Random News: September 27, 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 27, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday, Some items of possible note…

• Why do I get the feeling when I see pundits talking about “collapsing birth rates”, most of them seem to be mostly concerned with lower birth rates among white people specifically?
• I sometimes get the feeling that many of the biggest issues of the day, from abortion bans to many other women’s rights issues, actually have their roots in this topic.
• Having fewer children has, for the most part, been a conscious decision by people in recent decades for understandable reasons. 
• Child mortality used to be so high that people would, morbidly, have multiple kids with the expectation that not all of them were going to make it. Much less true today.
• The cost of raising children has outpaced the average income earnings of most people. They feel they shouldn’t bring kids into the world that they can’t properly support. A responsible view, if you ask me.
• Perhaps most importantly, women today know that they have many choices beyond being a birthing machine for new humans. More empowered women in the workforce, more women choosing not to marry out of economic necessity, or deciding to have kids later in life, also translates to less kids being born overall.
• Now here’s the conundrum. In 1950, the global average was five children per woman. In 1980, it was 3.7 children per woman. 
• But by 2020, it dropped down to 2.4.
• Per numbers provided by the UN, when that number goes below 2.1 children per woman, that is called “below-replacement fertility”, resulting in negative population growth. 
• And the USA is now averaging 1.7 births per woman and dropping.
• Good thing we welcome immigrants to supplement our declining population, huh?
• Oh wait.
• Anyway, I think some of these fuckers think that they’re being big-picture world saviors and by doing things like banning abortion and putting up obstacles for women to be independent and self-sufficient, they force the population numbers upward.
• They have no right to do that. That is dystopian nightmare shit.
• Kinda like when they get mad at college loan forgiveness because fewer young people are forced to join the military and become cannon fodder.
• Anyway, just a thought.
• Joe Biden smashed an asteroid yesterday. How many asteroids did the former president destroy? None. None asteroids.
• Kidding aside, congrats to NASA and their Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a 7-year effort which launched a space vehicle in November of 2021 to perform humanity's first ever test of planetary defense technology.
• Awesome!
• Florida has begun evacuations and other preparedness actions for the arrival of Hurricane Ian. I’m hoping everyone does what they can to stay safe, assuming they can afford to do those things.
• Not everyone can.
• Remember Edward Snowden, the former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013 and then fled the country?
• Vladimir Putin welcomed Snowden as a Russian citizen yesterday. 
• I’m not surprised by anything anymore.
• Reminder that tomorrow (Wed Sep 28) at 10AM PDT/1PM EDT is the ninth and likely final public hearing of the January 6 Select Committee. Watch if you can.
• Speaking of January 6, the first of three sedition trials scheduled to take place this year is starting soon. 
• The Justice Department this week will argue at trial for the first time in over a decade that a group of Americans plotted to violently oppose the US government.
• The historic trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four of his top lieutenants will provide a deep dive into a far right-wing militia and extremist movement. Their trial starts today.
• And now, The Weather: “Blankenship” by DIIV.
• Here’s a ridiculous item. A process server was attempting to serve Texas attorney general Ken Paxton with a subpoena for a federal court hearing in a lawsuit from nonprofits that want to help Texans pay for abortions out of state.
• Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, to avoid being served. What a giant pussy.
• It especially ironic, considering that the suit was in regard to Paxton’s legal attempt to block people from fleeing the state to get access to abortion care.
• Today in history… William the Conqueror begins the Norman conquest of England (1066). The death of Pope Urban VII, 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, ends the shortest papal reign in history (1590). Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States for one day after Congress evacuates Philadelphia (1777). The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, is ceremonially opened (1825). Production of the Model T automobile begins at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit (1908). The Republic of China is recognized by the United States (1928). USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first person to exceed Mach 3 but dies in the attempt shortly after (1956). Rachel Carson's book ‘Silent Spring’ is published, inspiring an environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1962). Over two million people participated in worldwide strikes to protest climate change across 2,400 locations worldwide (2019).
• September 27 is the birthday of Florence ruler Cosimo de' Medici (1389), king Louis XIII of France (1601), philosopher/politician Samuel Adams (1722), chemist Hermann Kolbe (1818), cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840), magician Harry Blackstone, Sr. (1885), pianist Bud Powell (1924), sportscaster Dick Schaap (1934), TV hist Don Cornelius (1936), guitarist Randy Bachman (1943), singer/actor Meat Loaf (1947), musician Greg Ham (1953), radio host Marc Maron (1963), NBA player/coach Steve Kerr (1965), actress Gwyneth Paltrow (1972), musician/actress Carrie Brownstein (1974), rapper Lil Wayne (1982), and singer Avril Lavigne (1984). 

Tuesdays are always pretty busy, but the good news is that I got so much shit done Monday that I’m less concerned about my Tuesday shit to do. That’s a good feeling. You wake up and you think, “Oh yeah, I already sent all that shit out,” and that’s just a little less stress than you’d have otherwise. So, I’m riding that positivity until something else stresses me out, which will inevitably happen but I’m not going to worry about the inevitable. Enjoy your day.