Volume 266 | No. 8

2002—Future A.G. Al Gonzales writes that parts of the Geneva Conventions are “obsolete” and “quaint.” 1980—Sixty-three participants in the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque at Mecca are beheaded with swords in the public squares of eight Saudi cities. 1967—Calculations show ARVN desertions at 5.7 x the rate of the NVA. 1964—Panama suspends relations with the U.S. after U.S. troops kill 21 anti-American protesters. 1952—In Phenix City, Ala., anti-vice crusader Hugh Bently’s house is destroyed by a bomb. 1939—In Missouri’s “Bootheel,” 1,700 homeless sharecroppers, Black and white, stage a sit-down strike in the middle of Highways 60 and 61. 1918—The 10th Cavalry and Yaqui Indians …

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2020—Reacting to the U.S. drone-strike assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, Iran fires missiles at bases in Iraq; 64 U.S. troops suffer traumatic brain injuries. Trump denies any were injured. 2007—The U.S.S. Newport News, submerged, collides with a Japanese oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz. 2005—The U.S.S. San Francisco, submerged, collides at flank [top] speed with an undersea mountain near Guam. One sailor dies, 98 are injured. 2003—“The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein,” explains George W.[MD] Bush, “because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.” 1992—At a formal dinner in …

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2015—Two brothers, Wahhabi extremists, kill 12 and wound 11 at Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris. 1999—The Senate tries Bill Clinton for lying about canoodling with a young intern. His prosecutor: Rep. (and adulterer) Henry Hyde [R-Ill]. 1998—The Washington Post reports that George Herbert [Hoover] Walker Bush lied: he did attend meetings about arms sales to Iran. 1980—San Franciscans hold a grand bash to honor Emperor Norton I on the 100th anniversary of his demise. 1948—Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air Guard ace, takes his F-51 too high pursuing a UFO; hypoxic and unconscious, he crashes. 1945—U.S.S. Hovey, named for Portsmouth-born Ensign Charles Emerson Hovey, …

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2021—A misguided mob of purported patriots attacks the Capitol to subvert democracy and install a dictatorial doofus. Five die, many are injured, but Dolt #45’s autogolpe fails; the Republic is spared by ineptitude. 2018—Pres. Donald J. Trump asserts that he is a “very stable genius.” 2006—George W.[MD] Bush OKs $20 million for a celebration of “success” in Iraq and Afghanistan. 2005—A switching error causes a 2:40 a.m. train wreck in Graniteville, S.C.; 60 tons of chlorine gas escape, killing nine immediately and one months later. 1986—One person dies and 100 are injured in an accident at Kerr-McGee’s nuclear fuel plant in Oklahoma. 1951—U.S.-backed South Korean …

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2021—Dolt #45’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emails that the National Guard would be at the Capitol Jan. 6th “to protect pro-Trump people.” 2011—Freshly-minted Rep. Frank Guinta [R-N.H.] assures David Koch he’ll show fealty attend a party later. 1970—Kenneth Yablonski discovers his dad, UMW presidential challenger Joseph “Jock” Yablonski, his mom, and his sister dead. All were murdered in their sleep five days earlier on orders of incumbent UMW president “Tough Tony” Boyle. 1968—Feds indict Dr. Spock for expressing concern about the health of his ex-patients now in uniform. 1968—The CIA sends LBJ a third report on its illegal surveillance of U.S. students. It, too, …

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1971—George Mellendorf, in Vietnam, mails a letter to the White House complaining of slow mail delivery. His answer arrives in 1978. 1965—Having forced UC Berkeley Regents to drop their ban on political speech, the Free Speech Movement holds a rally that’s legal for a change. 1960—During a Minimum Interval Takeoff at Pease AFB, the second in a flight of three B-47s crashes and burns; four crewmen die. 1958—In a New York cab, ex-Commie, ex-McCarthy aide and ex-editor of Confidential Howard Rushmore shoots his wife, then himself. 1956—A Senate Internal Security Subcommittee begins investigating newspapers, including the New York Times, for alleged Commie influence. 1955—The U.S. …

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