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.