Randome News: November 14, 2024

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s November 14, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I feel better today than yesterday, so I’m trying to appreciate that. Meanwhile, the news keeps coming in hot and fast, and in the 40 minutes or so I have available each morning to tell you things, it’s always hit-and-miss in terms of what I can figure out is important or not. Let’s go.

• The first power flex by the Republican-led legislative branch over the will of Dumples the Clown happened yesterday with the election of Senator John Thune (R-SD) as the next Senate majority leader.
• He’s been a close pal of outgoing majority leader Mitch McConnell, and trust me… he’s an asshole in the traditional conservative Republican sense. But he’s not an ultra-MAGA asshole, and Dumpy had really wanted them to choose Rick Scott (R-FL) in the role.
• Scott was being championed for the role in recent days not only by Dumpy himself but also by several of his little friends, including Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy. and Tucker Carlson. 
• The election was conducted by secret ballot, which is probably one way they had the balls to stand up against the Dumpster. Thune won yesterday’s vote 29-24 in the second round of voting. Scott wasn’t even in consideration.
• Something Dumpy seems to forget — more more likely, never really learned.
• The US government is run by three branches — executive, legislative, and judicial — each with equal power and the ability to have checks and balances on each other.
• Even with the Republicans essentially running all three — the House is informally at 219-211 at the moment — there will be plenty of infighting and power grabbing between them.
• Moving on.
• A couple more Dumpy appointments to his Nightmare Team- er, I mean, cabinet to talk about.
• Dump announced yesterday that he has selected former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — who represented Hawaii in Congress as a Democrat and unsuccessfully sought the party's presidential nomination in 2020 — to serve as his director of national intelligence.
• I probably don’t have to tell you all the weird shit around Gabbard. She was a Democrat who endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential campaign. Then she switched alliance to the Republican party after being a progressive Dem.
• Yup.
• Dump’s next move may be the first that gets shoved back in his face. He nominated GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to serve as his attorney general.
• Yes, that Matt Gaetz. The one who has been under an ongoing review by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, which said in a statement earlier this year it was looking into allegations that Gaetz may have "engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct." 
• Word on the street is that the Republicans in the Senate fucking hate Gaetz. Even the wishy-washiest of Senators, Susan Collins (R-ME) said, “Obviously the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes. But this is why the Senate's advise and consent process is so important. I'm sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz's hearing, if in fact the nomination goes forward.”
• Uh huh. “If.”
• One Republican in the House of Representatives wouldn’t go on record, but put it even more bluntly: “It's an obvious throwaway nomination that has no chance in the Senate.”
• But then the plot thickened when Gaetz abruptly resigned from Congress yesterday day, effective immediately.
• What? I wonder why?
• Well, within the next couple of days, the House Ethics Committee was supposed to release a report on sexual misconduct and drug allegations against him.
• And now Gaetz — Dumpy’s attorney general pick, the top cop int he land — will no longer be subject to the probe following his resignation. Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) confirmed that the committee has no jurisdiction over a member of Congress once that member leaves.
• So already, the Dump regime is starting as a fucking joke.
• Anyway, as long as he remains the candidate for AG, Gaetz will face questioning during his confirmation hearing about the ethics committee probe, which also investigated allegations he accepted improper gifts and gave special privileges to friends. 
• So that will be fun.
• And speaking of fun… a breaking story from this morning. And this is not a joke, nor is it satire. This is real.
• The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.
• The Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platform’s website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, TX; trademarks; and video archive. The sale price was not immediately disclosed. 
• Hahahahahahahahahahaha (deep breath)…. hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
• One other heartwarming fact about this: The Onion said its exclusive launch advertiser will be the gun violence prevention organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
• I could not be happier about this.
• In other news…
• The FBI has raided the home of the chief executive of Polymarket, a betting platform that drew widespread attention for strongly favoring Donald Trump to win the presidential election.
• They executed a search warrant on CEO Shayne Coplan at his Manhattan home yesterday.
• Coplan, 26, was roused from bed at 6am by federal agents who demanded he turn over his phone and other electronic devices.
• This is super fascinating for those of us who follow the political world. There was always something very sketchy about Polymarket, and I’m looking forward to getting the details.
• Let’s move on.
• Trump and Biden met yesterday morning at the White House, part of a presidential tradition that the fat whiny turd skipped four years ago because he’s a giant baby.
• Biden said, “I look forward to having a smooth transition. We'll do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated, what you need.”
• Dumples the Clown replied, “I appreciate very much the transition that's so smooth. It will be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that.”
• Why does he always sound like a 4th grader who forgot to prepare for an oral report?
• Dumpy is also a good lead-in to my next story, since he eats Big Macs every fucking day.
• I highly advice you to not eat at McDonald’s. Look, I also enjoy a Big Mac or a Filet-O-Fish now and then. I do.
• But that deadly E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions on McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers was way worse than initially reported. As of now, it has sickened 104 people in 14 states, per an update yesterday. 
• How bad? At least 34 people have been hospitalized, and four developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. An 88-year-old man who resided in Grand Junction, CO died.
• Most of this happened in late September and through October, but I find the fact that the information was buried for weeks after the fact doesn’t instill trust in the restaurant chain, ya know?
• Back in political news…
• In the “Don’t Get Your Hopes Up” folder, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is not giving up on retaining his U.S. Senate seat. The three-term Democrat is currently locked in a tight race with Dave McCormick, trailing the Republican by just over 29,000 votes as of last night.
• Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced yesterday afternoon that unofficial results in the race have triggered a statewide recount under state law, because vote totals for McCormick and Casey are within a 0.5% margin.
• How close is it? Casey: 3,350,972 to McCormick: 3,380,310. Counties must begin the recount by November 20 and must finish by noon on November 26.
• Results will not be published until the day before Thanksgiving on November 27.
• Moving on.
• In today’s edition of “Hey, You Have Rights!”, let’s look at the Civil Rights Act, or, more properly said, the many Civil Rights Acts.
• The first one was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It was a United States federal law enacted during the post Civil War Reconstruction era in response to civil rights violations against African Americans.
• The act was designed to "protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights", providing for equal treatment in public accommodations and public transportation and prohibiting exclusion from jury service.
• Did it help? No, not at all. Despite it being signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1875, it was not effectively enforced, partly because Grant had favored different measures to help him suppress election-related violence against blacks and Republicans in the Southern United States.
• Sigh.
• Parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were later re-adopted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, but first we have to talk about the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
• The setting: the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education brought the issue of school desegregation to the fore of public attention, as Southern political leaders began a campaign of "massive resistance" against desegregation.
• In the midst of this campaign, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a civil rights bill designed to provide federal protection for African American voting rights; most African Americans in the Southern United States had been disenfranchised by state and local laws.
• Eisenhower signed it into law on September 9, 1957. Did it help?
• No, not much at all. The Senate passed a weak, watered-down version of the House bill which removed stringent voting protection clauses.
• Now we get to the first one that was worth a damn. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and labor law that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
• It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools and public accommodations, and employment discrimination. The act remains one of the most significant legislative achievements in American history, and was the positive hallmark of the Lyndon B. Johnson presidency.
• He signed it into law on on July 2, 1964.
• There have been more… the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was also very important and was effectively enforced as well.
• I’m mentioning these things as a reminder that many people went through lifetimes of work to secure the rights that most of us take for granted now. Whatever you do moving forward, please make sure their work wasn’t for nothing.
• And never accept your rights being removed without fighting with all of your strength. Thank you.
• And now, The Weather: “Century Love” by urika's bedroom
• From the Sports Desk… if you don’t respect LeBron James, the all-time leading scorer in the NBA who will turn 40 years old next month, I don’t know what to tell you.
• But last night, King James had 35 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds for his third straight triple-double, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 128-123.
• Side note: the Lakers are 6-0 at home for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Hmm.
• Today in history… Alexander the Great is crowned pharaoh of Egypt (332 BC). German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope (1680). ‘Moby-Dick’, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA (1851). Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship (1910). The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom (1922). Coventry, UK is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers (1940). Ruby Bridges becomes the first Black child to attend an all-White elementary school in Louisiana (1960). American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser (1967). NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon (1969). A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close (1995). Astronomers discover 90377 Sedna, the most distant trans-Neptunian object (2003). Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas (2012).
• November 14 is the birthday of violinist/composer Leopold Mozart (1719), engineer Robert Fulton (1765), pianist/composer Fanny Mendelssohn (1805), painter Claude Monet (1840), India prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1889), composer Aaron Copland (1900), author/illustrator William Steig (1907), politician Joseph McCarthy (1908), producer Sherwood Schwartz (1916), actor Brian Keith (1921), actor McLean Stevenson (1927), keyboardist/composer Wendy Carlos (1939), journalist P. J. O’Rourke (1947), UK king Charles III (1948), singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop (1951), politician Condoleezza Rice (1954), pianist/composer Yanni (1954), NBA player Jack Sikma (1955), actress Laura San Giacomo (1962), hip-hop artist Joseph Simmons (1964), actor Patrick Warburton (1964), singer-songwriter/guitarist Nina Gordon (1967), drummer/songwriter Travis Barker (1975), actress Vanessa Bayer (1981), NFLplayer Kyle Orton (1982), singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe (1983), and NFL player DeVonta Smith (1998).

That’s seems like plenty of news and whatnot for now. I want to tell you all… there are plenty of good things just over the horizon. Never assume the worst. Final note: the more active you are in helping determine your own destiny, the better you’ll feel. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 13, 2024

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s November 13, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. Waking up today feeling the stress of life, and I’m going to appreciate doing these news bullets today more than usual; it helps refocus my thoughts and distracts from all the other shit, believe it or not.

• A side note before we get started: I’m really enjoying the Bluesky social net. It’s like, the functionality parts I liked about Twitter before I stopped using it, and the lack of insane assholes that I like about Threads.
• They’ve had over a million new people register there in the week since the election. Maybe ya wanna check it out.
• I also found myself thinking yesterday evening about the election itself. It feels both like it just happened and was also 74 years ago.
• I know a lot of you are still feeling super low… I talk to a lot of you, and see even more of your posts from folks I don’t talk to. I’m not going to even try to cheer you up.
• I will, though, say that I’m seeing the starting stages of a lot of people wanting to take their negative energy and find some constructive outlets to use it.
• There may be elements of the future that you haven’t been able to conceive, or are too mad/sad/disappointed to try and consider yet.
• But we will find ways to gather together and fight back. There’s a lot of us. Like, just under half the country. And we’re the smart ones.
• Kidding. Or am I?
• Let’s do some news, starting with breaking info from this morning.
• Special counsel Jack Smith and his team plan to resign before Dumpy takes office. Smith’s office has been evaluating the best path for winding down its work on the two outstanding federal criminal cases against Dump, as the Justice Department’s longstanding position is that it cannot charge a sitting president with a crime.
• Welp, there you have it. There is no justice, something we knew but is still disappointing.
• The only remaining question is whether Smith's final report, detailing his charging decisions, will be made public before Inauguration Day. The special counsel's office is required under Justice Department regulations to provide a confidential report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who can choose to make it public.
• It’s certain that whoever the incoming attorney general is, they won’t release Smith's final report if Garland doesn’t, and I have zero faith in Garland at this point.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday a federal judge sentenced Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member, to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine.
• We covered news of this 22-year-old kid when he was first caught. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act following his arrest in the most consequential national security case in years.
• This was the guy who was impressing his other pals with his access to classified docs via the social media platform Discord.
• The 15-year sentence is heavy, but the government tends to set examples of people who were placed in positions of trust and then purposefully violated it.
• Moving on.
• As we assumed would happen in a country that legally separates church and state, a new Louisiana requirement that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public classrooms was shot down by a federal judge yesterday as “unconstitutional on its face.”
• U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge ordered state education officials not to take steps to enforce it, and to notify all local school boards in the state of his decision.
• He said the law had an “overtly religious” purpose, and rejected state officials’ claims that the government can mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments because they hold historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.
• His opinion noted that despite their excuse for the “historical” nature of the Commandments, the law didn’t include requirements for posting any other foundational documents — including the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
• DeGravelles said the law amounts to unconstitutional religious government coercion of students: “As Plaintiffs highlight, by law, parents must send their minor children to school and ensure attendance during regular school hours at least 177 days per year.”
• Good. There’s still some sanity in this country.
• That’s a good transition to the insanity of our incoming executive administration.
• I guess we’ll start with Dumpy’s latest appointee. He’s picked co-anchor of "Fox & Friends Weekends,” Pete Hegseth, to be secretary of defense.
• So this anchor of a weekend entertainment show is about to run the largest, most powerful bureaucracy in the… history of human civilization. I’m not exaggerating.
• I thought Hegseth’s name sounded familiar, and I was right. In 2019, he said on air that he never washes his hands and can’t remember washing them once in the past 10 years, stating, “Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them.”
• It’s Dumpy’s most controversial nomination yet, and will face major opposition. But with 52 Senate seats, Dump has a pretty good chance of pushing it through.
• Let’s get the other news out of the news in regard to the approaching nightmare. 
• Dumples the Clown announced yesterday that he’s tapped Elon Musk to lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency. Yes, they purposefully made the acronym “DOGE” to have an association with Internet memes.
• That’s the kind of people we’re dealing with now.
• Musk will apparently be working with another extraordinary weirdo, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, in this unofficial government department that "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform.” 
• It remains unclear if this “unofficial” department will have any actual authority beyond an advisory role, or if any of its budget is being paid by U.S. taxpayers.
• One other note on Dumpy’s appointments. He’s named former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to serve as the next ambassador to Israel.
• If you thought things were going badly for Palestinians before — and they were — Huckabee is determined to make things much worse.
• He said recently that Hamas should not be negotiated with and that the only solution for the war would be their complete surrender.
• He said, “This is like trying to negotiate with the Nazis in World War II. You just don’t. You beat them. You defeat them. You eradicate them.”
• Let’s move on.
• In today’s edition of “Hey, You Have Rights!”, let’s take a look at the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Yes, as in, “I’ll plead the fifth.”
• It’s one of the longer ones, and reads…
• “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
• There are five clauses in that awkward sentence. In order: the Grand Jury Clause; the Double Jeopardy Clause; the Self Incrimination Clause; the Due Process Clause; and the Takings Clause.
• It covers a lot of ground, that 5th Amendment. And all have been put before the Supreme Court on many occasions.
• The Grand Jury Clause says that in very serious crimes, you can’t be indicted by some random person who’s out to get you; they need a grand jury to convene, be presented evidence, and only then can the indictment ( a formal legal accusation of crime) be issued.
• The Double Jeopardy Clause says that after you’re acquitted of a crime, they can’t keep putting you on trial for the same crime until they get a guilty verdict.
• The most well-known part of the 5th Amendment is the Self Incrimination Clause. You can’t be forced to incriminate yourself. If you’re unaware, the legal protection against compelled self-incrimination was directly related to the question of torture for extracting information and confessions.
• The Due Process Clause is perhaps the most important here. It deals with the administration of justice and acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the government outside the sanction of law.
• Finally, the Takings Clause limits the power of eminent domain by requiring "just compensation" be paid if private property is taken for public use. So, they can’t just demolish your house and put in a freeway offramp; they have to pay you first. And then demolish your house. It’s better than nothing.
• There are many more nuances to the 5th Amendment, and like I said, it’s been brought up in dozens of landmark cases in the Supreme Court over the years.
• And now you know that hey, you have rights!
• In other news…
• A federal jury found that a Virginia-based defense contractor shared responsibility with the U.S. Army for abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, awarding $42 million in damages Tuesday to three Iraqi men who said they were tortured there two decades ago.
• This verdict marks the first time a civilian contractor has been held legally responsible for the inhumane treatment of detainees at the prison west of Baghdad, where U.S. forces questioned hundreds of Iraqis after toppling Saddam Hussein.
• CACI International employees worked as interrogators at Abu Ghraib under contract with the U.S. government. Their interrogators would direct military personnel to “soften up” detainees before they were questioned, leading to abuses across the facility.
• Photographs of Army soldiers gleefully abusing detainees drew widespread condemnation upon their release in 2004.
• Unsurprisingly, the company is expected to appeal.
• And now, The Weather: “Business of the Attitude” by Dana Gavanski
• From the Sports Desk… we haven’t covered the NHL much yet in the start of their 2024-25 season, but there’s a very noteworthy things going on.
• The Winnipeg Jets made NHL history last night with their 6-3 victory at the New York Rangers, becoming the first team to win 15 of its first 16 games in a season.
• This nothing short of remarkable. The Jets became the fourth team since 1967-68 to lead the NHL in goals for and against per game through their first 15 games. They've scored five or more goals in half their games.
• And they've scored five or more goals in half their games. That’s crazy.
• Today in history… Louis VII of France and Adela of Champagne, my 28th great-grandparents, get married (1160). The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle (1851). The United States Supreme Court upholds mandatory vaccinations for public school students in Zucht v. King (1922). The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City (1927). The Supreme Court of the United States declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal (1956). The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles (1947). Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death (1969). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans (1982). Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union (1994). Hawaii legalizes same-sex marriage (2013). Islamic State operatives carry out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, including suicide bombings, mass shootings and a hostage crisis (2015).
• November 13 is the birthday of novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850), SCOTUS justice Louis Brandeis (1856), Mexican railroad brakeman Jesús García (1881), actor Jack Elam (1920), film/TV producer Garry Marshall (1934), musician Ray Wylie Hubbard (1946), actor Joe Mantegna (1947), musician Terry Reid (1949), actor Chris Noth (1954), actress Whoopi Goldberg (1955), NFL player Vinnie Testaverde (1963), TV host Jimmy Kimmel (1967), and actor Gerard Butler (1969).

We’re at a point where there’s so much going on, I find myself getting to the end of this report and being aware that I haven’t covered a multitude of other stories, but simply don’t have the time. I do try and pick and choose what’s most important, but… that’s also a subjective choice. Anyway, try and stay informed, even about the things you’d rather not know about. Thee’s a lot of it. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 12, 2024

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s November 12, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. I awoke feeling better today than I have in the past week. I slept more soundly. Hard to say why; some of it is personal, having cleared some hurdles with work-related stuff. But some of it is gaining some perspective on what’s more likely to happen during the incoming Trump regime.

• Let’s open with a little good news: I can now confirm that Ruben Gallego has beaten Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race. It had been looking that was for awhile, but the official call by AP happened late last night.
• It’s a key win over a very bad person. It also wraps up the incoming Senate tally at 52 Republican, 48 Democrat… which is better than what had been anticipated.
• I also enjoy the fact that despite Trump winning in that state, Kari Lake was so drastically unpopular that she couldn’t even get Trump voters to get behind her. That’s a good sign for humanity as a whole.
• And speaking of people voting…I’m pretty sure I understand why the Democrats didn’t turn out to vote in the 2024 election at nearly the same numbers as they did in 2020.
• I think to some degree, it’s more simple than most people are making it.
• In 2020, we were getting rid of Trump. There was an immediate and tangible need to vote. Here’s an analogy that works…
• If you have some vile moldy cheese in a drawer in your fridge, you want to get it out of there as soon as possible. But when your fridge is basically clean, you might not devote any energy to keeping it clean until some other disgusting, smelly item pops up again.
• So I think that — as is typical in human behavior — for some of us, our short-term memory didn’t allow us to recall how bad things were under the first Trump regime.
• And Biden kept the fridge clean, so we didn’t feel as much of a sense of urgency to do something. I predict that will be a very different situation in 2028, assuming we all live that long under Big Smelly Dump, because the stink will reek to high heaven all throughout his next term.
• And obviously that wasn’t the only reason for his victory. At the same time, you had influencers — both evil and stupid — who helped change the focus of a section of the voting populace.
• Some of them were paid to directly repeat Russian propaganda points, like podcaster Tim Pool and his ilk.
• And then you had idiots like Joe Rogan.
• But I want to tell you something else, and this is by way of someone who seemingly could not be less like Dumpy: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY).
• After the election, she noted that there were thousands of people in her district who voted for both her and Trump. She wanted to know why and asked them.
• The responses were similar. “You’re both outsiders,” they said.
• And I think that’s a huge factor. No offense to AOC or Dump for that matter, but people like a more dumbed-down message, with communication styles that are more like what they use among their own friends and families.
• And more to the point, there is a wide swath of people who feel like experienced politicians are more interested in keeping the political machine running smoothly than helping them. I can’t deny that while I fully disagree, I understand why they feel that way.
• Anyway, it’s a moot point now. I won’t be doing much, if any, analysis about what happened in the 2024 election. The past is gone, and the future is my focus.
• Let’s do some news.
• Yesterday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris observed Veterans Day together by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
• The pair then went to the cemetery’s memorial amphitheater, where Biden honored the service and sacrifice of America’s military veterans — including those who paid the ultimate price, and their families — during what was his final time speaking there as commander in chief of the U.S. military.
• He said, “It’s been the greatest honor of my life, to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us, generation after generation after generation. You are the greatest fighting force, and this is not hyperbole, the finest fighting force in the history of the world.”
• Biden also announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding the types of cancers covered under the PACT Act, legislation he signed to expand health care services for veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from “burn pits” that incinerated garbage and other waste.
• It would be safe to assume that Trump will rescind any veterans’ benefit enacted by the Biden administration.
• Moving on.
• It’s not fully official yet, but it does seem that Republicans have won the House. The current tally is GOP 219, Democrats 210. It takes 218 to control the chamber.
• However, there were some flips of congressional districts in several states from red to blue. I think the final count will be somewhere around 221-214… basically about the same as it is now.
• In other news…
• I’d said yesterday that I wasn’t going to bother much with coverage of Dump’s incoming cabinet, but I’ll make exceptions here and there as it seems fit.
• Dumpy’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said yesterday that Dump’s administration will crank up workplace raids as part of its broader immigration crackdown.
• Homan was a big proponent of the “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 4,000 children from their parents in the first Trump administration.
• While he claims to be focusing on victims of sex trafficking and forced labor trafficking, advocates say that approach is unlikely to help combat trafficking — since he’s going after the people being trafficked rather than the traffickers.
• So you should expect to see a lot more of that. Homan ran Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an acting capacity in 2017 and 2018 before announcing his retirement. More recently, he’d worked for Fox News as a contributor.
• He is also a co-author of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.”
• Shrug. That’s who you MAGAs voted for, so you must want this to happen. We’ll see how it goes when they raid your companies.
• Dump reportedly also named Lee Zelin as the head of the EPA, Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, and Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
• Shrug.
• Imagine being someone who didn’t vote for Harris due the USA’s support of Israel in the current Middle East conflict… and instead, you’ve helped install Trump and Rubio, who will make life in Gaza far, far worse.
• Rubio has already said he’d bomb hospitals in Palestine if he thought they were hiding places for Hamas.
• Look, we tried to tell you. We really did. Hope your protest vote was worth it.
• In other news…
• I find it pretty funny that the very first thing that was announced after Trump won was that on Thursday, he’d called Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
• It was said that during the call, which Trump took from his golf motel in Florida, he advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe.
• Sounds pretty good, huh? Except Putin says it didn’t happen.
• The Kremlin denied all media reports that the call ever took place. Their spokesperson said the reports were "pure fiction.”
• So the funny thing is… both Trump and Russia tend to lie about everything, so you have no way of knowing which side is lying at this stage. Good times.
• It is very likely that after Trump removes the military and financial support of Ukraine as he has promised to do during his candidacy, the entire nation will fall to Russia.
• After Ukraine is subdued, Russia will advance more into Europe. Countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are likely the next zones of attack.
• The Biden administration had done a superb job of preventing this catastrophe. I have zero faith that Dump has the balls to continue defending against Russian world dominance.
• Guess we’ll see.
• Got some breaking news that I had predicted a few days ago…
• Judge Juan Merchan has delayed the decision on whether Dump’s felony convictions can withstand the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
• He agreed to freeze the case until November 19, enabling prosecutors to respond to Dumpy’s demand the case be dismissed entirely now that he is president-elect. 
• However, for the time being, Dumples the Clown’s sentencing, which would be the first of any former president, is still scheduled for November 26. Don’t hold your breath.
• Let’s move on.
• In today’s edition of “Hey, You Have Rights!”, let’s take a look at the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That’s the one that makes it clear who has the right to vote based on age.
• It reads…
• “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
• It was proposed by Congress on March 28, 1971, and it was quickly ratified by three-quarters of the states — enough for passage — by July 1, 1971.
• It passed faster than any other constitutional amendment because otherwise, they’d have faced an urgent situation where they might not have a legal standing to force these kids to do their fighting for them in a the-current military conflict.
• Before the 26th Amendment, states had the authority to set their own minimum voting ages, which was typically 21 as the national standard.
• But in 1971, in the midst of the Vietnam War, the average age of the foot soldier was 19. So here we were, sending these kids to their death, dismemberment, and many other horrors of war… and they couldn’t even vote to have a say in the matter.
• As I said, it was quickly ratified by three-quarters of the states… but tellingly, a number of states never did sign off on it.
• To this day, no action has been taken on the 26th amendment by the states of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah.
• To be clear, many on the far-right don’t want young people voting, because young people are more likely to be caring and empathetic toward their fellow citizens.
• Back to the news.
• Yesterday, Wisconsin’s highest court heard oral arguments for a case set to shape the future of reproductive rights in the state, hinging on a question: Does a law inked before the Civil War ban abortion today?
• Chances are solid for abortion rights advocates, given the bench’s 4-to-3 liberal majority. A decision is expected in early 2025.
• Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski (R) has said that he would enforce the abortion prohibition from 1849, and penalize doctors who violate it.
• So you have a perspective on this case, here’s all you need to know…
• “Just to be clear, a 12-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by her father and as a result became pregnant, she would be forced to carry her pregnancy to term, correct?” asked Justice Jill Karofsky.
• “That would be correct,” responded attorney Matthew Thome defending a state law from 1849.
• “There would not be an exception for incest, correct?” Karofsky asked.
• “Correct,” Thome replied.
• “Or the health of the mother, correct?” the justice continued.
• “Correct,” Thome said.
• There’s your Republican party, folks. That’s who you elected last week. And now you live with it.
• Moving on.
• While we’re talking about court cases, let’s mention the happy news that this morning, the Supreme Court declined to let Mark Meadows move his Georgia election subversion case to federal court.
• Ha ha.
• The ruling bars the former chief of staff during Dump’s first term from claiming immunity from those charges.
• Meadows was indicted last year in Fulton County, GA on racketeering and other charges tied to phone calls and meetings in which Dump leaned on state officials to change the outcome of the 2020 election in the state.
• That’s encouraging to see. Perhaps there will remain some measure of accountability for Dump’s pals who, over and over again, broke laws of the United States in their effort to overturn the 2020 election.
• Probably not Dumpy himself, though. I would never set you up for disappointment by predicting any accountability for him, ever.
• And now, The Weather: “Shame” by Chat Pile
• Let’s do a chart. We’re going back 45 years from today to November 1979.
• What was I doing? I’d just started middle school a couple of months before. I was figuring shit out in 6th grade.
• It was definitely a time of change for me. I definitely wanted a girlfriend, and was a little idiot in that regard, asking a few girls to “go with” me (and getting turned down, which was a good lesson). Where? To the park to play on the swings?
• I was already very much into learning and playing guitar. I had just moved from acoustic to electric for the first time, and was taking weekly lessons. I can say that I was good for a 10-year-old. Here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at the time.
• 1. Still (Commodores). 2. Dim All The Lights (Donna Summer). 3. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer). 4. Babe (Styx). 5. Heartache Tonight (Eagles). 6. Rise (Herb Alpert). 7. You Decorated My Life (Kenny Rogers). 8. Tusk (Fleetwood Mac). 9. Please Don't Go (KC And The Sunshine Band). 10. Pop Muzik (M). 11. Good Girls Don't (The Knack). 12. Ships (Barry Manilow). 13. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson). 14. Send One Your Love (Stevie Wonder). 15. Come To Me (France Joli). 16. Broken Hearted Me (Anne Murray). 17. Take The Long Way Home (Supertramp). 18. You're Only Lonely (J.D. Souther). 19. This Night Won't Last Forever (Michael Johnson). 20. If You Remember Me (Chris Thompson & Night).
• From the Not-Sports Desk, good riddance to Jack Del Rio, the senior adviser to Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, who will resign after he was arrested early Friday for operating a vehicle while intoxicated following a crash in Madison, Wisconsin.
• He was arrested shortly after midnight Friday after a vehicle he was driving hit a street sign, broke a fence, and came to a rest in a yard.
• Del Rio played linebacker with four NFL teams, and was the former head coach of the Jaguars and Raiders. He’s also a big fucking MAGA, having gotten fined by the league in 2021 for minimizing the January 6 insurrection in social posts while villainizing the BLM movement of the previous year.
• From the actual Sports Desk… the Dolphins (3-6) beat the Rams (4-5) on Monday Night Football last night. I’m not sure anyone cared.
• Another Sports Desk note… the World Series happened and we had like, 10 seconds to be happy before the election ruined everyone’s day/week/life.
• But one thing I never had the chance to mention: one of the greatest things about baseball is that it’s so fucking old. Case in point…
• Here’s a list of the Dodgers’ National League pennants… 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2024.
• So that’s three before any of my grandparents were born, six before either of my parents were born, 16 before I was born, and 21 before my son was born.
• And he was born last century. There have been four more after that.
• Today in history… Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, playing for the Allegheny Athletic Association (1892). Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union (1927). In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic (1936). Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy (1938). Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins and ends three days later with an American victory (1942). In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran (1979). The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings (1980). Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev (1982). Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web (1990). The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ends the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears (2021).
• November 12 is the birthday of entomologist Thaddeus William Harris (1795), activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815), sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840), SCOTUS justice Harry Blackmun (1908), bassist/composer Sam Jones (1924), actress/princess Grace Kelly (1929), cult leader Charles Manson (1934), actor Wallace Shawn (1943), keyboardist/composer Booker T. Jones (1944), sportscaster Al Michaels (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Neil Young (1945), singer-songwriter/guitarist Buck Dharma (1947), actress Megan Mullally (1958), MLB player Sammy Sosa (1968), figure skater/criminal Tonya Harding (1970), NBA player Corey Maggette (1979), actor Ryan Gosling (1980), actress Anne Hathaway (1982), and NBA player Russell Westbrook (1988).

That was way more news than I was planning to cover today, but it’s a newsy time. And I want to tell you: terrible things are going to happen to many people while the next administration is in place, but you do have options. I don’t give up without a fight, and neither should you. And we’re in this fight together, and there will be plenty of good moments along with the bad ones. Let’s fucking go. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 11, 2024

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s November 11, 2024, and it’s a Monday. It’s a holiday for some — but not many — folks in the US. We’ll talk about that and a lot more.

• November 11 is Veterans Day in the USA. 
• While it’s an American observance, it coincides with holidays in several countries, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which also occur on the anniversary of the end of World War I.
• It honors military veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
• Veterans Day is distinct from Memorial Day. Veterans Day commemorates the service of all U.S. veterans, while the older Memorial Day specifically honors those who have died while in military service.
• How does one celebrate Veterans Day? Well, for one thing, you can thank a veteran for their service… something you should really consider with or without holidays to remind you.
• Non-essential federal government offices are closed on Veterans Day. So are banks. No mail is delivered. But for the grand majority, it’s a regular work and/or school day.
• And — most of you probably are unaware, as I was — legally, two minutes of silence is recommended to be observed at 2:11pm Eastern Standard Time.
• I have tons of military veterans among my family and friends. That includes U.S. Army private Kat Claxton, as well as my late father who was a U.S. Army staff sergeant in the Vietnam era, and a number of cousins who served career jobs in various branches.
• Thank you for your service!
• I won’t go off on a big tangent here, but our country does not have a great track record of providing adequate treatment to our vets after their service is complete.
• And our current president-elect has been quite clear regarding his disdain for members of our military, alive or dead.
• Speaking of Ol’ Dumpy…
• President-elect Donnie Dump has, for some time, talked up his plans for “Day 1” when he gets back in office. That’s on January 20, 2025, for those who don’t follow US history.
• His list for that very first day includes, among other things…
• Starting up the mass deportation of migrants.
• Rolling back Biden administration policies on education.
• Reshaping the federal government by firing potentially thousands of federal employees he believes are secretly working against him.
• Pardoning people who were arrested for their role in the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
• And then there’s the matter of his own crimes. 
• He has vowed that “within two seconds” of taking office that he will fire Jack Smith, the special counsel who has been prosecuting two federal cases against him.
• He will also leverage his status as president-elect to set aside or expunge his state-level New York felony conviction and stave off a potential prison sentence.
• The election interference case in Georgia? It will be put on hold until at least 2029, at the end of his presidential term.
• So there you have it. A king who is above the law, just like many of you wanted. Those people who voted for him wanted this, and now they get it.
• Note: we’ll be using the above sentence a lot in the next four years.
• Will all of Trump’s campaign promises go into effect immediately, or at all? No, of course not.
• He had made many similar promises before taking office in 2017. And sure, there are less guardrails available in this term than he had then, but even so, there is still the matter of that pesky Constitution to try and navigate.
• But you can count on certain things happening that will be to the detriment of millions of Americans, even if they take time and meet resistance. 
• Moving on.
• The control of the House is still close but will likely remain in Republican hands as it has been since 2022. 
• Current tally is 216 Republican and 209 Democrat, with the remaining 10 races still too close to call. Republicans only need two more wins to control the chamber.
• But as we’ve seen a lot in the past couple of years, that narrow of a majority doesn’t allow for any kind of smooth function in the House, since the Republicans are so prone to infighting and incapable of compromise.
• It ironically leaves the Democrats with a good deal of control even as the House minority, since the GOP fails over and over to get enough of their own party in alignment to pass bills.
• And speaking of infighting, in other news…
• There’s already a lot of squabbling and backstabbing while members of Dump’s ass-kissing brigade jockey for various positions in his upcoming administration and government leadership roles.
• There’s a three-way race for the next Senate majority leader job. That is currently held by Chuck Schumer (D-NY), but with the Republicans taking the tiniest majority, it will shift over to either Rick Scott (R-FL), John Cornyn (R-TX), or John Thune (R-SD).
• I’d say you can count on the winner being the most egregious asshole… which is a tough choice among those three but Rick Scott seems likeliest.
• Especially now that he’s the choice of Elon Musk — though it will be interesting to see how quickly Trump gets irritated at Elon Musk being the guy who calls the shots and is really running the country.
• That will be a fascinating moment… the inevitable fallout between those two.
• In today’s edition of “Hey, You Have Rights!”, we’re going to look at a constitutional amendment that massively reshaped our country: the 19th Amendment.
• Allow me to show it to you…
• “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
• So yes, this was the amendment, introduced in Congress in 1878 but not passed until June 4, 1919, that stopped the country and its states from denying women the right to vote.
• When I was younger, it was described as “allowing” women the right to vote. You don’t fucking “allow” rights; you “allow” privileges.
• The right to vote in a supposedly free country is something women — and all citizens — should have had since day one.
• In case you ever wonder about the demographic that faces the most deep-seated and blatant discrimination in the USA, keep in mind that Black men got the right to vote in 1870… almost 50 years before women.
• Do you think all the states happily ratified the 19th Amendment? Oh hell no.
• Eight states rejected it outright. My favorite is Mississippi, which not only rejected a woman’s right to vote on March 29, 1920. They didn’t ratify the amendment until March 22, 1984.
• Yup!
• Just to name and shame the other misogynist asshole states, it was between 1969-1971 that Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina formally agreed that women have the right to vote.
• My main reason for the spotlight on the 19th: rights can be given, and rights can be taken away.
• There is a subset of the MAGA world that is actively trying to revoke the 19th Amendment and take away that rights of women to vote.
• Seem alarmist and extreme? A lot of you said I was overblowing the issue when I said for years that they were taking steps to revoke women’s health care and reproductive rights, and then they killed Roe v. Wade.
• Other countries that formerly had strong women’s rights changed quickly under dictatorial and theocratic rule. Iran used to have strong women’s rights. Look at them now.
• That could happen here.
• Moving on.
• I’m sure some of you are following along with news about Dump’s cabinet appointments. I’m sure we’ll talk about those people eventually, but I find I just don’t care enough for now to call them out.
• From what I’ve seen so far, it’s pretty much the opposite of a dream team. And keep in mind that nearly 100% of Dump’s cabinet from his first term wouldn’t even endorse him for this election cycle.
• And many have been labelled as enemies by Dump at this stage. Anyway, it’s all too flaky. No need to discuss for the time being.
• A couple of points about last week’s election.
• One: I am annoyed by the people who — in ways no better than the MAGA crowd — won’t accept the results of the election.
• If you have any actual evidence of wrongdoing, by all means, make it public.
• Otherwise, as I told the Republican election deniers from 2020, shut the fuck up.
• Two: there was chatter over the weekend about Biden resigning now, allowing Kamala Harris to become President during the transition time before Dump is sworn in on January 20.
• That is the worst fucking idea ever. First, it accomplishes nothing. Second, it tells the American people that the only way a woman could actually get the job is through the most pitiful circumstances imaginable.
• So shut the fuck up with that too.
• And now, The Weather: “Ya Ready” by Freak Slug
• From the Sports Desk… week 10 in the NFL season went without many surprises. Don’t get me wrong; there were some upsets, like New England (3-7) over Chicago (4-5).
• But frankly, with the exception of only a few teams, this whole season thus far has been notable only for its inconsistency among both teams and players, with the exception of the annoyingly good undefeated Chiefs (who are the new Patriots in that regard).
• Tonight on MNF, the Dolphins take on the Rams in LA. It’s a pretty even match; Rams are favored by -2.5.
• Today in history… Tycho Brahe observes the supernova SN 1572 (1572). The Mayflower Compact is signed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod (1620). Gottfried Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of ‘y = ƒ(x)’ (1675). The State of Washington is admitted as the 42nd state of the United States (1889). Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies (1918). Adolf Hitler is arrested in Munich for high treason for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923). The United States Numbered Highway System is established (1926). NASA launches Gemini 12 (1966). Space Shuttle Columbia launches from the Kennedy Space Center on STS-5, the first operational mission of the Space Shuttle program (1982). 
• November 11 is the birthday of novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821), general George S. Patton (1885), author/activist Shirley Graham Du Bois (1896), lawyer/spy Alger Hiss (1904), novelist Kurt Vonnegut (1922), actor Jonathan Winters (1925), politician Barbara Boxer (1940), songwriter/guitarist Chris Dreja (1945), actor Vincent Schiavelli (1948), music producer Mutt Lange (1948), golfer Fuzzy Zoeller (1951), singer-songwriter/guitarist Marshall Crenshaw (1953), singer-songwriter/guitarist Andy Partridge (1953), singer-songwriter/guitarist Dave Alvin (1955), actor Stanley Tucci (1960), actress Demi Moore (1962), actress Calista Flockhart (1964), actor Leonardo DiCaprio (1974), singer/pianist Jon Batiste (1986), and activist X González (1999).

That’s enough for now. I do have a busy work week ahead, but that’s because I’m good at what I do and people want to work with me, and I’ll never complain about that. I will say, it does make you appreciate the rare moments in which one is not actually working, which is less and less common for me in recent times. Enjoy your day.

Hotel Chelsea (11.05.24)

Pardon the somewhat low res pic with grayed-out avatars. Kat was doing double duty as a simultaneous rock photographer and political reporter. Photo by Kat.

I can tell you right now... this is definitely not the post I'd had in mind when telling you about my show on Tuesday at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life. Yes, on election night. That night.

Waking up the following morning when I'd intended to write this post, my tone was to have been ebullient. I was going to be barely able to contain myself at the happiness of the USA having elected its first woman President, a lady of immense qualifications and the ability, I thought at the time, to unite the country in ways I hadn't seen in many years.

But as the horribly depressing Burns poem goes, "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." It was already nerve-racking to have to do a live music show right as the first returns were coming in for the 2024 general election in the USA. I'd prepared a set (more on that below) with a theme that I curated just for that very special event. I was trying to manifest an unforgettable evening that culminated in great news.

That Did Not Happen

No, it didn't. I'm not going to recap the whole thing -- or really, anything -- here. I believe my sense of optimism was misguided, along with my beliefs in terms of who we are as Americans. By the time I went to bed, it was already becoming very obvious that Harris was losing at a pace that gave her a very small chance to come back in several essential swing states. By the time I awoke from a fitful sleep a couple of hours later and got up to use the bathroom, Kat (who was awake the whole time and glued to the returns) let me know that the election had been called for Trump.

I wasn't surprised in the slightest, so I nodded and shuffled back to bed. People react to bad news in various ways. Many of those reactions are typical psychological defense mechanisms. I've seen every one of them multiple time during the days following the election.

I know you don't want to hear this, but the sooner you acknowledge what happened, the sooner you move on from it and start refocusing your energies in a positive direction. Some of you aren't ready to hear that. I can't change the way you feel, nor do I want to. But this is, like it or not, what it is.

Denial - "They have to recount the votes! It was rigged! There's no way this could have happened!"

Anger - "I am blocking every person who gloats about Trump, including family members. Fuck them all. They'll see what's going to happen to them."

Depression - "I can't stop crying. Every time I think I'm done it starts up again."

Sublimation - "You know, I'm just gonna focus on working hard and being super productive, and that will help turn this negative moment into a positive." P.S. That was me the rest of last week.

Intellectualization - "Logically, this actually makes sense, given the lack of strong male role models in much of society, impacting the emotional development of younger men who are more susceptible to the pseudo-alpha male messaging of a demagogue. Me? No, of course I'm not happy but I'll be fine." P.S. Also me.

Refusing Blame/Scapegoating - "I did my part, but if the [insert demographic group] had bothered voting, we wouldn't be dealing with this now."

Of course, in the classic stages of grief, the last step is acceptance. One thing I can tell you is that a good number of people haven't reached that stage as of yet, and many may never get there. And for good reason; I have myriad friends with transgender and non-binary children, people in same-sex and interracial relationships, people who live here as immigrants and fear deportation, people who rely on government-based social services that will likely vanish soon after Trump's term starts.

Those people -- and many more -- have tangible and immediate reasons to make plans in terms of how this next term will affect them and their families and loved ones. That doesn't mean that the rest of us won't be severely impacted over the short and long term. Climate change running rampant and unchecked. An emboldened Russia running roughshod over Europe. Government agencies like the FDA, EPA, DOE and many more being severely limited or shut down entirely. Out-of-control high prices due to tariff-based economic plans. Massive unemployment when the public can't afford the high cost of consumer goods as a result, and stops buying.

If this goes the way that Trump has promised his base, America will go through a radical change over the next number of years, and we've already been warned that we will be expected to experience "hardship" as part of the process.

So That's Where We Are Now

Obviously, it's much more detailed and nuanced than just that. There have been many flashes of hope on the otherwise dark days following, and for better or worse, I'm one of those people who gravitates toward positivity.

As a Californian since 1975 -- my second grade in elementary school -- I have always loved my state, but I'm not sure I've been more proud of my state's leadership (and happy I live here) than on Wednesday, when Governor Gavin Newsom posted this message...

"Kamala Harris set out to fight to defend our fundamental freedoms and build a country that works for everyone. She stood up for working families, decency, and opportunity.

Though this is not the outcome we wanted, our fight for freedom and opportunity endures.

California will seek to work with the incoming president -- but let there be no mistake, we intend to stand with states across our nation to defend our Constitution and uphold the rule of law.

Federalism is the cornerstone of our democracy. It's the United STATES of America."

If nothing else, Newsom managed to get Trump's panties twisted with his shot across the bow. Always happy to be a Californian for myriad reasons.

And then, of course, the outstanding and inspirational concession speech from Kamala Harris herself is something every person -- in their various stages of grief -- should take to heart...

"I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But here's the thing, America: If it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service. And may that work guide us, even in the face of setbacks, toward the extraordinary promise of the United States of America."

What can I say to that, other than to want to roll up my sleeves and continue the job that's been started? Look, I don't want to sound like some fucking naive cheerleader over here -- that's not my gig in life. But I will say, the idea of giving up and surrendering to evil doesn't come naturally to me. I tend to fight, and believe that we can accomplish what we need to do. Is my optimism pointless and perhaps just yet another sign of my mind's defense mechanisms at work? Sure, yeah, probably. But knowing that doesn't stop me from enacting whatever will I can sum up to keep fighting.

Not just for me, but for everyone who will suffer as a result of what happened in the election. Some times it's the small things that count. I'll do what I can. That's all I can do.

Organize, Mobilize, Resist

You want to fight the powers of evil? The one thing I can tell you is that you can't do it effectively by yourself. In the days following the election, I've already started poking around for groups of people who have similar goals. To that end, I've signed up for some upcoming events, virtual and in-person.

During the first Trump administration, I was involved with a number of groups for rallies, protests, marches, and more. Each and every time I took part in one of those events, I felt better than had I sat here in silence. And no offense to those people who can't be as directly involved -- I know it's more dangerous for many people than it is for me, in a variety of ways -- but just posting my complaints on social media doesn't result in any tangible action.

Wherever you are in the USA, I promise that a visit to a web site like Mobilize.us will allow you to find some group that are coordinating events that may strike your interest, if you want to feel like you're doing something now and not waiting for a time when it may be too late.

If you're looking for people who share your goals in protecting your rights from the overreach of a far-right federal government, look for info and events from the Democracy Action Network. A search on Mobilize.us should be easy.

And yeah, let me be clear: being involved takes courage. Does my enrollment and participation with these groups run the risk of getting placed on some list, somewhere? Yes, 100% absolutely. But everyone has to make their own decision on whether they want to live in fear or be a person who helps protect those who can't protect themselves. My advice: the fear is the worst part, and taking action is the first step to recognizing your true strength. Take it or leave it.

How About That Show?

It honestly feels weird to talk about the show now. Yes, it was just five days ago, but mentally it was a thousand years back, in some ancient age of yore. I wasn't expecting much of a crowd, since, as I said, my 5pm PT show coincided with the earlier poll closings and the first returns being announced.

We had it set up so that Kat would be attending my show but also tuned into the latest info coming in via AP and other sources. As each state's results were announced, I'd read them to the crowd, which had started small but then grew significantly over the course of the hour. It didn't hurt that Max Kleene was following me, so his loyal fanbase was packing the room well before the end of my set.

Rocking my music at Hotel Chelsea during a more optimistic moment in life. Photo by Kat.

Me being me. Photo by Kat.

I'm very glad that during my show itself, there was no real indication of anything that was tilting the scale in any one direction. I'd put together a set list that sort of encompassed several themes of election night. I was able to end on a happy note -- improvising a song for Max as I vacated the stage -- before settling in to watch the rest of the returns.

By about 11pm PT, it became obvious to me that at least two of the swing states weren't going to be able to make up the vote deficit that would have allowed Kamala Harris to win. I think it's normal for people to hope for a miracle in those situations, and even as I fell into an uneasy sleep, I was telling myself that they'd get another vote dump from an urban area that would swing it back in Harris's direction.

And, per above, that did not happen. But I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm going to figure out what I can do to help... and as I said, I already have plenty of ideas. And the thought of powering up the resistance machine, going once again into the fray, isn't making me happy. But it's a fuck-tonne better than sitting here like a helpless lump. That's not me. That's never been me. Instead, I'm going to be one of those sources of light, fending off the darkness in the ways I know how to do, and am pretty damn good at doing.

Hotel Chelsea set list...

Crime (Real Estate)

Northern Sky (Nick Drake) 

Perfectly Calm (They Stole My Crayon)

California (Joni Mitchell)

All You Fascists (Woody Guthrie)

*I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)

Allentown (Billy Joel)

Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 

America (Simon & Garfunkel)

Either Way (Wilco)

*The Star-Spangled Banner (Francis Scott Key)

Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)

Loser (Beck)

*Max Is Getting Onstage (Zak Claxton)

*Indicates the first time I've performed this song in SL.

Big thanks to all who came out to my special election night show, with extra thanks to the following who helped support it!

Buck Dezno, Klannex Northmead, Maximillion Kleene, Buddyden Resident, Richy Nervous, bundy Xue, Kat Claxton, my terrific manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff!

Random News: November 10, 2024

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s November 10, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. Nice and quiet here this far; I just sat down at my desk with my cup of Peet’s Alameda Morning Blend and ensconced in a blue bathrobe, I will make a daring attempt to make some sense of this world in while we live.

• And yes, I know that’s often hard. There’s a whole discipline of thought called philosophy that tries to do just that.
• Do we have any reason for being here other than that we’re just here, like bacteria on a random rock?
• Some turn to religious answers and other mythological solutions. Others turn to a variety of codes of ethics that help guide their actions and decisions.
• Yet others rely purely on science, our existence being purely a biological process of evolution and the circumstances of being in the right part of space at the right time.
• I don’t have any cohesive answers, and I tend to be distrusting of those who claim to.
• I do know that one of the ways that Homo sapiens became the most advanced and dominant species on our planet was through a propensity to work together, cooperating to achieve larger goals than any of us could have done individually.
• So I still think that’s important.
• The other rout to our success as a species was that we used our large brains and our evolutionarily advantageous physical form to become the most skilled predators, developing tools and other technologies to dominate other animal species around us.
• And compete amongst each other for resources, for propagating our species, and more.
• And there’s no way to negate the fact that it’s who we are, even today. That there’s an innate drive to compete and win, nearly always at the expense of other people.
• So again, we are who we are, for good and bad. And most of us have actions and reactions that are based on the same survival-based fears that we had 200,000 years ago.
• This is actually a political discussion to help explain why Trump won, but I’ll shut the fuck up now and we can do some news.
• There’s some very good news from the 2024 election that I’ve been unable to cover while being overly focused on the (mostly) horrific results.
• Over a thousand out LGBTQ candidates ran for election this year. 668 made it to the general election.
• They ran in every state except Nebraska, seeing wins in at least 40 states, along with Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
• This year’s LGBTQ candidate pool was also more diverse than ever, with 37.6% of candidates being LGBTQ people of color and 15.2% not cisgender. 
• Those LGBTQ candidates had a success rate of approximately 80%. There are some notables among them.
• Delaware’s Sarah McBride became the first out transgender person elected to Congress. Texas’s Julie Johnson became the first out LGBTQ person from the South elected. Washington’s Emily Randall became the first out queer Latina elected.
• In the Senate, Tammy Baldwin, won a tough re-election fight in Wisconsin and will be the lone LGBTQ senator in January.
• LGBTQ candidates also won elections to at least 37 state legislatures this year. Three state legislatures —Hawaii, Iowa, and Missouri — will welcome their first out trans members with Kim Coco Iwamoto, Aime Wichtendahl and Wick Thomas.
• So that’s super good to hear. It’s slightly incongruous with the fact that many of these voters also selected Donald Trump as their President, but people are… ya know.
• I’ll also note that — both Republican and Democrat — a record number of women will serve as state governors next year.
• You should be aware that Governors, in particular, play a major role in shaping state policies that often can have a more immediate and direct impact on their citizens than federal policies.
• The women are Kay Ivey (R-AL), Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), Kim Reynolds (R-IA), Laura Kelly (D-KS), Janet Mills (D-ME), Maura Healey (D-MA), Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Tina Kotek (D-OR), and Kristi Noem (R-SD).
• Ayotte’s victory last week in New Hampshire will bring the total number of women holding state governor’s offices to 13 — surpassing the previous high of 12 set after elections in 2022.
• Moving on.
• The final (still uncertified but all but certain) electoral vote tally of the election is in as of yesterday. Trump 312, Harris 226. With the results official from Arizona, Trump swept all seven swing states.
• The current tally of the popular vote is 74,686,551 (50.5%) for Trump, and 70,964,692 (48%) for Harris.
• Based on the above, I want to say something clearly, to both the people hurt and saddened by the election results and those who are making assumptions about how things will work over the next four years…
• Very close to half the voters in this country felt that the best choice for the most powerful leadership position in the world belonged to a Black woman.
• That would never have been the case when I was born, or even at the turn of the 21st century.
• We are making progress. It’s just frustratingly slow and difficult to see.
• So President Joe Biden and Big Ol’ Asshat and president-elect Donald Trump will meet at the White House on Wednesday morning. They’re scheduled to hang out in the Oval Office at 11am that day.
• That’s nice, I guess. In the days following her loss, Harris and Biden made statements to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, like real Americans do.
• And Trump praised Harris for her commitment to a smooth transition between administrations, saying that in a phone call, Harris “talked about transition, and she said she’d like it to be smooth as can be, which I agree with, of course.”
• Yes, of course, Donnie. You’re allllll about those peaceful transitions.
• Cough, January 6, cough.
• In typical fashion, Dumpy has not yet submitted a series of transition agreements with the Biden administration, in part because of concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in to office.
• I’m sure you recall that as president, Trump repeatedly came under fire from ethics groups for potential conflicts of interest relating to his businesses and brands. Both Trump’s and his family’s foreign business ties have also come under intense scrutiny throughout his time in office and on the campaign trail.
• Trump and his transition team are already behind in accessing key transition briefings from the Biden administration, as they have failed to sign a pair of agreements to unlock critical information before taking over the federal government in 71 days.
• That ethics agreement is required by law under the Presidential Transition Act and applies to all members of the transition team.
• Interestingly, I guess, updates to that bill requiring the ethics pledge were introduced by Trump ally Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, and signed into law by Trump himself in March 2020.
• “Do as I say, not as I do” is a centerpiece of Trumpism. Laws are for other people.
• Let’s move on.
• I think some men who’ve been emboldened to mistreat women after the election results came in are going to be finding that women are much less likely to accept said treatment.
• And in fact, that may be one of the biggest and most immediately changes those men experience in this new regime.
• Case in point: yesterday, a popular social media figure wrote the following…
• “before i block men i take screen shots of the vile things they say and check their IG to see if they have a wife or girlfriend so i can show her. find their employer and send it to them too. get them fired. fuck with their money. love u.”
• I just want guys to keep in mind: before you start in with the cruel misogyny, before you hold up a “your body, my choice” sign, before you make statements encouraging rape… I can guarantee you that — as should always be the case in life — there will be consequences to your actions.
• Moving on.
• In today’s edition of “Hey, You Have Rights!”, we’re going to look at another pice of the Bill of Rights (aka, the first ten Amendments to the US Constitution). Yesterday we examined the 10th Amendment, i.e., States’ Rights.
• Today it’s the 2nd Amendment. It reads as such…
• “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
• So yes. This is the right that so many MAGAs (and conservatives overall for generations previous) hold most dear: the right to keep and bears arms. As in, handguns, rifles, shotguns, and other weapons.
• I’ll start by reiterating something I’ve said probably 50,000 times here: the reason we have so much gun violence in the USA is because gun ownership is so prevalent. Less guns would mean less injury and death… especially to children, for whom gun violence is the number-one killer.
• But here’s the thing: many times in many ways, the liberals in the USA have been openly threatened with violence and acts of retribution over our choice to not support Trump and everything he stands for.
• And since the election, as we’ve mentioned, there have been more and more emboldened MAGAs who are making statements that promote sexual assault against all women.
• Here’s what I’m saying: if you’re going to take advantage of the freedoms and protections offered to us by the Constitution, and the lives of yourself, your family, and your friends are being openly threatened…
• It might be a choice you want consider where you make sure you have the protection you may need as the MAGAs become even more sure of themselves.
• And I make that suggestion — not to buy a gun per se, but to consider whether or not it might be of benefit to you if the need arises — to anyone who might need to defend yourself against people who are most certainly armed.
• And just so I’m consistent in the things I’ve always said… that gun should be registered by the state, you should pass a background check before getting it, and training on the use of that gun (including things like cleaning and proper storage) should be mandatory.
• If you have questions as to what sort of gun might be best, I’ll be happy to point you toward some info resources.
• And that’s today’s “Hey, You Have Rights!”
• In other news…
• A Federal Emergency Management Agency employee was fired after recently advising a survivor assistance team to not visit homes with yard signs that supported Trump during Hurricane Milton relief efforts.
• FEMA did not clarify where the incident happened, or when and did not identify the employee.
• What a fucking douchebag.
• In times of emergency, we are here to help each other without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, and definitely not political affiliation.
• That’s as bad as the sheriff who said he wouldn’t assist Democrats in emergency calls. Everyone who expresses such intent should be immediately removed from their respective roles.
• And now, The Weather: “Metalhead” by urika's bedroom
• Rest in peace to an actor who wasn’t super well known but whose work I enjoyed a lot. Tony Todd died this week at age 69.
• If you do know him, it’s probably for his titular role in the Clive Barker horror film “Candyman,” and he did a lot of other films in the horror genre.
• But I loved him for his role as Kurn, the brother of Worf in the ‘Star Trek’ TV franchise, and other roles in the Trek world.
• Let’s do a chart. It’s August 1974, a little over 50 years ago, and the President of the United States had just resigned, then got in a helicopter and flew away.
• Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. 461 Ocean Boulevard (Eric Clapton). 2. Back Home Again (John Denver). 3. Caribou (Elton John). 4. Fullfillingness First Finale (Stevie Wonder). 5. Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (Bachman-Turner Overdrive). 6. Bad Company (Bad Company). 7. On Stage (Loggins & Messina). 8. Bridge Of Sighs (Robin Trower). 9. Before The Flood (Bob Dylan). 10. Band On The Run (Paul McCartney And Wings). 11. Rags To Rufus (Rufus). 12. Body Heat (Quincy Jones). 13. Walking Man (James Taylor). 14. Chicago VII (Chicago). 15. Endless Summer (The Beach Boys). 16. Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel (Grateful Dead). 17. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth (Rick Wakeman With The London Symphony Orchestra & The English Chamber Choir). 18. The Souther, Hillman, Furay Band (The Souther, Hillman, Furay Band). 19. Pretzel Logic (Steely Dan). 20. Marvin Gaye Live! (Marvin Gaye).
• From the Sports Desk… there’s an NFLl game going on in Munich, germany as I write this. The Carolina Panthers (2-7) are currently ahead of the New York Giants (2-7) 17-7, with much of the 4th quarter remaining.
• Why are they playing in Germany? The NFL has made a huge effort to make American Football a more globally recognized sports for many years. Games in places like England, Mexico, Germany and elsewhere are scheduled throughout the season.
• Note to Germans watching this game: these teams both suck. Try watching a good team to get to know and enjoy the game some more.
• Today in history… Raden Wijaya is crowned as the first monarch of Majapahit kingdom of Java, taking the throne name Kertarajasa Jayawardhana (1293). The last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen's College, later renamed Rutgers University (1766). The United States Marine Corps is founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia by Samuel Nicholas (1775). Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, famously greeting him with the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” (1871). A top-secret coded message from Europe that said on November 11, 1918, all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air (1918). Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States (1951). National Educational Television, the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service, debuts ‘Sesame Street’ (1969). Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0 (1983). Germans begin to tear down the Berlin Wall (1989). WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger, the largest merger in US history at the time (1997).
• November 10 is the birthday of monk/priest Martin Luther (1483), physician/activist Samuel Gridley Howe (1801), flush toilet inventor George Jennings (1810), actor Claude Rains (1889), composer Carl Stalling (1891), businessman Jack Northrup (1895), actor Richard Burton (1925), composer Ennio Morricone (1928), actor Roy Scheider (1932), singer-songwriter Screaming Lord Sutch (1940), activist James Hood (1942), lyricist Tim Rice (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Greg Lake (1947), songwriter/guitarist Glen Buxton (1947), film director/producer Roland Emmerich (1955), comedian Sinbad (1956), actress Mackenzie Phillips (1959), author Neil Gaiman (1960), NFL coach Mike McCarthy (1963), comedian Tracy Morgan (1968), rapper Warren G (1970), actress Brittany Murphy (1977), DJ/producer Diplo (1978), NBA player Kendrick Perkins (1984), actor Josh Peck (1986), NFL player Zach Ertz (1990), NFL player Teddy Bridgewater (1992), and NFL player Drew Lock (1996).

That’s plenty for now. Eventually the election stuff will settle down and we can go back to covering a more broad range of topics. Look, I’ll be happy as long as the First Amendment is intact, allowing me to write this stuff to you without fear of reprisal. I recommend that you never take those rights for granted; they only exist in a true democracy. Enjoy your day.