Volume 269 | No. 15

2002—A U.S. F-16 pilot on “go pills” drops a 500-pounder: Four are KIA, eight are WIA in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment. 1986—“[W]hen you meet…President [Reagan],” says Henry Kissinger, “you ask yourself, ‘How did it ever occur to anybody that he should be Governor, much less President?’” 1985—President Ronald Reagan says Waffen SS troops buried at Bitburg were “victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.” 1977—The federal frame-up of Leonard Peltier succeeds. 1974—As Professor Irwin Corey accepts Thomas Pynchon’s National Book Award for Gravity’s Rainbow, a streaker dashes across the stage. 1968—The Army admits that nerve gas from Dugway Proving …

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2013—A fertilizer plant located next to a middle school in West, Texas, uninspected since 1985, explodes. Fifteen are killed, mostly volunteer firemen, 250 others are injured. 2002—G.W.[MD] Bush flip-flops again, vowing to rebuild Afghanistan. 1986—Peace is declared between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, ending a bloodless 335-year war. 1986—Channeling his inner Nixon, Reagan pulls a limited hangout: yes, our Contra allies smuggled coke. 1970—Apollo 13 makes it home. 1967—“[T]he defeat of the Communist forces in South Vietnam is inevitable,” says ex-Veep Richard Nixon. “The only question is, how soon?” 1966—Timothy Leary is busted for pot possession by G. Gordon Liddy. 1965—In New York …

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2008—“Thank you, your holiness,” George W.[MD] Bush says to Pope Benedict, “Awesome speech.” 1992—Afghanistan’s commie President Najibullah resigns, making way for a more enlightened government. 1992—The House Ethics Committee—no laughing, please—releases the names of 303 check-kiting Reps. 1969—Reverend Billy Graham advises Nixon: bomb North Vietnam’s dikes; estimated casualties: 1 million. 1963—Martin Luther King, Jr., writes “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” defending civil disobedience. 1954—“There is no reason why French forces should not remain in Indo-China and win,” says Richard Nixon, three weeks before the Viet Minh overrun Dien Bien Phu. 1953—Ike says militarism hangs humanity “from a cross of iron.” 1951—Hiroshima survivor Shigeki Tanaka wins the …

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2024—D.J. Trump becomes the first U.S. president charged with 34 felonies to fall asleep during his own trial. 2015—Doug Hughes, a USPS mailman, lands a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to deliver 535 letters to Congress: “Overturn Citizens United.” 2015—Texan and safari guide Ian Gibson is crushed to death in Zimbabwe by the elephant he was stalking. 2003—George W.[MD] Bush installs Gen. Jay Garner to administer Iraq “until an Iraqi government can be formed.” He lasts less than a month. 1994—Dick “Dick” Cheney ’splains on C-SPAN why G.H.[H.]W. Bush didn’t topple Saddam: that would have created a “quagmire” in Iraq. 1974—Press lord William Randolph Hearst’s …

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2006—Six  retired generals sign an Op-Ed calling on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign. 2004—Attorney General John Ashcroft blames Bill Clinton for terrorist attacks that took place seven months after Clinton left office. 1999—Dan Quayle throws his cute little propeller beanie into the ring. 1994—Over Iraq, U.S. fighter jets shoot down two U.S. helicopters. 1988—An Iranian mine nearly sinks the missile frigate USS Roberts. 1975—Idaho’s Bunker Hill Mining Co. says all female workers at its smelter must get sterilized to keep their jobs. 1945—A new high-tech head floods U-1206 on its 1st patrol. Commander K.A. Schlitt scuttles the boat; four crewmen die, the rest …

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