Random News and Notes 5 November
Remember, remember the 5th of November. Those words are the opening line of a bit of traditional English doggerel that commemorates the discovery of the so-called Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, a group of Catholic Englishmen decided they were going to blow up King James VI of Scotland and I of England and Parliament. They accessed an unused undercroft or cellar and placed 36 barrels of gunpowder in it. The undercroft was directly below the House of Lords.
Guy Fawkes was supposed to light the fuse on the fateful day. It didn’t happen. The plotters had been discovered. Fawkes was taken by the King’s men in the undercroft on the night of the 4th. The remaining conspirators were rounded up over the next few days and weeks. Fawkes was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. They only managed the hung and quartered part, Fawkes cheated the hangman by jumping off the gallows on 31 January 1606.
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Almost immediately, commemorations of the event started. In Britain, 5 November is variously called Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night, or Guy Fawkes Night. The celebrations include bonfires, fireworks displays and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes. Hence our featured image for today. It should be noted that the real Fawkes did not look like the mask. He had a full beard and moustache.
So,
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England’s overthrow.
Now on to the news
The election results last night were not good, especially in Virginia. The Dems in that state managed to not only win the governorship, they won the AG race and increased their majority in the house of delegates. The NJ governors race polled much closer than it ended up. I had thought Ciattarelli was going to eke out a win.
Are these results a bellwether for 26? Probably not.
Virginia is dominated by NOVA, the hub for the federal government. The vast majority of federal employees are Democrat voters. Most of them have either been furloughed or working but not being paid.
New Jersey is not a swing state regardless of what the influencers have been telling you. Are there pockets of Republican voters? Yes, and some large ones, but not enough to swing the state.
In my home state, the islamo-marxist Zohran Mamdani won the Mayoral race in New York City. That was not a surprise. What was a surprise, at least to me, was the extremely abrasive and arrogant tone he took in his victory speech. He wants to take on Trump. He will lose, and lose badly, if he tries.
Around 1715 yesterday, a MD-11 freighter jet belonging to UPS crashed just outside the Louisville International airport in Kentucky. The plane was outbound for Honolulu. The three crewmen and four people on the ground were killed.
The MD-11 is a widebody tri-engine jet that first flew in 1990. It was designed and initially built by McDonnell Douglass and later Boeing. According to Flight Radar24, this particular MD-11(F) was registered as N259UP and owned by UPS. It was 34 years old and entered UPS service in 2006.
It’s official. Texas Rep Brandon Gill has filed articles of impeachment against judge James Boasberg.
. . . nondisclosure orders to conceal the fact that sitting US Senators were being surveilled. Not only was this action egregiously improper; it was a gross violation of the separation of powers. Judge Boasberg is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, is unfit for office, and should be impeached.
We’ll see where this goes. Hopefully it ends with his removal at the very least.
