Random News: December 3, 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 3, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. I’m a guy drinking coffee in a bathrobe, so harken to my robed blathering…

• As mentioned previously, the rail strike was averted by Congress, but due to a number of assholes, they did not include provisions for even one paid sick day for the workers.
• That’s not acceptable. It needs to be addressed.
• The United States Air Force unveiled the B-21 Raider yesterday in Palmdale, CA. 
• It’s a stealth bomber made by Northrop Grumman designed to drop nuclear bombs on people. It’s been in development for about 30 years. Each plane costs about $692 million, and we’re buying at least 100 of them.
• Imagine a world where we could spend that money to make the world free of hunger and disease, instead of ending life on our planet.
• Oh well.
• Democrats voted yesterday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024.
• Iowa has held that spot for five decades, but there are two factors that inspired the change.
• First is the fact that Iowa had some technical meltdowns in this roles in 2020. Second is that Iowa simply doesn’t have the racial and ethnic diversity that better represents our country as a whole, while South Carolina does.
• I support this change.
• Remember a couple of days ago when I told you about the two Cochise County, AZ supervisors who refused to certify the election?
• They’ve been referred for criminal investigation. The referral notes that failure by elected officials to carry out their prescribed duties is subject to a Class 6 felony. 
• Additionally, Federal District Court Judge John Tuchi issued sanctions against the legal team who filed an election-denier suit on behalf of Arizona’s losing candidates Keri Lake and Mark FInchem, saying they’s filed false, misleading, and unsupported claims in their lawsuit against Maricopa County.
• Tuchi stated, "They never had a factual basis or legal theory that came anywhere to meeting the burden."
• The lawyers, including Alan Dershowitz, have been ordered to foot the bill for their clients’ frivolous election lawsuit.
• Moving on.
• The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday in a case involving a Colorado web designer who wants to decline to create wedding sites for same-sex couples because those marriages fly in the face of her religious beliefs.
• The outcome could have profound implications for state anti-discrimination laws as well as the First Amendment.
• And now, The Weather: “It’s a Lie” by pecq
• FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn't share our values.”
• Probably true.
• There’s quite a bit of tension building in the GOP over the selection of the next Speaker of the House. The presumptive candidate Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) simple isn’t well liked or respected by enough of his peers to have the necessary votes.
• McCarthy still insists he will have the 218 votes needed to secure the speakership. Conservative hardliners seeking to plot McCarthy’s ouster say otherwise. And what will happen if he can’t get 218 votes? Literally no one knows. There’s not another candidate who has publicly declared interest in the role.
• From the Sports Desk… it is a nice run for the USMNT in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They made it to the Round of 16 to be knocked on their asses 3-1 by the Netherlands. Good effort, men.
• If you’re looking for work, New York City has posted a six-figure job opportunity for someone to serve as their rat tsar. The job pays up to $170k.
• I should show up there with my resume and like 10,000 cats.
• Speaking of public health nightmares, my home of LA County is on the verge of reintroducing indoor mask mandates.
• The county now averages more than 2,700 new COVID infections per day, up 180% since Nov. 1. Virus-related hospital admissions are now at 192 per day, a 200% increase from the same date.
• I’m not going to mention that I’ve continued to wear a mask in public settings since March 2020 and have no plans to stop doing so. Whoops, guess I just did mention it. Ah well.
• Yesterday, Elon Musk hired writer Matt Taibbi to produce a 500-tweet “expose” about the president’s son Hunter Biden.
• The final conclusion: the Biden campaign asked Twitter to take down nude pictures of Hunter Biden that were shared without his consent, and that Twitter complied. 
• That’s all. They took down revenge porn upon request. This happened in 2020, when Trump was president. There’s no other story there.
• Yawn.
• Today in history… The Electoral College casts votes for president and vice president that resulted in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr (1800). Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state (1824). Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show (1910). Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property forcing Jews to sell real property, businesses, and stocks at below market value as part of Aryanization (1938). Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter (1973). In Cincinnati, 11 fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert (1979). A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague (1992).
• December 3 is the birthday of philanthropist/activist Phoebe Hearst (1842), businessman Charles Alfred Pillsbury (1842), novelist Joseph Conrad (1857), songwriter Gussie Davis (1863), psychologist Anna Freud (1895), singer Andy Williams (1927), director Jean-Luc Goddard (1930), singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne (1948), singer Mickey Thomas (1949), actress Daryl Hannah (1960), actress Julianne Moore (1960), and actor Brendan Fraser (1968).

Here’s my plan today. I’m going to wrap up my holiday shopping… I mean it. That shit will be done, today. Beyond that, I have some music stuff to do, and I don’t know what else. It’s super nice out… low 60s, bright blue, and that amazing clean air after a rain. Ahhh. Nice. Enjoy your day.