Random News and Notes 14 September

On this date:

• 1544 – Henry VIII‘s forces take Boulogne, France.
• 1773 – Russian forces under Aleksandr Suvorov successfully storm a Turkish fort at Hirsov, Turkey.
• 1791 – Louis XVI swears his allegiance to the French constitution.
• 1812 – Napoleon Bonaparte‘s invasion of Russia reaches its climax as his Grande Armee enters Moscow–only to find the enemy capital deserted and burning, set afire by the few Russians who remained.
• 1814 – Francis Scott Key writes the words to the “Star Spangled Banner” as he waits aboard a British launch in the Chesapeake Bay for the outcome of the British assault on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
• 1847 – U.S. forces under Gen. Winfield Scott capture Mexico City, virtually bringing the two-year Mexican War to a close.
• 1862 – At the battles of South Mountain and Crampton’s Gap, Maryland Union troops smash into the Confederates as they close in on what will become the Antietam battleground.

• 1901 – Vice President Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as the 26th President of the United States upon the death of William McKinley, who was shot eight days earlier.
• 1943 – German troops abandon the Salerno front in Italy.
• 1964 – Kelloggs begins selling Pop-tarts.
• 1966 – Operation Attleboro, designed as a training exercise for American troops, becomes a month-long struggle against the Viet Cong.
• 1975 – Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first native-born American saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1979 – Nur Muhammad Taraki, president and former prime minister of Afghanistan, is assassinated in a coup in which prime minister Hafizullah Amin seizes power. The Soviet Union would invade in December and execute Amin.
• 1994 – With players on strike since mid-August, Major League Baseball cancels the entire post season. It is the first time since 1904 that a season ends without the crowning a champion.

We kick off today’s news in Michigan where Homeland Security Investigations bagged Raad Alanbagi in Farmington Hills. The arrest comes after an investigation linked him to Iraq’s intelligence apparatus under Saddam Hussein. The September 13, 2026, arrest is part of efforts to remove individuals who concealed ties to human rights abuses or foreign intelligence from the U.S.

Details like his exact rank, role, immigration status, entry method, and charges remain undisclosed, prompting questions about how he entered and lived here. Under the Ba’athists, Iraqi intelligence enforced the dictator’s rule and ran campaigns of repression, torture and genocide.

At one point, even a whiff of Ba’athism was a bar to entry into the US. It changed some time after the start of the GWOT, and some lower ranking Ba’athist officials were allowed into the US, but none from the Security apparatus, or so I was led to believe. Anyway, homie is going back to Iraq and may he get the same treatment he meted out.

I am apparently not flying enough anymore. Passengers on American Flight AA1779 from Baltimore to Miami got a strip show when a female passenger doffed her clothes. Flight attendants alerted the cockpit and sent an ACARS message describing the indecent acts, quoting procedures to notify ground control and request law enforcement. Pilots continued to Miami International Airport.

Officers from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office met the aircraft at the gate and took the woman into custody, with the investigation ongoing and no charges released yet.

There are a couple of maritime accidents to cover today. First up is the capsize and sinking of a passenger ferry in the Java Sea. The Virgo Transport 8 was crossing from Surabaya bound for Banjarmasi when rough seas and waves up to 3 meters hit. There were 243 people and 89 vehicles on board. Six people died, 107 have been rescued, and 130 remain missing.

The other involves a migrant boat off Greece. The boat, carrying 77 people, sank off Gavdos.

Right now, there is 1 dead, 51 rescued and around 25 still missing.

A construction crane has collapsed in Miami’s Brickell district. The collapse happened near Brickell Bay Drive and Southeast 12th Street, crushing multiple vehicles including a white SUV that burst into flames. Four people were taken to hospitals with no deaths reported, while firefighters stabilized the wreckage and police closed roads between Southeast 12th and 13th streets.

Miami Fire Rescue called it a complex operation amid the neighborhood’s heavy construction, and a local resident highlighted the area’s constant crane activity. Officials have not yet determined the cause or released victim conditions.