Random News: July 15, 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 15, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here is a plethora of whatever…

• This thing with the Secret Service having deleted a bunch of text messages on January 5 and 6, 2021 after a Department of Homeland Security watchdog asked for them is very, very, very troubling.
• Here’s the thing about the Secret Service. While every branch of the government takes its oath to defend the Constitution of the USA against enemies foreign and domestic, that branch is deeply loyal to the President for obvious reasons.
• Those are the people who are sworn to dive in front of the President to take a bullet for them.
• When Mike Pence was going to be hanged by the January 6 mob, he was told to get in a car with the Secret Service to be escorted to safety, and he refused. Why would he do that?
• Your takeaway from that is that Pence knew that this force, intensely loyal to Trump, might actually kill him themselves at Trump’s order.
• We have to find out what was in those text messages.
• Yikes.
• Ivana Trump, the first of the former president's many wives and the mother of Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric, died yesterday at age 73.
• She was found unconscious and unresponsive at the bottom of some stairs.
• She was previously in good health and had no known health issues.
• The former President sent out a note of condolences about her death… with a fundraising donation button beneath it.
• The timing of this is odd, since Trump, Vanky, and Junior were supposed to be testifying soon in a civil probe led by New York AG Leticia James. Now they have a reason to delay it.
• Yikes.
• Here’s a note on 10-year-old rape victims. They are children. There is no type of investigation needed to determine why a 10-year-old is pregnant. If they are pregnant regardless of circumstances in the world, they have been raped.
• And yet, a conservative being interviewed on CNN yesterday opined that if the rape was legitimate, she should have asked for contraceptives or reported the rape.
• She’s in fourth or fifth grade.
• Fucking pieces of shit. I’m going to assume this is what you support if you vote for a Republican on any level.

• Let me tell you something: some things don’t need a “both sides” opinion. No one needs to look at the Holocaust and try and defend the Nazi position. No one needs to look at the many cases of lynching of Black people and try and explain the KKK’s outlook.
• And no one needs to try and find blame for the 10-year-old child who is pregnant beyond the actions of her rapist. She’s been raped. She cannot consent, legally or ethically. There is no other side.
• Do not let Republicans tell you otherwise.
• QotD: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” - H. P. Lovecraft
• From the sports desk… Tiger Woods missed the cut at the Open at St. Andrews. I admire Tiger’s efforts in coming back from his horrific injuries, but it’s time to hang up the putter and find a new direction for his skills. He’s only 46 and has a long life ahead of him. Side note: his terrible score of 75 is nine strokes better than the best game of my life when I was golfing on a regular basis.
• Today is history… Dedication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome (484 BC). John Ball is hanged, drawn and quartered for his role in the Peasants’ Revolt (1381). The first University of Finland is inaugurated in Turku (1640). The Rosetta Stone is found in Egypt (1799). The Spanish Inquisition is finally disbanded after 356 years (1834). Georgia becomes the last Confederate state readmitted to the Union (1870). Emil Kraepelin names Alzheimer’s disease after his colleague Alois Alzheimer (1910). A company in Seattle is incorporated as Pacific Aero Products, later changing its name to Boeing (1916). 89 protestors are killed by police in Vienna (1927). AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape and The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day (2003). Psy releases “Gangnam Style” (2012).
• July 15 is the birthday of Queen Yun of Korea (1455), Dutch painter Rembrandt (1606), documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker (1925), football player and actor Alex Karras (1935), actor Jan-Michael Vincent (1945), amazing singer Linda Ronstadt (1946), musician Roky Erickson (1947), drummer Artimus Pyle (1948), musician/producer Trevor Horn (1949), publisher Arianna Huffington (1950), wrestler/politician Jesse Ventura (1951), musician David Pack (1952), musician Marky Ramone (1952), musician Johnny Thunders (1952), musician Ian Curtis (1956), guitar shredder Joe Satriani (1956), actor Forest Whitaker (1961), Mythbuster Adam Savage (1967), actor Brian Austin Greene (1973), and NBA player Damian Lillard (1990).

Well, it’s Friday, and I’m going to have a good day, unless some shit happens that makes it a shitty day, and then I’m going to deal with whatever that is. That’s life. You’d better make a point of appreciating the good times, because you’ll always notice the bad times. Enjoy your day.