Random News and Notes 27 September
On this date:
- 1540 – The Society of Jesus, a religious order under Ignatius Loyola, is approved by the Pope. The first Jesuits—Ignatius and six of his students—took vows of poverty and chastity and made plans to work for the conversion of Muslims.
- 1669 – The island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea falls to the Ottoman Turks after a 21-year siege.
- 1779 – The Continental Congress appoints John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.
- 1791 – Jews in France are granted French citizenship.
- 1822 – French scholar Jean-François Champollion announces he has deciphered the world-renowned Rosetta Stone. Although Champollion succeeded in deciphering the stone, its message was not the trove of ancient Egyptian secrets he had imagined. It contained fairly mundane text about the accomplishments of Ptolemy V Epiphanes, a Macedonian king of Egypt.
- 1864 – Confederate guerrilla Bloody Bill Anderson and his henchmen, including a teenage Jesse James, massacre 20 unarmed Union soldiers at Centralia, Missouri. The event becomes known as the Centralia Massacre.
- 1869 – Wild Bill Hickok, sheriff of Hays City, Kan., shoots down Samuel Strawhim, a drunken teamster causing trouble.
- 1915 – Second Lieutenant John Kipling of the British army, the only son of Nobel Prize-winning author Rudyard Kipling, is killed at the Battle of Loos, in the Artois region of France. The death toll at Loos was greater than in any previous battle of the war. The names of the British soldiers killed on the opening day of battle alone filled four columns in London’s Times newspaper the following morning.
That flesh we had nursed from the first in all cleanness was given
The children by rudyard KIpling
To corruption unveiled and assailed by the malice of Heaven—
By the heart-shaking jests of Decay where it lolled in the wires—
To be blanched or gay-painted by fumes— to be cindered by fires—
To be senselessly tossed and retossed in stale mutilation
From crater to crater. For that we shall take expiation.
But who shall return us our children?
- 1916 – Constance of Greece declares war on Bulgaria.
- 1918 – President Woodrow Wilson opens his fourth Liberty Loan campaign to support men and machines for World War I.
- 1920 – Eight Chicago White Sox players are charged with fixing the 1919 World Series.
- 1939 – Germany occupies Warsaw as Poland falls to Germany and the Soviet Union.
- 1942 – Australian forces defeat the Japanese on New Guinea in the South Pacific.
- 1950 – U.S. Army and Marine troops liberate Seoul, South Korea.
- 1956 – The U.S. Air Force Bell X-2, the world’s fastest and highest-flying plane, crashes, killing the test pilot.
- 1964 – The Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, issues its report, stating its conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman.
- 1979 – US Congress approves Department of Education as the 13th agency in the US Cabinet.
We start the news in England. What appears to be a major terrorist attack against RAF Fairford has been thwarted. British police have declared a “major incident” near RAF Fairford, the U.S.A.F. bomber base in Gloucestershire after arresting 5 men on suspicion of offenses under the UK’s Explosives Act. Homes in the nearby village of Whelford, about 2 miles from the base, have been evacuated as a precaution while an Army explosive ordnance disposal team examines several vehicles.
Last night around midnight three vans were seen driving toward the RAF Fairford base with 5 suspects inside, importantly these vans have falsified logos on them. Local residents quickly called police who deployed armed units to arrest all 5 suspects. British military bomb squads arrived with robots to open the vehicles which were visually packed with black barrels this process has been ongoing since the morning with two of the the three vehicles currently opened.
Fairford and nearby Lakenheath are on high alert. Locals are reporting fully armed US security patrols at both bases.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as needed.
This one is too good (or bad) to check. Reports are circulating that Liz Cheney and Jamie Raskin were having an affair while both were members of the Trump witch hunt committee. The claims – which are unverified – supposedly come from divorce filings from Cheney’s hubby.
Is it true? Dunno. Is MVAP turning into a gossip blog? No, but this one was just too. . .
A Pittsburgh area pediatrician was stabbed to death in his home. 46-year-old Edris Evans, co-medical director at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, was killed early on September 24 in his Edgewood home when Elijah Hemingway, 32, broke into his house and attacked Evans and his wife in their bedroom. The wife is in critical condition. The couple’s 8 and 12 year old children escaped unharmed.
A police dog tracked down 32-year-old Elijah Hemingway hiding behind a nearby house with cuts on his hand. He has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, and criminal trespass.
It gets worse. Back in February, according to a criminal complaint, Hemingway forced his way into his ex-partner’s home and stole her laptop and two cell phones. He was arrested in July and charged with two felonies; burglary and theft.
And he was released on a non-cash bond.
Lets reverse races for a second. Imagine if you will a predicate felon white dude breaking into the home of a black doctor, killing him and seriously injuring his wife. It would be on the front page of every newspaper, website and network news broadcast in the English speaking world, not just the US. This actual story? crickets.
There are reports of election shenanigans in a local election in Sweden. Sweden’s September 13 parliamentary election prompted six police investigations into suspected fraud, focusing on areas like Rinkeby, Tensta, and Dalarna where Left Party candidates of Somali descent, including Mohamed Abdukardir Ali and Ahmed Abas Omar, won seats. Allegations involve transported voters, pre-marked ballots, and possible payments, leading both candidates to step aside temporarily while denying wrongdoing.
Nearly 150,000 people signed a petition for a new election as post-vote polls show the right-wing bloc now leading.
There has been some serious flooding on the Jersey Shore due to the Nor’easter currently pushing up the coast. There was standing water in the streets of Atlantic City. It was deep enough that a shark was seen swimming calmly down the street.
Incidentally, Atlantic City is not far from where the incident that inspired Peter Benchley’s Jaws. In 12 days at the beginning of July, 4 people were killed and one injured by a shark along the central Jersey shore. Those attacks ended when a local fisherman caught a 7.5-foot juvenile great white shark in Raritan Bay containing 15 pounds of human remains.
Farewell and Adieu you fair Spanish ladies . . .
