Monday, December 31, 2012

Shelved: 2012


January

1: President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria declares a state of emergency on account of the Islamist predations of the terrorist group Boko Haram.  Also: A gunman murders a park ranger at Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington State.  He will later be found dead.
2: Boko Haram issues a warning to all Christians to leave northern Nigeria within 3 days.  Also: Iran announces that its navy has successfully tested two surface-to-air missiles.
5: Gunmen attack a Protestant church in Gombe, Nigeria, killing six.
13: The cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground, causing the deaths of 32 passengers, two of whom will not be recovered.  The captain faces charges of multiple manslaughter, failure to assist passengers in need, and abandoning ship.
18: A dog finds a severed human head near the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California.  Severed hands and feet are discovered soon afterward.
20: Frontal assault on the First Amendment: the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by alleged Catholic Kathleen Sebilius, mandates that all health care plans, without exception, provide free contraceptives, sterilization, and chemical abortions, and that employers who object on religious grounds will have one year to comply with the mandate.
21: New guidelines are enacted in the United Kingdom that allow abortion mills to advertise on radio and television.
22: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D.-AZ), who sustained a gunshot wound to the head during a mass murder in a store parking lot, resigns from Congress in order to concentrate on her recovery.
27: A deadly cold wave brings freezing temperatures to Europe and North Africa, claiming hundreds of lives.
31: A woman in the Afghan province of Kunduz is murdered by her husband and  mother-in-law for the iniquitous crime of giving birth to three daughters and no sons.  Also: The Susan G. Komen Foundation cuts funding to Planned Parenthood.

Deaths: Stewart Fulbright (Tuskeegee Airman) Etta James (blues singer); Tony Blankley (conservative commentator); Ian Abercrombie (English actor); Robert Hegyes (Epstein in Welcome Back, Kotter); James Farentino; Joe Paterno; Richard Threlkeld; Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua; Marion Mathie (Hilda Rumpole, "She Who Must Be Obeyed").


February

3: After three days of hellish screeching, howling and extortionist tactics from the abortion lobby, the Susan G. Komen Foundation is bullied into restoringPlanned Parenthood to its list of donees.
5: Superbowl XLVI: the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17. 
6: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes the Philippines off the Negros Oriental coast, killing 105.  Also: Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
7: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns California's Proposition 8, which banned gay "marriage" in that state.
13: Gay "marriage" is legalized in the state of Washington.
18: At a consistory in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI names 22 new cardinals, including Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York.  Also: Emperor Akihito of Japan undergoes a successful heart bypass surgery.
26: A Muslim suicide bomber murders three at a Protestant church in Jos, Nigeria.  Also: To the great glee of professional race hustlers, Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, is shot in a gated community by George Zimmerman, a community watch coordinator whom the media designate a "white Hispanic."  Within weeks, the boy's mother will apply for a trademark on his name.  Zimmerman, who has been subjected to a brutal media hazing, is set to stand trial on a charge of second-degree murder in June, 2013.
27: Murder spree, Chardon, Ohio: a 17-year-old shooter kills three and wounds three at Chardon High School before being apprehended.
28-29: A severe tornado outbreak in the Ohio Valley area claims 13 lives.

Deaths: Don Cornelius (creator of Soul Train); Ben Gazzara; Steve Appleton (chairman and CEO of Micron); Whitney Houston; David Kelly (Irish actor); Davy Jones (the Monkees); Jan Berenstain (co-creator of the Berenstain Bears); Peter Breck; Florence Green (last surviving veteran of World War I).

March

1: The state of Maryland legalizes gay "marriage."
2: The second tornado outbreak in a week strikes the midwestern and southern U.S., wiping out whole towns and claiming at least 41 lives.
4: The heart of St. Lawrence O'Toole is stolen from Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland.
8: Murder spree, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania: a shooter kills one and wounds seven at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic before being shot dead.
11: Murder spree, Panjwai, Kandahar, Afghanistan: a U.S. army soldier shoots 16 civilians, including 9 children and 3 women.  The soldier will face multiple charges, including 16 counts of premeditated murder.
11-19: A shooter claiming to be an Islamic warrior connected with Al Qaida murders three French soldiers, a rabbi and three children in Toulouse, France.  He will later commit suicide while under siege in his apartment.  For reasons passing understanding, French President Nicholas Sarkozy will announce that Islam had nothing to do with the murders.
15: Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich begins a 14-year prison sentence on corruption charges.
17: Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, head of the Coptic Christian Church, dies at the age of 88.
23: Pope Benedict XVI arrives for his visit to Mexico.
24: Former Vice President Dick Cheney receives a heart transplant.
26: Pope Benedict arrives in Cuba for a three-day visit.  Somehow, he avoids being bored to death by Fidel Castro and his incessant rambling.
30: The Mega Millions lottery jackpot breaks all records at $640 million.

Deaths: James Q. Wilson (political scientist, author of the "broken window" theory); Andrew Breitbart; Michael Hossack (drummer, the Doobie Brothers); Peter Bergman (Firesign Theater); Luke Askew (character actor); Earl Scruggs; Adrienne Rich; Priscilla Buckley; John Demjanjuk.


April

2: Murder spree, Oakland, California: shooter kills 7 and wounds 3 at Oikos University, a Korean Christian college.  The shooter, an expelled former student, later surrenders to authorities.
3: An outbreak of tornadoes strikes the Dallas-Fort Worth area, causing a great deal of damage and destruction but, remarkably, no deaths.
11: George Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin.
13: North Korea tests a large rocket, ostensibly for the purpose of launching a weather satellite.  The rocket explodes 90 seconds after launch.
15: The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  Also: the Secret Service announces 11 agents have been put on leave pursuant to an investigation of "inappropriate conduct" (with prostitutes) at Cartagena, Colombia during the Summit of the Americas that same week.
22: Chen Guangchen, Chinese dissident and opponent of China's "family planning" policy, escapes house arrest and makes it to the U.S. Embassy.  However, Guangchen is compelled to leave the Embassy after China and the U.S. strike a "deal" over him.

Deaths: George Murdock (character actor); Benzion Netanyahu (father of Benjamin Netanyahu); Chuck Colson; Levon Helm (The Band); Dick Clark; Mike Wallace; Thomas Kinkaide.


May

5: Super moon: the moon makes its closest approach to the earth all year. 
6: Socialst François Hollande is elected President of France.
8: The state of North Carolina bans same-sex "marriage."
9: Barack Obama openly declares his support for same-sex "marriage," using the Sacrifice of Calvary to back up his position.
15: Murder spree, Port St. John, Florida: a woman shoots and kills her own four children, then turns the gun on herself.
19: Chinese pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in Newark, New Jersey with his wife and children.
20: Northern Italy is stricken by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.  Also: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie Bomber, dies 3 years after his compassionate release from prison on the grounds that he was on the point of death.
21: Near the end of climbing season on Mount Everest, four climbers die descending from the summit.  Also: an annular solar eclipse is seen, among other places, in the western United States.
25: Houla, Syria: Syrian forces massacre 108 civilians, including women and children.  Also: The Dragon spacecraft, carrying a cargo of supplies, becomes the first commercial spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station.

Deaths:  Janet Carroll (actress); Robin Gibb; Donna Summer; Donald "Duck" Dunn (bassist, The Blues Brothers); Vidal Sassoon; Maurice Sendak; George Lindsey ("Goober" on The Andy Griffith Show); Adam Yauch (the Beastie Boys); Junior Seau (New England Patriots).


June

1: Venezuela outlaws the sale of guns and ammunition.
2: Murder spree, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: gunman shoots five, killing two, and later surrenders to police.
3: Peak of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
5: Governor Scott Walker wins a recall election instigated by union thugs in the state of Wisconsin.  Also: the rarest eclipse of all: for the last time during the lifetimes of anyone now living, Venus transits the Sun.
10: Murder spree, Auburn, Alabama: three are killed and three more are wounded in a shooting at a party near Auburn University.  The shooter later turned himself in to federal agents.
12: The parents of Azaria Chamberlain, a baby who died in Australia in 1980, are formally cleared of her murder when a coroner confirms that the baby was indeed snatched by a dingo.  Azaria's mother, Lindy, had spent three years in prison over the baby's death.
13: Corruption charges against former Sen. John Edwards are dismissed following a mistrial.
15: The Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is erected in Australia.
16: Nik Wallenda walks a tightrope across Niagara Falls.
22: Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State coach, is found guilty of 45 counts of sex abuse of children.  He will be sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment.
24: Mohammad Morsi, a member of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, becomes President of Egypt.
25: The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down most of Arizona's immigration law, and rules that minors cannot be sentenced to life without parole.
26: The city of Stockton, California declares bankruptcy.
28: The U.S. Supreme court upholds Obamacare.  Also: The House of Representatives holds Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
29: A series of furious storms kill one person in Virginia and knock out power to 4 million people in D.C. and the mid-Atlantic states, in some cases for several days.  Also: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes announce they are getting a divorce.

Deaths: Herb Reed (the Platters); Ray Bradbury; Bob Welch (Fleetwood Mac); Ann Rutherford (Gone with the Wind); Rodney King; Richard Lynch (actor); James Grout (Judge "Ollie" Oliphant in Rumpole of the Bailey); Yitzak Shamir.


July

4: Scientists announce the tentative observation of a Higgs boson particle.
7: The Los Angeles County Coroner's office reclassifies the 1981 drowning death of Natalie Wood as "undetermined."
10: San Bernardino, California files for bankruptcy.
11: The discovery of Pluto's fifth moon -- the unimaginatively named S/2012 P 1 -- is announced.
13: More than 1,000 counties are declared a disaster area due to a drought that has affected most of the continental United States.
20: Murder spree, Aurora, Colorado: a shooter sets off teargas grenades and opens fire inside a crowded movie theatre, killing 12 and wounding 59.  He is taken into custody immediately afterward.
22: Penn State announces that its statue of football coach Joe Paterno will be taken down on account of his role in the university's sex abuse scandal.
23: Sverdlovsk region, Russia: villagers discover four barrels containing 248 human fetuses in formaldehyde dumped in a forest.
25: The government of Scotland announces plans to legalize same-sex "marriage."
27: Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Diocese of Oakland, California, is raised to the Archbishopric of San Francisco.
30-31: The biggest power outage in history strikes India, leaving over 620 million people without power.
31: Somali journalist and comedian Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale, known for making fun of militant Islamists, is shot dead in Mogadishu.

Deaths: Sally Ride; Simon Ward (British actor); Tom Davis (Al Franken's former comedy partner); William Raspberry; Steven Covey (author, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People); Kitty Wells; Celeste Holm (All About Eve); Sage Stallone (son of Sylvester Stalone); Richard D. Zanuck (film producer, son of Darryl F. Zanuck); Ernest Borgnine; Andy Griffith; Geoffrey Hughes (Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances); Mary Tamm (Romana I in Dr. Who); Sherman Hemsley (George Jefferson); R. G. Armstrong (character actor); Gore Vidal.


August

4: Iran announces that it has successfully tested a surface-to-surface missile.
5: Murder spree, Oak Creek, Wisconsin: gunman murders 6 and wounds 4 at a Sikh temple, including one police officer responding to the scene, before being shot by police and then turning the gun on himself.
7: Mass murderer Jared Lee Loughner, who murdered six, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl, and wounded 14, including congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, at a political event in Tuscon, Arizona in January of 2011, pleads guilty to 19 counts arising from the shooting.  
11: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney names Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wisc.) as his vice-presidential running mate.
16: Murder spree, LaPlace, Louisiana: in separate incidents, shooters murder two sheriff's deputies and wound two more, before being wounded themselves and/or taken into custody.
17: Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old girl with Down Syndrome, is arrested in Pakistan for blasphemy against Islam.
19: British film director Tony Scott commits suicide by jumping off a bridge in Los Angeles.
20: In an attempt to address the evil of abortion in cases of rape, Rep. Todd Akin (R.-Mo.) makes a clumsy statement that has both sides of the aisle screaming for his blood.
23: After having provided hundreds of clean UAs, Lance Armstrong announces that he will not contest "Anti-Doping Agency" charges of using performance-enhancing drugs.
24: A Norwegian court sentences Oslo bomber/shooter Anders Breivik to 21 years in prison -- approximately 3 months for each of his 77 dead victims.  Also: a disgruntled former employee shoots and kills a coworker at the Empire State Building, and is in turn gunned down by police.  Nine other people are wounded in the incident, all by police bullets.
27: Mars rover Curiosity beams the first recording of a human voice ever to be sent from another planet.
31: Murder spree, Old Bridge, New Jersey: an employee at a Pathmark grocery store opens fire, killing two and then turning the gun on himself. 

Deaths: Nellie Gray (founder of March for Life); Helen Gurley Brown; Gregory Ulas Powell (the Onion Field killer); Marvin Hamlisch; Phyllis Diller; Scott McKenzie ("San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)"); William Windom (actor); Biff Elliott (actor); Ron Palillo (Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter!); Neil Armstrong; Jeffrey Stone (voice of Prince Charming in Disney's Cinderella).


September

2: A pilot crashes and is killed at the Quad City Air Show in Davenport, Iowa.
5: A British family and a French citizen are shot to death near Lake Annecy, France in what appears to be a hit.  There are two survivors, including a four-year-old girl who lay hidden under her dead mother's legs in the car for eight hours until forensic investigators found her.
10: Teachers in Chicago go on what will turn out to be an eight-day strike.
12: Terrorists attack the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, murdering the United States ambassador and three others.  There will also be assaults on American embassies in Egypt, Yemen and Kuwait.  The Obama regime's response is shameful and ineffectual.
14: Amid violence and unrest in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI sticks to his plans to visit Lebanon.

Deaths: Andy Williams; Lance LeGault (Magnum P.I., The A-Team); Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey in The Green Mile); Sun Myung Moon; Hal David (lyricist, "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head").


October

1: California purports to outlaw therapy to treat homosexual tendencies.
3: Britain's ITV network airs a documentary alleging that the late radio and television personality and philanthropist Sir Jimmy Savile was a serial abuser of underage girls.  The  documentary gives rise to further allegations, including coverups by the BBC and abuse taking place on BBC premises.  The scandal will reach into the government of the United Kingdom.   
6: Pope Benedict XVI's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, is found guilty of theft for stealing and leaking confidential documents, and is sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
7: Pope Benedict declares Sts. John of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen Doctors of the Church.
9: Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani campaigner for women's education, is shot in the head by the Taliban.  She is recovering from her injuries.
10: Pope Benedict adds Arabic to the list of languages in which he addresses pilgrims each week.
12: The Nobel Peace Prize, long a joke and travesty, is awarded to the European Union.
14: Felix Baumgartner breaks the sound barrier during his dive from the Red Bull Stratos balloon capsule 24 miles above the surface of the earth.
20: Severe flooding at the Marian shrine at Lourdes, France, leads to the evacuation of hundreds of pilgrims.
21: Pope Benedict XVI canonizes seven new saints, including two Americans: St. Kateri Tekakwitha of the Mohawk Tribe, and St. Marianne Cope of Molokai.  Also: Murder spree, Brookfield, Wisconsin: a shooter kills three at a spa and then commits suicide.
24: Murder spree, Downey, California: three people are killed and two wounded at a business and a residence two blocks apart.
25: Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the Society of St. Pius X, expells Bishop Richard Williamson, a man notorious for Holocaust denial, among other things.
29: Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, makes landfall in New Jersey.  More than 200 people in several countries perished in the superstorm.
30: Murder spree, Chicago, Illinois: a woman murders her own seven-year-old son and a five-year-old girl she was babysitting, ostensibly out of rage that her husband left her to do menial work she considered beneath her.

Deaths: John Rovick (host of Sheriff John from 1952 to 1970); Arlen Specter; Gary Collins; Alex Karras; Russell Means; George McGovern; Paul Kurtz (father of secular humanism); King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.


November

1: A 15-year-old girl in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, is murdered by her parents, who beat her up and poured acid on her because she was seen talking to a boy.
6: Barack Obama, the most anti-Catholic, pro-abortion, socialistic and anti-American politician ever to occupy the White House, is elected for a second term by a country bent on self-destruction.  Also: Voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington approve same-sex "marriage"; a measure in Minnesota to protect the traditional (and only legitimate) definition of marriage goes down to defeat.  Also: Murder spree, Fresno, California: an employee at a chicken-processing plant shoots four of his co-workers execution-style, killing two, before turning the gun on himself.
8: Jared Lee Loughner, shooter in the 2011 Arizona murder spree that left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded,  receives seven consecutive life sentences.
9: CIA director David Petraeus resigns, ostensibly due to an extramarital affair.
10: A massive explosion occurs in an Indiannapolis house, killing two, wounding seven and destroying five other houses; law enforcement authorities will later announce the explosion appears to have been intentional.
12: Maria Santos Gorrostieta, mayor of Tiquicheo, Michoacan, scarred and wounded as the result of two assassination attempts by Mexican drug gangs, is kidnapped in front of her daughter, going quietly with her abductors in order to save the child.  Her burned, beaten and stabbed body will be found eight days later.
13: Scott Routley, a 39-year-old Canadian man in a "persistent vegetative state" communicates to doctors that he is not in any pain.  Also: A total solar eclipse occurs in parts of Australia and the South Pacific.
14: Beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, in which Israel takes action against rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.  Also: The death of Savita Halappanavar of septicemia in an Irish hospital is blamed on the failure of doctors to honor her family's purported request for an abortion, and exploited in a bid to legalize abortion in Ireland.  The reporter who broke the story later admitted there may have been no request for an abortion.
15: A parade float carrying wounded veterans in Midland, Texas is struck by a train, killing four and injuring 17.
16: Hostess announces it will go out of business, thanks to a bakery union strike.
20: Hamas summarily executes six men accused of spying for Israel; pictures of one of the men being dragged behind a motorcycle are beamed all over the world.  Also: Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo on Sesame Street, resigns amid sex abuse allegations.  Also: The Anglican Church narrowly rejects the raising of women to the episcopacy.
23: Egyptian president and Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamad Morsi passes a decree giving himself dictatorial powers, touching off violent protests all over the country.
25: Two car bombs attack a Protestant church in Jaji, Nigeria, killing 11 and wounding 30.
30: Murder spree, Casper, Wyoming: a killer using something on the order of a bow and arrow murders his father's girlfriend, then goes to Casper College and murders his father, then kills himself.

Deaths: Herbert Carter (Tuskegee Airmen); Martin Fay (the Chieftains); Art Ginsburg (Mr. Food); Eugene Smith (Tuskegee Airmen); Lawrence Guyot; Larry Hagman; Hector Camacho.


December



1: Jovan Belcher, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, murders his live-in girlfriend in front of his mother, then goes to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and commits suicide in front of his coach and several others.
3: Typhoon Bopha, a Category 5 supertyphoon, makes landfall on the Philippine island of Mindanao.  It will kill hundreds.  Also: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announce that they are expecting their first child, who will be third in line for the throne of the United Kingdom.
6: Possession of marijuana for personal use becomes legal in the state of Washington.
7: Jacintha Saldanha, nurse at a London hospital who took a crank call from some radio idiots about the Duchess of Cambridge, is found dead and suspected of having committed suicide.
8: Josh Brent of the Dallas Cowboys is arrested for driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter in the death of his teammate, Jerry Brown.
11: Murder spree, Happy Valley, Oregon: shooter opens fire inside the Clackamas Town Center mall, killing two and wounding one before committing suicide.  Also: Michigan becomes a right-to-work state, amid howling displays of union thuggery.
12: Pope Benedict sends out his first tweet.
13: "The Tallow Candle," a previously unknown story by Hans Christian Anderson, is discovered.
14: Murder spree, Newtown, Connecticut: a gunman murders his mother, then murders 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School before turning the gun on himself.  Also: a man knifes 22 children and an elderly woman at a school in Chengping, Henan, China.
17: The Midwest is struck by an immense blizzard that lasts for several days, knocking out power and disrupting travel and communications.  Also: Gerard Depardieu decides to surrender his French citizenship and move to Belgium in order to avoid high taxes.
18: Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, executed in Kansas in 1965 for the 1959 murder of the Clutter family (subject of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood), are exhumed in the hopes of solving the murder of another family in Florida that took place a month after the Clutter killings.
21: Murder spree, Frankstown Township, Pennsylvania: shooter murders four and wounds three on Route 22, before dying in a shootout with police.  Also: Notwithstanding the alleged Mayan calendar prediction, the world does not end.
22: Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict's former butler who was recently convicted of stealing confidential documents, receives a papal pardon.
24: Murder spree, Webster, New York: shooter ambushes firemen responding to a house fire that he started, killing two and wounding two more before turning the gun on himself.
28: Contraceptives become legal in the Philippines.

Deaths: Oscar Niemeyer (architect who designed the city of Brasilia, including its breathtakingly hideous cathedral); Dave Brubeck; Ravi Shankar; Sir Patrick Moore (British astronomer, The Sky at Night); Norman Joseph Woodland (co-inventor of the bar code); Judge Robert Bork; Sen. Daniel Inouye; Jack Klugman; Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf; Fontella Bass (blues singer, "Rescue Me"); Charles Durning; Harry Carey, Jr.

May 2013 be an improvement over its predecessor.

1 comment:

  1. Depressing. Shoot me an e-mail Anita, if you wish, I post as Maltese on Fr. Z's blog, and am too a lawyer. Godspeed!

    sftradition@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete