Random News and Notes 3 July

On this date in 1775, George Washington formally becomes the Commander of the Continental Army. Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War, had been appointed commander in chief by the Continental Congress two weeks before. Despite his inexperienced and poorly equipped army of civilian soldiers, General Washington led an effective war of harassment against British forces in America. On October 19, 1781, with the surrender of British General Charles Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, General Washington defeated one of the most powerful nations on earth.

At 3 p.m. on this day in 1863, Confederate General George Pickett led his men in a charge into the center of the Union line at Gettysburg. As Pickett’s force attempted to cross the mile distance to Cemetery Ridge, Union artillery blew great holes in their lines. Meanwhile, Yankee infantry flanked the main body of “Pickett’s charge” and began cutting down the Confederates. Only a few hundred Virginians reached the Union line, and within minutes they all were dead, dying, or captured. In less than an hour, more than 7,000 Confederate troops had been killed or wounded.

Both armies, exhausted, held their positions until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew. The Army of the Potomac was too weak to pursue the Confederates, and Lee led his army out of the North, never to invade it again. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War, costing the Union 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. The Confederates suffered some 25,000 casualties. Thus ended the Battle of Gettysburg and with it any thought of a Confederate invasion of the North.

On this day in 1890, Idaho becomes the 43rd state. Something, something potatoes and separatist militias. . .

We start the news in Birmingham in the UK. A disturbing video has appeared showing the Bobbies arresting a white kid after he was assaulted by a group of non-natives. The 1:30 a.m. June 21 incident happened outside Caesar’s Modern Indian Cuisine in Birmingham shows a group confronting the man, knocking him down before police arrive and arrest him for allegedly punching an officer during intervention.

You will note that the cops were there, watched the assault, but did nothing to prevent it. Then when the white kid gets up after being repeatedly punched and knocked down the first female cop pushes him into the security shutters without identifying herself or saying anything at all. Yeah, that cop would have been spittin’ chiclets had she pulled that stunt with me, no matter how drunk I was.

It gets worse. The Peelers looked into it and decided that it wasn’t the cops fault and that nobody should share the video that clearly shows it was the cops fault.

Oh, and they charged the white kid – the one who had been repeatedly hit and kicked – with assaulting a police officer.

There is a massive wildfire raging in Colorado. Ignited on June 29 near Rye, the Aspen Acres fire exploded to 55,392 acres over the past 24 hours. At least 180 structures have been lost, including historic sites in Pueblo Mountain Park, with one firefighter reportedly injured.

The fire is currently 0% contained.

Soapbox time. There are a few reasons for the ever-increasing size of wildfires in the west and none of them are ‘climate change’. The biggest reason for the size increase is the insistence of putting out every fire. Historically, all the lands in the western US burned over every 100 years on average. I am not talking about one giant conflagration, but rather many smaller fires that consumed all the fuel that had gathered. There are several species of trees that have evolved to need fire to germinate seeds.

Since the late 1950’s these fires have not been allowed to burn off the fuel and since the 1980s woodlands across the West have been closed to those who would gather firewood.

So what happens? When fires do start. they burn hotter, burn longer and burn more acreage.

The Metro Atlanta Regional Transportation Authority spent some $130 million to install fare evasion prevention gates in MARTA train stations. The gates went active systemwide on 1 June. Since then, there have been multiple video taken showing this:

Police have made 40 arrests for damage, issued 29 suspect alerts, and handled 183 cases of evasion, with replacement costs over $500 per pane making it a felony under Georgia law. I mean, the fare is a whopping $2.50. Fatigue . . .

A Swedish man, Christian Zedig, 32, was beaten and kicked to death in front of his wife and two little girls in a World Cup fan zone in Copenhagen. Zedig from Eksjö, Sweden, was wearing a Swedish jersey while watching Norway’s 2-1 win over Ivory Coast on June 30 at Islands Brygge. A group of young immigrant men taunted fans, threw beer, then attacked him after he tried to de-escalate, causing life-threatening head injuries.

– Charged with rape in 2013
– Sentenced to 7 years for attempted murder in 2017
– Charged with assault in April 2026
Today’s court hearing also revealed that Christian is being prepared for organ donation and that security guards had detained several of the African attackers but that they had been let go minutes later.
Why do we let violent migrants remain in our countries?
Why isn’t every foreign criminal deported?