Paracultural Calendar for April 19

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1961*, the clandestine invasion of Cuba ends in spectacular
failure when *JFK* refuses to lend air support to the unapproved covert
military action kicked off by CIA-trained Cuban ex-pats who land at the
rocky cliffs at Cuba's Bay of Pigs.

***

On this day in *1971*, cult leader *Charles Manson* is sentenced to die for
his role in the *Tate/LaBianca* murders, which serve as an unofficial
demarcation zone for the 1960's.

***

On this day in *1985*, the FBI surrounds the compound of the radical
Christian identity group known as *The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of
the Lord*, in Arkansas. The siege ends quickly, without bloodshed, as
negotiators succeed in convincing the groups leaders to lay down their arms
and come out peacefully. Eight years later, after studying the strategies
engaged in during the CSAL standoff, the FBI chose this date to put an end
the standoff in Waco. This time, as detailed in the next entry, things
don’t go exactly as planned...

***
On this day in *1993*, the FBI puts their plan to end the standoff at *David
Koresh*'s Branch Davidian Compound into action. At 5:59 in the morning, via
megaphone, Koresh and his followers are told that they are under arrest,
and to come out peacefully. They are also once again warned to stay out of
a central tower where the insertion of tear gas is slated to begin. The
previous night's reaction to these warnings was to hold children up to the
windows, as well as signs that read: "Flames Await." At 6:02, two FBI
combat engineering vehicles begin inserting gas into the compound. At 6:04,
the Davidians start shooting. At 7:30, a CEV breaches the front side of the
building on the first floor, injecting more gas. At 9:30, another CEV
begins enlarging the opening in the front of the building, and a third CEV
breaches the rear of the building, creating openings from which the FBI
hoped cult-members would escape. At seven minutes past noon, the Davidians
are seen starting fires throughout the compound. At 12:12, negotiators get
on the phone and ask Koresh to lead the Davidians out to safety. Nine
Davidians flee the compound, and are arrested without incident. Ten minutes
later, the sound of gunfire can be heard coming from the compound. At
12:41, fire-trucks begin pumping water on the now rapidly-burning
buildings. By mid-afternoon, it was confirmed… 86 corpses, including over a
dozen children, lay dead under the rubble of the compound. After 20 years
of studying this tragedy, during which time your humble correspondent has
read and watched documentation from every conceivable viewpoint - including
but not limited to the documentaries *The Rules of Engagement*
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cXId3Goets> and *A New Revelation*
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8r7Yxz3P8> - I have come to believe the
following: After 51 days of begging for it, those members of the Branch
Davidian Cult remaining in the compound finally managed to succeed in their
bid for collective "suicide by cop", making themselves martyrs and heroes
to right-wingers and religious fundamentalists in the process. Which brings
us to our next entry...

***

In the early morning of *1995*, enraged by the conflagration at Waco two
years earlier, *Timothy McVeigh* drives a rented Ryder truck up to the
north side of the A.P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At 9:02, a
huge fuel-bomb in the back of the truck detonates, collapsing the north
face of the building, and snuffing out the lives of 168 unsuspecting souls,
including many children who had just been dropped off at the building's
daycare center. Once again, a huge volume of "alternative journalism" has
risen around this event, some of it good, but much of it not. Regardless,
serious and substantial *questions do remain*
<http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-15356-case-closed.ht> about what
really happened in the days and weeks before, during and after this Satanic
conflagration. Most of the popular conspiracy theories center on the
federal government's foreknowledge of and even participation in the
bombing. Ironically, your humble correspondent finds the more persuasive
arguments to be on the other side of the fence, by which I mean probably a
lot more Christian identity extremists were involved than we have been led
to believe.

***
On this day in *2011*, after 45 years in charge, *Fidel Castro* resigns
from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee.
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