Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

Chapter 69: March 1994 – July 1994
Chapter 69: March 1994 – July 1994

“I’m trying to light a fire”

– Lee Iacocca (OTL) [1]



LT GOV CISNEROS WINS DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY IN BID FOR TX GOVERNORSHIP, WILL FACE GOP’S CLAYTON WILLIAMS IN NOVEMBER

The Houston Chronicle, 3/8/1994



Seeking to raise his restaurant’s profile, Hillenburg looked to the advertising companies responsible for animated breakfast cereal commercials such as those for Cookie Crisp, Fruit Loops and several Mattel toy lines. In early 1994, early ideas for SpongeBob’s Undersea Cuisine (S.B.U.C.) advertisements suggested commercials that would be similar to the live-action “McDonaldland” ones released by McDonald’s in the 1970s (and produced by Needham, Harper & Steers, which had become “DDB Needham” via merger under its new parent company “Omnicom” in 1986). Both would have had upbeat styles, a narrator, and some sort of villain failing to steal a food item. However, Hillenburg’s sketches for the animatronics impressed advertising experts, who convinced him to combine the elements of breakfast cereal commercials (cartoons interacting with real people) and McDonaldland (namely, world-building). Noticeable differences between SpongeBob’s “Waikiki Sea” and “McDonaldland,” such as the use of energetic ukelele music, became more noticeable through the research and development process. What asked about the combination of animated characters interacting with live action footage in a 2001 interview, Hillenburg, said that he drew inspiration from the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” which “opened the doors” for many nontraditional animation ideas…

– clickopedia.co.usa/SpongeBob’s/disambiguation/restaurant_franchise



While Stephen worked on the commercials, I went around making sure we had animatronics of the highest quality, especially after opening a second outlet in March of, uh, 1994, all the way over in Pensacola. Far enough away to win customers unfamiliar with the first outlet, but not too far away for there to be logistical issues. …I don’t think we really ripped off Chuck E. Cheese with our animatronics and costumed employees. They were more like an homage than anything else...

– Bryan Hillenburg, 2019 interview



HOST: After several weeks of bilateral peace talks, a temporary peace treaty has been agreed to in Sri Lanka. Selvarasa Pathmanathan of the secessionist group The Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga have agreed to terms they believe will restore order and establish equality in the island nation. Mr. Martin, your thoughts?

GUEST: Well I think Mr. Pathmanathan made a very wise move, here. The Tamil Tigers’ tactics until the start of the talks left them without allies and was detriment to their side of the peace-making process.

HOST: Yes, and it is interesting how both of these leaders have agreed to a trade-off of sorts – Pathmanathan has called for an end of hostilities in exchange for the gradual expansion.

GUEST: In step with a gradual surrendering of LTTE members, all of who will receive amnesty in exchange for soldiers the Sri Lankan government going without trial as well.

HOST: A “clean slate” approach, really, but will it hold up?

GUEST: Honestly, I do not think so. Many members of the Tamil ethnicity truly believed secession was the only answer after decades of prejudice from the Sri Lankan ruling elite. It is possible that, if the structural changes promised in this treaty do not come to pass over the next twelve months, riots, cam bombs and guerilla warfare may erupt in Sri Lanka once more.

HOST: Well I disagree due to the amount of time, energy and dedication put into these talks. Granted, previous armistices have failed in the past, but perhaps this time things will go differently…

– Sky Group Limited, roundtable discussion, 3/23/1994



…In March, Iacocca met with auto parts makers at the White House as the President was detecting what he believed were more and more signs that Japan’s PM Hosokawa was “welching on our deal.” Consumption on American products in Japan had only increased 7%, compared to Japan sales in the US increasing 28% in the same time period…

– Walter LaFeber’s The Sun And The Eagle: US-Japanese Relations In The Post-Cold War Era, 2019 edition



BPuPtwy.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/BPuPtwy ]
– Bob Ross, protector of animals, enjoying a pepperoni-and-sausage pizza slice, shortly after signing into law the state of Alaska’s Natural Animal Population Levels Protection Act of 1994, 3/26/1994



LOCAL: CITY COUNCIL FORMS COALITION WITH L.R.U., AIMS TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA BY MARCH ’95

…Santa Fe’s city council Democrats, currently in charge of an ineffective plurality of the city council, are forming a political coalition with the three pro-legalizing-marijuana members of the La Raza Unida Caucus to form a majority. The La Raza Unida political party has been most successful in local elections (especially in New Mexico) since its founding in the 1970s, and this caucus is the largest of its kind in the nation. Santa Fe’s New Mayor, Debbie Jaramillo, who was sworn into office seven days ago along with the city council members, approved of the move out of political necessity. Elected on March 1 via ranked choice voting, Jaramillo won despite her opponent outspending her nearly 3-to-1. She promises to rein in runaway development and return city government to the people; “This town is not for sale. It belongs to the community.” [2] As such, she has said she is “open to trying out” legalizing marijuana on libertarian principles of creating tax revenue to replace sales and property taxes in city limits with a recreadrug “that can be regulated and taxable without inhibiting first amendment rights,” says the leader of the L.R.U. Caucus, two of whom were elected on March 1. The Democratic/L.R.U. coalition members are planning on reaching out to white conservative voters to convince them that “this laws would benefit all of us by getting government out of our private lives,” argues city council assistant Gloria Mendoza…

The Santa Fe New Mexican, 3/28/1994



…Following the January 25 firefight, Hutu guerillas harassing Tutsi natives began to attack UN peacekeeping forces with cam bombs and mass shootings as the civil conflict intensified. The Hutu claimed the raid was proof that the UNAMIR was partial against the Hutu, leading to the Tutsi becoming more favorable to UN intervention. Romeo Dallaire survived two assassination attempts during the subsequent weeks as the UN Secretary-General doubled down on his pledge to “defend the oppressed populations of the world.” Meanwhile, Burundi’s Hutu dictator/president, Cyprien Ntaryamira, began a program of having radical members of Rwanda’s far-right CDR party “disappear”... In early March, another turning point arose when further aspects of the Arusha Accords were finally implemented. The promise of the repatriation of refugees willing to return to their homeland and amnesty for low-ranking Hutu guerilla soldiers encouraged hundreds to end the conflict that by this point was “approaching the edge of genocide,” as Dallaire later put it. In one iconic incident, low-ranking CDR soldiers turned their guns onto their superior officers upon being ordered to massacre a Tutsi orphanage. On March 30, the CDR received a mortal blow when its extremist co-founder Jean-Bosco Baragwiza was assassinated by Hutu moderates loyal to Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. His death quickly led to a leadership void in the CDR, culminating in its fracturing and its remaining extremist members failing to coordinate as the tide turned against them…

– clickopedia.co.usa/United_Nations_Assistance_Mission_for_Rwanda



FILMMAKER JUZO ITAMI FOUND KILLED, YAKUZA INVOLVEMENT SUSPECTED

…Itami, b. 5/15/1933, directed the 1992 film “Minbo,” which parodies Yakuza activities. It is a possibility that Itami’s murder was the response of a Yakuza syndicate angered by the film’s portrayal of the Yakuza…

The Chosun Ilbo, South Korean newspaper, 3/31/1994



WHO ARE THE YAKUZA?

…the Yakuza are Japan’s version of the mafia. Think Don Corleone in a kimono. Or better yet, don’t. Like how the Italian mafia comprises of multiple “families,” Japan’s Yakuza consists of multiple syndicate groups that work together more often than against one another – creating a united front that is unfortunate for their victims and for law enforcement. Last year, CIA Director Bill Studeman warned at a press briefing that the Yakuza are “very dangerous and incredibly well-connected,” and called for Japan to increase their efforts to quell their influence. The Anti-Boryokudan Act of 1992 was Japan’s largest attempt to curb the influence and control of the Yakuza so far, but there are still thousands of members.

Time Magazine, side article, April 1994 issue



…The hantavirus outbreaks of 1991 and 1993 revealed several “detriments of various size,” as House Speaker Robert Smith Walker put it, in the UHC Act. For example, patients requesting elective procedures, especially during times of crisis, can end up waiting for several months before the procedure occurs, as UHC aims to provide basic and emergency care over specialist and elective care. The biggest concern, however, was raising the limits of compensation payouts that doctors received, which was the tradeoff for care costs being lower for patients. …A 1989 report showing that healthiest 50% of Americans only consume 7% of the health care costs in the country was resurfaced in April 1994, which led to US Senator Jack Raese declaring, “Nobody should have to pay more in taxes because someone else is making poor lifestyle choices!” …The President sought to address the “imperfections” in the UHC Act because public approval for the legislation was as high as 80% in some 1994 polls, and only as low as 62% in others. Nevertheless, Speaker Walker and others within the Republican Party wanted to use these detrimental aspects to dismantle the UHC Act completely...

– Allison Swanson’s The Hantavirus Epidemic, Signet Books, 1998



THE KARAKALPAK AND THE SHRINKING ARAL SEA: Can These Fishers Save Their Livelihoods From Drying Away?

dyhCylL.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/dyhCylL ]
Above: The estuary of the Amu Darya, a tributary feeding the Aral Sea.

…The Karakalpak population in Uzbekistan State, United Turkestan, are trying to save the Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest lake in the world, from diminishing in size any farther as water sources dry up. Through a combination of poor administration policies during the Soviet Era and the Global Climate Disruption phenomenon, evaporation of the body of freshwater has devastated the lives and livelihoods of the locals. The Aral Sea has lost 40% of the area it had in 1960, the calamity being noticeable since the early 1970s, when waters began receding from the piers at Muynoq on southern coast.

…The local habitats – ancient oases fed by rivers lakes, reed marshes, forests, grazing lands, and even some farmland – are not just affected by the loss of the lake. The wind-borne salt from the emptied coasts blow farther inland, poisoning crops; additionally, fertilizer and pesticide residues once dormant on the beds of the sea, are exposed to the regions winds as well. These developments have led to a public health crisis, as recent surveys reveal a staggering increase in respiratory illnesses among the local inhabitants.

…In 1987, United Turkestan began implementing the Aral Sea Basin Revival Project, meant to stabilize the local ecosystems and reverse the loss of water. The regional government of Uzbekistan has scaled back irrigation slowly to avoid economic disaster, while the federal government is working with them to diversify their economy to scale back even father. Larger but less coordinated groups of Kazakhs on the north side of the sea, where the effects are less severe, are joining in their efforts of the Karakalpak.

However, with the people’s economy heavily reliant on fisheries, the decades-long fight to save the Aral Sea – and the Amu Darya, the river flowing into the south of the Aral Sea – has taken its toll on many. “The younger people are giving up hope. The children leave home and move to the cities. Families are moving out, and the stinging sands are moving in,” says former local man Kiyas Kusekeev, who is being treated at Tashkent Medical Center for a respiratory illness his physicians believe is the result of exposure to D.D.T. residue carried by the wind from the newly revealed sea beds.

…The Karakalpak hope the organizing of parades, festivals, and contests held in multiple locations and sponsored by Greenpeace, National Geographic, and several health-related charities will garner more attention for their plight; leaders of such efforts agree that this crisis destroying the livelihoods of the locals could have farther-reaching consequences. “If the Sea dries up, the river will dry up, the farms will turn to dirt, the poisoned wind will spread to throughout the rest of United Turkestan,” says local scientist Jamil Askarov, “The extent of the spread of the poisons could end up being worse than what we saw after the Aktau Disaster of 1980.”

…In the regional capital of Nukus, the Mayor says that the Kazakh regional government plans to implement Phase 2 of the ASBR Project, which is the reintroduction of fish stocks in the north. “If it works, we could soon see the return of the traditional backbone of our community. It will all depend on three very important things: dedicated observation, hard work, and hope.”

– National Geographic, April 1994 issue



IACOCCA TO JAPAN: “THE GLOVES ARE OFF!”

Washington, DC – President Iacocca has instructed US Trade Representative Paula Stern to investigate various acts, policies and practices of the Japanese government relating to the transferring of technology, intellectual property and innovation to non-Japanese companies...

The New York Times, 4/4/1994



…When I first entered a relationship with him, it seemed like a passion that fascinated me. It nearly bewildered me how one man could hold the anger of ten. James Wenneker von Brunn began having run-ins with the law since the 1960s and he never stopped. He once considered somehow attacking the Federal Reserve Board of Governors over their immediate response to the Crash of ’78, but called it off after coming to approve of Denton’s handling of the economy. He thought of bombing or kidnapping the Supreme Court bench to highlight the injustice of Denton’s “persecution in the court of public opinion.” Even when in his seventies, his rage was unabated. Iacocca’s handling of trade with Japan, for example, prompted him to tell me that he wanted to make “a citizen’s arrest for treason” for consumer prices continuing to rise under our new President. James fantasized about kidnapping the president, and sometimes his mind went to its even darker corners, especially when he shifted focus to other politicians and institutions that he simply loathed more than any man should...

– Evelyn Rich’s Frenzy: That Time I Dated A Monster, The Schiller Institute, 2011



“…I just did the sketches. Actual animation, making the characters move, now is tough. Slaving over a desk or in front of a computer screen for long hours on end every day, it’s like flogging yourself [3]. I have both awe and respect for people who put themselves through such conditions just for a paycheck or so they can entertain others, since all I did was come up with designs, styles, uh, the details for how they should move. …When Life In Heck took off in the late 1980s, it really opened up possibilities for animation. That show, and the 1980s Mighty Mouse reboot, allowed for even more experimental shows like Duckman to develop a following. The SpongeBob commercials, though, those were a lot more sanitized than the surrealist early drafts were, because they had to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone…”

– Stephen Hillenburg, 1997 interview



The franchise’s first commercial was of low budget, being filmed with the help of a local TV station. It first aired on April 12, 1994, and featured a live-action character named King Neptune whose plans on establishing a fast food empire are foiled by the existence of superior food found at SpongeBob’s:

NEPTUNE (live-action, portrayed by local actor Matt Battaglia at the time): “I shall conquer the food markets! My enemies will be left defeated and hungry!”

SPONGEBOB (cartoon, voiced by local actor Tony Hale at the time): “Or, you could eat at the place I work at – SpongeBob’s Undersea Cuisine.” [cut to establishing shot of outlet 1 exterior]

[cut to interior] SPONGEBOB: “With dozens of burgers, sandwiches, and seafood platters to choose from, I think this is the most magical and family-friendly place in the universe!”

NEPTUNE: “Trickster! This place has conquered…my appetite!” [pan out to show Neptune enjoying a krabby patty at a table flanked by live-action and cartoon characters]

More commercials soon followed, phasing out Neptune to instead center on the dynamic between SpongeBob the frycook and Squidward the cashier, with the latter being the butt end of jokes from the former, and with there being a running gag when something bad happens to Squidward every time he says he doesn’t like the restaurant’s offerings, somewhat similar to the Kermit-Wilkins commercials of the 1960s. These commercials caught on in popularity in a manner similar to the Ernest P. Worrell commercials of the early 1980s, with the biggest difference being that the SpongeBob’s characters rarely broke the fourth wall.

WZko3Kw.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/WZko3Kw ]
Above: a still from a commercial for SpongeBob’s that first aired in late 1994.

– clickopedia.co.usa/SpongeBob’s/disambiguation/restaurant_franchise



…British-American astronaut and astrophysicist Colin Foale has set a new record for space endurance by spending 17 days, 23 hours and 47 minutes aboard the International Space Station without interruption. The accomplishment is a much-needed boost for space exploration after an international study was published revealing the details of several detrimental effects that prolonged exposure to weightlessness has on the human body. The study, publishing in the peer-reviewed medical journal “American Journal of Medical Sciences, seems to confirm claims given by former astronauts – that temporary blindness, blood clots, and bone loss are associated with human spaceflight as the lack of gravity disrupts the natural flow of blood vessels and compounds pressure on the human eye and other parts of the body. These revelations could spur further investment in researching and developing artificial gravity for future spacecraft…

– BBC, 14/4/1994 broadcast



…Turner-Kennedy-Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network first began airing “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” on April 15. The animated parody talk show proved to be “groundbreaking” by appealing to both young and old viewers...

– clickopedia.co.usa



Iacocca unleashed an arsenal of alleged “dirty tricks” against Japanese businesses, often directly in front of the White House press. “That Annie-May stuff is too violent, it’s got disturbing imagery from a disturbed peo-…pool of animators,” he once controversial said on April 17 in order to win over concerned Americans in the suburbs. Later that same month, he accused Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party of being “rife with corruption,” which was not far from the truth. He went after the country’s “frequent changing of the guard,” almost mocking the “high turnover rate” of Japanese Prime Ministers.

Meanwhile, Japanese car companies such as Toyota and Nissan were in an optimistic place with US-Japanese relations boiling over, as they had been opposed to the “Buy American” campaign since its 1993 inception. Toyota’s work with General Motors slowed, but was replaced with a new interest in European markets. Nissan, after thirty years of expanding, sought to diversify its product lineup.

For Honda, however, it was too late. The company found itself being outpaced by Nissan and Toyota. Overwhelmed by the SUV boom of the early 1990s and caught off guard repeatedly by “schizophrenic” US-Japan relations, the company succumbed to a hostile takeover by Mitsubishi Motors in April 1994, less than a month into the US-Japan Trade War of 1994

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



…In Washington, D.C., a new law has been passed that is controversial and polarizing. It has been more than two years since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in all fifty states, but now, congress has passed the Smith Provision, a legislative act meant to bar the use of federal funds to pay for abortion by making the procedure considered “elective,” and thus not covered by the American Universal Healthcare Act. According to Speaker Walker, the legislation will curb the, quote, thousands upon thousands of abortions performed annually with taxpayer funds, unquote. Introduced last year by Congressman Larkin I. Smith of Mississippi, the bill was passed in the House on partisan lines but has yet to be voted on in the Senate, where Democrats maintain a narrow majority. Nevertheless, “pro-option” groups are increasing activism in opposition to the Smith Provision, arguing the barring actually violates the UHC Act instead of overriding a part of it. We take you now to the Washington Mall, where a group of several hundred pro-option activities have gathered to protest the bill’s House passing…

– CBS Evening News, 4/30/1994



…and over in eastern Europe, the people of Poland and just picked their next President. Consistent favorite and former Minister Commerce Leszek Kolakowski of the Solidarity party secured victory over two major challengers, Waldemar Pawlak of the Christian Democratic party, and Leszek Balcerowicz of the Reform party. Incumbent President Jarek Kuron, also of the Solidarity party, is retiring after two five-year terms. With the country dominating the European coal market, Poland’s economy has been soaring since the start of this decade, while very likely aided Kolakowski’s campaign as it faced criticism for his former allegiance to Marxism and alleged lack of political experience…

– BBC, 5/2/1994 broadcast



…For example, in order to push through a Federal Jobs Guarantee Program (which Speaker Walker opposed on the grounds of it being yet another attempt by Democrats and liberals to “saddle the federal government with state-to-state problems,” while Iacocca, initially against it over fear it would damage small businesses), Iacocca had to work with several conservative Democrats and progressive Democrats, from Senate Leader Robert Byrd to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who introduced the bill for the F.J.G.P. in early May 1994…

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020



IACOCCA IN THE HOT SEAT FOR ALLEGEDLY RACIST COMMENTS

…A comment from a 1986 Playboy Magazine interview has resurfaced among press circles, in which Iacocca, who was still the CEO of Chrysler at the time, commented, "Once, in an interview, I was asked about the recognition of Chrysler products in Japan, so I said, 'Jesus Christ, they certainly know the Jeep -- they saw enough of them in World War II!' You know what I really wanted to say? I wanted to say, 'But they always saw the ass end of the Jeep -- running over them.' Now that would be Japan bashing, right?" [4]… Iacocca’s Press Secretary said earlier today that the comment was “not meant to be taken seriously in any way that would be hurtful.”…

The New York Post, 5/7/1994



MAYOR GARY JOHNSON (BARELY) PASSES MARY JANE LEGALIZATION BILL!

aHIxONs.png

[pic: imgur.com/aHIxONs.png ]

…the citywide law makes it legal for the buying and selling of “recreational marijuana,” albeit only within city boundaries… Conservative legislators in the state congress are calling for an investigation into the legality of city law conflicting with state law. Aides close to the Mayor have stated that they “wouldn’t be surprised” by the new law being challenged in court. “Progress is always inhibited by the fear of change, of deviating even slightly from the status quo,” says the Mayor, “But I am not afraid of embracing individual freedom, and neither are the people of this great city.”…

The Albuquerque Journal, 5/9/1994



…On the other hand, some more violent members of the feminist cause can be cited for giving radicals a bad name. For instance, on May 10, Governor George Allen of Virginia signed into a law a state bill that outlaws abortions during the first trimester except for cases of rape, incest, and danger to the mother. The next night, the Virginia GOP headquarters were vandalized; spray paint spelled out vulgarities and two windows were smashed, setting off the alarm, before the perpetrators fled. At the time, Iacocca’s approval rating among women was mixed. Gallup polled 80% of conservative women approved of him, while only 55% of “unaffiliated/nonpartisan” women and 40% of liberal women approved of him; another poll found his approval to be at around 59% overall. George Allen’s approval rating among women, meanwhile, was in the toilet, at 37% overall…

– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 2008 edition



…Iacocca sought to rebuttal the “unfair” practices with allegedly underhanded tactics such as tariffs on major imports from Japan “that we make at home,” as he put it. This action, this any action, led to a reaction, as the Japanese government reacted by imposed tariffs of their own. Iacocca countered with tax incentives for firms and businesses that “did business elsewhere,” and with attempts at “triangulation” with other countries that also felt threatened by Japan, such as India, China, and South Korea, just to name the major players in Japan’s region of the world...

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



IACOCCA SIGNS LOBBYIST DISCLOSURE BILL INTO LAW

…the Findings Section of the bill explains that “responsible representative Government requires public awareness of the efforts of paid lobbyists to influence the public decision-making process in both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal Government.” It continues, “existing lobbying disclosure statutes have been ineffective because of unclear statutory language, weak administrative and enforcement provisions, and an absence of clear guidance as to who is required to register and what they are required to disclose… the effective public disclosure of the identity and extent of the efforts of paid lobbyists to influence Federal officials in the conduct of Government actions will increase public confidence in the integrity of Government”… [5]

The Washington Post, 5/17/1994




Could have gotten a job today. But they learned about my ’92 assault charge. I told them about how that [censored] of a daycare worker had let my daughter get hurt under her watch. I had to teach her a lesson. I thought they understood. I guess they were too dumb to get it. No matter. There must be some job out there for former bartender, caterer, construction worker, I’m a jack of all trades, in fact. If only the landlord understood that. The [censored] doesn’t get the idea of this ZED, does he? Neither does the ball-and-chain [censored], always telling me off, harassing and attacking me in front of our three-year-old. She doesn’t get it. Life is hard. The pressure of it, the responsibilities and headaches that come at you every day, distracting you from life, practically telling you not to actually live, it is all just so hard and despite that the [censored] and The Man just refuse to give me a [censored] break!

– Lynwood Crumpler Drake III’s personal journal, 5/19/1994 entry



The series ended on May 22, 1994 [120], with the episode “Who Shot Binky?” A touch-in-cheek season finale, it ended on a cliffhanger that was never answered due to the series not being renewed for another season. According to creator Matt Groening, the episode purposely ended without a conclusion as a “demonstration of solidarity” meant to honor TV shows that were cancelled before their own cliffhangers could be resolved [121]. In the Life In Hell comic strips, the series finale was never mentioned, leading to fans of the series creating numerous theories and fanfiction works concerning how the conflict is resolved. [source required] On December 10, 2011, a Life In Hell comic “special” finally address the finale by suggesting that either the final episode, the entire final season, or possibly the entire series, was not canon with the comics. [122] The resolution was dissatisfying for many fans, and has possibly contributed to further calls for the series to be revived. [123]

U0f3bHh.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/U0f3bHh ]
Above: an early uncolored promotional drawing for the series cliffhanger/finale.

– clickopedia.co.usa/Life_In_Heck_And_Other_Fun_Places, c. 2012



…I think he sought to distract himself from the anniversary of Pat’s passing. Work was the best thing to keep his mind off the tomb-like quiet of him California home, and so his dedication to his job only increased. In fact, I remember him spending more than a few nights falling asleep in his office, awaking to the smell of the interns brewing coffee in the outer chamber. Nixon would sleep on a futon at the office at other times, waking up early and making his rounds, meeting with Senate leaders and the Secretary of State, working so hard to keep the US from going to war against anybody or even everybody. To the average American, their country was in a good place, but he knew better, as he would say. “For ten years now the military’s only adversary has been pathetic drug lords and radical guerilla idiots tearing up their own villages across Latin America, while the top brass men continuously keep their eyes on North Korea and the Taiwan Straits, with both of the Red Bastards just waiting for any excuse to drag us into another Cuba,” he once ranted to me. Maybe it was Nixon’s tendency to dance toward paranoia, but the Lion of the Senate would take no chances. He oversaw the Senate military intelligence and diplomatic affairs in the State Department, and overviewed committees with an iron grip, one tighter than a bull rider’s grip on the rope during the rodeo. I remember he seemed to be enjoying himself, but at the same time, it seemed to make him so very tired...

EbHQBeu.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/EbHQBeu ]
Above: Nixon in the Senate chamber, June 5, 1994

– longtime US Rep. Robert Hutchinson “Bob” Finch’s Counselor to The Lion: My Memoirs, Sunrise Publishing, 1995



FORMER D.C. AIDE CASTS SENATOR NIXON IN DARK LIGHT WITH “TELL-ALL” BOOK

…Robert Haldeman’s “The Haldeman Diaries: Three Decades of Tough Decisions and Tricky Dick,” [6] published by Barnes & Noble Press, makes multiple claims concerning the influential former Vice President. Some nuggets of intrigue found within allege that Nixon supported President Denton overthrowing several anti-American leaders, including the dictator Pakistan; that he considered working with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to arrest The Beatles for possession of narcotics during the late 1960s, possibly as a frame job; and that he successfully had recording bugs installed in the offices of leaders in Canada, the UK, and other places... Haldeman, who Nixon “fired” from his inner circle in 1986 over allegations of “disloyalty,” is suffering from terminal cancer, and claims he “could not wait until either me or he were dead. I need to get the truth out about how crummy the Lion truly is.”

The New York Times, book review section, 6/6/1994



“I am just outraged by this garbage! Haldeman’s book is nothing but a dirty pack of lies! I will most definitely be suing him for slander; his cancer will just have to wait until after the lawsuit to take him!”

– Richard Nixon, 6/8/1994



SENATE DEBATES THREE BILLS ON VOTING ACCESSIBILITY

Washington, D.C. – Last week, US Senator Mario Obledo (D-CA) introduced legislation that would make the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of either every year or every four years a federal holiday. If passed by the House and Senate, and then signed into law by the President, over a million federal workers would have a paid day off work, with the intention of them being able to vote in that day’s elections, and possibly encourage private companies to do the same. At the moment, only two states – Hawaii and Vermont – have designated Presidential Election Day to be a state holiday.

However, the legislation is controversial due to its pros and cons. On one hand, years of multiple and extensive polling show a lack of time off work as the top reason people give for not voting, and thus, supporters of this bill, such as Rep. Bill Sorrell (I-VT), argue that it will increase voter turnout and “embolden more people to participate in the Democratic process” by enabling more people to have the time to vote.

On the other hand, such a federal law would not force private employers to give employees paid holidays off, and there is already much debate on the hill over how much control and regulation the federal government should have over private enterprises. US Senator Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV) argues that “retail workers, hospital jobs and other low-pay workers in the private system would not benefit from this sort of bill. If anything, shutting down all those jobs, just the federal occupations alone, on election day would lead to more low-income people having to work that day to make up for the lost business and revenue.” Vucanovich also notes that “closing the schools on a Tuesday would be problematic for households with both parents working.”

Two other bills introduced earlier this year that are still in committee are being promoted as alternatives to the new “Election Holiday” bill. The first one calls for all states to impose laws requiring employers to allow employees time off for voting. Several states already have such laws, and thus would not be a major shift in policies for many employees. In North Dakota, for example, employees are required to inform their employees of the state’s vote-by-mail option, which gives workers as early as 30 days before an election to send in a ballot. The second bill, which is the least divisive of the three, would requires state government agencies such as the DMV and the post office to offer customers “voter registration opportunities” meaning such employees, if taken up on the offer once asking, would work to help customers vote by mail or register to vote...

The Washington Post, 6/10/1994



O.J. SIMPSON KILLED! FOOTBALL STAR-TURNED-ACTOR FOUND MURDERED OUTSIDE EX-WIVE’S HOME

….Nichole Brown, who may have been home at the time of the incident, has been brought in for questioning. This is a developing story…

The Los Angeles Times, 6/12/1994



...My generation grew up mourning the death of Bambi’s mother. Now comes “The Lion King,” with the death of Mufasa, the father of the lion cub who will someday be king. The Disney animators know that cute little cartoon characters are not sufficient to manufacture dreams. There have to be dark corners, frightening moments, and ancient archetypes like the crime of regicide. “The Lion King.” Which is a superbly drawn animated feature, is surprisingly solemn in its subject matter, and may even be too intense for very young children… …Kadeem Hardison, best known for his role on The John Amos Show that went off the air last year, joins an all-star cast as the main character of Simba… [snip] …The early Disney cartoons were, of course, painstakingly animated by hand. There has been a lot of talk recently about computerized animation, as if a computer program could somehow create a movie. Not so. Human animators are responsible for the remarkably convincing portrayals of Scar and the other major characters... But computers did assist with several remarkable sequences, including a stampede in which a herd seems to flow past the camera[7]

– Roger Ebert’s review of Disney’s “The Lion King,” 6/15/1994




...Japan’s Commerce Ministry today announced that his country will impose more tariffs on American products. The announced details include a list of American products that will receive tariffs expanded and finalized, with rates ranging from 10% to 25%...

– ABC News, 6/16/1994 broadcast



…The US-Japan Trade War has escalated again, with the US Treasury declaring Japan to be a currency manipulator earlier today. The US Treasury Secretary Jean Yokum claims the Japanese falsify the value of the yen to garner, quote, “an unfair competitive advantage in international trade,” unquote. Japan’s treasurer minister is refuting the claims and is reportedly in contact with the IMF over the accusation...

– CBS News, 6/17/1994 broadcast



REPORT: COBAIN BACK WITH BAND, WORKING ON NEW ALBUM AFTER “EYE-OPENING” REHAB TRIP

– The Hollywood Reporter, 6/18/1994



The revelation itself was not as big of a shock as the details found within. On June 19, 1994, South Korean investigative journalists from The Chosun Ilbo, together with two Chinese-American reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle, announced in a stunning expose that North Korea was still trying to develop WMDs, even after pledging that they had stopped roughly two years ago. The group of journalists presented their video and photographic evidence to the UN’s I.A.E.A., the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the CIA, who authenticated the footage of workers improperly handling and storing materials used in the development of nuclear warheads, not nuclear energy plants. US President Iacocca immediately met with the US Secretary of State Edward J. Perkins, the US Secretary of Defense Rocky Versace, Chief Foreign Policy Advisor Richard Rahn, and Chief of Staff Richard “Dick” Brandt to discuss what to do next.

As Kim had “clearly and unashamedly” violated the 1992 US-North Korean Grain Deal agreement, President Iacocca official “revoked,” or cancelled the accord, thus cancelling further grain shipments, on June 21st.

The next day, North Korea replied by severing diplomatic relations with the US. America’s Special Liaison to North Korea was called back to the states immediately. Soon, the liaison, Richard Llewellyn Williams, reported to the President “they were arriving in Humvees and jeeps when we were boarding the helicopter. We believe they planned on expelling us from the country at best or planned on using us as some kind of leverage or at the very worst arresting us for treason or something to that effect.”

– Elizabeth Drew’s On The Edge: The Iacocca Presidency, NYT Publishing, 2011 edition



June 23, 1994: The United States congress designates the U.S. portion of the I.S.S., Section 1A, as their nation’s newest national laboratory in order to maximize the I.S.S.’s use for other federal government agencies and also for potential future use by academic and private institutions… [8]

– internationalspacestation.org.uk/about/timeline




FEDERAL JOBS GUARANTEE PROGRAM BILL PASSES HOUSE, 230-201; Senate Set To Debate And Vote On Bill “Before New Year’s”

The Washington Post, 6/24/1994



IACOCCA EXPANDS DENTON’S WAR ON RECREADRUGS

Washington, DC – Earlier today, President Iacocca signed an executive order that will provide more power to federal law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (founded in 1930) and the Recreadrug Regulations Enforcement Administration (founded in 1981), and will expand their size, influence and jurisdiction over the rules, regulations and punishments concerning federal drug control policies.

…Iacocca’s moves clash with, or may even be motivated by, the recent actions taken by the mayors of several communities fighting state law by decriminalizing recreadrugs such as marijuana. Santa Fe Mayor Debbie Jaramillo (D-NM) and Albuquerque Mayor Gary Johnson (R-NM)’s marijuana legalization efforts are the most prominent as they are the mayors of the largest of these communities. The closely watched situation is polarizing to some, as one side argues that these substances are too dangerous for individual private use, while the other side argues their illegality goes against individual rights. “Drug addicts need education and employment, not just sobriety,” says Mayor Jaramillo. “More and more Americans are starting to learn that not all recreadrugs are woefully dangerous.” Indeed, marijuana is at the forefront of this argument due to its medicinal value, with the use of hemp in non-smoking-related products becoming more prominent in recreadrug decriminalization discussions as well.

“Let’s not return to the recreadrug hysteria of the early 1980s,” cautions Mayor Johnson. However, a recent poll shows that a decent percentage of Americans are still very wary about HRU, or Harmful Recreadrug Use; a Gallup poll from last month reveals 21% of Americans polled see recreadrug abuse as the country’s “Number One Problem.” On the other hand, that number is much lower than its January 1985 peak of 67%. Additionally, in President Iacocca’s defense, the President is also encouraging higher-quality prevention and education programs for colleges, high schools, and even middle schools…

The San Francisco Chronicle, 6/30/1994



MAXWELL TO MURDOCH: “GO BACK TO ADELAIDE”

…the feud between media magnates Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell has intensified as of late, with Maxwell dividing his time between hospital visits and reorganizing publishing empire after pulling it from the abyss of bankruptcy, while Murdoch fights off various accusations of impropriety in court… Maxwell’s latest jab – him yearning to “send him back to Australia” highlights the animosity between these two publishing giants...

The Daily Mirror, UK tabloid, 1/7/1994



…Joining us now is Mike Reynolds, an architect from New Mexico who is building sustainable housing units out of used tires, bottles, cans and other recyclables as part of a large project to build fully functioning homes out of 50% recycled materials. [9] The project aims to also incorporate solar power into its current electric grid as part of Reynolds’ plan to promote Earth-friendly homes...

– ABC Morning News, 7/2/1994



In July 1994, newcomer J. Preston Bezos got promoted from peon to co-worker to me at the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s Grissom Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, over in the California interior, where you can pee on almost any cactus and no one will care (I know from first-hand experience). He got the promotion from figuring out how to cut the total launch mass down to 800,000 kilograms even, which helped ease calculations and chipped away at the budget concerns. I kept my eye on him.

His office was across from mine. He often kept the blinds closed despite the office having a Hawaiian-shirt casual type of vibe. Very off-putting. One time, in the lunchroom, I swear, to my deity and to yours, instead of buying his own meal, he whipped out a can of tuna and poured it out onto a slice of frozen pineapple pizza. He claimed it was homemade hummus on homemade pita bread. He said it several times. Doesn’t make it true. It was tuna on pineapple pizza. Was the guy pregnant at the time or something? Because that’s too much even for me!

Anyway, his calculations and design for the payload fairing ended up competing against my own superior ideas for the 200-foot-tall protective vehicle. For my design, I considered more safety concerns – from basic medical emergencies and sanitation and mental health necessities to outlandish hypotheticals such as vomit seeping into wiring and incompetent sabotage – than Bezos did, and so I finally got the corner office.

The rivalry continued on for another 17 years, but its conclusion won’t be for another few chapters, so if you’re impatient, go ahead and skim through the upcoming pages. Or you can just read this book like the adult or adult-minded kid you must be in order to have read it this far. Unless you’ve just skipped to this page. In that case, put down this book and find something closer to your level to read, you impatient loon!

– John McAfee’s autobiography Outer Space Deserves More Iguanas: My Life Being Me, numerous on-net publication sites, 2022



“I found McAfee to be a unique individual. We did not always agree on the same thing, but when it came to the things on which we did, we got along fairly well, I’d say.”

– J. Preston Bezos, 2012 interview



…We have just received word that North Korean State TV has announced that the dictator Kim Il-Sung died two days ago, on July 8, at the age of 82. The nation’s state-run media has also announced an official morning period for their leader of the past five decades…

– CBS Evening News, 7/10/1994 “breaking news” broadcast



Officially dead from a heart attack, South Korean and American news and intelligence agencies claimed he was also a long sufferer of diabetes and the hardening of arteries in his heart. Succession was initially questioned by the western media, until thoughts of a potential power struggle proved false when Kim Il-Sung’s son, Kim Jung-Il, immediately took charge in Pyongyang.

– Andrew S. Natsios’ The Famines of North Korea, Institute of Peace Press, 2001



“Well,” Iacocca asked, “What’s he saying?”

In the control room, Chief National Security Advisor Susan Livingstone and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, retired Vice Admiral Tom Sargent, joined Perkins, Versace and the President in viewing the feed.

“He’s saying the new leader will continue on his father’s legacy,” answered the translator.

Iacocca groaned, “He better not.”

An assistant turned up the volume on the set tapped into North Korea’s State TV. A bespectacled man in a black business suit spoke, shedding crocodile tears feigning the sounds of one who is about to sob, without his voice actually breaking. At times the camera would cut to footage of various citizens wailing about.

– Elizabeth Drew’s On The Edge: The Iacocca Presidency, NYT Publishing, 2011 edition



[vid: youtube.com/watch?v=p3R3wd5l2Y8 ]
– footage of North Koreans mourning Kim Il-Sung’s death, North Korean State TV, 7/10/1994



“That looks so fake!” Livingstone vociferated.

“It is fake, Sue. If they smiled, they’d be shot,” Sargent bellowed.

“Actually, a large number of citizens truly believe they have it better over there than the rest of the world,” noted Secretary Perkins.

“Yeah, ignorance will do that to ya,” lamented former liaison Williams.

“Hold up,” the translator uttered, “Now they’re saying…they say Kim Jung-Il blames the U.S. for his death.”

“What do you mean?” Secretary Versace ululate, offended by the remark but not certain if he should be. “You mean, the country specifically, the people, the…the President?” He asked with some caution and much seriousness.

On the screen, the image of Kim Jung-Il appeared. Markedly similar to his father, sporting combed back hair and thin-rimmed glasses, the 53-year-old who had just inherited a nation, spoke angrily.

The translated did his job. “He says…America’s betrayal was too much for his father. He died of a broken heart.”

Iacocca rolled his eyes, “Oh, I’m sure he was just bawling over losing our grain supplies.”

“He’s saying that…he swears his father will be avenged.”

The room reacted the way one would expect a room full of national security leaders would react to such a statement. “A threat?” Versace exclaimed with outraged.

“You sure you got it right?” Perkins asked.

“Verbatim, he said ‘The insolence made to our glorious nation’s founder will not go unpunished. He will be avenged.’”

“Was that meant for the US, the populace, or the President?” Sargent mirrored Versace’s query from earlier.

The translator answered, “I do not know.”

After glanced back up at the monitor, Kim Jung-Il’s face at the center of the screen, Iacocca did his job as well. “We’re not at war, soon keep things at DEFCON 5. But Studeman,” he looked at the CIA Director, “increase monitoring efforts. Shove a microphone into every plant in every forest in North Korea if you have to, but remember, if anyone gets caught, we know nothing about it.”

“More than understood, sir.”

The President then addressed his Secret Service men. “I think we’d better increase security.”

Livingstone asked, “Sir, dictators are known for blowing smoke up and out of their asses. How do we know Kim Jung-Il isn’t bluffing?”

“We don’t,” Iacocca answered, “And I’m not willing to risk the lives of any innocent civilians on the chance that he’s just blowing smoke.”

– Andrew S. Natsios’ The Famines of North Korea, Institute of Peace Press, 2001



…Kim Jung-Il backed up his rhetoric with action later that same month by withdrawing North Korea from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refusing to allow foreign inspectors access to any nuclear power facilities anywhere in the country...

– Van Jackson’s Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in the Post-Cold War Era, Cambridge University Press, 2016



SK PRESIDENT KIM YOUNG-SAM CALLS FOR DE-ESCALATION IN US-JAPAN RELATIONS; Claims Trade War Goes Against “The Interest Of Japan, America, And The Free World”

The New York Times, 7/14/1994



…The escalation of tensions broke after Kim Jung-Sung passes away, and heads suddenly got whiplash as they swerved to look at North Korea. Keeping with the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement signed in 1960, Iacocca and Japan’s latest PM, Tomiichi Murayama of the Socialist Party, agreed to negotiate a bilateral trade deal for the sake of maintaining US military presence and coordination in the region, and with Japanese officials concerning safety and security elements such as training exercises and the like. The “equal trading” deal was scheduled for finalization later in the year…

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



IACOCCA CANCELS RETALIATORY TARIFFS; Rescinds Currency Manipulation Claim To Pave Way For Trade Negotiations

The Washington Post, 7/16/1994



TRADE TALKS: IACOCCA, JAPAN’S PM TALK OVER PHONE, MAY MEET IN-PERSON “SOON”

The New York Post, 7/18/1994



NARRATOR (voice-over as footage rolls): Prime Minister Lennon today called on parliament to establish caps on the emissions of harmful greenhouse gasses in light of further research on the Global Climate Disruption phenomenon being recently published.

LENNON (in footage): The GCD cannot be ignored, and after talks with Tony Blair, Tony Benn, and John Smith, and the other ministry members and parliament leaders, I am introducing a plan to reduce our nation’s carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by the end of the next ten years.

NARRATOR: The Prime Minister also called for a flagging up of millions of pounds for more environmentally-friendly policies and economic regulations.

LENNON: We need to work together on this. The lovers of nature and the lovers of business should both love Mother Earth and work together to reverse the damage done to her. (end of footage)

ANCHOR: Lennon’s inner circle have suggested that a heavy carbon tax or heavy fines may be levied against businesses that fail to comply with eco-friendly standards. We shall see how the public react to this – at the moment, the Prime Minister’s approval ratings are at an all-time low for him, at 54%...

– BBC News, 7/20/1994 report



…After the 12-minutes-long 1988 Pixar short “Tin Toy” won an Oscar at the 61st Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1989, CRI became more generally accepted as a legitimate artistic medium. Tin Toy itself was praised by critics, especially for its depiction of the human baby who attacks the toys. Behind the scenes, the baby had been the hardest object for the creators to animate, having to replace a diaper that never moved with a puffy pajama onesie, and having to redesign the face at least 17 times before it left the Uncanny Valley. As the 1990s approached, both Pixar and Disney explored the idea of making a CRI film that was feature-length. Disney revisited their 1983 attempts to make a combination CRI-traditionally animated adaptation of the book “Where The Wild Things Are,” after Lasseter failed to pitch them remaking 1987’s The Brave Little Toaster in CRI as originally suggested. Concurrently, Pixar considered expanding “Tin Toy” into either a half-hour special or an 80-minute theatrical release. The project was given the working title “Toy Story.”

Pixar’s ideas quickly evolved from a story focused on Tinny from Tin Toy and a marionette named Woody to a story about a bad-tempered marionette who learns to be a less selfish toy. The film originally was to be about a group of abandoned toys traveling around a city in order trying to find children to take them in, with the group including the aforementioned Tinny and Woody, a deluded space ranger named Jerrie Parsec (after astronaut Jerrie Cobb, though early drafts depicted her as a male named either Lunar Larry or Gravity Grissom), and a soft pink bear named Lotso. Concerns over how to depict fuzzy textures led to Lotso being pushed back to being a minor character, as his fur was too difficult to render.

Upon Disney finally abandoning their own CRI efforts to instead work on “Toy Story,” a major shift in the story development came in 1991, when several characters were redeveloped. First, the Woody character was once again altered to be a likeable hero instead of a villain, with Tinny being redesigned to appear more like a modern toy. Second, the space ranger was made more prominent, having a minor C-plot conflict with a ditzy Barbie doll; an epiphany came with having space ranger be unaware she is a toy, which Lasseter described as being a “game changer” for the film. And thirdly, the decision was made to rewrite the story to focus on Woody (representing “old ways”), Tinny (representing “modernity”) and Jerrie (representing “the future”) learning to get along while trying to return to an owner they already have, instead of having it focus on a larger group of toys finding a new home, in order to add depth and better character development to the story.

Casting saw Tom Hanks voice Woody, Tim Allen voice Tinny, Vicki Lewis voice Jerrie, and Michele Green voice Barbie, with Paul Newman, Billy Crystal and Bill Murray voicing smaller roles.

HCF9rQg.png

[pic: imgur.com/HCF9rQg.png ]
Above: The film retained its initial working title.

Upon the theatrical release of “Toy Story” on July 21, 1994, the film was praised for its story and technological innovation, with critics describing it as “inventive,” “touching,” “original” and, most importantly for the history of CRI, “groundbreaking.” For example, Roger Ebert described the film as being “surprisingly breathtaking and deep.” …The scene involving the characters fight off a silly putty monster and an evil cabbage patch doll was lauded as being “particularly creative”; it was also one of the hardest scene to render. Critics also celebrated the platonic friendship between Jerrie, Tinny and Woody, and the film’s ability to entertain children and adults with a story that was exciting and heartwarming. The film’s success made a huge impact on the film and video game industries, with companies becoming more invested in computer-rendered imagery and technology immediately after its success…

– Kristen Whissel’s CRI: Computer-Rendered Imagery And The History of Special Effects in The Computer Age, Penguin Publishing, 2013



…The end of hostilities over Ghana’s oil reserves came about due to pressure from UNICEF Special Administrator and former US President Carol Bellamy and the UN’s peace process mediator Kofi Annan, along with Ghana’s President Jerry Rawlings’ shock at the Sanwi Kingdom’s successful secession. “The Ivorians kept up the belligerency, and they’ve lost a part of their country as a result. I will not let that happen here,” Rawlings wrote in a private letter. After a ceasefire was declared, several weeks of negotiations between the Poor People’s Front and the National Government led to an agreement in how revenue from the oil wells would be distributed. As the wells were “partially nationalized,” meaning the government received 50% of profits, the Kumasi Accords declared that half of those profits would be divided among local provincial government via a complicated distribution system where the wealthier the province the smaller the province’s share of the profits. However, provinces could still lobby for the federal government to give aid provinces loans from the remaining half of the original 50%. This agreement appealed to both sides, culminating in the Kumasi Accords being signed on July 22, effectively ending the internal civil conflict…

– Historian Roger Gocking’s The Modern History of Ghana, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005



OKINAWA OR VIETNAM MAY HOST TRADE TALKS, BETWEEN JAPAN AND US REPRESENTATIVES, NOW SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER

The Los Angeles Post, 7/27/1994



Conservative politics in Canada went through a transformative process during the 1990s. With PM Nielsen coming in third place in the previous election cycle, and his immediate successor as PC leader (longtime Ontario MPP Alan Eagleson) stepping down three months into the post over a financial scandal as replaced by Dan Mazankowski (an Albertan MP since 1968), the 1995 PC leadership election became a crossroads moment. After a very tumultuous year of scandals, gaffes, and disappointments, the Progressive Conservatives were split into three factions, each holding the banner of a different streak of conservatism – populist, “soft” moderate, and “deep” conservative.

Leading the first group was Ontario MPP and “common sense centrist” Dianne Cunningham, who was supported by the retiring Mazankowski. However, her handling of school vouchers while in Nielsen’s cabinet led to Jean Charest of Quebec entering the leadership race. A possible breath of fresh air for the party who could potentially improve the party’s waning relations with Quebec as well, Charest also hailed from the liberal “soft conservative” side of the party. Populists, meanwhile, rallied around a longshot candidate: David Orchard, a farmer from Saskatchewan who opposed globalization and who became activist in response to Erik Nielsen’s “butchering” of the government’s trade policies. The “Deep” Conservative faction, meanwhile, coalesced around Nova Scotian MP Roger Stuart Bacon, who was strongly supported by Stephen Harper, an MP for Calgary West since 1993, who did not run himself due to him being viewed as too inexperienced.

In the July 29, 1993 PC leadership election, Orchard and Bacon were eliminated in the first and second rounds, respectively. Due to the bad blood developed between them and Charest, both Orchard and Bacon both threw their support to Cunningham, leading to her narrowly winning on the third round of voting.

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



IACOCCA MIDTERM VISITS SCALED BACK, SECRET SERVICE MEASURES INCREASED

…the new measures may be connected to remarks made by North Korea’s new dictator…

The Washington Post, 7/19/1994



Announcer: This is CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and Connie Chung.

Chung: Good evening. The race for Governor of Alaska took an unexpected political turn today when incumbent Governor Bob Ross endorsed a third-party candidate, his former Secretary of Education and Early Development Nora Dauenhauer of the Green Party.

Rather: A political outsider upon her 1988 appointment, Dauenhauer is a cultural preservationist who focused on education opportunities for low-income families while in charge of the state agency. We begin our coverage with correspondent John Blackstone, live in Juneau. John?

Blackstone: Well, Dan, it seems the nonpartisan Governor endorsed Dauenhauer, who left the administration earlier this year after the state’s Green Party drafted her to be their nominee, because he disagreed with the major party candidates. [footage rolls] (voice-over) This November, the two main candidates for Governor of Alaska will likely be former Lieutenant Governor Red Boucher, a moderate Democrat, and state senator John Lindauer, a conservative Republican. Both men have opposed Ross on issues and legislation multiple times, enough times for Governor Ross to split from being consistently nonpartisan and to instead endorse the Green Party candidate for Governor, a former member of his administration known for celebrating Native Alaskan culture and education reform…

– CBS Evening News, 7/30/1994 broadcast



SOURCE(S)/NOTE(S)
[1] Line found on page 13 of the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470
[2] Quote and her political positions were found here: https://www.hcn.org/issues/6/172
[3] Italicized bit used in an OTL interview I remembered listening to a few years back: http://bigpopfunpodcast.nerdistind.libsynpro.com/stephen-hillenburg-artist-and-animator
[4] Quote found here: https://www.autonews.com/article/20181231/OEM02/150129796/potato-cars-monks-trump-going-japanese-dr-ruth-and-a-little-solicitor-iacocca-riffs-quips-and-diatribes
[5] Quotations were found in and pulled from here (and this TL’s bill is even more transparent than the one from OTL, FYI): https://lobbyingdisclosure.house.gov/lda.html
[6] I used this fictional book as a “source” in “entries” in 1960, 1964, 1979, and 1986
[7] Italicized bits pulled from his OTL reviewe: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-lion-king-1994
[8] Something we didn’t actually do until 2005, but that’s because the I.S.S. got built much sooner in this TL: https://www.issnationallab.org/about/iss-timeline/
[9] OTL: http://www.garbagewarrior.com/press

Also, credit for several details concerning Japan goes to @ajm8888
 
Last edited:
Chapter 70: August 1994 – December 1994
Chapter 70: August 1994 December 1994

“One key to maintaining love, peace, and other godly characteristics is to let God deal with the injustices. There is no place, nor do we ever have the right, for personal retaliation”

– Romans 12:19



[vid: youtube.com/ watch?v=ky66Woh97S0 ]
– KFC commercial, first aired c. late summer 1994



SENATOR NIXON FINALLY RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

…Longtime US Senator and former US Vice President Richard Nixon has been released from Washington, D.C.’s George Washington University Hospital, having been admitted to the emergency two over two weeks ago for what we now know was some form a phlebitis-related incident. Nixon first suffered an “attack” of phlebitis, a form of vein inflammation, during a diplomatic trip abroad in 1965 [1]. In a second major incident in 1971, the elder statesman suffered leg enlargement, and tenderness in the left calf and thigh. This time, Nixon was described as having shortness of breath, spells of dizziness, and pain in the left leg upon his admittance to the hospital on July 19th. An hour-long operation to remove a clot from his left liliac vein in his left leg was successful, but was followed up by post-operation complications that extended his stay in the hospital. …Leaving the hospital earlier today, the “Lion of the Senate” looked noticeably skinnier after his ordeal. …Rumors of Nixon having pulmonary embolism in his lungs or of suffering from brain damage of some kind have not been substantiated...

The Washington Post, 8/2/1994



…today saw an interesting development in Asia today, concerning North Korea’s new dictator. According to South Korean journalists, Supreme Leader Kim Jung-Il has declined offers from the People’s Republic of China for them to send food aid to the Hermit Kingdom in the wake of the United States refusing to send any. Kim reportedly believes that North Korea’s, quote, food concerns are so little they can be managed internally without outside interference, unquote, with said quote coming from North Korea’s official state media…

– KNN, 8/5/1994 broadcast



…South Korean’s Prime Minister Lee Hoi-chang, a staunch conservative politician supportive of America ending its food aid program to North Korea recently, today stated that he favors the cessation of all forms of aid to North Korea until the end of said nation’s pursuit of nuclear material and human rights violations. Lee’s comments are odds with any and all attempts made by his or the US government to establish détente or even communications with Kim Jong-il, the leader of North Korea since July…

– BBC World News, 8/7/1994 broadcast



…In international news, The Rwandan Conflict, which has plagued the small, landlocked eastern African nation of Rwanda for nearly four tumultuous years now, may have finally come to a close as the country’s remaining extremists are reeling from a united effort by Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira, and UN Peacekeeping forces to end their guerilla warfare and establish stability in the troubled country. Earlier today, Rwanda’s leader declared that several laws limiting the freedoms of the country’s minority Tutsi population have been revoked by his coalition government…

– The Overmyer Network, 8/8/1994 broadcast



“It was on an August afternoon in 1994 when it was discovered. Dad had retired and was spending a lot of time in Florida. My mom had apparently just gotten off the phone with me, congratulating me on a recent promotion of sorts, when she first experienced some stomach pains. She immediately went to the hospital the next day, and thanks to UHC, she got diagnosed very quickly. It was startling news – suffering from uterine cancer – it was terrible for her, for everyone. I remember, she was grateful that they had caught it before it could spread to the ovaries, but they had to move fast to beat it.”

– Barack “Rocky” McCain, former Chief of Staff to Vice President James H. Meredith, Meet the Press, 7/1/2003



US, JAPAN TRADE TRUCE BREAKS DOWN OVER SUMMIT SPECIFICS

…a planned “summit meeting” in Hanoi, Vietnam has been either cancelled or put on hold indefinitely…

The New York Times, 8/15/1994



EX-MLB PITCHER DON TRUMP TO CAMEO IN NEW MINISERIES

…TumbleweedTV’s “On A Cross of Gold,” a 5-part biopic miniseries on the life of political firebrand William Jennings Bryan, is set to premier this September. Retired MLB pitcher biopic Donald “Don” Trump has confirmed that he will have a brief cameo in Episode 1, in which he will portray conservative US Senator Thomas E. Watson of Georgia as he appeared in the 1890s. It is currently unknown if the Queens native will attempt a Georgian accent for the role…

The Hollywood Reporter, 8/16/1994 side-article



“Um, one of my aides, uh, recently directed my attention to this upcoming cartoon series called Futurama. They, uh, recorded an early extended promo thing for it, that aired on TV recently, and they showed me the tape from when he recorded it. The animation looks fluid, the premise sounds like it has potential, but the humor seemed off. I don’t think it will appeal to many Americans so I think this cartoon will be around for that long. But, uh, my point is, uh, I asked my aide, ‘Why am I watching this?’ And then I saw why. Apparently, there’s a character on the show – a major character or just a minor one-time joke, I’m not sure – but it’s a character that is supposed to be me, or rather, my head, alive, and preserved in a jar. It’s a brief moment in the promo and it shows me – apparently, the show suggests that my head will be cloned or re-animated at some point in the future – and it shows me being denied entrance into a ‘Hall of Presidential Heads,’ alongside the, uh, jarred heads, I suppose, of Barry Goldwater and Lamar Alexander. Now, I will admit that I chuckled a bit when the, uh, the characters in the moment booted out a jarred head of Jack Kemp, with one of the characters saying he shouldn’t count, but other than that, the brief scene was not very funny. I don’t get why it would be funny for my head to be in a jar. I also don’t understand why the cartoon version of me made this odd, peculiar wolf howl of sorts. It was random and frankly, rather dumb. But I’ve been mocked and I’ve been parodied and I’ve been satirized before, and often in much more insulting ways, but certainly in less bizarre ways. Certainly less bizarre than being depicted as a head in a jar, like the science experiment of some made historic preservationist or something. If that’s the kind of humor the young people today laugh at – the, uh, then heads of famous Senators and Presidents inexplicably in jars – then I’m glad I’m not a young person in this decade.”

– Richard Nixon, 8/18/1994



COLOSIO VICTORY BRINGS PRI BACK TO POWER IN MEXICO

Mexico City, MEXICO – America’s southern neighbor held general elections tonight that saw Luis Colosio of the Institutional Revolutionary Party be elected President by a ten-point margin. Colosio, 44, an economist and former Senator from Sonora, ran on a campaign calling for more libertarian policies, speaking of “the people’s independence from government,” ending government abuse, and addressing the still-rampant drug cartels gaining influence in northern states in Mexico such as Colosio’s home state. His candidacy gained the support of the poor and the indigenous. With Luis H. Alvarez of the National Action Party (PAN) being term-limited, supporters of his “bottom-up” economic stimuli policies voted for PAN nominee Diego Fernandez de Cevallos. Colosio called Alvarez’s policies ineffective in combating inflation and food insecurity, while Fernandez defended them …Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the PRD underperformed by just over 11%...

– The Phoenix New Times, Arizona newspaper, 8/21/1994



…Iacocca preserved the Office of Technology Assessment [2], bucking Speaker Walker’s advice to instead expand its power and influence for the sake of technology-related businesses…

…The Congressional Budget Committee oversees the Congressional Budget Office and reviews budget requests submitted by the President. Iacocca would meet with members of both the committee and the office between former’s official bi-weekly Wednesday meetings. A major concern for the House’s budget leaders was UHC. Such a healthcare system requires strong management skills to ensure that its costs do not overrun or overwhelm the federal budget, as it could interfere with funding for small businesses, infrastructure, education, and welfare programs already being reduced in size to accommodate the UHC Act. As a result, budget analyst for the CBO Dick Darman, along with his superior, House Budget Committee Chairman David Stockman, a US Representative since 1977 (R-MI), often clashed with Iacocca concerning how to “handle” healthcare.

“The UN declared health care a basic human right all the way back in 1948. We’re not turning back the clock on our own citizens,” Iacocca once said at an informal meeting in August 1994.

“We are not going to dismantle UHC,” Stockman explained, “but just have to trim it back a bit to make room for other programs.”

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020



CHRIS HANI ELECTED PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA

…Chris Hani (ANC), a leading member of the National Council of Provinces, narrowly unseated incumbent President Steve Biko and several smaller candidates. The two major candidates agreed on maintaining the nation’s current “universal” healthcare system established under Biko, but with Hani being more “cautious” on healthcare expansion. Hani also supported keeping South Africa in the Non-Aligned Movement. Instead, the topic most likely responsible for Hani winning over Steve Biko of the BCM/Inkatha Freedom (People’s) Party was race relations. Biko, despite his successes in foreign policy, healthcare, and economic recovery overall, was increasingly unpopular among white voters due to several divisive housing and policing policies; Hani, however, was much more moderate, calling for community outreach-style “camaraderie committees” and other measures meant to support further “positive interactions” white and black South Africans. Hani, age 52, was a political activist and a key member of the uMkhonto we Sizwe militant wing of the ANC until its dissolving amid peace talks in the early 1980s. Following the end of Apartheid and surviving two serious assassination attempts, Hani was elected to South Africa’s upper house, where he often was an ally of President Mandela…

The Guardian, UK newspaper, 25/8/1994



Natural Born Killers
is a controversial American film, described as a crime film by some and as a “crime exploitation” film by others, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis along an all-star cast. The film presents a story of two traumatized lovers-turned-murders whose crimes are irresponsibly glorified by the media… The film was first released in theaters on August 26, 1994, and received both box office success and, initially, a polarizing reception from critics and audiences…

– clickopedia.co.usa



…Ted Kennedy and Ted Turner had different views on the future of print. Kennedy believed that Americans – particularly elderly Americans – would “never tire [of] receiving their daily paper, opening it at the table during breakfast, handing the sections they don’t care for to other family members, and working on the crossword puzzle if they had the time.” Turner, on the other hand, more forward-thinking. During the 1990s, Turner invested heavily technet media, believing it to be the way of the future. Turner believed that the newspaper would become an “obsolete way of distributing information[3] within their respective lifetimes due to the possibilities of the technet, which Kennedy was less reluctant to embrace at the start of things...

– Lisa Napoli’s Up All Night: The Story of Two Teds, KNN, And The Birth of 24-Hour News, Borders Books, 2020



…in other news, Nichole Brown is cooperating with police investigating the murder of her ex-husband, actor and football star O. J. Simpson. At the moment, the police have still not announced whether or not they have any leads or suspects…

– KNN, 8/28/1994



ARCOS OFFERS AIDE TO AMERICAN STATES HIT BY TROPICAL STORM

…In a demonstration of his pledge to assist in humanitarian drives for countries “big and small,” warm ties, President Gustavo Arcos has offered aide to the governors of America’s southern states hit worst by Tropical Storm Alberto. While lightly brushing Cuba’s westernmost provinces, Alberto hit America’s state of Florida with powerful force, sending floods to many communities across several states. So far, only Governor Bruce Smathers of Florida has replied, accepting Arcos’ support, calling to gesture “demonstrative of the good nature and close ties that the people of Florida and Cuba share”…

Diario de la Marina, Cuban newspaper, 8/29/1994



He was blinking a lot. He seemed off-balance, too. Regardless, Richard Nixon seemed to have overall bounced back from the health scare he had had the previous month, but Rebozo had informed me that he was eating less, and sleeping less, too. “He has a lot on his mind,” Rebozo said, “There’s just so many things he has to do.” Indeed, Nixon had packed a lot onto his daily plate. He was suing his former aide for libel, he was meeting with Senate and House leaders to stay on top of major legislation. Plus the doctor’s therapy exercises and his increasingly poor eating habits, he was wearing himself thin. The last time I spoke to him, he informed me of his need to meet with several more members of the State and Defense Departments over Nixon’s concerns over the increasing tension between the US and North Korea. He proclaimed, “the country will go up in flames without me!” And then left in a huff.

As far as anyone knows, those his last words. Right after, he walked down the hallway, and down to Senate Leader Byrd’s outer office. There, a blood clot, formed by the man’s atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat), from which he had been suffering for a few years, broke off from its place in his upper heart during his fuming travel, and the clot did some traveling of its own, until it found itself landing right into Nixon’s brain. Richard Nixon, my dear friend and mentor, suffered a fatal stroke while doing his job in the Senate. It killed him instantly at the age of 81.

– longtime US Rep. Robert Hutchinson “Bob” Finch’s Counselor to The Lion: My Memoirs, Sunrise Publishing, 1995



WGyl4fC.png

[pic: imgur.com/WGyl4fC.png ]
– clickopedia.co.usa



“Nixon was a good friend to my father and to our family. He wasn’t the warmest or most open and personal guy in the room, but he had charm, an infectious sense of dignity, and a keen drive for sensibility. And he had loyalty. Loyalty to his country, to his friends, to his allies, and to his family. His actions in life are proof of it, and in death he will be remembered for it. Long live the Lion of the Senate!”

– Mildred Sanders Ruggles speaking at Richard Nixon’s funeral, 9/4/1994



Having already held their primary on June 6, and determining that the party had insufficient time to run another, the California GOP turned to the former Lieutenant Governor (1987-1991) and former state Attorney General (1979-1987) George Deukmejian. Despite having lost a bid for the Republican nomination for Governor in 1990 (after having decided against running for the position in 1982 to run for another term for the position of state Attorney General), Deukmejian was a supporter of Nixon’s tough-on-crime record and accepted “the challenge of this duty” of becoming the GOP’s nominee and running for the seat. His nomination was made official at an emergency convention a week later.

Meanwhile, the Democrats were reeling. As Nixon was considered unbeatable, only minor candidates had run to be their nominee; this had led to political activist Peter Camejo becoming the candidate. But with a largely ignored and forgotten race suddenly becoming possibly winnable, several state party leaders sought to convince Camejo to drop out in favor of a more formidable candidate such as Governor Kennedy or Congresswoman Barbara Boxer. However, the former sacrificial lamb that was Peter Camejo refused to bow out, and publicly criticized the party for lacking faith in “the primary voters of our own party.” The comments soured Camejo’s relations with the California Democrats, and led to many state party leaders merely giving tepid support to his campaign as the November contest neared…

– psephologist Malcolm Mackerras’s Deciding Factors: The Complete Guide To The U.S. Senate in The Post-Cold War Era, e-publication, 2019 edition



WH ADVISOR SAYS US HAS INVITED JAPAN TO RESTART TRADE NEGOTIATIONS BEFORE NEW TARIFFS GO INTO EFFECT

The Washington Post, 9/6/1994



US, JAPAN OFFICIALS RESUME CONTACT AFTER WEEKS OF SILENCE

...the thawing of icy tensions signals an renewal in efforts to find a solution to ongoing trade relations concerns...

The Los Angeles Times, 9/7/1994



PARADIS WINS NEW TERM AS QUEBEC PREMIER

…Pierre Paradis (Liberal), the Premier of Quebec since Robert Bourassa’s resignation in January, has carried his party to victory in tonight’s election, winning a term of his own over Jacques Parizeau of the Quebecois Party. The Liberals lost several seats, but still stayed above the 63 seats, which is the number of seats needed to maintain their majority in the provincial government...

– The Calgary Sun, Canadian newspaper, 9/12/1994



HOW COLONEL SANDERS CREATED SCOOBY-DOO

As the 25th anniversary of this long-lasting franchise approaches, a look back on its origins produces interesting surprises. Back in the early 1960s, parental and psychoanalytical concerns over how media violence affected young children rose significantly, as TV coverage of the Cuba War, student protests and riots coincided with a rising saturation of Saturday morning action cartoons. The assassination of Hosea Williams and Aaron Henry and the 1963 attempt on the life of President Lyndon Johnson spurred concerned parents to demand the removal of violent cartoons from the lineups.

Come 1965, Colonel Sanders is in the White House. His subsequent demands for tighter regulation of violence in media meant for consumption by minors flew in the face of Sanders’ pro-business campaign message, but not in the face of his personal moral commitment to protecting children and families. Comic book makers from the period have written many books on the regulations of this era, as a moral panic gripped suburban parents. However, this very panic paved the way for a “softer” theme of cartoons – ones that balanced mature themes of mystery and intrigue with humor for children – to seek out by the major network. Soon, Scooby-Doo began being made to answer this call. While not the first “soft” show of the late 1960s, it was certainly the most successful. The original series – and most of its predecessors, too – contains plenty of action and adventure without serious peril or adult situations such as bloodshed or death threats. It’s instead a show about four kids and a dog going up against fake monsters instead of real ones. And we can, at least partially, thank The Colonel’s regulation policies for it.

Tumbleweed Magazine, September 1994 issue



…California’s Governor Donald Kennedy has appointed former US Congressman Augustus Hawkins to the US Senate seat vacated by the death of Senator and former Vice President Richard Nixon. The appointment of Hawkins, an African-American Democrat who represented the Golden State’s 21st district from 1963 to 1975 and its 29th district from 1975 until his retirement in 1991, has tipped the Senate to a composition of 50 Democrats, 48 Republicans, and 2 Independents, Angus King of Maine and the retiring Harry Byrd Jr. of Virginia, both of whom caucus with the Democrats. This narrowing of the Senate composition will most certainly raise the political stakes for the upcoming midterm elections in November…

– KNN report, 9/15/1994 broadcast



JONES: Let’s shift back to Futurama for a minute.

GROENING: Alright.

JONES: When it premiered on September 17, 1994, it reached high Nielsen ratings among homes and young adults, making it one of the strongest and most-watched premiers of the week. While critics scrutinized the exposition and lack of jokes, the world building and characters received a lot praise, and the thing was, people kept watching the show – instead of seeing ratings slope down, they stayed steady. The question in mean to ask, though, is, with a lot of fans of Life in Heck either loving Futurama or simply disliking it, why do you Futurama got such positive feedback, uh, back then, uh, compared to Life in Heck?

GROENING: Well I think it had something to do with the structure of both. While L.I.H. focused on more episodic situational comedy, Futurama was much more character driven. The show wasn’t exactly syndicated, but there was more continuity and overall characters arcs and character growth over the course of the seasons than in L.I.H. I think because, while both were originally passion projects, L.I.H. was about getting out messages dear to me. Down with nuclear power, preserve the ecosystems, fund our schools, and some more conspiratorial ideas that I would not like to talk about.

JONES: Hey, and you don’t have to, I understand.

GROENING: Yeah, well, when it came to Futurama, I wanted to focus more on the interaction between the different characters and explore what crazy stuff might be found in the 30th century, on top of the ability to, uh, explore various issues. Plus, the animation was of much higher quality thanks to our bigger budget. That allowed us to have more details in the backgrounds and character designs…

nfHlaMU.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/nfHlaMU ] (my apologies for the shoddy photoshopping around Fry/Key's neck and left hand, sorry about that)
Promotional image for Futurama featuring (left to right) NNYC Mayor Simpson, Bender, Lrrr, and Key, c. 1994

– usarightnow.co.usa, 2009 interview



On September 21, Air Force One touched down at Nago, Okinawa. Iacocca climbed out and immediately entered the building, where his Japanese counterpart had already arrived. The two men agreed to skip the pleasantries and get to work forging a solution; their respective groups of advisors stayed outside the room. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and US Commerce Secretary Betty Tom Chu called the Nago Summit “productive,” which was accurate. Murayama and Iacocca agreed to more closely monitor the enforcement of the 1993 trade deal, and for it to not automatically expire upon “the changing of the guard,” i.e. every time a new PM took office. Years later, Murayama claimed that during the primate meeting, Iacocca apologized for previous rhetoric that “maybe went too far;” this confession, alleged given at Secretary Chu’s urging, helped the meeting go smoothly. Another pivotal part of the Summit being a success was both leaders agreeing that the LDP was corrupt.

– Walter LaFeber’s The Sun And The Eagle: US-Japanese Relations In The Post-Cold War Era, 2019 edition



MUSA AL-SADR ALLY WINS LEBANON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

…Hussein El-Husseini, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, won a decisive victory over challengers Boutros Harb and Selim Hoss to succeed the term-limited incumbent President Antoine “Tony” Frangieh...

The Guardian, side article, 23/9/1994



…“Yogi had it easy because Lee [Iacocca] did the hard stuff,” he said, referring to Berra’s predecessor preventing a strike in 1987 and improving the financial situation baseball experienced in the late 1980s and very early 1990s. Berra’s most active action while in charge of MLB was his attempt at serving as representative of all major league owners during labor negotiations in 1993; his poor performance in this endeavor proved unpopular even among the owners, who withdrew their support for him in favor of his initial pledge to serve in an acting capacity. In August 1994, seeing the writing on the wall, Yogi Berra announced that he would be stepping down in September: “I’ve made too many wrong mistakes here.” [4]

Team owners soon gathered to find a new, more permanent MLB Commissioner. The Executive Council of Major League Baseball, Allan Huber “Bud” Selig, was the early favorite until MLB pitcher-turned-businessman Donald Trump, withdrew from consideration due to the very public and “nasty” divorce proceedings he was going through at the time. Trump endorsed Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott for the top spot over the third and final major candidate considered, George Walker Bush. Bush, as the manager of the Houston Astros, was credited with helping the team win the world series in 1993, and this victory boosted his candidacy’s support among many players. In a reportedly “contentious” vote, Bush bested Selig for his life-long dream job on September 25...

– John Helyar’s Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball, Ballantine Books, 1994



On September 30, Iacocca sought to finally address Republican concerns over the cost of American universal health care by signing into law a “marginal reform” bill (which he privately called “anti- monopoly-on-the-small-scale” in a letter) that was meant to limit the extent and benefits of hospital mergers. Such mergers prior to 1990, when UHC was implemented, often led to lower quality and standards as regional hospitals would lose competition and thus would be able to raise costs of services. Under UHC, such mergers were meant to lay off workers to save money, and these were leading to longer waiting lines and fewer doctors employed by major hospitals. The Hospital Merger Reform Bill, was passed narrowly by the House and then by the Senate by a wider margin, and aimed to complicate the hospital merger process in order to inhibit them via red tape that would absorb lots of time and money. The bill also encouraged the opening of more hospitals in rural areas to increase healthcare availability. Iacocca publicly planned on revisiting the issue in late 1995 with a “much bolder” plan…

– Elizabeth Drew’s On The Edge: The Iacocca Presidency, NYT Publishing, 2001



Iacocca responded to Kim Jung-Il’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric against the US with sanctions upon sanction, trying to see if they could “smoke ’em out,” and agree to a food aid deal that included tighter inspections of food distribution.

– Walter LaFeber’s The Sun And The Eagle: US-Japanese Relations In The Post-Cold War Era, 2019 edition



I served in the mud marines in Angola, in Libya, and in Nicaragua, and in 1985, I retired at the rank of Major. I kept getting passed over for promotion so figured, hey, “I’ve served my country, and the Cold War’s over. America has won. Maybe civilian life will suit me.” I didn’t. I got out of the service and several years later I was at the low point of my life. I mean things were bad. And I cried out to God. I said “God, how about putting me back on active duty and making me be a battalion commander?” And in that moment I saw the light and the glory of God, and he told me, “Belay that, my son, I’ve got a higher rank for you. If you keep the faith, you will be destined to lead this country to glory.’ And with the country, at the time, gearing up for war somewhere – where exactly, I didn’t know, but make no mistake, I figured we were heading for something the way things were getting tense with Japan and China, the Koreas, Colombia, something was going to go down – I figured that God must have been telling me to re-enlist, and lead some of my fellow patriots to victory, where we would end up going to victory in the name of freedom. So I re-enlisted. I didn’t know what to expect, but the great thing about religion is the comfort that comes with placing faith in something more powerful and more in control of things than you are or ever could be. Don’t think I’m crazy, ’cause I’m not. [5]

– Harley Brown’s autobiography I’ve Got A Masters Degree In Raising Hell, Sunrise Publishers, 2019




“I don’t dispute that security is a legitimate concern. There’s no question about that. We’ve been too lax for too long about devising a workable solution to the problem of illegal immigration. …But even if we built a wall that stretched the entire length of the border, it would not solve the problem. …My immigrant father taught me that there is only one reason why people leave the country of their birth to go somewhere else: jobs. Every immigrant, legal or illegal, comes to America because he wants to improve his lot in life. Most immigrants work hard and make great sacrifices to create better futures for their children. It’s the American dream.” [6]

– President Iacocca at a WH news briefing, when asked to comment on Senator Raese’s “Security Wall” proposal for the US-Mexican border, 10/6/1994




SENATE VOTES IN FAVOR OF F.J.G.P. BILL!; Iacocca Readies To Sign It Into Law

The Washington Post, 10/8/1994



UNEMPLOYMENT DOWN AS PORT JOBS FILLED

The Daily Telegraph, 10/10/1994



…the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, along with its subcommittee on communications and Technology, is reviewing a bill meant to limit the concentration and consolidation of media ownership. The bill is controversial to some for blurring the lines between anti-monopolism and anti-deregulations…

– CBS Evening News, 10/11/1994



zY00RCk.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/zY00RCk ]
– President Iacocca at a party celebrating his 70th birthday, Washington D.C., 10/15/1994



…Prime Minister John Lennon’s call for more “environmental responsibility” led to a slight rise in tension between the UK and the nations of China and India, due to the latter two being the leading contributors to the world’s air pollution rate. Chemical specks entering the lungs and can causing lung cancer, cardiovascular issues, and serious infections were seen as a serious health threat under Lennon’s administration. With most of the pollution stemming from coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities, China’s death rate (deaths per lakh) by the year 1994 saw China experience 146 air pollution-related deaths per lakh of its population; it was even worse in India [7]. Outside of industries, personal actions such as the use of domestic cooking stoves, gas stoves in restaurants and eateries, and even common agricultural practices such as burning fields, to clear them for planting new crops, added to the complexity of the situation. Roughly half of Indian households at the time cooked with wood, while a quarter cooked with gas and/or kerosene; meanwhile, Chinese citizens used wood, gas and coal at nearly equal levels.

In 1994, France’s President Claude Estier and Germany’s Helmut Kohl met with Lennon in Berlin to discuss how to lower CO2 emissions across Europe. During these discussions, Chancellor Kohl suggested using international pressure to force China to impose and scale up anti-pollution efforts in said country; Estier ultimately conceded, “it worked to get their feet off the backs of the Uyghurs, so it could work again.” Lennon, however offered a less contentious strategy of meeting with Indian and Chinese representatives.

Putting the idea to the test, in October 1994, Lennon travelled to New Delhi to meet with its mayor; the two discussed hiring more street sweepers and other workers to improve the conditions of business and residential areas of the city. Lennon next met with India’s Agriculture leaders to discuss investing in technologies to mechanize the clearing of fields before returning to London. Upon his returned, Lennon argued that better living standards abroad would encourage trade and business deals between India and the UK. “Nobody tours a smogged-up town. Nobody will buy a home near Aktau. Nobody will open a new business in Centralia, Pennsylvania. Heavy industry can lift an economy in the short run but dooms it and the people the economy is meant to work for in the long run. We have to be smart about this, we have to address and confront the truth about these sort of things.”

Due to Lennon’s long history of praising Indian spirituality, the visit eased UK-Indian tensions and helped paved the way for closer UK-Indian economic ties as both countries began to walk “the global tightrope problem,” as Lennon called it – confronting and combatting Global Climate Disruption without upending economic gains…

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020



Harrods Chief Paid Tory MPs To Plant Questions

…Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, a prominent lobbying firm, has bribed two Members of Parliament to ask questions in the House of Commons on behalf of Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods department store…

The Guardian, UK newspaper, 20/10/1994 exposé



IACOCCA SIGNS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION BILL INTO LAW

…the new federal law “ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected” in all states and territories, but with careful wording in order to not violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution’s First Amendment… [8]

The Washington Post, 10/21/1994




WORLD SERIES: L.A. DODGERS BEAT CLEVELAND INDIANS 6-TO-1!

The New York Times, 10/22/1994



VOTE for RALPH NADER!

A Vote for Nader Is A Vote for...
- Consumer Protection
- Economic Prosperity
- Pragmatic Action
- Professional Experience
- Peace At Home And Broad
Vote Independent on November 8th!

– A Ralph Nader for Senate poster, c. October 1994



EENGJmR.png

[pic: imgur.com/EENGJmR.png ]

– Ralph Nader posing for an ad for his Senate campaign, c. October 1994



THE ATTACK ON SLEAZE: Nolan Committee Expected To Look At Outside Interests

…instigated to review political standards, MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith, along with Harrod’s store owner Al-Fayed, may be investigated over bribery charges…

The Independent, UK newspaper, 24/10/1994



DOW CLOSES AT 123 (0.5% DOWN), AS TRADERS REACT TO “UNPREDICTABLE” US-JAPAN TRADE POLICIES

The Wall Street Journal, 10/26/1994



...Democratic candidates and even some Republican think-tankers are blaming Wall Street’s concerns of an impending economic windfall on Iacocca’s tariffs on Japan. The President has fired back with the notion that increasing investments in and trade with other nations in Europe and Asia should, quote, make up the difference, unquote...

The Overmyer Network, 10/27/1994



…James [von Brunn] was outraged by talks of raising interest rates by the end of the year, but he also said he was “disgusted” by the government’s support of the left-wing governments of South Africa and the UK. He once told me he did not consider Iacocca to be “a true white,” saying to me “And you know why.” I wasn’t absolutely sure why, though, so I just nodded my head, and he resumed his rant…

– Evelyn Rich’s Frenzy: That Time I Dated A Monster, The Schiller Institute, 2011



…Over in the country of Rwanda, UN peacekeeping forces are slowing leaving the nation in the wake of the end of mass killings by Hutu extremists in the country. The UN seeks to ensure that the country will be able to successfully, quote, start a new chapter in its history, unquote, once all UN troops leave…

– NBC News, 10/28/1994



SENATE GOP LEADERS BLAME SPEAKER WALKER FOR POLLS FINDING IACOCCA’S APPROVAL RATING HIGHER THAN GOP’S

The Washington Times, 10/29/1994



…presently, plenty of pre-election predictions – and poll after poll – promote the proposal of the Democratic party procuring more positions of power than the Republicans next Tuesday, as people partake in voting in the 1994 midterms…

– CBS Evening News, 10/31/1994



GOP RETAINS HOUSE, DEMOCRATS RETAIN SENATE

The New York Times, 11/8/1994



November United States Senate election results, 1994

Date: November 8, 1994
Seats: 36 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Senate minority leader: Bob Dole (R-KS)
Seats before election: 50 (D), 48 (R), 2 (I)
Seats after election: 52 (D), 46 (R), 2 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 2, R v 2, I - 0

Full List:
Arizona: Harry W. Braun (D) over Scott Grainger (R/Liberty); incumbent Barry Morris Goldwater (R) retired
California: C. George Deukmejian (R) over Peter Camejo (D/Green/La Rada Unida); incumbent appointee Augustus Hawkins (D) retired
Connecticut: Ralph Nader (I) over Daniel C. Esty (D) and Gary Franks (R); incumbent Antonina P. Uccello (R) retired
Delaware: incumbent William Victor Roth Jr. (R) over Charles Oberly (D)
Florida: incumbent Lawton Chiles (D) over Tom Gallagher (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Patsy Mink (D) over Maria Hustace (R)
Indiana: incumbent Katie Hall (D) over Barbara Bourland (R)
Iowa (special): incumbent appointee Terry Branstad (R) over David R. Nagle (D)
Maine: incumbent Edmund S. Muskie (D) over John R. McKernan Jr. (R) and Plato Truman (I)
Maryland: incumbent Paul Sarbanes (D) over Constance “Connie” Morella (R)
Massachusetts: incumbent Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D) over John Lakian (R)
Michigan: W. Mitt Romney (R) over Bob Carr (D); incumbent Elly Maude Peterson (R) retired
Minnesota: incumbent Joan Growe (D) over Rod Grams (R) and Dean Barkley (I)
Mississippi: incumbent William Webster “Webb” Franklin (R) over Ken Harper (D)
Missouri: Alan Wheat (D) over Bill Johnson (R); incumbent appointee Thomas M. Keyes (D) retired
Montana: incumbent Jack Mudd (D) over Tom Faranda (R)
Nebraska: incumbent Theodore "Ted" Sorensen (D) over Jan Stoney (R)
Nevada: Anna Nevenic (D) over Kenny Guinn (R); incumbent Paul Laxalt (R) retired
New Jersey: incumbent Mary V. Mochary (R) over Herb Klein (D)
New Mexico: incumbent Pedro Jimenez (D) over Robin Dozier Otten (R)
New York: Gabriel “Gabe” Kaplan (D/Labor/Progressive/Green) over incumbent Michael Rockefeller (R/Liberal), and Henry F. Hewes (Conservative/Life)
North Dakota: incumbent Arthur Albert Link (D) over Ben Clayburgh (R)
Ohio: incumbent John Glenn (D) over Paul E. Pfeifer (R) and Joseph Slovenec (I)
Ohio (special): Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. (D) over Phyllis Goetz (R); incumbent Carl Stokes (D) announced premature retirement/resignation due to cancer
Pennsylvania: incumbent Darcy Richardson (D) over Dick Santorum (R), Diane G. Blough (Country) and Donald Ernsberger (Liberty)
Rhode Island: incumbent Claudine Schneider (R) over Linda Kushner (D)
South Dakota (special): Teresa McGovern (D) over incumbent appointee Carole Hillard (R)
Tennessee: incumbent Albert Gore Sr. (D) over Bill Frist (R) and John Jay Hooker (I)
Texas: incumbent Ann Richards (D) over Harry “Steve” Bartlett (R), Mary J. Ruwart (Liberty) and Jose Angel Gutierrez (La Raza Unida)
Utah: David D. Marriott (R) over Patrick A. Shea (D) and Gary Van Horn (Country); incumbent Frank E. Moss (D) retired
Vermont: incumbent Phil Hoff (D) over Jim Jeffords (R) and Peter Diamondstone (Liberty Union)
Virginia: Frank Wolf (R) over Rick Boucher (D); incumbent Harry F. Byrd (I) retired
Washington: incumbent Jolene Unsoeld (D) over Rod Chandler (R)
West Virginia: incumbent Robert C. Byrd (D) over Stanley L. Klos (R)
Wisconsin: incumbent Susan Engeleiter (R) over Alvin Baldus (D)
Wyoming: incumbent John S. Wold (R) over Susan Anderson (D)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States House of Representatives results, 1994

Date: November 8, 1994
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218
New House majority leader: Robert Smith Walker (R-PA)
New House minority leader: Richard "Dick" Gephardt (D-MO)
Last election: 234 (R), 199 (D), 2 (I)
Seats won: 225 (R), 206 (D), 2 (I)
Seat change: R v 9, D ^ 9, I - 0

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States Governor election results, 1994

Date: November 8, 1994
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 11
Seats before: 34 (D), 15 (R), 1 (I), 0 (G)
Seats after: 34 (D), 14 (R), 1 (I), 1 (G)
Seat change: D - 0, R v 1 or 2, I - 0, G ^ 1

Full list:
Alabama: Bettye Frink (R) over Lambert Mims (D); incumbent William R. “Shorty” Price (R) was term-limited
Alaska: Nora Dauenhauer (Green) over Robin L. Taylor (Liberty), Red Boucher (D), J. H. Lindauer Jr. (R), and Joe Vogler (AIP); incumbent Bob Ross (I) retired
Arizona: Samuel "Sam" Goddard III (D) over Barbara Barrett (R) and John A. Buttrick (Liberty); incumbent Carolyn Warner (D) retired
Arkansas: incumbent Mike Beebe (D) over James Douglas Johnson (R)
California: Kathleen Brown (D) over Carol Boyd Hallett (R); incumbent Donald Kennedy (D) retired
Colorado: Wellington Webb (D) over incumbent John Andrews (R)
Connecticut: Bruce Morrison (D) over Jodi Rell (R); incumbent Eunice Groark (R) retired
Florida: LeRoy Collins Jr. (D) over Tillie K. Fowler (R); incumbent Bruce A. Smathers (D) retired
Georgia: Eston Wycliffe “Wyc” Orr Sr. (D) over Sonny Perdue (R); incumbent Jimmie Lee Jackson (D) retired
Hawaii: incumbent Fred Hemmings (R) over Malama Solomon (D) and Frank Fasi (I)
Idaho: Butch Otter (R) over incumbent Larry LaRocco (D)
Illinois: incumbent Jim Edgar (R) over Dawn Netsch (D)
Iowa: incumbent Joy Coming (R) over Bonnie Campbell (D)
Kansas: Martha Keys (D) over Jan Meyers (R); incumbent Jim Slattery (D) retired
Maine: James B. Longley Jr. (I) over Andrew Adam (D) and Richard David Hewes (R); incumbent Libby Mitchell (D) retired
Maryland: incumbent Decatur “Bucky” Trotter (D) over Ellen Sauerbrey (R)
Massachusetts: incumbent Evelyn Murphy (D) over Paul Tsongas (Liberty) and Argeo Paul Cellucci (R)
Michigan: incumbent James J. Blanchard (D) over Connie Binsfeld (R)
Minnesota: incumbent Rudy Perpich (DFL) over Harveydale Maruska (IRL (Independence-Republican-Liberty))
Nebraska: Kay A. Orr (R) over Maxine B. Moul (D); incumbent Helen Boosalis (D) retired
Nevada: Doug Swanson (R) over Sue Wagner (D); incumbent Joseph Yale Resnick (D) retired
New Hampshire: incumbent Christopher "Chris" Spirou (D) over Steve Winter (R)
New Mexico: Richard P. “Rick” Cheney (R) [9] over Paul G. Bardacke (D) and Bill Richardson (La Raza Unida); incumbent Ben Lujan Sr. (D) was term-limited
New York: incumbent Mario Cuomo (D) over Tom Golisano (Conservative) and Herbert London (R)
Ohio: William J. Brown (D) over Bob Taft (R); incumbent Jerry Springer (D) retired
Oklahoma: Robert S. Kerr III (D) over Wes Watkins (I) and incumbent Bill Price (R)
Oregon: John Lim (R) over Rod Monroe (D) and Ed Hickam (Country); incumbent Norma Paulus (R) retired
Pennsylvania: Lynn Yeakel (D) over Marguerite Ann “Peg” McKenna Luksik (R); incumbent William W. Scranton III (R) retired
Rhode Island: incumbent Robert A. “Bob” Weygand (D) over Bob Healey (Cool Moose) and Lincoln Almond (R)
South Carolina: Robert Durden “Bob” Inglis Sr. (R) over Theo Mitchell (D); incumbent Nick Theodore (D) was term-limited
South Dakota: incumbent Gus Hercules (R) over Jim Beddow (D) and Nathan Barton (Liberty)
Tennessee: Frank Goad Clement (D) over Don Sundquist (R) and Dick Fulton (Independent D); incumbent Hillary Rodham-Clinton (R) was term-limited
Texas: Henry Cisneros (D/La Raza Unida) over Keary Ehlers (Liberty), Clayton Williams (R) and Ramsey Muniz (Natural Mind); incumbent Rick Perry (D) retired
Vermont: Howard Dean (D) over incumbent John McClaughry (R) and Dennis Lane (Liberty Union)
Wisconsin: Margaret Farrow (R) over Martin J. Schreiber (D); incumbent Paul R. Soglin (D)
Wyoming: Harriet Elizabeth Byrd (D) over Richard Bruce Cheney (R) and Mary Mead (Conservative); incumbent Thyra Thomson (R)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



N7EzI1q.png

[pic: imgur.com/N7EzI1q.png ]
…Dauenhauer’s victory came after weeks of polling showing her in a virtual three-way tie with Taylor and Boucher. Pundits blamed Boucher’s unenthusiastic campaign and liberals splitting from the Democratic Party to vote for Dauenhauer for Boucher underperforming, with recounts confirming his coming in third place. Similarly to the Democratic siphoning, Republicans who disliked Lindauer, either for his anti-family relief programs or for his anti-BLUTAG rhetoric for it being too similar to that of former Governor Tom Fink, instead voted for the Liberty party nominee, who supported BLUTAG rights and keeping family relief programs in exchange for removing all other programs…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Alaska_gubernatorial_election,_1994



CA VOTERS PASS PROPOSITION 118, LEGALIZING MEDICAL POT

…The Necessary Use Act of 1994, which aims to legalize the use of cannabis (marijuana) for medicinal and medically-necessary purposes, has been approved by the state’s “vote initiative” process, which has enact the new law with a “yes” vote of 52.5%, versus a “non” vote of 47.5%. Supporters of the proposition argue that this will improve people's health and lower recreadrug-related incarceration rates..

– The New York Times, 11/8/1994



Correspondent JOHN BLACKSTONE: Democrats made some gains overall, while Republicans fared even better on local levels in some places, but worse in others.

Co-Anchor CONNIE CHUNG: And such midterm results are typical for a first-term President’s party. Polling was, I’d say, much more accurate tonight than two years ago, as polls suggested the Democrats would perform better, and that is what happened. That’s very telling, because it suggests pollsters surveyed more voters, or voters were more open about who they supported than they were two years ago.

BLACSTONE: Well I think it’s very telling just how popular the outgoing Governor up there is, as the Green Party’s victory in Alaska is the biggest fish they’ve caught by far. Up until now, they’ve only won a few city council or council-level positions nationwide. So this is definitely a game-changer for them, and we will see if they can develop some momentum from this, or if it was just a blue-moon kind of moment.

CHUNG: Well it was not the only major election victory out west, John. While Alaska was just voted for its first female and first Native American governor, Wyoming has elected an African-American woman to the Governorship. 68-year-old state senate leader Harriet Elizabeth Byrd will become the first-ever Black female Governor in American history. With the additional elections of five other women to governor seats last night – that’s Bettye Frink in Alabama, Kathleen Brown in California, Martha Keys in Kansas, Kay Orr in Nebraska, and Margaret Farrow in Wisconsin – this can definitely be called a good night for woman candidates, and a historic one at that.

Co-Anchor DAN RATHER: Yes, Connie, and I have to wonder how it came to be so.

BLACKSTONE: Well, based on what I’ve reported on from the polls, it seems a lot of woman voters are supporting women candidates because of President Bellamy losing re-election.

Special Guest JANICE FINE: Well of course, John. A lot of congressional pushback to her policies were male-driven. If Congress had had more than just a measly 24 female Senators and only 80 or so female Representatives, maybe she could have gotten even more done than she already had gotten done during her term.

– CBS Evening News, post-midterms analysis discussion, 11/9/1994



…we have some breaking news: Antonietta Perrotta Iacocca, the mother of President Iacocca, has died. Mrs. Iacocca was born in Italy and immigrated to the United States in 1927. She passed away in her sleep from natural causes at her home in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was 90 years old, and is survived by the President, her daughter Delma Iacocca Kelechava, one sister, six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Surely, this is a sad day for the Iacocca White House, and Antonietta, who served as Acting White House Co-Hostess a three banquets earlier this year, will be truly missed…

– NBC News, 11/18/1994 broadcast



HAITI RECEIVING AID AS HURRICANE GORDON FINALLY DISSIPATES

…with hundreds dead and millions of dollars lost in its wake, Hurricane Gordon’s path of destruction ranged from its November 8 birth over Nicaragua and Costa Rica, to its death over the Carolinas. Hundreds of homes have been lost in Costa Rica, floods have inundated Haiti, and thousands of damaged houses (but, seemingly miraculously, zero deaths, only many injuries) are left behind in Cuba. Haiti, the worst nation hit by the storm, already issued an appeal to the international community for help on November 16. The UN and the Canadian government have begun donating, with Japan following suit, and then, most recently, citizens of the United States have begun sending whatever it can while America’s government assesses its own internal damage, such the destruction that has befallen the crops of the American state of Florida. Meanwhile, earlier today, the World Meteorological Organization credited Cuba’s infrastructure for the zero-casualty count, and contrasted it to Haiti’s poor roads and emergency services systems...

Diario de la Marina, Cuban newspaper, 11/12/1994



COLOSIO APPROVAL AT 60% AS PROPOSALS SLOWLY BECOME POLICIES

…Under the new president, the Mexican government may finally be getting into the corner of the hogares, a system of nonprofit orphanages. As for poor families with children, Colosio is working with the government’s treasury department to allocate funding needed for reforms concerning basic needs such as medicine, food security and education for children. …While some Mexican citizens have high hopes that Colosio’s economic development programs will lower unemployment and improve living standards, others are less optimistic. “Alvarez,” Colosio’s Presidential predecessor, “promised the same kind of things and he only got so far,” says one mother in Cuernavaca, twenty miles south of Mexico City, where the difference in the quality of life is starkly different. “I guess getting some of us out of poverty is better than getting none of us out, but trying telling that to the people still struggling and see if they’ll care those others who’ve made it out. They won’t be happy for them; they’ll be angry they aren’t doing better, too.”

The El Paso Times, 12/1/1994



Lee knew Speaker Walker would not like it, nor would the Senate leader, Bob Dole, his second-in-command George V. Hansen, or party whip Kay Bailey Hutchison. Party elder Strom Thurmond, would stir up a fuss, as would Jake Garn behind the scenes, while the party’s more boisterous voices like Richard Obenshain or Jack Raese, would no doubt exude their frustrations in front of some cameras somewhere. But in these private exchanges with his advisors, Lee had begun to form a very un-Republican view about the War on Recreadrugs: “A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy. A leader must have courage. I’m talking about balls. That even goes for female leaders. Swagger isn’t courage. Tough talk isn’t courage. …Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk. If you’re a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes. …We spend around $40 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. A conservative estimate of the total amount we’ve spent would be around one trillion dollars. So, are we winning? Well, we lock up almost half a million people a year – mostly drug users. But every expert analysis of our progress shows the same thing: After over twenty years, we have not reduced the quantity of drugs or the consumption of drugs one lousy percentage point.” [10]

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020




GOVERNOR-GENERAL SIGNS OFF ON “LANDMARK” ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS ACT

…With this new law, the Australian government will pay “generous” monetary reparations to Aborigines who were displaced during nuclear testing at Maralinga and other places during the 1950s and 1960s, and with give back over 70,000 km of land in Western Australia and Northern Territory back to the Aborigines… …Prime Minister de la Hunty’s successful return to the call for Aboriginal land rights reform can be credited to her 1992 election mandate and to her allies’ PR work to drum up popular support for the large act…

The Age, Australian newspaper, 12/3/1994



PLAYSTATION CONSOLES: A Look Back

…While focusing more on games than consoles at the time, Sony nevertheless released the PlayStation 1 on December 3, 1994. It went on to become the first video game console to ship more than 100 million units. It is considered to be a part of the fifth generation of game consoles and competed against the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 in the mid-’90s… [11]

– gamespot.co.usa




“A thousand words can’t bring you back. I know because I have tried. And neither will a million tears. I know because I have cried.”

– Claudia Sanders, 12/4/1994 [12]



Bob Haldeman, Former Nixon Aide And Author of Tell-All Book, 67

– The Santa Barbara News-Press, obituary column, 12/6/1994



The [censored] left me. She took the baby with her. The [censored]! Just like the [censored] who keep cheating me at the card tables. They don’t take me seriously, and feel no guilt over [censored] me over. Well two can play at that game! I hate being called “Crazy Jim”! Is it crazy to want the good found in the crap-heap we call life? They call me “Crazy Jim.” What [censored]! I could have been somebody! I was in a movie with Linda Evans for the love of [censored]! Now look at me. Unemployed, living off disability, the NITR the only good law in this entire damn country. And now I hear the government wants to scale it back! The only law keeping me from starving to death. When nobody else will help me. Not even Ma or sis. The [censored]! The [censored]! They refused to help. Damn the American family to hell. God forgive me. [13]

– Lynwood Crumpler Drake III’s personal journal, 12/8/1994 entry




IACOCCA SIGNS SECURITIES LAWSUITS BILL INTO LAW

…the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act is designed to limit frivolous security fraud lawsuits that have proven to be extremely costly in the past, even when containing “evidence as little and as weak as barely circumstantial,” says US Congressman Richard "Dick" Shelby (R-AL), who worked on the bill. “This will raise up what was up until now a very low barrier, one that was costing the federal government millions of dollars.” In addition to decluttering American court systems of frivolous lawsuit congestion, the bill also aims to “free up” funding for multiple other federal programs…

The Washington Post, 12/10/1994



CORRESPONDENT: …well it’s 3:05 AM and the final district we’ve been waiting on has announced the results of their recount – state senator Terri McGovern has won the final district by 211 votes, which re-confirms her November victory. Again, Teresa McGovern will be South Dakota’s new junior US Senator come January 3rd... …and there’s the winner now, there she is, flanked by her husband Paul and her three children, Colleen, Marilyn and Greg. A teetotaler and possibly the nation’s first vegan US Senator – we’ll have to research that – McGovern ran for the Senate seat with a host grassroots supporters dubbed “McGoverniks.”

CO-ANCHOR 1: Yes, while her opponent was an establishment Republican who accused her of using, quote, “performance-enhancing narcotics,” unquote. Could you clarify for the viewers what that was all about?

CORRESPONDENT: It was her opponent’s alleged explanation for McGovern’s seemingly-constant positive and energetic mood, which McGovern herself has described as the result of her family and will to do good as simply driving her every day. That’s not an exact quote, mind you, that’s just the gist of it.

CO-ANCHOR 2: Do you find that answer valid in your opinion?

CORRESPONDENT: Well I don’t think her demeanor’s drug-related. I’ve been following Terri’s career for a while now, and, you know, of all of the McGovern children, Terri delivered the most fevered speeches on her father’s campaigns of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Intelligent, funny, generous, charismatic, tender even, that is just her personality, I believe.

[snip]

NARRATOR (as footage plays): Teresa Jane “Terri” McGovern was born on June 10, 1949 in Mitchell, South Dakota. The middle of five children, she was close to her father, a Democratic politician and future Governor of this state. In 1967, McGovern entered medical school, and in 1970, worked on her father’s first successful gubernatorial bid. In 1971, McGovern was in a car accident that killed a school friend. The shocking event traumatized her; it was the very first and very last time she ever drank alcohol, and as a result is one of the few Democrats in the House who is both progressive and opposed to recreadrugs and alcohol.

McGOVERN (in footage of the sole debate she had with her Republican opponent): It is true that alcoholism tends to run in families, and that all kinds of people can become alcoholics, including brave people and strong people. And yet it is also true that you recover not through conventional medicine, but through what amounts to a colossal act of will. So if alcoholism is a disease, it is not simply a disease: it is, on some level, a terrible seduction.

NARRATOR: This viewpoint on the responsibilities of private consumption likely helped her candidacy win over moderate and anti-recreadrug voters.

McGOVERN (in footage of an interview from earlier in the year): I’m either an idealist or a sap, depending on who you ask.

NARRATOR: Prior to becoming a state senator in 1986, McGovern had worked in the state capitol, in day care centers and in a hospice for terminally ill cancer patients.” Before shifting to working as an intern for US Congressperson Trudy Cooper, a fellow progressive Democrat… [14]

– The Overmyer Network, special election night broadcast, 12/13/1994




SMITH DOES THE DECENT THING: After Talks With Tory Leaders And PM Lennon, Admits to Taking Bribes And Resigns From Parliament!

The Independent, UK newspaper, 16/12/1994



WHAT GOVERNOR DAUENHAUER REALLY MEANS FOR THE OIL BUSINESS

…while Ross was willing to compromise on the issues, do not be fooled by his misguided endorsement of Dauenhauer. Our governor-elect is much farther to the left, and having run on the positive-but-vague promise of “peace and protection,” you can be certain that her administration will care more about preserving the lives of Bambi and Thumper than the livelihoods of our lumberjacks, oilmen, and other valued workers…

– Alaskan businessman Steven Ditmeyer’s op-ed in The Skagway News, Alaska newspaper, 12/19/1994



HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER EMERY TO CHALLENGE WALKER FOR SPEAKERSHIP

Washington, DC – David F. Emery (R, ME-1), the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, has announced his candidacy for Speaker of the House, ahead of next month’s leader election. In the wake of the GOP losing House seats in November’s midterm elections, incumbent House Speaker Robert Smith Walker (R-MS) is facing increasing scrutiny for his uncompromising “country conservative” policies.

While an incumbent House Speaker being challenged by a member of his own party is not unprecedented, such an event has not occurred for several decades, and the likelihood of Emery succeeding is “actually not that low,” according to outgoing US Congresswoman Virginia Dodd Smith (R-NE). “Emery,” a member of congress since 1975, “is well connected, with allies among moderates, among centrists, and among the remaining liberals on the Republican side of the House.” Additionally, with House Whip Edward Madigan (R-PA) having died from cancer on December 7th, Walker lacks his “cheerleader,” as Smith called Madigan. “His first mate smoke himself to death, and with Walker rubbing many so many committee members the wrong way, there’s a real chance of Emery winning over many of them, and the Republican members of the incoming freshman class.” On the other hand, Congresspersons supportive of Speaker Walker, such as retiring US Congressman Richard Bruce Cheney (R-WY), believe Emery has “zero” chance of winning: “Walker will crush him and you can quote me on that.”

House Speakership elections are unique, because all representatives cast a vote, and while typically each one will vote for the nominee of their party, representatives can still vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation. Walker’s disputes with House Republican Conferences and his opposing of President Iacocca on several bills this year has dropped his popularity within the party. As a result, the GOP and RNC have pushed back the day for nominating their candidate for Speaker until January 3. The actual vote for Speaker will be held on January 6, per tradition.

Emery’s announcement makes for three candidates running for Speaker – Walker, Emery, and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO). Elected at the beginning of the new congress via a roll call, which is simply repeated until a majority of votes have been ascertained by a candidate, Republicans have 225 seats/votes, while the Democrats have 208; 218 are needed to become speaker. At the moment, given historic trends, the odds favor Walker, but with the number of Republicans favoring Emery over Walker being currently unknown, Emery could still pull off a surprising upset.

The Washington Post, 12/21/1994



SOURCE(S)/NOTE(S)
[1] This date is according to this site: https://doctorzebra.com/prez/g37.htm
[2] Thus it was not dismantled like it was in 1995 in OTL!
[3] This is an OTL Ted Turner quote that was found through his wikipedia article!
[4] A variation of an OTL “Yogi-ism”!
[5] These italicized parts are OTL remarks that were pulled from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k8P8-KViME
[6] Quote pulled from page 119 of the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470
[7] Italicized line pulled from here: https://m.economictimes.com/news/environment/pollution/india-china-account-for-over-half-of-global-deaths-due-to-air-pollution-report/articleshow/63822904.cms
[8] The quoted bit is from the wiki page of this bill’s OTL counterpart, which passed in 1993 IRL.
[9] This is NOT this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney Cheney guy, but this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cheney_(New_Mexico_politician) Cheney guy!
[10] Lines pulled (and edited slightly) from Page 8 of the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470
[11] Italicized bit pulled from here: https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/the-evolution-of-playstation-consoles/2900-899/
[12] I actually can’t find that actual person who said this OTL quote (I think it is sayinggoodbye.org?); if anyone knows its source/origin, please let me know!
[13] This OTL quote as found through Source 5 on his wiki page; and he really was in a movie with Linda Evans, BTW…
[14] Italicized parts are from here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/teresa-mcgovern-a-death-in-the-cold/2012/10/21/42ad26ca-1bde-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html. Also, a (sort of) explanation: because McGovern lost his 1962 bid for the US Senate, Terry and her family never moved to D.C., where she obtained her drinking addiction via downing a Colt 45 with a some new “friends” in early 1963 at the age of 13. Instead, she grows up in South Dakota, and doesn’t take her first drop of alcohol until years later than in OTL.

@Ogrebear:
I’ll cover both Trump’s financial and marital situations in 1995, as well as the Eugene V. Debs film, and the results of the Sanwi’s search for a figurehead…
Understood; the British Pound currency system will stay!
We’ll see what happens with James Cameron here…

The next chapter's E.T.A.: June 23 at the very latest.
 
Last edited:
Chapter 69: March 1994 – July 1994

So Hillenburg ends up doing some Spongebob animation anyway heh
And 2 outlets too? Expand, expand!
A Sri Lanka deal? Lets hope it holds...
Wonder what effect Iacocca's 'crusade' about Japan is having on pop culture like anime/manga/toys?
Seems Bob like the same pizza as me
Arguing for legalizing marijuana using the 'get govt out of our private lives' is genius
Rwanda is a mess, but a better mess than OTL...
The Yakuza murder of Itami is likely to cause a rash of News Specials on whom the Yakuza are- maybe even a 'crackdown' in N America
Wonder if the public will come out to support the UHC Act?
Good luck saving the Aral Sea- you are going to need co-operation with a lot of folk to pull it off. I hope they can though, it is a global tragedy
US-Japan trade war a go? Hum... USA might lose badly here
Wonder if Evelyn reports von Brunn before he can do any harm?
Hope Colin Foale was ok went he got back to Earth
Space Ghost Coast to Coast sounds like a way to make a new show cheap using recycled art
Wonder if the Honda name survives, or is it just consigned to history?
Toyota and Nissan will do well in Europe though as the smaller cars suit the roads well
Hope the Smith Provision gets slapped down
Too much Solidarity bad for democracy in Poland? Humm
Federal Jobs Guarantee Program is crawling along. If the Prez is on-board that should help
Go Albuquerque - guess people won't take a wrong turn here now if the pot is legal
Wonder if Governor George Allen is going to have problems next election?
Lynwood Drake sounds like he would benefit from the Federal Jobs program...
Going out on a Mystery there Groening - good plan
I suspect the truth of Nixon is going to be somewhere between Finch and Haldeman's versions of events
I like the Election Holiday bill, but I can see both sides there
Reverse Simpsons murders! Nice twist!
Sounds Like Ebert liked Lion King then!
Wonder how much Japan has increased her trade with China, and S. American/African countries to counter the US trade embargo. Also has the USA pressured the Commonwealth and other western countries into joining in?
Welcome back Curt! Wonder if this Timeline sees the Foo Fighters?
I figured North Korea would break the deal. Hopefully there will not be a return of famine
The use of the ISS- leads me to think it might be time to consider expanding it, or building a new one?
One solid argument for marijuana is that a regulated product is less harmful than booze or tobacco...
Maxwell vs Murdoch? Hum... not sure I like either, but probably Maxwell
Mike Reynolds is a genius. Bet he'd get on with Bob Ross
Tuna on pineapple pizza is a sign someone is an Alien!
Heh, have to wonder if the US did have a hand in Kim Il-Sung's death, seems too convenient...
Ah, nothing like a mutual threat to make common sense to break out re: Trade with Japan
Lennon needs to subsidise electric charging infrastructure, and the use of solar panels, turbines etc rather than just penalise polluters- help people transition to more green options. Perhaps tribunes in tunnels, air con on the Underground, encourage rather than just talk about penalties
Toy Story with a female Space Ranger? Nice change there. The contrast between the Ranger and Barbie might send some interesting messages
Nice work in Ghana there everyone involved!
Civil War in the Canadian PC there- the public will probably remember them tearing themselves apart next election cycle though, unless Cunningham is good
Green Party win in Alaska would be a major shake up! Sounds fun to me!

It's all the little changes alongside the big elections, and events that make this timeline so good to me.
 
Chapter 70: August 1994 – December 1994

We definitely don't get veg, mash, and those other choices at my local KFC's...
Get well soon Mr Nixon!
If China and S. Korea are not sending aid to the North there is going to be trouble. Unless Russia is sending aid?
Hope Rwanda holds together here
Can someone bang America and Japan's head together...
Wonder if President Luis Colosio can turn Mexico around?
UHC and the 'Balanced Budget' amendment must be sooo much fun for Govt to balance
There is a former Communist in charge of South Africa? President Chris Hani you have come far!
Thing is both Kennedy and Turner are right- the older folk will keep buying papers, the young want online media. Trick is supplying both in a business sustainable way!
Positive Cuba - Florida relations; show how much this timeline has changed things
RIP Richard Nixon - hope your legacy is remembered better ITTL
Go Peter Camejo- even if you don't win, sticking to your guns as the nominee is a good stance imho
I could just see the Colonel liking Scooby-Doo somehow...
Like that Futurama image- right level of chaos!
Murayama and Iacocca - finally some sense!
Lebanon and region seems nice and stable, thanks to the Colonel's legacy
GW Bush makes MLB Commissioner - nice work GW, bet Trump was annoyed
The Hospital Merger Reform Bill also sounds like a way of boosting Republican support in rural areas to me
If the US is sanctioning N. Korea I guess its going through the UN and everyone is too?
Harley Brown - interesting chap.... yes....
I wonder if Iacocca considered tighter border measures in the wake of the 'wall' idea?
Federal Jobs Guarantee Program passed! Awesome news for a lot of Americans here
"reviewing a bill meant to limit the concentration and consolidation of media ownership..." that will annoy a certain Murdoch from Oz...
Good plan there Lennon- now you just have to something with India's poor
I think Lennon is about to have a major 'cash for questions' scandal explode on him...
Economic uncertainty due to a trade war? Close to election time? Bad combo
von Brunn really needs a job...
Shame Peter Camejo didn't get it
Congratz Governor Dauenhauer - see if Ross will take a consultant role?
California legalises marijuana- nice, lets see how restrictive "medicinal and medically-necessary purposes" are defined as
Good for Wyoming voters there. Nice historical moment
Well lets hope Haiti gets more help here than OTL
Perhaps President Colosio needs to look at solar power generation to help Mexico's finances?
I like that the President is reasonable enough to consider that throwing money at the 'drugs war' is not working
Does Prime Minister de la Hunty land deal include returning Uluru/ Ayers' Rock or has that already been returned like OTL?
Bob Haldeman follows Nixon to the grave- I wonder if the estates settled the law suit?
Guess Lynwood Drake won't be able to get any help until a tragedy happens or be beyond help...
McGovern seems like quite an interesting butterfly. Less see where this one flaps to
Seems the UK 'cash for questions' is not that bad yet. Wonder if will get onto MP's expenses...?
I think Speaker Walker is in for a harder time that he things here.

Nice work @gap80

Couple of thoughts:
What's going on with Marvel and the comic industry about now? OTL it was in a bit of a meltdown.
Is Marilyn Monroe still around and acting? I don't think she has been mentioned since 1971
So Star Trek Phase II went off the air in 1982 - has there been any more Star Trek to replace it? Movies? Sulu series? TNG?
What's going on with Star Wars? We know the '77 movie came out, but did the other parts? Was Lucas' home life different in the Alt80's here for him to remain married and make 9 movie sequence he originally wanted or a TV spin off?
 
Chapter 71: January 1995 – May 1995
Chapter 71: January 1995 – May 1995

“The Problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubt, while the stupid people are full of confidence”

– Charles Bukowski



The day before the January 6 election for House Speaker, President Iacocca finally publicly broke from Walker’s side to endorse Emery. There were 225 Republicans, 208 Democrats, and two Democratic-caucusing Independents voting; a majority 218 votes were needed to win the Speakership. In the first round of voting, support for Walker within the GOP collapsed; 210 went for Gephardt, 131 for Emery, and just 94 for Walker. This was despite speculations prior to Iacocca’s endorsement suggesting that Walker would receive at least 180 votes, and post-endorsement speculation suggesting a win of a least 150. The results thus demonstrated how popular and influential Iacocca had become among Republican lawmaker. Or, just how unpopular Walker to become among his fellow Republicans; just weeks prior, Congressional Quarterly wrote that "he [Walker] has raised too many hackles and rubbed too many nerves to be very popular" in the House for much longer [1]. Indeed, it appeared that Emery was preferred even by some conservatives over his pledge to work with the GOP conservative caucuses, and, more importantly, due to his record of consistency; “In his twenty years in congress, David had showcased better work performance and a stronger work ethic than Walker has shown in his four years as Speaker,” said Ira W. McCollum Jr. (R-FL) in a 2001 interview. In the second round of voting held later that same day, 210 votes again went to Gephardt, and Emery expanded his number of votes to 201, while Walker received only 24. Just before the third ballot, Walker went onto the House floor to give an impromptu speech condemning his fellow congressmen for choosing “personality over principles,” and criticizing the character of “turncoat” legislators. Walker had hoped that he could “shame ’em” into returning to his side. Instead, he just lost more of them. In third and final ballot, 219 voted for Emery, 210 for Gephardt, and just 15 die-hard conservative Republicans stood by Walker at the end of a historic House Speakership vote.

– Catherine Whitney’s Where Have All The Leaders Gone?: A Look Back on The Iacocca Years, Simon & Schuster, 2011



He had only another hour of the Speakership to get his affairs in order. Meeting with his remaining allies, including Congressman Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), in his soon-to-be-former outer office, Walker announced that he would resign from his House seat at the end of the month.

“Now, does anyone else have any other news for me before I wrap things up?” Walker asked bitterly.

“Um,” Coburn hesitated.

“Yes?”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d call it news, but – ”

“Get on with it, before I leave the Speakership, please.”

“You know Congressman Steve Gunderson?” Coburn said, referring to the Republican Representative of Wisconsin’s Third District since 1981.

“Yeah?”

“Well I wanted to talk to Congressman Herb Bateman about him being on the fence during the vote, and so I wanted to talk to him alone somewhere, someplace private. I walked him over to the one broom closet near the south stairwell. I open the door, and there’s Gunderson, with Congressman Harvey Milk, and they’re…well as soon the door swung open they pulled apart from one another, or at least, Gunderson jumped to the side, but I swear, they were making out.”

“When did you see this?”

“During the break between the first and second round of voting.”

“And you’re revealing it to me now, instead of when I could have used it.”

“Um…”

“You know what? If not even my allies here can help me, then maybe losing the Speakership was a blessing in disguise. Maybe I can do more to maintain traditional values from some think tank than from the hill, and with less headache!”

After the meeting and Walker saying his goodbyes, Kolbe, having not yet “unmasked himself,” [2] met with Congressman Gunderson to give him fair warning…

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020



…Saudi Arabia’s MAA space agency boosted the nation’s popularity and interests among investors hailing from Africa and Eastern Europe. King Abdullah agreed with Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud’s push to make space exploration a joint regional collaborative venture. Concurrently, in the Rub-al-Khali, the world’s largest continuous sand desert, Saudi Arabia began planting massive sun farms, with government contracts being issues to several technology companies such as Boeing, strengthening connections and contacts that were instrumental in the government’s endeavors and goals. However, not everyone was onboard with these developments. Believing them to be “too western” and of little benefit to the lower classes, a 26-year-old engineer and radical named Ramzi Yousef attempted to assassinate the King. On January 11, Yousef fired three times at King Abdullah from an otherwise-receptive crowd in Al-Kharj before being tackled to the ground by guards. However, due to an unnoticed crooked sight, the borrowed six-shooter failed to hit its target, instead injuring one crowd member and mortally wounding a security guard. Yousef was tried and executed later that year…

– Madawi al-Rasheed’s The History of Modern Saudi Arabia, Sunrise Books, 2019 edition



REP. STEVE GUNDERSON “UNMASKS” HIMSELF! Republican From Wisconsin Reveals He Is A Blutagoist

The Washington Post, 1/12/1995



BILL FOR “BOLD” WALL STREET AND FEDERAL BANK REFORMS INTRODUCED IN U.S. HOUSE

The New York Times, 1/15/1995



JAPAN EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH: Gangsters In Kobe Organize Aid For People The Government Allegedly “Left Behind”

The Chosun Ilbo, South Korean newspaper, 1/17/1995



The Great Hanshin Earthquake hit the city of Kobe, southern Japan on January 17. Measuring in at a 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale, the tremors were quick but devastating for the thousands affected by them. The Yamaguchi-gumi soon led relief efforts to distribute food and supplies as official support from the provincial government was inconsistent and chaotic for the first several days. Hospitals struggled to handle the sudden influx of patients, causing some patients to have to be operated on in crowded hallways.

On the business side of things, both American and local companies such as Daiei and 7-Eleven took advantage of their pre-existing supply networks in Japan in order to provide needed supplies in the areas affected by the quake. For example, KFC distributed free meals, medal supplies, and blankets at victim centers, as part of said companies “tradition” of humanitarianism. Concurrently, NTT and Motorola provided free telephone services for victims as well.

– Glen Fukushima’s The Great Hanshin Earthquake, Japan Policy Research Institute, Occasional Paper No. 2, 1995



The United Nations was on the side of the US, and thus, through UN representatives, America imposed a set of sanctions on North Korea. “We put a lot of money into the UN,” US President Iacocca privately told his Secretary of State at the time, “and now it’s paying off.”

North of the DMZ, the new Kim resisted foreign help for as long as possible, and even then, refused to allow donor representatives to supervise the distributing of their own donations out of fear of being seen by a “weak.” Kim Jung-Il’s actions led to his country retaining inadequate medical supplies, and the continuation of conditions deteriorating. Water and environmental contamination, power failures, and a lack of rudimentary medical skills, supplies, equipment, drugs, and professionals plagued the population. UNICEF delegates from the UN’s World Food Programme (est. 1961) who had studied conditions outside of Pyongyang in early 1994 remained horrified by the country’s poor life quality.

Famine was becoming a growing concern. Child malnutrition was estimated to be at over 10% by the start of 1995. Premature births had become common due to vitamin deficiency, and without any infant formula being made locally, malnourished mothers had difficulty breastfeeding, according to the 1994 WFP report. If an infant was fortunate enough to not die during this era, it had a high chance of becoming one of the many homeless orphans that began roaming the countryside for any kind of nourishment; by early 1995, they had become known as the “Kotjebi.” Naturally, the famine led to birth rates entering a period of steep decline.

In the midst of this drop in the North’s already-low standards of living, the North Korean Black Market thrived, and provided services that the government could not. Even military officers could be bribed to look the other way via a percentage of the black market vendor’s profits during this time. Higher-ups, though, feared people trusting black market vendors more than liking the Kim family and regime, and thus crackdowns on black market hubs were not uncommon.

However, black market raids became less frequent as 1995 began, as even the military became food-insecure. Ordinary soldiers of the million-strong army often remained hungry, as did their families, who did not receive preferential treatment simply because a son or daughter was serving in the armed forces.

– Jang Jin-Sung, Yeonmi Park, and Maryanne Vollers’ In Order To Live: Tales of Surviving The Great Korean Famine, Red Sun Press, 2016 [3]



…President Iacocca has announced that he will make budget cuts to several cabinet and cabinet-level departments in order to reach the Balanced Budget Amendment’s requirement for the 1994 Fiscal Year budget. The announcement comes at practically the last minute, but the President says that the cuts will be evenly distributed in order to make them fair and just...

– The Overmyer Network, 1/21/1995 broadcast



…The comics industry experienced a boom in the late 1980s that continued on throughout the 1990s thanks to a combination of DC’s extended comic storylines and, longer-lasting, the surprise success of Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), which led to Batman: Year One (1990) and Batman Returns (1993), three successive DC hits that seem poised to run the struggling Marvel Comics into the ground. Fortunately for Marvel, the 1992 Spiderman film was also a major hit. Suddenly, the rivalry between Marvel and DC was reinvigorated. Upon Marvel announcing in January 1995 an animated series adaptation of The Mutants for KNN Kids, DC’s The Doom Patrol soon got its own TV show, too, and on the more ‘toon-friendly’ TON.

For the big screen, Superman Lives, with a release in July 1995, was announced that same January to be the start of the DC Comics Cinematic Universe, or DCCCU, for short. Talks of making a “Mutants” TV movie ahead of the series soon began over at DC despite their “Justice League” film still planned for a 1999 release. The Mutants movie aired in 1998 to decent reviews, but is most memorable for introducing the world to Keanu Reeves as Wolverine.

Meanwhile, merchandising played a more central role in the financial success of comic book adaptations. The Burton Batman (or “Bat Cage”) films made companies realize the financial potential of films adhering to both fans and families due to the large numbers of the latter and the money potentially spent by the former. Theater popcorn and food, Halloween costumes, breakfast cereals, bathroom products, fast food toys, action figures, novelizations to suggest films are educational, and other commercial tie-ins fueled the comic-themed juggernaut of 1990s consumerism…

– Wheeler Winston Dixon and Dan Rumbles’ A History Of Comic Book Movies, Springer Publishing, 2007 e-book [4]



In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises – the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Cuba War, the Indochina Wars, the 1970s oil crisis, the Crash of ’78, and the struggles of recent years…If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.[5]

– Lee Iacocca’s 1/24/1995 State of the Union address




COMPROMISE VOTING ACCESSIBILITY BILL INTRODUCED WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT

…the new bill combines the time-off ideas of US Senator Mario Obledo’s Election Holiday Bill with US Congressman Visclosky’s State-Level Time-Off Requirements Bills and the Voter Registration Opportunity Bill first introduced in late 1993. This new proposed legislation would give tax breaks to private businesses that give employees paid days off for election days; eases and expands qualifications for voting by mail, even if said voters are not affected by rural travel difficulties; and requires state government agencies to offer assistance to citizens attempting to register to vote or attempting to vote by mail. As the compromise bill is supported by most members of both political parties, and the US President, it will likely be passed very quickly…

The New York Times, 1/25/1995



OH NO – CUOMO! NY GOV MULLING WHITE HOUSE BID!

…Cuomo, in office since 1981 and facing decreasing approval ratings, confesses “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, but at the present time, it is very much too early to make a decision about it”…

The New York Post, 1/26/1995



SOMALI PRESIDENT DEAD FROM HEART ATTACK

…The Somali government today announced that Somalian President Siad Barre passed away yesterday from complications stemming from a heart attack the politician suffered on January 2. Barre had ruled the eastern African nation since an October 1969 coup. Barre leaves behind a controversial legacy, as he was on friendly terms with both democratically-elected leaders and dictatorial despots. For instance, he held President Denton in high regard, but was also on friendly terms with North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung, even receiving the Order of the National Flag, First Class, from the DPRK in 1972. [6] While his time presiding over the Somali people led to a general increase in their living standards, the gradual removal of due process for anyone even suspected of being opposed to his rule led to international condemnation. However, as he fulfilled his promise of uniting the Somali lands of Ethiopia with the rest of Somalia during the 1970s [7], domestic resistance to his reign was smaller in scale than it was outside of Somalia. Barre has been succeeded into office by former Somali Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Samatar, Barre’s Vice President since 1991…

The Washington Post, 1/27/1995



…The Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has announced that the company will retain the brand name Honda for certain products, similar to how Touchstone Pictures is owned by Disney but used for releasing certain works made by Disney…

– ABC Morning News, 1/28/1995 broadcast



They failed me again. The FJG Board sent me from one cr*p job to just another another cr*p job. I think they think I’m unemployable. There was some talk or something about disability and living off that and the NITR. Couldn’t do the job – it was glorified lawncare work! No better than the last stable job I had before signing onto the FJG plan. I had to stand up for myself then, too. And it wasn’t basically the same as minimum wage like it is for all these J.G. jobs, I got $5.55 – a dollar more than what I’m getting now – at that pizza shop. Now I’m getting only $4.55 an hour [8] for 35 hours a week of “public benefit” jobs – ha! What the f**k does that even mean? The bosses are all a**holes and I just won’t put up with their bullsh*t. So I get penalized and moved around for standing up for myself. That’s big government for you. They say they care about people but then they send you off to cr*p job after cr*p job. The f*ckers.

– Lynwood Crumpler Drake III’s personal journal, 1/30/1995 entry



…Management at KFC outlets were intrigued and concerned by the rise of SpongeBob’s from a local “family fun” spot to a regional enterprise. I thought it might have just a small, niche following, but then I saw those commercials they made. They were impressive – impressive enough for us [at Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc.] to begin investing more funding into expanding Hatton Salt’s Fish & Chips chain, which had been, pardon the pun, floundering for a few years by then. With Hatton now sporting white hair, his image was updated to that of a kindly grandfather, whose fish ’n’ chips were “tried and true.”…

– Mildred Sanders Ruggles’ My Father, The Colonel: A Life of Love, Politics, and KFC, StarGroup International, 2000



IACOCCA SIGNS FOOD QUALITY PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW

…the new law mandates higher health-based standard for pesticides used in foods, with a heavy focus on providing special protections for babies and infants, streamlining the approval of safe pesticides, establishing financial incentives for the creation of safer pesticides, and requiring yearly updates of pesticide registrations… [9] Former President Carol Bellamy supported the legislation upon its introduction last year, and today celebrated her successor’s “wise choice” in deciding to back the bill, after several days of uncertainty due to its call for additional business regulations…

The Washington Post, 2/1/1995



“I believe that most parents care about the quality of their kids’ schools. But too often they’re blind to what’s really going on. They don’t know how to evaluate quality. In a recent Gallup poll, 76 percent of parents said they were satisfied with their children’s schools. A lot of them pointed to the fact that their kids were getting good grades. But what they have to understand is that just because a kid is doing well against his peers in America, doesn’t mean he’s doing well. We’re not getting clobbered by Japan, South Korea and Singapore in math and science scores because their kids are smart and disciplined and ours are stupid and lazy. They’re clobbering us because their parents and their schools demand more of them [sic]. In America our kids attend school 180 days a year. Japanese kids go to school 240 days a year. If we want our kids to catch up, you’d think we’d at least start by sending them to school for as long as the kids in Japan. Now I know very well that the three-month summer vacation is a sacred cow. I once wrote a newspaper column calling for the extension of the school year. I got bombarded for that lousy idea – mostly from teachers. But we should consider reforming the school year or the ways we are teaching our children, one way or another. That’s why I am calling on congress to study our state-level education systems and to find a solution to this problem before it gets any worse.[10]

– President Lee Iacocca’s “School Year Reform” address, before a joint session of Congress, 2/3/1995




IACOCCA SIGNS WATER RESOURCES INVESTMENTS BILL INTO LAW

The Washington Post, 2/5/1995



“The North is still threatening vengeance as famine conditions worsen,” CIA Director Studeman summarized the situation, “and, as you can see here in these satellite images, ladies and gentlemen, Kim Jung-Il is still trying to develop WMDs.”

The increases in tensions and hostilities had one word on everyone’s mind: war. Considered to be “clearly” on the horizon by some such as Defense Secretary Versace and National Security Advisor Susan Livingstone, others were more optimistic. State Secretary Perkins, for instance, believed Kim could still be brought back to the table.

“Well, you and the UN Ambassador can work on that, but right now I want to go over some hypotheticals,” Iacocca remarked. “Namely, in the event of a war, how to handle millions of brainwashed masses. According to your reports, Williams, the entire country is like one big army.”

“Indeed,” veteran advisor and former liaison to North Korea Richard Llewellyn Williams signed. “I’ve toured that place too many times. Going in there gun a-blazing would be 100 times worse than Cuba in the early 1960s. A war with North Korea would potentially wipe out tens of thousands of people, even without nukes.”

The most war-happy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Tom Sargent, nodded, “Then we’d better wipe ’em out before they get nukes.”

Williams turned to Sargent, “Not to mention the thousand’s that’d die on our side.”

“The Kim regime has spent hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars on Russian vodka, Chinese scallops, imported cheese and whisky, and on wine and champagne,” Studeman continued.

“And not a single cent on the people, right?” Iacocca.

“Yes, sir,” Williams confirmed the extremes between North Korea’s elite and everyone else in the Hermit Kingdom.

“It’s enough to make you sick,” Iacocca noted, “But we haven’t the time to get sick. Studeman, go over what we know about their air power once again.”

– Elizabeth Drew’s On The Edge: The Iacocca Presidency, NYT Publishing, 2011 edition



TROUBLE IN TURKESTAN: Soviet Slipups Still Scar Central Asia

A new report on radiation levels and the handling of radioactive material in United Turkestan has caused further focus on environmental protection efforts in the region. As if the Aktau Disaster and the Aral Sea were not enough, another environmental catastrophe from leaders of the Soviet era’s disregard for local concerns is plaguing the central Asian federation of United Turkestan. The Semipalatinsk Test Site in northern Kazakhstan was the site for over 400 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1984, creating long-term damage to the locals and local environment. The new report reveals exposure to these tests has led to the area becoming a radiation hotspot in a part of country close to the Kazakhstan Republic’s capital. The nearby villages being the sites of many lands battles during the UT-USSR War of 1983 may explain reports of high cancer rates among soldiers on both sides of that conflict. The situation may fuel further efforts currently being undertaken by U.S., U.T., and Russian scientists and engineers to secure the plutonium waste still stored in underground tunnels located across the mountainous testing site.

– Time Magazine, early February 1995 issue



“Puff Diddy made his own label in ’93, called it Bad Boys E. E for Entertainment. You know what I meant.
I led it into the East Coast scene. And the big east-west feud, y’know what I mean?
But one day ’95, I was in concert, I was real alive. When the head D.J. came out and went about, grabbing the mike and he was like
‘Everyone listen here. Cut the noise, drop the beer. Bad news tonight from a sh*t street fight.
Rapper Eazy-E’s dead,’ that’s what he said. Gunned down at 33, his soul’s flyin’ free.
Just when he’s getting started, he’s become departed. The media decipher, say it highlights ‘our violent culture’
They say thug life will give your back a knife, but our beats are deep. Hard, real, make you laugh and weep.
Not that Fresh Prince bullshit, it’ll make you quit. Then Kool Keith got hit, but it was a quick clinic stint.
He bounced back and with his pack did a counterattack. Tim Dog started it all with that shot in the fall.
You know in ’91 he made that diss track flak, going after Eazy-E wasn’t cool or whack. He took a shot at L.A., L.A. shot back.
Tim Dog got killed two weeks later, still, the white man say our music’s doing ill.
We know the truth, it was violent youth. The motherless of the streets are maced, imprisoned and misplaced.
So Bad Boy versus Death Row, and what did you know? It was first Eazy-E, and then almost Jay-Z
When will we be willing, to stop all this killing? Of brother versus brother instead of loving one another?
Who else will get capped for somethin’ they rapped? Thug life is phat, but no-one should die like that!”

– Christopher George Latore Wallace, a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. The Big One (1972-2019), impromptu untitled rap during 1997 interview



RUSSERT: “Senator, you have repeatedly criticized Iacocca’s regulation policies since he entered office. Will that be a major focus during your time in the U.S. Senate?”

NADER: “No, there are more important things to work on than criticizing the President, like, you know, actual legislation and the issues on which I ran my campaign. And my criticisms of him re becoming less frequent. As it turns out, he and I actually agree on some things. Most noticeably, he concurs that the Corvair really was irresponsibly dangerous and unsafe [11].”

RUSSERT: “Well due to your political experience, there’s a lot of talk of you being a potential candidate for President next year. And just earlier this week, two members of the Connecticut Democratic suggested that you would have their support if you ran for the Democratic nomination next year. How are you taking such calls for you to run?”

NADER: “I’m not running.”

RUSSERT: “How come?”

NADER: “You mean, other than for the fact that I’ve only been a Senator for a few weeks? Heh. Well, the President has really turned a corner in recent years. Apparently, meeting with air bag survivors at some point in the late ’80s or even later helped convince him that having high-quality safety features that work is an essential aspect of car purchasing. [12] I respect him for this. But to answer your question, let me just say that I will be of better help to my constituents and to my country if I do the job I was elected to do.”

– Senator Ralph Nader and host Tim Russert, Meet The Press, 2/24/1995 interview



…We have breaking news coming out of North Korea, where state media has announced that Marshal O Jin-u, the nation’s Minister of Armed Forces since May of 1976, has died at the age of 77, after suffering from lung cancer for several months. Marshal O was a trusted advisor to North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung, and was considered to be the most powerful man in The Hermit Kingdom not related to the Kim dynasty. According to experts, Marshal O will most likely be succeeded by his preferred successor, Marshal Choi Kwang, which would mean that, after Kim Jung-Il, a 76-year-old man would be in charge of North Korea’s military...

– KNN, 2/25/1995 news broadcast



“What the business establishment of this country has to do is get away from this new financial-transaction mentality. It used to be that Wall Street, the financial markets and the banks were there to promote and fund the companies that produced goods and created jobs. Now they’ve taken on a life of their own: ‘What’s the play? Where can we make a fast buck?’ What we really need to do in this country is get back to the factory floors.” [13]

– US President Lee Iacocca’s “Factory Floor Renaissance” speech, given at a belt buckle factory in Xenia, OH, 2/26/1995




“Debs: The People Warrior” was released on February 27, 1995 – the 107th anniversary of the start of the Burlington Railroad Strike of 1888, a pivotal moment in the film and in Deb’s life – both in theaters and on cable television for “maximum exposure,” as Sanders explained it. The first film purposely made for both the big screen and the TV screen, Sanders invested much of his personal fortune into the film, selling his Florida home for a smaller one to pay for extra costs.

Upon release, the film was favorable among audiences, while critics were torn. Siskel and Ebert skirted around the politics of the film to discuss its worth on the grounds of filmmaking; both ended up praising its pacing, cinematic scope, and performances, with Ebert giving specific praise to Miguel Ferrer’s “fiery and passionate” portrayal of the titular role. Gene Shalet urged people to watch the flick, saying “it has everything for everybody. Drama, action, suspense, romance, even clever dry wit. Young kids might fidget in their seats, but more mature kids might relate to Deb’s fight against forces that are older and more powerful than himself alone.”

Historians, meanwhile, praised the film for bringing attention to an often-ignored part of our nation’s history, though some criticized the film for vilifying certain historical figures. “It has a clear message and that message is clearly biased,” said former U.S. House Speaker Robert Smith Walker in 1995, who “condemned” the film, calling it “un-American” and overrated. President Iacocca, who watched a taped copy of it several days after its premier, claimed to have found it “enlightening and entertaining.”

uiyiWKL.png

[Pic: https://imgur.com/uiyiWKL ]
Eugene Debs (left) was portrayed by Miguel Ferrer (right) in the film.

– Michael O’Connor’s Bern Sanders: The Biography of a Multimillionaire (Democratic) Socialist Maverick, Greenwood Press, 2009



…The US’s slow repairing of relations with Japan also saw South Africa’s Chris Hani support a “third way” option during 1995 talks between US and Japan. Hani suggested American and Japanese companies invest in the post-Apartheid nation. He noted that while Japanese cars were smaller and thus a better fit for European roads, American car designers “like to think big. Texas, wide roads, open country and all those things. South Africa shares the open roads phenomenon. There is plenty of room for America’s vans and trucks.” Hani’s opening up of the South African economy to American car sellers proved to initially be beneficial to US investors and South Africans who could afford such vehicles, and led to further talks of American and Japanese manufacturers building construction factories and facilities in South Africa’s poorer areas in order to lower the African country’s unemployment rates…

– Walter LaFeber’s The Sun And The Eagle: US-Japanese Relations In The Post-Cold War Era, 2019 edition



CORRESPONDENT IN SEOUL: …Dan, the energy crisis north of the DMZ has worsened famine conditions up there. North Korea’s electrically-powered irrigation systems are shutting down, the country is running out of pesticides produced outside North Korea, and most recently, attempts by the government to make pesticides on their own has led to a factory explosion in the province of Chagang. Kim Jung-Il has blamed the explosion, though, on a band of traitors, as he put it according to state TV yesterday, and the state-run media reported today that the accused were executed earlier today.

RATHER: it sounds like conditions are desperate, to put it bluntly.

CORRESPONDENT: It’s almost Orwellian over there, Dan. The public usage of the words “famine” and “hunger” have been banned, and even implied belief in government failure or doubt in the government has led to people disappearing in the night. The interior provinces of Chagang and Ryanggang are the worst off in this crisis due to being them too mountainous, cold and inadequate in rainfall to support much farming efforts...

– CBS Evening News, 2/25/1995 broadcast



INTERVIEWER DAVID FRICKE: “What was with all the talk about you guys breaking up a little while back? Are you all comfortable talking about that?”

DAVE GROHL: “Maybe.”

KURT COBAIN: “I’m not.”

KRIST NOVOLSELIC: “Aw, go on, man.”

COBAIN: “No, you tell it.”

NOVOLSELIC: “Alright. So – ”

COBAIN: “It was after coming back from the desert, uh, the first time I did.”

NOVOLSELIC: “I thought I was telling it.”

COBAIN: “Yeah, sorry, go tell, man.”

NOVOLSELIC: “Well it seems Dave had been real busy writing music in his spare time. And one day Kurt found out about this, uh, ‘hoard’ of songs and music ideas. You called it a hoard, right?”

COBAIN: “Maybe.”

NOVOLSELIC: “And so he followed him around until he found out about his scheduled private recording sessions.”

COBAIN: “I got a little pissed…”

GROHL: “You smashed a chair on my head.”

COBAIN: “A little chair…”

NOVOLSELIC: “Kurt thought Dave was holding out on us, holding back on purpose for malicious reasons.”

GROHL: “Truth was I was intimidated by Kurt here. I mean, he doesn’t like to brag, but he’s got serious talent, so I kept my songs to myself [14]. And really was planning on approaching him about making more contributions to the band.”

NOVOLSELIC: “Yeah, and you told him that when he confronted you about it. But then you went and said were holding back until Kurt got ‘better’.”

INTERVIEWER: “Better?”

COBAIN: “Better. ‘I’m not an invalid,’ I remember shouting. We argued. Insults and maybe some light furniture were thrown here and there. It was ugly.”

INTERVIEWER: “That must’ve sucked. How’d you resolve it? I mean, you have, right?”

NOVOLSELIC: “Yeah, I helped them bury the hatchet. I remember I said, ‘Let’s not break up like all those other bands.’ I meant groups like the Beatles, Tommy Chong and his band, the Allman brothers, and Quiet Riot, who broke up very loudly.”

INTERVIEWER: “Well that’s good.”

NOVOLSELIC: “Yeah, and it got all the dirty laundry out, too, or however that saying goes.”

COBAIN: “Yeah, it got us to focus more in the music, what each of us wanted to do.”

GROHL: “And Kurt here was real great for working on my tunes here and there, uh, with me.”

COBAIN: “Yeah, but we’re still experimenting now, like, I’d really like to bring back new wave and breakdancing…that’s what our new music is sounding like, we’re using a lot more effects boxes…our tastes are just changing so rapidly that we’re really experimenting a lot of stuff. It might get too indulgent and be too embarrassing for the next album, but…we had to get it out.” [15]

INTERVIEWER: “Cool, I get it.”

– snippet from Nirvana interview for TumbleweedTV, 2/26/1995



NIXON, HALDEMAN FAMILY ESTATES SETTLE OUT OF COURT

The San Francisco Chronicle, 2/27/1995



Timothy James McVeigh
(b. April 23, 1968) is an American computer programmer and left-wing political activist best known for Operation Lockjaw… [snip] …McVeigh was the target of bullying at school, and took refuge in designing fantasy worlds where he imagined retaliating against the bullies, and by spending his spare time “taking his anger out on the characters in violent video games,” according to school classmates. Most who knew McVeigh during this time described his adolescent self as being very timid and withdrawn, especially after his grandfather’s death in a freak gun-loading accident, which prompted McVeigh to become openly opposed to gun ownership [16]. McVeigh named “Most Promising Computer Programmer” of Starpoint Central High School, from which he graduated in 1986. Years later, McVeigh admitted to being “The Wanderer,” a computer hacker who infiltrated government computer systems on a Commodore 64 during the middle and late 1980s. Despite unimpressive grades, his technological prowess allowed McVeigh to get into Syracuse University on a special computers scholarship, but dropped out after four semesters to accept a computing job at Commodore International. Upon Commodore International going defunct in early 1995, McVeigh successfully applied for a securities programming job at Microsoft...

– clickopedia.co.usa



SOMALI PRESIDENT DISTANCES NATION FROM NORTH KOREA

The Los Angeles Times, 3/1/1995



GARY ON THE GO: The Marijuana Mayor Makes A Case For Mary Jane

Las Cruces, NM – Gary Johnson is traveling across New Mexico to promote legalizing low-harm recreadrugs at the state level. Ten months ago, as the mayor of Albuquerque, Johnson barely managed to implement legalization of recreational marijuana, but is now boasting the effects of doing so has had on his city.

“Our community has seen a new industry pop up that is safely regulated and monitored, and provides additional tax revenue that is going right into schools, road repair, and public waterworks,” the 41-year-old former businessman boasts as he addresses a crowd of working families and small business owners at Las Cruces’ town hall. He laments, almost half of what our state government spends on law enforcement, on the courts and half of what we spend on the prisons is drug related.” Painting a bigger picture, he adds, “Our current policies on drugs are perhaps the biggest problem that this country has.''

“Everyone tells kids not to do drugs,” Johnson says. “Despite this chorus,
millions of Americans under the age of 21 have tried them. Do we really want our kids to be branded 'criminals’ for having experimented with drugs? If they're not driving or stealing while high, where is the harm?” Mayor Johnson looks down at his cheat sheet; a politician since early 1993, he's an unpolished if ardent speaker. He resumes speaking with statistic, such as how last year, “450,000 people died from smoking cigarettes. Alcohol killed 150,000, and another 100,000 died from legal prescription drugs. How many people died last year from the use of marijuana? Few, if any. From cocaine and heroin? Five thousand.” [17]

The El Paso Times, 3/3/1995




“If the leaders of America do not do their duty and protect their fellow Americans from the scourge of recreadrugs, the people of America will end up experiencing the same horrors plaguing Mexico, Colombia, and practically every country between those two: massacres, violence, sorrow, and death will become a way of life as the drug cartels overwhelm our inner cities and ruin the lives of our nation’s youth. Hundreds of Americans are dying from overdoses already, and thousands more could end up addicted if we do not act to prevent the ease of access to these dangerous substances. Legal or illegal, they pose a threat. That is why we need to target how the cartels fund their operations. These low-life criminals use a practice known as trade-based money laundering, or T.B.M.L., to move illegal goods and money funding their operation. It’s how drug cartels traffic both drugs and people. It is how rogue nations get around international sanctions and how the black market continues to thrive under our noses, and it’s why people keep dying. We follow the money, keep track of their schemes, it will be a step in the right direction.” [18]

– former House Speaker Robert Smith Walker, speaking before a Senate panel on recreadrug regulation in the US, 3/7/1995




Cameron sought to enter the film industry in 1978 by creating a short film. However, due to the economic crash of that year, financing the project proved difficult. While employed in the models department of Roger Corman Studios, Cameron slowly taught himself how to write and direct, leading to him finally completing the 14-minute-long Sci-Fi short “Xenogenesis” in 1980. Corman, invited to view the work, was impressed enough by it to promote Cameron to cinematography on “The Howling” (1981), and to director of special effects for the 1982 war epic “Iwo Jima.” After co-writing the screenplay for the 1984 Rambo sequel, Cameron sought to turn Xenogenesis into a 90-minute film, ultimately convincing Orion Pictured to fund the project in 1985. After two years of production, with most of the time spent on special effects, the film released in August 1987; while critics were unenthusiastic to it, believing its style to resemble that of “just another Star Wars ripoff,” the film proved popular enough with audiences for it to be a surprise box office success.

Wanting to produce a film that both critics and audiences would praise, Cameron teamed up with colleagues Gale Anne Hurd and Boris Sagal to create “The Abyss,” a sci-fi/horror movie based on an idea Cameron first thought up in high school. Though production was infamously difficult, the film, upon release in 1990, was a hit with critics and audiences, and won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. This led to him being hired to direct the 1992 film True Lies,” a remake of the 1991 French comedy “La Totale!” This too was a financial success.

Cameron’s first unsuccessful film was Stranger Days, a sci-fi thriller that was panned by critics and audiences upon its release on March 10, 1995. Cameron took the failure as an indication that he should return to pursuing passion projects like Xenogenesis and The Abyss. Being fascinated with shipwrecks all his life, and wanting to try a film with more drama and romance than most of the films he had worked on previously, Cameron soon began writing a scriptment for a movie centered around “the Mount Everest of all shipwrecks,” the Titanic…

– clickopedia.co.usa/James_Cameron [19]



…Russia, having been awfully quiet amid rising tension between North Korea and the rest of the world, finally stepped up to bat and sought a peaceful resolution to the situation. President Volkov first tried to help by cancelling North Korea’s debt for past aid owed to the former Soviet Union. Kim accepted offer, but then refused to change course. “A skillful tactician like his father, the new Kim is not,” Volkov reportedly said. Volkov next tried to offer, via private telephone calls, exclusive access to luxury Russian product markets for North Korea’s wealthiest in exchange for a reversal of increasingly isolationist and possibly self-destructive policies. Again, Kim would not reverse course. Volkov was severely criticized for the debt cancellation, and following the private talks, Volkov openly condemned the Kim regime on nationwide Russian TV in order to win back support…

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020



...In March 1995, the leaders of North Ossetia and South Ossetia officially declared the unification of the two territories into a single country, dubbed “Alania,” after the medieval kingdom Alans. The South’s President Torez Kulumbegov was declared President of the new nation, while the North’s President Alexander Dzasokhov was declared Vice-President. While warfare between Ossetian Independence guerillas and the forces of Russia and Georgia had been occurring intermittently for roughly a decade, the announcement returned public interest to Volkov’s perceived weakness in bringing the conflict to a satisfying close and contributed to his dropping approval ratings...

– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016



“A MAJOR VICTORY FOR BLUTAGS!” Massachusetts Becomes The First U.S. State to Grant Same-Sex Marriages

TT0Dslb.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/TT0Dslb ]
Above: a variation of the “blu rainbow” flag representing the BLUTAG community; lavender and lavender-and-blue variations are also common

[snip] …Meanwhile, another victory for the BLUTAG community occurred in Washington, D.C., where the Supreme Court has declined to hear a city-level marriage license case concerning San Francisco’s marriage licenses. This means that the definition of marriage will stay at the state level unless the judges change their minds and agree to hear the case, or a similar case, and rule on it…

The New York Times, 3/14/1995



MOROCCO: “The Farthest West”

…with the rise of privatization among certain economic sectors, the kingdom is becoming known as a “jewel” on the continent as natural and market-based resources are now catching the attention of international investors as the country moves past the Western Sahara War that ravaged the region from 1975 to 1992. The conflict saw a 1993 peace treaty establish the Polisario Autonomous Territory in Western Sahara’s interior, thus granting the Sahrawi people greater self-determination…

– Time Magazine, mid-March 1995 issue



...In “The Man Behind The Chicken,” a film directed by Ang Lee, presents a serious and dramatic look at the Harland Sanders presidency, in which Richard Attenborough depicts The Colonel in his post-presidency years as a frail and flawed man. Temperamental, impatient, and complaintive, The Colonel is shown wanting to make his mark on the world while being tortured by the events of his Presidency. The film’s plot follows the former President as he works on ending conflicts in Middle-East in order to be “nearly forgiven” by his Maker. Scenes in which The Colonel blames himself for all the soldiers killed in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are Attenborough at his best, while the director fills every scene with rich and moody atmosphere...

– Vanity Fair, film review section, 3/17/1995



…The Aizukotetsu-kai yakuza organization received a crushing blow in March 1995. Japan expanding police powers for aid in cracking down on their activities had led to The Aizukotetsu-kai’s leader, Tokutaro Takayama, campaigning in public against the new laws, with the Aizukotetsu-kai even launching a lawsuit to challenge their constitutionality. However, their open legal actions were overshadowed when Chizuo Matsumoto, a partially blind pharmacist who ran a front for the organization, was arrested on March 17. The next day, after several hours of police interrogation, Matsumoto disclosed the location of shipping documents that confirmed Takayama’s connections to a human trafficking racket in the Shiga Prefecture. On March 20, Takayama was arrested, beginning a period of decline in the power and influence of the Aizukotetsu-kai syndicate… [snip] …Matsumoto would end up murdered for testifying against Takayama…

– Alec Dubro and David E. Kaplan’s Yakuza: Japan’s Criminal Underworld, University of California Press, 2003



Due to heavy resistance from his own party and the United Kingdom Independent Progressive MPs maintaining the minority ruling government, Lennon decided to “shift strategy.” The Prime Minister agreed to subsidize electric charging infrastructure, as well as solar panels, wind turbines, and water turbines, in exchange for curbing back his penalization laws for polluters that the Tories called “draconian” and “unproductive.” On March 22, Lennon clarified that he wanted to “ease us [the UK] into the twenty-first century as smoothly as possible.”

– Jacqueline Edmondson’s A Legend’s Biography: The Lives And Times of John Lennon, London Times Books, 2010



AUSTRALIA’S ULURU RETURNED TO NATIVES AFTER YEARS-LONG DEBATE

…Australian PM Shirley de la Hunty today finalized a controversial agreement with Aboriginal Australians as to the “ownership” of Uluru, a natural national monument also known as Ayer’s Rock. Talks between the government and the Aborigines were first proposed during the early 1980s and began in 1989. After several negotiations as to the role both parties should play in preserving the landmark, the final form of the agreement will return full ownership to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines in exchange for them allowing supervised tourists to climb to the top of the sandstone formation sacred to the local natives…

The Los Angeles Times, 3/28/1995



Ns74e3Y.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/Ns74e3Y ]
– President Iacocca at a Washington, D.C. luncheon with delegates from Japan, 3/29/1995; the man standing next to him, just out of frame, is a member of his Secret Service detail



…And in academic news, students at San Diego State University in California are protesting the school’s hiring of former Alaska Governor Bill Clinton due to his history of, to put it lightly, borderline sexual pestering, with his most high-profile accuser being US Senator and former Kentucky Governor Martha Osborne…

– CBS Evening News, 3/30/1995 report



April 1995 saw a quick, unofficial but repercussive war occur between Qatar and Bahrain. In 1994, two Qatari citizens were arrested in Bahrain on espionage charges. During the subsequent trial, Bahraini officials claim it that Qatari agents had performed spy missions in Bahrain in the past, with a similar international incident occurring in 1987. The two citizens being found guilty in early 1995 led to diplomatic talks breaking down. A month later, a Qatari national (a relative of one of the alleged spies), fired at police in Hamala, Bahrain in a “one-man army” effort to “liberate” the two prisoners; the national was killed in the subsequent shootout. The incident led to a riot in Manama, Bahrain, in which several Qatari nationals were attacked, leaving 12 injured. The next day, March 1, a Qatari military helicopter fired upon a Bahraini coastal patrol boat that Qatari officials then claimed was too close to Qatari territory that both parties had agreed belonged to Qatar.

Hours later, troops were mobilized in Bahrain and confronted unofficial “enemy forces” (Qatari military officers) in the Hawar Islands, a group of islands between the two countries whose ownership had long been disputed. Qatari forces were unprepared for the attack, and were soon rebelled from the three islands closest to Qatar. At this point, Qatari’s Emir, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, called for UN intervention.

A ceasefire was declared on March 3, after roughly 72 hours of unofficial warfare. On April 2, 1995, the UN’s International Law Commission resolved the dispute by dividing the islands. Due to Qatar being ruled to have instigated the fighting by firing upon a Bahraini patrol boat that was not demonstrating “belligerent intent” – a legal term that took on much significance in international affairs after this ruling – Bahrain was granted all disputed territory except for Janan Island.

The war was an embarrassment for Qatar, and was a contributing factor in the nation’s Emir abdicating a month later in favor of his son, Hamad bin Khalifa, ascending to the throne…

– James L. Gelvin’s Lines In Sand: The History of The Modern-Day Middle East, Oxford University Press, 2010 edition



The Sanwi Kingdom’s search was finally over.

The people of the Sanwi had initially wanted Michael Jackson to serve as Crown Prince [20], only for him to die in 1993; interest in selecting O. J. Simpson ended with Simpson’s death in 1994. Former Governor Jesse Jackson of South Carolina was the next favorite [21] until he declined in late 1994 in order to focus on a potential run for the US Presidency in 1996. Activists Al Sharpton and Malcolm X also declined, though X did so at the insistence of his wife. The people of the new country accepted these declinations due to Jackson and Sharpton only being able to speak English, and due to X initially opposing US intervention in favor of the Sanwi “fight[ing] for themselves,” as he was wary of the image of “the Black man needing the help of the White man to become free.”

In retrospect, however, it is possible that none of these men would have been welcomed monarchs because the Sanwi people wanted an influential (though figurehead-like) leader that had five characteristics: ties to the US, to thank them for their part in their drive for independence; a basic grasp of the French language for communication purposes; be of western African ancestry; be willing to live in Sanwi, at least part-time; and be able to inspire.

Enter Jimi Hendrix. The guitarist, an icon of the 1970s, had spent six years (1983 to 1989) living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada due to fear of being arrested for recreadrug possession under President Denton, after fellow guitarist Duane Allman was arrested for one ounce of marijuana in 1982. Since moving back to the states in 1989, the musician had struggled to modernize his music to appeal to younger listeners. Additionally, with his third divorce finalized and the call for legalizing the drug that he described as “keeping me calm and cool” going seemingly unanswered, Hendrix was looking for a change of scenery once more.

On April 2, Hendrix received a phone call from his agent informing him of the Sanwi Kingdom’s offer of a low-paying “gig” on the other side of the world. At first, Hendrix told him, “April Fool’s was yesterday, dumba$$,” but until being informed that the offer was legitimate, he surprised his agent by telling him he was “interested” by it. Hendrix soon visited Sanwi, become the most high-profile person to arrive to in-person to apply for the job. Among the small-time businessmen, former X-Men radicals, and hardly-known sociopolitical activists, Hendrix stood out the most. Hendrix was reportedly “disappointed” by how small the country was, but was still interested because, unlike the businessmen and would-be politicians, he saw opportunity for others in this land. “I can really help out some brothers and sisters here. And it’s not too bad a place. The heat isn’t unbearable, and the women, hell, they’re just divine!”

A week later, the Sanwi Governing Council, with the approval of King Amon N’Douffou IV, voted unanimously to select Hendrix for the semi-ceremonial position of Crown Prince of The Sanwi. They had determined that the singer-songwriter “checked off all the boxes”: he was recognizable, inspiring, willing to live there, of western African ancestry, of American origin, and (thanks to his years living in Quebec) spoke “enough” French.

– Ivory Coast historian Aminata Kouassi, Ivorians: The History of Cote d’Ivoire, Sunrise Publishers, 2017



HENDRIX IS NOW A PRINCE IN AFRICA – WE'RE SERIOUS.

…the 52-year-old singer plans to keep his New York apartment and his Los Angeles estate, but will now purchase a third home in Adjouan, coastal village a short drive away from the Sanwi Kingdom’s capital of Krindjabo. Due to the title’s responsibilities (largely supporting the King’s decrees, promoting his own ideas for laws and reforms upon them being approved by the King, and serving as the Master of Ceremonies for the spring and harvest festivals), Hendrix has announced that he will divide his time between Sanwi and the US and apply for dual citizenship… His “coronation” will occur in June…

The Hollywood Reporter, 4/7/1995



“I think the federal government should do a more extensive auditing of the Federal Reserve. Because, the thing of it is, mind you, is that the Federal Reserve is not owned or controlled by the federal government any more than the Federal Express delivery company. …Their Board’s financial statements may need to be given a closer look.”

– Lee Iacocca’s remarks to a reporter at a WH Press Briefing, 4/8/1995



IGANTIEFF WINS RUNOFF IN BY-ELECTION FOR CONGRESS SEAT

…news contributor and University of Canberra professor Michael Grant Ignatieff of the Labor party has just won election to Canberra’s seat in the Australian House of Representatives…

The Australian, daily newspaper, 4/9/1995



IACOCCA SUGGESTS THE US COULD WIN A TRADE WAR WITH THE UK; WH Press Secretary Clarifies “The President Was Joking”

…“It’s just a hypothetical. We have more workers, more innovators, more consumers, and more spenders. It’s a numbers game.” The comments came after a meeting between the President and the US Ambassador to the UK, which led to Iacocca commenting to members of the press “I’m glad we [the US and the UK] are on the same page, because I’d hate to fight a trade battle with them [the UK]. I mean, we’d win it, but I’d feel bad about it.”…

The Washington Times, 4/10/1995



…Another complication in the deterioration of US-North Korean relations was the continuation of South Korea’s annual military exercises in April. While the 1995 exercises went as planned, Kim Jung-Il claimed they were a purposeful “show of force” stunt meant to “intimidate the people of True Korea, which has failed because the people of True Korea cannot be intimidated,” according to the state-run media. However, according to official US and South Korean military reports, the April 1995 exercises were not larger it scope or scale than the ones held in 1993 and 1994…

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



l5PD7PV.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/l5PD7PV ] (Getty Images; sorry for the poor cropping)
– Lee Iacocca with family members while visiting his hometown of Allentown, PA during the Easter break, Easter Sunday, 4/16/1995



…One of Geotz’s most loyal supporters was local realtor and political activist Terry Nichols. Born in 1955, Nichols played varsity football and graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in business, after struggling in the first two semesters to adjust to campus life, and after switching from aspiring to be a physician to being a businessman or real estate developer. Disliking the family farming business, Nichols moved out to Colorado in 1977. Among the homes and business spaces he sold, one was to businessman Bernard Goetz. The two became close friends over their rural backgrounds and their “distrust” of non-white communities. Nichols’ first public political moment came when he went on a hunger strike at the Colorado state capital building, chained himself to a pillar to protest Governor Webb’s business regulation policies; the stunt lasted for 22 hours, at which point Nichols unlocked himself and went home to make himself a baloney sandwich...

– clickopedia.co.usa/Bernie_Goetz



…Iacocca agreed with several liberal Governors in their decision to reduce reimbursement rates for school lunch programs, with some even capping them off at 10 cents per lunch meal. With less revenue comes less budget, and these state Governors responded to state-level financial shortfalls by mirroring the economic decisions made by Iacocca and the GOP Congress during their balancing of the budget earlier…

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



BELAFONTE AND MONROE FINALLY TIE THE KNOT!

…Actress Marilyn Monroe, 68, married actor and activist Harry Belafonte, 68, in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in a private ceremony yesterday morning. …While the marriage is Belafonte’s third, the nuptials make for Marilyn’s 11th marriage to 10 people over the course of 53 tumultuous years for the semi-retired starlet.

Monroe was first married to a factory worker named James Dougherty (1942-1946, divorce) before marrying a string of celebrities. First was professional baseball player Joe DiMaggio (1954-1955, divorce), then writer Arthur Miller (1956-1961, divorce), then DiMaggio again (1963-1969, divorce), before marrying African-American singer Roy Hamilton in 1969, only for Hamilton to die suddenly and unexpectedly just weeks after the wedding. Actor Dean Jagger was Monroe’s next husband (1969-1970, divorce), and he was followed by director Nick Ray in 1973, who supported Monroe’s “desert period,” during which time the actress relocated to Nevada and did not work on any projects from 1975 to 1979 in order to work on her health and to “clear [her] head.” Following Ray’s death in 1979, Monroe was married another director, Elia Kazan, for two months in 1981 (ending via an annullment), and to a third director, John Huston, from 1982 until his death in 1987. Huston convinced Monroe to return to the spotlight, leading to her winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Role for portraying Maerose Prizzi in the 1985 film “Prizzi’s Honor.” Monroe’s last previous marriage was to Italian-French singer Yves Montaud, from 1988 until his death, during the process of divorce, in 1991.

Monroe believes that Belafonte is “the right one,” telling reporters in Kingston, Jamaica, today “tenth time’s the charm!”

The Hollywood Reporter, 4/23/1995



With talks of a Star Trek movie on the rise, let’s look back on the installments already made to the Star Trek Universe…

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1971, 5 seasons). TOS barely made it to Roddenberry’s goal of five seasons, but thanks to an unprecedented fan mail campaign, and some string-pulling from producer Lucille Ball and former President Lyndon B. Johnson, viewers received the Enterprise’s crew’s long-promised send-off on schedule.

Genesis (1973-1975, 2 seasons). John Saxon starred in this “western in space” that received lukewarm responses from critics and audience, but gained a rather small cult following and was later made a part of the Star Trek Universe in via a 1983 crossover episode of ST: P2. [22]

Star Trek: Phase Two (1978-1983, 5 seasons). With “Star Wars” being the massive hit that it was and still is, interest in Star Trek resumed, culminating in Roddenberry creating a more mature, darker, and more syndicated ST series centered on TOS’s cast and characters.

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1983-1984, 1 season). TAS was the result of an odd twist of irony, given the history of TOS. After Phase Two ended after five seasons, as planned from the beginning, the network insisted franchise receive more installment. Hoping to discourage the NBC heads, Roddenberry purposely made a poorly-animated pilot for a more “kid-friendly” version of Star Trek that involved over-the-top plot lines rejected from TOS and P2. To his surprise, NBC greenlit 20 more episodes, resulting in the most bizarre installment of the ST franchise, involving magic, Bigfoot, a Scooby-Doo parody, a “musical” episode, and even a crossover with “The Jetsons.” Roddenberry officially declared the series non-canon in 1990, to the relief of fans everywhere.

Star Trek: Excelsior (1985-1990, 5 seasons). After actor-politician George Takei gave up his seat on the San Francisco City Council to unsuccessfully run for a US Congressional district in 1984 – a bad year for Democratic nominees, even in California – Takei took up NBC’s offer to star in a spinoff series centered on Captain Sulu. An openly gay lead in a TV series was new territory for American television – complex, openly gay side characters had been around since “Soap” premiered in 1977, but never before had such an “open” member of the BLUTAG community received such an opportunity. Takei repeatedly insisted that Sulu the character was not gay, and to confuse the role with himself was a disservice to the franchise [23]. Combining Roddenberry’s earlier idea of a medical drama in space, the character Sulu’s adventures would see his optimistic view of things clash with the ship Excelsior’s chief doctor, the PTSD-plagued Dr. M’Benga (a minor character from TOS), played by African-American actor Booker Bradshaw.

Assignment: Earth (1986-1988, 2 seasons). Another spinoff series, STAE followed an alien played by Teri Garr as she attempted to protect Earth’s history from malicious aliens from the future. A “history-hopping” series set in multiple places and time periods, many compared it to “Doctor Who” and, after the series ended, “Quantum Leap.” Except Garr’s character, “Seven,” had a talking cat named Isis. Like how Sabrina the Teenage Witch had a talking cat. Not the most original series, but nevertheless entertaining.

Star Trek: Deep Space Seven (1995-2002, 7 seasons). Set on a stationary shipping lane hub in space and close to Earth, the series explored the details and conflicts of daily life in the Milky Way Galaxy of the 24th century, and the prejudice faced by said space station’s new Commander, a Klingon named Worf (played by Franklin Brooks). Critically acclaimed for its writing, acting and atmosphere, it is so far the only STU installment to make it to a sixth season.

Star Trek: Liftoff (since 1999, 3 seasons and counting). The latest installment of the STU is a prequel series set in the late 21st century, after alien contact and warp five have been achieved by humankind but before the formation of the UFP.

Movies have always been tricky business for Star Trek. The closest the franchise has ever gotten to one has been the movie-length pilot made for Deep Space Seven, which aired on April 27, 1995, ahead of the show’s September premier. Apart from several multi-episode plotlines [24], most Star Trek concepts and ideas have either been episodic or sustaining syndicated plotlines too long and complex for a feature-length theatrical presentation. Will this mean we will never get Star Trek on the big screen? Not necessarily, as talks are still ongoing over producing a “grand cinematic opus” that Roddenberry had “toyed around with” during the last few years of his life, according to his widow, Majel Barrett...

– “Star Trek: The Ultimate Trip Through the Galaxies,” Entertainment Weekly Special Edition, 2003



…Donald’s 1993 extramarital affair with Miss Atlanta 1992 Jennifer Prodgers led to Sarah Heath Trump filing for divorcing in 1994, soon leading to a nasty custody battle concerning their underage children: Pepper (b. 1986), Charlie (b. 1988), Katrina (b. 1990), Maryanne (b. 1991), and Richie (b. 1993). The public conflict, with each accusing the other of being an unfit parent, contrasted sharply with the family’s once-wholesome image.

Heath met Trump at his “lowest point,” in 1984, after retiring from baseball but before taking charge of and expanding in father’s construction/real estate renovation company. Sara Heath, born and raised in Starpoint, Idaho [25], had won second place (and a college scholarship) in the Miss Idaho pageant held earlier that year. After graduating from high school in 1982, she attended University of Hawaii at Hilo, but soon transferred to North Idaho College. Upon winning the aforementioned scholarship, she transferred again, this time to Queens College in NYC, leading to her meeting Trump soon after her arrival. Upon their marriage in 1985, Sarah encouraged Donald’s business efforts while she balanced raising their growing family and her work for the NYGOP as a regional communications director (a job she began almost immediately after graduating from college with a degree in communications).

Sarah’s career launched at the start of the decade by becoming a sports reporter for The Overmyer Network’s NYC-based SportsTime segments. Interested in politics, Sarah also worked on her sister-in-law’s successful 1993 gubernatorial campaign, until learning of Donald’s affair and separating from him in October of that year. The breakup was not Donald’s first, though, as his first marriage, to former beauty pageant winner Mary Theresa Hinterberger (which last from 1976 to 1979, and had led to the birth of his sons: Donald Jr in 1976, and Eric in 1978) had ended the same way.

Concurrently, an ethics investigation delved into Donald’s financial deals concerning the renovations of the Hudson Building in Tribeca and the Kemp Housing Center in Riverside South, the latter of which was his first non-sports-related construction endeavor. The situation unfolded at an unfortunate time for Donald, having just begun his first real estate venture on the west coast, and feared the “probe” would scare off investors. Fortunately for him, Donald was never indicted, but several close business partners were charged with, found guilty of, and fined for hiring practices that violated the Civil Rights Act of 1962. In late April, Donald testified against a former business partner in one NY court case before having to appear in the same courthouse an hour later to make his case for child custody. The legal procedures concerning his divorce and his “soured” business deals lasted from 1993 to 1997, and made the 1990s become the Don’s “dark decade,” as he later put it. Donald was eventually granted joint custody…

[snip]

C0sq59s.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/C0sq59s ]
Above: President Iacocca discusses reforms in both the federal government and the MLB with Donald Trump during the latter’s visit to D.C., late April 1995

– Kate Bohner’s The Art of The Don: The Unofficial Biography of Donald Trump, Times Books, 2017 edition



HELEN THOMAS, UPI: “What about the troops still in Colombia? When will our boys be coming home?”

PRESIDENT IACOCCA: “The military’s all-volunteer, Helen; those men, boys, and women have chosen to defend America’s ally that is the law-abiding people of Colombia. And American forces will leave Colombia’s combat regions either when the guerillas agree to a peace deal or surrender. We’re in the corner of the honest Colombian here. Last question, now. Yeah?”

JUAN WILLIAMS, THE WASHINGTON POST: “Have you received any updates on the cause of the Daegu Metro Explosion what killed nearly 100 workers in southern South Korea on Friday the 28th?”

IACOCCA: “I’m actually going to speak with members of the South Korean government, to find out what they’ve learned from their still-ongoing investigation, right after this whole briefing thing, but I can tell you that at the moment there is a very high chance, I’m going to say a 95% percent chance, uh, pending what I’ve been told about, um, and shown concerning the incident, a very high chance that the explosion and destruction was not the work of North Korean espionage. And to be honest, I don’t think they have the rights smarts to pull off such a high-casualty cam bombing.”

JUDY WOODRUFF, NBC NEWS: “So there is a chance that it was an attack from some North Korean agent?”

IACOCCA: “A low chance, Ms. Woodruff, a low chance. Now if you’ll all excuse me, I have to get ready for a phone conference and then a trip to Michigan. So long, folks.”

THOMAS: “Mr. President.”

– Transcript of D.A.T. recording of White House press briefing between President Iacocca and the White House Press Corp, 5/1/1995



In truth, workers doing underground construction on a metro line accidently drilled into a city gas pipeline, creating a 50-meters-long pillar of fire that consumed the workers in the tunnel, and nearly 40 pedestrians above, and injured nearly 200 others when the private parking lot resting above the new pillar of fire collapsed, plunging dozens of cars into the engulfing flames. [26] The images of a fiery crater nearby the Daegu secondary school sparked outrage and fear, as a shocked city soon delved into paranoia as rumors spread that the explosion was the result of North Korean sabotage.

In the midst of rising international tension as the Deagu’s transportation office head pointed his finger at the North, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Walfare immediately began to investigate. South Korean President Kim Young-sam declared the odds of North Korean agents being responsible for the loss of life to be “unlikely” on April 29 to calm down public panic that was causing citizens to overwhelm stores as fearful and worried masses prepped for the unknown future.

On May 2, the H.L.W. Ministry announced that they had uncovered negligence in the city’s transportation office. The subsequent arrest and trial of those accused of business misconduct put an end to several days of international diplomatic tension as the world’s eyes made glances of suspicion at the Hermit Kingdom. The announcement also fueled two social movements in South Korea – further support for the South Korean President’s anti-corruption campaign, and further interest in above-ground maglev transportation.

– Elizabeth Drew’s On The Edge: The Iacocca Presidency, NYT Publishing, 2011 edition



b2O12tU.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/b2O12tU ]
– President Iacocca, speaking at an auto parts manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, on the success of job growth efforts in the auto industry, 5/3/1995



>MOTHER-POST: Was Anyone Else Disappointed By The Fourth Star Wars Movie?

After 1983’s Return of the Jedi, we had to wait eleven years for Lucas to make a Star Wars prequel movie showing the Clone Wars, and how the Jedi Knights came to be in the first place. The new characters were interesting, and I’m looking forward to the sequel to this prequel coming out in two years, but did the story seem like it was at times too boring, and at other times too clichéd? I mean, don’t get me wrong, “The Knights Arise” was alright, not great but certainly not bad, but I just feel like, maybe, if they had released it as TV miniseries, Lucas would have expanded on the universe and actually do some character development instead of spending so much time on military tactics and nonsensical sci-fi technology mumbo-jumbo. Am I alone on thinking this? Anyone?

>REPLY 1:
Lucas would not have gone for a miniseries. While Star Trek stays shy of the big screen, Lucas is shy of the small screen; that’s why he’s pushing for all SW spinoffs to be standalone films.

>>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1:
Either that or because the two SW Holiday Specials, and that God-awful Ewok cartoon from the late ’80s, just scared him away from putting any more SW stuff on TV.

>>REPLY 2 to REPLY 1:
Trekkie

>REPLY 2:
I heard Lucas is looking into using CRI to make a movie entirely or almost entirely with just droids, no people.

>>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2:
Please Source Where You Heard That!

>REPLY 3:
I wasn’t expecting it to top the first three movies, so no I wasn’t disappointed by it. But at least the casting was decent. Lance Henriksen did a good job as the main bad guy, and Taaffe O’Connell, she was superb!

>>REPLY 1 to REPLY 3:
Melody Thomas Scott’s character was hotter.

– starwarsfans.co.can, a public pop-culture news-sharing and chat-forum-hosting netsite, 5/4/1995 posting “thread”



Today I read in the paper Iacocca’s visiting L.A. in a few days for some kind of thing at their city hall. It’s not too far a drive.

– Lynwood Crumpler Drake III’s personal journal, 5/5/1995 entry



James had decided; “enough is enough,” he declared… [snip] …The US Secret Service agency were a very confident bunch for a good, long while. No President had been seriously targeted for assassination since 1986, and no President had been killed since McKinley got shot in September 1901, nearly 94 years ago. To most Americans, the idea of the President getting shot was a crime that, while heinous, was also rightfully left in the history books. That while inferior nations suffered such calamities, it could never happen here.

Then Kim Jung-Il made his vague threat of “avenging” his dead father. The Secret Service began monitoring crowds for anyone suspicious; even cleared visitors to the White House were followed around. Rooftops were checked whenever the president appeared in public, but most servicemen suspected a cam bomb or acid attack would be far more likely, and so crowds received more attention than windows and roofs. In retrospect, what happened on that day may have been due to prejudice aimed toward Asian-Americans (due to the US-Japan Trade War of 1994), and/or to African-Americans (due to negative stereotypes concerning them)...

– Evelyn Rich’s Frenzy: That Time I Dated A Monster, The Schiller Institute, 2011



On May 9, 1995, Iacocca flew in to Los Angeles, California, to accept an honorary diploma from the University of Southern California’s business school. After the ceremony, he dropped by the site of the Sunrise Tower project near Venice Beach, in Santa Monica. It was Donald Trump’s newest urban development project, the endeavor he believed would usher in a new era of success for him, after a messy divorce and an ethics investigation.

EaZSPJr.png

[pic: https://imgur.com/EaZSPJr ]
Above: Iacocca and Trump going over designs and financial reviews for Trump’s hotel/business complex/spa project

After the brief meeting, Iacocca made one last stop, to the Mayor’s office to cut the ribbon at City Hall to celebrate the building's recent renovation. Trump joined him in the limousine for the free publicity of the photo-op; he needed the ride to meet with the city's zoning commissioner.

The photos had been taken but the cameras kept rolling as the President shook the hands reaching out from the adjacent crowd.

– Elizabeth Drew’s On The Edge: The Iacocca Presidency, NYT Publishing, 2011 edition



The assailant laid on his stomach, positioning himself near the corner of the rooftop. A mild breeze joined the day’s 65-degree weather. It was sunny, with only some clouds in the sky. The breeze made him put on a hat to keep his ratty locks of hair out of his face. He crouched down carefully, trying to blend in to the dark façade of the building top. He watched the men below glance around, and did his best to stay out of sight. He heard the clapping and resumed peaking from his makeshift crow’s nest. He saw the target preparing to leave. He knew his window of opportunity was closing, and he prepared his weapon. Without hesitance, the perpetrator readied, aimed, and fired.

– Cary Federman’s Target: Iacocca, Lexington Books, 2015



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Italicized portion is from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_Walker
[2] TTL’s term for “coming out of the closet”
[3] Italicized part is taken from Source 41 on the OTL famine’s wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine#Military
[4] Thank @Igeo654 for the ideas that went into this.
[5] Lines pulled from pages 13-14 of the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470
[6] OTL, according to his wikipedia article
[7] For map, see TTL’s 1/1/1978 entry
[8] The minimum wage at this point of TTL; Bellamy would have likely made it higher than the $3.80 Bush made it in 1990 IOTL before the GOP took over the House in 1990: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart
[9] Pulled from the 1996 F.Q.P. Act of OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Quality_Protection_Act
[10] Un-italicized lines here were pulled from page 216 of the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470
[11] Iacocca did agree with Nader on this, saying “Here I find myself in rare agreement with Ralph Nader: The Corvair really was unsafe”!: https://www.foxnews.com/auto/lee-iacoccas-copy-ralph-naders-unsafe-at-any-speed
[12] A March 12, 1991 source (https://nader.org/1991/03/12/selling-safety/) notes that Iacocca wrote the following in a full-page newspaper advertisement in that same year: Safety Should be Our First Priority. The Auto Industry Has Dragged Its Feet Long Enough… In the early Eighties, the American car industry made a mockery of ‘Made in America.’ …We believe a car engineered for safety is a car engineered for quality.”!
[13] OTL Iacocca quote (from an interview found in a 1991 issue of Playboy magazine)
[14] The origin of his Foo Fighters songs of OTL.
[15] OTL quote from his final interview.
[16] IOTL, it was his grandfather who introduced him to firearms in the first place.
[17] Italicized parts are from an article from 2000, found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/20/magazine/he-just-said-no-to-the-drug-war.html
[18] Italicized passages are actually pulled from here: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/471331-following-massacre-of-americans-we-need-a-new-strategy
[19] So there’s no Terminator series ITTL because Cameron came up with the idea for it after having a nightmare brought on by food poisoning he got while on the set of Piranha II, a movie he worked on IOTL but not ITTL due to the 1978 recession delaying his filmmaking career by nearly two years.
[20] This is real! They declared Michael Jackson to be their King in 1992 in OTL!
[21] Also based on OTL; they appointed him “king” after Jackson’s 2009 death in OTL!
[22] More details mentioned in the late 1982 chapter
[23] Takei opposed making Sulu gay IOTL, saying it “twisted” Roddenberry’s “vision” for the show: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/08/star-trek-beyond-george-takei-sulu-really-unfortunate
[24] The most notable one being the four-parter in the final Season of Star Trek: Phase Two (1983), which is this essentially TL’s version of OTL’s Star Trek 4 movie. In episode 1, a space probe of unknown origin approaches Earth, creating earthquake-inducing sounds that when heard underwater are revealed to be the calls of a long-extinct species of whale. To remedy the situation, the Enterprise II slingshots around the sun to travel to 1983, but receive severe structural damage and make an emergency landing in the Mojave Desert. In episode 2, crewmembers arrive in San Francisco while most remain at the ship, with Scotty overseeing repairs that will take several days to complete. In the city, Spock wins an impromptu debate with a philosophy professor, Kirk gets the Arkwave Treatment his character avoided in the final season of ST:TOS, McCoy gets kicked out of a hospital after angrily telling the staff that they are doing everything wrong, Uhura and Sulu experience real prejudice for the first time in their lives, and the crew have to break Chekov out of a military prison. In episode 3, the prison breakout escalates into US military leaders accusing Russia of sabotage, resulting in Kirk and Spock having to prevent an international incident before it gets out of hand. After the situation is resolved via manipulating security footage, Kirk finds love but struggles to adapt to 20th century courtship. Meanwhile, to fix the ship, Scotty goes on a side-quest to obtain rare earth elements that are abundant in the future, while a conspiracy theorist begins claiming that something massive and invisible exists out in the desert. In episode 4, Kirk’s love interest, who happens to be a marine biologist and whale expert, accidently beams herself aboard the cloaked ship when Kirk loses his communicator. Meanwhile, Spock learns of the origins of whales on earth and their connection to the space probe via crew member “Seven,” who would later get her own spinoff show. Scotty returns, repairs the ship, the whales are beamed into the ship’s tanks, and the crew leaves Earth before the theorist can take a picture. Back in their present, the reintroduction of the whales ends to space probe’s sounds, saving Earth from further destruction. Afterward, Kirk discovers the marine biologist was still onboard when they left her present, and the two begin a relationship (while Kirk’s character arc sees him matures and begin to consider settling down, which conflicts with the biologist’s adventurous fascination with the world she now inhabits) that continues for the rest of the season (and discussed/expanded upon in future S.T.U. installments).
[25] Because the economic situation was worse in TTL’s 1964 than it was in OTL (anyone remember TTL’s Salad Oil Recession of 1963-1964?), Sarah Heath’s father did not get hired for a new job in Alaska, and thus did not move the family up there in 1964 like in OTL!
[26] Which is similar to what happened in OTL!

The next chapter’s E.T.A.: July 5 at the very latest!
 
Last edited:

nbcman

Donor
Pity that Star Trek: The Next Generation got butterflied away. And I wonder how good of a long range shot Lynwood Drake is when his spree killings were done with a revolver and a shotgun IOTL.
 
A “history-hopping” series set in multiple places and time periods, many compared it to “Doctor Who” and, after the series ended, “Quantum Leap.”
Okay, cool, Quantum Leap still exists ITTL. But, is there anything substantially different (excluding the obvious absence of the "Lee Harvey Oswald" two-parter) compared to OTL, or is it basically the same show (ending included)?
 
Chapter 72: May 1995 – August 1995
Chapter 72: May 1995 – August 1995

“You must make your own life amongst the living and, whether you meet fair winds or foul, find your own way to harbor in the end.”

– Capt. Dan Gregg, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, 1947



James [Wenneker von Brunn] burst through the motel room’s door in a sweat, slammed it shut, and then took a peak through the adjacent window’s curtains. And I thought, “He did it, my God he actually did it, didn’t he?” I walked over to him and he hurriedly staggered into the bathroom. In the moment I thought he was packing his things up. We have to move – no, not move. Moving requires contacting a realtor and shit. We have to flee. “The cops are hot on your trail, is that it?” I remember asking as I took a good look at my man from outside the bathroom doorway. My boyfriend, the killer, the liberator of democracy. Bold, brave, flustered, fierce. Wait. Flustered? Then I noticed his face. It was not the look of a face that had experience success, but the face of one experiencing anger, rage, and above all, failure.

“Honey?” I walked closer and saw him rubbing his face, spreading his palm across his wrinkly face before slipping it off and down the side of his face, momentarily transforming half of it into that of a bloodshot hound dog.

“What?” He answered with a voice tired, and almost out of breath.

“The cops aren’t after us, are they?” I said it flatly.

“No, and unless they suspect I had something to do with it, they’re not going to be, dammit.”

“What happened?”

He spilled immediately, “I was all set. I had my gun,” he pulled it out, unloaded it, and laid it on the bed, “all read for action. And I got close to him, so very close. Just two more feet, two another handshake or two and would have gotten him. I went for my gun and I think the Secret Servicemen looked to me as my arm moved, you know, that tell of when someone’s hiding something bad.” He continued, “And as everyone was cheering and he was approaching and I was seizing the chance, POW! Somebody beat me to the chase! Someone beat us to it! Some cowardly punk hit Iacocca with a cowardly sniper shot. He guy went down like a sack of potatoes. Thinking they’ll start arresting or at least starting patting down everyone in the crowd, I skedaddle. Damn it!” He kicked the waste basket out of frustration. “What or who the f@#k even was that sniper?”

– Evelyn Rich’s Frenzy: That Time I Dated A Monster, The Schiller Institute, 2011



At 5:15 PM, while turning his head to address more well-wishers, Iacocca was struck just above the left ear at a 45-degree angle, with the bullet exiting the back of the head. The explosion of brain matter sent a splattering of blood onto Mayor Bradley, L.A.’s US Congressman Nick Patsaouras, and businessman Donald Trump. The three accompanying men each responded differently – Bradley stood in a state of shock; Patsaouras (closest to the President) went to try and catch Iacocca as he felt but was not quick enough; and Trump by stepped back in a recoil and, upon realizing what had happened, turned and hurried back into the building (Trump would later state that he was going for help). Concurrently, the crowd devolved from one of cheers into one of fear as panic and confusion swept the area. The roughly 200 people dispersed in all directions.

However, while most spectators (including a one James Wennecker von Brunn) fled in terror, some brave souls stayed to try and help the President up only for the Secret Service to quickly step in. Others still responded to the sudden chaos by standing nearly frozen, unsure where to go or of what had even happened. Of the people that were filming the event, some just continued to film, including the KNN cameraman nearly run over by the departing crowd.

– Cary Federman’s Target: Iacocca, Lexington Books, 2015



“‘Beacon is down! Repeat – Beacon is down!’ We picked him up by the shoulders and carried him into the limousine. The driver sped to the hospital as [fellow serviceman] Grant [M. Schmidt] called ahead. We even clipped at least two cars on our way to the closest ER, the Good Samaritan Hospital on Wilshire Boulevard. Priorities.”

– retired secret serviceman Gary J. Byrne, 2005 interview



…This just in: shots have been fired at the President in Los Angeles, California. I repeat, shots have been fired at the President…

– KNN, 5/9/1995 “breaking news alert” segment



Drake immediately fled the scene of his heinous crime. Upon sliding his sniper rifle down an air vent, he hurried down the stair well and went out the back service entrance, hoping to blend in to the panicked crowd and skedaddle to Mexico. At 5:19, after pushing down two citizens – an elderly couple uncertain where to go in the new sea of melee – out of his way, causing them to tumble, a security guard shouted “Hey!” Believing he had been discovered, Drake panicked and pulled out his revolver from his windbreaker jacket pocket. The jacket snapped on the weapon, causing him to drop it onto the sidewalk. The guard spotted all of this, and pulled out his own weapon. Rightly believing he would fire into the crowd, Drake crammed into a group of anxious passersby, causing the guard to chase after him.

Drake led the guard into the adjacent City Hall Park, believing he could lose him (and return to his car) by looping around the building. This almost worked as he made his way to North Spring Street, but was he ran, his hat got caught on a low-hanging tree branch. The hat pulled his head back just enough for him to slip and fall. Before he could pick himself up, a second policeman who had joined in the pursuit of the “suspicious individual” jumped on him.

As the two officers apprehended him, he reportedly uttered “I guess I’m not heading to Mexico after all.”

[snip]

The city of Los Angeles had not experienced any major violence in nearly ten years, since the anti-Denton protests of 1985-1986 led to a minor riot in October 1986. Despite this, LAPD Chief (since 1978) Daryl Gates reacted swiftly by calling for the inspection of all surveillance tapes and other available footage, a check of all individuals present at the shooting, and the stopping of traffic on the streets surrounding city hall. Mayor Tom Bradley’s waning popularity (he had barely won re-election over businessman Richard Riordan) saw a sudden rise as he traveled to the hospitals of people injured in the crowd dispersal.

– Cary Federman’s Target: Iacocca, Lexington Books, 2015



“I tried the defibrillator again and again, until the senior chief came over to me and grabbed my shoulder.

‘Charles,’ he lamented, ‘he’s gone.’

There was just too much of him missing. We pumped the blood in, his h poured it back out. In retrospect, I’m amazed a heartbeat was even detected when they wheeled him in. [sad sigh] I was the one that had tried to operate on him, the last man in line to save him, and I failed. When the day was over, I sat down and cried. All lost patients are hard to overcome, and this one was no exception.

I still felt obligated to tell the news to the press, but the chief insisted the hospital manager do that, and let me answer the questions only. I said no. As the doctor that operated on the President, I felt an obligation and duty to make the announcement confirming to the world that the President had passed away.”

– Dr. Charles Krauthammer, PhD, L.A. Good Samaritan Trauma Room physician 1987-1995, 2005 interview



Xcq8Xao.png

[pic: imgur.com/Xcq8Xao.png ]
– Congressman Nick Patsaouras (D-CA) offers his condolences to the Iacocca family after Dr. Krauthammer’s comments, still wearing his blood-covered suit, 5/9/1995



EXTRA!: IACOCCA KILLED!: Sniper Shoots Dead U.S. President!

The New York Times, 5/9/1995



gH6vY3j.png

[pic: imgur.com/gH6vY3j.png ]

– clickopedia.co.usa



“Yes, I struck him down!” Larry rejoiced as he knocked down the final pin. This bowling alley was a special place for us, it being the most fixed location of our lives for past several years. Ambassadorships took us away from D.C., and we had lived in northern D.C. home for only two years when Larry went from being a Senator to being Vice President, thus causing us to move again for the umpteenth time. But in the midst of the changing locales, the DC location of Bowl America had remained constant. Not too far away from the children’s schools and both of our offices, the place was the most convenient place for family outings. “I think I’m getting better at this” he smirked as he sat down at the table.

I pointed up at the score board, “Not better enough, though, Larry.”

He shrugged, “Practice makes perfect, though.” He then looked at his watch.

I went up to take my turn. “There,” I began as I turned around just as I scored a ten, “now getting all the pins down is what you call a – ”

Larry was rummaging through his bag. “Honey, I think I left my pager at home.”

“Well it’s not like nobody knows where you are,” I said, “We know the first names of everyone who works here.”

“But Lee said he was going to call me around now, and yet the phone hasn’t rung for me.”

“He’s probably running late.”

As he was nodding, several men in black suits burst through the door, bringing a yelp out of Waitress Wendy. It was a surprising image that gave both of us a jump before realizing they were Secret Servicemen. That replaced our surprise with curiosity, as our family’s own security officers quickly stood beside us.

After some of the men spun around the room with guns, one said “The room is secure,” and our surprise returned as Chief of Staff Dick Brandt walked through. Tearfully he approached Larry. “Mr. President,” was how he addressed him.

“You mean Mr. Vice President,” Larry said with a look of befuddlement and horror.

Brandt shook his head. He pulled out a bible (we later found out it was his own, and he had picked it up on his way over to us), and added, “We need you to come with us, sir, and formally take the oath.”

Dinger’s eyes widened at the implications, and uttered a barely-legible “No,” but one in disbelief, not one in refusal of his duties.

“What, sir?” Brandt asked.

Dinger replied with “H-how did it happen? When? Why?”

“We’ll catch you up to speed, sir. Now please, your country needs you.”

It must have felt unreal for him in that moment; he must have been frightened and saddened. I’m talking about Brandt, of course; I could already tell that Larry was feeling the same things.

– Paula Gaffey Dinger’s Starting In Riceville: The Journey of Larry And I, Random House, 2011



Everyone can remember where they were when they heard of Lee Iacocca’s death. People were coming home from work. Children were out of school. Drivers were listening to their radios. Others were watching TV when KNN’s footage became news worthy of interrupting most programming. Even later, opening up the latest newspaper with the word “Extra!” written across it informed the less social. The death of Iacocca shocked the nation, to put it simply. While not the first president to be murdered, it was the first successful Presidential assassination in 94 years, and the atrocious act saddened millions of people both nationwide and worldwide. Regardless of whether or not you agreed with, him he was a respected leader and his end troubled many. It rocked them to their core. The folks on Capitol Hill were not immune, they were shocked, too.

But nobody cried until the second day, when it really began to sink in that Iacocca would never again give a speech or sign a bill into law or visit a factory or school. On the hill, never again would he enter their offices, never talk to them, never speak to them ever again. That’s when the salt-rivers flowed. But as tears were wiped and people returned their attention to their jobs and families, attention also turned to the man whom had succeeded Iacocca, the man whom was now the President of the United States – a man named Larry Miles Dinger.

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020



DWcGbAN.png

[pic: imgur.com/DWcGbAN ]
Larry Miles Dinger, the 42nd President of the United States of America



“I congratulate you on your promotion but offer my most sincere condolences for how it came about.”

“Um, thank you, and uh, well, this may be a little over two years late, but, uh, likewise.”

– phone call between the President of Sir Lanka and US President Larry Miles Dinger, 5/10/1995



Lee Iacocca laid in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol from Friday, May 12, to Sunday, May 14, at which point his casket was moved to the Washington National Cathedral for the state funeral. President Dinger’s speech on this day was similar to the televised address he had given five days earlier, in which he announced the death of Iacocca, declared a month of national mourning, and order all flags to be lowered to half-mast for said month. In that speech, he had lamented, “He wanted for us what we all want for each other. Family, security, and the belief that things will get better. It is now more important than ever that we uphold this last want, and believe that things will get better. The clouds of misery and uncertainty will someday depart and reveal the sun once more, but not without hope and being together with the people we love, during this time of national tragedy. We cannot make sense of the senseless, but we can overcome the worst of situations when we are there for each other, and stand together, united in our shared belief that the American Dream that Lee Iacocca believed in is strong and indestructible, and still alive in the hearts of every freedom-loving being. We will continue on, we will return to our families, return to our jobs, and continue to strive to be the America that Lee Iacocca strived for throughout his life.”

At the state funeral held the day before Iacocca’s casket was finally brought to its final resting place in the slain President’s hometown of Allentown, PA, Dinger added, “We as a nation have been through turmoil and heartache again and again, and each time we’ve come back stronger. We are still here because we never give in to fear – we conquer fear. We acknowledge our fears, we confront them, and we defeat them. And in this moment, our nation fears the unknown, the uncertainty presented to us in the wake of this tragedy. And as Americans, we will stand tall and honor Lee Iacocca, and continue on the legacy that he started, a legacy of love for his family, his friends, his colleagues and his countrymen, and for all the people of the world with love in their hearts.”

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



“He’s with Mom now.”

– Kathryn Iacocca, 9/14/1995



csCXNgq.png

[pic: imgur.com/csCXNgq.png ]
– New US President Larry Miles Dinger pays his respects as Lee Iacocca lies in wait in the US Capitol’s Rotunda; the man to his left is retired Navy Admiral John S. McCain III; 9/14/1995



“I was Governor of Nevada when Iacocca was assassinated. At the time it happened, we didn’t know if it was an insurrection, what it was. All of the states went on an alert. The president had been assassinated. I dealt with so many things. I got very involved because I was chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Commission. [1] And my state has a lot of military installations. So just like Governor Mario Cuomo in New York and Governor Kathleen Brown in California did in their states, I put everything on high alert, basically on lockdown, just in case this was the start of some kind of coordinated attack or something. We were all on edge, shocked into being really, very anxious, for a very long time.”

– former Governor Douglas A. "Doug" Swanson (R-NV), radio interview, 2007



“I think the lack of any public announcement concerning his alleged killer is very revealing, Art.”

“You don’t think it has anything to do with the Iacocca family and the new administration requesting a period of mourning? You know, before we delve into the trial?”

“I think it has more to do with the government either covering something up or trying to get to the bottom of who were the perpetrators.”

“They already have the suspected killer, though, Joe.”

“No-no, Art, I’ve seen the KNN footage – we have all – but I’ve studied it closely and carefully. Iacocca turned his head as he was shot, and from the angle, I don’t think the line of trajectory lines up with the building directly across the street, but with the building over from that one.”

“Alright, Joe, I see you’ve got another one of your lists there, so tell me – if Drake somehow didn’t do it, who did?”

“There’s plenty of suspects. White supremacists who didn’t like Iacocca being Italian. Religious fanatics who disliked him being Catholic. Feminist radicals like that Marilyn Jean Buck who’s been on the run since trying to blow up some office in D.C. during the Second Ark Wave. There’s the Albanian mafia – ”

“The Albanian mafia?”

“Were you expecting Mother Theresa and Reverend Jerry Brown in matching string bikinis?”

“Why Albania?”

“FBI Director Kennedy’s really gone after their activities in the US this past year. They’ve kind of spread out since their country joined Yugoslavia.”

“I see. So the Albanian mafia, but not the Italian mafia?”

“Nah, too much of a stereotype. If not the Albanians, then the yakuza. Yeah, in fact the yakuza are even more likely!”

“You should have led with them. Any other more likely suspects?”

“Of course! The big one is North Korea, because let’s face it, who’d be a better sniper, an N.K. agent, or a guy who can’t hold down a job as a garbage man?”

“Okay, that thought has merit. Lots of Asian-Americans have been harassed in the past few days because of such rumors. So it’s not the first time I’ve heard it.”

“And it might not be the last time, either! But if it was not a North Korean sniper, than maybe it was one sent by one of the Recreadrug Cartels plaguing Colombia and Mexico and apparently every country between the two.”

“You’re done with the list then?”

“No, there’s more! Iacocca publicly feuded with the Federal Reserve; that could have done him in. There’s some talk that the Secret Service were distracted by some shifty guy in the crowd; there could be something to that. Iacocca alternatively could have been rubbed out by MI6 – the man had suggested starting a trade war with the British just a few weeks ago!”

“All of those seem very unlikely.”

“Unlikely, but not impossible.”

“That should be the tagline of his show.”

“Next up on my little list here, Art – .”

“Little?”

“Is Big Pharma – ever since UHC, billion-dollar medicine and insurance companies have lost millions in revenue as the cost of medical care has shifted. I think some CEOs hoped Iacocca would reverse this, but because of how popular it is, he left it alone. Then there’s the gun lobbyists I read about in some news article a while back. I think gun manufacturers are not as powerful as they would like to be, and don’t forget the fact that the military-industrial complex described by President Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address is very real, and if they were behind this, than it’s time for people to heed Ike’s words!”

“I dunno, most of the evidence still seems to point to Drake, so I’m more interested in the motive, what drove him to do it, you know?”

“There’s already some theories on that.”

“Of course there are.”

“According to Drake’s former roommates and his ex-wife, the guy enjoyed violent video games, and was a fan of the movie ‘Natural Born Killers.’ That guy who failed to assassinate the King of Saudi Arabia back in January could have inspired him to do it, too – if he did do it, that is. Also, Drake apparently also likes Bud Light beer.”

“You think Bud Light had something to do with Iacocca’s assassination?”

“Drake was reportedly seen drinking the stuff just before he went into the building.”

“You think maybe the caffeine did it?”

“No, I think maybe something else was in that specific drink, and it influenced him, like some kind of drug slipped to him by some agent, working for some sinister orchestrator.”

“[sarcastically] You sure there’s no other reason why it was Bud Light, Joe?”

“well, Iacocca did once praise Coca-Cola back in February, so, hey, maybe you’re on to something!”

“[signs].”

“I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not crazy, Artie, I just think big!”

– Host Art Bell and recurring caller Conspiracy Joe on KDWN’s late night political call-in talk radio program Coast to Coast AM, Sunday 5/14/1995 [2]



“I ACTED ALONE!”: IACOCCA’S ASSASSIN FINALLY BREAKS SILENCE

E7nrxIO.png

[pic: imgur.com/E7nrxIO.png ]
Above: Lynwood Drake, currently awaiting trial in an undisclosed location

The New York Post, 5/16/1995



“Well, Joe, that was straight from the mouth of the horse’s ass. Care to comment?”

“Um, well, Art, uh, it’s very possible that he’s just lying for one of, um, many reasons. I know – I’ll make a list of reasons! Just give me a few minutes…”

“[sighs].”

– Host Art Bell and recurring guest Conspiracy Joe on KDWN’s late night political call-in talk radio program Coast to Coast AM, 5/16/1995



Even with Drake’s confession, many criticized the FBI for keeping America “left in the dark,” a decision that fueled rumors of the assassination being a North Korean plot. These rumors soon grew into elaborate conspiracy theories on the technet, theories (later amended to claim that Drake was forced to claim he acted alone) that marked the first mass spreading of disinformation on the technet. Soon enough, entire netsites dedicated to an interpretation of events based on circumstantial evidence or hearsay were founded. The circulation of falsehoods led to incidents of verbal abuse and even physical assault targeting Asian Americans. To address this, local and state-level governments across the country called for peace and civility, and condemned such attacks. After a May 19 attack left two Taiwanese-American high school students in the hospital for stitches, President Dinger called such acts “unpatriotic” and “beneath us as a nation” at a May 20 press briefing.

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



“Guns are not toys. They are tools meant for hunting dangerous or nutritious animals, not for harming people. The second amendment defends the rights of well-regulated militias. This heinous act, a cowardly act of treason, was perpetrated by a lone wolf, not a militia, let alone a well-regulated militia. Aware of the need to protect law-abiding citizens from those who wish to abuse the tool of the rifle, we hereby endorse the Gun Control Bill currently making its way through congress.”

– NRA spokesperson, 5/29/1995 press briefing



DRAKE’S REPRESENTATIVES SEEKING INSANITY PLEA!

The Washington Post, 5/30/1995



History Repeats Itself in Iacocca’s Death

…In a personal attempt try and make some sense out of this senseless tragedy, here are some comparisons I, a historian, have found exist between Lee Iacocca and another great-but-slain leader, Abraham Lincoln:

1. Both Presidents had a wife named Mary, and both marriages ended in death, with Lincoln dying in 1865 and Mary McCleary dying in 1983.

2. Both men worked in transportation prior to becoming President: Lincoln for the Alton & Sangamon Railroad company as a legal representative in 1851, while Iacocca worked for both Ford and Chrysler.

3. Both men favored the modernization of industries, with both paying attention to the needs of the American Midwest.

4. Their respective presidential campaigns used a “self-made man” message.

5. Both oversaw military action while in office, with Lincoln dealing with the Civil War and Iacocca handling U.S. troops helping to fight off anti-government guerillas in Colombia.

6. Both men were known for famous speeches: Lincoln for the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate and the 1863 Gettysburg Address, while Iacocca’s best speeches were given at the third Presidential debate of 1992, and at the 1993 State of the Union address, in which he proclaimed an effort to send mankind to Mars.

7. Both men were assassinated thespians: while John Wilkes Booth was a noted man of the stage, Lynwood Crumpler Drake III had bit parts in only a few TV shows.

8. Lincoln was shot at a theater; Iacocca planned on visiting a theater later in the evening on the day of his assassination.

9. Both men redefined Republicanism; Iacocca shifted the GOP’s primary focus from social issues to economic issues, while Lincoln [see Lincoln’s wiki page].

10. Both ABE LINCOLN and LEE IACOCCA contain 10 letters each.

11. Both were survived by two children (Lincoln by two sons, Iacocca by both daughters).

– The Chicago Tribune, side article, 6/1/1995 editorial



As police revealed confirmed the existence of a “man of suspicious nature” in the crowd having distracted Secret Servicemen from the rooftops, talks of a two-man operation increased despite Drake insisting he acted alone. Meanwhile, neighbors and acquaintances of Drake were shunned for admitting in TV interviews that they knew he had expressed interest in harming or killing himself or others, but did not take him seriously due to his reputation of being a “nut.” A one Andrew Zatco, 83, a former landlord to the victim, said “I thought he only talked a big game. I don’t think anyone ever took him seriously.

Drake allegedly being mentally unwell renewed criticism of the Mental Health Research Bill of 1986, with many of the left claiming it was “weak” legislation. Regardless, the assassin’s ability to legally purchase a gun opened a dialogue on gun safety, and revealed the remaining bureaucratic “holes” of the mental health treatment parts of American Universal Healthcare Care (the fact that he man had been diagnosed with cancer of the leg in the early 1990s but that it had been in remission since early 1994 brought forth a controversy all on its own).

On June 2, Senator Bethine Church (D-ID) called for a national increase in services for the mentally-ill, believing that it would help ease gun violence. Senator John Judge (R-IA) supported her on this, but also called for the launching of a “nationwide campaign” to remove stigmas regarding mentally-unwell individuals, citing mockery of 1986 would-be Presidential killer J. O. Huberty as a “big example of our society intimidating those left in the shadows, afraid to step out and ask for help.” Judge blamed “[the] Hollywood writers and stand-up comedians” of the later 1980s for discouraging Americans from seeking mental help, “to instead suppress, deny, and maybe even convince themselves that they are fine. Case in point, Mr. Drake has told police that he will not plea innocent on a plea of insanity and will not comply with any offers for mental help because he believes he is a sane man. How do you get such people the help they need but that they don’t want? If we force them to go to a sanitarium, it is against their wishes. And if he is a sane man after all, such a force, a violation of his will, come traumatize him.” The actions of Church and Judge thus opened up a national debate on how to best address mental health as well.

– Cary Federman’s Target: Iacocca, Lexington Books, 2015



“Yeah, I mean, remember when the hip-hop scene got blamed for Lee Iacocca getting killed, all because Drake allegedly liked to listen to rap?”

“S#!t, everyone was getting the finger pointed at them that time. Even some whack-job on the radio blamed one of the beer companies. Coors, I think.”

“So you don’t think there was a connection.”

“Lee getting capped happened a bit after Eazy-E and Tim Dog got shot, and after Jay-Z and Kool Keith surviving getting hit, too, but we weren’t to blame, because we started changing our music even before Lee died. Right before he got hit, Biggie, man, he released a single called ‘Thug Truce’ for a reason.”

“Well, yes, those four rappers getting shot did worked as a wake-up call of sorts for fans of the genre.”

“And that’s when things started changing. Cokey getting capped just sped it up. Eazy-E and Tim Dog died from the very lifestyle they glorified in their music. We all romanticized the thug life. Looking back, I guess we took things too far.

“Indeed, it made a lot of people turn away from ‘pro-thug’ hip hop scene and seemed to push the whole genre in a lighter direction.”

– Interviewer with Tupac Shakur, Tumbleweed Magazine, 2003 issue



PANEL DECLARES DRAKE TO BE COMPETENT ENOUGH TO STAND TRIAL, STILL SCHEDULED TO BEGIN JULY 11; Jury Selection Begins Next Week

The Los Angeles Times, 6/8/1995



RAESE: “Private firms are still required to train new workers in job-specific skills like before.”

KAPTUR: “Yes, but FJG workers are far more likely to have retained higher levels of skill than those who are forced to succumb to lengthy spells of unemployment. This changes the bargaining environment rather significantly because firms now have reduced hiring costs. Previously, the same firms would have lowered their hiring standards and provided on-the-job training and vestibule training in tight labor markets. This means the FJG policy actually reduces the hysteretic inertia embodied in the long-term unemployed and allows for a smoother private sector expansion like the kind the economy’s starting to see in recent months” [3]

RAESE: “Don’t give me that. Drake killed the President of the United States because of the low-quality employment opportunities offered by the FJG bill.”

KAPTUR: “It was because of his refusal to seek help for his poor mental health.”

RAESE: “Mental health probably worsened by the terrible ‘buffer stock’ jobs he kept getting. We have to have good, honest jobs people will be proud to show up for!”

– KNN round-table discussion between Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and Sen. Jack Raese (R-WV), 6/10/1995



North Korean General Executed, Possibly Connected To Alleged Coup Attempt!

…Kim Pyong-ryul, who has no known relation to the Kim Dynasty, had only recently become a member of the Hermit Kingdom’s Supreme Guard Command. According to South Korea news outlets, it most likely that the General spoke either “out of turn” or uttered something that someone viewed as “treasonous.” One South Korean newspaper claims the execution follows a failed attempt to overthrow Kim Jung-Il, but this allegation has not been confirmed…

– The Arizona Republic, 6/12/1995



…Dinger’s first departure from his predecessor’s administration was his genuine attempting of rapprochement with Japan. LMD sought to re-establish the harmonious relations felt in the pre-Iacocca years, and Dinger was more sincere about it than Iacocca. This strengthened US-Japan relations, and it came at a most critical time…

– Edward Gulio Romano III’s LMD: A Study of The Dinger Days, Sunrise Publishers, 2020



Officers broke the door right off its hinges with a loud firecracker-type bang. Wooden splinters scattered around as the armed figures quickly filled up the room. James [Wenneker von Brunn] bolted out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, but the window there was impossibly small; fecal smells couldn’t exit through it, let alone a man about to turn 75. Within seconds, several officers had him on the ground, then in handcuffs, as other participants of the raid went about searching the motel room.

“Don’t tell them anything, babe!” He said to me.

“Okay,” I complied. I looked at the officer next to me and then pointed to the bottom of the bed. They promptly seizing James’ weapons. Hidden clumsily in the duffel bag were three pistols, an uzi, and three uzi magazines.

“Evie?” James looked at me in disbelief.

“I can’t live like this, James. Living in a different motel room each week, living on monthly checks in some godforsaken state like Alaska or New Jersey? That’s no life, James.”

His shock quickly turned to a familiar anger, “You b!#ch!” He called out a lurched forward, but with his hands in cuffs, he just collapsed out of his chair.

The next day, James was charged in federal court of attempted murder and firearms violations; he pleaded not guilty to all charges.

– Evelyn Rich’s Frenzy: That Time I Dated A Monster, The Schiller Institute, 2011



IOC Session No. 104

Date: June 16, 1995
Location: Budapest, Hungary

Subject 1 of 1: bidding for hosting the 2/8/2002-2/24/2002 (or XIX) Winter Olympics

Results:
Toronto, Canada – 29 (Round 1) – 33 (Round 2) – 34 (Round 3) – 45 (Round 4)
Sion, Switzerland – 16 (Round 1) – 17 (Round 2) – 28 (Round 3) – 34 (Round 4)
Salt Lake City, U.S. – 25 (Round 1) – 27 (Round 2) – 27 (Round 3)
Ostersund, Sweden – 14 (Round 1) – 12 (Round 1)
Quebec City, Canada – 5 (Round 1)

End Result: Toronto won on the fourth round

www.aldaver.co.usa/votes.html



…Kim Jung-Il’s son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-nam, disagreed with father on multiple fronts, but never to his face, or in his presence or even out loud, lest a loyalist rat him out. Born 10 May 1971 to a woman of which his grandfather did not approve, Jong-nam was sent by his father Kim Jung-Il to live with his maternal aunt to keep his existence a secret. When he was old enough, he was sent to boarding schools in Russia and Switzerland until returning to North Korea in secret in 1988; this fact makes me contemplate whether Kim Il-Sung knew of his grandson’s existence all along. But I digress.

In one moment of bravery, Jong-nam attempted to ask his father what had truly unfolded in the 1995 incident with General Kim Pyong-ryul. Always treading lightly around him, Jong-nam had to choose his approach carefully, for the Supreme Leader was always a rather cold man. He was like that to all but a few people, some yes-men here and some military loyalists there, people who truly believed in him and he was convinced that their belief in him was genuine. Anything short of outright loyalty and blind belief that he was always right was seen as a hostile threat.

“Father, how traitorous was the General?”

“He approached Major General Choe Sang-ryo with the idea of re-opening relations with Russia, on the grounds that they have worked with us in the past. The fool. They are in the American camp now, and can never be trusted. For him to suggest such a thing was proof he was an American sleeper cell agent.” He looked at his son, “You know what I am talking about. I saw The Manchurian Candidate film in your little collection.”

“You did?” Jong-nam’s face brightened. Always thankful for the movie set his father had built for him, where the young Kim made amateur short films and did scriptwriting, he was internally hopeful his father was finally showing an interest in his interests. The moment, however, was just that – a moment.

“We must destroy America before they destroy us.”

He sighed on the inside and went with the conversation’s new direction, “It seems they are destroying themselves, sir. We had nothing to do with Iacocca’s death…” he eyed him with one brow raised.

“Of course we didn’t!”

“Yes, that’s what I said, sir,” he firmly said to his father.

Hyon Chol-hae, a close advisor to Kim Jong-il, the Director of the Standing Bureau of the National Defence Commission, and former bodyguard for Kim Il-Sung, soon joined the three of us in the room, followed by General O Kuk-ryol, a close personal friend of Kim Jong-Il since childhood and unofficially the second most powerful man in North Korea.

“Good. You are early, but not too early.”

The meet greeted one another before sitting down to discuss progress being done on the nuclear research. General O was pleased in announce that a rocket would be ready to be tested underground in two months.

“Father,” Jong-nam asked “You know I support this program, but…” The eyes of the men across from the Kims widened. “I know it is wise, but how wise is it to oppose everyone?”

To this, the Supreme Leader replied, “You must learn your place, son. I know all that is best for you, for the military, and for True Korea. If you cannot comprehend this, maybe putting my legacy into your dicey hands is not a good gamble.”

You forgot to slip in a pun about his drinking problem, I thought in my head. The young Kim’s collection of alcoholic beverages from around the world was impressive, but impractical when it came to ruling True Korea. His tendency to play cards with the True Korean elite was also a stain on his reputation, a stain the Supreme Leader sought to remove by forcing his son to attend each and every one of his high-profile meetings, and by instructing me to follow him everywhere he went.

This began after the young Kim made a clandestine visit to Tokyo, Japan in early 1995, creating an eight-hour gap in his day for which he had an explanation but no alibi. As his “shoulder peeper” as he called me, he turned more inward, but I knew what he wanted to say. “I do not wish to succeed my father.” “I am more interested in movies.” Things of this effect. I suspect that his being educated in Switzerland led to him being exposed to the concept of free markets, and thus becoming sympathetic to capitalism and less so to the government of his father and grandfather.

Another interest he had was his relationship with his wife, Lee Hey-Kong. On June 16, 1995, Hey-Kong gave birth to their first child, a son named Kim Han-sol. His first name meant “large pine tree,” a symbol of strength and natural prosperity; it also sounded similar to Harrison Ford’s character in Kim Jong-nam’s favorite film franchise...

– Won Ung-hui’s The Kim Dynasty And The Time At Hand, Inchon Publishers, 2004



…On May 13, 1995, the northern inland Greek regions of Grevena and Kozani were hit by a powerful earthquake that destroyed homes and left hundreds homeless. Turkey sent aid and carpenter tools/materials to the affected areas, along with hired workers, plus some volunteers, to help rebuild homes. Turkey repeated the favor a month later, after a second earthquake ended up killing over 20 in the northern Peloponnese city of Aigio on June 15...

– Frederick B. Chary’s The Modern Balkans: The History of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Turkey After The End of the Cold War Era, Greenwood Publishers, 2018 edition



Syria’s dictator was the weakest link in Ireali-Arab relations. A loose cannon, he had been the most reluctant signatory of the Atlanta Peace Treaty of 1978. Among the young people of his country, only some opposed his belligerence toward their southern neighbor. Such youngsters agreed with Syrians who had visited Israel and saw no reason to oppose their “wayward-but-innovative” neighbor.

In 1995, though, Hafez al-Assad saw a situation unfold of which he just had to take advantage. He imagined he could turn the region against Israel and return things to how they once were, and his influence would expand as a result. Ever since his election in 1992, Lebanon’s most belligerent radical in their parliament, Emile Lahoud, had been of great concern to the Israeli Defense Front, who, having little to do but spy on Israel’s neighbors for the past 17 years, had since 1992 repeatedly failed to convince Israel’s Prime Ministers that assassinating Lahoud was necessary “to keep our country protected.” Upon asking Israeli PM Shulamit Aloni no less than the seventh time, Aloni told the IDF Chief to drop the matter or else face termination, explaining that “tolerating the fringes [sic] is necessary to keep the peace with all others.”

However, one rogue IDF agent refused to accept such a notion, and on June 17, 1995, Lahoud was killed a drive-by shooting outside of Beirut. Lebanon President Hussein El-Husseini dusted off “defense maneuvers” but then spoke with Aloni. On June 18, Lebanon and Israel leaders held a press briefing on the Israeli-Lebanon border to make an impromptu joint announcement that all was well between the two nations, as the IDF agent in question was to be persecuted by Lebanon’s court system in compliance with a binational judicial agreement made in 1985.

The two nations wanted to settle the matter to retain focus on economic growth; Assad was outraged.

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020



“Fools. They are frightened by the threat of war. El-Husseini, he is castrated by calls for peace with these,” and Assad proceeded to use a slanderous word for Jewish people. Take your pick, Hafez used them all over the course of his reign.

“That Member of Lebanon’s Parliament had Syrian ties.”

“He did?” asked Assad’s son and chosen successor Bassel al-Assad.

“Yes, he was on the board of several Syrian defense and security organizations.”

“He was?”

“Yes, and that means this assassination was an attack on our defense….Yes?”

“Oh…oh! Oh yes, yes it was!”

[snip]

It would not be until 2019 that Israel publicly revealed that the IDF had wanted to assassinate Assad in 1983, 1988 and 1991 for supporting Libya, Pakistan, and ATRs (Anti-Treaty Radicals) in those respective years, only to be told no due to Assad’s high popularity within in nation, and that such an act would potentially lead to Syria and other Middle Eastern countries ending their relations with Israel. That would mean the end of their oil supplies and other economic gains accrued since ’78. This was just what Assad hoped he would accomplish when he accused Israel of “unlawful agitation” on June 19. After Aloni refused to acknowledge “a blatant lie and [a] disregard for the well-being of all citizens of the Middle East,” Assad declared war on Israel on June 20, started the first war in the Middle East in 17 years.

Israelis and Syrian citizens alike feared reprisal, and older residents somberly and fearfully thought back to the “pre-Atlanta days,” when outbursts of violence claimed the lives of so many innocents on such a regular basis that it seemed pointless to even try to seek peace. And yet, peace had come to the region. Through the art of communication, the nations of the Middle East saw their leaders sit down and agree to tie their economies to one another for the purpose of mutual benefits. The fighting was discouraged at the top, and locals celebrated, some in disbelief, as terror attacks became more scrutinized, and thus less normalized. Now, an entire generation had grown up without the prior ways, instead learning about them through their parents and in school.

And they weren’t too keen on experiencing the prior ways, not at all.

After Syrian tanks rolled into the border town of Merom Golan on June 21, something truly amazing happened – something that would have been improbable if not downright impossible to have happened two decades ago were it not for the nations of the Middle East coming to rely on one another for non-endemic goods, for relaxing the borders between one another and for letting their peoples meet one another on something that was not a battlefield.

The day after the declaration of war, the nations of Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Sudan publicly sided with Israel instead of Syria, claiming Syria’s charges as, in a word, unfounded and Assad’s response as, in another word, inappropriate. Clearly in defense of Israel. Even the country of Palestine, with whom Israel shared a “special territorial relationship,” condemned Assad’s actions, and while they stopped short officially siding with Israel, the leaders of Palestine made it perfectly clear that they were on Israel’s side. It may have taken the fear of economic ruin for it to happen – the long-term effects of 17 years of the people on both sides to being told they should do business with one another certainly helped – but fact remained that Palestine sided with Israel and against Syria during this conflict.

– Martin van Creveld’s Defending Israel: A Controversial Plan Toward Peace, Thomas Dunne Books, 2004



Local and national leaders feared warfare would deteriorate growth in the region. Egypt and Palestine companies had already poured large amounts of times, funding, energy and resources into terraformation projects into both southern Jordan and southern Israel, aiming to create bustling communities out of hundreds of square miles of desert (and making a handsome profit in the process), and wealthy investors were not going to allow war to end it.

[snip]

After Israel and Palestine, Iraq is the location of the most biblical history in the world. It was multicultural, with the most prominent ethnic and/or religious groups being Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen, Christians and Yazidis. With the nation becoming more open to business endeavors in neighboring nations, including Israel (albeit cautiously over concerns over anti-Israel backlash from socially conservative Iraqis), Iraqi President Abd ar-Razzaq Said al-Naif backed Israel during their “standoff” with Syria.

In Egypt, President Mubarak privately resented having to “play ball” with Israel, creating a “cold peace” between the two countries for years despite Saudi Arabia, Egypt’s closest ally, increasing their economic ties to increasingly tech-savvy Israel. In private, Mubarak believed Israel to be a “paper lion” [sic] that would collapse were it not “propped up by western imperialism,” i.e. the US and Europe. There was some truth to his beliefs, but only some, as Israel’s efforts to be a major player in the regional economy were sincere, but also supported by the US and much of Europe. However, Mubarak was also hypocritical due to his own acceptance of US aid for his own domestic assistance programs, especially from the “very generous” President Bellamy. Regardless of his personal opinions, Mubarak understood the fiscal importance of backing Israel over the relatively less-wealthy Syria.

Israel also found an ally – and a close one, no less – in Jordan. The nation’s Prime Minister, Taher al-Masri, the pro-US former Jordanian Ambassador to France who previously served as Prime Minister in 1991 and again from 1993 to 1996, sided with Israel during its 1995 “confrontation” with Syria, famously stating “it is always wise to keep the lives of millions out of the hands of the fundamentalists.” [4] The 1990s saw the Kingdom of Jordan enter a phase of democratization, a period about which Jordan’s President of the Senate, Ahmad Lozi, in 1995 remarked “on the whole, I don’t think that even the Prophets Jesus or Muhammed could bring about a faster movement toward democracy.” [5] Ergo, Lozi did not seek to risk progress on siding with the dictator Assad...

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020



Facing regional – and, quite quickly, international – pressure and with Syrian troops being surprisingly kept back by the Israeli army, Assad “recalled” the troops on June 23, three days after declaring war and after only two days of exchanging fire, claiming “we have already sent a clear message to Israel.” In 72 hours, 63 people were killed – 15 Israeli soldiers, 42 Syrian soldiers, and 6 Israeli citizens.

The Three-Day War of 1995 was seen as a major miscalculation for Syria, as the nation’s leaders failed to gauge the reaction of other heads of state in the region, and failed to inspect the likelihood of winning their support due to Assad deciding to invade Israel as soon as possible, instead of better viewing the geopolitical situation first. The war damaged Assad’s popularity within Syria only somewhat (though anti-Assad sentiment among young Syrians increased notably), but the war, which Assad considered to be an “embarrassment” did a greater effect on his health. Assad was a diabetic who suffered a heart attack in the 1980s...

– Martin van Creveld’s Defending Israel: A Controversial Plan Toward Peace, Thomas Dunne Books, 2004



DINGER ANNOUNCES VICE PRESIDENT VETTING COMMITTEE

The Washington Post, 6/29/1995



…“Return To The Planet Of The Apes” entered Development Hell after Adam Rifkin first pitched the idea for it in 1988 to Twentieth Century Fox. After several writes, Rifkin managed to win over studio executives in 1992, when he convinced Philip Noyce to produce and Chuck Russell to direct. Award-winning Danny Elfman signed on for film score in 1994. ...A sequel to the first film that ignores the second, third, fourth and fifth films, “Return To The Planet Of The Apes” centers on a young human slave, a descendent of George Taylor (Charlton Heaton’s character in the original 1968 film) named Duke Throckmorton (played by Carlos I. Estevez), living in the ape empire’s “Roman Era,” i.e. the height of its power, who leads a human slave revolt. Major characters are the Ape physician Dr. Izan (Tim Curry), Ape Army General Tiberius (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and Ape “Presidentress” Rembetika (Glenn Close) and her daughter Aspasea (Meg Ryan); Roddy McDowall cameos as Vitruvius, a da Vinci-style Ape inventor sympathetic to humans. The action-adventure-scifi film hit theaters on June 30, 1995 to critical acclaim, financial success, and praise from audiences…

– clickopedia.co.usa [6]



Cancer can hit anybody. Nearly 300 in every 100,000 Americans suffer from cancer nowadays [7]. And if of them are over 70 years old, then that means half of them are under 70. And not everyone survives a bout with cancer. Being the governor of a state can certainly help, though.

On July 4, 1995, Ross, finally publicly acknowledged that, since the start of the decade, he had been battling cancer – specifically, lymphoma, a white blood cell cancer with a thankfully high survival rate. Telling reporters he was “beating the devil out,” of him, he also remarked that he would not run for President in 1996, but did not rule out serving as running mate if his health improved by the next summer.

In the meantime, Ross had decided to, in the wake of the Iacocca Assassination, return to his roots. “We all need some brightness right now. The days have been too dark lately. I want to bring the sun out and help make people smile again.” A week later, Ross appeared on an episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood to promote speaking to parents about the event:

“It’s okay to be sad. A lot of adult have been sad lately, haven’t they, Bob.”

“That’s right, Fred, but when you’re sad, it’s very important to tell someone about. It’s very important to talk it over, because that makes the sadness easier to take.”

One month later, Ross announced that he was returning to hosting duties for the PBS public access show “The Joy of Painting,” which had initially aired with Bob Ross at the helm from 1975 to 1988.

Ironically, at the same time that Ross was “restarting” his life without electoral politics in mind, an ambitious politician with whom Ross shared a mutual respect was battling a health scare of his own.

– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012



JERRY LITTON REVEALS CANER DIAGOSIS, PUTTING POTENTIAL ’96 PRESIDENTIAL BID “IN THE AIR”

…the former Vice President revealed today that he was diagnosed with early-stage cancer two months ago. Litton’s father, Charles O. “Charley” Litton, died in 1980 at the age 72, from two-year battle with cancer of the same type. …Litton, 58, revealed his decision to go public with the development due to the actions of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who ran for President in 1968 and 1972 while battling cancer in secret. …Litton’s wife Sharon, 56, and their children Scott, 31, and Linda 32, are maintaining privacy during this “personal family crisis,” according to a representative of the Litton family…

The Washington Post, 7/10/1995



On July 11, Drake’s trial finally began. It has ambiguous and uncertain how long the judicial system would take for him, as Leon Czolgosz shot President McKinley in September 1901 and was executed less than eight weeks later, while Charles Guiteau shot President Garfield and was not executed until almost exactly one year later. …Outside the courtroom, in living rooms and bars, in homes and businesses, millions of Americans turned sadness to anger as they centered on the cause of their mourning. They wanted blood... …Drake’s doctors claimed he suffered from persecution complex, blaming personal decisions on various systems and bureaucracies. Drake’s court-appointed defense noted to him being a known gambler and to his tempestuous relationship issues in an attempt to avoid the death penalty on the grounds of insanity. During the trial, it was revealed that Drake had tried to kill himself in jail on May 27. However, Drake claimed he attempted it to avoid embarrassment for his five-year-old daughter, not out of shame for his actions.

– Cary Federman’s Target: Iacocca, Lexington Books, 2015



Drake was not political. He did not aim for Iacocca for an economic or racial motive. It was instead a reaction to anger; specifically, his frustration at the composition of his life; he felt he deserved more. On trial, when Drake admitted to willingly taking the President’s life, he said he did so “because The President is supposed to make sure everyone in this country is well-off. I’m not well-off. Lee wasn’t doing his job.” Drake then claimed that he had never met von Brunn, claimed it was not a conspiracy when asked, saying “I did it without anyone’s else help and despite so many being against me. That’s the story of my life, your honor.” Drake also stated that he was inspired by the 1986 attempt on President Denton by James O. Huberty…

– Lawrence Goldstone’s Mindfulness: Analyzing What Makes A Murderer, Paducah Press, 2018



…Warner Bros. ended the 1980s Superman franchise after “Superman III” (1983) underperformed at the box office and the spinoff film “Supergirl” (1984) bombed. After the success of the Batman films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, the series was revisited. The decision was made to “reintroduce” the “classic” characters in order for the same actors to appear in the 2-hours-long Justice League film planned to be released in 1999. The subsequent film was “Superman Lives,” a financial success that was popular among critics and audiences. …“Superman Lives” was co-written by Dan Gilroy and Jonathon Lemkin and directed by Shekhar Kapur. The official start of the DCCU, the film stars Barton Johnson (a relatively unknown actor at the time, his filmography only starting in 1991) as Superman, Linda Fiorentino as Lois Lane, and John Malkovich as Lex Luthor, with Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen, Ed Harris as Brainiac and actor-wrestler Jesse Ventura as Doomsday in supporting cast, and cameos from Nicholas Cage as Batman and Morgan Freeman as Martian Manhunter…

– clickopedia.co.usa



…The heat wave was a major crisis for poor and elderly city residents, who succumbed to the historic temperatures due to them lacking air conditioning, fearing being unable to afford to run the AC, or keeping windows closed out of fear of open windows inviting crime. By contrast, during the heat waves of the 1930s, many residents slept outside in the parks or along the shore of Lake Michigan…

…Under the leadership of Mayor Thomas C. Evans, who took over upon the death of Mayor (1977-1987) Harold Washington in 1987 (as he was Washington’s preferred successor), crime rates rose. Evans left office in May (he had declined to run for another term) and was succeeded by Richard M. Daley. Due to Daley’s inexperience running a city, the Mayor’s office was poorly prepared to handle such as crisis. By the end of the summer, at least 853 Chicago residents had died…

…The temperatures soared to record highs in July with the hottest weather occurring from July 12 to July 16. The high of 106 °F (41 °C) on July 13 was the second warmest July temperature (warmest being 110 °F (43 °C) set on July 23, 1934) since records began at Chicago Midway International Airport in 1928. Nighttime low temperatures were unusually high — in the upper 70s and lower 80s °F (about 26 °C)…

..Because of the nature of the disaster, and the slow response of authorities to recognize it, no official "death toll" has been determined. However, figures show that
853 additional people died in that particular week above the usual weekly average. Further epidemiologic analysis showed that blacks were more likely to die than whites, and that Hispanics had an unusually low death rate due to heat. At the time, many blacks lived in areas of sub-standard housing and less cohesive neighborhoods, while Hispanics at the time lived in places with higher population density, and more social cohesion. These factors were combined with power failures, poor ambulance service, and unprepared hospitals, plus pollutants and humidity which worsened the heat’s effects as the lack of wind kept pollutants low to the ground instead of higher up in the atmosphere.

so many city residents died that the coroner had to call in nine refrigerated trucks to store the bodies… From the moment the local medical examiner began to report heat-related mortality figures, political leaders, journalists, and in turn the Chicago public actively began to blame the disaster on either the new Mayor Daley or the previous Mayor Evans. Many of the blamers fell on racial lines, with many white Chicagoans blaming Evans and nonwhite Chicagoans blaming Evans. Calls to remove Mayor Daley from office began to sprout up soon after…

– Eric Klinenberg’s Dead Heat: A Social Autopsy of Chicago’s 1995 Disaster, Detroit Press, 2002 [8]



The film “The Mutants,” based on the comic series of the same name [9] created by Stan Lee, hit theaters of July 12 to lukewarm reviews. John Logan did the screenplay and Steven-Charles Jaffe produced, while several B-list celebrities and typically-TV-based actors made up the cast, most of whom were basically unknowns at the time… Basing the live-action film more closely on the popular animated series that ran from 1991 to 1999, the movie focuses on the Mister Sinister storyline from Season 2 – that’s the 1992-to-1993 season – because the studio execs determined the original story featuring the Sentinel Robots would be too expensive to produce, even if using CRI for them. I think this was a good idea, as it makes the movie focus more on the relationships between the major characters instead on the complex world building, which wouldn’t have won over people being introduced to the Mutants for the first time via this movie …Action-packed flicks of this variety seemed to come out at just the right time, as they distracted Americans from the tragic fate of President Iacocca. Patriotism, or at least moments or visuals hits of it – in film went up like a rocket. For a long while, but especially the middle of the decade, practically every movie had American flags everywhere, all over the place. The Mutants was no exception. Despite there being only two months left before the film hit theaters, the CRI team rushed to insert American flags into the backgrounds and foregrounds of multiple scenes…

– James Rolfe, technet video, “Paper-To-Screen Adaptations: What Works and What Doesn’t” series, yourvids.co.usa, 9/10/2012



The 1995 NDRR Presidential Election was held in the National Democratic Republic of Russia (Natsional’no-Demokraticheskaya Republika Rossiya) on July 27, 1995. Incumbent President Vladislav Volkov was ineligible for a third five-year-long consecutive term, and would not be until the 2000 election, in accordance with the NDRR constitution. The election was seen as a mandate on Volkov’s handling of the post-Soviet economic recovery and on US-NDRR relations…

[SNIP]

Candidates (5):

Vladimir Bukovsky, b. 1942 (Progressive), a candidate for President in 1985 and a member of the National Assembly since 1988, ran on a platform similar to his one from 1985, which focused on mental health care and government reparations for survivors of the USSR’s “horrific” mental hospitals/labor camps/work-prisons, but also called for using foreign investments to pay for environmental protection and social programs.

Viktor Chernomyrdin, b. 1938 (Motherland), a conservative former Gas Industry Minister and incumbent Prime Minister, was critical of “warm” US-Russian relations, believing such “reliance” on “such overly-capitalist” nations was responsible for the weak status of the ruble at the end of the 1980s.

Dzhokhar Dudayev, b. 1944 (Independence), a former military air commander and Chechen secularist, ran on the pledge to decentralize the government and allow for ethnic groups such as the Chechens, but also Ossetia and Kalmykia, to break away from the NDRR if they wish to do so. Considered “dangerous” to some and an outright traitor to others for supporting secession groups, he was consistently a long-shot candidate.

Anatoly Lukyanov, b. 1930 (Democratic), was an anti-corruption former member of Volkov’s cabinet, though he was much more to the center of the ruling party than was Volkov. However, as he was a strong supporter of increasing Russia’s position in the Second Space Race, Volkov endorsed him over Bukovsky.

Yevgeny Primakov, b. 1929 (independent), the centrist former Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, began his career as a journalist for Soviet radio and as a correspondent for Pravda. Much more fiercely anti-American than Chernomyrdin, his campaign suffered when US President Lee Iacocca was killed.

[snip]

Results:

In the July 13 primary round, Chernomyrdin came in first place with 27% of the vote, compared to first runner up Lukyanov’s 24%. Coming in at a close third was Bukovsky with 23%, followed by Primakov with 21%, and Dudayev with nearly 5%. In the runoff held two weeks later, Lukyanov sought to win over Bukovsky supporters despite being reluctant to adopt his key policies, leading to only 60% of former Bukovsky voters holding their noses and voting for Lukyanov, according to exit polls, while the rest stayed home. Primakov, on the other hand, strongly endorsed Chernomyrdin. As a result, Chernomyrdin won the election by a margin of 4%.

– clickopedia.co.usa



HISTORIC FLOODING OVERWHELMS NORTH KOREA! Entire Villages Hit As Rains Wash Out Farms!

– The Associated Press, 7/28/1995



...An atypically warm El Nino weather pattern [10] brought forth flooding that made the situation in North Korea worsening even more; described by outsider observers as being of “biblical proportions” [11], the floods of the summer of 1995 hit as much as 30 percent of the country [11] and destroyed much of the country’s arable land. As food supplies ran out, “the government stopped providing rations altogether, and prioritized feeding the military over civilians” [10]

– Andrew S. Natsios’ The Famines of North Korea, Institute of Peace Press, 2001



DINGER WELCOMES CHERNOMYRDIN AT WHITE HOUSE; Russian President-Elect Seeks To “Redefine” US-Russian Relations
7hS4IUH.png

Above: Chernomyrdin last year
The Washington Times, 7/31/1995



“We have to move on. There is still a nation to run.” Dinger had told the vetting committee. “There are several considerations for choosing a running mate,” he emphasized, “I know because I was on the other end of this process not that log ago. There basically five things to consider about a possible V.P.: Do they have the ability to unite the party? Can they help reinforce the administration’s message and platform? Do they compensate for the President’s shortcomings? Do they balance the ticket in terms of geography, ideology, experience, age, demographics, and/or any other possible aspects? And most importantly, would they be capable and will they be ready to serve as President should, uh…” Should Dinger leave office prematurely like his predecessor. The room nodded, he didn’t have to say.

Several months later, and Dinger was personally meeting with the last candidate on the vetting committee’s shortlist, Calvin A. H. Waller, an African-American US Army General from Louisiana who had served as an unofficial advisor to the Denton, Kemp and Iacocca administrations.

“And uh, once again, what is your opinion on BLUTAGO-Americans?” Dinger asked.

Waller answered, “Well, personally, sir, I don’t think they should be allowed to serve in the military. A soldier has to know that on the battlefield his brothers-in-arms will be watching his back, not his backside.”

“I see,” Dinger paused, “Well that is something to be considered.” He soon wrapped up the vetting interview, and said to the General “Thank you for your time.”

Later that day, Dinger convened with the members of the vetting committee to review the candidates.

“I think we should pick Waller. He’d appeal to our party’s base, and he’s black. That’s almost always a plus,” RNC Chairman Haley Barbour suggested.

Dinger thought carefully how to deny the most conservative pick in a way that wouldn’t offend. “In this critical time, the country needs to project unity, so we need a nominee that’ll be accepted by the senate without incident. Frankly, I think Waller would be too divisive.”

“We can always pick someone else in ’96,” Barbour countered.

“True, but that could suggest poor decision making, to pick a new first-mate less than a year after picking one.”

“I prefer Murkowski,” opined Rep. Ramona Lee Etta Barnes (R-Alaska). “He’s the safest pick. He’s conservative, but also a bit libertarian on some social issues, so he’s not too conservative for a national campaign.”

“It would also be a boost to the Alaska state party, would it not?”

“Heh, yes, sir, we have been growing unpopular up there. Each time we think we’ve got a good candidate, something ruins their campaign.”

“There’s also the fact that with Murkowski’s seat vacant, Governor Dauenhauer gets to put a progressive – possibly even a member of the Green party – in the US Senate.”

“And we’d get rid of them in the ’96 special election.”

“The way things are in the GOP of Alaska, I wouldn’t bet on that.” Dinger then moved on to other choices. “How about the candidates hailing from the cabinet: Ed Perkins at State, Jean Yokum at the Treasury, and Rocky Versace at Defense, and Ambassador Ann Bedsole. All good people, all competent at their jobs. And I’m considering doing a full sweep of the cabinet if I win a term of my own next year, so this would be the start of that a bit early, kind of, almost...” Dinger began to mumble as he perused the portfolios. Several other names suggested seemed like “wild cards”: Admiral John McCain, Congressman Larkin Smith of Mississippi, Governor Jon Huntsman Sr. of Utah, Congressman Bob Martinez of Florida, and even former House Speaker Robert Smith Walker had been floated. Dinger sighed with uncertainty at the high number of choices.

Barbour got the discussion going again by noting, “Since we’ll need approval from the Senate, not a national party convention, I think we should pick one of their own to show that the Dinger Administration will play ball with their chamber.”

“The Senators,” Dinger nodded, and re-engaged with the conversation with a bit more enthusiasm, “Boy-howdy, talk about diverse: Buddy Roemer of Louisiana, Susan Engeleiter of Wisconsin, James Meredith of Mississippi, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Michael Bilirakis of Florida, and Webb Franklin of Mississippi. All good names, all good picks.” He pondered aloud, “Who to pick, who to pick…?” [12]

– Edward Gulio Romano III’s LMD: A Study of The Dinger Days, Sunrise Publishers, 2020




SOURCE(S)/NOTE(S)
[1] Italicized lines are from here: https://www.wyohistory.org/oral-histories/thyra-thomson-wyoming-secretary-state-1963-1987
[2] @ajm8888 – how’s this for some of the conspiracy theories of this world?
[3] Italicized bit pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_guarantee
[4] OTL quote (found on his wiki page)!
[5] An OTL quote found on page 17 of Curtis R. Ryan’s “Jordan in Transition: From Hussein to Abdullah” (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002), ISBN 978-1-58826-103-8.
[6] Plot and some casting ideas pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes
[7] So a bit lower than OTL (https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/cancer-trends/data-cancer-frequency-country) due to long-term butterflies such as The Scranton Report, UHC, better awareness of and access to healthier foods, safer habits, etc. by 2012.
[8] Italicized parts were pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Chicago_heat_wave
[9] Called the X-Men IOTL (I previously mentioned this way back in the chapter covering September 1963).
[10] Mentioned here: https://www.history.com/news/north-koreas-devastating-famine
[11] Described here: Oberdorfer, Don; Carlin, Robert (2014). The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. Basic Books. p. 290. ISBN 9780465031238. And also here: ^ Buzo, Adrian (2002). The Making of Modern Korea. London: Routledge. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-415-23749-9. At least, according to wikipedia…

[12] Who do y’all think should be his running mate? Any ideas?

The next chapter's E.T.A.: July 5 or so!

Okay, cool, Quantum Leap still exists ITTL. But, is there anything substantially different (excluding the obvious absence of the "Lee Harvey Oswald" two-parter) compared to OTL, or is it basically the same show (ending included)?
I'll cover it in late 1995
 
Last edited:
Wow what a update! Was not expecting Iacocca to be assassinated! Guess he's the JFK of TTL. Sad to hear VP Litton has cancer was hoping he would run in '96. Also sad to see the Superman movies end at least for now and to hear the Mutants movie didn't do so well. Also liked Kim Jong-nam naming his son after Harrison Ford's character.
 
Top