Sat, Oct 24

2012—George W.[MD] Bush speaks at a Houston fundraiser for troops wounded following his orders. His fee: $100,000. 2008—America’s markets outperform the rest of the world, having lost only 3.5% of their value in one day. 2001—The U.S. House passes the PATRIOT Act without reading it. 1983—U.S. military aircraft, using old maps, bomb Richmond Hill Insane Asylum in Grenada, killing 16. 1962—Soviet ships reach the U.S. quarantine line off Cuba. They don’t cross it, so we don’t nuke the USSR. A Soviet satellite explodes the same day. NORAD suspects an ICBM attack; but, again, nobody pushes The Button. 1960—One wrongly-set switch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome prematurely …

Read more

Fri, Oct 23

2015—James Comey says criticism of the police is responsible for the rise of violent crime in cities. He offers no evidence for this assertion. 2015—Senator Ted Cruz [R-Texas] warns “one more liberal justice and they begin sandblasting and bulldozing veterans memorials.” 2013—Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the White House to complain about the NSA tapping her phone. 2001—Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) introduces the senseless PATRIOT Act, & Justice official James Yoo writes a memo saying the President need not obey the law. 1998—Life being sacred, anti-abortion fanatic James C. Kopp murders Dr. Barnett Slepian in Amherst, N.Y. 1987—Robert Bork gets borked. 1983—Suicide bombers kill 241 U.S. …

Read more

Thurs, Oct 22

1987—At Yoken’s, noted buffoon Donald Trump speaks before a credulous Portsmouth Rotary Club. 1979—With an OK from Jimmy Carter, the Shah of Iran enters the U.S. for medical treatment, triggering chaos. 1968—To improve the odds of his re-election, Richard Nixon tells H.R. Haldeman to “monkey wrench” negotiations to end the Vietnam War. 1967—KGB agent Manfred Ramminger steals a Sidewinder missile from Neuburg AFB, takes it off-base in a wheelbarrow, drives away with it sticking out the back of his Mercedes, and mails it, dismantled, to Moscow. 1963—Fed up with accurate reporting, JFK asks “Punch” Sulzberger to assign Times’ David Halberstam anywhere but Vietnam. It doesn’t …

Read more

Wed, Oct 21

1975—In the 12th inning, New Hampshire’s own Carlton Fisk waves the ball fair, and the Red Sox win Game 6 of the World Series. 1967—Yippies, Diggers, Hippies, &c., fail to levitate the Pentagon. 1966—A mountain of mine waste collapses onto a school in Wales, killing 28 adults and 116 children. 1965—Lyndon Johnson flashes his gall bladder scar for photographers. 1957—Special Forces Capt. Harry Cramer becomes the 2nd American killed by hostile action in Vietnam. His death is falsely listed as accidental. 1954—Indiana’s Boxing Commission says boxers and wrestlers must swear an oath they’re not Commies before they can fight in the Hoosier State. 1874—Birth of …

Read more

Tues, Oct 20

2011—Brotherly Leader Muammar Ghadaffi is rather unceremoniously dispatched by Libyan rebels. 2005—Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) nixes an increase in Federal home heating aid for the poor. 1990—In 22 cities, Americans protest the impending Gulf War. 1983—The Feds recognize the Mashantucket Pequots, paving the way for a gargantuan casino. 1973—After A.G. Eliot Richardson and Deputy A.G. William Ruckelshaus refuse on principle to comply with President Nixon’s order to fire Special Prosecuter Archibald Cox, Solicitor General Robert Bork, who is not so encumbered, complies. 1967—Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin shoot 24 feet of film purporting to show a Sasquatch walking along a streambed in northern California. 1947—HUAC …

Read more

Mon, Oct 19

2005—Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) wins $853,492 in the Powerball lottery. A dying woman whose real estate deposit he has refused to return receives exactly none of it. 2005—Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity and Bushes. 2000—George W.[MD] Bush says at the Al Smith Dinner, “This is an impressive crowd, the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base.” 1998—Shortly before his likely re-election, Tennessee Senator Tommy Burks [D] is murdered by his middle-name-changing opponent, Byron Low Tax Looper [R]. 1987—Computers say stocks are too damn high—the Dow drops 22 pct. 1982—Automaker J. DeLorean …

Read more