http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1993
As always, Alex Shrugged's opinions are his own. Other people's work are their own. I include them here for the sake of completeness and to provide a second method of access to the material for the TSP history segment.
* The Federal Assault on Waco, Texas -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged
* Apologies -- Contributed by Southpaw Ben
* The Near Collapse of IBM -- Contributed by Alex Shrugged
* Notable Births -- See below.
* This Year in Film -- See below.
* This Year in Music -- See below.
* In Other News -- See below.
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The Federal Assault on Waco, Texas
Contributed by Alex ShruggedThe Branch Davidians are a religious splinter group established at the Mount Carmel Center outside of Waco, Texas. After the death of their founders, David Koresh leads the group, but a power struggle ensues and a challenger evicts Koresh at gunpoint, murders another challenger with an axe, and then goes to prison. Koresh returns. Then the parents of a 12-year-old girl give her over to Koresh for marriage. (They had sex when she was 13, and that constitutes statutory rape under Texas law.) With this much hoopla going on, the Feds get a warrant to search the compound for illegal weapons. They proceed to take the compound like they are charging up Bunker Hill. When the smoke clears, 4 ATF agents lay dead next to 6 Branch Davidians. The 51 day Waco Siege has begun. As the weeks pass, the standoff becomes an embarrassment to the Clinton Administration. M728 Combat Engineer Vehicles are brought in. (They look like TANKS!) Attorney General Janet Reno gives the order to take down the compound. What happens next is a tragedy. Tanks break the walls of the compound as teargas canisters fall like rain. A fire breaks out. Children are trapped, and 76 people die a fiery death.... including David Koresh. It is April 19th. It's all over now. Isn't it? [1] [2] [3]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Not quite. It had been less than a year since the Feds killed a mother and child in their assault on Ruby Ridge. With the Waco assault, the justification was that children were being raped. Well... I don't doubt that it had gone on in the past, but there were only fears driving the Feds... and a CYA justification. I'm sure they didn't expect the whole place to burst into flames, but the buck stops here... or over there. Bill Clinton blamed it all on Janet Reno. As Rush Limbaugh mocked in his best Clinton imitation, "The buck never got here!" There was a Texas Ranger post 9 miles away. They could have picked up Koresh as he came into town for groceries. No mass murdering required. I met one of the surviving Branch Davidians. She was quite insane, but harmless... at least harmless to me. But the free use of Federal agents and tanks to intimidate the public inspired a man to take revenge against the Feds two years later. On that April 19th, Timothy McVeigh brought down the Murrah Federal Building with a truck bomb. True to form, President Clinton passed the buck to someone else. In this case, Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio. The government intimidation campaign continues. [4] [5] [6]
Not quite. It had been less than a year since the Feds killed a mother and child in their assault on Ruby Ridge. With the Waco assault, the justification was that children were being raped. Well... I don't doubt that it had gone on in the past, but there were only fears driving the Feds... and a CYA justification. I'm sure they didn't expect the whole place to burst into flames, but the buck stops here... or over there. Bill Clinton blamed it all on Janet Reno. As Rush Limbaugh mocked in his best Clinton imitation, "The buck never got here!" There was a Texas Ranger post 9 miles away. They could have picked up Koresh as he came into town for groceries. No mass murdering required. I met one of the surviving Branch Davidians. She was quite insane, but harmless... at least harmless to me. But the free use of Federal agents and tanks to intimidate the public inspired a man to take revenge against the Feds two years later. On that April 19th, Timothy McVeigh brought down the Murrah Federal Building with a truck bomb. True to form, President Clinton passed the buck to someone else. In this case, Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio. The government intimidation campaign continues. [4] [5] [6]
Apologies
Contributed by Southpaw Ben It's the last 2 weeks here at school, so it's crunch time, so I apologize for not being able to contribute daily this week and next week. I will try to contribute at least a few things during this time.The Near Collapse of IBM
Contributed by Alex ShruggedIBM announces an annual corporate loss of $8 billion. This is the single largest annual loss in history to date. It looks like IBM is going down. How did it happen? At this time IBM is a mainframe computer company. That means a large central computer with several dumb terminals linked to it. (The IBM PC was just a throwaway idea... a toy. Nothing serious.) Corporate and government sales focus on an enterprise-wide solution and that means only one or two top decision-makers to sell to. Then the IBM PC takes off, and worse, Microsoft comes up with Windows for Workgroups, allowing personal computers to share files and talk to each other, and Windows NT which allows a PC to be turned into a department server. Suddenly decisions for computer purchases are being made at the department level. IBM's core marketing strategy has completely ignored department decision-makers in the past. IBM needs to change, but they are so big that they need an equally big kick in the corporate backside. They get one, and it almost kills them... almost. They switch CEOs, and make the elephant dance. Dance, elephant. Dance. [7]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Around that time, my father, Alex Shrugged Senior, was a humble telephone installer, but he could read the newspapers as well as anyone else, and he had been paying attention to the stock market. He watched IBM sinking into the mud. All the pundits said it was done for, but he didn't agree. He invested his meager savings on a hunch that it would come back strong. It wasn't just a throw of the dice. I watched him. My father had only a high school diploma, but he was no dummy. He was calculating, and his investment paid off. His nest egg grew substantially. He never became a Rockefeller. He was just an average guy, but he made enough money on those investments to help my mother get by after he passed. Good man. I miss him. [8] [9]
Around that time, my father, Alex Shrugged Senior, was a humble telephone installer, but he could read the newspapers as well as anyone else, and he had been paying attention to the stock market. He watched IBM sinking into the mud. All the pundits said it was done for, but he didn't agree. He invested his meager savings on a hunch that it would come back strong. It wasn't just a throw of the dice. I watched him. My father had only a high school diploma, but he was no dummy. He was calculating, and his investment paid off. His nest egg grew substantially. He never became a Rockefeller. He was just an average guy, but he made enough money on those investments to help my mother get by after he passed. Good man. I miss him. [8] [9]
Notable Births
- Tiffany Trump: Daughter of President Trump, and speaker at the RNC convention. [10]
- Angus T. Jones: The "half" of Two and a Half Men. [10]
This Year in Film
- Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs walk the Earth... and try to eat you. (The book is better, but the movie is amazing.--alexshrugged) [11]
- The Fugitive: Harrison Ford is wrongly accused of murdering his wife, so he hunts down the real killer. [11]
- Schindler's List: A Nazi businessman saves the Jews working at his factory. They are Schindler's Jews. (The story is generally true, though he was not quite as bad initially, as the movie portrays.--alexshrugged) [11]
- Sleepless in Seattle: After his mother's death, a boy calls a radio shrink seeking a new wife for his father. [11]
- And...: Demolition Man, Dave, Coneheads, and Groundhog Day. [11]
This Year in TV
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: (It is an acquired taste.--alexshrugged) [12]
- The X-Files: Science-fiction mystery. [12]
- Walker, Texas Ranger: with Chuck Norris. Product placement is prominent. [12]
- Bill Nye, the Science Guy: "Science Rules!" (Bill Nye is a comedian and mechanical engineer. Not a scientist.--alexshrugged.) [12]
- And...: Beavis and Butt-Head, Boy Meets World, Frasier, and The Jon Stewart Show. [12]
This Year in Music
(FYI, I am including my favorite country songs because at this time I am into country music.--alexshrugged)- Can’t Help Falling in Love: UB40. (An old favorite with echo, echo, echo.--alexshrugged) [13]
- I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That): Meatloaf. (He has an amazing range.--alexshrugged) [13]
- Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up): Garth Brooks. "Momma's on the front porch screamin' out her warning / Girl you better get your red head / Back in bed before the morning". [13]
- Does He Love You?: Reba McEntire and Linda Davis. A wife sings to her husband and his mistress right before they die in a tragic boating accident. (Strange coincidence.--alexshrugged) [13]
This Year in Video Games
- NBA Jam: It will bring in over 1 BILLION DOLLARS is gross revenues. (Sports games are back, baby!-alexshrugged) [14]
- The 7th Guest: One of the 1st games released exclusively on CDROM. [14]
- Doom: A first-person shooter featuring more realistic 3-D graphics (for the time). [14]
- Atari's Jaguar Console brings 64-bits of screaming power to the home console: Unfortunately, it comes with a gacked memory controller and poor developer support. Fewer games for the system sounds the death knell for Atari's home market. [14]
In Other News
- NBC's Dateline fakes a gas tank explosion in a GM truck crash: GM sues. NBC settles the next day. [9]
- The World Trade Center bombing: A van blows up under the North Tower, killing 6. Over 1,000 are injured. The bombers will be caught. [9]
- Lorena Bobbitt cuts off the penis of her husband John Wayne Bobbitt: Surgeons reattach it. (I've heard that it still works.--alexshrugged)) [9]
- White House deputy counsel Vince Foster commits suicide in Fort Marcy Park: Conspiracy theories abound. (The White House seems to interfere with the investigation, particularly Hillary Clinton.--alexshrugged) [9]
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