Today is Friday, Dec. 13, the 348th day of 2024. There are 18 days left in the year.
Today in history
On Dec. 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq, near his hometown of Tikrit.
Also on this date
In 1862, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched futile attacks against entrenched Confederate soldiers during the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg; the soundly defeated Northern troops withdrew two days later.
In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese soldiers massacred an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 citizens, war prisoners and soldiers in the Chinese city of Nanjing.
In 1996, the U.N. Security Council chose Kofi Annan of Ghana to become the world body’s seventh secretary-general.
In 2000, Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida; Democrat Al Gore conceded, delivering a call for national unity.
In 2001, the Pentagon publicly released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader said the deaths and destruction achieved by the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded his “most optimistic” expectations.
In 2007, Major League Baseball’s Mitchell Report was released, identifying 85 names to differing degrees in connection with the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2014, thousands of protesters marched in New York, Washington and other U.S. cities to call attention to the killing of unarmed Black men by white police officers.
In 2019, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment accusing President Donald Trump of abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress in the investigation that followed.
In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act providing federal recognition and protection for same-sex and interracial marriages, saying “the law, and the love it defends, strike a blow against hate in all its forms.”
Fun fact
In 1992, Bayer and Diaconis showed that after seven random riffle shuffles of a deck of 52 cards, every configuration is nearly equally likely. Shuffling more than this does not significantly increase the “randomness”; shuffle less than this and the deck is “far” from random.
Today’s birthdays
Actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke is 99. Music/film producer Lou Adler is 91. Singer-TV host John Davidson is 83. Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins is 82. Rock musician Jeff “Skunk” Baxter is 76. Rock musician Ted Nugent is 76. Country singer-musician Randy Owen (Alabama) is 75. Actor Wendie Malick is 74. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is 74. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is 71. Country musician John Anderson is 70. Actor Steve Buscemi (boo-SEH’-mee) is 67. Singer-actor Morris Day is 67. Football Hall of Famer Richard Dent is 64. Actor-comedian Jamie Foxx is 57. Actor-reality TV star NeNe Leakes is 57. Hockey Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov is 55. Rock singer-musician Tom Delonge (Blink-182) is 49. Rock singer Amy Lee (Evanescence) is 43. Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is 35. Actor Maisy Stella is 21.
The Edge is compiled by Katie Clohessy. She can be contacted at kclohessy@lmtribune.com.
