JANUARY 21 — 1757 Robert’s Rangers take on the French and Indians in the Battle of Snowshoes; 1977 Carter pardons draft dodgers; 2015 Madonna’s new album gets hacked online
JANUARY 21
1977 – President Carter pardons draft dodgers.
It was his first day in office and the Peanut Farmer was set on keeping his campaign promise. During the Vietnam War, some 100,000 people fled the United States, 90% of them going to Canada, for fear of getting called up for duty. Carter’s predecessor, Gerald Ford, had offered conditional amnesty, but Carter, wanting to put the wounds of the Vietnam War past America, offered almost unconditional forgiveness. Inside the U.S., thousands had changed their identity during the Vietnam War, and many more avoided the registration all together.
In Canada, the government technically reserved the right to prosecute deserters, but chose not to. Carter’s decision to pardon the draft dodgers was criticized heavily by veteran’s groups and others for allowing unpatriotic law breakers to not get punishment. Other famous draft dodgers from their own countries include Adolf Hitler and Albert Einstein. In America, George W. Bush was accused of being a draft dodger by politico and the History channel, not sure why since Dubai served Texas Air National Guard as well as the Alabama Air National Guard. That doesn’t count? Not sure what draft he avoided, really. Other notables who’ve sent troops to war even though they avoided the draft themselves, according to popcorn ch.com include Karl Rove, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Tom DeLay and Dick Cheney.
Which by the way brings us to…
2007 – The Karbala provincial headquarter raid.
Insurgent commandos, along with the help of Iranian support, attacked the American contingent of the Joint Security Station at the Iraqi Police headquarters. The attack left 5 US soldiers dead, three wounded, and was considered one of the boldest attacks by insurgents on Americans.
1959 – Alfalfa gets shot. Okay folks don’t do the same thing I did and a lot of other people do and confuse the show Our Gang with The Little Rascals. Our Gang, a show about ragtag kids and their stories. It was already a big hit in the 1930s when Carl Dean Switzer, then seven years old, started playing the role as Alfalfa. Back then the television was considered a novelty and actors didn’t get paid for being on the set. There were no such things as royalties just yet. So as an adult, Switzer’s acting career faded and he worked several odd jobs as a bartender, and bear hunting instructor. Switzer had a buddy named Moses Bud Stilz who had a dog that Switzer wanted to borrow to go bear hunting. Well, the dog ran away.
He put a $50 reward for anyone who could find the dog. Someone did and brought the dog to Switzer’s bar where he worked. Switzer gave him the $50 and a round of drinks. Switzer proceeded to get hammered, and felt for some reason his pal Stilz owed him the $50 he paid out for the dog finder, even though Switzer’s the one who lost the dog. Made no sense. He knocked on Stilz door the night of January 1959, got in a confrontation with Stilz, and brought out a knife. Stilz had a gun, and out of self-defense, shot alfalfa in the abdomen. He died later that night.
2015 — An Israeli man was arrested on suspicion of hacking into the computers of several international stars and selling unreleased songs online. Madonna, whose latest album, “Rebel Heart” was leaked online in December, said that she was “profoundly grateful” to those who helped arrest the hacker and described the experience as devastating and hurtful.