Random News: June 30, 2022

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 June 30, 2022, and it’s a Thursday. Got some stuff…

• The day after Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the Jan 6 Committee, Twitter was full of GOP operatives saying that she lied on the stand.
• We’ll see how many are willing to take said the stand under oath to offer contradictory testimony.
• “She’s lying” has been used as a catch-all for any woman testifying, from rape victims to witches. Women have never been given the same rights or regarded with the same inherent level of trust as men, pretty much anywhere in the world but certainly in the USA.
• As long as we remain in a patriarchal society, that will probably always be true.
• Singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Good. Fuck him and anyone else who is predatory toward women.
• In a short while at 12PM ET today, Justice Stephen Breyer officially retires and Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in as the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court… the first Black woman to serve in the role and only the third Black person in history to be on the SCOTUS, following Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas.
• Speaking of the SCOTUS, they managed to not fuck up something, so credit where credit is due. They ruled that states can be sued under a federal law meant to protect employment rights of returning veterans.
• The state being sued, unsurprisingly, was Texas, who wouldn’t find employment for a disabled Gulf War vet when he returned to his state trooper job.
• The ruling was 5-4, with the majority being Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, Breyer, and surprisingly Kavanaugh. The dissenting veteran-hating pieces of shit were Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and Barrett.
• But before you start developing warm and fuzzy feelings for this Court, this morning they sided with fossil fuel companies and gutted the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Your grandkids will never survive the upcoming climate changes. Humanity is doomed.
• Sigh.
• Here’s a lovely one. The Uvalde police tried to stop a woman from going in and rescuing her kids. She did it anyway, and now the police are retaliating against her and her family with acts of harassment and intimidation. Nice folks down there.
• Seriously Texas, what the fuck is wrong with you?
• Wanna know why Fox News is now being more forthcoming about the Jan 6 coup? It’s because they’re hedging their bet and think DeSantis, not Trump, will be the GOP presidential nominee for 2024.
• Influential podcaster and basic idiot Joe Rogan also voiced support for DeSantis this week.
• Shrug. Let them duke that one out. The MAGAs versus… whatever the normal GOP call themselves these days.
• A lot of you have asked me whether I think Trump or his closest cronies will actually serve jail time or be punished in any tangible way over the attempted coup.
• No, no I don’t. It does matter how guilty he is or what evidence is presented, no matter how damning. It’s a system we live in where wealthy and powerful do not answer for their crimes. I’m not being pessimistic; I’m being pragmatic and basing that on American history and world history.
• District attorneys in Dallas, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Nashville, and Birmingham, and other cities in forced-birth states say that they will not prosecute abortion crimes.
• That’s not enough of a reassurance to allow abortion providers to continue providing services contrary to the state’s laws.
• And in smaller cities in those red states? Forget about it. They’ll just lynch you, your doctor, and your baby for that matter. Pro life my fucking ass.
• From the sports desk… literally nothing. Oh, I did 10 sets of 20 curls yesterday. Go me.
• QotD: “The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.” - William Wordsworth
• Today in history… Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope (1859). Abe Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for “Public use, resort and recreation” (1864). Albert Einstein introduces special relativity (1905). The USA ends occupation of the Dominican Republic (1922). The first Corvette rolls off the assembly line (1953). The National Organization of Women is founded (1966). The Supreme Court rules that states can make it illegal to be gay in Bowers vs. Hardwick (1986). East Germany and West Germany merge their economies (1990). 
• June 30 is the birthday of singer/actress Lena Horne (1917), comedian David Alan Grier (1956), conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958), actor Vincent D’Onofrio (1959), guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen (1963), boxer Mike Tyson (1966), baseball player Chan Ho Park (1973), and NBA player Trevor Ariza (1985).

May your day be as smooth as any song off Steely Dan’s seminal 1977 album ‘Aja’. Enjoy it.

Random News: June 29, 2022

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 June 29, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. I think you know what’s coming…

• Tuesday’s special session of the January 6 Select Committee was, in a word, FUCKING NUTS.
• Sorry, I know that’s two words, but there’s no other way to describe it.
• Many of you met Cassidy Hutchinson for the first time. She’s a 26-year-old woman who was the top aide to Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff under former President Donald “I’m Going To Jail” Trump.
• Hutchinson testified live for two hours in regard to the actions taken during the January 6 coup attempt.
• She had previously spent 20 hours testifying to the Committee before the public hearings began.
• Hutchinson was physically present with Trump, Meadows, and other members of his cabinet and staff throughout the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021.
• Trump wanted the “mags” (aka magnetometers, the metal detectors used to see if people are holding weapons) at his rally removed so that more armed people with handguns and rifles could take part in the coup. He was raving in anger that his staff refused this.
• TRUMP: “'I don't fucking care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. Take the fucking mags away. Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in, take the fucking mags away."
• When the situation was growing more and more chaotic, Trump still wanted to go to the Capitol along with the other insurrectionists. When they started driving him back to the White House instead, he allegedly lunged through the partition at the Secret Service driver and attempted to choke him and grab the wheel.
• He allegedly had to be physically restrained. I’d have loved to see that.
• Hutchinson made it clear that the planning for what would happen on January 6 started far in advance of the date, listing people who were involved in the planning for the coup.
• This is a specific crime called seditious conspiracy. It carries a sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
• Evidence was also shown that Trump and his team may be guilty of witness tampering in regard to these very hearings.
• It’s my feeling that Trump now truly represents a flight risk. I think that if he gets word that indictments are coming down, he will not hesitate to hop on a private jet and go to whatever country he can pay off that doesn’t have extradition agreements with the USA.
• The other thing to be aware of, which is something that was taking shape before these hearings even started… the presumptive GOP nominee for President in 2024 isn’t Trump anymore. It’s Florida governor Ron DeSantis, an absolutely vile person who is like a smarter Trump without the baggage.
• The only positive thing about that is that we all know Trump will never step aside and allow DeSantis to get the support of the entire GOP base. Instead, he’d prefer to split the party votes between Republicans and MAGAs.
• Good times.
• Just a couple of thoughts on Cassidy Hutchinson herself. First, especially for being just 26, I found her to be very credible, presented her information in a very factual and even manner, and I appreciate the bravery she showed by coming forward and testifying publicly. 
• At the same time, like other members of Trump’s cabinet and his various enablers, she had a long time to see things and still chose to remain part of his team well before the coup. That red hat leaves a stain that doesn’t wash off immediately.
• Still, this was a very important session for the Jan 6 committee, and I think it will start some other actions yet to come.
• From the sports desk… Serena Williams lost to Harmony Tan 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) in a hard-fought battle at Wimbledon. Harmony is 24; Serena is 40. I’m not saying that’s why she lost, but things do get a little more difficult when you’re competing athletically against people about half your age.
• QotD: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
• Today in history… Sverre is crowned king of Norway, leading to civil war (1194). England bans tobacco growing, giving the Virginia Company a monopoly (1620). France annexes Tahiti (1880). Chicago annexes Hyde Park and several other cities to become the USA’s largest city by area and second largest by population at the time (1889). Armi Kuusela wins the first Miss Universe pageant (1952). Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union (1974). Space Shuttle Atlantis does the first docking with Russian space station Mir (1995). Apple releases something called the iPhone (2007).
• June 29 is the birthday of king John II of Aragon and Navarre (1398), activist Julia Lathrop (1858), physician and clinic founder William James Mayo (1961), ‘The Little Prince’ writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900), actor Slim Pickens (1919), actor Gary Busey (1944), drummer Ian Paice (1948), sportscaster Craig Sager (1951), singer Don Dokken (1953), singer Colin Hay (1953), baseball great Pedro Guerrero (1956), actress Maria Conchita Alonso (1957), actor/musician Bret McKenzie (1976), writer/comedian Colin Jost (1982), and NBA player Kawhi Leonard (1991).

No advice or inspirational words for you today, Just try and not be an asshole. Honestly, if we all just did that, the bare minimum of humanity, we’d be better off than we are now. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 28, 2022

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 June 28, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday. Damn near anything might be said next, so let’s see what it is… 

• As mentioned yesterday, a previously-unexpected sixth session of the January 6 Select Committee is meeting today "to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony” at 10am PT/1PM ET, and you can watch live on YouTube or most major TV networks.
• I don’t know what the exact nature of today’s testimony will be or who is appearing, but I do know that Congress had already taken off for their July 4 vacation, and members of the committee quickly flew back to DC for this, which could be… significant?
• Not getting my hopes up, but I’ll be watching.
• I don’t need to be an empath to feel a whole lot of anger out there in the world. Man, oh man. A lot of anger. I feel it too. 
• Anger can be quite correctly seen as a negative emotion, but it’s also a normal and natural one that has been evolutionarily necessary for survival across many species, vis a vis the “fight or flight” response.
• Anger can quickly escalate to wrath or rage, and violence often ensues.
• And yet, suppression of anger has harmful effects of its own, physical and mental and emotional.
• Finding an outlet to channel the negative emotion into productive action is the only way to take something intrinsically bad and turn it into something positive. 
• If you’re mad about things that seem impossible to fix, like Roe being overturned or public school prayer being allowed, take that anger and the sense of helplessness that causes it, and put it to use.
• Find like-minded people in groups who host online meetings. These are happening all the time right now.
• Get involved in programs — local or national — who can help the people most directly affected by these recent rights violations.
• Educate people as to what it will take to prevent a nationwide ban on abortion and forced birth for all American women. Specifically, that means the Democrats need to pick up two additional Senate seats and hold the House this November to make abortion legal nationwide by federal statutory law.


• That’s harder than it sounds. But it is possible. You just have to want it to happen and make it happen.
• Write to your own political reps (you can usually contact them via their web site or social media). If you agree with their stance on topics like abortion, thank them. if you disagree, politely tell them how and why they are ruining the world.

• Finally, encourage everyone you know to vote this November. Help register other people. Make sure your name is on active voter lists.
• Look, you’ll still be angry, but that negative emotion will have motivated you to make the world a little bit better.
• Whew. Okay.
• Quick reminder to delete your period tracking app.
• Unless you’re a biological male, and then by all means, keep using it to fuck up the data of whoever is out to get women.
• Germany just sentenced a 101-year-old Nazi to five years in prison. Think of that as a message for anyone who thinks that they’ll just slide out of punishment for the January 6 coup if enough time goes by. No sir. You’ll be found and pay the price even if it’s 70 years later (but hopefully not… we’d prefer today).
• From the sports desk… um, nothing. Basketball and hockey are over, baseball won’t matter for like two months, football is still a good while out from preseason. It’s the sports doldrums. Oh, uh, Wimbledon just started. Whee.
• QotD: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” - Mahatma Ghandi.
• Today in history… Coronation of Queen Victoria of the UK (1838). The first conformation dog show is held in England (1859). The US Congress establishes the first federal holidays - New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (1870). The US Congress passes the  Spooner Act, allowing the US to buy the Panama Canal (1902). Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, leading to WWI (1914). Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merge their two car companies and call the new one Mercedes-Benz (1926). Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity (1964). The Stonewall Riots start in New York City, launching the Gay Rights Movement (1969). Mike Tyson bites off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear (1997).
• June 28 is the birthday of king Henry VIII (1491), painter Peter Paul Reubens (1577), composer Richard Rodgers (1902), comedic genius and national treasure Mel Brooks (1926), actor Pat Morita (1932), secretary of defense Leon Panetta (1938), comedian Gilda Radner (1946), actress Kathy Bates (1948), NFL player John Elway (1960), actor John Cusack (1966), and weirdo billionaire Elon Musk (1971).

That’s it. Go do things. I’ll be working, grocery shopping, having meetings, and trying not to burn the whole motherfucking place down. Typical Tuesday. Enjoy.

Random News: June 27, 2022

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 June 27, 2022, and it’s a Monday. Here is a variety of whatnot…

• There are 134 days until the 2022 Midterm elections.
• The next step on the Republican agenda is to try and outlaw abortion in all 50 states.
• If there’s a Republican majority in the House or Senate, they will do this immediately after the midterm elections. The only thing stopping them from doing it today is that Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in both chambers.
• There has never been a Supreme Court decision as measurably unpopular as the overturn of Roe v. Wade on Friday June 24.
• The only thing all citizens can do is to vote, and to convince as many people as possible why it’s essential that they also vote.
• This election in November needs to eclipse even the “Blue Wave” Midterm election of 2018. It needs to be the biggest in history.
• Keep in mind that more GOP voters will be voting this November… but also note that not all of them support the destruction of women’s rights either.
• I’m going to walk you down a short little slope. Roe is gone. The Court has stated that three other cases involved with Roe — Griswold, Lawrence, and Obegefell, which respectively allow for contraception, homosexuality, and same-sex marriage — are on the chopping block. The next steps after that would be the removal of a women’s right to vote.
• There are already states where your rapist could sue you for getting an abortion. After your right to vote is gone, you’ll just have to accept getting raped (or your wife/daughter being raped) and being forced to carry that child to term. Women will not have a say in the matter.
• See why I want you to vote while you still can?
• One more note: many friends of mine have kids and are planning ahead for their college years. Stop and ask yourself: will you send your child to school in a place where her sex life will be under constant scrutiny by the state, is not allowed to get an abortion or leave the state to do so, and will soon not be allowed to buy birth control? Ask yourself these questions before committing her to a life of misery, please.
• In case you think the Supreme Court has already done the worst it could do, they voted 6-3 this morning that public school teachers can lead their classes in prayer. I’m urging every Muslim person to do just that at the next opportunity. Wait, that’s not what you meant? Too late, you pieces of shit.
• In other news (yes, there is other news), Russia has defaulted on foreign debt for the first time since 1918 due to the economic sanctions put on them by the West after their illegal invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions do have an effect, but frankly it’s not nearly enough.
• Someone walked up to Rudy Giuliani and slapped him on the back, and said, “What’s up, scumbag?” Tough guy Giuliani had the grocery store worker arrested for assault. 
• In sports news, congrats to the Colorado Avalanche for winning the Stanley Cup championships. Well deserved. In other news, the Lakers have recruited Pippen and O’Neal… Scotty Pippen Jr. and Shareef O’Neal, the sons of Pippen Sr. and Shaq. I feel old.
• Today in history… Thirteen martyrs are burned at the stake near London for being Protestant (1556). Cherokee warriors beat the asses of British forces in present-day North Carolina (1760). Uruguay president Juan Maria Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship (1973). France grant independence to Djibouti (1977). Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its final R&D mission (1982). Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister (2007). 
• June 27 is the birthday of French king Louis XII (1462), author/activist Hellen Keller (1880), pool player Willie Mosconi (1913), businessman/politician Ross Perot (1930), fashion designer Vera Wang (1949), actor Tobey Maguire (1975), and actor Drake Bell (1986).

I urge you to fight for good things, today and every day. Fight for your own rights and for the people you love. The best thing most of you can personally do is to rally people to vote in November. Make them understand what’s on the line.

Random News: June 26, 2022

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 June 26, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Here’s what’s happening, in my brain and the world and elsewhere…

• Let’s chat about religious freedom, starting with the first and most important Amendment to our Constitution.
• “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
• Let’s imagine I am a Jew (which is easy to do because genetically, I am).
• Dating back thousands of years, Jewish law holds that abortion services are health care, plain and simple. The concept that “life begins at conception” is explicitly held as incorrect under Jewish law.
• Tell me how, then, the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is not in direct violation to the words and intent of the First Amendment? In what country do we live in where obeying a law forces someone to abandon their religious beliefs?
• I’ll tell you the answer. We live in a land of Christofascism, where one religion’s rules are imposed on all the others. This is against 100% of the goals of the framers of the Constitution who helped found the USA.
• Moving on… let’s talk about child support.
• If the government is requiring women who get pregnant to give birth, it’s time to expand the required responsibilities of the people who caused the pregnancies. Let’s call them “men” for the sake of clarity.
• I’m proposing immediate legislation that mandates men who impregnate women be responsible for child support until the child reaches the age of 18 for unwanted pregnancies forced to term, using DNA testing to identify the man responsible.
• That child support must start (or be back-dated) to date of conception, per current legal definitions.
• If not paid voluntarily, that child support must be docked from paychecks, or automatically removed from tax refunds and any other sources of revenue.
• Also, all pregnant women must be able to claim a fetus as a dependent for tax purposes.
• Remember, they are being forced to carry the child by law. There are many expenses involved with pregnancy. At federal, state, and local levels, governments must be required to help the financial burdens of the forced pregnancies via higher taxation.
• Every single one of you will be paying. I repeat, this is not a “women’s issue” that doesn’t affect you. It does and it will, tangibly.
• Can this be stopped? Yup. Is it too late? Nope.
• Congress can override what the Supreme Court did and pass a law to legalize abortion. To do that, we need to elect two more Democratic Senators and to hold the House. If that happens in November, Biden will sign a law codifying Roe.
• Is this possible? Yes. Is it likely? No, but that’s up to you as a voter and a person who can spread the word.
• Sigh.
• I have a couple of tips for people in Forced Birth states who are seeking an abortion. First, don’t tell anyone. Not your family, not your friends, and definitely not your coworkers. Second, leave no digital trail.
• Use secure, encrypted private messaging apps. Apple’s iMessage, Meta’s WhatsApp and Signal are all end-to-end encrypted by default.
• Always use incognito or private browsing mode on your browser.  Make sure you are logged out of any accounts such as Google before doing any searches.
• That being said, your device itself is still a liability. Don’t ever turn over your phone or computer without a warrant. Turn off all location sharing on your devices. Better yet, don’t take your phone at all if heading out of state for certain reasons, or at least power it completely off while you do. If a phone is absolutely necessary, get a burner.
• It sucks that I even have to give these kinds of tips in the fucking United States of America. It’s really sad. But this is the world we live in now, so if they want a fight, that’s what they get.
• Last thing today… the 4th of July is a week from Monday. It’s Independence Day, a national holiday we’ve celebrated my whole life. 
• Are we living in a country of independence when a minority of people are controlling the fundamental autonomous rights of the rest of us?
• I don’t know about the rest of you, but celebrating the holiday with fireworks and cookouts seems like a piss-poor idea right now. We may have been independent from England since 1776, but we are not at all independent from the worst oppressors of all… ourselves.
• Maybe Independence Day celebrations could be postponed until November 8, 2022, which is the date that we as a nation can rid ourselves of the politicians who support the removal of women’s rights. That would be a legit reason to celebrate real independence in a modern way.
• Today in history… Roman emperor Augustus adopts Tiberius (4). The Battle of Fleurus marks the first use of aircraft — balloons in this case — in warfare (1794). The first motor race is held at Le Mans (1906). The first American forces arrive in France for WWI (1917). The United Nations charter is signed by 50 nations in San Francisco, CA (1945). Madagascar becomes independent from France (1960). Elvis Presley does his final concert (1977). J. K. Rowling publishes the first Harry Potter book (1997). The US Supreme Court rules that sodomy laws are unconstitutional in Lawrence vs. Texas (2003). The US Supreme Court rules that same sex couples have a right to marry in Obergefell vs. Hodges (2015).
• June 26 is the birthday of astronomer Charles Messier (1730), US Marine Chesty Puller (1898), blues musician Big Bill Broonzy (1903), actor Peter Lorre (1904), athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911), illustrator/designer Milton Glaser (1929), musician Mick Jones (1955), musician Patty Smyth (1957), musician Terri Nunn (1961), NFL player Shannon Sharpe (1968), actor Sean Hayes (1970), actor Nick Offerman (1970), and singer Ariana Grande (1993).

Here’s wishing you a good Sunday. Do what you can do.

Random News: June 25, 2022

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 June 25, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. Here’s a bunch of stuff that’s mostly about abortion and women’s rights and the path from here…

• Here’s the thing: it’s not about babies, and was never about babies.
• It’s about controlling women’s sexuality. Everyone’s sexuality, actually, but primarily women’s.
• This is very simple. If it was about saving unwanted pregnancies, there would have been a massive push for universal free contraception and expansion of sex education. So it’s not about the babies. It never was.
• I’m not going too far down this road, but ultimately there are two factors. The first is men whose own self esteem and value is only found from pushing down others. They only get fulfillment and feel a sense of power by enacting control. It’s a slave-owner mentality that never went away.


• The other factor is a very anti-American push toward an official state religion, and perverting certain aspects of that religion as justification for their actions.
• Women should be as sexual as they want, or don’t want. This isn’t about pregnancy. If a woman wants to have sex and needs an abortion as a result… your opinion is not needed or wanted. End of fucking story.
• But again, this is WAY bigger than abortion. This is going to affect all of you… not in the distant future. Now.
• In Clarence Thomas’s SCOTUS opinion, he states in writing that with Roe being overturned, the court will now reconsider all of the precedents that Roe helped set, specifically naming Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Let me tell you about each of these rights that will be taken away next.
• ‘Griswold v. Connecticut’ protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction. It also involved the privacy of what goes on between consenting adults in their bedroom.
• ‘Lawrence v. Texas’ said it was unconstitutional for there to be laws against homosexuality.
• ‘Obergefell v. Hodges’ gave the right to marry to same-sex couples.
• So let me be clear: the repeal of Roe does NOT just affect women. It affects all of us.
• What kind of Republican wants the government to regulate whether or not his wife can give him oral sex?
• What kind of Republican wants the government to tell him and his wife that they aren’t allowed to use condoms or pills or other contraceptives?
• What’s next… a mandatory camera in your bedroom so regulators can make sure you didn’t put it in her ass one night? Is that what the GOP is into?
• And what kind of HUMAN would tell the thousands and thousands of Americans in happy same-sex marriages that their spouse is no longer valid? Or tell another person that their sexual orientation itself is now illegal???
• Sigh.
• Over 60% of Americans support the right for a woman to choose whether or not to give birth. That number crosses political lines, socioeconomic lines, and racial lines. In fact, that percentage hit a record high in polling this month.
• There’s no way to change a SCOTUS opinion. All we can do is make it very clear that this decision is going to impact everyone in ways they didn’t expect, and to vote for candidates who will nominate future judges who will help reverse the decision and let us hold on to the hard-fought freedoms we still have.
• The other things we can do is ensuring that forced birth doesn’t become a nationwide law (because it easily could), and that we find as many ways to assist people in forced birth states right now to receive the health care they merit as human beings.
• The following large companies offer reimbursement of travel (and in many cases full medical coverage) for abortion health care needs of their employees: Alaska Airlines, Apple, Box.com, Bumble, Comcast-NBC Universal, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Disney, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Kroger, Levi Strauss, Match Group, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Nike, Starbucks, Uber, Warner Bros Discovery, Yelp, and Zillow.
• There are many more companies that do this as well.
• I’m encouraging all of you in Forced Birth states to consider advanced provision of abortion pills and implement long-term contraceptives such as IUDs. I’m saying this both for the women and the people who love and help support them.
• I’m encouraging all of you to involve yourself personally in marches and protests. I will continue to post links and info to help you find them. For those of you who are physically or mentally or emotionally otherwise unable to do that, I will let you know about some online-based groups where you can still have direct involvement and community building.
• Do not despair. You can be sad, but don’t give in to the sadness. Let it fuel you.
• If you don’t have the strength to fight for yourself, fight for someone else. A friend, a mom, a sister, a daughter. You’ll be surprised how strong you can be to protect the ones you love.
• Today in history… Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’ premiers in Paris (1910). Jews in Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis (1943). Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is published (1947). North Korea invades South Korea, starting a war (1950). The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time (1978). Slovenia and Croatia declare independence for Yugoslavia (1991). Massive protests continue in the United States over the overturn of ‘Roe v Wade’ (2022).
• June 25 is the birthday of author George Orwell (1903), director Sidney Lumet (1924), creator of ‘The Smurfs’ Peyo (1928), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1945), singer-songwriter Tim Finn (1952), keyboardist David Paich (1954), wonderful SCOTUS justice Sonia Sotomayor (1954), comedian Ricky Gervais (1961), singer George Michael (1963), and NBA great Dikembe Mutombo (1966).

There’s much more to talk about, but now I want to drink coffee and watch footage of protests and talk shit on Twitter. At some point I’ll also do productive things on a more local level, like showering and dressing and cleaning my home somewhat. I’m just a normal person like you, except I use my words like a Samurai sword. Keep fighting, you sexy warriors.

Random News: June 24, 2022

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 June 24, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Lots of things coming your way, like a tidal wave of things…

• They stuck down Roe this morning. We knew it was coming. Now it has.
• Every woman in the USA today has less rights than they had yesterday, and for the past 49 years. In fact, this is absolutely the worst thing that’s happened to women’s rights in the history of this country. Every other step, like the right to vote and laws protecting women from gender-based discrimination, has been in the positive direction.
• The SCOTUS decision was 5-4. 
• We are going to be mobilizing to provide help for women to escape to safe-haven states in order to receive safe and legal abortions.
• There are people gathering in front of the Supreme Court right now, and as God as my witness, I’d be there too if I wasn’t 3,000 miles away.
• Remember: this doesn’t stop abortion. It stops safe abortion. Wealthy women will continue to have access to abortion under various other guises in every state. This will affect minority and poor women much more than others.
• All the work that generations of women did to ensure health care for themselves and their progeny… gone in an instant.
• Keep in mind: Republicans are laughing at you right now. They love being able to control your bodies, your sexuality, and to force you to give birth.
• When I tell people to vote, this is why. All of the justices who voted to take away your health care rights were put in place by GOP presidents.
• Do not despair! This is just the start of what will be a long fight. Stand the fuck up! Lock and load! Get ready to battle!
• There’s a lot more to talk about, but… nah.
• It’s my son’s 23rd birthday today.
• Today in history… the Supreme Court of the United States overturns the landmark decision Roe v Wade in a 5-4 decision (2022).
• June 24 is the birthday of explorer John Ross (1777), boxer Jack Dempsey (1895), basketball player and shoe icon Chuck Taylor (1901), astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker (1929), actor/director Robert Downey Sr. (1936), singer Arthur Brown (1942), guitarist extraordinaire Jeff Beck (1944), economist Robert Reich (1946), drummer Mick Fleetwood (1947), actress Mindy Kaling (1979), soccer player Lionel Messi (1987), and my son Nick (1999).

Stand the fuck up and fight! Fight in the forest! Fight in the fields! Defend your rights! NEVER SURRENDER!

Random News: June 23, 2022

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 June 23, 2022, and it’s a Thursday. Here come some things that are whatever they are…

• The fifth session of the House Select Committee is today, starting at 3PM EDT. Scheduled witnesses against Donald Trump’s attempted coup against the United States include his former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue.
• Before we get to that, let’s talk about the Fake Elector scheme being handled by the DOJ. It’s so incredibly stupid, it’s hard to imagine that anyone came up with it other than the former President and his equally-capable pals.
• Yesterday, the Department of Justice issued criminal subpoenas to people like Brad Carver, a lawyer from Georgia who signed a document claiming to be a Trump elector (he wasn’t). Similar subpoenas were issued in Arizona, New Mexico, and possibly Michigan.
• Long story short: we elect Presidents with a count of votes from the Electoral College. There are 538 total votes available. The elector’s votes are determined by the popular vote in their respective territory. The candidate to reach 270 votes wins.
• Trump’s plan was to replace the legitimate authorized electors with fake electors, who would cast votes for Trump despite the popular vote being for Biden in their districts.
• This plan was so beyond stupid, it’s mind boggling. There was zero legal possibility of fake electors submitting fake votes and having it be accepted.
• There were even lists of these fake electors and their fake votes that went all the way to the Vice President when the vote was formally counted on January 6, 2021.
• Two of the people who allegedly were integral to carrying out this plan are RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, among many others.
• So, not to dwell on this one topic, but this is a major expansion of the DOJ’s investigation into the failed January 6 coup attempt, which is fully separate and additional to the work of the House Select Committee. Actual people are going to be arrested and tried.
• Wow.
• In other news, the House Republicans say they are united in the effort to kill the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the gun safety bill which is on track to be passed by the Senate. The three top House GOP members — Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Elise Stefanik — will vote no on this effort to curb the epidemic of gun violence.
• They do not have the votes to stop it. Other Republicans say they are voting yes regardless. This is going to pass the House by a good margin and go to Biden to sign.
• In the “took ya’ long enough” folder… Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo was placed on leave yesterday. At this point, I can’t trust anything that department says about the response to the shooting at Robb Elementary.


• Sigh.

• There’s a giant sunspot, about three times the size of Earth, pointed at us. The sun has been very active in the past few months. The good news: it probably won’t kill us all.


• From the sports desk: the Colorado Avalanche are one win from the Stanley Cup championship, having beaten Tampa Bay at home in Game 4 in a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory. Game 5 is tomorrow in Denver.


• Quote of the Day: “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” - Dalai Lama XIV


• Today in history… Henry Hudson’s crew mutinies and sets him adrift in a boat (1611). Empress Catherine II of Russia allows Jews to settle in Kyiv (1794). Christopher Sholes gets a patent on an invention he calls the Type-Writer (1868). The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside the continent for scientific research (and not military use) is established (1961). Warren Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the SCOTUS (1969). Nixon and his chief of staff Haldeman are taped talking about using the CIA to obstruct the FBI (1972). Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America (1991). A soccer team in Thailand is trapped in a flooding cave (2018).


• June 23 is the birthday of Egyptian king Caesarion (47 BC), sexologist Alfred Kinsey (1894), UK King Edward VIII (1894), genius who helped create the computing device you are looking at this moment Alan Turing (1912), choreographer Bob Fosse (1927), singer-songwriter June Carter Cash (1929), original Beatles bass player Stuart Sutcliffe (1940), super giant asshole SCOTUS justice Clarence Thomas (1948), musician Glenn Danzig (1955), bass player Randy Jackson (1956), amazing actress Frances McDormand (1957), and NFL great LaDainian Tomlinson (1979). 


I hope you find some good things to do on this Thursday. Here’s an idea: sign up to be a poll worker, or assist at an animal shelter, or give blood, or help someone with the dishes, or make a plan to use less plastic, or clean out the trunk of your car, or watch the Jan 6 hearings, or compliment a stranger, or make a music playlist for a friend… I mean, there’s an endless list of ways to make the world a better place for yourself and others. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 22, 2022

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 June 22, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. Let’s look at various items of varying levels of variety…

• The fourth session of the January 6 Select Committee has held yesterday. It is very hard to watch these without becoming extraordinarily angry. I’ve done a tiny bit of study of Zen Buddhism, and I’ve gotten pretty good at processing things that would have once consumed me with anger and other negative emotions.
• When you hear the testimony from Atlanta election workers Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, it’s so hard not to let your blood boil. When they followed the law and refused to push the Big Lie of Trump, their lives became hell. Someone must be liable for what happened to them.
• Trump made claims that specific Republican election officials told him the vote was rigged. Not only did those people not believe that, but they never said it to Trump or his team, per the testimony of one such person, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers.
• Trump personally published the home addresses and contact information for Republican election officials who refuted his lies, like Bowers and GC Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Their family homes, which had young children and ill people living there, were under constant harassment by mobs who threatened their lives and their families’ lives.


• Sigh.


• People keep asking me if I think anything will happen from all this. My answer is that I have no idea. Historically, is it likely that a former President will be charged and convicted of a felony-level criminal offense and receive punishment of any kind? No.

• However, I’m seeing some signs out there that some folks who were formerly supporters of the MAGA ideology backing away as a result of these hearings. I’ve seen this personally among acquaintances, and through anecdotal information heard from others.
• Moving to some more promising news, yesterday the Senate voted 64-34 to advance a gun safety bill, the first attempt at a federal gun control measure in 30 years.
• 14 Republican Senators joined all Democrats in supporting the bill, despite all of them currently having A and A+ ratings from the NRA. They won’t have those grades for long. My thanks go out to them.
• The bipartisan bill will need to pass the Dem-controlled House and then go to Biden to sign, which could happen as early as next week.
• I consider the bill a step in the right direction. It’s not nearly enough, but at least the government managed to do something, which is more than the nothing they’ve done about this in over three decades.
• Speaking of guns: the more that comes out about the Uvalde child massacre, the more it’s clear that the police response was, in the words of the head of the Texas state police, an “abject failure”.
• Quote of the Day: “I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.” - Will Rogers.
• Today in history… Romans defeat Macedonians in the Battle of Pydna (168BC). The Catholic Church forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun (not the Earth) is the center of the universe (1633). Congress creates the US Department of Justice (1870). George V is crowned King of the United Kingdom (1911). The Pledge of Allegiance is adopted by the US Congress (1942). The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, OH, spurring passage of the Clean Water Act and the foundation of the EPA. Diego Maradona scores the infamous “Hand of God” goal allowing Argentina to defeat England in the World Cup quarterfinals (1986).
• June 22 is the birthday of explorer George Vancouver (1757), criminal John Dillinger (1903), film director Billy Wilder (1906), fashion designer Bill Blass (1922), amazingly old Senator Dianne Feinstein (1933), actor Kris Kristofferson (1936), record label founder Chris Blackwell (1937), musician Howard Kaylan (1947), amazing point guard Pete Maravich (1947), extraordinary musician Todd Rundgren (1948), actress Meryl Streep (1949), actress Lindsay Wagner (1949), actor Freddie Prinze (1954), lawyer/activist Erin Brockovich (1960), NBA player Clyde Drexler (1962), author Dan Brown (1964), NFL player Kurt Warner (1971), and TV host Carson Daly (1973).

That’s all for now, I suppose. There’s always more news and info than I put into this thing, and there’s much, much more important news that most of us never get to hear. But you get what I can do in about a half hour in the early morning. That’s good enough. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 21, 2022

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 June 21, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday. Various thoughts coming right up…

• Happy Summer! The season started at exactly 2:13AM this morning Pacific Time, which was the moment of the solstice.
• What is a solstice? It’s the moment when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun and starts heading the other direction. In the Northern Hemisphere where most of us live, the summer solstice is in reference to the north pole.
• Before any Australians or Brazilians get upset… it’s true. Almost 90% of humans live in the Northern Hemisphere of this little planet. Weird, huh?
• Here’s a thought: every day of summer, the days get shorter. Today is the longest day of the year.
• That being said, all days are the same length, just about exactly 24 hours, so that’s bullshit. Time is bullshit.
• A more accurate statement: today has the most sunlight of any day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
• If you live on the equator, none of this has any meaning to you.
• The fourth session of the January 6 Committee hearings are today at 10AM PT/1PM ET.
• Some of the people scheduled to testify about former President Trump’s continuing attempts to overturn a legal election include Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (a Republican), Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (also a Republican), and others.
• Attorney General Merrick Garland went to Ukraine to help them out with apprehending and prosecuting Russians who’ve committed war crimes in the invasion of their country.
• I applaud this, but I’d also say that AG Garland might have some folks here in this country that really need to be prosecuted. Know what I mean? Maybe get on that when you get back? Mmmmkay?
• Roe might be struck down today. No one knows for sure when the decision will be announced. I’m sure they’ll take care of putting up extra-big fences around themselves before telling the country that their rights are being removed.
• GOP candidate and former Missouri governor Eric Greitens — one of the worst human beings you can imagine, who resigned in disgrace after having an affair and forcing his girlfriend to take nude pics while bound that he threatened to release publicly — just put out an ad that was so vile, it was taken down by Facebook. In the ads, he’s hunting other Republicans with a shotgun. This guy is not good enough to be called a piece of shit.
• Japan, which you think of as a nice and modern country, decided Monday that their ban on same-sex marriages does not violate their constitution. Japan also offers no legal protections for LGBTQ people, who often face harassment and discrimination. I have hope that Japan continues to grow and evolve as younger, more open-minded people get into leadership roles.
• Side note: only Taiwan has legal same-sex marriage in all of Asia.
• In asshole billionaire news, Elon Musk’s daughter, who is transgender. has filed paperwork to change her first and last name. The reason she gave on the form was, “Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form."
• Ouch. Way to go, dad.
• We tend to look at the scary dystopian aspects of artificial intelligence (because we’re not stupid and don’t want computer overlords), but some aspects of machine learning are pretty amazing. A study by Northwestern University successfully used AI to identify speech patterns in children with autism which may lead to better and earlier diagnosis. Plus, it works across multiple languages. Pretty cool.
• From the sports desk… The Tampa Bay Lightning, not wanting to be swept in the NHL Finals, beat the Avs 6-2 last night. In MLB, the Yankees have the best record in baseball, currently at 50-17.
• Quote of the Day: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” - Hellen Keller
• Today in history… Halifax, Nova Scotia is founded (1749). The USA takes Guam from Spain (1898). China declares war on the USA, Britain, Germany, France, and Japan in the Boxer Rebellion (1900). A Japanese sub surfaces from the Columbia River in Oregon and fires 17 shells at Fort Stevens… betcha didn’t know that (1942). Three civil rights workers are murdered by the KKK in Mississippi, later documented in the film ‘Mississippi Burning’ (1964). the Supreme Court decides that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment (1989). Pluto’s newly discovered moons are named Nix and Hydra (2006).
• June 21 is the birthday of composer Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732), caricaturist Al Hirschfeld (1903), philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905), actress Maureen Stapleton (1925), composer Lalo Schifrin (1932), amazing rock god Ray Davies (1944), actress Meredith Baxter (1947), actor Michael Gross (1947) - and yes, the Keatons were born on the same day, drummer Joey Kramer (1950), guitarist Nils Lofgren (1951), cartoonist Berkeley Breathed (1957), metal dude with nice hair Kip Winger (1961), kinda strange person Juliette Lewis (1973), guitarist Mike Einziger (1976), actor Chris Pratt (1979), and singer Lana Del Rey (1985).

My only task I leave you with is to defend people who are less capable of defending themselves. Do it with your words, your votes, and your actions. Look for opportunities to be a good person… they’re out there every single day. Enjoy your Tuesday.

Random News: June 20, 2022

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 June 20, 2022, and it’s a Monday. I’m drinking coffee and writing things as such…

• Awful fact: I can write the words “there was a shooting last night” on any morning of the year before going to the news and finding out where it was and how many were hurt or killed. Last night it was at a pop-up concert in D.C., with a 15-year-old dead and a cop and two adults wounded.
• There was also a mass shooting in East Harlem, NY, with one dead and nine shot.
• In France, the centrist government led by Macron has lost its majority in the National Assembly due to a right-wing influx, and now they are trying desperately to avoid political paralysis.
• Sounds kinda familiar, for some reason.
• Some people “bought the dip“ in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin over the weekend, which drove the value back up… and it immediately started sinking again. Here’s the deal with Ponzi schemes: if you’re not at the top of the pyramid, you’re the one financing whoever is at the top.
• Thousands of flights were delayed and/or canceled over the past four days. Airlines are blaming a combination of bad weather and staffing shortages. This may or may not be true, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with airline leaders to ask them what the fuck.
• Of course, if you cheered when airlines announced that masks were now optional, maybe you don’t get to complain when your flight is canceled from the pilots and flight attendants who can’t work due to COVID. Just a thought.
• The first guy took delivery of the Ford F-150 Lightning. He lives on a family farm in a small town in Michigan and is thrilled to have the benefits of a powerful truck while moving away from fossil fuels. Ford had intended to build about 40,000 or them; they had to stop taking orders after 200,000 people ordered the truck. 
• Additionally, GM is rolling out an electric Silverado next year, and a new RAM EV truck is coming soon. GM and Ford are also working on electric versions of the Equinox and Explorer.
• I want all fossil-fuel cars gone before I’m dead. I think it will happen.
• Roe v Wade might be repealed as early as tomorrow. This supposed first-world nation is about to take a major fall in regard to women’s reproductive health, and the rights of women are being stepped up purposefully.
• Every Republican is laughing at you and can’t wait to force you (or your daughter or your wife or your girlfriend) to give birth. They’re going to have parties. Wait and see.
• FUCKING VOTE.
• Today in history… Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun, who retreats, and the Romans call it a victory (451). Queen Victoria takes the British throne (1837). Samuel Morse gets a patent on the telegraph (1840). West Virginia is admitted as the 35th state (1863). Mali gets independence from France, later splitting into Mali and Senegal (1960). Investigators find an 18-minute gap in the Watergate tapes (1972). ‘Jaws’ is released, starting the trend of summer blockbusters (1975). Wikipedia is founded (2003).
• June 20 is the birthday of astronomer Mary R. Calvert (1884), actor Errol Flynn (1909), actor Martin Landau (1928), actress Olympia Dukakis (1931), amazing songwriter Brian Wilson (1942), smooth-ass singer Lionel Richie (1949), actor John Goodman (1952), bass player John Taylor (1960), actress Nicole Kidman (1967), singer Chino Moreno (1973), and NFL player Darren Sproles (1983).

I hope your Monday is not awful. I hope you plan to help people other than yourself. I hope you can encourage others to be positive and to fight for good things. I hope you’re ready when shitty things happen that are totally predictable.

Random News: June 19, 2022

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, I suppose. It’s June 19, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Here are things…

• As discussed by me recently, today is Juneteenth, a federal holiday that celebrates the cessation of slavery. Being a federal holiday, the “off work day” for those of you who have such jobs is tomorrow (June 20).
• Side note: I do not have such a job. My days off are Memorial Day (sometimes), July 4, Labor Day (sometimes), Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. All other federal holidays are “business as usual” for me.
• Before you call some labor organization to save me, note this is my fault. I own the company, and if I work all the time, that’s because I just do.
• Today is also Father’s Day. I am a father. My son, a college student, is currently sleeping in the room down the hall. He turns 23 years old this week.
• Being a father is by far my most important role. The other things I am — a business owner, a boyfriend, a musician, a writer, a liberal political slacker activist, and so on — do not compare in any way to the importance and responsibility of being a dad.
• Most of the things I’ve done over the past 23+ years have been with the intent of providing a good environment and lifestyle for my son. I’ve made a number of sacrifices in that regard, but I also have no regrets.
• I want to send a toast all the dads… typical family unit dads, single dads, stepdads, granddads, gay dads, moms who do double duty as dads, people who take a dad role to kids that aren’t even theirs, father figures to people who never had dads and need them, and all the other many permutations of dads in life’s rich pageant. Cheers to you!
• Obligatory worst dad joke of all time: I used to hate facial hair, but then it grew on me.
• Speaking of people who could have been better with some fatherly guidance, the Texas GOP declared that President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected… again, without offering any proof other than that they’d like it to be true.
• They also “demanded” an end to abortion. Within the next couple of weeks (or even the next few days), the Supreme Court will almost certainly grant that wish. What are you planning to do about it?
• President Biden says he’ll issue an executive order to help shore up abortion rights, but the legal fact is that there are few options that stop states from making their own laws. 
• I’ll be soon telling you about some ideas on how we in states that don’t force women to give birth can assist people in the other states, and perhaps to bring punitive action to those states via economic power and more.
• Inflation across the board is unacceptably high. Here’s a quick idea: stop buying things. It’s funny how quickly the prices come back down when the corporations realize they’ve hit the greed wall and now are getting nothing at all.
• Some good news on the COVID front: a peer-reviewed study has shown that your odds of getting long-haul COVID from Omicron is 20-50% less than it was for Delta, depending on age and time since vaccination. Hopefully this will be true for my dozens and dozens of friends who got Omicron over the last 4-6 weeks.
• From the sports desk: the Colorado Avalanched humiliated the Tampa Bay Lightning in game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals by a score of 7-0. Game 3 is tomorrow in Tampa. At this rate, there won’t be a game 5.
• Today in history… English colonists leave Roanoke Island after failing to establish a colony there, which should tell you that failure is always part of the game (1586). The first officially recorded organized baseball game is played, with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23–1 (1846). The US Congress prohibits slavery in all US territories, nullifying the horrible Dred Scott v Sandford decision (1862). Slaves in Texas are notified of their freedom over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation (1865). The first Father’s Day is celebrated in Spokane, WA… not sure why (1910). The Civil Rights Act survives an 83-day filibuster in the Senate and passes 73–27 (1964). The first comic strip featuring Garfield the Cat is published, but it’s called “Jon” (1978). WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requests asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London (2012).
• June 19 is the birthday of mathematician/physicist Blaise Pascal (1623), comedian Moe Howard (1897), baseball legend Lou Gehrig (1903), actress Nancy Marchand (1928), amazing singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948), singer Ann Wilson (1950), singer/dancer Paula Abdul (1962), vile human Laura Ingraham (19634), UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (1964), guitarist Brian “Head” Welch (1970), NBA great Dirk Nowitzki (1978), actress Zoe Saldana (1978), rapper Macklemore (1983), and pitcher Jake deGrom (1988).

Well, I hope you enjoy your Sunday things that you’ll do. I didn’t do almost anything yesterday, so I want to do at least some things today. I mean, I don’t really, but then my Monday self will be mad at my Sunday self, and one of your prime goals should be constantly kissing the ass of the future. That’s the meaning of optimism, by the way.

Random News: June 18, 2022

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 June 18, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. Extreme random weekend things ahead…

• My high school graduation was on June 18, 1986. That’s (gets out calculator) 36 years ago today. So a kid who was born the day I graduated high school and then had a kid at 18 would have an 18-year-old adult child.
• Fuck I’m old. I remember in college working in a furniture store, and one day I asked the manager, who seemed very old to me at the time, how old he was, and he said he was 53. The idea that I’m as old as that old guy is mind blowing.
• I’m sure at some point it will bother me, this not being young. But honestly, and I swear this is true, I meet people in their 30s and 40s who seem SUPER older than me. I’m not talking about the gray beard and crow’s feet; I mean that mentally they’ve abandoned having fun and learning and finding joy in life.
• So they’re old; I’m cool; I win.
• Conservative news outlets all had simultaneous orgasms when staff members of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show were arrested for trespassing at the Capitol. Here’s my favorite line in the Fox News story…
• A spokesperson for CBS told Fox News that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was on-site at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and Thursday to record interviews for a comedy segment on behalf of "The Late Show," and said the interviews were authorized and pre-arranged with Congressional aides.
• So Fox is trying to compare this to the Jan 6 coup, because of course they are.
• We’re going to run out of teachers. Who could be a teacher today? Stressed, underpaid, under appreciated, understaffed, and now expected to be some kind of armed commando to fight off school shooters?
• An educated populace is one of peace and prosperity for all. A lack of qualified teachers means life gets worse for literally everyone.
• President Joe Biden took a fall on his bike today. He’s fine. Got his foot stuck in the pedal’s toe cage. It happens.
• A quick reminder: Biden is 79, making him a year older than Mick Jagger and a year younger than…
• Happy 80th birthday to Paul McCartney! I know I normally group all birthdays at the end of these things, but it’s a big birthday for a rather important dude. Here’s a funny thought. In 1967, Paul recorded a goofy song called “When I’m Sixty-Four”. He was 24 when he made it. 64 seemed impossibly in the future, I’m sure. Now he’s 16 years older than that and still touring and writing music and seemingly having a great time.
• Life is funny that way. Perspective is funny that way.
• I just saw a headline that read, “How to Lower Your Risk of Getting Monkeypox During Sex”. Can I just say, no sex is worth monkeypox. Imagine the sexiest person in the entire world. Now imagine monkeypox. Sex just lost.
• The Uvalde Police Department has hired a private law firm who is arguing that the department doesn’t have to release its badge cam footage from the Robb Elementary shooting massacre. How do you feel about that?
• Today in history… Five Canterbury monks see something collide with the moon, resulting in the Giordano Bruno crater (1178). Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 election, and being a woman (1873). Columbia Records introduces the long-playing (LP) record (1948). Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space (1983). I graduate high school “by the skin of my teeth”, per to a guidance counselor after I barely manage to get a C in Algebra II after taking it for the second time, despite being an AP English student and an academic decathlon competitor (1986).
• June 18 is the birthday of publisher E.W. Scripps (1854), winemaker Robert Mondavi (1913), NBA great George Mikan (1924), MLB great Lou Brock (1939), critic Roger Ebert (1942), world-changing composer, singer, and musician Paul McCartney (1942), NFL great Bruce Smith (1963), singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne (1973), NHL great Martin St. Louis (1975), and singer Blake Shelton (1976). 

Well, it’s Saturday, and I’ve got music to work on, a floor to vacuum, four cats to pet, a shelf to install… but I think I’ll start by taking a shower and getting dressed eventually. I might not do any of those things. I really have no idea what I’ll do at any given time. Everyone have a great day!

Random News: June 17, 2022

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 June 17, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here’s… I don’t even know what. Some kind of stuff, I guess…

• Held yesterday, the third session of hearings by the January 6 Select Committee may have been the most damning yet to Donald J. Trump and the people who knowingly helped spread the lie about the 2020 election results.
• First and maybe most important: the people testifying are Republicans and/or conservative justices and lawyers. This information is coming from people formerly on Trump’s own team.
• It was revealed that the mob made it to within 40 feet of VP Mike Pence, and that an informant within the Proud Boys far-right nationalist group testified that they "would have killed Mike Pence if given the chance."
• I just can’t even start on John Eastman.
• He invoked the Fifth Amendment 100 times during his own Jan 6 deposition. He wrote emails which the committee has and displayed during the proceedings that clearly incriminate himself, Trump, and others in the organization. They admit that there was no case for election fraud but that the election be nullified or the results be held off unconstitutionally.
• Knowing he was guilty, Eastman wrote the following email to Rudy Giuliani: "I've decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.” Narrator’s voice: he was not added to the list.
• Eastman’s email evidence clearly shows that Trump knew it was a lie, knew it was illegal, and did it anyway, and purposefully. This places Trump himself in a position of being indicted for his role in a criminal conspiracy and possibly much more.
• Retired Federal judge J. Michael Luttig stated that the same events that happened on January 6 can definitely happen again after the 2024 election, and that Trump and his supporters pose a clear and present danger to democracy. "It's because to this very day, the former president, his allies and supporters pledge that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican Party presidential candidate were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election but succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020.”
• Luttig isn’t just a conservative; he’s Ted Cruz’s mentor, and the John Eastman mentioned above clerked for him. 
• Side note about Luttig… a lot of folks were cracking jokes about his slowness of speech. He had a stroke not long ago, so it’s amazing he was able to testify at all.
• In order to safeguard transition of power and avoid another coup attempt in future elections, the J6 Committee says it’s going to propose legislation to close the loopholes in old election laws that Trump and Eastman tried to exploit.
• The midterms are only 145 days away. Work quick, people.
• A total of seven sessions are expected for the Jan 6 hearings. No definite word on the schedule for upcoming sessions.
• Deep breath. Okay. Moving on.
• This Sunday is June 19th, known as Juneteenth among the Black American community. As of last year, it became a federal holiday (officially celebrated on Monday 6/20 this year). Despite Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation being issued on January 1, 1863, the end of slavery didn’t happen overnight. It was 2-1/2 years later on June 19, 1865 that the freedom of enslaved people was proclaimed in Texas, the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery.
• Side note: that happened because a Union general named Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with 2,000 heavily-armed troops to tell the Texan slave owners to fuck off and let 250,000 Black people free or have their asses kicked. That’s how it works in Texas.
• Like every holiday, Juneteenth is already being commercialized, and it’s easy to become cynical as such. Still, the fact that it’s officially recognized is a positive step. It had been since 1983, when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted, that the US had a new federal holiday.
• From the sports desk… congrats to the Golden State Warriors, who beat the Boston Celtics 4-2 to win the 2022 NBA Championship.
• Ukraine is still being invaded by Russia.
• Abortion is health care. So is contraception.
• Social security is not an “entitlement”. You paid for it.
• Today in history… Sir Francis Drake “discovers” a place he calls Nova Albion and claims it for England, known today as California (1579). Mumtaz Mahal dies in childbirth, and her husband spends 17 years building her mausoleum, known as the Taj Mahal (1631). Crazy Horse and 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne native people put a beatdown on General George Crook at Rosebud Creek (1876). The College Board introduces a standardized test that will become the SAT (1901). Iceland declares independence from Denmark (1944). The SCOTUS rules 8-1 against the requiring of reading Bible verses in public schools (1963). O.J. Simpson is arrested for murder after a famous chase in a Ford Bronco (1994).
• June 17 is the birthday of English king Edward I (1239), composer Igor Stravinsky (1882), guitarist Cliff Gallup (1930), complete asshole Newt Gingrich (1943), singer Barry Manilow (1943), keyboardist and singer Gregg Rolie (1947), comedian Joe Piscopo (1951), tennis great Venus Williams (1980), and NFL player Amari Cooper (1994).

I hope you have a good day. I hope you help other people have a good day. I hope people can be kind and smart instead of dumb and mean. It’s okay to hope. Enjoy your Friday regardless.