W. Joseph Campbell

Thirty years on: Guilty, twice guilty #OTD in 1995, a jury in Union, South Carolina, found Susan Smith, 23, guilty of first-degree murder in the deliberate drowning of her two sons, both toddlers. A few days later, Smith was sentenced to life in prison; she was denied parole…

Sixteen years on: @JackShafer's memorably contrarian essay, "Why I didn't trust Walter Cronkite." slate.com/news-and-polit… @slate @CBSNews #CronkiteMoment

Recall that @atlas_intel turned in best performance among #pollsters in 2024 U.S. presidential election, calling all seven swing states accurately for Trump and estimating nearly spot-on his popular vote advantage. Not #pollfail @RCPolitics @andrei__roman

Uh, not so pivotal, actually. #Murrow was quite late in taking on Joe McCarthy: "Murrow’s reporting played a pivotal role in bringing down Senator Joseph McCarthy" ~ @TheAtlantic #mediamyth @CBSNews @jackshafer mediamythalert.com/2010/01/29/mur…

Thirty years on: And almost no one noticed #OTD in 1995, @Amazon opened for business, selling books online. The launch turned out to be impeccably timed: had Amazon gone live a year earlier, #RobertSpector wrote in his book about the company, "there barely would have been enough…

Thirty years on: Newspaper strike #OTD in 1995, six union locals representing 2,500 journalists, printers, truck drivers, and other workers at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News went on strike. The labor dispute lasted 19 months. @NYTimes reported five years later that from…

Thirty years on: #OJ's defense #OTD in 1995, the defense opened its case at the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial in Los Angeles. @nytimes reported that day: "Defense lawyers will begin their campaign ... to prove that O.J. Simpson is not a murderer. But unless the defendant…

Thirty years on: Last concert w/Jerry Garcia #OTD in 1995: The Grateful Dead performed at Soldier Field in #Chicago, a month before the death from heart failure of Jerry Garcia, the band’s frontman archive.is/aLa5m

Thirty years on: Heat wave #OTD in 1995, a deadly #heatwave began building in the midsection of the United States. Before subsiding a week or so later, the excessive heat was blamed for taking more than 800 lives, most of them in Illinois. weather.gov/lot/1995_heatw…

Thirty years on: Massacre in the Balkans #OTD in 1995, the UN-designated “safe area” at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia came under attack by Bosnian Serb forces — the opening salvos of what became the massacre of as many as 8,000 Muslim men and boys. 1995blog.com/2015/07/09/the…

Thirty years on: Typewriter company goes bankrupt #OTD in 1995, the 113–year–old typewriter manufacturer, Smith Corona Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors. The venerable maker of portable #typewriters was unable to withstand, or adapt to,…

The Fourth 🇺🇸

Gettysburg, the third day #OTD in 1863 video.nebraskapublicmedia.org/video/the-civi…

Most excellent piece by @wjosephcampbell on why @nickut remains author of “Napalm Girl” pic. Memo to @WorldPressPhoto: Read this and learn something. @AP @mikebarnicle @raulroa @Yunghi @JohnJHarwood @mikeallen @KerryKennedyRFK @glennkirschner2

Thirty years on: Publication date of @Time's "cyberporn" cover story #OTD in 1995: The magazine’s exaggerated report about "cyberporn" drew quick and sharply critical reaction online — a telling early example of the internet’s potential to call out dubious claims. "Hell hath…

Thirty years on: Then the richest #OTD in 1995, @Forbes reported Bill Gates was worth $12.9 billion, making him the world’s richest person. In the magazine's most recent ranking, Gates was 13th ($108 billion) forbes.com/billionaires/

And the first #exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star was discovered just 30 years ago "Tiny stars, many Earths," potentially phys.org/news/2025-06-t…

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