From the Associated Press: House Speaker John Boehner abruptly broke off talks with President Barack Obama Friday night on a deal to cut federal spending and avert a threatened government default, sending compromise efforts into an instant crisis. Within minutes,
From the Associated Press: Police say they are sending anti-terror police to a youth camp outside Oslo after reports of a shooting there following the bomb blast at the government headquarters. The news site VG reported that a man dressed
From the Associated Press: The Senate on Friday blocked a House Republican bill to require Congress to slash spending and pass a balanced-budget amendment before raising the nation’s borrowing powers. The vote left unresolved, with just days to go, the
Today, in 1934, the criminal John Dillinger was killed outside a movie theater in Chicago.
Today, in 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run was fought. It dissuaded any notion that the Civil War would be an easy thing.
From The Hill: President Obama could agree to a short-term hike of the debt ceiling if there are concrete plans in place to move quickly with a grand bargain, the White House said Wednesday. White House press secretary Jay Carney
From the Associated Press: The last of the more than 60,000 Confederate veterans who came home to Alabama after the Civil War died generations ago, yet residents are still paying a tax that supported the neediest among them. Despite fire-and-brimstone
Today, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th, and final, home run.
From the Associated Press: Defying a veto threat, the Republican-controlled House voted Tuesday night to slice federal spending by $6 trillion and require a constitutional balanced budget amendment to be sent to the states in exchange for averting a threatened
Yesterday, General Petraeus ceded command of the US mission in Afghanistan.
From The Hill: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Sunday the federal government can save $1 trillion though tax reform, a proposal that will put him at odds with some GOP colleagues. Coburn plans to unveil a $9 trillion deficit-reduction package
Today, in 1976, Nadia Comăneci became the first gymnast to earn a perfect 10 at the Olympics.
Today, in 1918, Czar Nicholas and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks. Tens of millions of Russians would soon follow. The culpability of the Media and Academia in white-washing what was going on and covering up what happened has
Today, in 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met in Potsdam, Germany to plan for a post-war Europe. Truman managed to condemn millions of Europeans to decades of totalitarian rule. Funny that a corrupt, big-city machine-politician wasn’t up
Today, in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was found. It was found as part of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt.
Today, in 1789, French citizens stormed the Bastille. It was a leftist revolution run amok.
Today, in 1787, the Continental Congress limited the expansion of slavery in the U.S. This ‘compromise’ position set in motion the events that would lead to the Civil War.
Today, in 1804, Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel against Monarchist Aaron Burr.
From the Associated Press: With the clock ticking toward an Aug. 2 deadline, congressional leaders return to the White House Monday for another round of budget bargaining with President Barack Obama, who has warned top lawmakers he will call daily
Today, in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was first published.
From The Washington Post: House Speaker John A. Boehner abandoned efforts Saturday night to cut a far-reaching debt-reduction deal, telling President Obama that a more modest package offers the only politically realistic path to avoiding a default on the mounting
Today, in 1778, France declared war on Great Britain, in support of the American Revolution. It is doubtful whether the Revolution would have succeeded without France’s assistance. (Happy Birthday Libby!)
More than 14 million Americans are out of work, Millions more are under-employed. Everything Obama has tried has failed. Do we really have to live through this another 18 months?
From the New York Times: Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the most well-known rehabilitation centers in the nation, has died
A real howler from The Hill: “The average American does not view the economy through the prism of GDP or unemployment rates or even monthly jobs numbers,” Plouffe said, according to Bloomberg. “People won’t vote based on the unemployment rate,
From the Associated Press: Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month. Employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. The economy generated only 18,000 net jobs in June, the Labor Department said
Proving that the Democrat party has never understood economics, today, in 1896, William Jennings Bryan made his “Cross of Gold” speech. Thankfully, the public didn’t buy it. We’ll see what happens next year.
We didn’t really follow this case, but realize that many people are upset about the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial. Have at it.
Some of the things we’re reading around the web today: Over at Powerline, an interview with Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (!) on the state’s government shutdown. At the StoneZone, veteran political operative and bon vivant Roger Stone says
Today, in 1917, Arab troops, under the command of Col. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) capture the port city of Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire. We could make a quip about one of the more decisive Arab victories in centuries
Steven Malanga in City Journal: Pensions are an enormous part of the problem. New Haven’s $475 million budget, for instance, is projected to grow by just $4 million this fiscal year, but the city’s pension and health-care costs will rise
Today, in 1809, the Battle of Wagram began. It was one of the larger battles of the Napoleonic Wars.
From the Associated Press: Ronald Reagan was hailed as “a great American hero” Monday as his admirers unveiled a 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) statue of the former U.S. president near the American embassy in London. Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser and secretary
From Ronald Reagan, July 1, 1981: For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July. I remember it as a day almost
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
Today, in 1776, the Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence. Of course, actually achieving independence would take years of struggle. Also today, in 1826, on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died.
Glenn Reynolds in today’s Washington Examiner: While Independence Day is about independence from Great Britain, today it’s also associated with more general notions of freedom — individual independence, not just political independence. Unfortunately, America’s political class doesn’t want you independent.
Today, in 1863, General George Pickett’s division led an ill-fated charge on Confederate infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg. It would prove to be the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.
Today, in 1962, the first Wal-Mart opened for business.
Today, in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg began.