Random News and Notes 5 September

On this date:

• 1664 – After days of negotiation, the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam surrenders to the British, who will rename it New York.
• 1666 – The Fire of London is extinguished after two days.
• 1774 – In response to the British Parliament’s enactment of the Coercive Acts in the American colonies, the first session of the Continental Congress convenes at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia.
• 1792 – Maximilien Robespierre is elected to the National Convention in France.
• 1816 – Louis XVIII of France dissolves the chamber of deputies, which has been challenging his authority.
• 1836 – Sam Houston is elected President of the Republic of Texas.
• 1867 – The first shipment of cattle leaves Abilene, Kansas, on a Union Pacific train headed to Chicago.
• 1877 – Oglala Sioux leader Crazy Horse is fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
• 1878 – Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Bill Tilghman and Clay Allison, four of the West’s most famous gunmen, meet in Dodge City, Kansas.
• 1905 – The Russo-Japanese War ends as representatives of the combating empires, meeting in New Hampshire, sign the Treaty of Portsmouth. Japan achieves virtually all of its original war aims.

• 1910 – Marie Curie demonstrates the transformation of radium ore to metal at the Academy of Sciences in France.
• 1944 – Germany launches its first V-2 missile at Paris, France
• 1958 – Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in an Alabama protest for loitering and fined $14 for refusing to obey police.
• 1969 – Charges are brought against US lieutenant William Calley in the March 1968 My Lai Massacre during Vietnam War.
• 1972 – ”Black September,” a Palestinian terrorist group take 11 Israeli athletes hostage at the Olympic Games in Munich; by midnight all hostages and all but 3 terrorists are dead.
• 1975 – President Gerald Ford evades an assassination attempt in Sacramento, California.
• 1977 – Hanns-Martin Schleyer, a German business executive who headed two powerful industrial organizations and had been a junior SS officer during WW2, is abducted by the left-wing extremist group Red Army Faction, who execute him on Oct. 18.
• 1980 – World’s longest tunnel opens; Switzerland’s St. Gotthard Tunnel stretches 10.14 miles (16.224 km) from Goschenen to Airolo.
• 1996 – Hurricane Fran comes ashore near Cape Fear, NC. It will kill 27 people and cause more than $3 billion in damage.

We start today’s news on a sad note. A Hellenic Air Force F-4E Phantom II from the 338 Mira squadron crashed during its solo display at the Athens Flying Week 2026 airshow at Tanagra Air Base in Greece earlier today. It is being reported that both crew died in the crash.

No parachutes were seen, and the jet erupted in flames after hitting the ground, prompting emergency response and evacuation of crowds. The rest of the day’s program was cancelled.

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There is some good – very good – news out of DC. President Trump issued several pardons yesterday, the most prominent of them being that of Patrick “Tate” Adamiak. For those of you unfamiliar, Adamiak is was doing 20 years in federal prison for some truly non-existent federal firearms charges. The convictions were bogus, and Adamiak’s defense didn’t help matters. They refused to call an expert that Adamiak personally engaged for the trial.

Among other things, an ATF examiner named Jeffrey Bodell determined that a pair of de-milled, non-functional RPG-7 launchers were actual, functional launchers and that a non-firing replica toy Sten gun was an actual machine gun. Adamiak was also charged with the possession of destructive devices because he had an M-79 and an M-203. Small problem, both were 37mm flare launchers and not 40mm grenade launchers. I realize most of you won’t know the difference – other than 3mm. Simply put, 40mm devices are considered destructive devices under the NFA of 1934 and 37mm flare launchers are not. In simpler words, the bigger one requires paperwork and a tax stamp, the smaller does not. For whatever reason, Bodell was allowed to lie on the stand with impunity.

Anyway, Adamiak is now a free man. It was reported he out processed yesterday.

The ‘tards in Tehran decided it was a good idea to target US Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman yesterday. It was not. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships patrolling regional waters. A U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks. No American personnel were harmed.

In response, CENTCOM permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask. American forces also completely destroyed the unladen crude oil carrier M/T Kylo (also known as the “Noxen”) in the Gulf of Oman, striking the vessel in multiple critical locations to render it inoperable after the crew was directed to abandon ship.

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”