Random News: December 4, 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 4, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. I’ve got a big cup of Peet’s Costa Rica and I’m in a robe. Let’s see if anything has happened…

• We’re just a couple of days out from the final act of the 2022 Midterm elections with the Senate runoff in Georgia between Reverend Raphael Warnock and sadly brain-damaged Herschel Walker.
• As a reminder: the Democrats will maintain control of the Senate regardless of the outcome of this election, but having Reverend Warnock re-elected makes things a lot more smooth and efficient in the Senate moving forward.
• Early voting has been outstanding in this race, but with polls being as close as they’ve been, every vote definitely matters. Please make sure you vote on Tuesday if you haven’t done so already, Georgians.
• By the way: a 15-year-old was out canvassing for Warnock in Savannah and a 42-year-old got scared of a teenager at his door so he shot him for no reason at all. The teen will be okay. The guy was charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery.
• There was an act of domestic terrorism last night right here in the USA.
• In Moore County, NC, three electrical substations were shot up with firearms simultaneously just to cut power to a drag show. Reportedly, nearly 40,000 people in Moore County are currently without power.
• In addition to postponing the drag show at the Sunrise Theater, the terrorist act left the area with no working cell towers or internet, and no power to heat homes or to power those who rely on life-sustaining medical equipment.
• All because some pussy-ass men are scared of LGBTQIA+ people.
• In similar news…
• Matthew Jordan Lindner, 38, of Comfort, Texas was arrested Friday and charged with threatening to kill a Boston doctor who provides care to transgender people
• He called the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center and left a voicemail in which he said among other things that, “you’re all gonna burn,” and that “there’s a group of people on their way to handle” the doctor, and “you signed your own warrant.”
• What a nice fellow. Lindner is charged with one count of transmitting interstate threats.
• And now, The Weather: “Not Ideal” by Afternoon Bike Ride
• Can we spend a second talking about Antisemitism? I think we should.
• There are less than 15 million Jews in the whole world. To put that in perspective, 32 million (over twice as many) people were following Kanye West on Twitter before his account was suspended again.
• Just two people out of every thousand people on this planet are Jewish.
• Antisemitism is beyond anti-Judaism. It covers both the hatred of practitioners of the religion as well as people whose genetic makeup comes from other Jews. It’s a hatred of both a religion and an ethnicity.
• Jewish persecution is nothing new. Entire populations of Jewish people have been slaughtered going back to before the Crusades over a thousand years ago. There have been many circumstances as such, from the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290 through, of course, the murder of over 6,000,000 Jews during the Holocaust in German-occupied Europe just 80 years ago.
• Every time it seems humanity has gotten past Antisemitism, it seems to rear up again. It’s no wonder that people of Jewish descent have become tough; they have survived and thrived despite all odds being against them.
• Antisemitism is unacceptable in all forms. If you don’t condemn it, you (yes YOU, I’m talking to YOU, the person reading these words right now) are adding to the problem. Silence is complicity.
• Moving on.
• I’ve been busy preparing my annual year-end list of cool-ass music that got released this year. Here’s the funny thing: my list will be nothing like your list, and in fact, if you’re a typical person, out of the 22 bands and artists I am highlighting, many of you will barely know any of them. Almost half of them aren’t even signed to a commercial recording label, and many are self-released projects. Most of you will have never heard of them before in your life.
• Which is one reason I do it.
• From the Sports Desk… it’s a Sunday in fall, which means NFL games are afoot. Here are my picks for today: ATL over PIT, GB over CHI, JAX over DET, MIN over NYJ, NYG over WAS, PHI over TEN, BAL over DEN, CLE over HOU, SEA over LAR, SF over MIA, KC over CIN, LAS over LAC, DAL over IND, and on Monday night, TB over NO. 
• My W-L record this year is currently a very mediocre 92-60, so don’t make any bets based on my predictions.
• Anything else? Um…
• Oh, also, the former president yesterday called for the termination of the United States Constitution… the document that he once swore an oath to uphold and protect. Thankfully, he will never be President again, and will eventually die alone and sad.
• Today in history… At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, U.S. General George Washington bids farewell to his officers (1783). The 109 Electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President (1861). North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed soon by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks (1865). The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published (1881). Alpha Phi Alpha the first black intercollegiate Greek lettered fraternity was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (1906). U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office (1918). By a vote of 65–7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations (1945). During a concert of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention at the Montreux Casino, an audience member fires a flare gun into the venue's ceiling, causing a fire that destroys the venue and is  immortalized in the Deep Purple song, "Smoke on the Water” (1971). Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor (1978). Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years (1991). Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the government to allow universal and equal suffrage (2005). 
• December 4 is the birthday of financier/criminal Charles Keating (1923), game show host Wink Martindale (1933), actor Max Baer, Jr. (1937), murderer Gary Gilmore (1940), singer-songwriter Chris Hillman (1944), singer/drummer Dennis Wilson (1944), actor Jeff Bridges (1949), guitarist Gary Rossington (1951), singer Cassandra Wilson (1955), NFL player/coach Frank Reich (1961), actress Marissa Tomei (1964), actor/musician Fred Armisen (1966), rapper/businessman Jay-Z (1969), model Tyra Banks (1973), and intelligence specialist/criminal Reality Winner (1991). 

I’m enjoying this delicious coffee in the quiet of morning, but I really should get my ass in gear and get showered and dressed. Being in a robe is nice and all, but I’ve found there is a direct correlation between my being a productive human and wearing clothing. Enjoy your day.