January 7

In 1598 on this date, Boris Gudonov becomes tsar of Russia. They felt he was, well... adequate for the job. Of course, his descendant Boris Badenov later found himself in an unending battle with Moose and Squirrel. For which he turned out to be inadequate. As was Natasha, his sidekick.

In 1942, things get ugly in the Philippines, as the siege of Bataan begins. It won't end well for those who survive. And it'll go even worse for them over the next few years.

In 1945, Field Marshal Montgomery steps so far over the line that even he barely keeps his job. With the Allied- or more accurately- US victory in The Battle of The Bulge assured, Monty holds a press conference in which he takes pretty much complete credit for the victory. Ike was understandably furious, since Monty was involved only for the sake of convenience. If memory serves, Monty's Chief of Staff not only had to make amends, but had to explain to him why he was wrong. Monty was stunned to learn that being an arrogant DB upsets people. But he apologized with enough fervor to keep his job rather than being fired just before the War ended. And yes, even Churchill would have been happy with Monty getting sacked. Good thing, as he would have had to do it.

In1980, an incompetent president bailed out Chrysler. At taxpayer expense. Because they were too big to fail, vital to the US economy, etc. 28 years later... Well as Yogi said, it's déjà vu all over again. Except the second time the president screwed the taxpayers over more completely. But I'm sure it will never happen again.

And finally, in 1999, the Senate begins a show "trial" of the president for things like witness tampering and abuse of power. It's actually a complete sham- they wanted nothing to do with it, and did just enough so that the ignorant people would think they actually did their constitutional duty. But the "trial" was a foregone conclusion.

The end.

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