GMT

Today in History December 2

1804
General Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French at the Notre Dame de Paris in a ceremony officiated by Pope Pius VII

1823
President James Monroe proclaims the principles known as the Monroe Doctrine, "that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by European powers."

1927
The new Ford Model A is introduced to the American public.

1944
General George S. Patton's troops enter the Saar Valley and break through the Siegfried line.

1946
The United States and Great Britain merge their German occupation zones.

1970
The U.S. Senate votes to give 48,000 acres of New Mexico back to the Taos Indians.

1976
Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado

2001
Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in US history.

2014
Stephen Hawking claims that Artificial Intelligence could be a "threat to mankind" and spell the end of the human race

2020
US records its largest daily death toll for COVID-19 at 2,885 and for the first time patient numbers in hospital exceed 100,000

Born on December 2

1981
Brittany Spears, singer, songwriter, actress; her … Baby One More Time (1999) became the best-selling album to date (2013) by a teenage solo artist.


Joke of the day

I got a vasectomy but my girlfriend still got pregnant. Apparently, all a vasectomy does is change the color of the baby....