Random News: July 3, 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 3, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Here are various things…

• Pete Arrendondo, the man who was in charge of the police response at the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX, has resigned from his newly-elected position on the city council. He was already placed on leave from his job as chief of school police.
• He said he didn’t want to be a distraction. I find the murder of a bunch of school kids a bigger distraction, but whatever.
• Should we talk about the 10-year-old in Ohio who was raped, became pregnant, and can’t get an abortion in her state?
• I wasn’t going to bring it up, but now they kind of forced me to. This morning, governor Kristy Noem (ND) was asked about it, as her state has similar “no exception” abortion laws.
• Noem confirmed that North Dakota would also force this 10-year-old to give birth to her rapist’s baby.
• The girl has been taken to Indiana, where for the moment her abortion procedure is still legal.
• Are you (or your wife or daughter) going to submit to roadside checkpoints to see if you’re pregnant
• This is what Republicans wanted and voted for. There will be many, many more cases like this. That’s what they’ll be celebrating tomorrow on the Fourth.
• A 10-year-old (or for that matter 17-year-old) can’t vote. But you can. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for them.
• My governor, Gavin Newsom, has been running ads in Florida just to troll Ron DeSantis. I approve of this.
• There was a mass shooting last night in Haltom City (near Fort Worth, TX). Two dead (three counting the shooter), another four shot. Fortunately it was one of the smaller mass shootings we have daily in the USA.
• Sydney and its suburbs are getting massive flooding. Stay safe, Aussies.
• From the sports desk… the top 10 teams in Major League Baseball right now: Yankees (58-21), Astros (50-27), Dodgers (49-28), Mets (48-30), Braves (46-33), Padres (46-34), Brewers (45-35), Blue Jays (44-25), Twins (45036), Red Sox (43-35).
• QotD: “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” - Haile Selassie
• I did a full maintenance of my Takamine Pro Series P5DC guitar yesterday. Removed the shitty old strings, full detailed cleaning of the body, lemon oil on the rosewood fingerboard, and restringing. I went with D’Addario EJ10, which. is an extra light gauge (.010-.047) 80/20 bronze set. Man, that thing is sizzling tone-wise, and plays like butter now.
• Today in history… William the Conqueror becomes Duke of Normandy (1035). Quebec City is founded (1608). George Washington takes command of the Continental Army (1775). Dow Jones publishes its first stock average (1884). Idaho is admitted as the 43rd state (1890). Jimmy Carter signs off on secret aid to anti-Russian forces in Afghanistan (1979).
• July 3 is the birthday of Louis XI of France (1423), writer Franz Kafka (1883), actor Ken Russell (1927), guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1930), lawyer Gloria Allred (1941), actor Kurtwood Smith (1943), singer Laura Branigan (1952), talk show host Montel Williams (1956), musician Vince Clarke (1960), actor Tom Cruise (1962), hockey great Teemu Selänne (1970), and um… Julian Assange (1971).

Most of us in the USA have a three-day holiday weekend. I didn’t write anything about Independence Day in this little whiz-bang. Maybe tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday.