Random News: August 31, 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 August 31, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. Here’s a flurry of various observations…

• Last night, shortly before its deadline at 11:59PM EDT, the Department of Justice filed its response to the FPOTUS’s request for a Special Master in the criminal investigation into his actions.
• Just a couple of notes. It’s 36 pages long and you can read it yourself if you so choose.
• One: it was a catastrophic mistake to request the Special Master. It allowed the DoJ to publicly reveal how he engaged in criminal obstruction of justice.
• Two: It wasn’t just one crime that the DoJ laid out in its response. It’s direct evidence of a series of very serious crimes.
• Three: The very fact that he waited two full weeks after the search warrant action to make his request made it too late to stop the analysis of the materials seized.
• Four: not only is there no legal support for the relief that FPOTUS has requested, but now with an avalanche of evidence presented in such a direct way, anyone in the political sphere who had continued to support him now faces being attached to the actions of a very guilty criminal.
• Here’s a short conversation that sums it up nicely.  Don Lemon: “Why would Team Trump even ask for a special master, knowing what the evidence is?” George Conway: “It’s insane. Basically, they asked for the Justice Department to punch them in the face. And that’s what the Justice Department did in this brief.”
• Along with the filing, they included one photo… a sad-looking shot of dozens of secret and top secret documents callously scattered on a Mar-a-Lago floor on top of a tacky carpet, next to a box of framed Time Magazine covers.
• As usual, the FPOTUS isn’t going down alone; he always drags those close to him under at the same time. One of his lawyers, Christina Bobb, signed a document that the stolen documents were were in one storage location when they weren’t, and that all docs were turned over in response to the original subpoena when they weren’t.
• That’s the definition of obstruction. That is many years in jail.
• She’s going to need a really good lawyer.
• What I’m about to say is almost certainly futile, but here’s a message to my old friends who I lost due to their loyalty to the MAGA cult: it’s not too late. I will still welcome you as a friend after you realize that you’ve been conned and cheated for all these years.
• What’s next for FPOTUS? 
• As always, good question.
• Here’s the thing: after a filing this strong, the DoJ has left zero doubt that an indictment is coming. It is coming. That means a trial is coming after that.
• Trump will do everything he can to delay and postpone it through every way that’s ever been done by any criminal.
• I do NOT think he will be indicted until after the election on November 8. It’s unfortunate, but the fact is that the government does not want to be seen taking an action that would be perceived by some as directly influencing the election.
• But at this point, he WILL be indicted for very serious felony-level federal crimes, the greatest of which is the attempt to obstruct justice from being served.
• To tell you what happens after that, I’d need to have psychic powers of precognition, which I do not. I’ll wait and see along with the rest of the world.
• Moving on, sorta.
• Yesterday, Google removed the FPOTUS’s Truth Social app from the Google Play store due to their lack of moderation of violent content… including users openly planning to overthrow the US Government.


• It’s still available on Apple’s App Store. For now.
• And as we mentioned the other day, they are deeply in debt to their hosting company, so all this may be a moot point soon enough.
• RIP to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He died yesterday at age 91. He was definitely one of the key figures of global politics in the later 20th century.
• And now, The Weather: “August” by Michael B. Thomas.
• Today in history… Byzantine Empress Theodora dies childless, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty (1056). King Henry V of England dies of dysentery and Henry VI becomes King of England at the age of nine months (1422). Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta (1864). Mary Ann Nichols becomes the first of Jack the Ripper’s victims (1888). Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon (1895). The USA passes a Neutrality Act to try and stay out of the tensions concerning Germany and Japan (1935). Malaysia gains its independence from the United Kingdom (1957). Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris (1997).
• August 31 is the birthday of Roman emperor and super perv Caligula (12), Roman emperor Commodus (161), Chinese emperor Zhang Zong (1168), educator Maria Montessori (1870), radio/TV host Arthur Godfrey (1903), actor/educator Sanford Meisner (1905), novelist William Saroyan (1908), composer Alan Jay Lerner (1918), actor Buddy Hackett (1924), musician Wilton Felder (1940), illustrator Roger Dean (1944), singer-songwriter Van Morrison (1945), violin great Itzhak Perlman (1945), musician Bob Welch (1945), actor Richard Gere (1949), athlete Edwin Moses (1955), drummer Gina Schock (1957), voice actor Dee Bradley Baker (1962), singer Debbie Gibson (1970), comedian Chris Tucker (1971), and NFL great Larry Fitzgerald (1983).

I suppose that’s enough for now. Go do your Wednesday things. I shall do the same. Tomorrow, perhaps we’ll discuss some of the possible results of the public’s actions after the FPOTUS is indicted. Foreshadow: it won’t be pretty, but the USA doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. Enjoy your day.