Random News and Notes 18 April
One if by land, two if by sea. That was the signal to let Paul Revere and William Dawes know which way the British were headed on their way to Concord to grab the gun powder and weapons stored there. The date was 18 April 1775. The Patriots had been preparing for such a British military action for some time, and, upon learning of the British plan, Revere and Dawes set off across the Massachusetts countryside. They took separate routes in case one of them was captured: Dawes left the city via the Boston Neck peninsula and Revere crossed the Charles River to Charlestown by boat. As previously agreed, one lantern would be hung in the steeple of Boston’s Old North Church, the highest point in the city, if the British were marching out of the city by Boston Neck, and two lanterns would be hung if they were crossing the Charles River to Cambridge. Two lanterns were hung, and the armed Patriots set out for Lexington and Concord accordingly. Along the way, Revere and Dawes roused hundreds of Minutemen, who armed themselves and set out to oppose the British. Revere was caught and briefly – if roughly – detained, but the message had been delivered.
On this day in 1909, an earthquake estimated to be around 8.0 on the Richter scale hit San Francisco. More than 3,000 people were killed and 30,000 buildings damaged in the quake and the resulting fires.
In 1943, Jimmy Doolittle led the raid on Tokyo. His 16 American B-25 bombers, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan. The raid did little physical damage to the Japanese homeland but caused major issues in the Japanese psyche and shattered the illusion of invincibility. When asked about the raid by the press, FDR said it launched from Shangri-la. Doolittle would be awarded the Medal of Honor for the raid.
A couple of years later, on this date in 1945, America’s most popular war correspondent, Ernie Pyle, is killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific. In 1942, after the United States entered World War II, Pyle went overseas as a war correspondent. He covered the North Africa campaign, the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and on June 7, 1944, went ashore at Normandy the day after Allied forces landed.
In 1983 Iranian backed islamists detonated a VBIED at the US Embassy in Beirut Lebanon, killing 63 people, including the suicide bomber and 17 Americans. It would be a precursor to the Marine Barracks attack some 7 months later.
Now, News!
This first story bothers me a bit. Hobos, Bindle Stiffs, Street Arabs, Mumpers, Derelicts, Ragamuffins, Shivering Jemmys, Vagrants and Druggies on LA’s Skid Row are mistreating dogs and cats.
It’s one thing to be a waste of good air and being a waste of good air and an animal abuser. We should have an open season for people who do shit like that. Be a homeless addict all you want, it doesn’t bug me. Leave the GD animals out of it.
Porn ho Stormy Daniels – she of the Trump suit Fame – made a public appearance and oh boy.
While she wasn’t my cuppa, she used to be at least somewhat attractive. Now? I’ve seen better looking trailer park managers.
Apparently, she was visiting her prison bitch err attorney friend Michael Avenatti. Avenatti is in a halfway house having just been released from prison after his conviction on fraud charges.
It seems I was correct in not trusting the Iranians. The IRGC has resumed attacks on shipping in the Hormuz. I need to be clear here, there really isn’t much the Iranians can do to keep the Strait closed. The southernmost shipping lane has been de-mined and the only ‘naval’ vessels they have left are 50ish foot fiberglass speedboats with machine guns or small rocket launchers mounted on them.
I have to wonder if there is a unified government in Iran right now. It almost seems as if the IRGC is doing whatever the hell it wants. I still think the bombs and missiles will start flying again relatively soon. If for nothing more than a few decapitation strikes. If you think the Israelis don’t know where every IRGC leader is down to the meter I have some prime development land to sell you in South Florida.
This is brutal. While it happened a couple of years ago, it popped up in my feed again this morning. High school baseball season is just kicking off here in the CNY. The NY Section 5 class B Baseball championship game ended on a weird note. With two down in the 7th – the last frame in NY HS Baseball – Hornell is leading Palmyra Macedon 5-4. The Hornell pitcher strikes out the batter but the catcher drops the ball. The Pal-Mac players run the bases, but the Hornell players start to celebrate.
Unfortunately for Hornell, the third strike didn’t mean an out because the catcher dropped the ball. The rules state that a dropped third strike means the batter is safe and is now a runner.
So, Hornell is celebrating, but Pal-Mac – whose players knew the rules of baseball – is walking it off. Pal-Mac won 6-5.