Random News: August 4, 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 4, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Here come some words about some things…

• I actually know very little about this Alex Jones person and his InfoWars show. The only thing I do know about him was that he famously said that the Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 little kids and six adults were shot and killed, was a hoax. He convinced a lot of people about this, who then went and harassed the grieving parents of those children.
• Jones had already been found guilty of defamation, and has been on trial to determine the damages owed to the parents.
• Yesterday, we found out that his lawyer, for some reason, turned over the contents of Alex Jones’ phone for the past 2-1/2 years to the opposition legal team for the parents.
• In addition to the texts found proving Jones had lied during the discovery portion of the trial, opening him up to perjury charges, there is likely also information on that phone that pertains to the criminal actions of the former president and others involved in the failed January 6 coup attempt. The Department of Justice will be interested in that.
• They also found a bunch of child porn via the phone that Jones claims is the actions of a malware attack. Shrug.
• The Sandy Hook parents want $150 million from Jones. They deserve every bit and more.
• Stay tuned.
• The US Senate has voted to allow Finland and Sweden to join NATO. The vote tally was 95-1, with only Josh Hawley (R-MO) voting no. Hawley is closely tied to the former president and follows his lead in bowing down to Vladimir Putin.
• Rand “Isolation King” Paul didn’t vote yes, but voted “present” instead.
• No one likes him.
• President Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday that helps women cross state borders to obtain abortions. Go Joe!
• From the Sports Desk… when I first saw that the NFL was appealing the 6-game suspension of Cleveland Browns QB/serial sex offender Deshaun Watson, I was mad until I realized they want it to be much more harsh. They’re suggesting Watson should be indefinitely suspended, meaning a least for the upcoming season, and to have a financial penalty as well. Stay tuned.
• QotD: “I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott
• Today in history… Dom Perignon invents champagne (1693). England and the Netherlands capture Gibraltar from Spain (1704). The Revenue Cutter Service is formed, eventually to be renamed the US Coast Guard (1790). The Saturday Evening Post is first published (1821). The Great Fire of Spokane, WA destroys 32 blocks of the city (1889). Anne Frank and her family are arrested by the Gestapo (1944). Jimmy Carter signs off on creation of the US Department of Energy (1977). The FCC rescinds the Fairness Doctrine, probably destroying the world in the process (1987). 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon (2020).
• August 4 is the birthday of Austrian Duke Leopold I (1290), poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792), fashion designed Louis Vuitton (1821), diagram lord John Venn (1834), music god Louis Armstrong (1901), car rental guy Warren Avis (1915), journalist Helen Thomas (1920), hockey great Maurice Richard (1921), actor Richard Belzer (1944), electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze (1947), Olympic runner Mary Decker (1958), one of the very best Presidents in the history of the United States of America, Barack Obama (1961), pitcher Roger Clemens (1962), actor Daniel Dae Kim (1968), race car driver Jeff Gordon (1971), race car driver Kurt Busch (1978), and royal family member Megan, Duchess of Sussex (1981).

Alright. I have a typical busy day of meetings and deadlines. But that’s okay. A brief aside: my job is writing (and drawing and coding) about products used for making music and audio. I can’t help but think that the things I do for a living, in their own way, make the world a better place in which to live. I’m very lucky in that regard. There are people who do my job for companies that make guns, or whose services are designed to make susceptible people lose their life savings, and so on. They choose to do those jobs. I may complain a bit about being busy all the fucking time, but at the end of the day, I am very, very, very lucky to have fallen into the career I’ve had, and I always appreciate that. Enjoy your day.