Random News: July 17, 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 17, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Things and stuff to peruse…

• Ted Cruz, who is always in the race to the bottom of the worst of humanity, did something very predictable this weekend. He called for the overturn of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court case from 2015 that legalized same-sex marriage across the USA.
• Ted said, “In Obergefell, the court said now we know better than you guys do, and now every state must, must sanction and permit gay marriage. I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. It was the court overreaching.”
• So as predicted, he will be using the overturn of Roe v. Wade to continue the removal of rights of Americans, and make it so the thousands and thousands of same-sex marriages in this country are illegitimate. 
• Spouses will no longer be able to visit their loved ones in hospitals. None of the benefits offered to married couples will be available to same-sex couples, even those who have been married for many years.
• The weird thing about all this shit is how it all removes all of the positive cohesive aspects of living in a country. Now we’ll be living in states and states alone. You’re in one place where you can marry who you want and safely get health care and so on. You drive a short distance away and all those rights are negated.
• Divided we fall.
• As I’ve mentioned before, it won’t stop with Roe or Obergefell. They will be making homosexuality itself a crime, and they will be banning contraceptives for everyone. This is on their immediate agenda.
• They’d love it to be nationwide. They’d love it if the white supremacist, Christofacism that’s par for the course in Alabama to be what rules the people of Washington, or California, or New York.
• Fortunately, most of the states where human rights still matter are in overdrive solidifying state laws that make these rights legal no matter what happens in these other states.
• Unfortunately, if people don’t vote in the midterm election in November, they will try and codify these far-right laws on a national level.
• Vote.
• I recorded a demo yesterday. What’s a demo?
• All musicians make music somewhat differently but also with some similarities. For me, I’ll come up with a musical idea, be it a chord progression or a riff or something, usually just sitting around next to a guitar or keyboard.
• Most of them suck and I don’t do anything with them.
• If they have any potential to not suck, I’ll sometimes do a quick recording on my phone or tablet, just me playing it live so I don’t forget them idea. I’ve also jotted down music in a notebook if that’s convenient.
• If I’m excited about what I wrote, the next step for me is a demo. That’s where I take this musical idea to the next step. I’ll refine the structure, and add some instrumentation, like drums or bass or other guitar overdubs. Sometimes I’ll work on a melody and write some lyrics and record some vocals.
• The goal is to have a preliminary version of the song that you can then further refine as needed. Sometimes the stuff you do on the demo is good enough for release. Other times you don’t use any of that and start from scratch to record it “for real”.
• So that was good. I rarely seem to have time to create music, which is pretty shitty for someone who, in theory, is a performing songwriter.
• In comedy news, trending on Twitter this morning is a right-wing MAGA hashtag to “defund NPR”.
• How NPR is funded: 2% of their operating revenue is from corporate grants. 98% is from private donations from people like you and me. 0% is from tax dollars.
• Saying “defund NPR” is like saying “defund Pizza Hut” or “defund Tesla” or any other private entity.
• And yet, Congressman Dan Bishop (R-NC) is tweeting to defund it. Here’s a better idea: defund Dan Bishop. It’s also way easier to accomplish. Just vote his ass out on November 8.
• Sigh.
• Human-sized bag of lumpy pus Steve Bannon’s trial starts tomorrow for contempt of Congress over refusing to comply with the subpoena from the January 6 committee. 
• Wanna know how guilty Bannon is? On Friday, his attorney David Schoen asked the Republican-appointed judge in the case, "What's the point of going to trial if there are no defenses?" and the judge replied, "Agreed."
• Ha ha.
• QotD: “Don't get the impression that you arouse my anger. You see, one can only be angry with those he respects.” - Richard M. Nixon
• Today in history… Damasus II is named pope and dies 23 days later (1048). Handel’s ‘Water Music’ is premiered on a boat with 50 musicians and King George I on the Thames (1717). Spain cedes Florida to the USA (1821). Willis Carrier invents the air conditioner (1902). Tsar Nicholas II is executed by the Bolsheviks (1918). Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin meet in Potsdam to divide up Germany (1945). Disneyland opens in Anaheim, CA (1955). Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts dock with each other for the first time (1975). The Summer Olympics open in Montreal (1976). The national drinking age changes from 18 to 21 (1984). 
• July 17 is the birthday of actor James Cagney (1899), TV/radio host Art Linkletter (1912), jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (1928), actress/singer Diahann Carroll (1935), actor Donald Sutherland (1935), musician Spencer Davis (1939), quarterback Daryle Lamonica (1941), guitarist Ron Asheton (1948), bass player Geezer Butler (1949), singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow (1950), acorn David Hasselhoff (1952), singer Nicolette Larson (1952), German chancellor Angela Merkel (1954), and musician Lou Barlow (1966).

My list of things to do today includes putting on clothes, vacuuming my downstairs area so I can be pleased with myself when I get up tomorrow, and maybe some more work on my new song, which needs it. Hope you do things that give you a sense of satisfaction today.