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2010—H. Kissinger apologizes for having told R. Nixon in 1973, “[if the Soviets] put Jews into gas chambers…it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” 2002—Americans learn a new euphemism from the Washington Post: “extraordinary rendition” means kidnapping and torture. 1996—Of 1,500 candidates, JonBenet Ramsey is named “most important child murdered this year in the U.S.” 1991—The Supreme Soviet meets one last time and dissolves the USSR. 1971—Disgruntled Vietnam veterans occupy the Statue of Liberty. 1969—Having fought a shifting cargo of bombs, missiles, and mines for nine days in heavy seas, the crew of the freighter S.S. Badger State abandons ship in mid-Pacific …

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1989—Romania celebrates Christmas and freedom by putting former President Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena before a firing squad. 1956—In Birmingham, Ala., civil rights activist Fred Shuttlesworth survives the bombing of his home. 1951—In Mims, Fla., a bomb explodes under the home of NAACP leaders Harry T. and Harriette Moore on the night of their 25th anniversary. Both die; no one is indicted; 55 years later the state concludes that four long-dead Klansmen did it. 1946—Demonstrators at the White House demand the release of jailed conscientious objectors. 1914—German and British troops leave trenches, sing Christmas carols, shake hands, and share smokes. 1868—President Andy Johnson unconditionally …

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2003—Responding to “credible intel,” Mike Hayden tells his British counterpart to take over his NSA duties if al-Qaeda nukes D.C. on Xmas. 1992—George Herbert [Hoover] Walker Bush pardons Caspar “Cap” Weinberger, Bob McFarlane, and 4 other Iran-Contra creeps, coincidentally protecting his own sorry self. 1979—The Soviet Army enters Afghanistan to prop up the Marxist government. Oops. They correct their mistake after just nine years. 1971—Her airliner having fallen apart after being hit by lightning two miles above the Amazon, Juliane Koepcke, 17, falls into the jungle. She survives with minor injuries. 1963—Top CIA counterspy and Friend-of-the-Mob James Jesus Angleton shuts down the Agency’s investigation of …

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2004—NASA gives odds of 1 in 233 that an asteroid will hit Earth in 2029. 1994—Tipped off by a Boston FBI agent that he’s about to be arrested, James “Whitey” Bulger takes a powder. He’s on the lam for 16.5 years. 1986—The airplane Voyager completes its nonstop circumnavigation. 1981—Basement digging causes the Foye Building, next to the Portsmouth Athenæum, to partially collapse. 1971—With a million from the Mob in his pocket, President Nixon springs Jimmy Hoffa from federal prison; the Teamsters soon endorse Nixon. 1963—FBI officials begin scheming to “neutralize” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with wiretapping, bugging, infiltration, sabotage, and blackmail. 1955—James Kutcher, a …

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2001—Richard Reid’s shoe-bomb fizzles, but all air passengers must now remove shoes before boarding. 1989—RIP Samuel Beckett. 1984—Asked for money on a New York subway, Bernhard Goetz responds with lead instead. Then he flees to New Hampshire. Of course. 1981—Ronald Reagan gives the poor 30 million lbs. of moldy cheese. 1974—Seymour Hersh exposes the CIA’s Operation Chaos in the New York Times: 10,000 Americans under illegal surveillance since 1967. 1973—“Dick” Nixon’s paranoid agitation at a Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting leaves four-stars wondering, “did he just ask us if we’d back a coup?” 1967—The CIA hands the President the second of four reports on its …

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2008—Todd Carmichael reaches the South Pole after traveling 692 miles on skis and on foot, solo. 2006—Saparmurat Niyazov’s term of office ends. Turkmenistan’s President for Life leaves a legacy of many golden statues…of himself. 2004—With a bullet in his head for refusing to give up his cell phone, Georgian Larry Taylor walks two miles to his mother’s home, only to find she has moved to a nursing home. Despite this setback, he survives. 2001—“All in all,” says George W.[MD] Bush three months after 9/11, “it’s been a fabulous year for Laura and me.” 1996—After two years of denial, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) admits to ethics …

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