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)

January 13 Peace Love Art Activism

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Charles Deslondes captured

On January 8, 1811 Charles Deslondes had led a rebellion of some 500 enslaved black people in New Orleans.  Deslondes’s background was that after black people in Haiti won their independence from the French in 1804 following a thirteen-year war, many white planters relocated from Haiti to the area of New Orleans Territory . The planters brought their slaves. Charles Deslondes was one of them. In early January 1811, Charles Deslondes led the plan for an anti-slavery rebellion. The rebellion began with an attack on a plantation attack. One white man died. The rebels then traveled along the Mississippi River, attacking plantations and recruiting more fighters. Some enslaved blacks joined the rebels, while others warned their masters and tried to avert plantation attacks. Many whites escape.

On January 11, 1811 a militia of white planters confronted Charles Deslondes and the rebels in a brief battle, killing many and forcing others to flee. Deslondes and his supporters were captured. Some were returned to their plantations; others were tried and executed, their corpses publicly displayed as warning against future uprisings. The final death toll included two whites and ninety-five blacks. The territorial legislature later voted to financially compensate whites whose enslaved black laborers had been killed. (next BH & SR, see March 6, 1815; or see SR for expanded slave revolt chronology)

Robert Mallard

January 11, 1949: the trial of accused William Howell was set to begin. The other accused Robert Clifton had obtained a severance of trial. Mallard testified that her husband and their family turned off on a side road leading to their home and were stopped by a gang of “about twenty men, wearing white stuff and all carrying pistols.” She testified that she recognized Howell among the members of the mob, and also recognized Clifton’s automobile. During her testimony Mallard became hysterical and fell from the witness chair to the floor, kneeling with her hands in the air. She exclaimed, “It was so horrible! Why did they kill him? He was so good to us. . . . I’m so sick.”

Howell testified that he spent the night with friends, and his friends corroborated this story. The defense sought to imply that Amy Mallard had a pistol that night. Defense lawyers further claimed that outside influences were trying to control the verdict.

After  twenty-five minutes of deliberation, the jury acquitted Howell, and the courthouse crowd cheered in jubilation. The judge granted the county attorney’s motion to dismiss the indictment against Clifton, since the evidence against Clifton was weaker than that against Howell. After the trial, defense attorney Sharpe said of Goldwasser, “That roaring lion from Judea is a disgrace to the Jewish race. He wouldn’t even make catfish bait in the Altamaha River!” (BH & RM, see July 4)

Georgia deprives funds to integrated schools

January 11, 1960: Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver, Jr threatened to withhold funds from integrated schools.

After the US Supreme Court struck down public school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, many Southern states rushed to implement new laws to circumvent the ruling. In 1955 and 1956, the Georgia legislature passed a series of laws that prevented any integrated school system in the state from receiving or spending state funds.

Georgians elected Ernest Vandiver, Jr., a staunch opponent of integration, Governor of Georgia in 1958. Maintaining segregation within the school system was so core to his candidacy that his election motto was “No, not one,” referring to the number of black children that should be allowed to attend schools alongside white children. During the Vandiver administration, a federal court in Calhoun v. Latimer found that the Atlanta school system remained unlawfully segregated and ordered the school district to integrate. Vandiver defied the court order and continued Georgia’s policy of school segregation, stating that he would comply with existing state law and withhold funds from the offending school district rather than see segregation end.  (BH & SD, see Jan 18)

Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore

During the search for the bodies of civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, the bodies of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore were found and initially mistaken for two of the three workers.

An FBI investigation led to the arrests of James Seale and Charles Edwards. On January 11, 1965, on the recommendation of the State District Attorney, the charges were dismissed. Not until . After the dismissal of state charges, the FBI actively continued to investigate the murders to no avail. (seeDee/Moore for expanded chronology; next BH, see Jan 18)

George Whitmore, Jr

January 11, 1966: Justice Davidson sentenced Richard Robles to life in prison. (BH, see Jan 11; Robles, see, November 1986; see Whitmore for expanded chronology)

Vernon Dahmer Sr

January 11, 1966: Vernon Dahmer Sr. died a day after the Ku Klux Klan attacked him and his family in their home near Hattiesburg, Miss. Fourteen men were arrested in the late 1960s, with one conviction and several mistrials. Sam Bowers served six years in prison for the murders of civil rights workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. (BH, see Jan 12; Dahmer, see June 23)

Medgar Evers

January 11, 2017: the National Park Service named the Evers home a national historic landmark. (next BH, see June 17; see ME for expanded Evers chronology)

Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

January 11, 2018: Edgar Ray Killen, the former Klansman who was sentenced to a 60-year prison term in 2005 for arranging the murders of three young civil rights workers outside Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964 during the Freedom Summer drive to register Southern black voters, died in prison in Parchman, Miss. He was 92. (next BH, see Mar 15; see Murders for expanded chronology)

Antwon Rose

January 11, 2019: Allegheny County Judge Alexander Bicket decided to unseal the transcript of a closed hearing the previous week related to the criminal case against former police officer Michael Rosfeld.

That hearing hearing was closed and all information within the hearing was sealed, but WPXI-TV and the Post-Gazette had lawyers in court arguing the public was entitled to know the details of that hearing. (B & S and AR, see Jan 14)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Feminism/Lawrence textile strike

January 11 > March 1912: Lawrence textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, often known as the “Bread and Roses” strike. Dozens of different immigrant communities united under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in a largely successful strike led to a large extent by women. The strike is credited with inventing the moving picket line, a tactic devised to keep strikers from being arrested for loitering.

It also adopted a tactic used before in Europe, but never in the United States, of sending children to sympathizers in other cities when they could not be cared for by strike funds On 24 February 1912, women attempting to put their children on a train out of town were beaten by police. (LH, see Feb 8; Feminism, see Mar 12)

GM sit-down strike

January 11, 1937: nearly two weeks into a sit-down strike by General Motors (GM) auto workers at the Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan, a riot broke out when police try to prevent the strikers from receiving food deliveries from supporters on the outside. Strikers and police officers alike were injured in the melee, which was later nicknamed the “Battle of the Running Bulls.” After riot, Michigan governor Frank Murphy called in the National Guard to surround the plant. However, the governor, who wanted to preserve his reputation as a friend to the workingman, decided against ordering troops into the plant. (see Feb 11)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

January 11, 1936: following a protest by the local Ministerial Association, the Tulsa, Oklahoma government banned the play Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell. The play was based on Caldwell’s 1933 novel of the same name. Both the novel and the play were censored in cities around the country because of their treatment of sexuality. The play was also banned in Newark, Chicago, Detroit and Albuquerque for being “immoral.”

Two other Erskine Caldwell novels were banned or challenged over the years: God’s Little Acre (1933) and Tragic Ground (1944). (see January 4, 1937)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

January 11 Music et al

Howlin’ Wolf

January 11, 1962: Howlin’ Wolf released Howlin’ Wolf album. (see  Howlin’ Wolf for more).

Please Please Me

January 11, 1963: recorded on 26 November 1962, the Beatles released their second single in the UK: “Please Please Me.” The song’s title also became the title of their first LP.

John Lennon: ” ‘Please Please Me’ is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it? I wrote it in the bedroom in my house at Menlove Avenue, which was my auntie’s place“. (David Sheff. John Lennon: All We Are Saying).

The single reached No. 1 on the New Musical Express (the most recognized chart at the time) on 22 February 1963, as well as the Melody Maker where it was Number 1 for two weeks. However, it only reached No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart, which subsequently evolved into the UK Singles Chart and because of this it was not included on the multi-million selling Beatles compilation, 1.  (see Please Please Me)  (Beatles, see Jan 25; Please Please Me, see Feb 22)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

January 11, 1992: Paul Simon was the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott. (see October 15, 1993)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

January 11, 1964: U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report by an advisory committee which concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.” (NYT article) (see May 10)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

January 11, 1967: the Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the law prohibiting draft card burning. Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall said that the law was “an appropriate regulatory measure designed to preserve a document which plays an important role in the administration of the Selective Service System.”  (next Vietnam, see Jan 12; see Draft Card Burning for expanded story)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

January 11, 1990: in Lithuania, 300,000 demonstrated for independence. (see Jan 16)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

January 11, 1992: Berkeley, CA declared 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in America, “The Year of Indigenous People.”  The idea of abandoning Columbus Day was initiated by the Berkeley chapter of the Resistance 500 task force, a group dedicated to publicizing the belief that Columbus was responsible for the genocide of American Indians. (see February 11 – July 15, 1994)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

January 11, 1999: President Clinton’s defense team denied the charges against the president in a 13-page answer to a Senate summons. House prosecutors submit a pre-trial memo outlining their case. (see CI for expanded chronology)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

January 11, 2002: the first planeload of al-Qaida prisoners from Afghanistan arrived at a U.S. military detention camp in Guantanamo, Cuba. [CNN report] (see Jan 16)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

January 11, 2003: calling the death penalty process “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral,” Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state’s death row two days before leaving office. (see June 24, 2004)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

AIDS

January 11, 2010: the New Jersey Legislature approved a measure made it the 14th in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses. The measure allowed patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana grown and distributed through state-monitored dispensaries — was passed by the General Assembly and State Senate on the final day of the legislative session. (NYT article) (next Cannabis, see Feb 7 or see CCC for expanded chronology; next AIDS, see July 27)

Vermont

January 11, 2018:  Vermont lawmakers approved legalizing recreational marijuana. The bill would go to the state’s Republican governor, who said he would sign it.

The bill allowed possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, or two mature plants. It did not allow a regulated retail market, such as California’s or Colorado’s.

The “yes” vote in the Vermont State House marked the first time legalization had been approved by a Legislature. The eight other states that made pot legal had done so by citizen referendum.

Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman said the bill was a good first step to a regulated market for marijuana in the Green Mountains. (next Cannabis, see Jan 16 or see CCC for expanded chronology; Vermont, see Jan 22)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

West Virginia

January 11, 2014: as hundreds of thousands of residents faced a third day without water because of a chemical spill in a local river. Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water said that it could be days before it was safe for them to drink tap water again. Officials had set up four labs to test the amount of chemical in the water, but that it might take days to provide enough samples to determine whether the water was safe. (NYT article) (see Jan 19)

Reduced Air Pollution

January 11, 2021: according to an estimate published  by the Rhodium Group. America’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy and industry plummeted more than 10 percent in 2020, reaching their lowest levels in at least three decades as the coronavirus pandemic slammed the brakes on the nation’s economy,

The steep drop, however, was the result of extraordinary circumstances and experts warned that the country still faced enormous challenges in getting its planet-warming pollution under control. In the years ahead, United States emissions were widely expected to bounce back once the pandemic receded and the economy rumbled back to life — unless policymakers take stronger action to clean up the country’s power plants, factories, cars and trucks. [NYT article] (next EI, see Jan 13)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Who Pays?

January 11, 2017: after repeating many times that Mexico would pay for the wall and in what would turn out to be the first of many contentious press conferences, President Trump clarified that Mexico might not be paying the upfront costs for the wall after all.

“I want to get the wall started. I don’t want to wait a year and a half until I make my deal with Mexico. They will reimburse us for the cost of the wall, whether it’s a tax or whether it’s a payment. Probably less likely that it’s a payment.” (IH & TW, see Jan 25)

See through wall

January 11, 2018: Trump explained to The Wall Street Journal that border officials told him “they need see-through” and indicated a concrete wall might be the wrong thing because of that.

“We need a form of fence or window,” Trump said.

“If you have a wall this thick and it’s solid concrete from ground to 32 feet high, which is a high wall, much higher than people planned. You go 32 feet up and you don’t know who’s over here,” he explained. “If you don’t know who’s there, you’ve got a problem.”

He also said the wall did not need to run the course of the entire border because of natural barriers. But he also insisted “the wall’s identical” to what he promised on the campaign trail. (next TW, see Jan 18 or see Wall for expanded chronology)

Haitian immigrants

January 11, 2018: President Trump balked at an immigration deal that would include protections for people from Haiti and some nations in Africa, demanding to know at a White House meeting why he should accept immigrants from “shithole countries” rather than from places like Norway.

Later, Trump denied using the phrase. (IH, see Jan 22; Temporary Protected Status see Jan 31)

Feminism

January 11, 2024: when St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali looked out at her fellow council members at their initial meeting she saw all the members’ seats were occupied by women — a first for Minnesota’s capital city.

Experts who track women in politics said St. Paul, with a population of about 300,000 people, was the first large U.S. city they know of with an all-female city council.

“We’re a multifaith, multicultural group of women. Our professional experiences are what people trusted as much as our personal ones. … And we have a clear policy vision that we got elected on,” Jalali said in an interview. [AP article] (next Feminism, see Feb 13)

January 11 Peace Love Art Activism