106 Dark Humor Jokes with a Morbid Twist

Cue The Old Jokes: 'The New Mexican' No Longer Remembers Its Own Birthday

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Nov. 23—If it's human to err, the Santa Fe New Mexican got off to a very human start 175 years ago sometime this week.

No, we can't really be more specific than that.

Thanks to what appears to be an error in the publication date, it's now unknown when exactly in 1849 The New Mexican had its first actual run.

Allison Dellinger, the newspaper's archives coordinator and news librarian — and unofficial lead detective in the abiding first print date mystery — said sources are mixed.

"We don't have microfilm going back to 1849; nor are there images in Newspapers.Com," Dellinger wrote in an email, referring to the subscription website that serves as a historical archive for many newspapers. Nor does the Fray Angélico Chávez History Library have records of the newspaper's first edition, she added.

Copper printing plates that adorn a wall in The New Mexican's newsroom office at 150 Washington Ave. Show a front page and an inside page, ostensibly from that first day — but the dates don't match.

The cover, marked as "Volume 1, Number 1," is dated Nov. 24, 1849, which would have been a Saturday. The inside page, though, lists the date as Nov. 28, 1849, a Wednesday. It's not clear whether the plates are original or reproduction, but either way, the confusion begins there.

The paper's various name changes could also play a role in the historical haze. The set of plates calls the then-weekly publication The New Mexican, with no reference to Santa Fe, but another set, titled El Nuevo Mejicano and featuring items in both English and Spanish, lists the publication date as "Noviembre 28, 1849," and also marks the edition as "Tomo 1, Numero 1."

Dellinger said a counterpart at the Chavez library only had bound copies of the newspaper dating back to the 1950s, but cited a book called New Mexico newspapers: A comprehensive guide to bibliographical entries and locations, which seemed to give credence to the Nov. 24 date, even considering all of the newspaper's early name variations.

An article published in 1974, celebrating the paper's 125th anniversary, agrees with Nov. 24 date.

Another book addressed the flub head-on but drew a different conclusion, according to Dellinger, who was provided the reference by a former New Mexican reporter.

"It is, perhaps, characteristic that it leads off with typographical errors in its heading — one is its motto, Magna est Veritas es Prevalebit, and another is in the date of the first page, November 24, 1849," wrote Olivier La Farge in his book Santa Fe: The Autobiography of a Southwestern Town.

"On page two it is Wednesday, November 28, and on page three (the first Spanish page), under the masthead, November 28. Since November 28, 1849, did fall on a Wednesday, we can take this as the correct date of publication."

Mexican President Jokes About His Predecessor's Luxurious Boeing Dreamliner: "not Even Trump Has One Like It"

Tuesday, October 1st 2019 - 09:27 UTC

Full article

"I'm going to make president Trump an offer the next time I talk to him on the phone," Lopez Obrador said in a speech to a smattering of applause.

The luxury presidential plane that whisked Mexico's former leader around the world but is now for sale should tempt Donald Trump to open his wallet, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador joked on Friday.

"I'm going to make him an offer the next time I talk to him on the phone," he said in a speech to a smattering of applause.

Lopez Obrador won a landslide election last year railing against government privileges including the presidential Boeing 787 Dreamliner, lambasting such perks as an affront to the legions of poor Mexicans.

As he was giving the speech, Lopez Obrador emphasized his 10-month-old government's anti-corruption drive and he then reminded his audience that one of his first official acts was to put up for sale the airliner fitted with a large presidential bed and marble bathroom that former President Enrique Pena Nieto used.

"Donald Trump doesn't even have a plane like it. I don't know why he's not interested. We'll sell it to him!" Lopez Obrador said with a smirk.

Lopez Obrador, who lives frugally and takes commercial flights, was speaking in northern Coahuila state, just south of the U.S. State of Texas.

The presidential jet was acquired in late 2012, just as Pena Nieto took office, and is one of more than 70 government planes and helicopters that are slated to be sold on orders from the current president.

Lopez Obrador has previously said that the plane's price tag would start at US$ 150 million, citing a United Nations evaluation.

Earlier this year, Lopez Obrador said proceeds from the sale of the jet and other aircraft from the last government would help fund efforts to curb U.S.-bound migration, one of Trump's top priorities.

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