Random News and Notes 10 November
On this Date:
- 1493 – Christopher Columbus discovers Antigua during his second expedition.
- 1647 – All Dutch-held areas of New York are returned to English control by the treaty of Westminster.
- 1775 – U.S. Marine Corps founded.
- 1782 – In the last battle of the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark attacks Indians and Loyalists at Chillicothe, in Ohio Territory.
- 1808 – In a decision that would eventually make them one of the wealthiest surviving Native American nations, the Osage tribe agrees to abandon their lands in Missouri and Arkansas in exchange for a reservation in Oklahoma.
- 1865 – Henry Wirz, a Swiss immigrant and the commander of Andersonville prison in Georgia, is hanged for the murder of soldiers incarcerated there during the Civil War.
- 1871 – Henry M. Stanley finds Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji near Unyanyembe in Africa.
- 1879 – Little Bighorn participant Major Marcus Reno is caught window-peeping at the daughter of his commanding officer—an offense for which he will be courtmartialed.
- 1903 – The patent office awards U.S. Patent No. 743,801 to a Birmingham, Alabama woman named Mary Anderson for her “window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window.”
- 1911 – President Taft ends a 15,000-mile, 57-day speaking tour.
- 1911 – The Imperial government of China retakes Nanking.
- 1917 – Forty-one US suffragettes are arrested protesting outside the White House.
- 1928 – The first installment of All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque’s acclaimed novel of World War I, appears in the German magazine Vossische Zeitung.
- 1938 – Fascist Italy enacts anti-Semitic legislation.
- 1941 – Churchill promises to join the U.S. “within the hour” in the event of war with Japan.
- 1942 – Admiral Jean Darlan orders French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to the Anglo-American forces.
- 1952 – U.S. Supreme Court upholds the decision barring segregation on interstate railways.
- 1964 – Australia begins a draft to fulfill its commitment in Vietnam.
- 1969 – The PBS children’s program Sesame Street debuts.
- 1971 – Two women are tarred and feathered in Belfast for dating British soldiers, while in Londonderry, Northern Ireland a Catholic girl is also tarred and feathered for her intention of marrying a British soldier.
- 1972 – Melvin Cale, Louis Moore, and Henry D. Jackson Jr., successfully hijacked a Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 that was scheduled to fly from Memphis, Tennessee, to Miami, Florida. They landed in Cuba only to be promptly arrested by Cuban authorities. They did 8 years in a Cuban prison only to be extradited to the US to serve 15-15 years in US prisons.
- 1975 – The iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald breaks up and sinks in a major storm at the eastern end of Lake Superior–all 29 crew members perish.
- 1989 – German citizens begin demolishing parts of the Berlin Wall.
- 2008 – NASA declares the Phoenix mission concluded after losing communications with the lander, five months after it began its exploration on the surface of Mars.
We start today’s news in DC where the Supreme Court issued a stay on a district court ruling saying the administration could not proceed with border wall/barrier construction. An 8-1 decision clears the Trump administration to resume building barriers in the remote Big Bend sector, using 1996 law waivers to bypass environmental and preservation rules amid a lawsuit from environmental groups. The area has low illegal crossing rates due to its steep mountains and cliffs, with most barriers planned on private land and limited vehicle barriers in the national park.
Among other reasons, the Court determined that the lower court lacked jurisdiction in the case as the relevant statutes empower the DHS secretary to waive existing restrictions.
This next one is Gross(e) on a couple of levels. A parent of a Bedford High school student in Michigan took a dump in the opposing team’s school hallways after an embarrassing football loss. The Grosse Pointe Public School System confirmed the incident on Monday via security footage that the parent entered the school to drop a deuce on the floor without permission following the Nov. 6 playoff game. The district filed a police report and stressed that such behavior falls short of expected sportsmanship from adults at events.
This is amusing and disgusting at the same time. The as yet unnamed parent is likely facing charges over this shite. . . .
From the MVAP Sports desk, the MLB postseason awards have started. The rookies of the year for both leagues were announced last night.
Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers received 28 of 30 1st-place votes to win American League Rookie of the Year The Tigers infielder led all AL players with 7.1 bWAR and is the first rookie to post at least 97 R, 28 2B, 18 HR, 72 RBI and 95 BB since Ted Williams in 1939.
The Cincinnati Reds utility infielder Sal Stewart has been named NL Rookie of the Year taking 20 of the 30 1st place votes. The 22-year-old hit .263 with 32 HR and 112 RBI while posting a .787 OPS. He was the second rookie in MLB history with 30+ HR, 100+ RBI, 15+ SB. (José Canseco)
There is an update on the Florida Lear jet crash. Back on November 1, a Learjet 60 flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas crashed near Greenacres, Florida, killing tech entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his family including young children Emma and Charlie, their nanny, friends, and the two pilots. NTSB investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the impact site and are examining it in their Washington lab, with photos showing technicians inspecting its exposed components.
Evidence like scattered left elevator pieces and flight data showing a rapid 30,000 feet-per-minute descent points to the plane breaking apart in flight amid turbulence and icing, as the probe continues.
The Salvadoran troops in Haiti are on a roll. Those troops and Haitian police targeted Wilson Joseph, head of the 400 Mawozo gang, in a Sunday raid on his lavish Port-au-Prince home. Joseph escaped, but the strike killed about 20 fighters and marked a key win in El Salvador’s intervention, launched after kidnappings of its technicians in October. Backed by President Trump, the 2,000-strong force faces U.S. State Department criticism over coordination issues.
Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé plans a visit to El Salvador next week to discuss the mission’s future.