Random News and Notes 26 August
On this date:
- 1071 – Turks defeat the Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV at Manzikert, Eastern Turkey.
- 1429 – Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris.
- 1789 – The Constituent Assembly in Versailles, France, approves the final version of the Declaration of Human Rights.
- 1794 – President George Washington writes to Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Virginia’s governor and a former general, regarding the Whiskey Rebellion, an insurrection that was the first great test of Washington’s authority as president of the United States. In the letter, Washington declared that he had no choice but to act to subdue the “insurgents,” fearing they would otherwise “shake the government to its foundation.”
- 1862 – Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson seizes Manassas Junction, Virginia, and moves to encircle Union forces under General John Pope.
- 1883 – The Indonesian island of Krakatoa erupts in the largest explosion recorded in history, heard 2,200 miles away in Madagascar. The resulting destruction sends volcanic ash up 50 miles into the atmosphere and kills almost 36,000 people–both on the island itself and from the resulting 131-foot tidal waves that obliterate 163 villages on the shores of nearby Java and Sumatra.
- 1914 – The Battle of Tannenberg begins in East Prussia. The German 8th Army, under the leadership of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, strikes with lethal force against the advancing Russian 2nd Army, led by General Aleksandr Samsonov.
- 1920 – The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is officially ratified, giving women the right to vote.
- 1939 – The first televised baseball game airs. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. The Reds won 5-2.
- 1943 – The United States recognizes the French Committee of National Liberation.
- 1957 – Ford Motor Company reveals the Edsel, its latest luxury car.
- 1957 – The Soviet Union announces that it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of being fired “into any part of the world.”
- 1966 – South African Defense Force troops attack a People’s Liberation Army of Nambia at Omugulugwombashe, the first battle of the 22-year Namibian War of Independence.
- 1968 – As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago, thousands of anti-war demonstrators take to Chicago’s streets on August 26 to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
- 1970 – A nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality, led by Betty Friedan on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment calls attention to unequal pay and other gender inequalities in America.
- 1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec adopts Bill 101, Charter of the French Language, making French the official language of the Canadian province.
- 1978 – Sigmund Jähn becomes first German to fly in space, on board Soviet Soyuz 31.
- 1978 – Albino Luciani elected to the Papacy and chooses the name Pope John Paul I ; his 33-day reign is among the shortest in Papal history.
- 1999 – Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.
We start the News in the District where Capitol police have arrested a man and charged him with possession of a dangerous weapon. That weapon? A guillotine. No, I am not joking. Capitol Police arrested 35-year-old Philan-Tam-Duy Le from California on Tuesday after spotting the tall guillotine with its blade mechanism in his illegally parked truck on East Capitol Street. Le had driven across the country; an Instagram account linked to him showed the device earlier outside FBI headquarters with captions about ‘guillotine adventures’ and Capitol Hill plans. The Capitol police confiscated the device.
I need to be really clear here. I think this is a massive overreach based on the fact pattern that is known at this point. As of the time of writing, homie made no public threats about using the guillotine, made no public threats to any specific individual and they still arrested him. Additionally, a guillotine is simply a tool until and unless you put someone’s head in the correct spot. And as far as I can tell with a cursory glance at DC laws possession of a guillotine is not a criminal offence.
As one poster put it Police have become far too comfortable when it comes to stealing people’s property.
And for those of you who like historical trivia, the device was invented by one Antoine Louis, a French physician and politician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin advocated for it as a uniform method of execution, hence the name.
A couple of days ago I told you about Brian dePena, the mayor of Lawrence Massachusetts being indicted on COVID fraud charges. Well, another Dominican Masshole pol has gotten indicted for similar crimes. Massachusetts State Representative Francisco Paulino, of Methuen faces 11 federal counts, including wire fraud and unlawful monetary transactions, for allegedly securing $930,000 in fraudulent unemployment and disaster loans through his tax and mortgage businesses from 2020 to 2021. He then moved the funds into real estate, personal accounts, and campaign contributions, according to the indictment.
In a related but separate case, DePena’s charges expanded to include more fraud counts after he allegedly obtained over $1.5 million in loans for his tire business and spent it on personal expenses and mortgages. Both Dominican nationals from the Merrimack Valley were elected in 2021, with DePena reelected in 2025.
This next story has a bunch of moving parts so, lock in for a second. A couple of months ago – I don’t remember if I covered it in this space or not – the State Department issued a rule that requires holders of certain types of visas to return to their home countries to apply for renewal and/or permanent status. So, a lot of H1b visa holders did just that. Fine as far as it goes right?
Since that rule was finalized, the U.S. State Department halted immigrant visa interviews at embassies and consulates globally while consular officers train on screening rules, including public charge assessments. This affects family-based and employment-based green card cases, especially those processed abroad, leaving thousands in Asia, Latin America, and Europe uncertain with no resumption timeline announced.
Essentially, the people who left are stuck in their homelands. Without the consular interview, the process cannot go forward and they do not have the immigration status to return to the US.
I really have no problem with this. None at all. Particularly as it applies to H1B visa holders.
I am going to guess that a good number of you are familiar with Brandon Herrera, AKA the AK Guy. For those who are not, he is one of the bigger GunTubers out there. He also owns and operates a gun company that specializes in building Avtomat Kalashnikova type rifles. Brandon is running for Congress in Texas 23. His opponent, Katie Padilla Stout is well, stout. And it has come out that she has spent some $4300 on booze, tacos and cookies. FEC filings from March and April 2026 detail the purchases: $675 on cookies, $1,289 at Total Wine in San Antonio, and over $2,300 at Las Guitarras Cocina Mexicana in Boerne.
Brandon is up by 6 points according to the last public poll.
Today marks the 5th anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing. On August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber at Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 U.S. service members—mostly Marines—and about 170 Afghan civilians during the rushed evacuation amid the Taliban takeover.
Remember the Fallen.
- Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo
- Sgt. Nicole L. Gee
- Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover
- Cpl. Hunter Lopez
- Cpl. Daegan W. Page
- Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez
- Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza
- Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz
- Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum
- Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola
- Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui
- Corpsman Maxton Soviak
- Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss
The Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, led by combat veteran Sean Parnell, recently announced it had uncovered hidden classified documents stashed in safes, revealing material someone tried to conceal as the investigation into the withdrawal’s decisions presses forward.
I am still pissed that nobody with stars on their collar paid any price for the fiasco of a withdrawal from Afghanistan. When I saw Donahue – the retard in command those last days – got canned it warmed my cold dead heart a bit.