Fri, Dec 17

2010—Street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself afire, thereby igniting the Tunisian Revolution and the subsequent Arab Spring.

2006—Bill Kristol predicts on “Fox News Sunday,” “Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary.”

1998—Impeachment pending, Bill Clinton wags the dog: half the Pentagon’s cruise missiles explode in Iraq.

1967—“I know this beach like the back of my hand,” says Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt, before disappearing in heavy surf.

1960—A U.S.A.F. C-131 hits a Munich steeple, then falls onto a trolley. All 20 on the plane die, along with 18 in the trolley and 11 on the street.

1951—Black Americans petition UN officials in Paris and New York for relief from genocidal U.S. domestic policies. They’re ignored.

1947—The National Security Council, just 90 days old, gives the CIA $1 million to mess with Italian elections.

1944—Adm. “Bull” Halsey sails the 3rd Fleet into a typhoon. Three destroyers sink; nine other ships are damaged, 100 aircraft are lost, and 790 sailors die, mostly by drowning.

1927—The U.S. sub S-4 is rammed and sunk off Provincetown by Coast Guard destroyer Paulding, which is hunting rum runners; 40 are lost.

1862—Gen. Grant issues General Order No. 11, barring “Jews and other unprincipled traders” from his district.

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