Volume 265 | No. 20

2003—George W.[MD] Bush says, “There are some who feel that the conditions are such that they can attack us [in Iraq]. My answer is, bring ’em on.” 1982—Vietnam veteran “Lawn Chair Larry” Walters, 33, ascends to 16,000 feet in a lawn chair buoyed by 45 helium-filled weather balloons. 1980—The Supreme Court rules that OSHA must consider corporate profits when protecting employees’ health. 1976—The Supreme Court rules it’s neither cruel nor unusual for the government to kill certain people. 1967—On their worst day in Vietnam, U.S. Marines suffer 84 KIA, 190 WIA, and nine MIA in Operation Buffalo near Con Thien. 1964—L.B.J. signs the Civil Rights …

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2020—“I think we are going to be very good with the coronavirus,” says the oaf in the Oval, “at some point, that’s going to sort of just disappear.” 1981—Irish Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich descends in a helicopter for a mass on London’s Clapham Common, bearing the head of Oliver Plunkett. 1973—The U.S. military draft ends. Henceforth, the ranks will be replenished by economic coercion. 1968—A DC-8 carrying 214 U.S. soldiers to Vietnam strays into Soviet airspace and lands in the USSR. 1956—On TV, Elvis sings “Hound Dog” to a basset hound in formal wear. 1942—Not knowing Aussie POWs are aboard, Sturgeon sinks the Montevideo Maru. …

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2014—The Supreme Court rules in Hobby Lobby that people who are corporations have religious rights, too. 2003—The Army Times reports that the Bush administration wants to cut combat and family-separation pay for troops in combat zones. 1984—GOP Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf proposes adding Ronald Reagan’s face to Mt. Rushmore. 1980—The Supreme Court rules that a woman’s right to a federally-funded abortion is nullified by other peoples’ religious beliefs. 1973—Dwight E. Stone, a Black, 24 year-old plumber’s assistant from Sacramento,under indictment for failure to appear in 1969, is the last man drafted into the U.S. Army. 1971—The Supreme Court rules that the White House cannot prevent publication …

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2016—The 477-foot tanker Chem Venus runs aground off Goat Island, damaging itself and three boats at the Kittery Point Yacht Club. 2006—“It was not always certain,” says President George W.[MD] Bush, “that the U.S. and America would have a close relationship.” 1989—The Washington Times reports that high officials in the Reagan & Bush I administrations are under investigation for involvement in a homosexual prostitution ring. Quickly and conveniently, the story evaporates. 1987—“We don’t care,” declares Attorney General Ed “Meese is a Pig” Meese, “about the political or ideological allegiances of a prospective judge.” His audience bursts out laughing. 1966—U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong …

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2018—A Trump supporter with a grudge and a shotgun kills five in the Capital Gazette newsroom. 2009—Stephen Hawking throws a party for time travelers. No one shows. 2005—Operation Red Wings goes sideways: 19 U.S. special operators die in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, including Daniel R. Healy of Exeter, N.H. It’s the greatest single loss for U.S. special ops since WW II. 1994—The Department of Energy admits hundreds of U.S. citizens were used as unwitting guinea pigs in radiation experiments during the Cold War. 1975—Rod Serling enters another dimension…. 1972—Nixon says no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam, further eroding an anti-war movement already weakened by …

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