Today is Friday, June 8, the 159th day of 2018 with 206 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include German composer Robert Schumann in 1810; architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1867; science fiction publisher John W. Campbell in 1910; British geneticist Francis Crick, who helped determine the “double helix” structure of DNA, in 1916; College Football Hall of Fame member/U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White in 1917; painter LeRoy Neiman in 1921; former first lady Barbara Bush in 1925; actor Jerry Stiller in 1927 (age 91); comedian Joan Rivers in 1933; actor/singer James Darren in 1936 (age 82); singer Nancy Sinatra in 1940 (age 78); actor Colin Baker in 1943 (age 75); singer/songwriter Boz Scaggs in 1944 (age 74); actor Kathy Baker in 1950 (age 68); singer Bonnie Tyler in 1951 (age 67); actor Griffin Dunne in 1955 (age 63); “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams in 1957 (age 61); comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans in 1958 (age 60); rock musician Nick Rhodes in 1962 (age 56); actor Julianna Margulies in 1966 (age 52); rapper Kanye West in 1977 (age 41); TV personality Maria Menounos in 1978 (age 40); actor Torrey Devitto in 1984 (age 34).
On this date in history:
In 1789, James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
In 1869, Ives McGaffney of Chicago obtained a patent for a “sweeping machine,” the first vacuum cleaner.
In 1967, the USS Liberty, an intelligence ship sailing in international waters off Egypt, was attacked by Israeli jet planes and torpedo boats. Thirty-four Americans were killed in the attack, which Israel said was a case of mistaken identity.
In 1968, James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, was arrested in London and charged with the April 4 assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Ray died in prison in 1998.
In 1986, Austrian voters elected Kurt Waldheim as president. The former U.N. secretary-general’s campaign was plagued with allegations he was involved in Nazi war crimes.
In 1994, two of the major warring factions in Bosnia, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serbs, signed a cease-fire agreement.
In 1995, U.S. Marines rescued downed American pilot Scott O’Grady in Bosnia.
In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison strikes the Texas coast for the second time in three days. The storm would go on to kill 50 people and cause $5 billion along the gulf and northeastern coasts.
In 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he stood by his testimony before the United Nations that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction before the war.
In 2006, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and seven others were confirmed killed in an airstrike on a house north of Baquba.
In 2009, North Korea sentenced American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling to 12 years in prison for “illegal entry.” They were released after a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In 2011, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed to fight on to the death as NATO bombed his Tripoli compound and his forces counterattacked in Misurata. Gadhafi was killed 4 1/2 months later.
In 2012, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, apologized to the Afghan people for the deaths of 18 civilians, including children, in an airstrike.
In 2013, Princess Madeleine of Sweden married British-American businessman Christopher O’Neill.
In 2014, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as president of Egypt.
A thought for the day: “It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.” — Astronaut Alan Shepard
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