Random News and Notes 29 October

On this date:

• 1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh is executed. After the death of Queen Elizabeth, Raleigh’s enemies spread rumors that he was opposed the accession of King James.
• 1814 – The Demologos, the first steam-powered warship, launched in New York City.
• 1901 – Leon Czolgosz is electrocuted for the assassination of US President William McKinley. Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot McKinley on September 6 during a public reception at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, N.Y. Despite early hopes of recovery, McKinley died September 14, in Buffalo, NY.
• 1918 – Sailors in the German High Seas Fleet refuse to obey an order from the German Admiralty to go to sea to launch one final attack on the British navy.
• 1929 – Black Tuesday–the most catastrophic day in stock market history, the herald of the Great Depression. 16 million shares were sold at declining prices. By mid-November $30 billion of the $80 billion worth of stocks listed in September will have been wiped out.
• 1945 – The first ball-point pen goes is sold by Gimbell’s department store in New York for a price of $12.
• 1952 – French forces launch Operation Lorraine against Viet Minh supply bases in Indochina.
• 1964 – Thieves steal a jewel collection–including the world’s largest sapphire, the 565-carat “Star of India,” and the 100-carat DeLong ruby–from the Museum of Natural History in New York. The thieves were caught and most of the jewels recovered.
• 1969 – First computer-to-computer link; the link is accomplished through ARPANET, forerunner of the Internet.
• 1969 – The U.S. Supreme Court orders immediate desegregation, superseding the previous “with all deliberate speed” ruling.
• 1972 – Palestinian guerrillas kill an airport employee and hijack a plane, carrying 27 passengers, to Cuba. They force West Germany to release 3 terrorists who were involved in the Munich Massacre.
• 1998 – South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports condemns both sides on the Apartheid issue for committing atrocities.
• 1998 – John Glenn, at age 77, becomes the oldest person to go into outer space. He is part of the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-95.

We start at the Sports desk yet again. The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series Champions for the first time. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 last night to clinch the 2026 Fall Classic. 4-1 was also the series tally. It is their first World Series championship since the franchise began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. William Contreras took home MVP honors with a .381 average and four RBIs.

One person has been seriously injured in the post-win celebrations in Wisconsin. They apparently self-amputated most of a hand with fireworks.

In what should come as a surprise to no one, the New York Times (I know, I know) is reporting that The Obama DOJ was investigating Ilhan Omar (commie, Mogadishu) for immigration fraud back in 2016. The Agency was specifically look into her marriage to British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, suspecting it was a sham to help a man believed to be her brother gain a green card. Prosecutors halted the case due to the five-year statute of limitations, though officials described uncovering some evidence of fraud.

The Trump administration has now revived the inquiry, including a search of Omar’s Washington home in October 2026, amid broader review of her family’s immigration history from Somalia.

A man dressed in a zombie costume stabbed two people at a coffee shop in Austin Texas yesterday. The attack happened around 8:54 p.m. Wednesday at the 24-hour Buzz Mill Coffee on Town Creek Drive in southeast Austin, after the suspect caused a disturbance. Witnesses say they saw him in a zombie-style costume. He fled in a pickup truck, crashed into an unoccupied Tesla Cybercab, and was quickly arrested.

Keep Austin Weird or something.

Salim Said, co-owner of the former Safari Restaurant in south Minneapolis, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his key role in the Feeding Our Future fraud that siphoned over $250 million from child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. His sites claimed payments for up to 6,000 meals daily, but FBI video showed only about 40 people picking up food each day.

Judge Nancy Brasel ordered $44 million in restitution, noting the scheme exploited loosened pandemic rules meant to feed hungry kids, as part of a case that has led to dozens of convictions including founder Aimee Bock’s 42-year term.

Pete Hegseth just fired another General. This time it was Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, J-5 (director of strategy, plans and policy) on the Joint Chiefs. There are accusations of Sylvia leaking sensitive information about the Iran war, Russia-Ukraine conflict, and other issues. Reports say Sylvia failed three separate polygraphs while being questioned about the leaking.l Sources say the action protects national security, noting Sylvia met journalists outside Pentagon rules and that the case is now with the Department of Justice.

It’s the second J5 firing under Hegseth in a year.