October 17, 1963: Randolph Wicker, director of the Homosexual League of New York, called for public acceptance of homosexuals as a legitimate minority group. (NYT article) (see Dec 16)

Westboro Baptist Church

October 17, 1998: Matthew Shepard buried. Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, took his church’s “God Hates Fags” message to the funeral of Matthew Shepard, held in Casper, Wyoming. Two of his picket signs read: “No Tears for Queers” and “Fag Matt in Hell. (NYT article) (next LGBTQ, see Nov 3; next Westboro, see January 15, 2006; see Shepard for expanded story)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

October 17, 1988: The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act established the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act include providing a legislative basis for the operation/regulation of Indian gaming, protecting gaming as a means of generating revenue for the tribes, encouraging economic development of these tribes, and protecting the enterprises from negative influences (such as organized crime). [PDF link] (see January 30, 1989)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Luis Ramirez

October 17, 2013: a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the federal hate-crime convictions of Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky in the July 12, 2008 beating death of immigrant Luis Ramirez.

The Third Circuit panel in Philadelphia affirmed both convictions and sentences for Donchak and Piekarsky for violating the civil rights of Ramirez, 25, after a booze-fueled confrontation with a group of white high-school football players in the former mining town of Shenandoah.

Donchak, then 20, and Piekarsky, then 18, were found guilty of the federal charges by a federal jury sitting in Scranton on October 14, 2010. Each was sentenced to nine years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. (see Ramirez for expanded story)

Travel Ban, ruling 1

October 17, 2017: the day before it was to take effect, judge, Derrick K. Watson of Federal District Court in Honolulu issued a nationwide order blocking  President Trump’s third attempt at a travel ban. It would have indefinitely stopped almost all travel to the United States from seven countries, including most of the Muslim-majority nations included in his original travel ban.

The ruling was yet another legal setback for one of Trump’s earliest and most controversial efforts. Watson had previously blocked Mr. Trump’s second travel ban from taking effect in March. A federal judge in Seattle had blocked the White House’s first executive order sharply limiting travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

This third executive order went further than the original, imposing permanent restrictions on travel instead of the original 90-day suspension. Under the newest version, most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea were to be excluded from entering the United States, while citizens of Iraq and some groups of people in Venezuela who attempted to visit the United States would have faced extra barriers to entry. (see Oct 17)

Travel Ban, ruling 2

October 17, 2017:  U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang of Greenbelt, MD imposed a nationwide order against enforcement, in a ruling that was broader than one issued earlier in the day by judge Derrick K. Watson of Federal District Court in Honolulu.

In a 91-page ruling, Chuang, ruled that the third Trump executive order was likely to be struck down as a discriminatory ban on Muslims, a violation of the Constitution.  In Honolulu, District Judge Derrick K. Watson did not rule on the constitutional question.

Both judges did find that the challengers to the third order were likely to win their claim that the third version exceeded presidential power under federal immigration laws.

The two rulings combined provided opponents of the ban with multiple legal attacks as the cases make their way through the appeals process. (IH, see Oct 24; Trump, see Nov 13)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH, US Labor History & Colin Kaepernick

Kneeling 2017

October 17, 2017: National Football League officials announced that they would not seek commitments from its players to stop kneeling during pregame renditions of the U.S. national anthem.

“We spent today talking about the issues that our players have been trying to bring attention to. About issues in our communities to make our communities better,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters. [Washington Post article] (FS & CK, see Oct 18; Labor, see Oct 27)

Kneeling 2018

October 17, 2018: NFL owners announced that their national anthem conduct policy was no longer in effect.

Team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell signaled that message at the exit of the NFL’s annual fall meetings in New York when all the power brokers passed on revisiting punishment for forms of social protest by players. The league’s anthem conduct policy had been suspended by team owners last July and hadn’t been brought back to the table since, despite a handful of players continuing to protest social and racial inequalities during the pregame ceremony.

After the NFL’s broadcast partners stopped showing the anthem on television and political rhetoric around the issue died down, the league passed on revisiting forms of punishment in what was billed as a meeting where any changes (if at all) could be made. [Yahoo news article] (FS, see Nov 1; CK, see Oct 25)

US Labor History

October 17, 2019: teachers in Chicago went on strike, forcing the cancellation of classes for more than 300,000 public school students in the nation’s third-largest district. [NYT article] (next LH, see Oct  25; strike, see Oct 31)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

October 17, 2017: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria who was serving multiple life sentences for trying to blow up an airliner with a bomb hidden in his underwear sued the Justice Department, arguing that prison officials were violating his rights by holding him in solitary confinement, restricting his communication with relatives and force-feeding him when he goes on a hunger strike to protest. [DFP article]  (see Oct 31)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

October 17, 2018: Canada became the first major world economy to legalize recreational marijuana use, beginning a national experiment that (according to a NYT article) “…will alter the country’s social, cultural and economic fabric, and present the nation with its biggest public policy challenge in decades.

Newfoundlanders became the first Canadians to be able to smoke pot legally, when retailers there opened in the country’s easternmost province at midnight.” (see Oct 31)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

Sondland testimony

October 17, 2019: US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was directed by to work with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine, he told Congress and was left with a choice: Abandon efforts to bolster a key strategic alliance or work to satisfy the demands of the President’s personal lawyer.

Sondland said he wasn’t aware until “much later” that Giuliani’s agenda might have included an effort to “prompt the Ukrainians” to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter and to involve the Ukrainians in the President’s campaign.

The revealing testimony of the President’s top diplomat showcased how Trump put on hold an effort to strengthen relations with the country until top US officials were in contact with Giuliani, who was pursuing an investigation into the Bidens, a potential political rival in Trump’s reelection campaign. And Sondland said he was “disappointed” that Trump wouldn’t commit to a meeting sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky until they spoke with Giuliani. [CNN article]

Mick Mulvaney quid pro quo

October 17, 2019: Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff said that the White House withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to further President Trump’s political interests.

Mulvaney told journalists that the aid was withheld in part until Ukraine investigated an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for hacking Democratic Party emails in 2016 — a theory that would show that Trump was elected without Russian help.

Mulvaney took back the statement later in the day. [NYT article] (see TII for expanded chronology)

October 17 Peace Love Art Activism

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

Voting Rights

October 15, 1872:  Virginia Minor tried to register to vote for the upcoming election, but was refused by St. Louis’ sixth district registrar, Reese Happersett. Happersett refused to register Minor because she was female, thus provoking a civil suit brought by Virginia and her lawyer husband, Francis Minor. Minor’s action was part of a nation-wide pattern of civil disobedience, in which hundreds of women across the country attempted to vote. (see Nov 5)

Against Our Will

October 15, 1975:  journalist and historian Susan Brownmiller published Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. The book addressed social, political, and historical attitudes toward rape as well as the longstanding legal inequalities between men and women. Brownmiller is the first to use the term “date rape.” (see January 1, 1976)

Roman Catholic Church

October 15, 1976: the Roman Catholic Church’s Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood which concluded that for various doctrinal, theological, and historical reasons, the church “… does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination.” The most important reasons stated were first, the church’s determination to remain faithful to its constant tradition, second, its fidelity to Christ’s will, and third, the idea of male representation due to the “sacramental nature” of the priesthood. (see February 2, 1977)

Malala Yousafzai

October 15, 2012: the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban a week earlier for advocating girls’ education arrived in Britain for emergency specialist care.

She was transported from Rawalpindi, Pakistan on an air ambulance sent from the United Arab Emirates to Britain, where she would undergo emergency specialist care. (see November 27)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Civil Rights Cases

October 15, 1883: in the Civil Rights Cases [a group of five similar cases consolidated into one issue] the Supreme Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the enforcement provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations, rather than state and local governments.

More particularly, the Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which provided that “all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude” was unconstitutional.

The 8-1 decision by Justice Joseph P. Bradley,the Court  held that the language of the 14th Amendment, which prohibited denial of equal protection by a state, did not give Congress power to regulate these private acts, because it was the result of conduct by private individuals, not state law or action, that blacks were suffering. (see July 10, 1890) (NYT civil rights decision)

MARTIN LUTHER KING

October 15, 1963: the FBI circulated a report on alleged Communist influence in the civil rights movement that had as its major focus an attack on Dr. Martin Luther King. The report was so biased and racist that it alarmed members of President John Kennedy’s administration, who ordered that all copies be withdrawn two weeks later, on October 28. Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall later told the Senate Church Committee (January 27, 1975) that the report was “a personal diatribe . . . a personal attack without evidentiary support . . . .” Assistant FBI Director Alan Belmont had described the report as “good reading,” conceding that it “may startle the Attorney General [Robert F. Kennedy].” (BH, see Oct 22; MLK, see Dec 23)

Black Panthers/Malcolm X

October 15, 1966: in  the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X (February 21, 1965) and of Watts riots (August 11– 15, 1965) and at the height of the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale wrote the first draft of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) 10 – Point Program.

Point #1: We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine The Destiny Of Our Black Community. We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny. (full statement) (next BH, see Oct 29; next BP, see  Nov 30; next MX, see February 11, 2021)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

October 15, 1989: the government freed eight of the country’s most prominent political prisoners, including Walter Sisulu, 77, a mentor to Mr. Mandela and his close friend, in a gesture that was widely seen as a trial run for Mandela’s release. (see February 2, 1990)

Separate Amenities Act

October 15, 1990: South Africa’s Separate Amenities Act, which had barred blacks from public facilities for decades, was scrapped. [SA History article] (see June 17, 1991)

1993 Nobel Peace Prize

October 15, 1993: Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize. The two men accept the award with the strained grace that characterized their relationship, and Mandela declined to repeat his much-quoted assessment of de Klerk as a man of integrity. [CBS News article] (see Nov 18)

Murders of Civil Rights Workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

October 15, 2013: the U.S. Supreme Court said it would consider arguments from a former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen who was convicted in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers. Killen said he was denied constitutional rights in his Mississippi trial.

He made the same arguments to a federal judge in Mississippi in 2012 and before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans earlier this year. He lost in both courts. The Mississippi attorney general’s office said that it had notified the Supreme Court that no response to Killen’s petition would be filed. (BH & Murders, see Nov 4)

Laquan McDonald

October 15, 2019: Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that imprisoned Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke formally resigned from the department last week.

Van Dyke had stepped down ahead of formal termination proceedings before the Chicago Police Board. (next B & S, see ; next LMc, see Oct 24)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

October 15, 1914: President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Antitrust Act—often referred to as “Labor’s Magna Carta”—establishing that unions are not “conspiracies” under the law. It for the first time freed unions to strike, picket and boycott employers. In the years that followed, however, numerous state measures and negative court interpretations weakened the law. (see January 12, 1915) (NYT Clayton bill signed)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

“Don’ts and Be Carefuls”

October 15, 1927: almost from the time motion pictures appeared there were strong social and political pressures to censure their treatment of sexuality. In the 1920s, Hollywood made several efforts to head off official censorship through voluntary self-censorship efforts. The list of “Don’ts and Be Carefuls,” issued on this day, was one part of that effort. The list prohibited “pointed profanity,” including the use of “God,” “Jesus,” “hell,” “damn,” and others; trafficking in drugs; miscegenation; “suggestive nudity;” scenes of actual child birth; and “willful offense to any nation, race, or creed.” The “be carefuls,” included use of the flag; use of firearms; “attitude toward public characters and institutions;” rape or attempted rape; “first night scenes” [presumably the] first night of marriage; surgical operations; “excessive or lustful kissing;” surgical operations; and others.

The “Don’ts and Be Carefuls” were voluntary and had little impact. Many of the early talkies (which were just beginning to develop in 1927) in the 1930–1933 years were pretty racy. Under pressure from a Catholic-led boycott of “objectionable” films, Hollywood, on June 13, 1934, adopted the infamous 1934 Production Code, which put a heavy hand of censorship on Hollywood until the late 1960s. [list] (see November 25, 1930)

Nazis in America

October 15, 2005: a riot broke out in Toledo, Ohio provoked by the plans of a group of neo-Nazis to march through a predominantly black neighborhood.  [CBS News report] (see Dec 20)

Terry Jones

October 15, 2013: Circuit Judge Roger Alcott delayed arraignment for two weeks while lawyers for the state and Jones continue to discuss a possible plea agreement. Jones did no attend the court proceeding. (see Nov 13)

Colin Kaepernick

October 15, 2017:  quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who remained unemployed after the 2016 season in which he began the movement of players protesting during the national anthem, filed a grievance accusing NFL teams of improperly colluding to keep him out of the league.

Kaepernick reportedly retained an attorney to pursue the collusion claim and it will be Kaepernick’s outside legal representation and not the NFL Players Association primarily in charge of preparing and presenting his grievance.

The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and the players’ union prohibits teams from conspiring to make decisions about signing a player. but the CBA also said the mere fact that a player was unsigned and evidence about the player’s qualifications to be on an NFL roster do not constitute proof of collusion. (FS, Labor, & CK, see Oct 16)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Japanese Internment Camps

October 15, 1943: at the Tule Lake Segregation Center internment camp in  California – which held over 18,000 Japanese Americans during World War II – a truck carrying agricultural workers tips over, resulting in the death of an internee. Ten days later, the agricultural workers went on strike; the internment camp director fired all of the workers and brought in strikebreakers from other internment camps. After several outbreaks of violence, martial law was declared and 250 internees were arrested and incarcerated in a newly constructed prison within the prison. (see Internment for expanded story)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

October 15 Music et al

Beatles in recording studio

October 15, 1960: in a small Hamburg recording studio, the Akustik, The Beatles (minus Pete Best) and two members of Rory Storm’s Hurricanes (Ringo Starr and Lou “Wally” Walters) recorded a version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”, which is cut onto a 78-rpm disc. This was the first session that included John, Paul, George, and Ringo together. Two other songs were recorded, but Ringo played on those without John, Paul, or George. Nine discs were cut, but only one is known to have survived.  (see Nov 1)

Four Tops

October 15 – 28, 1966: “Reach Out I’ll Be There” by the Four Tops #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Sacramento Pop Festival

October 15, 1967 the first Sacramento Pop Festival took place which featured Spirit, Jefferson Airplane, Nutty Gritty Dirt Band, Strawberry Alarm Clock and Sunshine Company. (see May 18 – 19, 1967)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

DRAFT CARD BURNING

October 15, 1965: after draft card burning was made illegal, David Miller, a Catholic pacifist, became the first person to publicly burn his draft card to protest the Vietnam War (although in truth it may well have been simply the first draft card-burning incident to be widely publicized). Anti-war demonstrations were held in 40 cities, with a combined attendance of 100,000 people. (Draft Card, see Oct 18)

Merry Pranksters

October 15, 1965 : among that day’s protests, the Vietnam Day Committee organized a sit in at the San Francisco State College, which saw a performance by Country Joe and the Fish. The Merry Pranksters attended and Ken Kesey spoke. (Vietnam, see Oct 16; LSD see Nov 21)

Immolation

October 15, 1967: protesting the Vietnam War, Florence Beaumont, mother of two, burned herself to death. After soaking herself in petrol she set herself alight in front of the Federal Building, Los Angeles. (next Vietnam, see Oct 16; see Immolation for expanded story)

Peace Day

October 15, 1969: Peace Day. 500,000 protesters nationwide. First Vietnam Moratorium. Pete Seeger sings “Give Peace a Chance,” a song he originally didn’t think much of but afterwards said, “The high point of the afternoon came…when a short phrase from a record by Beatle John Lennon was started up…” [Boston Globe article]  (see Oct 19)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ

October 15, 1994: Iraq withdrew troops from its border with Kuwait. (see August 31, 1996)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

October 15, 2014:  Arkansas’ highest court struck down a state law that required voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, ruling the requirement unconstitutional.

The state Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that determined the law unconstitutionally added a requirement for voting. The high court noted that the Arkansas Constitution lists specific requirements to vote: that a person be a citizen of both the U.S. and Arkansas, be at least 18 years old, and be lawfully registered. Anything beyond that amounts to a new requirement and is therefore unconstitutional, the court ruled. (see March 23, 2015)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

October 15, 2017: the US Justice Department announced that it would dispatch an experienced federal hate crimes lawyer to Iowa to help prosecute Jorge “Lumni” Sanders-Galvez, 22, one of two men accused of killing Burlington High School student Kedarie Johnson on March 2, 2016.

The Justice Department rarely assigned its lawyers to serve as local prosecutors, and only in cases in which they can provide expertise in areas that the federal government viewed as significant. By doing so in this instance, Attorney General Jeff Sessions put the weight of the government behind a small-city murder case with overtones of gender identity and sexuality. (LGBTQ, see Oct 30; Johnson, see Nov 3)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Separated children

October 15, 2018: according to a CNN article , “…officials said in a court filing that more than 200 children from separated undocumented immigrant families remain in US custody, Most of the 245 children in custody have parents who were removed from the United States — 175 children, according to the latest government tally.

Of those, only 18 children are currently in the pipeline to reunite with their parents in their countries of origin, according to court documents. Deported parents of 125 kids in custody have said they don’t want their children to be returned to the countries of origin. And there are 32 children in government custody for whom the American Civil Liberties Union has not yet provided notice of whether parents want to reunify or decline reunification, officials said.” (see Oct 30)

Second Veto

October 15, 2019: President Trump issued his second veto against legislation seeking to end his national emergency at the southwestern border, rejecting bipartisan objections to his efforts to obtain funds for a border wall.

His veto returned the resolution to Congress where it was unlikely to garner the two-thirds majority needed there to override the veto.

The announcement came exactly seven months after Trump had issued the first veto of his presidency against a nearly identical resolution that would have terminated the national emergency. He declared the emergency earlier this year after Congress declined to designate money for his border wall; he has sought to allocated funds from other government agencies to the southwestern border.

Trump, announcing the veto, noted that he had vetoed the earlier measure “because it was a dangerous resolution that would undermine United States sovereignty and threaten the lives and safety of countless Americans.” [NYT article] (next IH, see Oct 18; next TW, see Nov 2)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

October 15, 2019: George P. Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Ukraine policy, arrived on Capitol Hill to face questions from investigators about his knowledge of the widening Ukraine scandal.

Kent, who appeared behind closed doors despite the State Department directing him not to do so, had raised concerns to colleagues early this year about the pressure being directed at Ukraine by President Trump and his private lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pursue investigations into Trump’s political rivals, according to people familiar with Kent’s warnings.

As far back as March, they said, Mr. Kent was pointing to Mr. Giuliani’s role in what he called a “disinformation” campaign intended to use a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear targets of the president. [NYT article] (see TII for expanded chronology)

October 15 Peace Love Art Activism