Breaking News

The grumpy, trumpy turkey on the table

Pick a Thanksgiving table, any Thanksgiving table in America, and it's sure to have a turkey and a grumpy uncle. Sometimes they are one and the same, stuffed with all the trimmings. As the midterms draw near, this November will be an especially heated month, right? We the people are so ...

Almanac for Oct. 31, 2026

Today is Saturday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2026. There are 61 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister for more than 15 years, was assassinated by two of her own security guards. Also on this date: In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation making Nevada the 36th state, eight days before the presidential election. In 1913, the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across the United States, was dedicated. In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in ...

Social (In)Security

"We will always protect Social Security, Medicare!" says President Donald Trump. That would be nice. But when I look at these programs' balance sheets, I don't see how he's protected anything. Both Social Security and Medicare are on track to run out of money. Politicians mostly ignore the ...

Almanac for Oct. 30, 2026

Today is Friday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2026. There are 62 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali, 32, knocked out George Foreman, 25, in the eighth round of a scheduled 15-round bout known as the "Rumble in the Jungle," in Kinshasa, Congo (then Zaire), to regain his world heavyweight title. Also on this date: In 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term with Republican President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day. (Taft was defeated by Democrat Woodrow Wilson in the election). In 1938, the radio ...

The strange case of the two Sullivans

How many "Dan Sullivans" does an election need? One would seem plenty, but Alaska is going to the polls with two "Dan Sullivans" on the ballot -- one the sitting Republican U.S. senator in a nip-and-tuck battle to save his seat, and the other a random guy whose only discernible purpose in ...

Almanac for Oct. 29, 2026

Today is Thursday, Oct. 29, the 302nd day of 2026. There are 63 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 29, 1929, 'Black Tuesday' descended on the New York Stock Exchange. Stock prices collapsed amid panicked selling, $14 billion in value was lost, and thousands of investors were wiped out, triggering America's Great Depression. Also on this date: In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for allegedly conspiring against King James I. In 1787, the opera "Don Giovanni" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had its world ...