Random News: November 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 November 17, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Here’s a random smattering of stuff to run through your brain…

• Imagine if instead of spending $881 billion on the Midterm election (that’s the actual number), that money had gone to house and feed and educate people?
• Our priorities are beyond fucked up. Speaking of which…
• The latest scam by the guy who called himself the president from 2016 to 2020 is a doozy.
• He put out a fundraising effort to support GA senate candidate Herschel Walker. Nice of him, huh? Except…
• When people went to donate money, the fundraising app automatically divided the donation so that 90% of the funds went to Trump, and just 10% went to Walker’s campaign.
• I’m pretty sure the entire aspect of running in 2024 is just a grift. He wants to pocket every penny, use none of it for any actual campaign, and laugh at the fools who are dumb enough to pay him for nothing at all.
• Other members of the GOP will feign shock when this all goes public, but they all know exactly what’s going on.
• “We need more seriousness, less noise, and leaders who are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood.” - Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State in the Trump admin, referring to Trump, 11/16/22
• “While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.” - Ivanka Trump
• Something I find very likely: if the RNC even attempts to hold primaries, Trump will threaten to run as an independent and blow up the entire party.
• The moment that happens, the GOP is gone forever. It will splinter roughly 60/40 into the traditional Republican Party and the MAGA Party, and never the twain shall meet again.
• In yet another rebuke to the FPOTUS, Mitch the Human Turtle McConnell has once again been named the Senate minority leader. He was challenged for the role by Rick Scott (R-FL).
• Yesterday, they had a secret vote to determine their leader, and the results were 37-10-1, with one senator voting “present”.
• In other Senate news, they got enough bi-partisan support to advance the “Respect for Marriage Act” that will codify same-sex marriage as law. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than no protection at all.
• While all 50 Democrat Senators voted in favor, 37 Republican Senators voted against it. The 12 GOP “yes” votes included Roy Blunt (MO), Richard Burr (NC), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Susan Collins (ME), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Rob Portman (OH), Dan Sullivan (AK), Mitt Romney (UT), Thom Tillis (NC), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Joni Ernst (IA), and Todd Young (IN). Respect to them for not being terrible people.
• We can get things done with bi-partisan effort. Too bad it’s so rare.
• Elon Musk announced yesterday that he’s looking for someone to replace him as CEO of Twitter.
• He’s lasted three weeks in this role.
• And now, The Weather: “Coyotes” by Bill Callahan
• Congrats to Karen Bass for defeating billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso to become the next mayor of Los Angeles. Caruso spent over $100 million of his own money on his campaign… for nothing.
• Black women now lead 8 of the 100 most populous US cities (including #2 and #3): Karen Bass (Los Angeles), Lori Lightfoot (Chicago), Vi Lyles (Charlotte), London Breed (San Francisco), Muriel Bowser (D.C.), LaToya Cantrell (New Orleans), Tishaura Jones (St. Louis), and Elaine O’Neal (Durham).
• Congrats to Katie Porter, who somehow won reelection to the House representing a very conservative area of Orange County, CA. People respect leaders who work hard and get shit done, and Katie is one of them.
• Voters in Arizona have rejected their Proposition 309, which would've enacted stricter voting laws and ID requirements and disenfranchised thousands of Indigenous voters.
• This is great news for anyone who cares about democracy and voting access.
• Larry Brock, who is a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, was convicted on Wednesday of six misdemeanor and felony charges in the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
• He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years behind bars, though federal guidelines will likely lead to a far lower sentence.
• Brock walked around the Senate chamber for eight minutes on January 6, rifling through senators’ desks while wearing a helmet, tactical vest and carrying plastic flex-cuffs.
• Sources are saying that Rep Adam Schiff has decided not to seek a leadership post in the House Dem caucus, and is instead looking more seriously at a Senate run.
• I do admire and respect Dianne Feinstein, but when her current term ends in 2024, she will be 91 years old. She might actually retire before that. Schiff will make a great Senator for CA if that’s what he chooses.
• I want to make a correction. On Tuesday, I’d said the reason early voting for the GA senate runoff can’t start on Saturday was because it was after the Robert E. Lee holiday. That was bullshit and I bought it.
• The actual reason is that it’s on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A 2016 Georgia state law – passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support – prohibits voting on the Saturday after a Thursday or a Friday holiday.
• I will always set the record straight if I say something incorrect.
• “A werewolf can kill a vampire. Did you know that?” - Herschel Walker
• Today in history… Emperor Charles the Fat is deposed by the Frankish magnates (887). Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England (1558). Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason (1603). The United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C. (1800). Sweden declares war on the United Kingdom, though no fighting ever takes place (1810). The city of Denver, Colorado is founded (1858). In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated (1869). The Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath (1947). American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor (1947). President John F. Kennedy dedicates Washington Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington, D.C., region (1962). Viewers of the Raiders–Jets football game in the eastern United States are denied the opportunity to watch its exciting finish when NBC broadcasts Heidi instead, prompting changes to sports broadcasting in the U.S. (1968). In Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook.” (1973). United States House of Representatives passes a resolution to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement (1993). The first known case of COVID-19 is traced to a 55-year-old man who had visited a market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China (2019).
• November 17 is the birthday of Roman emperor Vespian (9), painter Bronzino (1503), French king Louis XVIII (1755), actor Lee Strasberg (1901), engineer/businessman Soichiro Honda (1906), actor Rock Hudson (1925), politician Jim Inhofe (1934), legend director Martin Scorsese (1942), musician Gene Clark (1944), actor Danny DeVito (1944), producer Lorne Michaels (1944), MLB pitcher Tom Seaver (1944), NBA player Elvin Hayes (1945), guitarist Martin Barre (1946), politician Howard Dean (1948), guitarist East Bay Ray (1948), actor Stephen Root (1951), actor RuPaul (1960), diplomat Susan Rice (1964), and musician Jeff Buckley (1966). 

Alrighty! I’ve got meetings. I’ve got copy to write and graphics to design and video to edit. I’ve got things to plan and budget and schedule and promote. So it’s a normal day. I’m going to do the things I can, not do the things I can’t (or won’t), and just basically be a typical person on a typical planet in a typical galaxy. Enjoy your day.