Random News: December 22, 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 22, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. We shall now delve into small chunks of information, arranged in easily-digestible tidbits…

• It’s that lovely time of year when our government is at its own nadir of effectiveness… the passing of a budget to keep itself running.
• The Senate would like to close shop and go celebrate the holidays and do whatever wealthy people do on their time off, but they’ve got this little $1.7 trillion government funding package to try and push through before the break.
• Also, like many others, they’re looking to get the fuck out of Dodge before this apocalyptic snowy hellscape shuts everything down.
• However, as of yesterday afternoon, they still weren’t close to an agreement that can be sent to the House before federal cash expires on Friday at midnight.
• Specifically, there is major GOP infighting over the spending bill, with Mitch McConnell supporting it and Kevin McCarthy opposing.
• They had to take a break from arguing and voting late yesterday, though.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a rousing and historic 32-minute address to U.S. lawmakers at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. last night.
• He got a number of standing ovations, one after the following quote: “Against all odds and doom and gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn’t fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking.”
• Another one…
• “We’ll celebrate Christmas, and even if there is no electricity, the light of our faith in ourselves will not be put out. If Russian missiles attack us, we’ll do our best to protect ourselves. If they attack us with Iranian drones and our people have to go to bomb shelters on Christmas Eve, Ukrainians will still sit down at the holiday table and cheer up each other.”
• Now that’s a great leader. Slava Ukraini!
• And now, The Weather: “happy accident” by Tomberlin
• While we’re at the weather, I will state, as I have for many days in a row… 
• This quickly-approaching winter storm and cold blast will impact nearly every state. The National Weather Service is calling it a “once in a generation type event” that will cripple travel on some of the busiest travel days of the year.
• Even for those not traveling, the cold temps and wind chills will absolutely be life-threatening for millions of people. More than 100 million people across 37 states are under winter weather alerts, primarily throughout the MIdwest and as far south as the Texas/Mexico border.
• So… do anything you can right now so that you’re prepared for the worst (i.e., loss of power/heat, high risk of serious road accidents, cancelled flights/layovers, pipes freezing, etc.). Thank you.
• Here? No. I live at the beach. It will be lovely though somewhat cloudy and slightly brisk with temps in the mid-60s. But you be careful.
• Moving on.
• A follow-up from a previous item… Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey agreed in court documents yesterday to dismantle a barrier made of double-high shipping containers and razor wire he had ordered constructed along parts of his state's border with Mexico.
• I’d personally like to force him to do it by himself.
• Ducey was sued because the barrier was illegally built on federal land and was causing damage to vegetation and seasonal streams in the Coronado National Forest.
• What a prick. And speaking of Arizona…
• Kari Lake, the person Donald Trump would be minus his small penis and about 300 pounds, took her loss in the Arizona governor’s race last month to court yesterday.
• She has claimed the election was stolen and promised bombshells showing she was the rightful winner as soon as she had her day in court.
• The trial started yesterday. Zero bombshells. The only things her lawyers brought up were small-bore problems that didn’t appear to show the widespread, intentional misconduct she would need to prove.
• Yawn.
• Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who is hearing the case, had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims Lake raised in her lawsuit.
• Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs takes office on January 2.
• Here’s a weird one.
• Kelly Conlon is a lawyer, and her firm is suing a restaurant owned by MSG Entertainment. MSG is also the parent of New York’s famous Radio City Music Hall.
• She was going to see the Rockettes there with her daughter and their Girl Scout troop.
• However, she was identified by facial recognition software while entering with thousands of others, was pulled aside by security, and told to leave. The daughter and the rest of the Scouts were able to see the performance.
• Point being: there is no such thing as pubic anonymity anymore. Frankly, there’s really not online anonymity either. Basically, no matter where you go or what you do, physically or virtually, someone knows a lot more about you than you realize.
• Just saying.
• Jennifer McClellan is on track to become the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
• She won the Democratic primary to fill the seat of Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin, who died last month from cancer.
• McClellan still has to beat her Republican challenger but the district is heavily Democratic and she’s highly favored to win. Good stuff.
• Remember the other day when I told you about George Santos, the GOP representative-elect who lied about his education and employment?
• Turns out he also said his grandparents fled the Holocaust (they didn’t) and also said that he’s been openly gay for a decade… except he divorced a woman in 2019.
• Seriously, this guy is amazing. He may have lied about every single aspect of his life. Well, welcome to Congress, I guess.
• Today in history… Three weeks after the death of King Henry I of England, Stephen of Blois claims the throne and is privately crowned King of England, beginning the English Anarchy (1135). The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson (1807). Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy (1808). Savannah, GA, falls to the Union's Army of the Tennessee (1864). Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography (1891). The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City (1937). German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: “Nuts!" (1944). The first test flight of the SR-71 Blackbird takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA (1964). Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis (1975). Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany (1989). Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63 (2001). The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama (2010). The 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, the longest shutdown of the U.S. federal government in history, begins (2018).
• December 22 is the birthday of playwright Jean Racine (1639), composer Carl Friedrich Abel (1723), politician Frank B. Kellogg (1856), composer Giacomo Puccini (1858), composer Edgard Varèse (1883), chemist St. Elmo Brady (1894), first lady Lady Bird Johnson (1912), actress Barbara Billingsley (1915), actor Héctor Elizondo (1936), journalist Diane Sawyer (1945), MLB player Steve Garvey (1948), guitarist Rick Nielsen (1948), singer Maurice Gibb (1949), singer Robin Gibb (1949), NFL player Ray Guy (1949), guitarist Frank Gambale (1958), actor Ralph Fiennes (1962), rapper DaBaby (1991), and singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (1993).

I have a kinda normal day planned. It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen around this time, when people are taking off for travel and vacations and all that. I do know I have to pick up a couple of final gifts at some point, but it’s minor stuff and won’t be a big effort. I’m hoping to slow down a bit (this week has been packed with deadlines), and maybe have a chance to do some holiday stuff and try and get into the spirit of the season. Enjoy your day.