April 20 in History

2010 - US Deepwater Horizon explodes
2010 : The Transocean / BP Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible offshore oil drilling rig explodes and is followed by a fire that engulfed the platform, the platform is located 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and injured 17 others. Following the explosion a sea-floor oil gusher began pumping oil directly into the water, by the time the gusher was capped in mid July more than 200 million gallons of crude oil were released into the environment, causing an environmental disaster including extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries. Investigations are still ongoing to define who is exactly to blame with the guilty parties including Transocean, BP, Halliburton Energy Service. Questions are also asked over the cozy relationship between Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. BOEMRE and the oil and gas industry.  The Gulf will NEVER be the same.  

1999 - Columbine High School Shooting
1999 : Two students ( Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold ) wearing balaclavas go through Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado, firing automatic weapons and throwing homemade bombs killing 13 people and wounded 24 others before the two students committed suicide. They had originally planted two home made bombs in the cafeteria and were planning on murdering the students as they ran from the building, when the bombs failed to go off they went into the school and began the massacre.  The first of many, although today's Covid Virus has put a pause on this activity.

1871 - Third Force Act also known as the "Ku Klux Act" Passed
1871 : Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).  A lot of good this did, based on what's going on today.