Quote of the day

“You won’t get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There’s only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up, and if you don’t actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time... It’s a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers. I happen to know this from personal experience.”


—Ronald Reagan, 1983

On this day in history...

622 - Prophet Muhammad completes his hijra from Mecca to Medina.

1780 - Benedict Arnold flees to the British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John Andre exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.

1789 - The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, and orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States.

1869 - "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot t control the market.

1890 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.

1914 - World War I:  The Siege of Przemysl (present day Poland) begins.

1946 - Clark Gifford and George Elsey, military advisors to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, present him with a top-secret report on the Soviet Union that first recommends the containment policy.

1957 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

1960 - USS Enterprise (CVN - 65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.

1962 - United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.

2005 - Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of  southwestern Louisiana.

2009 - The G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance.  It marks the first use of LRAD in U.S. history.

Quote of the day

"Obama says it's not class warfare; it's math. May I say that your Presidency is headed due south and that's not partisan; that's geography." - Dennis Miller

On this day in history...

John Paul Jones

1779 - American Revolution: A squadron commanded by John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard wins the Battle of Flamborough Head, off the coast of England, against two British warships.

1780 - American Revolution: British Major General John Andre' is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.

1806 - Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

1845 - The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.

1941 - World War II: The first gas chamber experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.

1942 - World War II:  First day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marines Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese units along the Matanikau River.

1943 - World War II - The so-called Salo' Republic is born.

1952 - Richard Nixon gives his famous "Checkers speech".

1962 - The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City opens with the completion of the first building, the Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) home of the New York Philharmonic.

1969 - The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.

1972 - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.

1973 - Juan Peron returns to power on Argentina.

1983 - Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.

1999 - Quantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm.  Although some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Quantas's history since 1960.

2004 - Flooding caused by Hurricane Jeanne are reported to have killed at least 1,070 people in Haiti.

On this day in history...

1692 - The last people hanged for witchcraft in the American colonies.

1776 - Nathan Hale is hanged for spying during the American Revolution.  His last words were reported to be "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country". 

1789 - The office of United States Postmaster General is established.

1823 - Joseph Smith, Jr. states he found the golden plates on this date after being directed by God through the Angel Moroni to the place where they were buried.

1862 - A preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation is released.

1893 - The first American-made automobile, built by the Duryea Brothers, is displayed.

1919 - The steel strike of 1919, led by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, begins in Pennsylvania before spreading across the Untied States.

1941 - On Jewish New Year Day, the German SS murder 6,000 Jews in Vinnytsya, Ukraine.  Those are the survivors of the previous killings that took place a few days earlier in which about 24,000 Jews were executed.

1944 -  World War II:  the Red Army enters Tallinn.

1975 -  Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate President Gerald Ford but is foiled by Oliver Sipple.

1980 -  Iraq invades Iran.

1993 -  A barge strikes a railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama, causing the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak history,  47 passengers are killed.    

1995 -  An E-3B AWACS crashes outside Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska after multiple bird strikes to two of the four engines soon after takeoff; all 24 on board are killed.

That's my prez! I'm so proud!



Raise your hand if you are in waaay over your head.



On this day in history...

1776 - Part of New York City is burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.

1780 - Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.

1792 - The National Convention declares France a republic and abolishes the monarchy.

1827 - Joseph Smith, Jr. is reportedly visited by the angel Moroni, who gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Smith has translated into The Book of Mormon.

1897 - The "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" editorial is published in the New York Sun.

1937 - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.     

1938 - The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York.  The death toll is estimated at 500 - 700 people.

1942 - On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, NAZIS send over 1,000 Jews of Pidhaytsi (west Ukraine) to Belzec extermination camp.

1942 -  In Poland, at the end of Yom Kippur, Germans order Jews to permanently evacuate Konstantynow and move to the Ghetto in Biala Podlaska, established to assemble Jews from seven nearby towns, including Janow Podlaski, Rossosz and Terespol.

1942 - In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, NAZIS murder 2,588 Jews.

1942 - The B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.

1961 - Maiden flight of the CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter.

1964 - The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first Mach 3 bomber, makes its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.

1976 - Orlando Letelieris assassinated in Washington D.C.  He is a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.

1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court Justice.