Random News: June 16, 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 16, 2022, and it’s a Thursday. Here comes whatever I’m about to write…

• Today’s January 6 Select Committee hearing will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure Mike Pence into illegally overturning the election of Joe Biden.
• One important point of the Jan 6 hearings is that there is still today an ongoing threat to democracy by people pushing the Big Lie.
• The good news is that most of those people, from elected officials to your crazy high school buddy to your QAnon aunt, are quite public about this. Rooting them out isn’t going to be a problem. We already know who they are because they tell us who they are.
• One name you have yet to see come up in my posts is that of Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The Jan 6 Committee has an extensive list of emails between her and Trump lawyer John Eastman, as well as with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and Arizona election officials, all of which pressuring them to illegally overturn the election.
• If these allegations prove accurate, Clarence Thomas must recuse himself from any SCOTUS case that relates to the attempt to subvert the election.
• A reminder to you that 140 police officers were assaulted during the coup attempt. Do not call yourself a supporter of law enforcement ever again if you don’t condemn the Jan 6 insurrection. Do not call yourself a good American either.
• One thing you’ll note throughout the Jan 6 hearings: Trump had no factual basis for what he was doing, and he was completely aware that it was both wrong and illegal.
• People who purposefully break the law are criminals, and our societal rules say that criminals must be punished. You can’t be “tough on crime” and easy on Trump. He’s got to answer for this.
• Enough on that for the moment.
• Revlon just filed for bankruptcy. Yes, the 90-year-old cosmetics company. Apparently they’ve had their asses kicked in recent years by celebrity cosmetic brands like Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty. Also, they got nailed by supply chain issues.
• Bankruptcy doesn’t mean a company is going away. it just means they don’t have to pay their bills.
• In the midst of all this shit, the Supreme Court decision on overturning Roe v Wade is likely imminent. All I’m going to say is wait and see what happens this summer.
• A whole lot of people (that don’t include me) are excited about a new Beyoncé album that’s coming next month.
• From the sports desk: the Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in overtime in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night. Tonight is game 6 of the NBA Finals; the Dubs can win it with a victory in Boston. Otherwise, game 7 is Sunday.
• A shrink-wrapped VHS copy of ‘Back to the Future’ was sold for $75,000 by a Dallas-based auction house. Think about all the shit you’ve thrown away that could now make you wealthy just for hoarding trash.
• Today in history… Spain declares war in Great Britain (1779). The Ford Motor Company is incorporated (1903). A company called Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company is founded in New York, and they later change their name to IBM (1911). Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space (1963). 15,000 students peacefully march in Soweto, South Africa and police open fire on the crowd for no reason (1976).
• June 16 is the birthday of economist Adam Smith (1723), actor Stan Laurel (1890), actor Jack Albertson (1907), songwriter Lamont Dozier (1941), guy who drove O.J. Al Cowlings (1947), boxer Roberto Durán (1951), singer Gino Vanelli (1952), soccer guy Jürgen Klopp (1967), golfer Phil Mickelson (1970), and one of the best rappers in history Tupac Shakur (1971).

I’ll be doing a recap of the Jan 6 hearing tomorrow, but why not watch for yourself today? Meanwhile, stay cool if you’re in a heat wave, and stay cool if people piss you off, and stay cool and be a stylish motherfucker in your own special way.