The Marvelous Year That Was 2011 – Presented By: Chaos and Fate

 

…And it begins.

January 1 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the seventeenth Eurozone country.

January 14 – Arab Spring: The Tunisian government falls after a month of increasingly violent protests; President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power.

January 25 – The start of the 2011 Egyptian revolution: An ongoing series of street demonstrations, riots, and violent clashes began on this day, selected to coincide with the National Police Day holiday. The protests began with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and several other cities in Egypt. While localized protests had been common in previous years, the 2011 protests have been the largest demonstrations seen in Egypt since the 1977 Bread Riots and unprecedented in scope.

 February 11 – Arab Spring: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his departure, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.

February 14 – The House approves the extension of some parts of the controversial Patriot Act until December.

February 21 – Death of Dwayne McDuffie, (b. 1962)

February 22 – March 14 – Uncertainty over Libyan oil output causes crude oil prices to rise 20% over a two-week period following the Arab Spring, causing the 2011 energy crisis.

March 11 – A 9.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing 15,840 and leaving another 3,926 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake.

March 15 – The House passes another small spending bill, avoiding a government shutdown until April 8.

March 15 – Arab Spring: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain declares a three-month state of emergency as troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council are sent to quell the civil unrest.

March 15 – Death of Nate Dogg, (b. 1969) 

March 17 – The US Senate passes a small spending bill, avoiding a government shutdown until April 8.

March 19 – Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by forces in support of leader Muammar Gaddafi, military intervention authorized under UNSCR 1973 begins as French fighter jets make reconnaissance flights over Libya.

March 21 – AT&T announces plans to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. If allowed by the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T would become the largest US phone carrier, surpassing Verizon Wireless. If allowed, the number of major US phone carriers would decrease from 4 to 3, leaving AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

March 23 – Death of Elizabeth Taylor, (b. 1932)

May 1 – U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda, has been killed during an American military operation in Pakistan.

May 10 – 360,000 Citigroup credit card accounts are hacked.

May 13 – The federal government predicts that the Medicare hospital fund will run out in 2024, 5 years earlier than the 2029 previously projected. They also predicted that the Social Security trust fund would run out in 2036, instead of the 2037 previously projected.

May 16 – The European Union agree to €78 billion rescue deal for Portugal. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund.

May 20 – Death of Randy Savage, (b. 1952)

May 26 – Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia.

May 27 – Death of Gil Scott-Heron, (b. 1949)

June 3 – John Edwards, former United States presidential candidate and Senator representing North Carolina, is indicted on charges of conspiracy and violating campaign finance laws in connection to his affair with Rielle Hunter; Edwards denies he broke any laws.

June 4 – Chile’s Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia and forcing over 3,000 people to evacuate.

June 5 – Arab Spring: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh travels to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an injury sustained during an attack on the presidential palace. Protesters celebrate his transfer of power to his Vice-President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi.

June 12 – Arab Spring: Thousands of Syrians flee to Turkey as Syrian troops lay siege to Jisr ash-Shugur.

June 13 – Hackers Break Into US Senate Computers. 

June 24 – New York becomes the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage. 

July 7 – Casey Anthony is sentenced to four years for lying to law enforcement regarding the death of her child Caylee in the U.S. state of Florida but after credit for time served will be released on July 17.

July 8 – Death of Betty Ford, (b. 1918) 

July 9 – South Sudan secedes from Sudan, per the result of the independence referendum held in January.

July 20 – Goran Hadžić is detained in Serbia, becoming the last of 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

July 20 – The United Nations declares a famine in southern Somalia, the first in over thirty years.

July 22 – 76 people are killed in twin terrorist attacks in Norway after a bombing in the Regjeringskvartalet government center in Oslo and a shooting at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya.

July 23 – Death of Amy Winehouse, (b. 1983) 

July 31 – September 24 – Arab Spring: Because of the uncertainties associated with a clamp-down of the free press, there is believed to be at least 121 people killed in a Syrian Army tank raid on the town of Hama and over 150 people are reportedly killed across the country. The total dead throughout Syria may never be known, but an estimate as of September 24 is 3,000. 

August 2 – The United States Senate passes legislation to raise the debt ceiling in order to avert the 2011 US debt ceiling crisis and President Barack Obama signs it into law; it thus became the Budget Control Act of 2011. 

August 4 – United States debt-ceiling crisis: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 512 points (−4.3%) on economic worries, becoming the worst day for stocks since December 2008, and, at the time, was the 9th largest drop in United States history. 

August 5 – NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.  

August 20–28 – Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels took control the nation’s capital effectively overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi. 

August 8 – United States debt-ceiling crisis: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges another 635 points (−5.6%) in reaction to Standard and Poor’s downgrade on August 5. It is the 6th largest drop in United States history and the largest drop since December 2008. 

August 9 – United States debt-ceiling crisis: The U.S. Federal Reserve announces it will keep interest rates at “exceptionally low levels” at least through mid 2013; but, it also makes no commitment for further quantitative easing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the New York Stock Exchange as well as other world stock markets, recover after recent falls.

August 13 – Seven people are killed and 45 are injured when the main stage collapses at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. The tragedy occurred in part from a hurricane-force wind gust ahead of an approaching severe thunderstorm. The scheduled event was to be a performance by the band Sugarland. 

August 23 – A rare Eastern-seaboard earthquake of magnitude 5.9 strikes in Virginia. The extensive fault line across multiple states results in activity being felt in Washington D.C. and New York City.

August 24 – The ailing head of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs resigns. 

August 28 – Hurricane Irene: A rare hurricane drives North up the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast. 9 million homes lose power. Total Caribbean and U. S. fatalities and flooding damage are 55 dead and US$10 billion respectively. The New England state of Vermont suffers its worst flooding in 100 years.

August 31 – The United States Department of Justice files a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the $39 billion merger between cell phone giants AT&T and T-Mobile. 

September 2 – An audit report from the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that last year illegal aliens fraudulently collected $4.2 billion from the Additional Child Tax Credit, a refundable credit meant for working families. The audit found that the means for the crime was as a result of vague U.S. law. 

September 8 – President Barack Obama unveils the American Jobs Act to a joint-session of Congress. Critics label it as a “Third stimulus package.

September 8 – Bank of America announces 30,000 layoffs. 

September 11 – The National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York opens ten years after the September 11 attacks. 

September 20 – The United States military officially ends its policy of Don’t ask, don’t tell allowing gay and lesbian personal to publicly declare their sexual orientation. 

September 21 – Execution of Troy Davis, (b. 1968) 

September 23 – 2011 NBA lockout: The ongoing labor dispute forces the NBA to cancel the first 43 preseason games of the 2011–12 NBA season. 

September 30 – After a manhunt that lasted more than two years, during a U.S. military operation in northern Yemen’s al-Jawf province, American drones carried out a targeted killing of al-Qaida‘s leader in the Arabian Peninsula Anwar al-Awlaki while he traveled in a convoy together with his senior aides.

October 1 – 700 people are arrested while attempting to cross the Brooklyn Bridge during the Occupy Wall Street movement.

October 4 – In basketball, the North American National Basketball Association cancels the remainder of the preseason due to the 2011 NBA lockout, with cancellation of games in the regular season occurring if the lockout continues for another week.

October 4 – 2011 Mogadishu bombing: 100 people are killed in a car bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

October 5 – Death of Steve Jobs, (b. 1955) 

October 20 – Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is killed in Sirte, with National Transitional Council forces taking control of the city, and ending the war. 

October 23 – A magnitude 7.2 Mw earthquake jolted eastern Turkey near the city of Van, killing 604 people, and damaging about 2,200 buildings.

October 27 – After an emergency meeting in Brussels, the European Union announced an agreement to tackle the European sovereign debt crisis which includes a write down of 50% of Greek bonds, a recapitalization of European banks and an increase of the bailout fund of the European Financial Stability Facility totaling to €1 trillion.

November 4 – After announcing his retirement on September 27, Andy Rooney dies at the age of 92.

November 7 – Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach for the Penn State University football team, is arrested on nearly 40 counts of molesting eight boys over a 15-year period. The charges come following a grand jury investigation, which also alleges attempts to cover up the incidents and failure to report the incidents to law enforcement. In the days following the report, longtime coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier (already heavily criticized for alleged inaction) are fired. 

November 7 – Death of Joe Frazier, (b. 1944) 

November 8 – Death of Heavy D, (b. 1967) 

November 21 – The US national debt tops the United States’ GDP for the first time since the late 1940′s.

November 28  – Cain asserted that a woman named Ginger White would be claiming to have had an affair with him, and that the allegation was not true. In the interview, White said the affair lasted 13 years and ended right before Cain announced his presidential campaign. 

November 29 – AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines announces a sudden bankruptcy. The company’s stock plunges 84% on the news. 

December 2 – The unemployment rate has reportedly fallen to 8.6% – the lowest since early 2009.

 December 3 – Cain announced he was “suspending” his campaign for the presidency following allegations of sexual harassment and adultery, which he denied.

December 14 – Death of Joe Simon, (b. 1913) 

December 15 – The United States formally declares an end to the Iraq War.

December 17 – Death of Kim Jong-Il, (b. 1941)

December 25 – A revised 66-game regular season began on December 25, with five Christmas Day games, two more than the original schedule.

December 31 – All United States troops are scheduled to leave Iraq.

Happy New Years!

Good Night, Good Luck, & Godspeed…

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