Sat, Nov 20

2020—“What is the downside for humoring him,” says an anonymous high GOP official to Washington Post reporters. “It’s not like he’s plotting how to prevent Joe Biden from taking power on Jan. 20th.” 2008—Sarah Palin is interviewed on live TV while, in the background, turkeys are being slaughtered. 1980—In Louisiana, an oil rig drilling in the wrong spot hits a salt mine under Lake Peigneur. The rig, 11 barges, and a tugboat disappear. 1979—Fundamentalists seize Mecca’s Grand Mosque, full of hostages. The CIA blames guiltless Iran. 1975—The Senate’s Church Committee issues its report on U.S. efforts to assassinate foreign leaders; 349 pages make it past …

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Fri, Nov 19

2005—Marines in Haditha murder 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women, and children. One man is tried and convicted of dereliciton of duty. 1967—A 500 lb. bomb from a Marine jet goes astray during the Battle of Dak To; 45 men from the 173d Airborne die, 45 are wounded. 1963—In Havana, Frenchman Jean Daniel, sent personally by JFK, finds Fidel Castro “cautiously receptive” to a rapprochement with the U.S. 1962—Dick “Dick” Cheney racks up his first drunk driving conviction in Cheyenne, Wyo. 1960—At a party in New York, Norman Mailer stabs his second wife. 1932—A petition is signed by 19 of Germany’s top industrialists asking President Hindenburg …

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Thurs, Nov 18

2020—Feds indict Kansan Shawn L. Parcells for wire fraud. He collected $1.1 million from 375 clients for performing autopsies, yet was neither a physician nor a pathologist. 2005—Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) apologizes to ’Nam combat vet Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) on the House floor for implying he’s a coward. 1999—Texas A&M’s student-built Bonfire—a 59-foot stack of vertical logs—somehow collapses; 12 die. 1997—Operation Northwoods is exposed: the 1962 plan would have murdered U.S. citizens on the street to build support for an invasion of Cuba. 1988—Congress jacks up penalties for smoking crack. Lighter penalties for powder cocaine are unchanged. 1978—Jim Jones and 913 followers drink cyanide-laced …

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Wed, Nov 17

2008—Citigroup announces it will sack 52,000 workers. 2006—“We’ll succeed [in Iraq] unless we quit,” says George W.[MD] Bush. 2003—An Austrian muscleman becomes Governator of California. 1995—President Clinton, multitasking, speaks on the phone with a Congressman while violating his marriage vows with an intern. 1995—The Commander of the Pacific Fleet calls the rape of an Okinawan girl “stupid.” The culprit should have hired a prostitute instead, he says. 1992—Dateline broadcasts a rigged video of a GM truck exploding. 1973—Speaking to newspaper editors at Disney World, Richard M. Nixon says, “I am not a crook.” 1965—First Cav survivors of the Ia Drang are marched into an ambush; …

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Tues, Nov 16

2000—Bill Clinton goes to Vietnam — finally, when it’s safe, as President. 1989—U.S.-backed pro-government “freedom fighters” in El Salvador murder six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and the housekeeper’s daughter. 1969—President Nixon’s Communications Director Herb Klein says he opposes government intervention in the news but the networks are asking for it if they don’t regulate themselves. 1966—Strasbourg students blow the student government’s annual budget to publish a pamphlet, “On the Poverty of Student Life.” Hilarity ensues, including the Situationist Movement. 1965—Mission accomplished with 79 KIA & 121 WIA, U.S. units in Ia Drang propose withdrawal. Gen. Wm. Westmoreland says “stay.” 1890—George Seldes is born. At 19 …

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Mon, Nov 15

2010—Ex-cop James B. Fowler pleads guilty to the 1965 murder of civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson in Ala. He gets six months. 2008—Somali pirates take the MV Sirius Star. With a total value of $250 million, it’s the largest prize ever. 1996—British officials return the Stone of Scone to the Scots from whom they stole it 700 years earlier. 1995—President Bill Clinton begins abusing his power over White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 1967—The NVA mortars the Dak To ammo dump; 1,100 tons of ordnance create the war’s biggest explosion. 1967—“I have never been more encouraged,” says General Westmoreland. Tet is 77 days away. 1967—The …

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