Sat, Dec 16

2005—The New York Times reports that the NSA has been tapping U.S. telephones without a warrant. 2001—U.S. troops at Tora Bora ask for  help catching Osama bin Laden. Donald Rumsfeld denies their request; bin Laden walks away. 1988—Bush #41 nominates notoriously boozy womanizer Sen. John Tower [R-Texas] to run the Department of  Defense. His confirmation hearings do not go well. 1988—Perennial Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche—Rochester, N.H.’s most famous native—is convicted of tax and mail fraud. 1973—Protestors celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party by hanging Richard Nixon in effigy. 1970—Big Milk offers Nixon a $2 million “campaign contribution” if he’ll cut milk imports. …

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Fri, Dec 15

2000—Sen. Phil Gramm gives Enron the energy futures deregulation it wants, hidden in an appropriations bill. One year later Enron is bankrupt. 1997—Paula Jones’ lawyers maneuver Bill Clinton into signing a legal document claiming he’d not had sex with government workers. 1986—Bill Casey, CIA director, suffers a handy seizure, preventing him from testifying about Iran/Contra. 1983—Ed Meese denies Ebenezer Scrooge exploited Bob Cratchit. 1969—The Mormon Church reaffirms its “no Black priests” policy. 1967—A 2.5 mm-deep defect in a part collapses the 39 year-old Silver Bridge over the Ohio River, killing 46. 1960—Police in Palm Beach arrest N.H. resident Richard Pavlick before he can kill John …

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Thurs, Dec 14

2020—AG Bill Barr quits, the first Covid vaccines are administered, the Electoral College elects Biden President, and Dolt #45 claims he won. 2012—N.H.-born Adam Lanza shoots his gun-enthusiast mother, six other adults, and 20 kids at a Newtown, Conn. school. 2008—“This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,” yells Muntadhar al-Zaidi, as he flings his shoe at George W.[MD] Bush. 2005—George W.[MD] Bush blames his Iraq War on “faulty intelligence.” He doesn’t say whose. 1987—Chrysler admits it sold thousands of used cars as new ones. 1986—Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager begin a nine-day, non-stop, around-the-world flight. 1981—Defending his taxpayer-funded cocktail parties at …

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Wed, Dec 13

2009—Sen. Joe Lieberman [I-Conn.] nixes a Medicare public option. 2003—U.S. troops drag Saddam Hussein out of a hole in the ground, so final victory in Iraq must be imminent. U.S. death toll so far: 547. 2000—Al Gore decides he’d rather be righteous than be president. 1988—In Texas, Ray Landry’s death is delayed 14 minutes when a tube falls from his arm and lethal chemicals spray across the room. 1978—An eager public finally gets its first Susan B. Anthony dollars. 1974—Defecting oceanographer Slava Kurilov leaps from a Soviet cruise ship, swims for three days, and reaches the Philippines safely. 1966—20th Century-Fox pays Governor Reagan $2 million …

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Tues, Dec 12

2006—The Portsmouth Herald misquotes Sen. Barack Obama [D-Ill.], who, the day before, in Portsmouth, did not say, “The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.” 2005— “I think we are welcomed [in Iraq],” says George W.[MD] Bush, “but it was not a peaceful welcome.” 2000—The Supreme Court selects George W.[MD] Bush to be #43. 1995—A Flag Protection Amendment fails by three votes in the Senate. 1994—Freshmen Reps. of the new GOP majority fête Rush Limbaugh and make him an honorary Member at a raucus Heritage Foundation shindig. 1985—Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes at Gander, killing 248 U.S. paratroopers and eight crew. …

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Mon, Dec 11

2006—President George W.[MD] Bush, on national TV, denies having ever been “a knee-walking drunk.” 2000—The Supreme Court hears Bush v. Gore. 1998—President Clinton begs forgiveness for his sins. Instead he gets three Articles of Impeachment. 1985—Veep George H.[H.]W. Bush, at a Manchester, N.H., dinner honoring the late William Loeb, reads aloud Loeb’s most scurrilous attacks against him. 1981—Soldiers of the U.S.-backed Salvadoran government murder 900 villagers at El Mozote. 1964—As Ernesto “Che” Guevara speaks at the United Nations, a 3.5 inch rocket launched from Queens falls harmlessly into the East River. 1960—Seeing at the last minute that JFK has his wife and kids with him, …

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