Random News: November 29, 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 29, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday. Various meanderings of a distracted brain heading your way…

• From the Complete Idiots folder, meet the Board of Supervisors in Cochise County, AZ.
• Yesterday was the deadline for all 15 Arizona counties to certify their election results. All of them did, with the exception of Cochise, who seem onboard with Kari Lake’s unfounded election fraud allegations, backed with zero evidence.
• Cochise’s action could put at risk the votes of some 47,000 county residents and could inject chaos into the election if those votes go uncounted.
• And here’s the thing: Cochise County is very Republican. If those votes went uncounted, it would flip two races to Democrats: the contest for state superintendent and a congressional race won by Republican Juan Ciscomani.
• That won’t happen, of course. Courts will step in and deny these election deniers the chance to subvert the free and fair vote of Americans.
• The other day, I mentioned the looming nightmare of a national rail strike.
• Last night, President Biden called for Congress to act immediately to head off an economically crippling freight rail strike, saying there appeared to be “no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table.”
• Biden asked that Congress act “without any modifications or delay” to impose a tentative settlement that leadership of railroads and 12 unions had hammered out in September.
• Presidents have involved themselves in strikes that affect the entire nation on many occasions, perhaps most famously in August 1981 when Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers.
• Speaking of former presidents, a smattering of Republicans have managed to condemn Trump for having spent Thanksgiving with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
• “President Trump hosting racist antisemites for dinner encourages other racist antisemites. These attitudes are immoral and should not be entertained. This is not the Republican Party.” - Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
• “There is no room in the Republican Party for white supremacy and antisemitism. It’s wrong. I think Republicans should all condemn white supremacy.” - Senator Rick Scott (R-FL)
• “I condemn white supremacy and anti-semitism. The president should never have had a meal or even a meeting with Nick Fuentes.” - Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
• “President Trump was wrong to give a White nationalist, an antisemite and Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize for it. And he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification.” - Former VP Mike Pence
• And the ever-eloquent Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): “It’s bad – there’s no question about it.”
• More concerning is that few of the other Republican leaders would give any statement condemning Trump’s actions in legitimizing a Holocaust denier.
• As long as we’re doing quotes, here’s one straight from the mouth of Trump’s dinner guest Fuentes…
• “America, for what it’s worth, was founded by white Christians. It was not founded by Jewish people. It was not founded by Judeo-Christians. It was founded by white Christians. And white Christians are in the majority. Christianity is the religion of this nation. Not Judaism, not the Talmud, not that stuff. It’s just what it is. It’s just a fact. And, you know what? If we’re going to make America great again, we’ve gotta talk about this anti-white thing that’s going on. And if we want to restore America, we’ve got to make America a Christian nation again.”
• The MAGA movement has been based on racial and religious prejudice from the start. You can’t support Trump without supporting MAGA, and you can’t support MAGA without supporting racism and bigotry.
• Just two words for FPOTUS: Jack Smith.
• Moving on.
• The total turnout after the first day of statewide early voting in Georgia is a jaw-dropping 300,438. That’s 70,000 more votes than the previous record set in 2018.
• Keep it up, GA!
• And now, The Weather: “Wasted On You” by Andy Shauf
• Rest in peace to congressman Donald McEachin (D-VA), who passed away from cancer at age 61. House members cannot be appointed to fill a vacancy, so there will eventually need to be a special election to get a new representative for the VA-4 district.
• From the Sports Desk… the USA will be facing Iran in the FIFA World Cup today. In addition to the geopolitical rivalry between the two countries, there’s also bad blood between the squads themselves. Good luck USA.
• The Sports Desk also notes that it’s way too early in the season to be talking about basketball, but the Boston Celtics look tough at 17-4. 
• In the “you heard it here first” folder: Mitt Romney is going to run for President in 2024 against Trump and a smattering of others, and has a pretty good shot at pulling a large percentage of the remaining semi-sane GOP voters with him.
• Today in history… San Jose, CA is founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe and is the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California (1777). The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 54 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance (1781). Union forces under Ambrose Burnside successfully defend Knoxville, TN from Confederate forces under James Longstreet (1863). Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time (1877). FC Barcelona is founded by Catalan, Spanish and Englishmen (1899). Richard E. Byrd leads the first expedition to fly over the South Pole (1929). The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared (1945). Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1963). "I Want to Hold Your Hand", recorded on October 17, 1963, is released by the Beatles in the United Kingdom (1963). Atari releases Pong, the first commercially successful video game (1972). 
• November 29 is the birthday of physicist Christian Doppler (1803), novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832), physicist John Ambrose Fleming (1849), director/choreographer Busby Berkeley (1895), novelist C. S. Lewis (1898), guitarist Merle Travis (1917), author Madeleine L’Engle (1918), sportscaster Vin Scully (1927), musician John Mayall (1933), actress Diane Ladd (1935), musician Chuck Mangione (1940), musician Felix Cavaliere (1944), musician Ronnie Montrose (1947), comedian Garry Handling (1949), writer/director Joel Coen (1954), comedian Howie Mandel (1955), politician Janet Napolitano (1957), politician Rahm Emanuel (1959), actor Don Cheadle (1964), actor Chadwick Boseman (1976), and NFL player Russell Wilson (1988). 

I’ve got a standard Tuesday ahead. Exercise, work, meetings, work, groceries, work, and so on. I also have to get my ass in gear for Christmas shopping. I’m still in the safe zone for now, but if I let it go much longer, it’s going to get stressful, and I need less stress in my life, not more. Enjoy your day.