Saturday, January 1, 2022

2022: A LOOK AHEAD

Another year is upon us and as usual, while other organizations pause to look back, The Free Choice E-zine prefers to look forward toward what potentially lies ahead.

Sadly, the world is still battling COVID and all its variants. Including the new, deadly Omicron version.
Now if only people would wear their masks😷 and get vaccinated, we might not have gotten this far into the Greek Alphabet of possibilities, let alone have seen the world suffer so many innocent deaths.

While today marks the 130th anniversary of Ellis Island, USA🗽 opening; there’s still the unanswered
question of whether some places are honoring Democracy, let alone basic human rights. Bias and hatred alas continues in some parts of the world as well over something as simple as skin color or personal preferences. Does it really matter what a person is or believes in, as long as they are not harming either themselves or anyone else?

Meanwhile, the United States prepares to also face the 2022 midterm elections of President Joseph Biden’s first term in office, and the opposing Republicans seem hellbent and determined to make sure he’s only a one termer who can’t accomplish anything, despite the fact that it’s Congress that isn’t acting upon most of the impending legislation. But could Donald Trump seriously be contemplating another run for the Presidency after everything he did during his lone term? Do we dare risk another attempted coup like January 6, 2021?

On a lighter note, The Free Choice E-zine will be making its 2700th Blogger Post sometime during the coming year.

In any event, here’s what else lies ahead for some…

1,020TH ANNIVERSARY (1002)
October 9: Norse mariner Leif Ericson landed in what is now known as North America.

235TH ANNIVERSARY (1787)
December 7: Delaware declared itself the first of the United States of America.
December 12: Pennsylvania became the second member of the US.
December 18: New Jersey became the third member of the US.

230TH ANNIVERSARY (1792)
May 17: The New York Stock Exchange opened.
June 1: Kentucky became the 15th member of the United States of America.
October 13: Then President George Washington himself laid the cornerstone of what would be the White House.

220TH ANNIVERSARY (1802)
May 3: Washington, DC was incorporated; becoming the United States’ national capital.


210TH ANNIVERSARY (1812)
April 30: Louisiana became the 18th member of the United States.

205TH ANNIVERSARY (1817)
April 15: The first American school for the deaf opened in Hartford, Connecticut.
December 10: Mississippi became the 20th member of the United States.

185TH ANNIVERSARY (1837)
January 26: Michigan joins as the 26th member of the United States.

170TH ANNIVERSARY (1852)
March 20: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin published as novel (previously serialized)

160TH ANNIVERSARY (1862)
July 12: The US Army’s Medal of Honor🎖 established, but first recipient wouldn’t be confirmed until 1863.

145TH ANNIVERSARY (1877)
April 12: The Catcher's Mask officially became part of baseball⚾ equipment.

140TH ANNIVERSARY (1882)
March 24: Scientist Robert Koch confirmed the existence of tuberculosis bacillus, otherwise known as TB.
August 7: Earliest confirmed skirmish of the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud.

130TH ANNIVERSARY (1892)
August 4: Lizzie Borden arrested but later acquitted of killing her father and stepmother.

120TH ANNIVERSARY (1902)
August 9: Edward VII crowned King of England.

115TH ANNIVERSARY (1907)
November 16: Oklahoma became the 46th member of the United States.

110TH ANNIVERSARY (1912)
February 14: Arizona joined as the 48th member of the United States.
April 14: Sadly, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank at sea; but this did lead to better maritime safety regulations and equipment.

100TH ANNIVERSARY (1922)
June 14: Warren G. Harding became the first President to speak on radio.📻

95TH ANNIVERSARY (1927)
May 20 Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York on historic solo flight🛫 to France piloting The Spirit of Saint Louis.
October 6: The first sound movie, The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson, debuted.
November 13: The Holland Tunnel between New York and New Jersey USA opened for traffic.

90TH ANNIVERSARY (1932)
May 12: Walt Disney’s Goofy debuted in Mickey’s Revue.
December 5: The Alley Oop comic strip debuted.
December 27: Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City, USA.

85TH ANNIVERSARY (1937)
April 3: Looney Tune character Petunia Pig debuted in Porky’s Romance.
April 17: Looney Tune character Daffy Duck debuted in Porky’s Duck Hunt.
May 6 saw the Hindenburg dirigible crash.
May 20: Amelia Earhart left Newfoundland for Ireland to become first woman to fly solo🛫 across the Atlantic Ocean.
May 27: The Golden Gate Bridge🌉 in San Francisco, California, USA opened to traffic.

80TH ANNIVERSARY (1942)
April 20: The Barnaby comic strip debuted.
August 13: Disney’s adaptation of Bambi debuted.

75TH ANNIVERSARY (1947)
April 15: Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball⚾ by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.
August 14: Pakistan became independent of foreign rule.
November 20: Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in ceremony broadcast world wide.

70TH ANNIVERSARY (1952)
February 26: Then Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced Britain had produced that country’s first atomic bomb.
March 27: the musical classic Singin’ In The Rain☔ debuted.

65TH ANNIVERSARY (1957)
October 4: Sputnik 1 was launched.

60TH ANNIVERSARY (1962)
MEMORIAL DAY: The USS Arizona Memorial officially dedicated.
June 19: The Music Man, the movie debuted.
August 16: The Beatles replace drummer🥁 Pete Best with Ringo Starr.

55TH ANNIVERSARY (1967)
January 27: Sadly, we lost the Apollo 1 crew (Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, Roger Chaffee) on the launch pad before takeoff.
March 29: France launched its first nuclear submarine Le Redoutable. Decommissioned in 1991, it’s now a sub museum.
May 19: The United States, Russia and the United Kingdom agreed to no nuclear weapons in outer space.
June 1: The Beatles’ released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
June 12: The US Supreme Court declared interracial marriages legal.

50TH ANNIVERSARY (1972)
January 11: Actor Darren McGavin portrays Kolchak: The Night Stalker for the first time in the TV movie of the same name.
March 10: The movie Silent Running debuted.
May 24: The Magnavox Odyssey began the video game age.🎮
June 12: The Watergate break-in occurred, eventually leading to then President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
November 29: Atari released what would become the first arcade game Pong.🏓

45TH ANNIVERSARY (1977)
May 25: Star Wars, Episode 4: A New Hope debuted.
August 4: Then President Jimmy Carter established the Department of Energy.

40TH ANNIVERSARY (1982)
February 1: Late Night with David Letterman debuted.
June 4: Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan debuted.
November 13: The Vietnam War Veterans Memorial dedicated in Washington, DC.

35TH ANNIVERSARY (1987)
March 25: The United States’ Supreme Court approved employers creating “better balance” in work force by promoting/hiring women and minorities over white men, a practice other countries were already doing to some extent.
April 5: The FOX TV network debuted.
June 14: Peter Parker (The Amazing Spider-man) married Mary Jane Watson.

30TH ANNIVERSARY (1992)
January 12: HAL the Computer comes online, according to the movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. (It was 1997 in the novel, which would make it the 25th anniversary.)
June 19: Batman Returns released.

25TH ANNIVERSARY (1997)
January 22: Madeleine Albright became the United States’ first female Secretary of State.
July 27: Stargate SG-1 debuted on television.
October 15: Royal Air Force Pilot Andy Green breaks the speed of sound (764mph) record in a jet powered car at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA.

20TH ANNIVERSARY (2002)
May 16: Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones debuted.
December 13: Star Trek Nemesis debuted. 

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