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2013—In the name of fiscal discipline, Republicans shut down the government. Cost to the economy: $24 billion. 2003—With the blessings of Gov. Benson [R-$], Free Staters choose New Hampshire as their libertarian paradise. 2002—Northern Command is established to “Defend America’s Homeland”—posse comitatus be damned. 2002—George W.[MD] Bush claims he hasn’t “made up his mind we’re going to war with Iraq.” Right. Got it. 1999—Dow 36,000 is published. In real life the Dow peaks months later at 11,722, then loses 37% of its value. 1993—Caving under pressure, the IRS grants tax-free status to the “Church” of Scientology. 1964—Campus cops at U.C. Berkeley arrest Jack Weinberg; big …

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2025—Former Fox “News” guy Pete Hegseth assembles the DOD’s top brass and orders them to “Stop being fat.” 2016—N.H.’s Attorney General reports that ex-Rep. Kyle Tasker [R-Nottingham] sold pot to five other State Reps. – for medicinal purposes. 2011—U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki is smote by a drone in Yemen. Trial? We don’t need no stinkin’ trial! 2005—N.Y. Times’s Judith Miller tells a Grand Jury that Dick “Dick” Cheney outed Valerie Plame to her. 1998—The GAO reports that Ken “Ahab” Starr blew $40 million failing to harpoon Bill “Moby Dick” Clinton. 1962—César Chávez founds what becomes the United Farm Workers. 1956—Drunk-flying a stolen Cessna, Thomas Fitzpatrick …

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2008—The Dow drops 777 points. 2006—Anti child-porn crusader Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) resigns after his lurid e-mails to young males leak. 2002—George W.[MD] Bush claims Iraq has WMDs and al-Qaeda terrorists, and will soon have a nuke. 1976—Congress arrogates to itself, in the Hyde Amendment, the power to make medical decisions for women. 1972—A short, bearded man in sneakers spontaneously grabs ex-Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara and tries to throw him off the ferry into Vineyard Sound. 1969—The U.S. Army drops murder charges against Special Forces Col. Robert Rheault—the CIA won’t let its agents testify. “Terminate with extreme prejudice” enters the lexicon. 1957—A Soviet …

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2015—After meeting with evangelicals, Trump asks an aide, “Can you believe people believe that bullshit?” 2001—To avoid further scorn in these pages, Fleet Bank removes its 18-foot tall green, illuminated sign from the middle of Pleasant Street’s sidewalk. 1978—Pope John Paul I dies 33 days into his papacy under circumstances that raise suspicions of murder. 1960—Ted Williams takes the plate at Fenway for his last at bat. He hits his 521st home run. Most seats are empty. 1955—As Franco visits Barcelona, Quico Sabaté roams the city in a cab, distributing anti-regime leaflets through the sun-roof with a mortar. 1919—Ten thousand rioting whites storm the Omaha …

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2018—Brett Kavanaugh whines, weeps, and shouts while badgering the Senate Judiciary Committee. 2002—Donald Rumsfeld says a made-up link between al-Qaeda and Iraq is “accurate and not debatable.” 2000—Frank Wills, the guard who discovered the Watergate burglary, dies at 52, of a brain tumor, in poverty. 1994—On the Capitol steps, 350 GOP candidates led by Newt Gingrich take out a Contract on America. 1989—To show kids there are more constructive things to do than take drugs, Jeffrey Petkovitch and Peter DeBernardi climb into a barrel and go over Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls. 1986—The United Way of Cleveland holds a fundraiser, releasing 1,429,643 helium balloons. Rain and a …

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2022—Mysterious forces sabotage Russia’s NordStream gas pipeline. 2016—“We’ve got a couple things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around,” says Rudy Giuliani, two days before Jim Comey reveals the Clinton email investigation is on again. 2001—Six or eight CIA spooks invade Afghanistan in a Soviet Mi-17 helicopter with $3 million cash. 1983—Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov disregards Red Army computers showing attacking American nuclear missiles. For thus averting World War III, Col. Petrov is reprimanded. 1950—A U.S. Navy minesweeper begins six days of spraying live bacteria into the air two miles upwind of San Francisco; 800K citizens get a dose. 1945—Mistaking him for a …

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