Random News and Notes 26 June
LaFayette, nous sont ici. LaFayette, we are here. With those words, purportedly said by one of Black Jack Pershing’s staff members, US troops fulfilled a promise some 140 years in the making. The first 14,000 of what would eventually be more than 2 million US troops landed in France on this day in 1917.
More than 50,000 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice in what was then called the War to end all Wars. With the benefit of hindsight we know War would break out less than 30 years later, with the same belligerents.
On this date in 1948, the first supply flights of the Berlin Airlift began. By the time it was over, the Allies airlifted some 2.5 million tons of supplies into the city.
On this date in 1959, in a ceremony presided over by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II, the St. Lawrence Seaway is officially opened, creating a navigational channel from the Atlantic Ocean to all the Great Lakes.
Work on the massive project was initiated by a joint U.S.-Canadian commission in 1954, and five years later, in April 1959, the icebreaker D’Iberville began the first transit of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Since its official opening, more than two billion tons of cargo, with an estimated worth of more than $300 billion, have moved along its canals and channels.
U.S. Park Police released images of an individual in a gray shirt, black shorts, and white sneakers they are looking for in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial.
The pool’s new $14 million blue liner, installed for the 250th anniversary, has been the center of controversy since the project was finished.
Former national security advisor John Bolton pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to one felony count of illegally retaining sensitive national security information. The plea comes as part of a plea deal requiring Bolton to pay a $2.5 million fine but serve no prison time. He may receive probation, home confinement, or other type of punishment depending on what the court decides.
Prosecutors charged Bolton in October with 18 counts including the transmission and the retention of national defense information. However, the agreement dropped most of the other counts.
Rep. Greg Steube (R,FL) says he is going to submit a new House rule that requires new members to swear an oath to the Constitution or they will not be seated. The proposal comes after Daraliza Avila Chevalier, a founder of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of anti-Israel, antisemitic student organizations at Columbia University won her primary.
“If they refuse to swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, which we are required to do as members of Congress, they should not be seated,” Steube said. “So when have the elections in November, we don’t swear in until January. Every member of Congress has to swear an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States. If she’s refusing to do that, then she should not be seated.”
I told you about Ohio Retard Mike DeWine vetoing a voter ID bill the other day. Well, it seems that wasn’t enough bad press for DeWine. After the SCOTUS ruling that ended judicial review of TPS recissions, DeWiner ran to the nearest microphone to whinge about it.
“Today’s decision is a legal decision. As I have stated in the past, the policy to remove these individuals from this country is a mistake.
“As a result of today’s ruling, the over 10,000 Haitians who have been living in Ohio (mostly in the Springfield area) legally through TPS will now be here illegally and will be subject to immediate deportation. This also means that while these Haitians were working and contributing to our community and economy yesterday, today it is now illegal to employ them.
“The situation in Haiti could hardly be much worse. The violent gangs run most of the country. The government barely functions. And, the economy is in shambles.
“Further, our federal government has an advisory against traveling to Haiti, and our Federal Aviation Administration prohibits U.S. carriers from flying there because of the danger to planes of being shot at by the gangs.“But, more importantly, changing the immigration status of these individuals is not in the best interest of the United States nor Ohio.”
Where to start? Maybe I should point out Mike’s wife’s connections to the agency involved in the resettlement. Or that Mike repeatedly put the voodoo cat and dog eaters before actual Ohioans aon multiple occasions. As I said the other day: F*ck Mike DeWine.
A quick update on the twin earthquakes in Venezuela. USSOUTHCOM is on the ground coordinating the US response and military cargo flights of aid are landing in the region. The death toll is nearly 600 at this point, with thousands unaccounted for.
Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing with teams from around the world arriving. I’ll be doing a dive into what charities are doing what for tomorrow’s RNN, so you know who to donate to – and who not to – if you are so inclined.
