Hello again, Headliners! Today’s birthday belongs to the late, great Johnny Ace. Though he died on Christmas Day in 1954, he knew a thing or two about the Headlines Du Jour of yesteryear:
- 53 – The Roman Emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia.
- 68 – The Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer‘s Iliad, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil year known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
- 1534 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River.
- 1732 – James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia.
- 1856 – 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now studied by militaries around the world.
- 1934 – Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen.
- 1946 – King Ananda Mahidol is found shot dead in his bedroom, Bhumibol Adulyadej ascends to the throne of Thailand. He is currently the world’s longest reigning monarch.
- 1954 – McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army
giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, “You’ve done enough. Have you no
sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” - 1959 – The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
- 1967 – Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria
- 1972 – Severe rainfall causes a dam in the Black Hills of South Dakota to burst, creating a flood that kills 238 people and causes $160 million in damage.
- 1973 – In horseracing, Secretariat wins the Triple Crown.
- 1978 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to “all worthy men”, ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men.
- 2006 – 60th Anniversary Celebrations of Bhumibol Adulyadej‘s Accession.
Now on to today’s Headlines Du Jour:
THE BERGDAHL BEAT:
TODAY IN RELIGION:
TODAY IN CLIMATE CHANGE:
TODAY IN THE RAT RACE:
FREE THE WEED!!!
ANOTHER EPISODE OF COPS GONE WILD:
WAIT!!! WHAT???
FOX “NEWS” IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
TUCKER FUCKER CARLSON IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
NO LONGER PREGGY LEGGY MEGGY IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
VIDEO DU JOUR:
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