Today is Tuesday, December 18th, the 352nd day of 2007. There are 13 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On December 18th, 1944, in a pair of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans (Korematsu v. United States), but also said undeniably loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained (Ex parte Endo). [The North Carolina telebision station website where we steal the majority of this feature decided this was today's "highlight," as opposed to the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Very interesting choice. — Ed.]
In 1737, Violin maker Antonio Stradivari died in Cremona, Italy. [Ciao, Toni! — Ed.]
In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the US Constitution.
In 1865, slavery ended in the United States as the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect. [This was the AP's "Highlight in History." — Ed.]
In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (Operation Barbarossa was launched in June 1941.)
In 1956, Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 1969, Britain's Parliament permanently abolished the death penalty for murder.
In 1972, the United States began heavy bombing of North Vietnamese targets during the Vietnam War. (The bombardment ended 11 days later.)
In 1980, former Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin died at age 76.
In 1987, Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a major Wall Street insider-trading scandal. (Boesky served about two years of his sentence).
In 1997, President Clinton extended indefinitely the deadline for withdrawal of U.S. troops helping with the U.N. peacekeeping effort in Bosnia. Onetime dissident Kim Dae-jung of South Korea was elected the country's president. Fired California highway employee Arturo Reyes Torres shot and killed four people at a maintenance yard before being killed by police.
In 1998, the House of Representatives began debate on four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.
In 1999, environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down after spending two years living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt County, Calif., to protest logging.
In 2000, George W. Bush received 271 votes in the delayed Electoral College balloting.
In 2002, Embattled Senate Republican leader Trent Lott sustained a double-barreled setback as Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee broke ranks to call for a change in party leadership and Secretary of State Colin Powell forcefully criticized Lott's controversial remarks on race. Robert Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, was chosen as owner of the NBA's new Charlotte expansion franchise.
In 2003, a judge in Seattle sentenced confessed Green River killer Gary Ridgeway to 48 consecutive life terms.
In 2006, Robert Gates was sworn in as defense secretary. President Bush signed legislation to let America share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India. [In exchange for cheaper mangoes, if we're not mistaken. Good deal! — Ed.] The NBA suspended seven players for their roles in a brawl between Denver and New York; each team was fined $500,000.
Today's Birthdays: Television writer-producer Hal Kanter is 89. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark is 80. Actor Roger Smith is 75. Blues musician Lonnie Brooks is 74. Rolling Stone Keith Richards is 64.Writer-director Alan Rudolph is 64. Movie producer-director Steven Spielberg is 61. Blues artist Ron Piazza is 60. [That tee vee station website is dense. We assume they mean Rod Piazza, not "Ron." How can they fuck up a copy & paste? — Ed.] Movie director Gillian Armstrong is 57. Movie reviewer Leonard ["Middlebrow"] Maltin is 57. Rock musician Elliot Easton is 54. Actor Ray Liotta is 52. Actor Brad Pitt is 44. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 41. Actress Rachel Griffiths is 39. Country/rap singer Cowboy Troy is 37.
Rapper DMX is 37. Tennis player Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is 36. Actress Katie Holmes is 29. Singer Christina Aguilera is 27. Christian rock musician Dave Luetkenhoelter is 25. [Fuck him, & butt-fuck Jesus in hell!! — Ed.]
Those Less Mobile Born on this Date: Paul Klee, artist (1879); Ty Cobb, baseball player (1886); Edwin Armstrong, engineer, inventor of FM radio (1890); Fletcher Henderson, jazz composer and pianist (1897)
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., air force general (1912); Willy Brandt, political leader (1913); Betty Grable, actress (1916); Ossie Davis, actor, director, screenwriter (1917)
From the World of Inane Drivel:
In 1892, Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" publicly premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 1957, the WWII epic "Bridge On The River Kwai" premiered in New York.
In 1964, funeral services were held in Chicago for singer Sam Cooke, who had been shot and killed in Los Angeles.
In 1971, Jerry Lee Lewis divorced his cousin, Myra Gale Brown. They had married in 1957 when she was 13.
In 1983, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards married model Patti Hansen in Mexico, on his 40th birthday. Mick Jagger was his best man.
In 1984, actress Jamie Lee Curtis married comedian Christopher Guest of "Saturday Night Live" in Rob Reiner's home in Los Angeles.
In 1991, actor Deforest Kelley, know for his role as Dr. McCoy on "Star Trek," got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1995, Kenny G and his family escaped a fire that caused $275,000 dollars damage to their home in suburban Los Angeles.
In 1997, comedian Chris Farley was found dead in his apartment in Chicago of a cocaine and morphine overdose. He was 33. [Lesson from this? Don't be the fat guy on SNL & mix blow & smack. — Ed.]
In 2003, Michael Jackson was formally charged with seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts up on a child and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. He was acquitted of the charges.
In 2006, animator Joe Barbera died in Los Angeles at age 95.
No comments:
Post a Comment