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.