Random News and Notes 7 May
On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people drowned, including 128 Americans.
While the sinking changed popular opinion in the US, it was not a major factor in the US joining the war. It wasn’t until two years later, after the sinking of the US flagged liner the Housatonic, that the US joined in the war.
On this date in 1945 Colonel General Alfred Jodl, the chief of staff of the German military, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces. Jodl had been hoping to only surrender the forces fighting on the Western front, but SHAEF Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower made it clear that Allied forces would prevent German troops from moving westward to escape the oncoming Red Army. Jodl sent the demands to German leader Grand Admiral Karl Donitz who ordered him to sign.
The ceasefire would go into effect on the next day, the 8th of May.
Stalin, being both a commie and a popinjay, demanded a separate truce signing in Berlin the next day.
In 1954, the Viet Minh army, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, moved against the French at Dien Bien Phu and in March encircled it with 40,000 Communist troops and heavy artillery. On this date in 1954 at 17:30, the Dien Bien Phu fortress fell. During the 57-day siege, 2,293 soldiers of the French Union were killed and 11,721 were taken prisoner. Of this number, only 3,290 were repatriated to France. The rest did not survive captivity.
March 13 – May 7, 1954 | Dien Bien Phu, the ultimate sacrifice
Seventy years ago, in a lost valley in Tonkin, 13,000 French soldiers—legionnaires, paratroopers, riflemen, and commandos—found themselves surrounded by a human tide. For 56 days and 56 nights, under a deluge of fire, they held firm, fighting relentlessly, resisting to the end against the waves of Viet Minh assaults.
The men of the 1st BEP, 8th BPC, 6th BPC, 2nd BEP, North Vietnam commandos, and light intervention groups gave everything they had. Wounded, short on ammunition, starving, they refused to abandon their posts, choosing to die with weapons in hand rather than surrender. On May 7, 1954, the defensive line collapsed. In the mud and blood, thousands of soldiers fell or were captured.
Dien Bien Phu is heroism and suffering, absolute courage in the face of a sealed fate. It is the story of brothers-in-arms who never betrayed each other, of legionnaires holding their positions until the last cartridge, of paratroopers leaping into a one-way jump, fully aware they were heading straight into hell.
Today, we do not forget. We honor their memory. These men wrote, in History and in the dust of a distant valley, a page of glory and sacrifice that will remain etched forever.
To our veterans, to our heroes. Dien Bien Phu, never forgotten. The recent photos were taken by @good_morning_vietnam in April 2024. We highly recommend this account dedicated to the Indochina and Algerian wars!
The defeat of the French would lead directly to the US intervention in Vietnam.
This first one broke not long after yesterday’s edition of RNN was published. Powerful Virginia Dem Louise Lucas had her offices and businesses raided by the feds. FBI agents executed search warrants at Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas’s Portsmouth district office and the adjacent Cannabis Outlet she co-owns, as part of a long-running public corruption probe into possible bribery linked to marijuana businesses.
The investigation, which began under the Biden administration, spanned at least 10 locations across Virginia and led to arrests at the dispensary, though the 82-year-old Lucas was not detained and arrived at the scene during the raid.
Charlotte, North Carolina Mayor Vi Lyles, a five-term Democrat and the city’s second-longest-serving mayor, announced she will resign on June 30, less than halfway through her current term following her reelection. Lyles was mayor during the worst crime increase in Charlotte history and her policies directly led to the death of Irina Zarutska.
There is no clear indication of why she’s quitting. My bet is that she’s under investigation for fraud or corruption.
A multi-agency raid cleared Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park of drugs yesterday. Operation Free MacArthur Park included more than 300 agents and netted 18 people linked to an open-air drug market run by the Sinaloa cartel and 18th Street gang. They seized 19 kilograms of fentanyl—enough to kill 190,000 people.
According to US Attorney Bill Essayli the park’s #1 drug trafficker, a Calabasas resident, is in federal custody and faces possible life imprisonment.
Step aside Florida Man. Alabama state senators voted to approve a bill on their redistricting plan yesterday amidst the blaring of tornado sirens. SB-1 passed by a 26-7 vote, a companion House bill advanced earlier; both now await Gov. Kay Ivey’s signature.
The bill prepares for special primary elections in two state senate districts if federal courts lift a 2025 injunction that found the prior map violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Italy today. He met with the Pope earlier and is expected to meet with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni later today.
The meetings with both leaders comes amidst a backdrop of tensions with Trump.