John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Original thread can be found here.
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1985
May 5, 1985-President Ronald R eagan decides against attending a controversial funeral service with Helmut Kohl in Bitburg, Germany.
May 13, 1985-A plan to drop an improvised explosive device on the headquarters of the radical group MOVE in Philadelphia backfires when the bomb explodes prematurely, killing most of the police officers outside the building and causing a massive street fire.
May 19, 1985-John Anthony Walker committs suicide shortly before his impending arrest for espionage by the FBI.
May 1985: Chrysler announces the revival of their turbine-car program, which they had temporarily shelved in the context of accepting a government loan. Luckily, due to unforeseen snags disrupting the planned 1982 sale of Chrysler's military division with the lauded gas-turbine-powered Abrams tank, many Chrysler gas-turbine engineers are still with the corporation that did so much pioneering and development work with gas-turbine land vehicles. With Chrysler back in black and retaining its depth of gas-turbine talent and facility, the large and small gas-turbine passenger cars that had been planned for five years earlier are now back on track for production...
June 15th, 1985: The Japanese video game entertainment console, the Famicom Disk System (FDS), launches in the United States and becomes an instant success.
July 10, 1985 – Coca-Cola executives reject a proposal to phase out the “New Coke” – introduced less than three months prior – and return to the previous formula for the popular soft drink. CEO Roberto Goizueta expresses his confidence that the vociferous backlash against New Coke will quickly subside, and points to surveys of consumers who overwhelmingly claim to enjoy the new beverage.
August 5, 1985 -- President Reagan delivers a major speech on the AIDS epidemic sweeping the nation
1986
January 9, 1986-Kodak wins its patent battle against Polarioid.
February 2, 1986 -- Due to a misnunderstanding, Filipino marines fire on pro-democracy protesters at Ortigas Avenue, killing 100 and severely injuring as much as 1,000. The world press is treated to images of soldiers gunning down Catholic priests and nuns with M16s. [Orders to stand down misinterpreted.]
February 12, 1986 -- Space Shuttle Challenger finally launches, after three weeks of delay [no disaster]
February 25, 1986-The Philippines are threatened with civil war following attacks on rebel helicopters by Fabian Ver and the subsequent assassination of Ferdinand Marcos. Only the threat of U.S. troops and an appeal by Corozan Aquino prevents all-out war and she is sworn in as president, as Ver is placed under arrest.
February 28, 1986 -- Swedish PM Olof Palme is assasinated. His wife is also shot down. The assasin is himself shot down by bodyguards that were on the wrong side of the couple from the assasin. It turns out it was a well known low life criminal named Christer Petersson(OTL main suspect) that killed him.
October 4, 1986 – CBS news anchor Dan Rather is stabbed to death in front of his Park Avenue apartment. The assailant is heard to repeatedly shout “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” before fleeing the scene. He is quickly apprehended and identified as William Tager, a mentally disturbed man who believed that Rather had been broadcasting messages into his head.
October 27, 1986 -The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Mets in Game 6 of the World Series, marking the end of the "Curse".
November 1, 1986: President Reagan is diagnosed with very early stages of Alzheimer's, after some curious symptoms that seem like more than just mere old age. After meeting with advisors for several weeks, it's decided that - not knowing how badly it will advance, and given the sensitive nature of the Cold War - it's best for him to resign. However, they also feel that they need a "convenient excuse" so Societ leaders don't think they were dealing with a man with such a debilitating illness.
November 25th, 1986: Atari launches it's game-changer; the Atari Commune is released in the United States and abroad. The Commune has the ability to have up 8 players using the same console, and comes with 8 easy to use, wireless controllers; the first working wireless controllers to date.
December 13th, 1986: Ronald Reagan resigns the Presidency in connection with the association of his administration with the Iran-Contra scandal. George H.W. Bush becomes President in turn.
Dec. 31, 1986 -- Televangelist Jim Bakker, appearing on The PTL Club, announces to his stunned viewers that he will be resigning from active ministry. Bakker entrusts his multimillion dollar media empire to Jerry Falwell. In the following months, the reasons for Bakker’s abrupt resignation will become apparent, as evidence of his extensive financial and sexual improprieties comes to light.
1987
February 28, 1987: Jack Kemp is confirmed as President Bush's Vice President by a coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.
June 12, 1987: President Bush, freah off a drubbing after mid-term elections and Reagan's resignation, speaks in Berlin, saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, read my lip; tear down this wall!" He hopes it will make him appear tough enough to be the new nominee.
June 18th, 1987: Nintendo decides against manufacturing the handheld "Game-boy".
October 1st, 1987: The first issue of Famicom Power Magazine is launched.
December, 1987: A year after his resignation, President Reagan is announced to be in the "very early stages of Alzheimer's Disease." the wait has allowed thigns to calm down substantially, and there are no worries between the SOciets and Americans. Many will speculate, till it's finally admitted, that the disease was the main cause for his resignation.
1988
Jan. 5, 1988: President Bush, announcing that "everything has been solved" with the problems that had caused the stock market crash last October, blurts out something about a "new world order" being needed to regulate things so something like this didn't happen again. Thus branded a liberal by many, a push was made to ensure that Jack Kemp remained on as VP, seeing as he was much more experienced in economic matters and would appeal to the conservatives wing of the GOP.
February 1988 -- Dick Gephardt announces his candidacy for US Senator from Missouri
May 1st, 1988: Pro-democracy demonstrations are held in Bielsko-Bia_a, D_browa Górnicza, Gda_sk, Kraków, _ód_, P_ock, Pozna_, Warsaw, and Wroc_aw, sparking international attention...
May 2nd, 1988: Gdansk Uprising; Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Andrzej Wielowieyski launch an armed insurrection against the Polish government in Gdansk, Poland...
June 19th, 1988: Soviet troops enter into Poland at Jastrz_bie-Zdrój, imposing martial law...
July 3, 1988: the United States just misses shooting down an airliner that turns out to be civilian; nothing more is made of the matter sicne nobody is injured.
July 4, 1988 – Jerry Falwell’s Christian amusement park Heritage USA (one of the many branches of the PTL empire inherited from Bakker) reopens after several months of extensive renovations. In the following year it will narrowly beat out Disneyland to become the second-most visited theme park in the US (the first, of course, being Walt Disney World).
July 26th, 1988: Premier Jerzy Urban announces the arrest of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, for "counter-revolutionary violence" in Warsaw, Poland...
September 14, 1988--Hurricane Gilbert makes a northwestern turn towards Texas, missing the Yucatan Peninsula.
September 16, 1988--As Hurricane Gilbert heads towards landfall at Galveston, President Bush declares southeast Texas a disaster area.
September 16, 1988--Hurricane Gilbert hits Jamaica Beach, Texas, as a Category 5 hurricane, devastating the Houston-Galveston area and killing over 500 people. Over 13 billion dollars in damage is caused to the Houston-Galveston area, making it the costliest hurricane to date to strike the US, in addition to being the most intense.
November 8, 1988 -- Bush/Kemp ticket wins US Presidential Election; in the House and Senate elections, Democrats increase their margins despite a modest victory for President Bush over Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen. In the Senate, the Democrats increase their seats to 57, while in the House, the Democrats pick up ten seats, increasing their overall majority to 268 seats; Gephardt defeats Kit Bond in Missouri's Senatorial Race.
1989
January 20, 1989 -- South African President PW Botha meets with Namibian political leaders [no stroke on the 18th]
January 24th, 1986: Voyager II passes Uranus.
March 25th (?) 1989-the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, originally bound for Long Beach, California, runs aground along the coast of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, causing a massive oil spill that directly affects the environment and economy of the affluent area, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damage. Among the places affected are Point Vincente Park, a popular destination for watching the migration of gray whales, which is significantly impacted by the spill. The spill remains one of the costliest environmental disasters in US history
April 21, 1989: While reaction in the Philippines prevents Botha's stroke, as he makes sure proper precautions are taken to prevent serious problems, it has the opposite effect among Chinese students, as the dispersal of their protests leads to concerns; memories of the Filipino incident leads to rumors spreading among the studetns that some police appeared more agitated.
May 4, 1989: 100,000 students and workers come much better prepared, thanks to coded messages passed around; the gathering in Tiananmen Square is generally well-ordered, but restive.
May 6, 1989: The decision is made that hunger strikes would not be advisable, so they can be at peak performance if the military intervenes, their minds on the Filipino incident.
May 20, 1989: The miitary is blocked, and a few clashes break out. Protesters storm government buildings over the next few hours in the capital and around the country. Soon, China is in a full-fledged state of emergency, with millions protesting, as new technology allows the broadcast of a handful of dead Chinese students before government censors scramble the signal
May 24, 1989 -- Protesters in China’s Gansu province break into a police station, seizing the weapons stored inside. In the following days, a wave of similar arms seizures spreads across the province.
May 29, 1989 -- Protesters in Changsha storm the provincial Party headquarters and place the governor and five of his associates under citizens’ arrest. They are put on trial before a hastily-assembled tribunal of the “representatives of the masses” which finds them guilty of corruption, abuse of power, and other “towering crimes against the people.” Footage of the trial is broadcast throughout Hunan province, and the news quickly spreads across the rest of China.
May 31st - June 29th, 1986: The 1986 World Cup is held in Mexico, with Argentina winning the cup, and West Germany and France coming in second and third.
June 11, 1989 -- Following the example of Changsha, rebels in Gansu place eleven top provincial officials on trial in front of a massive audience in a soccer stadium in the local capital. All eleven defendants are found guilty and are summarily executed.
June 17, 1989 -- Speaking from an undisclosed location, Deng Xiaoping addresses the Chinese people by radio. In his first public comments since the start of the Tiananmen protests, Deng labels the current situation an “all-around civil war” and declares martial law throughout the country.
June 18, 1989 -- In a stunning show of force, the People’s Liberation Army bombards Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. State and Party offices that had been taken over by the protesters are leveled by artillery, with significant damage done to homes and shops nearby. A PLA blockade prevents any news from the city, and in particular any reports on the ensuing casualties, from reaching the outside world.
July 4, 1989 -- “Pro-American demonstrations” in Changsha, “as much a victory march as anything else” (according to the NYT) break out; the PLA tries to use this perceived opportunity to retake the city and end the “civil war”… President Ferdinand Marcos dies of a heart attack. Two hours later, General Fabian Ver seizes power in a bloody coup, killing the newly inaugurated President Arturo Tolentino and Prime Minister Cesar Virata.
July 5, 1989 -- The siege goes through the night and into the next day; many are killed, and there is a lot of video footage; this time, much of it gets out. To make matters worse for the PLA, the city defends itself, and the revolution continues.
July 31, 1989 -- CBS does a special showing footage of the “Changsha Massacre”; world opinion is enraged at the PRC.
August 19th, 1989: Premier Mikail Gorbachev is sacked by the Politburo; TASS reports that the Soviet Premier is suffering from "severe flu"...
August 20th, 1989: Vice-President Gennady Yanayev is chosen as Premier by the Politburo in Moscow, USSR...
August 21st, 1989: Premier Gennady Yanayev and Vice-Premier Premier Valentin Pavlov, announce plans to slow "glastnost" (democratic reforms) and to focus on Perestroika (economic reforms), citing the political unrest in China...
August 25th, 1989: Voyager II's encounter with Neptune.
October 2nd, 1989: East German President Erich Honecker orders Stasi troops to fire on demonstrators in East Berlin, Germany, killing 43 people....
October 6th, 1989: Soviet Premier Gennady Yanayev orders East German President Erich Honecker, "Get your house in order, or we will do it for you...."
October 27th, 1989: Al Gore is rumored to be considering a run for President in 1992.
November 1st, 1989: The Atari Lynx is released, a bit behind schedule, but still manages to sell thousands of units within it's first week of availability.
November 3, 1989 World press shows footage of Deng Xiaoping and other leading PRC officials in Moscow, proving they have, in fact, fled the country.
November 17th, 1989: Second Invasion of Prague; Soviet forces, under orders from Premier Gennady Yanayev, launch a massive crackdown on Prague, Czechoslovakia...
December 8th, 1989: World Cup Soccer is released for all video gaming consoles, including the new handheld Lynx.
-----
1985
May 5, 1985-President Ronald R eagan decides against attending a controversial funeral service with Helmut Kohl in Bitburg, Germany.
May 13, 1985-A plan to drop an improvised explosive device on the headquarters of the radical group MOVE in Philadelphia backfires when the bomb explodes prematurely, killing most of the police officers outside the building and causing a massive street fire.
May 19, 1985-John Anthony Walker committs suicide shortly before his impending arrest for espionage by the FBI.
May 1985: Chrysler announces the revival of their turbine-car program, which they had temporarily shelved in the context of accepting a government loan. Luckily, due to unforeseen snags disrupting the planned 1982 sale of Chrysler's military division with the lauded gas-turbine-powered Abrams tank, many Chrysler gas-turbine engineers are still with the corporation that did so much pioneering and development work with gas-turbine land vehicles. With Chrysler back in black and retaining its depth of gas-turbine talent and facility, the large and small gas-turbine passenger cars that had been planned for five years earlier are now back on track for production...
June 15th, 1985: The Japanese video game entertainment console, the Famicom Disk System (FDS), launches in the United States and becomes an instant success.
July 10, 1985 – Coca-Cola executives reject a proposal to phase out the “New Coke” – introduced less than three months prior – and return to the previous formula for the popular soft drink. CEO Roberto Goizueta expresses his confidence that the vociferous backlash against New Coke will quickly subside, and points to surveys of consumers who overwhelmingly claim to enjoy the new beverage.
August 5, 1985 -- President Reagan delivers a major speech on the AIDS epidemic sweeping the nation
1986
January 9, 1986-Kodak wins its patent battle against Polarioid.
February 2, 1986 -- Due to a misnunderstanding, Filipino marines fire on pro-democracy protesters at Ortigas Avenue, killing 100 and severely injuring as much as 1,000. The world press is treated to images of soldiers gunning down Catholic priests and nuns with M16s. [Orders to stand down misinterpreted.]
February 12, 1986 -- Space Shuttle Challenger finally launches, after three weeks of delay [no disaster]
February 25, 1986-The Philippines are threatened with civil war following attacks on rebel helicopters by Fabian Ver and the subsequent assassination of Ferdinand Marcos. Only the threat of U.S. troops and an appeal by Corozan Aquino prevents all-out war and she is sworn in as president, as Ver is placed under arrest.
February 28, 1986 -- Swedish PM Olof Palme is assasinated. His wife is also shot down. The assasin is himself shot down by bodyguards that were on the wrong side of the couple from the assasin. It turns out it was a well known low life criminal named Christer Petersson(OTL main suspect) that killed him.
October 4, 1986 – CBS news anchor Dan Rather is stabbed to death in front of his Park Avenue apartment. The assailant is heard to repeatedly shout “Kenneth, what’s the frequency?” before fleeing the scene. He is quickly apprehended and identified as William Tager, a mentally disturbed man who believed that Rather had been broadcasting messages into his head.
October 27, 1986 -The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Mets in Game 6 of the World Series, marking the end of the "Curse".
November 1, 1986: President Reagan is diagnosed with very early stages of Alzheimer's, after some curious symptoms that seem like more than just mere old age. After meeting with advisors for several weeks, it's decided that - not knowing how badly it will advance, and given the sensitive nature of the Cold War - it's best for him to resign. However, they also feel that they need a "convenient excuse" so Societ leaders don't think they were dealing with a man with such a debilitating illness.
November 25th, 1986: Atari launches it's game-changer; the Atari Commune is released in the United States and abroad. The Commune has the ability to have up 8 players using the same console, and comes with 8 easy to use, wireless controllers; the first working wireless controllers to date.
December 13th, 1986: Ronald Reagan resigns the Presidency in connection with the association of his administration with the Iran-Contra scandal. George H.W. Bush becomes President in turn.
Dec. 31, 1986 -- Televangelist Jim Bakker, appearing on The PTL Club, announces to his stunned viewers that he will be resigning from active ministry. Bakker entrusts his multimillion dollar media empire to Jerry Falwell. In the following months, the reasons for Bakker’s abrupt resignation will become apparent, as evidence of his extensive financial and sexual improprieties comes to light.
1987
February 28, 1987: Jack Kemp is confirmed as President Bush's Vice President by a coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.
June 12, 1987: President Bush, freah off a drubbing after mid-term elections and Reagan's resignation, speaks in Berlin, saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, read my lip; tear down this wall!" He hopes it will make him appear tough enough to be the new nominee.
June 18th, 1987: Nintendo decides against manufacturing the handheld "Game-boy".
October 1st, 1987: The first issue of Famicom Power Magazine is launched.
December, 1987: A year after his resignation, President Reagan is announced to be in the "very early stages of Alzheimer's Disease." the wait has allowed thigns to calm down substantially, and there are no worries between the SOciets and Americans. Many will speculate, till it's finally admitted, that the disease was the main cause for his resignation.
1988
Jan. 5, 1988: President Bush, announcing that "everything has been solved" with the problems that had caused the stock market crash last October, blurts out something about a "new world order" being needed to regulate things so something like this didn't happen again. Thus branded a liberal by many, a push was made to ensure that Jack Kemp remained on as VP, seeing as he was much more experienced in economic matters and would appeal to the conservatives wing of the GOP.
February 1988 -- Dick Gephardt announces his candidacy for US Senator from Missouri
May 1st, 1988: Pro-democracy demonstrations are held in Bielsko-Bia_a, D_browa Górnicza, Gda_sk, Kraków, _ód_, P_ock, Pozna_, Warsaw, and Wroc_aw, sparking international attention...
May 2nd, 1988: Gdansk Uprising; Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Andrzej Wielowieyski launch an armed insurrection against the Polish government in Gdansk, Poland...
June 19th, 1988: Soviet troops enter into Poland at Jastrz_bie-Zdrój, imposing martial law...
July 3, 1988: the United States just misses shooting down an airliner that turns out to be civilian; nothing more is made of the matter sicne nobody is injured.
July 4, 1988 – Jerry Falwell’s Christian amusement park Heritage USA (one of the many branches of the PTL empire inherited from Bakker) reopens after several months of extensive renovations. In the following year it will narrowly beat out Disneyland to become the second-most visited theme park in the US (the first, of course, being Walt Disney World).
July 26th, 1988: Premier Jerzy Urban announces the arrest of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, for "counter-revolutionary violence" in Warsaw, Poland...
September 14, 1988--Hurricane Gilbert makes a northwestern turn towards Texas, missing the Yucatan Peninsula.
September 16, 1988--As Hurricane Gilbert heads towards landfall at Galveston, President Bush declares southeast Texas a disaster area.
September 16, 1988--Hurricane Gilbert hits Jamaica Beach, Texas, as a Category 5 hurricane, devastating the Houston-Galveston area and killing over 500 people. Over 13 billion dollars in damage is caused to the Houston-Galveston area, making it the costliest hurricane to date to strike the US, in addition to being the most intense.
November 8, 1988 -- Bush/Kemp ticket wins US Presidential Election; in the House and Senate elections, Democrats increase their margins despite a modest victory for President Bush over Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen. In the Senate, the Democrats increase their seats to 57, while in the House, the Democrats pick up ten seats, increasing their overall majority to 268 seats; Gephardt defeats Kit Bond in Missouri's Senatorial Race.
1989
January 20, 1989 -- South African President PW Botha meets with Namibian political leaders [no stroke on the 18th]
January 24th, 1986: Voyager II passes Uranus.
March 25th (?) 1989-the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, originally bound for Long Beach, California, runs aground along the coast of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, causing a massive oil spill that directly affects the environment and economy of the affluent area, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damage. Among the places affected are Point Vincente Park, a popular destination for watching the migration of gray whales, which is significantly impacted by the spill. The spill remains one of the costliest environmental disasters in US history
April 21, 1989: While reaction in the Philippines prevents Botha's stroke, as he makes sure proper precautions are taken to prevent serious problems, it has the opposite effect among Chinese students, as the dispersal of their protests leads to concerns; memories of the Filipino incident leads to rumors spreading among the studetns that some police appeared more agitated.
May 4, 1989: 100,000 students and workers come much better prepared, thanks to coded messages passed around; the gathering in Tiananmen Square is generally well-ordered, but restive.
May 6, 1989: The decision is made that hunger strikes would not be advisable, so they can be at peak performance if the military intervenes, their minds on the Filipino incident.
May 20, 1989: The miitary is blocked, and a few clashes break out. Protesters storm government buildings over the next few hours in the capital and around the country. Soon, China is in a full-fledged state of emergency, with millions protesting, as new technology allows the broadcast of a handful of dead Chinese students before government censors scramble the signal
May 24, 1989 -- Protesters in China’s Gansu province break into a police station, seizing the weapons stored inside. In the following days, a wave of similar arms seizures spreads across the province.
May 29, 1989 -- Protesters in Changsha storm the provincial Party headquarters and place the governor and five of his associates under citizens’ arrest. They are put on trial before a hastily-assembled tribunal of the “representatives of the masses” which finds them guilty of corruption, abuse of power, and other “towering crimes against the people.” Footage of the trial is broadcast throughout Hunan province, and the news quickly spreads across the rest of China.
May 31st - June 29th, 1986: The 1986 World Cup is held in Mexico, with Argentina winning the cup, and West Germany and France coming in second and third.
June 11, 1989 -- Following the example of Changsha, rebels in Gansu place eleven top provincial officials on trial in front of a massive audience in a soccer stadium in the local capital. All eleven defendants are found guilty and are summarily executed.
June 17, 1989 -- Speaking from an undisclosed location, Deng Xiaoping addresses the Chinese people by radio. In his first public comments since the start of the Tiananmen protests, Deng labels the current situation an “all-around civil war” and declares martial law throughout the country.
June 18, 1989 -- In a stunning show of force, the People’s Liberation Army bombards Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. State and Party offices that had been taken over by the protesters are leveled by artillery, with significant damage done to homes and shops nearby. A PLA blockade prevents any news from the city, and in particular any reports on the ensuing casualties, from reaching the outside world.
July 4, 1989 -- “Pro-American demonstrations” in Changsha, “as much a victory march as anything else” (according to the NYT) break out; the PLA tries to use this perceived opportunity to retake the city and end the “civil war”… President Ferdinand Marcos dies of a heart attack. Two hours later, General Fabian Ver seizes power in a bloody coup, killing the newly inaugurated President Arturo Tolentino and Prime Minister Cesar Virata.
July 5, 1989 -- The siege goes through the night and into the next day; many are killed, and there is a lot of video footage; this time, much of it gets out. To make matters worse for the PLA, the city defends itself, and the revolution continues.
July 31, 1989 -- CBS does a special showing footage of the “Changsha Massacre”; world opinion is enraged at the PRC.
August 19th, 1989: Premier Mikail Gorbachev is sacked by the Politburo; TASS reports that the Soviet Premier is suffering from "severe flu"...
August 20th, 1989: Vice-President Gennady Yanayev is chosen as Premier by the Politburo in Moscow, USSR...
August 21st, 1989: Premier Gennady Yanayev and Vice-Premier Premier Valentin Pavlov, announce plans to slow "glastnost" (democratic reforms) and to focus on Perestroika (economic reforms), citing the political unrest in China...
August 25th, 1989: Voyager II's encounter with Neptune.
October 2nd, 1989: East German President Erich Honecker orders Stasi troops to fire on demonstrators in East Berlin, Germany, killing 43 people....
October 6th, 1989: Soviet Premier Gennady Yanayev orders East German President Erich Honecker, "Get your house in order, or we will do it for you...."
October 27th, 1989: Al Gore is rumored to be considering a run for President in 1992.
November 1st, 1989: The Atari Lynx is released, a bit behind schedule, but still manages to sell thousands of units within it's first week of availability.
November 3, 1989 World press shows footage of Deng Xiaoping and other leading PRC officials in Moscow, proving they have, in fact, fled the country.
November 17th, 1989: Second Invasion of Prague; Soviet forces, under orders from Premier Gennady Yanayev, launch a massive crackdown on Prague, Czechoslovakia...
December 8th, 1989: World Cup Soccer is released for all video gaming consoles, including the new handheld Lynx.
