Random News: October 17, 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 October 17, 2022, and it’s a Monday. Here are forthcoming items that bounce like a super ball around my brain…

• The former President, on his Truth Social network, said yesterday that American Jews better “get their act together” before “it is too late!”
• Too late for what, Donald?
• Not one Republican spoke out against this blatant statement of antisemitism, so I’m going to assume they’re all onboard with it.
• “We don’t need the former president, who curries favor with extremists and antisemites, to lecture us about the US-Israel relationship. It is not about a quid pro quo; it rests on shared values and security interests. This ‘Jewsplaining’ is insulting and disgusting.” - Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the American Defamation League.
• Remember when we said that a right-wing Supreme Court would reverse Roe v. Wade and most people thought that was an “alarmist” position and was extremely unlikely, if not impossible?
• Well, I’m here to tell you that eventually, the goal of a Republican-led congress is to repeal the 19th Amendment that allows women the right to vote.
• What, is that too “alarmist” for you? Couldn’t possibly happen?
• Guess we’ll see, if enough of you either don’t vote or if you vote for GOP candidates.
• Those men can’t wait to laugh at women who don’t know they are voting for their own rights to be removed. That’s already happening.
• Plans are already in the immediate works to make abortion illegal across all the states, to nullify same-sex marriages, to make homosexuality itself illegal, and to remove access to contraception even for married couples.
• Along with taking away the money you already paid into Social Security and Medicare.
• Current headlines are reading, “GOP keeps lead for House control, Democrats' momentum stalls amid economy worries”
• They want you focused on something that’s momentary and solvable. We’ve been through many economic crunches worse than this… in the late 2000s, in the early ‘90s, in the mid-70s, obviously in the 1930s, and so on.
• But what they really want is to make long-lasting changes that tighten their grip of authoritarian government control.
• Inflation is terrible, but it’s temporary. The changes to our rights as Americans can last forever.
• Also, ask yourself this: prices are super high, and corporations are reporting record profits. Why are you blaming the many governments of the world? How about blaming greed instead?
• From the Sports Desk… we now have out MLB conference series almost lined up. The ALCS will feature the Houston Astros versus the winner of tonight’s Game 5 matchup of the Yankees and Guardians, and the NLCS has the Philadelphia Phillies taking on the San Diego Padres. I’m not bitter about the 111-win Dodgers losing to the substantially weaker Padres. If you want to be a champ, you have to win when it counts.
• The Sports Desk would also like to note that out of 13 NFL games this week thus far, he picked exactly four correctly.
• And now, The Weather: “Fallback Man” by Swanes
• Other things going on: literally dozens of shootings, teachers’ strikes, cold fronts moving in, radioactive waste at elementary schools… I mean, really, there are plenty of days where being aware of things is not the preferable option.
• “Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes.” - Barack Obama, this weekend
• He’s got a point.
• Oh, and Ye is buying Parler, unless he changes his mind.
• Today in history… Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded (1558). The nine regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England are hanged, drawn and quartered (1660). Eight people die in the London Beer Flood (1814). Aboriginal Australians kill nineteen Europeans in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre (1861). Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service (1907). Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion (1931). Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States (1933). The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield, England (1956). OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War (1973). Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1979). The 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing 63 (1989). The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in Canada (2018). 
• October 17 is the birthday of poet Jupiter Hammon (1711), drummer Cozy Cole (1909), playwright Arthur Miller (1915), actress Rita Hayworth (1918), actor Montgomery Clift (1920), actor Tom Poston (1921), guitarist/composer Luiz Bonfá (1922), football coach Don Coryell (1924), daredevil Evel Knievel (1938), singer-songwriter Jim Seals (1941), actor/musician Michael McKean (1947), actress Margot Kidder (1948), actor George Wendt (1948), astronaut Mae Jemison (1956), bassist Pino Palladino (1957), actor/comedian Norm McDonald (1959), singer Ziggy Marley (1968), rapper Wyclef Jean (1969), actor Wood Harris (1969), rapper Eminem (1972), and actress Felicity Jones (1983).

I’m dealing with some family shit that just came up over the weekend. That’s how it goes, life. You’re on a highway trucking along, making good time, enjoying the day, and then a meteor falls out of the sky and smashes the road in front of you and you find yourself swerving around and hoping to survive, and still somehow getting to where you were headed on time. It is what it is. I’ll do what I can. Enjoy your day.