Random News and Notes 19 April
On this date in 1775, the Shot heard round the world was fired. The battles at Lexington and Concord were fought between British redcoats and colonial Minutemen. Though the phrase was coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his Concord Hymn, the first shots of the War of Independence were almost certainly fired at Lexington Green several hours before the skirmish at Concord.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
First stanza of the COncord hymn by Ralph Waldo emerson
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The British were sent from Boston to the two towns to destroy powder and arms stores collected by the Colonials. The small skirmishes at first Lexington and then Concord would turn into a running battle with Minutemen sharpshooters killing some 300 of the 700 redcoats sent on the mission by the time they got back to Boston. All told, the Patriots lost 100 men.
The next two historical notes are related. In 1993, an overzealous and apparently bloodthirsty FBI decided to end the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. The whole thing started when the ATF tried to raid the compound over firearms charges. That mess turned into an extended gun battle that left four ATF agents dead and 15 wounded. Six Branch Davidians were fatally wounded, and several more were injured, including David Koresh, the cult’s founder and leader. After 45 minutes of shooting, the ATF agents withdrew, and a cease-fire was negotiated over the telephone.
51 days later, the FBI – despite all their protestations to the contrary – deliberately set the compound on fire with teargas grenades and killed 80 members of Koresh’s cult including 22 children.
The thing is, none of this needed to occur. The ATF had an arrest warrant for Koresh and he jogged outside the compound nearly every day. He – and the other Davidians with outstanding warrants – could have been picked up at any time. And had they done that, then the next note wouldn’t have occurred either.
On this date in 1995, the two-year anniversary of the disastrous end to the Waco standoff, Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder rental truck loaded with a diesel-fuel-fertilizer bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and fled. Minutes later, the massive bomb exploded, killing 168 people. The blast collapsed the north face of the nine-story building.
McVeigh was an Army Vet who became radicalized after the events of Ruby Ridge and Waco. He and his co-conspirator Terry Nichols, rented the truck and built the ANFO bomb. Nichols was found guilty on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to life in prison. McVeigh was convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy, and on August 14, under the unanimous recommendation of the jury, was sentenced to die by lethal injection. On June 11, 2001, McVeigh, 33, died of lethal injection at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Now, News!
We start with the news that President Trump has issued an ultimatum to the Iranians: Make a deal or else.
I have and still maintain that the bombs haven’t stopped falling on Iran. We are just in a little rest and refit period. It is of note that the airlift that started in the weeks leading up to the first strikes has not stopped. If anything it has gotten more intense in the past week.
This next piece takes us to Italy, where a Nigerian ‘immigrant’ is enriching the Italians. How? Well he caught, killed, skinned and started to grill a cat – yes a domestic feline, Felis catus – at a public park in Sarzana, a town about 60 miles southeast of Genoa.
Carabinieri officers stopped him quickly after urgent calls and charged him with animal cruelty under Italy’s laws, which carry fines up to 60,000 euros or jail time.
Just send his ass back to Nigeria.
This next one isn’t a news story. So call it a random note. Young Declan just made a core memory.
The only issue I have is the kid is now addicted to fishing and will be chasing a new Largemouth bass personal best for the rest of his life.
A couple of days ago I told you about Pauls Valley HS Principal Kirk Moore. He stopped a school shooter by tackling him before he could harm any of the students. Well, I have a bit of an update. 10 days after the incident in which Moore had been shot, he showed up at Prom. The kids named him Prom King.