Back in the day, somewhere around 1963 through 1965, my world was being transformed from watching color TV. Dad had just sent the old black and white TV to the grave yard of old technology. Now we had a brand new 19" RCA full color TV.
Those were the years, that I officially lost my cultural innocence. After the killing of my political hero, John F. Kennedy it seemed everything change. Cold War, Civil Rights, troops in the Congo, floods, earthquakes, man in space, and power outages entered my life.
But as the world changed, it took me into a new sense of reality that would pass for my "normal."
On my last day, with a gentle wind at my back, a beautiful love of my life, Peggy Sue, and my wonderful machine that owned me, my 1956 Buick Special, I said good bye to what was the last of 12 years of official education. Now, as I stood a moment to drink in the beauty and meaning of this day, I looked forward to beginning the next stage of my life, college.
To help me bridge the worlds of what had been, what was acting out now (normal) into what was to come, I watch that color TV. Shows like Man from Uncle. Maverick, The Saint, Ed Sullivan, Laugh In, and Evening News took me into another world, far removed from Hickman County.
And there was one TV show that would pick me up once a week, make me laugh, cry, wonder what it all meant. This window into my new world was simply called "That Was the Week Was.' News events, art, songs, drama were presented and expressed in bundles of humor and satire.
Now, in this year of 2021, I sit here trying to just exist in a new world that seems to be changing every 10 seconds. The old me has become the new me. I read more. I think more. I do art. I build models. I collect stamps. All of this activity helps me to try to survive the past world of Trump TV watching. At one point my doctor told me to take out stress in my life. Easy for him to say, he wasn't a political junkie like me.
So here we are. crawling out of the recent past, bruised and feeling like I had just survived an American National Government and cultural Train wreck I have sorted out the major events of 2021, so far as of this date (August 2021).
With reference to that great show from 1965, here is for your start to putting in prospective, the events of this year. I call it "That was/is the Year That Was."
Enjoy!
January 2021
- January 1
- Congress overrides President Donald Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA).[1]
- Trump vetoes a bipartisan drift net fishing bill.[2]
- January 3
- Nancy Pelosi is reelected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.[3]
- Donald Trump is caught on tape pressuring Georgia election officials to ″find″ 11,780 votes to overturn the election results.[4][5]
- January 4 - British District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rules that extradition of Julian Assange to the United States would be "oppressive" because of Assange's mental health.[6]
- January 5
- Elections
- 2020-21 United States Senate election in Georgia: ABC News and NBC News declare Jon Ossoff (D) the winner. Democrats will control both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2010.[7]
- 2020-21 United States Senate special election in Georgia: The Associated Press declares Raphael Warnock (D) the winner.[8]
- The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Senate refuses to seat Senator Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny).[9]
- January 6 - The 117th United States Congress convenes to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election.[10] Thousands of Trump supporters threaten "wild protests".[11][12] Capitol police are forced to evacuate several buildings as mobs of Trump supporters storm them in protest.[13][14] 1 unarmed protester is shot.
- January 7
- Biden names Judge Merrick Garland Attorney General.[15]
- Congress certifies the Biden-Harris victory.[16]
- January 8 - Speaker Pelosi says she spoke to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley to ask what was being done to rein in an "unhinged" president so he does not use the nuclear launch codes. She also called on Vice President Pence to use the Twenty-fifth Amendment to remove the president.[17]
- January 12
- 2021 efforts to remove Donald Trump from office: House calls upon Vice President Pence to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment.[18] Pence says he will not.[19]
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was forced to cancel his trip to Europe as leaders refuse to meet with him.[20]
- January 13
- All House Democrats and ten Republicans vote to impeach Donald Trump a second time.[21]
- Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder is charged for his role in the Flint water crisis.[22]
- January 14 - Andrew Yang declares his candidacy for mayor of New York City.[23]
- January 15 - President-elect Joe Biden names Eric Lander head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which will become a Cabinet-level post.[24]
- January 17 - Small groups of right-wing protesters demonstrate in heavily-fortified state capitals.[25]
- January 18
- Vice President-elect Kamala Harris resigns her Senate seat.[26][27]
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day demonstrations: Hundreds of armed gun-rights advocates representing Boogaloo bois, Black Panthers, Proud Boys and other groups march in Richmond, Virginia. Yelling but no violence reported.[28] A peaceful demonstration in New York became violent in the evening as Black Lives Matter advocates clashed with police outside New York City Hall. Twenty-nine people were arrested and eleven police officers were injured.[29]
- January 19
- Secretary of State Pompeo says China′s policy toward the Uyghurs and other Muslims amounts to genocide.[30]
- Joe Biden and Kamala Harris′s first act upon arrrival in Washington, DC is to attend a memorial for the 400,000 victims of COVID-19[31] at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.[32]
- January 20
- Inauguration of Joe Biden: In heavily-fortified Washington, DC, the new President of the United States offers a silent prayer for the 400,000 victims of COVID-19 and stresses the need for unity. "Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated, and even manufactured," he said.[33] Vice President Mike Pence, members of the Supreme Court, and former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush. and Bill Clinton and their spouses were in attendance.[34]
- Kamala Harris makes history as the first female and woman of color Vice President of the United States.[35]
- Donald Trump skips the inauguration and arrives in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, at 11:00 a.m.[36]
- Democrats take over the Senate as Raphael Warnock (GA), Jon Ossoff (GA), and as well as Alex Padilla (CA) are sworn in.[37]
- January 21 - A New York state judge rules that Attorney General Tish James can continue its case that leaders of the National Rifle Association (NRA) misused funds and engaged in self-dealing. The organization had argued the case should be resolved in federal court in Albany.[38]
- January 25
- The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) dismisses two cases that asserted former President Trump violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, saying the cases are ″moot″.[39] In another case, the Court ruled against a Texas ban on nearly all abortions during the pandemic.[40] Senator Rob Portman declines to run for re-election in the 2022 midterms, dealing a huge blow to Republicans' efforts to take back the Senate in 2022, due to Portman's high popularity in the state compared to its usual swing state status.[41]
- The House of Representatives delivers its impeachment article to the Senate.[42]
- January 27 - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issues a nation-wide National Terrorism Advisory warning though April 30 because of concerns about violent extremists, COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force.[43]
- January 28 - Multiple Members of Congress, including Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) call for an investigation into the GameStop short squeeze and the role Robinhood played in it.[44]
- January 30 - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin fires all members of 42 DoD advisory boards, many stacked with Trump loyalists, until a review is completed.[45]
February
- February 1 - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduce a joint resolution paving the way for President Biden's $1.9T Comprehensive American Rescue Plan.[46]
- February 2 - Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) agree to a power-sharing agreement allowing for confirmation of President Biden′s nominees. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have agreed not to vote to eliminate the fillibuster.[47]
- February 4 - Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is removed from all committee assignments on a 230-199 vote including 11 Republicans and all 219 Democrats.[48]
- February 9 - Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins.[49]
- February 12
- White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo is suspended for a week without pay after threats and misogynistic comments he made to Politico reporter Tara Palmeri are made public.[50]
- New York leaders question Governor Andrew Cuomo′s handling of nursing home admissions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. A New York Post article cited Melissa DeRosa, a top Cuomo, admitting that the state hid data on nursing home deaths "so President Donald Trump's administration couldn't use it against New York".[51]
- February 13
- Impeachment trial
- The Senate votes 55-45 to call witnesses in the Trump trial.[52] They later agreed to accept a written, sworn deposition from Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) instead.[53]
- The former president is acquitted with the vote of 48 Democrats, two Independents, and seven Republicans in favor and 43 Republicans against conviction. 67 votes were needed to secure a conviction.[54]
- TJ Ducklo resigns from the White House press corps.[55]
- February 14 - President Biden reestablishes the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with Melissa Rogers as head.[56]
- February 16 - Poor planning leads to a shortage of natural gas, which is reflected in a massive power outage in Texas including at least 23 deaths during a cold snap.[57][58]
- February 17 - Mayor Tim Boyd of Colorado City, Texas resigns after mocking people for asking for assistance following water, heat, and electrical shortages during February 2021 North American ice storm.[59][60]
- February 18
- Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) admits that his family vacation to Mexico during the Texas power crisis was a mistake.[61]
- South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) signs a restrictive abortion law.[62]
- February 19 - The U.S. formally rejoins the Paris Agreement on climate.[63]
- February 23
- In a committee hearing, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) rejects expert testimony that suggests the storming of the Capitol was planned and organized by right-wing extremists and instead blames women, children, and antifa.[64]
- U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas Drew B. Tipton issues a preliminary injunction halting President Biden′s deportation freeze. In a separate action, the administration strggles to explain how Biden′s child separation policy is different from Trump′s ″kids in cages″ policy.[65]
- February 24 - Acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman warns that militia groups want to "blow up the Capitol" during the next State of the Union address.[66]
- February 25 - Biden nominates three Democrats to the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service.[67]
- February 25
- President Biden orders an airstrike on Iranian-backed militias in Syria in retaliation for rocket attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq. Local sources say 22 were killed and the number of deaths is expected to increase.[68]
- The Parliamentarian of the United States Senate rules that a provision calling for a minimum wage increase in the American Rescue Plan cannot be considered under Reconciliation procedures due to the Byrd Rule. Democrats vow to look for other ways to pass legislation raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15.00.[69]
- February 25-28 - Donald Trump is the featured speaker at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Orlando. Trump condemns Biden as a poll shows 55% of attendees would support a Trump candidacy in 2024.[70]
March
- March 2 - Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) removes COVID-19 health restrictions including the mask mandate and opens businesses.[71] Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) follows suit.[72] President Biden condemns them for ″Neanderthal thinking″.[73]
- March 3 - The House passes the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, 220-212.[74] It also passes HR 1, the For the People Act by a vote of 220-210.[75]
- March 4
- Planned second attack on the Capitol by QAnon and Trump supporters, according to Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA).[76] The House cancels its session.[77] The event fizzled out.[78]
- The Senate takes up debate on the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[79] Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) insists the clerks read it aloud for no apparent reason.[80]
- Florida lawmakers ask the Department of Justice to investigate vaccination policies that allegedly favor Governor Ron DeSantis′s wealthy political supporters and campaign contributors.[81]
- March 5 - Both chambers of the New York State Legislature vote to limit Governor Andrew Cuomo′s (D) emergency powers to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. Cuomo is under investigation regarding underreporting nursing home deaths during the early stages of the pandemic and another alleging sexual misconduct.[82]
- March 6 - The Senate votes 50-49 along party lines to approve the COVID-19 relief bill (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) including $1,400 stimulus checks. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) was absent. The bill has to be repassed by the House before President Biden can sign it.[83]
- March 7 - While commemorating Bloody Sunday during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, President Biden signs an executive order directing federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information.[84]
- March 10 - Marcia Fudge (D-OH) casts a vote to join the House majority in approving the COVID-19 relief bill and then steps down to become United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shortly after the Senate approves her nomination, 66-34.[85] The Senate also approves Merrick Garland as United States Attorney General on a 70-30 vote[86] and Michael S. Regan at the EPA (66-34).[87]
- March 11 - President Biden officially signs the COVID-19 relief bill (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) into law.[88]
- March 12 - The United States Senate approves the nomination of Representative Deb Haaland to be the Secretary of Interior (51-40). Haaland is the first Native American to hold a position in the President's cabinet.[89]
- March 18 - Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) advocates lynching[90] in the wake of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings that killed eight women, including six Asian American women.[91]
- March 20 - Spring breakers riot in response to a state of emergency issued in Miami, Florida.[92]
- March 30
- The Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly overrides the governor′s veto of a law in order to undermine democratic succession in the United States Senate.[93]
- Arizona declares a state holiday to honor World War II code talkers; it will be celebrated on April 14.[94]
- March 30 - Biden nominates eleven candidates to the federal judiciary.[95]
- March 31 - New York legalizes recreational marijuana.[96]
April
- April 14:
- U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry became the first senior official of Biden administration to visit China.[97] In his later visit to South Korea, Kerry announced his support of the Japanese recent decision to dump radioactive water of the Fukushima nuclear plant to the Pacific, which the South Korean government protested to the US.[98]
- President Biden announces that US troops from Afghanistan would be withdrawn by September 11, 2021.[99]
May
- May 28 - Senate Republicans filibuster an independent bipartisan January 6 commission to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[100]
June
- June 7-8 -- Vice President Harris travels to Guatemala and Mexico to discuss immigration issues with Presidents Alejandro Giammattei and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, respectively.[101]
- June 8
- President Biden travels to Carbis Bay, Cornwall, England for the Group of Seven (G7) summit.[102]
- Senate Republicans filibuster the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would combat pay discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ workers.[103]
July
- July 9 - Illinois becomes the first U.S. state to teach history about Asian Americans in public schools.[104]
August
- August 10
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces his resignation, effective two weeks later, following a state Attornel General report on his sexual misconduct [105].
- The Senate passes the INVEST Act, 69-31.
August
US Troops withdrawal from Afghanistan
End of US 20 year war in Middle East
