Random News: December 15, 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 December 15, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Here’s a random smattering of various informational items…

• You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not be an election-denying insurrectionist, I’m telling you why…
• Jack Smith is coming to town. His team has now sent subpoenas to local and state officials in all seven of the key states – Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – targeted by the FPOTUS and his allies as part of their bid to upend Joe Biden’s legitimate victory.
• Last night, the House passed a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of this week. The bill must now go to the Senate to be approved before it can go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The Senate could vote as soon as today.
• It only extends the government for a week while they figure their shit out on a broader, full-year government funding deal.
• Following up from a previous note in these here bullets, the DOJ filed a lawsuit yesterday against Arizona in regard to Doug Ducey’s ridiculous border wall of shipping containers, accusing the state of trespassing on federal land.
• “Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States," the complaint reads.
• Don’t damage the United States, Arizona.
• Speaking of Arizona, this sounds kinda crazy.
• Yesterday morning at an Amazon Flex facility in Chandler, AZ, a gunman allegedly opened fire in the parking lot, wounding a contract worker, and then another contract worker pulled out his gun and killed the shooter.
• I’m glad I don’t work somewhere that I feel compelled to carry a gun.
• Not all the time, anyway.
• Moving on.
• My band They Stole My Crayon recorded parts of our debut album at a studio in Hesperia, CA.
• That city and its sheriff’s department was ordered to issue a $1 million settlement yesterday over allegations they illegally discriminated against Black and Latino renters.
• According to DOJ’s court filings, the 2015 ordinance instructed landlords to evict tenants accused of criminal conduct, even if the offense was minor or if it didn't result in formal charges, an arrest, or conviction.
• That’s straight-up illegal bullshit, obviously.
• Under the program, Black renters were almost four times more likely to be evicted than White renters and Latino renters were 29% more likely to be evicted.
• Assistant AG Kristen Clarke, who leads the DOJ Civil Rights division, said that some 2,000 jurisdictions across 48 states have enacted similar policies, and that this Hesperia settlement sends a signal to other communities that they’d be held accountable if they violate anti-discrimination law.
• Good.
• And now, The Weather: “怠 け 者” by pause
• In today’s asshole files, meet Florida pastor Evan Edwards and his son, Josh. 
• They were arrested yesterday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal COVID relief funds and attempting to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World. 
• What complete assholes. 
• Some good news: the number of U.S. deaths dropped this year (assuming a bunch of you don’t die in the next couple of weeks).
• Some bad news: the death rate is still a good amount higher than it was before COVID, as you’d probably expect since it’s still very much a thing.
• In “names you hadn’t heard in awhile” news: an Indiana law firm is suing outgoing GOP congressman Madison Cawthorn for over $193,000 in unpaid legal fees. Dumbass.
• Also in the “not paying bills” file: Elmo Muck and his company Twitter.
• Per media reports, Twitter has stopped paying the rent on some of its office leases and hasn't paid numerous other vendors since Elmo acquired the company in late October.
• Bill Reynolds, a Colorado landlord who leased Twitter around 40,000 square feet in Boulder, CO says, “If you don't pay, you don't stay. They aren't paying, so they aren't staying.”
• Irony: media tried to give Twitter a chance to respond to or comment on this, but they fired their entire communications team so there’s no one to contact.
• From the Sports Desk… the FIFA World Cup is finally drawing to a close. The battle for third place will be between Croatia vs. Morocco on Saturday, while the championship final game is Sunday with Argentina vs. France. 
• Go best team!
• In non-soccer news, pitcher Noah Syndergaard is headed to the Dodgers in a one-year deal. He’ll join a rotation that includes All-Stars Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, and Tony Gonsolin.
• Let’s Go Blue!
• The imbecile who was once president has promised a major announcement today. Will it be a) he wants to be speaker for the house, b) Kari Lake is his 2024 running mate, or c) he’s transitioning to become a very unattractive woman? Anything can happen, you know.
• Today in history… British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia (1778). The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly (1791). The U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burns to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models (1836). The Battle of Nashville begins at Nashville, Tennessee, and ends the following day with the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee as a fighting force by the Union Army of the Cumberland (1864). Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890). The "New World Symphony" by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City (1893). Gone with the Wind — the highest inflation adjusted grossing film — receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia (1939). German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine (1941). Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida and achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7 (1965). Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus, the first successful soft landing on another planet (1970). The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1973). 
• December 15 is the birthday of Roman emperor Nero (37), architect/engineer Gustave Eiffel (1832), businessman/art collector J. Paul Getty (1892), author Betty Smith (1896), sprinter Harold Abrahams (1899), architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907), librarian Eliza Atkins Gleason (1909), pianist Stan Kenton (1911), farmer Max Yasgur (1919), radio DJ Alan Freed (1921), comedian Tim Conway (1933), MLB player/manager Jim Leyland (1944), drummer Carmine Appice (1946), actor Don Johnson (1949), bass player Paul Simonon (1955), MLB player Mo Vaughn (1967), and actor Garrett Wang (1968). 

My day is looking pretty normal. Got work, got meetings, got a couple of deadlines. Nothing I can’t handle. I will tell you, funnily enough, one of my things to do (probably in the later evening) is to add to my ongoing playlist of music I use for the daily weather reports here. Unlike aggravating these bullets, that actually takes time, and i’ve been slacking on it. So I’ll see if I can grab a couple of weeks’ worth of tunes to take us out through the rest of 2022. Enjoy your day.