Random News: November 20, 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 20, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. I think about stuff, and then sometimes it spills from my fingers…

• There was a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, CO just before midnight last night. At least five are dead and 18 others injured.
• The suspect in the shooting at Club Q was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich. He’s 22. Per the club, it was only due to the heroic actions of its patrons that stopped the devastation from being even worse.
• Openly gay people are, as a whole, very brave. They are constantly under threat of violence their entire lives just for being their true selves.
• Easy prediction: nothing will be done to change the easy access to weapons, nor to improve our system of background checks and red flag laws, as a result of this or any other mass shooting.
• We’re averaging about two mass shootings per day every day of 2022. There have been close to 700 of them this year.
• If I lived outside of this country, I would never visit it, nor allow anyone I cared about to come here.
• Sadly ironic side note: today is the Trans Day of Remembrance, a day that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
• I’ll say the same thing I do after the worst of these, which is that your thoughts don’t help and your prayers do nothing. They may make you feel better, but at that same moment someone else is loading ammunition with the intent of killing more people.
• I should add that there were another 10+ lethal shootings yesterday alone in the USA that weren’t “mass” shootings, so I guess they don’t matter that much.
• Moving on, as we do.
• I did most of my Thanksgiving shopping yesterday evening. The store wasn’t as packed as I’d feared it might be. 
• I got almost everything except the turkey. It’s a risky gamble. I like a fresh bird, but in this weird-ass supply chain purgatory, it’s impossible to know if the turkey of an appropriate size for my meal will be available at the ideal time, which is on Tuesday.
• But I’ve always gotten lucky and ended up with a perfect bird, so I’m rolling the dice again for 2022. Wish me luck.
• And now, The Weather: “Sunday Service” by Daisynuke
• It’s Joe Biden’s birthday, as noted below. The POTUS is 80. No US president has ever been 80 years old while in office. Happy b-day, Joe!
• From the Sports Desk… I hate to be that guy, but with my NFL team sucking so badly, my enthusiasm for the entire season is rather subdued. One game of note: the Buffalo Bills are hosting the Cleveland Browns… at Ford Field in Detroit. 
• As mentioned previously, western New York had over six feet of snow dropped on it like a frozen water bomb, and the Bills’ stadium is unusable as such.
• I realized this morning that we’re getting close to December, which is when I do my annual “Top Indie Music Releases” of the year. That’s always fun to create, and narrowing down my list is a challenge that I enjoy.
• Keep in mind that I feature an indie music release every single fucking day here.
• Feeling like I forgot something… oh yeah.
• I need some Cool-Whip for my pies.
• And the owner of Twitter reinstated the traitorous former president’s account on that platform yesterday.
• I’m a good cook. Not like, a gourmet, and I have some friends who are genuinely great pro chefs and home cooks to whom I would never compare my skills in the kitchen. But I can hold my own doing things like an entire Thanksgiving feast.
• Cooking is a bit like music in that choosing how much of what to add and when to add it is crucial.
• Today in history… New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights (1789). An 80-ton sperm whale attacks and sinks the Essex 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (1820). Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosí, denouncing Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution (1910). Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg (1945). In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation (1962). Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island for a year and a half until being ousted by the U.S. Government (1969). The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation, leading to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System (1974). Lake Peigneur in Louisiana drains into an underlying salt deposit (1980). Microsoft Windows 1.0, the first graphical personal computer operating environment developed by Microsoft, is released (1985). 
• November 20 is the birthday of Roman emperor Maximinus II (270), inventor Mungo Ponton (1801), astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889), linguist Charles Berlitz (1913), pianist Yakov Zak (1913), senator/racist Robert Byrd (1917), lawyer/politician Robert F. Kennedy (1925), actor/host Richard Dawson (1932), musician Dr. John (1941), US President Joe Biden (1942), actor Bob Einstein (1942), musician Norman Greenbaum (1942), musician Duane Allman (19436), musician Joe Walsh (1947), activist Jeff Dowd (1949), actor Rodger Bumpass (1951), guitarist Frank Marino (1954), actress Bo Derek (1956), actor Joel McHale (1971), and rapper Future (1983).

Okay, so… I should get dressed and stuff. My lower back is tweaked, but it’s not the end of the world. I’ve experienced so much worse. In fact, after I shower and put on clothes, I should be pretty good. Not sure of my plans today. Check out some football? Make some music? I genuinely don’t know. Enjoy your day.