Random News and Notes 27 October
On this date:
- 97 AD – To placate the Praetorians of Germany, Nerva of Rome adopts Trajan, the Spanish-born governor of lower Germany.
- 1553 – Michael Servetus, who discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood, is burned for heresy in Switzerland.
- 1612 – A Polish army that invaded Russia capitulates to Prince Dimitri Pojarski and his Cossacks.
- 1659 – William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their religious beliefs. The two had violated a law passed by the Massachusetts General Court the year before, banning Quakers from the colony under penalty of death.
- 1791 – President George Washington transmits to Congress the results of the first US census, exclusive of South Carolina which had not yet submitted its findings.
- 1806 – Emperor Napoleon enters Berlin.
- 1809 – President James Madison orders the annexation of the western part of West Florida. Settlers there had rebelled against Spanish authority.
- 1862 – A Confederate force is routed at the Battle of Georgia Landing, near Bayou Lafourche in Louisiana.
- 1870 – The French fortress of Metz surrenders to the Prussian Army during the Franco-Prussian war.
- 1873 – Farmer Joseph F. Glidden applies for a patent on barbed wire. Glidden eventually received five patents and is generally considered the inventor of barbed wire.
- 1891 – D. B. Downing, inventor, is awarded a patent for the street letter (mail) box.
- 1904 – The New York subway officially opens running from the Brooklyn Bridge uptown to Broadway at 145th Street.
- 1907 – The first trial in the Eulenberg Affair ends in Germany. The Eulenburg affair was a major political and social scandal in Imperial Germany from 1906 to 1909 centered on accusations of homosexual conduct and influence among Kaiser Wilhelm II’s inner circle.
- 1917 – 20,000 women march in a suffrage parade in New York. As the largest state and the first on the East Coast to do so, New York has an important effect on the movement to grant all women the vote in all elections.
- 1922 – In Italy, liberal Luigi Facta’s cabinet resigns after threats from Mussolini that “either the government will be given to us or we will seize it by marching on Rome.” Mussolini calls for a general mobilization of all Fascists.
- 1927 – Fox Movie-tone news, the first sound news film, is released.
- 1941 – In a broadcast to the nation on Navy Day, President Franklin Roosevelt declares: “America has been attacked, the shooting has started.” He does not ask for full-scale war yet, realizing that many Americans are not yet ready for such a step. There had been multiple attacks by Germany on US shipping starting with the sinking of merchant ship SS Robin Moor by German Uboat U-69 in April of 1941.
- 1954 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the US Air Force. Davis commanded the famous 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group (the Tuskegee Airmen) during World War II.
- 1961 – A U.S. appeals court affirms rock ‘n’ roller Chuck Berry’s second conviction for transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes in violation of the Mann Act. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
- 1962 – American U-2 reconnaissance plane shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Cuba, killing the pilot, Maj. Rudolf Anderson, the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 1962 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev offers to remove Soviet missile bases in Cuba if the U.S. removes its missile bases in Turkey.
- 1964 – The political career of future US president Ronald Reagan is launched when he delivers a speech on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.
- 1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo renamed Zaire.
- 1986 – The NY Mets win the World Series.
- 1988 – US President Ronald Reagan decides to tear down a new US Embassy in Moscow because Soviet listening devices were built into the structure.
- 1997 – Stock markets crash around the world over fears of a global economic meltdown.
- 2004 – The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918, finally vanquishing the so-called “Curse of the Bambino” that had plagued them for 86 years.
We start today news with a celebration of sorts. Today is Navy Day. It is celebrated on October 27 to honor the contributions of the United States Navy, coinciding with the birthday of President Theodore Roosevelt, a strong advocate for naval power. This observance was established by the Navy League of the United States in 1922. The United States Navy was officially established on October 13, 1775, during the American Revolution, playing a crucial role in defending American shores and securing independence.
TR, as I’m sure you remember, made the US Navy into the global force it is today. He was the one who organized and deployed the Great White Fleet that sailed around the globe to show US Naval power.
From the Sports desk, we have a World Series update. The Milwaukee Brewers are one game away from their first World Series championship. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa last night 10 – 1 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven series. Rookie Robert Gasser dominated with six innings of one-hit ball, facing the minimum 18 batters—the first lefty to do so in a World Series since Sandy Koufax in 1965. The Brewers racked up 16 hits total, no homers needed, and became the first postseason team with seven consecutive hits in a game.
Now up 3-0 with eight straight playoff wins, Milwaukee eyes a clincher in Game 4.
There is some news about the Iwo Jima monument decapitation. The alleged perp, Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, faces state felony charges and federal counts for damaging the limestone monument honoring the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. Despite prosecutors’ objections a Virginia judge set a $2,500 bond on October 26, releasing him from local custody.
It is this editor’s understanding he will now be transferred to federal custody as he faces charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1361, which includes willfully injuring or destroying a monument on public properly commemorating the service of persons in the armed forces, which was under the jurisdiction of the Federal government {Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1369. The Mexican national also has an active ICE detainer over expired DACA status.
Passengers aboard a lifetime cruise ship are being told they have to disembark. The Villa Vie Odyssey, a Bahamas-flagged residential cruise ship promising an endless world voyage, docked in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on October 23 and suspended operations on October 27 due to skyrocketing fuel costs—from $1,800 to $6,000-$8,000 per cabin monthly in Asia. Many passengers had bought cabins as permanent homes, some selling houses to fund the dream that covered over 35,885 nautical miles in just over two years.
s. The company is arranging disembarkation, working on restructuring over 60 days, and keeping crew aboard to maintain the vessel while supporting affected residents. As one Wag on X said: Imagine turning up on your kids doorstep after blowing their inheritance on a lifetime cruise ticket.
The feds have raided a Beverly Hills manse as part of the Swalwell sex-pest probe. The raid targeted a property owned by billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, a past supporter of Swalwell who hosted him during his failed California gubernatorial campaign. It follows the FBI’s August searches of Swalwell’s D.C. home and devices seized at San Francisco International Airport as part of a sexual misconduct investigation.
Swalwell, who resigned from Congress earlier this year after accusations from at least five women—which he denies—had also been linked to a suspected Chinese operative, per recently declassified White House records. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer scumbag. . .
A Florida postal worker was caught stealing items from packages. Avery Terrill Yarber, 43, from northwest Miami-Dade County, was arrested Thursday by Hialeah police after surveillance in his USPS truck showed him taking three iPhone 18 Pro models and a 14-karat ring worth about $6,597 from four packages on Oct. 14. The items came from a stop at 1555 W. 37th St., which was not his normal route.
Investigators recovered the damaged boxes and labels; Yarber faces third-degree grand theft and mail theft charges while held on $3,500 bond.
There is a convicted murderer on the loose in Tennessee after he slipped through a fence and stole a truck. Surveillance video captures 28-year-old Jacob Allen Morley getting into the stolen vehicle after authorities say he escaped through the fence at Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville.
Morley, who is serving a life sentence, has been added to Tennessee’s Most Wanted list as authorities offer a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to his arrest.
Any one in Vols land needs to keep their eyes peeled.