Random News and Notes 10 October

There was a gubernatorial debate in Virginia last night. Glenn Youngkin’s Lt Governor Winsome Earle-Sears faced off with Dem Abigail Spanberger at at Norfolk State University. It was the lone debate scheduled for the race. Spanberger did not come away from the debate looking good. She couldn’t or wouldn’t answer basic questions. The Jay Jones issue was one of those. It was so bad that the moderators kept pressing for an answer, any answer. Watch:

Even the moderators were like ooofff. The answers to other questions were just as bad. At one point Winsome asked what Spanberger would do if one of her daughters came home crying because she was forced to change next to a man.

Hopefully this dismal performance by Spanberger will change the trajectory of the race. The latest polling, from before the debate, puts Earle-Sears behind by nearly 10 points.

The Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded yesterday. This year’s awardee is the leading Venezuelan opposition figure, Maria Corina Machado. According to Nobel Committee chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes, Machado “meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.“

. . .dictatorship to democracy.

Before anyone gets their panties in a wad and starts screeching about how Trump should have won, the cutoff for nominations was 31 January. Peace in Israel was still a dream at the end of January.

I’d also point out that Machado has had some very nice things to say about Trump and his approach to Maduro and the rest of the ruling clique in Venezuela. She even dedicated the prize to Trump.

As an aside, I find it somewhat amusing and ironic that the award is named after and funded by the trust of the man – Alfred Nobel – who invented dynamite and several other explosives. It is believed that a mistakenly – his brother, Ludvig, had died while visiting France – printed French obituary with the headline “Le marchand de la mort est mort” (“The merchant of death is dead!”) prompted Nobel to create the trust and prize.

I voted for this.

Today is day 10 of the Schumer Shutdown. Apparently, there are calls to extend the Shutdown until the 18th because of the dumb No Kings day protest scheduled for the day before.

Dunno about you, but I haven’t noticed any difference with the government being shut down. Maybe when I go to the VA next week. I’ll let you know.

There was an explosion at a plant in Tennessee this morning. Accurate Energetics Systems, an explosives manufacturer, is located in Bucksnort. As of time of writing, at least 19 people are unaccounted for.

AES was founded in 1980, specializing in the development, manufacturing, handling, and storage of energetic products and explosives. These include bulk explosives, linear shaped charges, cast-cure devices, pelletized munitions, demolition charges (like TNT-based demo kits and breaching systems), and specialized items for avalanche control or training (e.g., inert mines). Their products serve military, defense, aerospace, commercial demolition, mining, blasting, oil and gas, and related industries. The company’s 1,300-acre facility is located in Bucksnort, Tennessee (near McEwen), about 50 miles west of Nashville.

We’ll be following this story and providing updates as they become available.