The beat goes on

Ijust can’t get enough of one of my favorite features in the AV Press, “Today in History.” Let’s see how these events turned out or could have affected current ones.

On April 17, 1961, 1,500 CIA trained Cuban exiles launched the Bay of Pigs invasion in an attempt to topple Fidel Castro, whose forces crushed the incursion in three days. It was planned by Eisenhower, and JFK took complete responsibility. I always thought the “Bay of Pigs” was the appropriate name for this entire disaster.

On April 18, 1910, suffragettes showed up at the U.S. Capitol with 500,000 signatures demanding women be given the right to vote. Guess what, they didn’t storm the Capitol building, break into offices or kill five people.

On April 23, 1898, Spain and the U.S. went to war. It was another stupid war of wasted lives and money. I’ll let you make up your own list of stupid wars.

On April 25, 1992, Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of its capital of Kabul, after the collapse of a communist government. It seems that Afghanistan has been in perpetual war for most of its existence. Warmongers like Senator Lindsay Graham just love it.

On May 2, 1957, Senator Joseph McCarthy, (R-Wisc) died in Maryland, but his legacy lived on, as Republicans continued to label Democrats as communists for three decades. Now Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell have announced that Joe Biden is a socialist. And the beat goes on.

On May 5, 1925, school teacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with breaking a law by teaching evolution. Today teachers are being told they can’t talk about racism, especially slavery, equal rights, and voter suppression.

Ralph S. Brax

Lancaster