Howdy, Headliners! Today’s birthday belongs to James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, whose name may not be familiar, but his song Jock-A-Mo is immediately recognizable, covered by Dr. John, Cyndi Lauper, The Grateful Dead, and The Dixie Cups, among many others. Among the Headlines Du Jour of yesteryear:

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus‘s expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached the Indies.
• 1692 – The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
• 1773 – America’s first insane asylum opens for ‘Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds’ in Virginia.




• 1792 – First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York City.
• 1823 – Charles Macintosh of Scotland sells the first raincoat.
• 1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.




• 1901 – President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the “Executive Mansion” to the White House.
• 1933 – The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice
• 1960 – Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe




• 1960 – Television viewers in Japan unexpectedly witness the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japan Socialist Party, when he is stabbed and killed during a live broadcast.
• 1970 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas




• 1979 – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
• 2000 – The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.

Here is today’s Headlines Du Jour:

ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF COPS GONE WILD:

GUNS, GUNS, GUNS:

SCOTUS WATCH:

GOP WATCH:

CYBER-BULLYING:

WATERGATE REDUX:

TODAY IN RELIGION:

TODAY IN CLIMATE CHANGE:

FREE THE WEED!!!

IN MUSIC NEWS:

FOX “NEWS” IN THE NEWS AGAIN:

BULLY BOY BOLLING IN THE NEWS AGAIN:

HANNITY IN THE NEWS AGAIN:

NO LONGER PREGGY LEGGY MEGGY IN THE NEWS AGAIN:

IN INNER SPACE:

IN OUTER SPACE:

VIDEOS DU JOUR:

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