Random News: November 25, 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, um afternoon… It’s November 25, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here are some observations from a guy with a food hangover.

• In the never-ending election, congrats to congresswoman Mary Peltola. The Democrat was elected to a full term (after winning a special election this summer) via Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, beating former governor Sarah Palin.
• Peltola is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and the first woman to hold Alaska's House seat.
• Oddly enough, I’ll also send congrats to Alaska’s Republican senate winner, Lisa Murkowski. She won reelection over Trump-backed election-denying fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka. 
• Murkowski was one of the few Republicans with balls who voted to impeach Trump in his second impeachment trial for inciting the January 6 failed coup attempt.
• Speaking of FPOTUS, he had an interesting dinner on Wednesday night.
• It was at Mar-a-Lago with Kanye West, who is running for president in 2024, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
• According to Ye on a video after the event, he a) asked Trump to be his vice-president in 2024, and then b) Trump started screaming at him, said he’ll lose, and called Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian an expletive that Kanye didn’t appreciate at all.
• These are weird fucking people, man.
• True story: I never wanted to be President of the United States. 
• Also, the older I got, the less appealing the job seemed.
• If you were going to President, it’s helpful to have a background in military service. 31 of the 46 Presidents do. It’s also a good idea to be a lawyer, which 27 of the 46 have been.
• Statistics say being a Governor or member of Congress seems to work.
• Here are all the governors who became President…
• Thomas Jefferson (VA), James Monroe (VA), Martin Van Buren (NY), John Tyler (VA), James K. Polk (TN), Andrew Johnson (TN), Rutherford B. Hayes (OH), Grover Cleveland (NY), William McKinley (OH), Theodore Roosevelt (NY), Woodrow Wilson (NJ), Calvin Coolidge (MA), Franklin Roosevelt (NY), Jimmy Carter (GA), Ronald Reagan (CA), Bill Clinton (AR), George W. Bush (TX).
• And here are the nearly equal number of Senators who stepped up to be POTUS…
• James Monroe (VA), John Quincy Adams (MA), Andrew Jackson (TN), Martin Van Buren (NY), William H. Harrison (OH), John Tyler (VA), Franklin Pierce (NH), James Buchanan (PA), Andrew Johnson (TN), Benjamin Harrison (IN), Warren G. Harding (OH), Harry S. Truman (MO), John F. Kennedy (MA), Lyndon B. Johnson (TX), Richard M. Nixon (CA), Barack Obama (IL), Joe Biden (DE).
• As you’d expect, a good number of people served in the House before being President…
• James Madison (VA), John Quincy Adams (MA), Andrew Jackson (TN), William Henry Harrison (OH), John Tyler (VA), James K. Polk (TN), Millard Fillmore (NY), Franklin Pierce (NH), James Buchanan (PA), Abraham Lincoln (IL), Andrew Johnson (TN), Rutherford B. Hayes (OH), James A. Garfield (OH), William McKinley (OH), John F. Kennedy (MA), Lyndon B. Johnson (TX), Richard M. Nixon (CA), Gerald Ford (MI), George H.W. Bush (TX).
• Only one person was President with no military or previous political experience. I wonder how that worked out?
• And now, The Weather: “Green Viridian” by Fonteray
• There were a bunch of shootings yesterday here in America on Thanksgiving — in Houston, a couple of them in Portland, three in Atlanta, and so on — but I’m not going to talk about that.
• Instead, I’ll talk about sandwiches. 
• My Thanksgiving meal last night was superb, but it won’t even come close to the sandwich I’m going to be making shortly.
• I used to tell people that my personal turkey sandwich — which involves shredded white meat on white bread with mayo, lettuce, and stuffing — was the best sandwich.
• But as I got older, I realized that my personal tastes and opinions, colored by my own culture and socialization, were just that: mine.
• Subjective to my own perspective, my background, my experiences, I can certainly suggest my sandwich for others to try, and they can do the same for me, but at the end of the day, it’s up to each of us to acknowledge that we are different, and that we’ll each have our own sandwich that we enjoy, and that the world is better with a diverse range of sandwich possibilities, with myriad variety and something for everyone to find to their liking.
• From the Sports Desk… the Sports Desk noticed that in the incredibly exciting action of the World Cup, the USA and England are currently tied 0-0 at the half. There’s a joke going around that whoever loses has to keep James Corden. 
• Today is Black Friday.
• I may or may not shop for holiday gifts today.
• Not, like, in person. The last time I went Christmas shopping in a store was… Jesus… um, like 2006?
• I mean on the Interwebs. If I see something that might be a good gift, I might get it, but I’m not going out of my way in some insane exercise in consumerism. 
• Today in history… Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg (1863). A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City (1864). The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios (1947). Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia (1984). U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua (1986). A five-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast (1999). 
• November 25 is the birthday of violin maker Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri (1666), author/activist Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck (1778), businessman/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835), engineer/businessman Karl Benz (1844), engineer/businesswoman/philanthropist Kate Gleason (1865), MLB legend Joe DiMaggio (1914), singer Percy Sledge (1940), actor John Larroquette (1947), singer Amy Grant (1960), singer-songwriter Mark Lanegan (1964), actress Christina Applegate (1971), and NFL player Donovan McNabb (1976). 

Well, I’ve had a sandwich, and I’ll have another, and I’ll heat up some yams, and have some pie. This is a wonderful day for extreme gluttony, and I have no regrets. Enjoy your day.