Sat, Jan 14

2000—“This is still a dangerous world…of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses,” warns George W.[MD] Bush. 1969—After warnings from enlisted men aboard the nuke-powered U.S.S. Enterprise go unheeded, the exhaust of a flight deck tractor cooks off a Zuni rocket. It hits an F-4’s fuel tank, causing a fire which detonates 4.5 tons of bombs. The whole farrago kills 27, injures 85, and nearly sinks the ship. 1967—The First Human Be-In is held—in San Francisco, of course. 1963—Standing on a gold star marking the spot where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy, George Wallace, being sworn in as Governor of …

Read more

Fri, Jan 13

2018—Hawaiian authorities issue an alert: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND … THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” A retraction comes 38 minutes later. 2017—N.H. State Rep. Carolyn Halstead [R-Milford] drops a loaded handgun on the floor during a packed public hearing at the State House. 1987—Lee Atwater calls Reagan’s drug war a “fad issue, a classic really. It came and went in three weeks, max.” 1975—The N.Y.Times reports that USAF Maj. Harold L. Hering was discharged for asking, during Minuteman training, “How can I know that an order…to launch my missiles came from a sane president?”  1964—The tail falls off a B-52, which crashes in Barton, Md. …

Read more

Thurs, Jan 12

2021—In light of the recent failed insurrection, all eight members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warn active duty personnel not to do anything treasony. 1991—Congress authorizes the first Bush vs. Hussein War. 1984—Reagan Deputy Secretary of Defense W. Paul Thayer resigns after being charged with insider trading. He ends up in the can. 1971—Rev. Philip Berrigan is indicted for conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and bomb federal buildings. 1968—Lima Site 85, a tiny USAF navigational facility on a remote mountaintop in Laos, is rocketed, bombed, and strafed by two NVA-piloted, Soviet-built Antonov biplanes. One, damaged by groundfire, crashes. A flight mechanic in a CIA …

Read more

Wed, Jan 11

2008—“There will be a signed peace treaty [between Israel and the Palestinians] by the time I leave office,” says George W.[MD] Bush. 2003—“You can count on this,” Donald Rumsfeld tells Saudi Prince Bandar, showing plans for the Iraq War. “This is going to happen.” 2002—To take full advantage of recent memos declaring torture OK, the Department of Defense opens a secret detention center at Guantanamo Bay. 2000—“Rarely is the question asked,” says George W.[MD] Bush, “is our children learning?” 1986—The CIA polygraphs Ollie North’s co-conspirator Manucher Ghorbanifar. Two answers out of 15 are true: name and birthplace. 1974—Joint Chiefs Chair Admiral Moorer is reported to …

Read more

Tues, Jan 10

2017—CNN reports on the Steele dossier; Buzzfeed publishes it. 2002—George W.[MD] Bush denies ever meeting Enron CEO Ken Lay, his largest campaign donor. 1992—A busted shipping container releases 28,000 floating toy animals in the mid-Pacific, which are then tracked by oceanographers; the gripping tale is told in Moby Duck. 1984—Responders to a false alarm about an accidental missile launch at Warren AFB, Wyo. park an armored car atop the silo as a precaution. 1967—School dropout and pickaxe-handle-dispensing restaurateurLester Maddox becomes Gov. of Ga. 1957—Four Black churches and homes of two Black leaders in Birmingham, Ala. are bombed. 1946—“I hate war as only a soldier who …

Read more

Mon, Jan 9

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.—“Sin City” to Ft. Benning GIs—an anti-vice crusader’s home is bombed. 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 …

Read more