Random News: September 18, 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 September 18, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. Here are some Sunday thoughts…

• My thoughts go to the people of Puerto Rico dealing with Hurricane Fiona. 
• Puerto Rico, as some people don’t seem to understand, is a US territory with a population of over three million people. Puerto Rican people are Americans. Anything that affects them affects all of us.
• Meanwhile, in other climate change news, Typhoon Nanmadol is heading for Japan and is supposed to bring devastation. Storm severity and high/low temps will continue getting worse until life cannot be sustained on this planet.
• Sorry to bum you out.
• Attorneys representing the legal asylum seekers from Venezuela who were tricked into getting on planes and shipped to Massachusetts have called for a criminal investigation. I actually have an idea in that regard.
• Give them each $1 million from Florida taxpayers. That seems fair to me, and will allow them to establish their lives in this country and work toward becoming citizens.
• In news that is totally normal by now, the Republicans in key battleground races will not commit to accepting the voting results.
• You know that one kid whose team would lose at soccer and they’d cry and stamp and throw a fit, embarrassing their parents and their team? They grew up to become Republicans.
• From the Sports Desk… I’m sort of monitoring the morning NFL games. They’re all in the second half now. This is the second week in a row that I predicted the Colts would do well, and they are severely disappointing me thus far.  I won’t make the same mistake in subsequent weeks.
• I’m starting to get the idea that Vladimir Putin might not be in the lifelong power that he envisioned not long ago. Stay tuned on that news.
• Ukrainians are now using the weapons that Russia abandoned there against Russia itself. They’re on the offensive.
• “Trans” is to MAGA what “Jews” were to Nazis. A group to unjustly vilify and use as a platform to achieve political clout. Most recently, Virginia has moved to officially restrict the rights of trans students in its public schools. 
• Many polls are still showing signs that the GOP could take both the House and Senate. If you do not vote, plan on America becoming the darkest place it’s ever been in its history, with you and your family being directly impacted.
• “What happened to my social security?” asks a grandmother who voted for the person who took it away because they were going to stop the gays.
• And now, The Weather: “Yolk” by Fake Fruit.
• Today in history… Nerva is proclaimed Roman emperor after Domitian is assassinated (96). Norwegian king Harald Hardrada lands with Tostig Godwinson at the mouth of the Humber River and begins his invasion of England (1066). The first cornerstone of the United States Capitol is laid by George Washington (1793). Tiffany & Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) is founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City (1837). First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times (1851). Fritz Pollard becomes the first African American to play professional football for a major team, the Akron Pros (1919). The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) goes on the air (1927). General Douglas MacArthur moves his general headquarters from Manila to Tokyo (1945). Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations (1960). Voyager I takes the first distant photograph of the Earth and the Moon together (1977). First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks (2001). Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom, by 55% to 45% (2014). 
• September 18 is the birthday of Roman emperor Trajan (53), lute player Francesca Caccini (1587), lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709), actress Greta Garbo (1905), actor Jack Warden (1920), director/producer Bud Greenspan (1926), singer Frankie Avalon (1940), singer Michael Franks (1944), computer businessman and weirdo John McAfee (1945), guitarist Kerry Livgren (1949), musician Dee Dee Ramone (1951), basketball coach Rick Pitino (1952), actor James Gandolfini (1961), basketball great Toni Kukoč (1968), actress Jada Pinkett Smith (1971), rapper Xzibit (1974), and soccer player Ronaldo (1976).

Alrighty then. I have things to do. So do you. Enjoy your day.