Spirit of America Bookstore

U.S.  Timeline  –  2023  to  Present

Ancient Times - 3500 B.C.E to 1490 C.E.

1491-1800    •    1801-1900    •    1901-1930    •    1931-1950    •    1951-1968    •    1969-2000    •   

2001-2010    •    2011-2016    •    2017-2018    •    2019-2020    •    2021-2022    •    The Looming Future?

year 2023    •    year 2024    •    RECENT EVENTS

The big news story in 2021 was the January 6th U.S. Capitol Riot fomented by Emperor Trump and other
fascist Republican politicians, followed by the swearing-in of duly-elected President Joe Biden and
Vice President Kamala Harris. The big news story in 2022 was Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's March
invasion of several major cities in independent Ukraine; that devastating war continues into 2023 . . .

  • 2021 Wed Jan 6: Hours before the riot, Trump urged a crowd to 'go wild' at the Capitol to get lawmakers to overturn the election result; Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani called for 'trial by combat' to settle allegations of election fraud, which courts and state election officials from both parties have rejected as false.
  • 2021 Wed Jan 6: Violent pro-Trump terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol Building and tried to derail the process of certifying President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. They ransacked offices, stole artifacts, broke onto the Senate floor, and sent lawmakers fleeing.

    details of the January 6th U.S. Capitol Riot and subsequent events are on their own page

  • 2022 Feb 24: Dictator Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade several major cities in independent Ukraine; artillery and tanks killed local troops and civilians, return fire killed Russian soldiers.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
  • 2022 Dec 31: flu bug   77,124 people died of coronavirus in the U.S. in December, making it the deadliest month of the pandemic. Also, the United States managed to administer fewer than 2.8 million coronavirus vaccine shots before 2020 ended, far below the goal of 20 million that federal officials had set for the year.
  • 2022 YEAR-END VIRUS STATISTICS: Less than half of Americans have gotten a flu shot; there already have been 15 million cases of the flu, 150,000 Americans have gotten it bad enough that they had to be hospitalized, and a whopping 9,300 Americans died from influenza! About 244,000 Americans died of COVID-19 in 2022 (weekly average 4,700), far more than were killed by the flu. According to the C.D.C., up to 160,000 Americans 65 and older are hospitalized with R.S.V. each year, and the virus kills about 10,000 of them. Don't fool around; get vaccinated.
  • 2022 YEAR-END: The world’s 500 richest people lost a collective $1.4 trillion in net worth in 2022, according to Bloomberg; due to Tesla’s stock wipeout, Elon Musk became the first person in history to lose more than $200 billion.

    The  Year  2 0 2 3
    • 2023 January: Planned increase in Social Security benefits of 8.7% - in my case that will be $120/month!
    • 2023 Tue Jan 3: The 118th United States Congress convened; Senate membership is temporarily 48+3-49, controlled by the Democrats; and the House flipped party control by the Republicans by 222-212; the Repuglicon Party majority botched the election of Speaker of The House with historic 15 ballots to make Rep. Kevin McCarthy (GOP CA20) the Speaker   click here for photograph (in a new window); the final vote just after Midnight on Saturday January 7 was 216-212.
    • 2023 Sun Jan 8: Supporters of ousted former dictator President Jair Bolsonaro rioted in the streets of Brazil's capital Brasília, going as far as to re-enact their own version of the January 6th riots in Washington, DC; the Bolsonarista mob stormed into government buildings  click here for photograph (in a new window)  and demanded that the military reinstall Bolsonaro to power; the military, however, helped Brazilian law enforcement retake control of the buildings and arrested hundreds of demonstrators. Bolsonaro's refusal to unequivocally concede the election has fueled supporters' grievances and the idiotic conspiracy theory that Brazil's lawfully elected President Lula da Silva 'stole' the election. Next day, Brazil's Supreme Court removed the governor of Brasilia from office for failing to prevent the capital riot; as-of Monday evening, Brazil's government had arrested 1,500 January 8th protestors.
    • 2023 Sun Jan 8: Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs plans to cut 3,200 jobs this week in one of its biggest rounds of cuts ever, as U.S. economists warn of a looming recession; about a third of the positions will be in the investment bank's core trading & banking units.
    • 2023 Fri Feb 3: A suspected Chinese spy balloon  click here for photograph (in a new window)  was spotted making its way 60,000 feet above the United States, heading from Montana southwest over Kansas and Missouri going into the week-end. Swift backlash from American officials included Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceling his upcoming trip to China; China denied that the balloon is used for surveillance, claiming it is merely a weather ship.
    • 2023 Fri Feb 3: The Pentagon said that a second purported Chinese spy balloon had been spotted over Latin America, first reported as soaring high over Costa Rica's western coast. U.S. Defense officials said that they 'now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon'; China has not commented on the one spotted over Latin America; the Pentagon said that they will continue to monitor both devices.
    • 2023 Sat Feb 5: The United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had made its way across a large swath of the country last week at the behest of President Biden. First spotted in Montana, the balloon headed east before eventually making its way to the Atlantic Ocean, where it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. China's defense ministry called the move an 'obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice', and said that China was considering possible forms of retaliation.
    • 2023 Wed Feb 22: Cartoonist Scott Adams, speaking on his YouTube show, said that Black people are a 'hate group' and "White people should get the hell away from Black people, just get the f**k away . . . because there is no fixing this."; by Sunday Feb 26, distributor Andrews McMeel Universal quickly announced that it was cutting ties with Adams and his hit "Dilbert" comic strip, followed by other news outlets - USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Cleveland Plain Dealer, among others.
    • 2023 Feb 24: At the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine War, more than 267,000 Ukrainian refugees have relocated to the United States, with the total displaced by the conflict exceeding eight million; also, 200,000 Russian soldiers are dead, 100,000 Ukraine soldiers are dead, and 30,000 Ukraine civilians are dead.
    • 2023 March 3: Global Climate Strike sponsored by 350.org (eco-activist Bill McKibben) and Fridays Strike For Future (eco-activist Greta Thunberg)   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2023 March 25: The 'city killer' asteroid 2023 DZ2 - somewhere between 131 and 328 feet in diameter - floated harmlessly past about halfway between Planet Earth and the moon at roughly 17,400 miles per hour; N.A.S.A. astronomers said that there was no need to fear any disaster, and that the benign fly-by presents a good opportunity to measure and learn about the asteroid.
    • 2023 Thu March 30: A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump over his role in hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump's then-fixer Michael Cohen says he arranged a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair years earlier with Trump, which Trump denies. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation has focused on whether Trump's company falsified records to cover up the checks reimbursing Cohen. Trump said that he is "a completely innocent person" and accused D.A. Bragg, a Democrat, of a "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history". Trump is expected to surrender in New York City on Tuesday.
    • 2023 Tue May 2: Members of the Writers Guild of America [est. 1933] went on strike, mostly about lack of pay for movies & TV shows that are being shown on online streaming services.
    • 2023 Sat May 6: Coronations of Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Cathedral in London, U.K.
    • 2023 May 24: Fascist Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign with a botched Twitter meeting with Elon Musk.
    • 2023 Thu May 25: The leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of seditious conspiracy activity before & during the January 6th U.S. Capitol Riot.
    • 2023 Wed May 31: The federal budget debt-ceiling deal passed the House with a vote of 314–117; it will next go to the Senate and, if it passes there, can then be signed into law by President Joe Biden before the U.S. defaults on its debts.
    • 2023 June: The COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic is not over yet: more than 3,248 Americans are hospitalized with COVID every day, and more than 600 Americans are dying every week.
    • 2023 Thu June 1: The U.S. Senate voted 63-36 to suspend the debt ceiling for two years (until 2 January 2025) and reduce government spending, sending the bill to President Biden's desk and averting an unprecedented default on U.S. financial obligations that could have hit as soon as Monday; four Democrats, 31 Republicans, and Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-VT] voted against the deal.
    • 2023 July 5-9: U.S. Mensa Annual Gathering #77: at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor in Maryland - with Baltimore native and Hollywood legend John Waters as keynote speaker.
    • 2023 July 9: The price of a U.S.P.S. first-class 'Forever' stamp increased from 63 cents to 66 cents.
    • 2023 Wed Aug 23: The first Republican presidential primary debate for the 2024 race was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with eight candidates that met the polling threshold and also met the fundraising requirements for the event (Donald Trump did not participate); hosted by Fox News, moderated by Bret Baier & Martha MacCallum.         click here for photograph of the debate on TV (in a new window)
    • 2023 Wed Aug 23: X (formerly Twitter) streamed Donald Trump in a pre-taped 'interview' by Tucker Carlson; the Milwaukee debate registered 128 million viewers; the Trump interview 'impressions' statistics are unknown, but the video stream got 536,000 likes by next day.
    • 2023 Thu Aug 24: Donald Trump surrendered and was booked on 13 state felony election interference charges in Atlanta (Fuller County), Georgia; he posted $200,000 bail; the official mugshot is both ludicrous and historic.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2023 Fri Sept 15: United Auto Workers union contracts expired at the three biggest car manufacturers at midnight the previous day; Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis each failed to negotiate new labor agreements and about 13,000 employees are officially picketing. The work stoppage could be the second-largest in 25 years (besides the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike) and the first simultaneous strike at all three Detroit automakers in the union’s history. Just 10 days of striking could cost $5.6 billion in lost wages and earnings.
    • 2023 Sept 25: National One-Hit Wonder Day celebrating hit music recordings that were not followed by further successes. {origins unknown}
    • 2023 Wed Sept 27: The second Republican presidential primary debate for the 2024 race was held in Simi Valley, California with eight candidates that met the polling threshold and also met the fundraising requirements for the event; hosted by Fox Business; Donald Trump did not participate, and instead gave an incoherent prime time speech from Detroit, Michigan.   click here for photograph (in a new window)

    • 2023 Oct 1: Looming government shutdown as intended by the Republican Party, temporary funding legislation on September 30th bumped it to mid-November.
    • 2023 Oct 2: Kellogg’s newly-configured offshoot Kellanova debuted on the New York Stock Exchange; the new company produces brands such as Eggo, Pop-Tarts, Cheez-Its, and Pringles.
    • 2023 Oct 3: The U.S. House of Representatives removed Speaker Kevin McCarthy [GOP; CA-20]; Cong. Patrick McHenry [GOP; NC-10] became the speaker pro tempore; the last time this was done was 113 years ago. A week later, McCarthy let it be known that he was in the running to be re-elected.
    • 2023 Oct 7: Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) of Palestine launched an attack on neighbor Israel, who retaliated by the year-long Palestine Genocide.
    • 2023 Oct 10-11: Amazon's first exclusive shopping event for Prime members – Prime Big Deal Days!.
    • 2023 mid-October: The Crocs brand of foam footwear unveiled its first ever cowboy boots, the Crocs Classic Cowboy Boots.
    • 2023 November: According to a new analysis, Planet Earth just had its hottest 12 months on record and we are approaching levels of warming that scientists have predicted could irreversibly damage entire ecosystems.
    • 2023 Nov 8: The third Republican primary debate of the 2024 election cycle in Miami, Florida had five presidential hopefuls onstage; once again, front-runner Donald Trump did not attend. N.B.C. journalists Lester Holt and Kristen Welker moderated. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and loose cannon Vivek Ramaswamy qualified for inclusion; former Vice President Mike Pence dropped out of the Republican primary the prior month; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson failed to meet the criteria.   click here for photograph (in a new window) At his counter rally in South Florida, Trump gave another typical long-winded and incoherent speech.

    • 2023 Dec 3: Spot gold prices briefly hit an all-time high of over US$2,100/ounce; next day, gold futures hit an intraday record by trading at US$2,152; both later pulled back a bit.
    • 2023 Dec 4: The next in-person hearing for Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York City.
    • 2023 Dec 5: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) finally gave up on his monthslong obstruction of hundreds of U.S. military appointments; the Senate quickly approved the promotions of more than 400 officers that his blockade had stymied; Tuberville continued his hold on roughly a dozen four-star nominees which means that each will require an individual Senate vote.
    • 2023 Dec 6: The fourth Republican primary debate of the 2024 election cycle at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa; candidate Haley sometimes sounds moderate because of the batty Republicans who are on the debate stage with her; debate viewable on cable station NewsNation and its broadcast TV station, The CW.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2023 Dec 31: Denmark's 83-year-old monarch Queen Margrethe II announced plans to step down and hand the throne to her older son, Crown Prince Frederik in two weeks.
    • 2023 Dec 31: The U.S. unemployment rate declined to 3.7% in December.

      The  Year  2 0 2 4
    • 2024 Tue Jan 9: C.N.N. hosted two town halls in Iowa moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper: DeSantis broadcast at 9 and Haley followed at 10.
    • 2024 Jan 10: Chris Christie announced that he is dropping out of the Republican presidential primary race.
    • 2024 Jan 10: The fifth Republican primary debate of the 2024 election cycle took place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa; it was broadcast on C.N.N.; only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley participated.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2024 Jan 14: The day marks the 52-year anniversary of Queen Margrethe's accession to the throne of Denmark after the death of her father, King Frederik IX. Her son Crown Prince Frederik succeeded to the throne as King Frederik X of Denmark upon her official abdication.
    • 2024 Jan 15: Trump won the Iowa caucuses, with at least 51% of the vote & 20 (of 40) convention dele-gates; DeSantis won 9 delegates and Haley won 8 delegates. While some describe the result as 'decisive' or 'a landslide', be clear that 49% of Iowa Republicans voted against the Orange Menace.
    • 2024 Jan 15: Vivek Ramaswamy ended his campaign for the Republican nomination for President after a poor showing of only 3 delegates in Iowa.
    • 2024 Jan 20: More than 25,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas; an additional 62,000 Palestinians have reportedly been wounded.
    • 2024 Sun Jan 21: Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis announced ending his campaign for the Republican nomination for President by posting a video on X/Twitter.
    • 2024 Tue Jan 23: Former President Donald Trump won New Hampshire's Republican primary, defeating former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, 55% to 43%.
    • 2024 Feb 3: primary.
    • 2024 March 4: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can’t kick Trump off primary ballots, overturning a Colorado court’s decision that former President Donald Trump was ineligible for the state’s presidential primary and ruling that individual states don’t have the power to keep candidates off the ballot under the constitutional clause barring insurrectionists from holding office. The decision effectively shuts down efforts to keep Trump off several state ballots.
    • 2024 March 5: “Super Tuesday” primary elections in 16 states: Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arkansas, California (top-two primary), Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. NOTE: By Noon on Thursday March 7th, most states were 99% counted, except California was only 50% counted, Texas only 69% counted by March 10th.
    • 2024 March 5: New York spot price for gold hit an all-time high of $2,142.
    • 2024 Thu March 7 at 9pm ET: Joe Biden’s third State of The Union Address was "remarkably feisty and adamant and demonstrated his decades of experience in public service; highlights included him reprimanding SCOTUS for overturning Roe v. Wade and his call for its restoration. Biden outlined his accomplishments to date, including record job growth and investments in infrastructure across the country, and addressed the discourse around his age with good humor".
    • 2024 March 20-25: Amazon held its first “Big Spring Sale” Wed March 20 to Mon March 25, which is open to all shoppers (not just Prime members). Top sellers from the event were promoted on the Big Spring Sale Rewind, which lasted for another month.
    • 2024 March 26: At around 1:30am, a container ship lost power (twice!) and slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge across the Patapsco River in the Port of Baltimore, Maryland and the 47-year-old steel truss bridge collapsed; only six lives were lost; the port may open in a few months, but major artery I-695 will be closed until the bridge is replaced, which may take years. {See details, including video of the collision, at the WM website.}
    • 2024 April 1: Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case, underwritten by billionaire Don Hankey’s Knight Specialty Insurance Co.
    • 2024 April 2: The General Electric conglomerate completed its three-way split, breaking its aerospace, energy, and healthcare businesses into three separate companies.
    • 2024 April 8: Total solar eclipse visible in U.S.A.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2024 April 22: Hundreds of members of the teaching staff at Columbia University in New York City held a walkout to protest the administration’s decision last week to call in police officers, who arrested more than 100 students involved in a pro-Palestine demonstration.
    • 2024 May: Boy Scouts of America announced changing its name to Scouting America to reflect its new priority of inclusion; the organization is emerging from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and membership at historic lows; the change will take effect on February 8, 2025.
    • 2024 May 6: Ignoring the pending ceasefire negotiations, Israel invaded Rafah, Palestine and siezed the border crossing with Egypt.
    • 2024 May 7-9: Porn actress Stormy Daniels testified in the 'hush money' trial on 34 felony counts against Donald Trump about her actions in 2006 and the payment that she received in 2016 prior to the election for President.
    • 2024 May 24-26: The Libertarian Party National Convention was held in Washington, DC. Republican candidate Trump delivered another incoherent rant as a keynote speech.
    • 2024 May 30: Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush-money criminal trial.
    • 2024 June: The number of U.S. companies going bankrupt hit a 14-year high, a surge expected in a recession, not an expansion.
    • 2024 June 2: Mexico elected its first female president Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and the former mayor of Mexico City, in a landslide victory; she is also the first woman to win a general election in the U.S., Mexico, or Canada.
    • 2024 June 4: Major national and local primary elections in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota.
    • 2024 June 10: The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution to support an American-backed plan for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza; the plan pushes Hamas and Israel toward an immediate end to the fighting and release of hostages; Hamas welcomed the vote, while Israel has objected to parts of the plan.
    • 2024 June 27: First 2024 Presidential Debate (of two) in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted by Jake Tapper & Dana Bash   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2024 July 11: Return to court by convicted felon Donald Trump in New York City to receive sentencing for the 34 counts of fraud in the 'hush money' case was postponed based on new immunity ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Sentencing is now scheduled for September 18.
    • 2024 July 13: A lone shooter fired five rounds from an assault rifle at a rally for candidate Donald Trump in Butler, PA around 6pm ET. Trump was wounded in the right ear and was hurried off the stage by Secret Service agents. The shooter was quickly killed by Secret Service and later identified as a 20-year-old registered Republican; one person in the bleachers behind the podium was killed and two others seriously wounded.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2024 July 15-18: Republican Party National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Donald Trump chose hillbilly Sen. J.D. Vance from Ohio as his running mate.   click here for photograph (in a new window)
    • 2024 July 16: The price of gold reached an all-time high of ~$2,471 per ounce as investors became convinced of a September interest rate cut.
    • 2024 July 21-22: Monday was recorded as the hottest-ever day on Earth, beating a record set the day before, as countries across the globe from Japan to Bolivia to the United States continued to feel the heat – per the European climate change news service.

    • 2024 mid-August: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of mpox (formerly 'monkey pox') in multiple African countries to be a public health emergency of international concern.
    • 2024 Aug 19-22: 4-day Democratic Party National Convention in Chicago; speakers included Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico (on healthcare), Barack & Michelle Obama, new running mate Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, former President Bill Clinton, young poet Amanda Gorman, Secretary of The Interior Deb Haaland from New Mexico (on climate change), Oprah Winfrey, and Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
    • 2024 Oct 1: VP candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance participated in a debate hosted by C.B.S. in New York City.
    • 2024 Oct 10: McDonald's, Inc introduced the Chicken Big Mac for a limited time.

      . . . meanwhile, keep an eye on these planned/expected events
    • 2024 Tuesday Nov 5: fateful national and local elections in USA
    • 2024 Nov 26: Sentencing is scheduled for convicted felon Donald Trump in New York City for the 34 counts of fraud in the 'hush money' case.

    • 2026: UPCOMING Year-long series of events celebrating the 100th anniversary of U.S. Route 66.
    • 2026 July: UPCOMING logo for celebration of 250th anniversary of the United States   Commemoration events for the 250th anniversary of the United States.
    • 2028 May 15: UPCOMING 100-year birthday of Mickey Mouse, whose first public appearance was at a test screening of the silent b&w cartoon short "Plane Crazy".
    • 2028 Summer: UPCOMING Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California.
    • 2029 April 13: Asteroid 99942 Apophis is expected to pass very close to Earth; the asteroid is about 3,280ft long by 558ft thick and will zoom past us 10 times faster than a bullet; original calculations were dire, predicting passage closer than weather satellites and thru a tiny 'keyhole' and then returning to impact Earth in April 2036; later calculations bring the likelihood of impact down to zero.
    • 2046 Valentine's Day: An asteroid roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool has about a 1-in-560 chance of hitting Earth, per N.A.S.A. (2023).

    Spirit of America Bookstore's U.S. History Timeline Pages

    Ancient Times - 3500 B.C.E to 1490 C.E.    •    1491-1800    •    1801-1900    •    1901-1930    •    1931-1950

    •    1951-1968    •    1969-2000    •    2001-2010    •    2011-2016    •    2017-2018    •    2019-2020

    •    2021-2022    •    2023 to present { top of this page }    •    The Looming Future?

    Spirit of America's U.S.A. Timeline of the COVID-19 Epidemic
    Spirit of America's New Mexico Timeline of the COVID-19 Epidemic


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