Random News: November 13, 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 November 13, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. I’m a happy man in a bathrobe with glad tidings for all.

• As I screamed last night in a shameless display of genuine enthusiasm, despite all of the poorly-done polls and pundits who rang the bells of gloom and doom, the Democrats held the Senate with the reelection of Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
• There’s a lot to talk about and a lot still in play with this election, but…
• Trip the fuck out on this.
• The Nevada senate seat that Catherine Cortez Masto won last night was once held by Harry Reid. Reid lost this seat to Paul Laxalt in 1974.
• Reid won it back in 1986 when Paul Laxalt retired.
• Reid himself anointed Cortez Masto as his successor in 2016, and passed away in 2021.
• Last night she held Reid's old seat by defeating Adam Laxalt… Paul Laxalt's grandson… and preventing Reid's arch nemesis, Mitch McConnell, from becoming majority leader.
• That’s fucking poetic karma, baby. That’s some epic multigenerational karmic goodness.
• I saw a number of people say last night that, “Now we don’t need Walker in Georgia.”
• WRONG. Huge wrong.
• All we have now is a tie at 50-50, and the only reason it’s under Dem control is the tie-breaking vote of VP Kamala Harris.
• That in and of itself has screwed us a bunch of times in the past two years, when you get a rogue Senator like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema. 
• Also, if Warnock wins the Georgia runoff, Chuck Schumer can pick up the pace of judicial confirmations, with no more Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocks that force Democrats to waste time on floor votes for discharge petitions. 51-49 would be huge.
• However, those aren’t the big factors. 
• The reason why Warnock MUST beat Walker — apart from Walker being an idiot — is that it completely changes the landscape of the 2024 election.
• Based on the election cycle, it’s going to be even tougher for Democrats to retain control of the Senate in the next election. We need Walker as badly now as we ever did.
• I know that Georgia will do the right thing. Early voting for that election starts November 28, with the election being held on December 6.
• I also know that the enthusiasm and support (financial and enthusiasm) Walker will get now, versus before the Dems grabbed Senate control, will be greatly diminished.
• So this is our investment in today and in the future.
• And now, The Weather: “Melted Rope” by Wand
• Okay, let’s talk about the House.
• I have said all along that I think the Republicans will take the House. Last spring, they were estimating a gain of 60+ seats.
• As of this morning, they are still on track to take the House. The current tally at this moment has the Democrats at 204 seats, and the Republicans at 211.
• The magic number for a majority is 218.
• Is there still any possibility that against all odds and despite all predictions and historical precedent, the Democrats still have a path to retain control of the House? Can the Dems get to 218 or even 219?
• Yes.
• But it’s incredibly unlikely, and so many remaining close races would have to go unexpected ways that I can’t possibly hope that it will work out that way.
• What’s taking so long? It’s fucking hard to accurately count hundreds of thousands of votes, and some of the votes have issues that require them to be checked individually.
• I’d rather the count be accurate than fast. I’d rather people’s votes count than to be thrown away because we’re impatient and it’s inconvenient to check.
• There is one House race that I want to call out because it was so shocking.
• In Washington’s somewhat-rural 3rd district, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez scored a stunning upset victory yesterday, beating Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent for a House seat in a district that was long dominated by the GOP. How and why?
• The current GOP Rep, Jaime Herrera Beutler, voted for impeaching Trump. Beutler would have easily won the district, but the MAGA folks primaried her. Then Joe Kent, the crazy super-right guy they ran, couldn’t get enough support.
• They fucked themselves… again.
• Based on the election as a whole, don’t EVER let anyone tell you your vote doesn’t matter… in every state and every race, it matters and YOU matter.
• There’s so much more to talk about, specifically in regard to the fallout from the election and what might change in the GOP as a result. But that is a ton of info on its own, and I think we’ve gone over enough for the time being.
• So for now, that’s all I’m going to say about that. Based on the rate I’m seeing vote tallies coming in, it could be a good while before we know all the results of this election. I’m gonna chill and let the process play out.
• Some people who are definitely not chill… the assholes who are protesting at the Maricopa County, AZ elections office in regard to the ongoing governor’s race there.
• I support the First Amendment right to peaceably gather and protest, as I’ve done on many occasions. I do NOT support crowds of people gathering with the specific intent of intimidating others into some action.
• That’s terrorism, and it’s fucking wrong.
• Today in history… The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle (1851). The United States Supreme Court upholds mandatory vaccinations for public school students in Zucht v. King (1922). The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City (1927). The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles (1947). Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death (1969). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans (1982). Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union (1994). Hawaii legalizes same-sex marriage (2013).
• November 13 is the birthday of novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850), SCOTUS justice Louis Brandeis (1856), producer Garry Marshall (1934), musician Ray Wylie Hubbard (1946), actor Joe Mantegna (1947), musician Terry Reid (1949), actor Chris Noth (1954), actress Whoopi Goldberg (1955), NFL player Vinnie Testaverde (1963), and TV host Jimmy Kimmel (1967). 

Well, as always, there are more things to think about and discuss than I have time or energy to spend, so we’ll leave it there for now. Today I’m going to do a few necessary chores and be a semi-productive person. I always am glad, when I wake up on Monday, that I handled that shit on Sunday, so I think of it as an investment in my own future happiness. Enjoy your day.