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Almanac for Dec. 17, 2025

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2025. There are 14 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted the first successful manned, powered airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer. Also on this date: In 1777, France becomes one of the first nations to officially recognize the independence of the United States. In 1933, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 in the first NFL championship game. In 1944, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Henry C. Pratt rescinded ...

The president’s immigration policy ‘beyond inhumane’

Absorbing the news about the brutal treatment of detainees, to say nothing of the outright murder of "suspected" drug runners in the Caribbean, I think back to a conversation I had in February of this year. My interlocutor was a Trump voter who had just had a friendly encounter with an African ...

Officials say US has agreed to give Ukraine security guarantees

BERLIN (AP) — The U.S. has agreed to provide unspecified security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end Russia's nearly four-year war, and more talks are likely this weekend, U.S. officials said Monday following the latest discussions with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in ...

Trump administration: New ballroom a matter of national security

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday in a court filing that the president's White House ballroom construction project must continue for reasons of national security. The filing came in response to a lawsuit filed last Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation ...

Almanac for Dec. 16, 2025

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2025. There are 15 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes. Also on this date: In 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which came to be known as the "Great White Fleet," set sail from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on a 14-month, round-the-world voyage to demonstrate American sea power. In 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise ...

‘Fog of war’ and ‘Kill them all’

"Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours?" — Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023) "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" As we learn more about the events on Sept. 2, in international waters 1,500 miles from the United States, the behavior of the United ...