Random News: July 9, 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 9, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. Some kind of things…

• A general note apropos of basically everything: when a side of a battle realizes they’re going to lose, they start doing desperate things.
• Some of the things we’ve seen in the news lately is exactly that… the last gasp of a dying faction that is trying to remain relevant.
• I’ll give you some examples.
• Ohio House Republicans are advancing a bill that would require schools to teach both sides of the Holocaust.
• You read that right.
• In Tennessee, a court has ruled that a foster care/adoption agency that receives state funds can decide to not allow Jewish parents to adopt children. The ruling can be applied to any business who wants to hang a “No Jews Allowed” sign in their window in Tennessee.
• You read that right too.
• If you’re a normal person who finds this horrifying, and who wants the USA to continue its 246-year tradition of the separation of church and state, then plan on voting for candidates who don’t want to turn this country into a Taliban-like theocracy this fall.
• Sigh.
• Thousands of people stormed the residence of Sri Lanka’s prime minister and forced him to resign. Then they set the house on fire. This is a breaking story, but it doesn’t sound good. 
• President Biden signed an executive order to shore up protections for women seeking abortions and the agencies who provide them. I’m not sure how much good it will do for a poor person in a forced-birth state.
• As he also said, the fastest way to make this right is to add two additional pro-choice Senators this fall, and keep a pro-choice House, and then codify the right to abortion into national law.
• It’s not easy, but it is doable.
• I don’t want to waste much time on Elongated Muskrat, but for those who hadn’t heard… a few months ago, he made an offer to buy the social media micro-publishing platform Twitter for $44 billion. Knowing that it was likely that Musk was not serious in his intent to follow-through with the purchase, Twitter had a $1 billion bail-out clause if it didn’t happen.
• Yesterday, Musk officially pulled out of the deal, and is trying to wiggle out of paying the agreed-upon break-up fee. We’ll see how that plays out.
• If our friends in Canada have seemed unusually quiet recently, it’s because one of their main telecom giants, Rogers Communications, has had a huge outage that’s left everything from mobile phones to Internet to ATM and 911 emergency lines down.
• Fact: we (as in, most people on this planet) are all way too dependent on a small number of tech companies, and if something goes wrong and there’s little or no regulation that requires backup systems, it becomes a life-or-death situation for millions of people.
• What would you do with no Internet or mobile phone service?
• What would you do if your debit/credit card stopped working with no advance notice?
• How much cash do you have on you? I think I have $40.
• Side note to that story…  I felt badly for Canadian rock/pop band Metric, who released their first album since 2018 yesterday… right as no one in Canada was able to buy it, stream it, or even watch the videos. That sucks.
• Side note to that side note… I (being an American with Internet) was able to check it out and it’s… not that great. Ah well.
• From the sports desk… congrats to Elena Rybakina — who is definitely not Russian, since Russians were banned from the tournament — on winning the women’s final at Wimbledon. She beat Tunisian Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The men’s final featuring Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios is tomorrow.
• QotD: “True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.” - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
• Today in history… Hadrian enters Rome (118). Henry VIII annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves (1540). Catharine the Great becomes Empress of Russia (1762). Argentina declares independence from Spain (1816). President Zachary Taylor dies suddenly (1850). The 14th Amendment is ratified, giving black people full citizenship and all people in the USA due process of law (1868). The first Wimbledon championships are held (1877). Homosexuality is legalized in New Zealand (1986).
• July 8 is the birthday of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (1578), Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (1932), actor Brian Dennehey (1938), author Dean Koontz (1945), murderer O. J. Simpson (1947), TV host and musician John Tesh (1952), politician Lindsey Graham (1955), actor Tom Hanks (1956), musician Courtney Love (1964), software developer Marc Andreessen (1971), and musician Jack White (1975).

I am bestowing upon thee a wealth of positive vibes and most excellent mojo. For those who are sad, I say that things always get worse before they get better, but long term, they always get better. I mean, not necessarily for you specifically, but overall. Enjoy your day.