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2013—News outlets reveal that the NSA, under a Top Secret court order, has been Hoovering™ up the phone records of millions of Americans. 2008—Blackwater begins training at its San Diego facility, despite the Mayor’s objections and a lack of public hearings; a judge says Blackwater’s a person whose rights can’t be violated. 2003—Two top New York Times editors resign in disgrace. Curiously, many more do not. 1989—One man stops a line of tanks (for a while) in Tiananmen Square. 1976—In Idaho, the $100 million federal Teton Dam fails, killing 14 and causing $2 billion in damages. 1969—Taken three weeks earlier, at a cost of 72 …

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2017—“Last Call” at the Press Room. 2006—A Ukrainian man enters the lion cage at the Kiev zoo, saying “God will save me, if he exists.” He does not. 2004—Marvin Heemeyer destroys the Granby, Colo. Town Hall, the mayor’s home, and 11 other buildings with his home-made armored bulldozer because “God has asked me to do this.” Then he shoots himself. 2003—To prove they’re not soft on corporate crime, federal prosecutors pick on Martha Stewart. 1989—The Chinese Army kills thousands at Tiananmen Square. 1963—Allen Ginsberg visits Saigon to assess the political situation. 1962—The first U.S. high altitude nuke test fails when a Thor rocket malfunctions and …

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2009—New Hampshire becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage without a court order. 2002—Egypt says it warned the U.S., a week before 9/11, that al-Qaeda was about to strike the U.S. 1983—In Medina, N.D., “Greatest Generation” veteran, Posse Comitatus co-founder, and anti-tax crank Gordon Kahl dies in a shootout with the FBI, having slain five U.S. Marshals. 1980—A failed 46-cent computer chip briefly convinces NORAD that 220 Soviet missiles are incoming. 1974—Brown & Williamson tests a cigarette blended to smell like pot. 1969—In the South China Sea, a navigational mistake takes the destroyer U.S.S. Evans under the bow of the carrier HMAS Melbourne. The …

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2016—Two sisters at air shows watch as planes crash: Cindy Estevane-Villavicencio in Colorado and Kristyn Lockwood in Georgia; a Thunderbird pilot lives, a Blue Angel dies. 2002—The CIA admits to Congress—in a classified document, to avoid undue alarm—it had tracked one 9/11 hijacker months earlier than it had previously admitted. 1999—The Virginian-Pilot reports that evangelist Pat Robertson has had “extensive dealings” with Liberian war criminal Charles Taylor. 1976—Don Bolles, investigative reporter for the Arizona Republic, is mortally injured by a bomb under his car. Two guys take falls. 1972—Alfred W. McCoy explains to Congress that top South Vietnamese officials, the CIA, and the Mafia are …

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2005—With Iraq wrecked, Paul Wolfowitz turns to the World Bank. 2003—The Bush administration nixes a large Iraqi assembly for a smaller, easier to manipulate advisory council. 2002—George W.[MD] Bush announces at West Point that we’ll attack pre-emptively if we get nervous. 1980—Ted Turner launches CNN—the 24-hour news cycle begins. 1967—Disgruntled vets form Vietnam Veterans Against the War. 1954—The AEC pulls the security clearance of Manhattan Project boss J. Robert Oppenheimer. 1950—Maine’s Margaret C. Smith asks fellow Republicans to renounce the “Four Horsemen of Calumny–Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.” She is duly punished by them. 1923—Maine Gov. Percival P. Baxter orders state flags lowered to half-staff …

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2009—Dr. George Tiller, ushering in a Wichita, Kansas church, is shot dead to uphold the sanctity of life. 2007—New Hampshire becomes the first state to honor same-sex unions without court intervention. 2005—Ex-FBI official Mark Felt admits he is “Deep Throat.” 1971—For the first time in the U.S., Memorial Day is celebrated on a day other than May 30th. 1927—The last Model T rolls off the Ford assembly line. 1921—A black WW I veteran in Tulsa refuses a demand to surrender his pistol. During a struggle it fires; a massive “race war” ensues. 1921—The mistrial of Sacco and Vanzetti begins under Judge Webster “Did you see …

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