Volume 267 | No. 18

2009—Jonathan Trappe crosses the English Channel suspended from a cluster of 54 multicolored balloons. 1987—W. German Mathias Rust, 19, lands a rented Cessna in Red Square. 1986—The DOE calls off its search for a site to dump high-level nuclear waste from power plants; southwestern N.H. had been a candidate. 1972—Third time’s a charm for Nixon’s “Plumbers,” finally breaking into DNC HQ in the Watergate Hotel. 1962—The stock market plummets 5.7 percent, the worst drop since 1929. 1959—The U.S. Army sends Able and Baker, two monkeys, into space. 1946—The Pentagon begins working on a long-range bomber to be powered by a nuclear reactor; 15 years and …

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2017—It’s the last “Last Call” at Portsmouth’s Coat of Arms. 1994—Charles Rodman Campbell does his best to dodge it, but Washington State’s hangman finally manages to get a noose around his neck. 1972—Nixon’s “Plumbers” fail a second time trying to break into Democratic National HQ at the Watergate. 1962—To clear an underground landfill, Centralia, Pa. officials set a fire. It spreads to a coal seam, forcing abandonment of the town 30 years later. The fire still burns. 1959—NBC’s Today Show reports straight-faced on the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals’ satirical campaign to clothe quadrupeds. 1944—NBC censors Eddie Cantor: his song, “We’re Having a Baby, …

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2020—Minneapolis says a suspect died after “suffering medical distress.” 2004—The NY Times admits that its pre-war Iraq coverage was “not as rigorous as it should have been.” 1989—Future Veep J. Danforth Quayle predicts, “We are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy, but that could change.” 1972—Nixon’s “Plumbers” first effort to gain entry to Democratic National HQ at the Watergate fails. 1970—The destroyer U.S.S. Richard B. Anderson’s departure for Vietnamis delayed due to sabotage by the crew. 1947—An FBI memo duly notes that It’s a Wonderful Life  is communistic. 1938—The House Un-American Activities Committee begins carrying out its un-American activities. 1937—Ford’s thugs beat …

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2020—A white Minneapolis cop murders George Perry Floyd, Jr. 2007—As U. Mass. hands an honorary degree to Andrew Card, George W.[MD] Bush’s ex-Chief of Staff, students and faculty howl and boo. 1988—Evicted from his crypt, Peter Lawford’s ashes are scattered at sea; the National Enquirer covers the cost of the boat—none of his children will. 1986—“Hands Across America” ends hunger and homelessness. Well done! 1981—Kennebunkport native Dan Goodwin, 25, scales Chicago’s Sears Tower while dressed as Spiderman. 1979—Sitting in “Old Sparky,” waiting for the juice, John Spenkelink says, “Capital punishment: them without the capital get the punishment.” 1953—At the Nevada Test Site, the U.S. fires …

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2005—“See,” mansplains G.W.[MD] Bush, “in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” 2000—Linda Tripp beats a wiretap rap. Because she’s a right wingnut, ignorance of the law is an excuse. 1989—Being killed by Texas state employees, Stephen McCoy has a violent drug reaction. A male witness faints, knocking over another witness. 1978—Looking to spring skyjacker Garrett B. Trapnell, Barbara Ann Oswald tells Allen Barklage, at gunpoint, to land his helicopter in the Marion, Ill. prison. Barklage grabs her gun and shoots her dead instead. …

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2012—A mentally-unstable PNSY employee sets a fire that destroys the billion-dollar U.S.S. Miami. 1999—Wrestler Owen Hart drops 78 feet to his death in the ring; 15 minutes later, the show resumes. 1976—The Washington Post reports that Rep. Wayne L. Hays’ (D-Ohio) mistress, on his payroll at $14,000 a year, admits she “can’t type…can’t file, [and] can’t even answer the phone.” 1971—Nixon meets with the milk cartel. His campaign gets $2 million, they get a $100 million price hike. 1969—Sgt. Paul Meyer steals a C-130 from Mildenhall, UK and heads for Langley, Va. He crashes into the English Channel—possibly shot down. 1950—The Treaty of Detroit gives …

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