Volume 266 | No. 20

2015—The Supreme Court puts an end to marriage discrimination. 2013—Byron Low Tax Looper [his legal name], imprisoned for murdering his political opponent, dies at 48 of a heart attack, hours after assaulting a pregnant prison guard. 2006—As Rush Limbaugh returns from the Dominican Republic—a tourist sex-mecca—customs officers confiscate his illicit stash of Viagra. 2002—A Federal court edits “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. 1995—EPA workers dismantle David Hahn’s homemade backyard nuclear reactor. The Michigander is 17. 1976—Gov. Kit Bond rescinds a predecessor’s “Extermination Order” banning Mormons from Missouri. 1954—Bao Dai, the feckless puppet Emperor of South Vietnam, appoints Ngo Dinh Diem as premier. …

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2013—The Supreme Court rips the guts out of the Voting Rights Act. 2005—“I could kill someone with this,” says Vladimir Putin putting Bob Kraft’s Super Bowl ring in his pocket. 1998—The Fed OKs the Travelers/Citicorp merger: the fuse is lit. 1996—Al-Qaeda kills19 U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia and wounds 372. Saudis and the CIA blame Iran. 1973—Ex-White House Counsel John Dean, on live TV, blows the big whistle on his crooked former boss. 1971—ITT lobbyist Dita M. Beard writes a memo noting that Pres. Richard “Dick” Nixon knew ITT was giving the Republican National Committee a $400,000 bribe to get a favorable Justice Dept. decision. …

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2021—Rudy G’s law license finally gets suspended for Rudy-ish behavior. 1994—U.S.A.F Lt. Col. Arthur Holland, hot-dogging during air-show practice maneuvers, crashes a B-52 at Fairchild AFB in Washington State. 1986—New York finally disbars Roy Cohn for acting like Roy Cohn. 1971—Nixon’s Special Counsel Charles Colson circulates the first White House “Enemies List.” 1970—Staging fails on the Kittery side of the Piscataqua River Bridge project. Four men fall 75 feet to their deaths, seven others are injured. 1968—Gen. Earle G. Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, tells a Long Island audience, “The enemy has lost whatever chance he had of taking South Vietnam by military force.” …

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2016—Memorializing W.Va.’s worst flooding in 100 years, a burning house is filmed as it floats down a creek. 2008—James Hansen warns Congress about global warming—again. 2005—Roller coaster safety expert Richard H. Brown, 64, dies of injuries received in a fall in his own driveway. 2001—“Dark Winter”—a war game simulation of a smallpox outbreak in the U.S.—shows lack of preparation for pandemic would result in chaos. 1988—NASA’s James Hansen warns Congress of the seriousness of the threat of global warming. 1976—Edwin Walker, former Army General and target of Lee Harvey Oswald, is arrested for fondling an undercover cop in a Dallas men’s room. 1972—Nixon is hoist’ …

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2009—A spokesperson explains the conspicuous absence of South Carolina’s GOP Governor: Mark Sanford is “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” 2005—Undeterred by futility, the Republican-led House passes a Flag Protection Amendment.® 2004—On the floor of the Senate, Veep Dick “Dick” Cheney tells Sen. Pat Leahy, “Go fuck yourself.” 2004—Yet another cash-laden C-130 lands in Iraq; this one carries the biggest load of them all: $2,401,600,000. 2002—Enron execs admit they hid $1.5 billion in illegal profits gouged from California ratepayers. 1977—Nixon’s ex-AG John Mitchell begins a 19-month prison sentence. 1972—UPI’s Helen Thomas gets a call from Martha Mitchell: “I’m a captive…”; the phone goes dead. On the scene, …

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2006—Fox News, citing Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), reports that WMD have been found in Iraq. 2005—Edgar Ray Killen, 80, is found guilty of manslaughter in the case of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney. 2004—SpaceShipOne reaches an altitude of 100 kilometers; Mike Melvill becomes the first civilian astronaut. 1989—The U.S. Supreme Court rules that it’s legal to burn the U.S. flag. 1964—Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney are murdered in Mississippi by the KKK. 1942—A Japanese sub shells Fort Stevens, Ore., damaging a phone cable. 1935—The top cop busts a cap at a Eureka, Calif. sawmill; chaos ensues, but a jammed machine gun keeps the death …

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