| Year | Event
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| 1492 | Granada fell to a Christian army, marking the end of the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims. On March 31, 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella issued an edict from Granada giving the Jews until July 31 to choose between accepting baptism or leaving the country. (The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth Edition)
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| 1570 | The Massacre of Novgorod was an attack launched by Tsar Ivan IV’s oprichniki on the city of Novgorod, Russia in 1570. The sheer number of casualties, some say 60,000, combined with the extreme level of violent cruelty makes this campaign possibly the most vicious in the brutal legacy of the oprichnina.
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| 1788 | Georgia joins the Union.
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| 1904 | US military landing with British in Dominican Republic {pdf} to assist government efforts to resist insurgents and protect American interests, January 2-February 11.
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| 1920 | U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, in coordination with Justice Department agent J. Edgar Hoover and immigration commissioner Anthony Caminetti, orders the arrest of approximately ten thousand alien radicals.
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| 1971 | Congress bans all cigarette ads on radio & TV. Does smoking cause cancer?
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| 1974 | President Nixon (R) signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph. Related events (another bad idea!).
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| 1988 | President Reagan (R) and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed an agreement to lift trade restrictions between their countries.
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| 1997 | California's law against smoking in public places, passed in 1995, now is extended to bars. Reports from the first day in effect are that the law is widely ignored. If only the public would do the same for the rest of the stupid and abusive laws being imposed at an ever increasing rate. NBC News reports that over 25,000 news laws (federal and state) were imposed on the U.S. Citizens on January 1, out of over 150,000 bills considered for passage!
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| 1999 | President Clinton (D) proposes the first significant increase in defense spending in a decade and said he would ask Congress for an additional $12 billion as a down payment on a multiyear effort to ensure the nation's military continues "as the world's most powerful fighting force."
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