DECEMBER 14 — 2012 Newtown Massacre; 1966 NASA Tech Jim Leblan’c spacesuit depressurizes in a vacuum, 1972 Alexander’s department store open late for Alice Cooper, 1980 Central Park mourning for John Lennon
DECEMBER 14
2012 – Newtown massacre. The story goes like this: 20 year old Adam Lanza, who acted alone, fatally shot and killed 20 children and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Newtown was a town of 28,000 and violence was rare. Our hearts and prayers go out to all the victims, their families and loved ones. That said, there are some alleged holes in the story, according to conspiracy theorists. In question are the circumstances of the incident, whether or not Lanza acted alone, inconsistencies about who was shot, incorrect photos in the media, weapons that were used, and actual locations of the victims at the time. Here’s how the media reported it: On the morning of December 14, 2012, Lanza shot his mother four times in the head and went to Sandy Hook. He arrived in the building at 9:35 and began firing in cold blood. By the time the police had arrived to the school nearly five minutes later, Lanza blew his own head off.
John Aravosis and Jim Fetzer claim that the event never even took place. Further, it appeared that memorable websites for some of the children were created before the murder even happened, though others argue that’s more likely due to incorrect time-stamping of Google websites. According to groundzeromedia.org, talk show host Clyde Lewis stated “Don’t you find it at all interesting that Adam Lanza, the alleged shooter at Sandy Hook, woke up one day and decided to shoot up a school and kill children at about the same time that Barack Obama told the U.N. that he would sign the small arms treaty?” So the question is, was this actually a government cover-up? Opponents of the conspiracy theorists, including Snopes, which is a debunking website, claim that these conspiracies made little sense, and the website addressed the conspiracies listed, answering its questions.
1966 – Jim Leblanc spacesuit depressurizes in a vacuum.
LeBlanc was a NASA spacesuit technician and test subject, Cliff Hess was the supervising engineer outside the vacuum sealed chamber. Testing started as normal with Jim in his spacesuit and all the air sucked out. But then the tube that was pressurizing his suit somehow became disconnected, and Jim’s suit dropped from 3.8psi to 0.1 psi in just 10 seconds.
As he stumbled backward, he would later recall, he could feel the saliva on his tongue begin to bubble, and that was the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness. Within 25 seconds, a coworker sitting in a partially pressurized antechamber and wearing an oxygen mask was able to save the day. It normally would’ve taken a half hour to get the room correctly depressurized, but Hess was able to do it in just over a minute. By the time the doctor got in, Jim had already regained consciousness. Surviving the seemingly impossible,
Jim’s little mistake saved future astronauts from dealing with the same problem in outer space.
December 14 – U.S. President George W. Bush says that the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was the result of faulty intelligence, and accepts responsibility for that decision. He maintains that his decision was still justified.
1941 – America was testing air raids and blackouts.
…It took awhile since there were preparation problems, but city by city the US was just about drill ready. Congress was nearing passage of the Selective Service Act; the classification of a 1a was an able bodied young male American citizen between the ages of 18 and 44 years old. 2A was reserved for men whose work was considered essential, including many professional baseball players after January of 1942. 2B was for men working in war industries and 3A as for married men. Women began to take up the fight for WWII, learning Morse code and assisting with the war effort in any way they could Also on December 14, 1941, was the 142nd anniversary of George Washington’s death. The British had learned in 1776 the same lesson the Axis powers would soon learn -0 that Washington and the United States of America will not be denied, and that it is impossible to crush the American spirit.
1959 – The Ohio State University Research Center found that, although Rock and Roll is the overwhelming favorite of kids aged 14-148, adults aged 19-70 list it as their least favorite form of music.
1968 – Marvin Gaye finally scores his first number one with I Heard it through the Grapevine. It stayed number one for seven weeks. In 1972, Alexander’s department store in New York stated open late especially so Alice Cooper could do his Christmas shopping.
1980 — 30,000 people gathered in a moment of silence outside St. George’s Hall in Liverpool, England, while 100,000 assembled for a memorial in New York’s Central Park to honor the late John Lennon.