Sat, Sept 24

2007—A plane previously used for “rendition” flights carrying alleged terrorists to Gitmo crashes in the Yucatan carrying 3.3 tons of cocaine. 2006—The New York Times reports that our spies think the Iraq War makes Islamic terrorism more likely. 2006—George W.[MD] Bush says, “When the final history is written on Iraq, it will look just like a comma.” 1981—CIA boss Bill Casey says the Freedom of Information Act shouldn’t apply to intelligence agencies. 1978—On his yacht in Chesapeake Bay, right-handed CIA spook John Paisley takes a shotgun blast behind his left ear. It’s ruled suicide. 1968—Protestors destroy 10,000 draft files in Milwaukee, Wis. 1957—The 101st Airborne …

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Fri, Sept 23

1999—The $328 million Climate Orbiter crashes on Mars because Lockheed forgot to use the metric system. 1998—The New York Fed bails out broke hedge fund LTCM, establishing a suicidal precedent. 1990—As Dan Quayle speaks at a $2,500-plate fundraiser in Portland, Ore., the Reverse Peristalsis Painters protest by vomiting red, white, and blue mashed potatoes. 1975—Already fired for spying on citizens, ex-CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton testifies, “certain individual rights have to be sacrificed for the national security.” 1960—Alan Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and LeRoi Jones meet in Manhattan with Fidel Castro. 1957—Nine Black students enter Little Rock High School, but are escorted out again by …

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Thurs, Sept 22

2003—“A year from now,” Richard Perle says, “I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush.” 1987—Navy Reserve Capt. Timothy J. Dorsey shoots down a Navy plane during a training exercise. Its crew survives with injuries. Dorsey’s career is unscathed: daddy’s an Admiral. 1975—’Nam vet Oliver Sipple deflects Sarah Jane Moore’s shot, saving Gerry Ford. Harvey Milk outs him, newspapers report he’s gay. He dies at 47, disowned, drunk, and alone. 1970—President Nixon requests more FBI spies for college campuses. 1959—Air-raid sirens celebrate the White Sox’s pennant win. Some Chicagoans mistakenly assume it’s signaling war …

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Wed, Sept 21

2014—A spokesman for the Islamic State  calls U.S. Sec. of State John Kerry an “uncircumcised old geezer.” 2001—CIA chief George Tenet tells the V.P. his claim that Iraq and al-Qaeda are linked is crap, but Dick “Dick” Cheney goes on repeating it. 1989—The Chase Manhattan Bank accepts for deposit a check sent as a prank by Spy Magazine. Endorsed by “short-fingered vulgarian” Donald J. Trump, it’s for $0.13. 1983—Defending the diversity of his staff, Reagan’s Sec. of the Interior, James G. Watt boasts, “I have a Black, a woman, two Jews, and a cripple.” 1982—Edward Lee Howard, a CIA agent suspected of spying for the …

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Tues, Sept 20

2006—“The devil came here yesterday,” says Hugo Chavez at the UN, “and it smells of sulfur still today.” 2001—George W.[MD] Bush declares a War on a noun, viz., Terror, before a joint session of Congress, which somehow takes him seriously. 1968—A U.S. military spokesman in Saigon says Agent Orange has no harmful effects on human health. 1958—A deranged woman stabs Martin Luther King, Jr. while he’s autographing books in Harlem. 1945—Ex-Nazi, former SS member, and rocket scientist Werner von Braun begins working for the U.S. 1830—In Philadelphia, 38 free Blacks form the National Negro Convention to abolish slavery. 1797—The frigate Constitution is launched in Boston. …

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Mon, Sept 19

2014—Iraq War veteran Omar J. Gonzalez jumps the White House fence and runs into the East Room. 2001—George W.[MD] Bush tells CIA chief George Tenet to look for links between S. Hussein and al-Qaeda. Lacking credible evidence, he suggests Dick “Dick” Cheney as a source. 2001—The U.S. goes to war against Afghanistan—what could go wrong? 1991—Alpine tourists discover 5,300 year-old Ötzi the Iceman. 1980—After eight hours of fire, a missile silo in Arkansas explodes, hurling a nuclear weapon 600 feet. Somehow only one person is killed. 1964—The first gay rights demonstration is held at the Whitehall Army Induction Center in New York City. 1961—Betty and …

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