#San José State University

[justinssportscorner]

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

Former President Donald Trump promised to single-handedly ban transgender athletes from participating in high school, college, and professional sports if reelected. During a Fox News town hall with Harris Faulkner in Georgia on Tuesday, which aired Wednesday, Trump made clear that he would take executive action to prevent transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

In response to a question from a voter who expressed concern for her granddaughters’ safety on sports teams and in locker rooms, Trump said, “It’s such an easy question, and everybody in the room knows the answer.” He referenced a video from a California volleyball match, where a player spiked the ball and hit an opponent in the face. Although rumors suggested the player was transgender, this has not been confirmed. The athlete hit was uninjured, and her team won the game, but Trump used the incident to argue transgender athletes pose a physical danger to women. “I never saw a ball hit so hard,” Trump said. “Other people, even in volleyball, they’ve been really hurt badly. Women playing men… but we stop it. We absolutely stop it.” Trump continued to assert that transgender athletes have an unfair advantage, even with medical interventions like hormone therapy. “Physically, from a muscular standpoint, even if it was a little bit less… look at what’s happened in swimming. Look at the records that are being broken.”

Earlier this week at the pre-taped Fox “News” town hall, Donald Trump supports a wholesale ban on trans people playing on sports teams matching their gender identity based on phony concerns about “fairness” and “protecting women’s sports.”

See Also:

Outsports: Donald Trump and the GOP are going all-in against trans athletes. But do voters care?

LGBTQ Nation: Trump lies about volleyball player “hurt badly” by trans opponent

[capricorn-season]

[majchic]

[humanoidhistory]

Halloween at Desperados Club in Campbell, California, 1982. Photos by Ted Sahl.

(San José State University)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Colin Wright

Published: Oct 2, 2023

On September 25, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) announced that they were cancelling a panel discussion titled “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Why Biological Sex Remains a Necessary Analytic Category in Anthropology,” originally scheduled as part of their annual conference in Toronto from November 15–19. The cancellation and subsequent response by the two organizations shows the extent to which gender ideology has captured academic anthropology.

The panel would have featured six female scientists, specializing in biology and anthropology, to address their profession’s growing denial of biological sex as a valid and relevant category. While terminological confusion surrounding the distinction between sex and gender roles has been a persistent issue within anthropology for decades, the total refusal of some to recognize sex as a real biological variable is a more recent phenomenon. The panel organizers, eager to facilitate an open discussion among anthropologists and entertain diverse perspectives on a contentious issue, considered the AAA/CASCA conference an optimal venue to host such a conversation.

The organizations accepted the “Let’s Talk About Sex” panel without incident on July 13, and planned to feature it alongside other panels including those on politically oriented subjects, such as “Trans Latinx Methodologies,” “Exploring Activist Anthropology,” and “Reimagining Anthropology as Restorative Justice.” Elizabeth Weiss, a professor of anthropology at San José State University, was one of the slated panelists. She had intended to discuss the significance in bio-archaeology and forensic anthropology of using skeletal remains to establish a decedent’s sex. While a 2018 article in Discover titled “Skeletal Studies Show Sex, Like Gender, Exists Along a Spectrum” reached different conclusions, Weiss planned to discuss how scientific breakthroughs have made determining the sex of skeletal remains a more exact science. Her presentation was to be moderate; she titled it “No Bones About It: Skeletons Are Binary; People May Not Be,” and conceded in her abstract the growing need in forensics to “to ensure that skeletal finds are identified by both biological sex and their gender identity” due to “the current rise in transitioning individuals and their overrepresentation as crime victims.”

Despite having already approved the panel, the presidents of the AAA (Ramona Pérez) and CASCA (Monica Heller) unexpectedly issued a joint letter on September 25 notifying the “Let’s Talk About Sex” presenters that their panel was cancelled. They claimed that the panel’s subject matter conflicted with their organizations’ values, jeopardized “the safety and dignity of our members,” and eroded the program’s “scientific integrity.” They further asserted the panel’s ideas (i.e., that sex is a real and important biological variable) would “cause harm to members represented by the Trans and LGBTQI of the anthropological community as well as the community at large.” To ensure that similar discussions would not be approved in the future, the AAA/CASCA vowed to “undertake a major review of the processes associated with vetting sessions at our annual meetings.”

The following day, the panelists issued a response letter, expressing their disappointment that the AAA and CASCA presidents had “chosen to forbid scholarly dialogue” on the topic. They rejected the “false accusation” that supporting the “continued use of biological sex categories (e.g., male and female; man and woman) is to imperil the safety of the LGBTQI community.” The panelists called “particularly egregious” the AAA/CASCA’s assertion that the panel would compromise the program’s “scientific integrity.” They noted that, ironically, the AAA/CASCA’s “decision to anathematize our panel looks very much like an anti-science response to a politicized lobbying campaign.”

I spoke with Weiss, who expressed her frustration over the canceled panel and the two presidents’ stifling of honest discussion about sex. She was concerned about the continual shifting of goalposts on the issue:

We used to say there’s sex, and gender. Sex is biological, and gender is not. Then it’s no, you can no longer talk about sex. Sex and gender are one, and separating the two makes you a transphobe, when of course it doesn’t. In anthropology and many topics, the goalposts are continuously moved. And, because of that, we need to stand up and say, “I’m not moving from my place unless there’s good scientific evidence that my place is wrong.” And I don’t think there is good scientific evidence that there are more than two sexes.

Weiss was not the only person to object. When I broke news of the cancellation on X, it immediately went viral. At the time of writing, my post has more than 2.4 million views, and the episode has ignited public outcry from individuals and academics across the political spectrum. Science writer Michael Shermer called the AAA and CASCA’s presidents’ letter “shameful” and an “utterly absurd blank slate denial of human nature.” Timur Kuran, a professor of economics and political science at Duke University, described it as “absolutely appalling.” Jeffrey Flier, the Harvard University distinguished service professor and former dean of the Harvard Medical School, viewed it as “a chilling declaration of war on scholarly controversy.” Even Elon Musk expressed his disbelief with a single word: “Wow.”

Despite the backlash, the AAA and CASCA have held firm. On September 28, the AAA posted a statement on its website titled “No Place For Transphobia in Anthropology: Session Pulled from Annual Meeting Program.” The statement reiterated the stance outlined in the initial letter, declaring the “Let’s Talk About Sex” panel an affront to its values and claiming that it endangered AAA members’ safety and lacked scientific rigor.

The AAA’s statement claimed that the now-canceled panel was at odds with their first ethical principle of professional responsibility: “Do no harm.” It likened the scuttled panel’s “gender critical scholarship” to the “race science of the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” the main goal of which was to “advance a ‘scientific’ reason to question the humanity of already marginalized groups of people.” In this instance, the AAA argued, “those who exist outside a strict and narrow sex/gender binary” are being targeted.

Weiss remains unconvinced by this moral posturing. “If the panel was so egregious,” she asked, “why had it been accepted in the first place?”

The AAA also claimed that Weiss’s panel lacked “scientific integrity,” and that she and her fellow panelists “relied on assumptions that ran contrary to the settled science in our discipline.” The panelists, the AAA argued, had committed “one of the cardinal sins of scholarship” by “assum[ing] the truth of the proposition that . . . sex and gender are simplistically binary, and that this is a fact with meaningful implications for the discipline.” In fact, the AAA claimed, the panelists’ views “contradict scientific evidence” about sex and gender, since “[a]round the world and throughout history, there have always been people whose gender roles do not align neatly with their reproductive anatomy.”

There is much to respond to in this portion of AAA’s statement. First, it’s ironic for the organization to accuse scientists of committing the “cardinal sin” of “assuming the truth” of something, and then to justify cancelling those scientists’ panel on the grounds that the panelists refuse to accept purportedly “settled science.” Second, the panel was organized to discuss biological sex (i.e., the biology of males and females), not “gender roles”; pivoting from discussions of basic biology to murkier debates about sex-related social roles and expectations is a common tactic of gender ideologues. Third, the AAA’s argument that a person’s “gender role” might not “align neatly” with his or her reproductive anatomy implies the existence of normative behaviors for members of each sex. Indeed, this is a central tenet of gender ideology that many people dispute and warrants the kind of discussion the panel intended to provide.

The AAA’s statement made another faulty allegation, this time against Weiss for using “sex identification” instead of “sex estimation” when assessing the sex of skeletal remains. The AAA claimed that Weiss’s choice of terminology was problematic and unscholarly because it assumes a “determinative” process that “is easily influenced by cognitive bias on the part of the researcher.”

Weiss, however, rejects the AAA’s notion that the term “sex determination” is outdated or improper. She emphasized that “sex determination” is frequently used in the literature, as demonstrated in numerous contemporary anthropology papers, along with “sex estimation.” Weiss said, “I tend not to use the term ‘sex estimation’ because to estimate is usually associated with a numeric value; thus, I do use the term ‘age estimation.’ But just as ‘age estimation’ does not mean that there is no actual age of an individual and that biological age changes don’t exist, ‘sex estimation’ does not mean that there isn’t a biological sex binary.” She also contested the AAA’s claim that anthropologists’ use of “sex estimation” is meant to accommodate people who identify as transgender or non-binary. Rather, she said, “sex estimation” is used when “anthropologists are not 100 [percent] sure of their accuracy for a variety of reasons, including that the remains may be fragmented.” But as these methods improve—which was a focus of her talk—such “estimations” become increasingly determinative.

After making that unfounded allegation against Weiss, the AAA further embarrasses itself by claiming that “There is no single biological standard by which all humans can be reliably sorted into a binary male/female sex classification,” and that sex and gender are “historically and geographically contextual, deeply entangled, and dynamically mutable categories.”

Each of these assertions is empirically false. An individual’s sex can be determined by observing their primary sex organs, or gonads, as these organs determine the type of gamete an individual can or would have the function to produce. The existence of a very rare subset of individuals with developmental conditions that make their sex difficult to assess does not substantiate the existence of a third sex. Sex is binary because are only two sexes, not because every human in existence is neatly classifiable. Additionally, while some organisms are capable of changing sex, humans are not among them. Therefore, the assertion that human sex is “dynamically mutable” is false.

Weiss appropriately highlights the “false equivalency” inherent in the claim that the existence of people with intersex conditions disproves the binary nature of sex. “People who are born intersex or with disorders of sex development are not nonbinary or transgender, they are individuals with medical pathologies,” she said. “We would not argue that because some people are born with polydactyly (extra fingers or toes), often seen in inbred populations, that you can’t say that humans have ten fingers and ten toes. It's an absurd conclusion.”

On September 29, the AAA posted a Letter of Support on its website, penned by anthropologists Agustin Fuentes, Kathryn Clancy, and Robin Nelson, endorsing the decision to cancel the “Let’s Talk About Sex” session. Again, the primary motivation cited was the panel’s opposition to the supposed “settled science” concerning sex. The authors disputed the panelists’ claim that the term “sex” was being supplanted by “gender” in anthropology, claiming instead that there is “massive work on these terms, and their entanglements and nuances.” They also reiterated the AAA’s false accusation that the term “sex determination” was problematic and outdated. Nonetheless, the canceled panel could have served as a prime venue to discuss these issues.

In response to these calls for censorship, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) issued an open letter to the AAA and CASCA. FIRE characterized the groups’ decision to cancel the panel as a “retreat” from their scientific mission, which “requires unwavering dedication to free inquiry and open dialogue.” It argued that this mission “cannot coexist with inherently subjective standards of ‘harm,’ ‘safety,’ and ‘dignity,’ which are inevitably used to suppress ideas that cause discomfort or conflict with certain political or ideological commitments.” FIRE implored the AAA and CASCA to “reconsider this decision and to recommit to the principles of intellectual freedom and open discourse that are essential to the organizations’ academic missions.” FIRE’s open letter has garnered signatures from nearly 100 academics, including Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker and Princeton University’s Robert P. George. FIRE invites additional academic faculty to add their names.

The initial letter and subsequent statement by the AAA/CASCA present a particularly jarring illustration of the undermining of science in the name of “social justice.” The organizations have embarrassed themselves yet lack the self-awareness to realize it. The historian of science Alice Dreger called the AAA and CASCA presidents’ use of the term “cardinal sin” appropriate “because Pérez and Heller are working from dogma so heavy it is worthy of the Vatican.” Indeed, they have fallen prey to gender ideologues, driven into a moral panic by the purported dangers of defending the existence of biological sex to people whose sex distresses them. The AAA/CASCA have determined that it is necessary not only to lie to these people about their sex but also to deceive the rest of us about longstanding, foundational, and universal truths about sex.

Science can advance only within a system and culture that values open inquiry and robust debate. The AAA and CASCA are not just barring a panel of experts with diverse and valid perspectives on biological sex from expressing their well-considered conclusions; they are denying conference attendees the opportunity to hear diverse viewpoints and partake in constructive conversations on a controversial subject. Such actions obstruct the path of scientific progress.

“When you move away from the truth, no good can come from it,” Weiss says. The AAA and CASCA would be wise to ponder that reality.

==

I miss the days when anti-science meant creationists with "Intelligent Design," flat Earthers, and Jenny McCarthy-style MMR anti-vaxers.

It's weird that archaeologists are now denying evolution and pretending not to know how babies are made. Looks like creationists aren't the only evolution-denial game in town any more.

[artmialma]

Jeff Faerber ( born in 1974)

Tibetan Flames, Japanese Waves 

He studied art at San José State University (San José, CA) and School of Visual Arts (NYC).

[miz-chase]

Sometimes I feel sad because the Temperance Brennan they depict in the tv show Bones (not the version of her in my heart) is an incredibly regressive, old fashioned kind of anthropologist

I struggle to picture her being pro rematriation of human remains and that sucks

Anyway just like…. Know that Tv show Brennan has very little to do with actual contemporary cultural anthropologists. And NAGPRA is legit and a moral calling and anyone working to hinder that work sucks shit

[macmanx]

Faculty members across the California State University system will be on strike starting Monday. The labor action follows months of fruitless contract negotiations between the CFA and CSU management.

To keep up with the rising cost of living, the CFA has sought a 12% pay raise since May 2023. The union also has other demands: raising the salary floor for the lowest-paid faculty, establishing more manageable workloads, securing more counselors for students, and expanding parental leave.

In an emailed statement, the union said it's been met with “disrespect and derision by management.” During negotiations, “CSU management has only addressed our conflict over salary; they have completely ignored the issues of workload, health and safety concerns, and parental leave,” said Chris Cox, a lecturer at San José State and CFA vice president of racial and social justice.

[dhaaruni]

“It is my understanding that none of these players [were] told before coming to SJSU that Fleming’s natal sex is male, or that there was any player with a male birth sex on the team.”

This whole story makes me feel gross

[catdotjpeg]

On February 27, over 100 people gathered at a candlelight vigil in San Jose to honor the life and sacrifice of Aaron Bushnell.

[...]

On the front steps of San Jose's Martin Luther King Library, community members laid out candles, flowers, Palestinian and Yemeni flags, and a sign reading “Rest in power and peace, Aaron Bushnell.” Members of the public were invited to speak in an impromptu open-mic program. People from a wide variety of backgrounds shared the impact that Bushnell's act of protest had on them, including veterans, students, healthcare workers and journalists. Harry Adams, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served during the Vietnam War, spoke about Bushnell's courage in refusing to be complicit in this ongoing atrocity. Adams has spent the last several decades of his life advocating for peace alongside other veterans. Bojana Cvijic, a journalist who was previously a writer for San José State University student newspaper Spartan Daily, strongly criticized the mainstream corporate media for their obfuscation of Bushnell's act of protest. Many news outlets have omitted any mention of the genocide in Gaza from their headlines about Bushnell's death. Tarentz Charite from Students for a Democratic Society encouraged the crowd to continue to protest against the genocide, saying, “We are not complicit in a system of death if we fight for a system of life. We are not complacent in a system of oppression if we fight for freedom.” The vigil was called by San Jose Against War, a new grassroots anti-war organization in San Jose.

-- "San Jose anti-war activists hold vigil for Aaron Bushnell" from Fight Back! News, 29 Feb 2024

[justinssportscorner]

Alyssa Tirrell at MMFA:

Four competitors have forfeited matches against San Jose State University's women's volleyball team this season. While none of the teams have confirmed the reason for their forfeits, the decisions seem to have been motivated by right-wing media claims that a San Jose athlete is transgender. The forfeits have become the latest rallying cry for OutKick host Riley Gaines in her efforts to bar trans women from competition. Right-wing media claims that San Jose State University volleyball player Blaire Fleming is trans began in April with a report from Reduxx. The report investigated Fleming's online and athletic record, attempting to determine when Fleming had transitioned and claiming that she had moved from North Carolina to avoid that state's recent restrictions on trans athletes. After publishing Fleming's alleged deadname in the opening sentence, Reduxx continued to misgender her throughout. 

The following week saw several right-wing outlets — including OutKick, Breitbart, and Fox News — parrot Reduxx's claims, consistently deadnaming and misgendering Fleming as well.  While Fleming has played in the NCAA Division I for three seasons, first at Coastal Carolina University and subsequently at San Jose, she “has never made any public statement regarding her gender identity.” Regardless, the NCAA does not unilaterally bar trans players from competition, instead opting for a “sport-by-sport approach” that “preserves opportunity for transgender student-athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion and safety for all who compete.” The organization's Transgender Student Participation Policy for this year shows that trans women who comply with USA Volleyball regulations can compete in the division.  As the fall season began this September, right-wing media revived speculation about Fleming's gender identity, alleging that she possessed an unfair advantage and posed a safety risk to other athletes. Gaines' home outlet OutKick published several articles asserting such claims, and Gaines herself was quoted as an expert in other coverage of the issue. 

[...] Allegations about Fleming’s identity were further inflamed when her teammate and former roommate joined a class action lawsuit against the NCAA seeking to bar trans women from competition. The suit, spearheaded by Gaines and the Independent Council on Women's Sports (sometimes referred to as “ICONS”), echoed in court filings what right-wing media had been alleging about Fleming's identity in the press.  Gaines and ICONS then sent a letter to the Mountain West Conference urging more teams to forfeit matches against San Jose State in protest of Fleming's inclusion. The letter was published as an exclusive at OutKick and has been followed by three additional forfeits — by Boise State, University of Wyoming, and Utah State University — all of which have been praised by Gaines. 

Gaines has continued to urge upcoming competitors to forfeit their matches against San Jose, even indicating that she would pay athletes who refuse to play. In February of this year, Gaines apparently compensated a billiards player under the same terms, and she has since praised those who have boycotted trans inclusion. 

[...] More recently, Gaines released a scorecard evaluating candidates’ positions on trans inclusion in women's sports.

Anti-trans extremist Outkick contributor Riley “5th Place Crybaby” Gaines’s crusade causing at least 5 teams to forfeit games against San José State University’s women’s volleyball team over the alleged trans player is pure sore loser transphobia.

[caloygnzls]

Miss Universe 2023 is the 72nd edition of the Miss Universe pageant, held at Gimnasio Nacional José Adolfo Pineda, San Salvador, El Salvador on 18 November 2023

After the competition, R'Bonney Gabriel of the United States crowned Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua as Miss Universe 2023. This was Nicaragua's first victory in the history of the competition. Anntonia Porsild of Thailand finished as first runner-up, and Moraya Wilson of Australia finished as second runner-up.

Candidates from eighty-four countries and territories participated in this competition. Maria Menounos, Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo, and Jeannie Mai hosted the competition, while Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray and Zuri Hall served as backstage correspondents. John Legend performed in this edition.

[felipeandletizia]

Felipe and Letizia retrospective: November 21st

2003: First visit to the Spanish northern Basque city of San Sebastian

2005: Pictures released on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of King Juan Carlos’s reign

2007: Visited the headquarters of the Ibero-American General Secretariat & Francisco Cerecedo Journalism Awards

2011: Visited Chile (1, 2, 3)

2012: Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Institute of International and Strategic Studies

2013: Visited King Juan Carlos at the Quiron University Hospital before he underwent a new surgery to get a final prosthesis on his left hip in Pozuelo de Alarcon.

2016: “Special Operations Command” (EOM) exercise in Alicante

2017: Wake of José Manuel Maza Martín, Attorney General of the State; ‘Reina Letizia’ Disability 2016 and 2017 awards at El Pardo Palace in Madrid& Closing of the Annual Congress of the Spanish Confederation of Directors and Executives in Alicante

2018: Visited the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Mons, Belgium & King Felipe visited the new NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium (1, 2)

2022: 30th meeting of the delegate commission of the Princess of Girona Foundation; Visited King Charles at Clarence House in London & Gala dinner celebrating the 135th anniversary of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom in London

F&L Through the Years: 1088/??

[conandaily2022]

Miss Universe 2023 predictions: Sheynnis Palacios, Mariana Downing, Michelle Dee, Anntonia Porsild, Maya Aboul Hosn

The Miss Universe 2023 coronation ceremony will be held at the Gimnasio Nacional José Adolfo Pineda in San Salvador, El Salvador on November 18, 2023. It is the 72nd edition of the international beauty pageant headquartered in New York, United States and Samut Prakan, Thailand. Before I share my Miss Universe 2023 predictions, here is a recap of my predictions in the last edition: CANDIDATEMY…

[humanoidhistory]

Halloween at Desperados Club in Campbell, California, 1982. Photo by Ted Sahl.

(San José State University)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.5

823 – Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I. 919 – The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army. 1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights. 1536 – Charles V makes a Royal Entry into Rome, demolishing a swath of the city to re-enact a Roman triumph. 1566 – Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces. 1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. 1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England. 1792 – United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States. 1795 – Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made. 1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement, led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead. 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins. 1879 – Bolivia declares war on Chile, and Chile declares war on Peru, starting the War of the Pacific. 1902 – A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between Scotland and England. 1910 – The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated. 1922 – The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated. 1932 – Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government. 1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens. 1933 – Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage. 1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi. 1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army's planned assault on Stalingrad. 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island. 1943 – World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit. 1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory". 1946 – Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm. 1946 – A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground. 1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States. 1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union. 1956 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. 1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time. 1966 – During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down. 1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities. 1971 – In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. 1976 – In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident. 1977 – The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip. 1991 – An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter. 1992 – Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force. 1992 – Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War. 1998 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world. 1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands. 2007 – The cruise ship MS Sea Diamond strikes a volcanic reef near Nea Kameni and sinks the next day. Two passengers were never recovered and are presumed dead. 2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks. 2010 – Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. 2018 – Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid a slaughterhouse in Tennessee, detaining nearly 100 undocumented Hispanic workers in one of the largest workplace raids in the history of the United States. 2021 – Nguyễn Xuân Phúc took office as President of Vietnam after dismissing the title of Prime Minister.