Random News: July 14, 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 July 14, 2022, and it’s a Thursday. Here’s some stuff I’m writing while drinking coffee…

• Facebook recently let me know that I am a public figure with a “wide reach”, and insisted on having me add some extra protection to my account in the form of further authentication to my identity.
• It’s funny how I didn’t become a public figure until becoming a news source, but I suppose it could be a coincidence.
• I genuinely don’t care. Perhaps I will when they start killing all the academics and media people. As long as I’m alive, I’m gonna keep dishing out the info to whoever is looking.
• President Biden has been in the Middle East, first in Israel and then in Saudi Arabia.
• On one hand, it’s obvious from an economic and global political standpoint that maintaining a good relationship with the Saudis is probably a good idea. Biden specifically stated that if we’re not there, that vacuum gets filled by Russia and China. I get it.
• On the other, these are the people who killed journalist Jamal Kashoggi, a murder ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS).
• Biden said he wouldn’t meet with MBS as a result.
• He met with MBS.
• It’s funny how many people are fast to define countries like Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan as enemies of the USA, but always back off as soon as Saudi Arabia is brought up, despite the fact that Saudis have been directly responsible for acts of terrorism that affected Americans.
• Remember Osama bin Laden? Born and raised in Riyadh. 
• I’m not here to be a nationalist piece of shit, but it’s a tricky situation with the Saudis, to put it mildly, and I don’t have any easy answers because there are none.
• As-salamu alaykum.
• Bill Gates is going to donate virtually all of his wealth and drop off the world’s richest person list. Good for him. No one needs money after they’re dead. Use it for good things while you’re here. I applaud this.
• Too many people are already talking about the 2024 election. Stop doing that. Talk about the 2022 midterm elections this November 8, which will have a much bigger impact on your future and that of your family.
• Here’s a little secret: the President (any President) isn’t very important.
• Right now is the time to make sure that you are registered to vote, and haven’t been removed from voter rolls. It’s very easy to do; ask me how!
• The man who raped the 10-year-old in Ohio, causing her to get pregnant and require an abortion that she couldn’t get in her home state, has been arrested and charged with felony rape.
• When the news came out, conservative media outlets and Republican officials said the girl was lying or didn’t even exist.
• Ohio Republican congressman and amazing piece of shit Jim Jordan tweeted, "Another lie. Anyone surprised?" He deleted the tweet after the arrest.
• Fox News is still giving the opinion that the Ohio doctor who helped the 10-year-old get her abortion in Indiana should be arrested.
• Assholes.
• Speaking of Twitter, apparently they had a global outage this morning before we people on the West Coast woke up. I’m trying not be paranoid about these huge systems (like Canada’s telecom giant Rogers) going down. I’m sure conspiracy theorists are enjoying their thoughts.
• Yesterday was Amazon’s Prime Day. Guess what I bought?
• Nothing. I bought nothing.
• My happiness is not contingent on the things that I have. In fact, the less I have, the happier I seem to be. Odd, isn’t it?
• QotD: “All happiness depends on courage and work.” - Honoré de Balzac
• Today in history… Louis VIII becomes king of France (1223). Storming of the Bastille in Paris (1789). The first ascent of the Matterhorn is done by Edward Whymper (1865). 47 acres of Chicago burns down (1874). Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett (1881). Adolf Hitler abolishes all German political parties other than the Nazis (1933). Mario Bros. is released in Japan, starting the franchise (1983). NASA’s New Horizons problem flies by Pluto (2015).
• July 14 is the birthday of Japan emperor Murakami (926), Tuscan duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici (1610), artist Gustav Klimt (1862), animator William Hanna (1910), songwriting god Woody Guthrie (1912), President Gerald Ford (1913), film director Ingmar Bergman (1918), Sabian cymbal founder Robert Zildjian (1923), actor Harry Dean Stanton (1926), football player Rosie Grier (1932), activist Jerry Rubin (1938), general Claudia J. Kennedy (1947), and the greatest guitarist that ever strapped on a six-string, Kyle Gass (1960).

I don’t know what today will bring. None of us do. Could be a great day. Could be awful. Could be a normal day where not much exciting happens, and frankly that’s probably for the best, if it works out that way. Enjoy your Thursday.