Sunday, December 31, 2023

Random News: December 31, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 31, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I’m in a blue robe, which is standard for my weekend news gathering, and having a cup of Peet’s Brazil, which also means that it is a typical weekend day. Let’s chat and stuff.


  • It’s New Year’s Eve, the final day of 2023. Was it a good year for you?
  • I’ll mention something I’ve almost certainly said before: there are no completely good years or completely bad years. It’s a silly premise.
  • Even in the best years of my life, I’ve had awful shit happen from time to time. During some of the presumably worst years, I’ve had moments of pure joy and fulfilling successes. A year is a long time, from the scope of a human life, to label in a purely good-versus-bad binary way.
  • I had some good stuff and bad stuff happen in 2023. I am still alive and relatively well after another set of calendar pages have been ripped down.
  • My mom died in February, which was terrible. It left me the last remaining member of my original immediate family.
  • Right after that, after avoiding it for three full years, I got COVID, which also sucked. I also lost a few friends in 2023 to the inevitable coming of the grim reaper, all jammed together right toward the end of the year.
  • But I also got through a good part of the year mostly unscathed, as did my family and most of my friends. I still live in a lovely place, and my business remained steady and good. My son, who was previously never super focused on academic greatness, made the dean’s list at his college.
  • All four of my silly cats are still bouncing around my house. I discovered a whole lot of great new music. The car continues to be functional. I never spent a single day of 2023 being hungry or without shelter. I had a few minor illnesses and injuries, but nothing significant or long lasting, or that stopped me form working and being a productive person overall.
  • So honestly, no complaints. I don’t think most folks have any clue about how much worse life could be.
  • Scholars have suggested the year 536 as the worst year to be alive. There was a volcanic eruption early in the year, causing average temperatures in Europe and China to decline and resulting in crop failures and mass famine for well over a year.
  • 536 sounds just awful, the more you look into it. Irrelevant side note: I can trace one line of my ancestry almost back that far. Arnulf of Metz, my 44th great-grandfather, lived from 582–645.
  • 1349 has to be on anyone’s list of shitty years. The “Black Death” caused by bubonic plague was at its peak, killing somewhere between 25-200 million people, or around 30 - 60% of Europe’s entire population at the time.
  • A little closer to the present, 1918 could have been pretty good, with WWI drawing to a close. But there were still some of the worst fighting in that war going on when the Spanish flu began to take hold. There was no vaccine or effective drugs to fight the H1N1 influenza virus, and around 50 million lost their lives to the disease over the next few years.
  • If you’re waking up someplace today and you have a home, some food to eat and clean water to drink, clothing to wear, and there aren’t bombs dropping and gunfire popping in the streets, congratulations… you’re leading a pretty fortunate human life, as far as lives go from a historical perspective.
  • Not every person reading these words is so lucky, I promise.
  • And if you are reading this, it means you have access to the Internet and therefore can get more information with the push of a button than any generation of people previous to this one.
  • So here’s to 2023. Whether you loved it or hated it, chances are you did okay. I mean, you’re still here, right?
  • Let’s do some news.
  • US Navy helicopters returned fire and and sank three small boats carrying Houthi militants in the Red Sea today after US warships responded to a distress call from a merchant vessel.
  • A Maersk container ship, the Singapore-flagged Hangzhou, issued a distress call at about 6:30am. The merchant vessel said four small boats were attacking it. The boats fired crew-served and small-arms weapons at the Maersk Hangzhou, getting to within 20 meters of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel.
  • But then helicopters from two US ships — the USS Eisenhower and the USS Gravely — responded and issued verbal calls to the small boats.
  • The little pirate/terrorists then tried to shoot at the US helicopters. Bad idea; that was the last thing that they ever did. Service members aboard the Navy helicopters returned fire and immediately sank three of the four small boats, killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area.
  • Good idea.
  • In other news of cowardly assholes, supporters of Donnie Dump made a fake emergency call to police (aka “swatting”) that resulted in officers responding Friday night to the home of Maine’s secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, just a day after she removed Dumpy from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the US constitution’s insurrection clause.
  • Is that all you’ve got, MAGAts?
  • Bellows was not home when the swatting call was made, and responding officers found nothing suspicious. Suspects in swatting cases are being arrested and charged as states contemplate stronger penalties.
  • While we’re on the disgusting and smelly topic of El Dumpo, might as well mention that Special Counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court yesterday to reject Dumpy's claims that he is immune from prosecution.
  • Dump is accused of working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the failed coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021. He has denied any wrongdoing.
  • In a new brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, prosecutors argued that Trump's claim that he cannot be held to account for crimes in office "threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation" of the country.
  • That would be correct. Also, keep in mind that any ruling applied to Dump in this regard is precedent for future presidents. If Dump can’t be prosecuted for any crime, Joe Biden can walk up to him at a debate next summer and shoot him in the head without fear of reprisal.
  • I’m not saying he should; I’m saying he could. Let’s not find out and instead have the courts rule that Presidents are not above the law.
  • One final note on Mayor McSmelly… NYT senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman and political reporter Johnathan Swan are saying that Dump is privately very concerned that the Supreme Court could side with Colorado and take him off the ballot under the US Constitution's insurrection clause.
  • Dumpy’s advisors are currently preparing challenges to the decisions.
  • Moving on.
  • I hate having to do this on the last day of 2023, but it is a Sunday, and Sunday is Gunday here at Zak’s Random News, where we take a look at the gun violence in the USA over the past two days.
  • A one-year-old boy and a 44-year-old shot dead and another man wounded in Allentown, PA. Two dead, more injured after three overnight shootings in Denver, CO. A man and a woman were found shot dead at a home in Everett, WA. A woman dead and five other people wounded after a shooting at a strip mall in Hawthorne, CA. One dead, two injured after a shooting at in apartment in New Britain, CT. One dead, one critically injured in a shooting in Dallas, TX. One dead, one critically injured in a shooting in Baltimore. MD. One man dead after a shooting on the South Side of Pittsburgh, PA. A 10-year-old boy shot and killed at an apartment complex in Foothill Farms near Sacramento, CA. One shot dead at an apartment in St. Lucie County, FL. One shot dead in Dorchester, MA. Five more people shot in two other shootings in Allentown, PA. Four injured after a shooting in Gainesville, FL. Two shot at the Parks Mall at Arlington, TX. A woman shot at a Dollar Tree in the Cloverleaf neighborhood of Louisville, KY. A 9-year-old shot at a home in St. Denis near Louisville, KY. 
  • Also of note: within the past couple of hours, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are currently on the scene of a shooting on Harmon Avenue just off the Las Vegas Strip. Witnesses reported hearing 30-40 shots of gunfire. So far there have been no reports of injuries.
  • Is this all the shootings in the USA? No, far from it. Just those from a quick scroll, and limited to those on Friday and Saturday, the days Americans seem to prefer to kill each other.
  • Don’t like it? Do something about it; elect candidates who support common sense gun laws.
  • Let’s move on.
  • 50 years ago this week, President Richard M. Nixon did what may have been the most important act of his presidency, which was to enshrine the Endangered Species Act into the nation’s laws. 
  • The Act would enrich the lives of countless future generations, Nixon predicted. “America will be more beautiful in the years ahead, thanks to the measure that I have the pleasure of signing into law today.”
  • He was right. 
  • It happened at a time when Americans could act in togetherness for our collective best interests. The Act passed 355-4 in the House of Representatives and unanimously in the Senate. Among those senators was a young man named Joe Biden.
  • There’s no way in hell the Endangered Species Act or the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (both under Nixon) would have a chance in a current Republican-controlled House. They’d laugh it off.
  • And now, The Weather: “Paradise” by Wishy
  • Rest in peace to Shecky Greene, the legendary king of schlocky stand-up. He died today at 97. 
  • Greene was known for his dozens of appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where he served as an occasional guest host, and for being a staple in Las Vegas lounge acts.
  • From the Sports Desk… hugely important games going on here in Week 17 of the NFL season. Many of the remaining question marks about this year’s playoffs will become clarified after today, and by next weekend it’ll be fully wrapped up.
  • But there are still dozens of scenarios where any of like 10 teams could still make it in. Four slots are still available in the AFC from nine teams still in contention (Ravens, Dolphins, and Browns are in). Three slots are still TBA in the NFC with eight teams in contention (49ers, Eagles, Lions, and Cowboys are in).
  • Today in history… Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul (406). The British East India Company is chartered (1600). Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness (1759). The incorporation of Baltimore, MD (1796). Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada (1857). Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two (1862). Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine (1878). Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, NJ (1879). The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square in Manhattan (1907). President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II (1946). General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year (1955). The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government (1983). Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (1992). The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor (1999). Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur (2009). The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan (2019). The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine (2020).
  • December 31 is the birthday of explorer Jacques Cartier (1491), English general Charles Cornwallis (1738), painter Giovanni Boldini (1842), painter Henri Matisse (1869), businesswoman Elizabeth Arden (1878), American general/politician George Marshall, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (1908), singer-songwriter/activist Odetta (1930), actor Anthony Hopkins (1937), singer-songwriter/guitarist Andy Summers (1942), singer-songwriter/guitarist/actor John Denver (1943), actor Ben Kingsley (1943), fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (1946), singer-songwriter/keyboard player Burton Cummings (1947), singer-songwriter Donna Summer (1948), bass player/songwriter Tom Hamilton (1951), actress Bebe Neuwirth (1958), actor Val Kilmer (1959), singer-songwriter/guitarist Scott Ian (1963), musician Psy (1977), and whatever Donald Trump Jr. (1977) is.


Alrighty, that’s enough. Happy New Year to you all. May 2024 be another great year of your life. I’m going to put on some clothes. I can’t start the new year in a robe. I mean, I cold, but it wouldn’t be a good portent of things to come. Enjoy your day.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Random News: December 30, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 30, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. I’ll not lie to you; my COVID booster yesterday kicked my ass, so I spent a good portion of the wee hours going through shaking/shivering/body pain madness, but it’s mostly subsided now, and I have ibuprofen and coffee powering me at this stage. Let’s do some news.


  • Yesterday, a three-judge panel at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia affirmed a lower court’s ruling that former President and current accused felon Donald John Trump can be sued by U.S. Capitol Police officers seeking to hold Trump financially liable for the Washington riot that took place on January 6, 2021.
  • The ruling is the latest loss for El Dumpo, whose lawyers continue to argue in court that presidential immunity shields him from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.
  • Let’s do some very good news…
  • Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) vetoed legislation yesterday that would have barred transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care. State lawmakers had passed House Bill 68 just before the holiday break.
  • The legislation would have prohibited gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary youth, including hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy, medical or surgical procedures and some mental health services.
  • The bill also sought to prohibit transgender athletes from taking part in female sports.
  • About 20 states have passed laws against gender-affirming care for youths, with about 30% of transgender youth between 13 and 17 currently living in states that have such bans.
  • In somewhat related news…
  • Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher ruled that an Iowa law requiring schools to remove books depicting sex acts and prohibiting instruction about gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grades cannot be enforced while a legal challenge continues.
  • Penalties for violating this shitty law had been scheduled to take effect on Monday January 1.
  • So, you know how Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is switching to a new congressional district because she was going to get slaughtered in her current district in the 2024 election?
  • One issue: there’s a bunch of Republican competitors already running in the for that seat in 2024 and they’re not happy about BoBo carpetbagging her way into town. The CD4 primary race was already crowded, with six people running.
  • Side note: per the Constitution, it’s true: you do not have to live in the congressional district you represent. You only have to reside in the same state. Boebert lives far from her newly-desired district, on the other side of Colorado.
  • Let’s do some world news.
  • Israeli warplanes struck two urban refugee camps in central Gaza today, as the Biden administration approved a new emergency weapons sale to Israel despite persistent international cease-fire calls over mounting civilian deaths, hunger, and mass displacement.
  • Even a brief halt in fighting seems out of reach.
  • Israel is clear that it will continue its unprecedented air and ground offensive until it has dismantled Hamas, a goal that is simply not attainable. Israel argues that ending the war now would mean victory for Hamas; the problem there is that the citizens of Palestine will continue paying the biggest price regardless.
  • Moving on…
  • 122 anglers were rescued from an ice floe that detached from the main ice on a northern Minnesota lake last night. No injuries were reported.
  • They’d been stranded when an ice floe broke loose from the main ice sheet on Upper Red Lake about 30 feet from shore and were unable to get back to dry land. Is it just me who doesn’t get the appeal of ice fishing?
  • Moving on.
  • Every year on January 1, a batch of new laws kick in (unless they’ve been shut down in legal challenge, of course). Here’s a quick look at some new laws I spotted.
  • In Illinois, police no longer will be allowed to pull over motorists solely because they have something hanging from the rearview mirror of the windshield, be it air fresheners, parking placards, fuzzy dice, or whatever the fuck.
  • Another new Illinois law will allow lawsuits from victims of deepfake pornography, in which videos or images are manipulated without their consent. that’s something we’ve discussed here, and I’m glad to se it.
  • In Minnesota, a new law will allow authorities to ask courts for extreme risk protection orders to temporarily take guns from people deemed to be an imminent threat to others or themselves. Good.
  • Colorado will become one of a dozen states banning so-called ghost guns. Also good.
  • Also in Colorado, new buildings wholly or partly owned by government entities will be required to have at least one public restroom on every floor that does not specify the gender of the users. Cool cool.
  • A new Connecticut law requires online dating operators to adopt policies for handling harassment reports by or between users. This, too, is a good idea.
  • A North Carolina law will require pornographic website operators to confirm viewers are at least 18 years old by using a commercially available database.
  • I understand the intent behind this law, but the whole aspect of proving one’s identity to view porn seems rife for a database hack where people could be blackmailed for their porn history. Just a thought.
  • On the downside, January 1 will kick off new bans on access for minors to puberty blockers, hormone therapy and other gender treatment in Idaho, Louisiana, and West Virginia.
  • Boo.
  • To end this topic on a high note, more than 20 states will raise minimum wages for workers. The federal minimum has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since July 2009.
  • Maryland’s minimum wage will be set at $15 an hour. In New Jersey, it will be $15.13 an hour for most employees. In Connecticut, $15.69 per hour. In New York City, $16 an hour, though it will be $15 in most of the rest of the state. California's statewide minimum wage also will rise to $16 per hour. And in Washington, the minimum rate will be $16.28.
  • I support all of this.
  • Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and they’ve got heightened security measures for the ball drop in Times Square. New York State Police will ramp up staffing and state troopers, and the New York National Guard and other agencies will join in to patrol some areas.
  • The FBI and other agencies warned police departments across the country about potential threats to large crowds celebrating the holiday, including from lone actors motivated by the Israel-Hamas war.
  • Other places where massive number of people gather for the event, like Las Vegas, are getting ramped up security as well.
  • Probably a good idea.
  • And now, The Weather: “Paige Machine” by PACKS
  • From the Sports Desk… NBA games have been common on Christmas Day for decades. But this year marked the second in a row with three NFL games across three networks.
  • The battle for viewers wasn’t even close. Example: the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs game had an average audience of 29.2 million viewers. 
  • The NBA’s Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers? 1.3 million viewers. Someone opined the the NFL could air a paint-drying show and it would still get high viewership.
  • Today in history… British soldiers burn Buffalo, NY in the War of 1812 (1813). The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed (1816). The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed (1825). The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest in the Gadsden Purchase (1853). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - USSR - is formed (1922). The Flint sit-down strike hits General Motors (1936). Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed (2006).
  • December 30 is the birthday of author Rudyard Kipling (1865), Japan prime minister Hideki Tōjō (1884), cricketer Dick Spooner (1919), singer-songwriter/guitarist Bo Diddley (1928), astrophysicist John N. Bahcall (1934), singer-songwriter/guitarist Del Shannon (1934), actor Russ Tamblyn (1934), MLB player Sandy Koufax (1935), singer-songwriter/bass player Felix Pappalardi (1939), director James Burrows (1940), actor/singer-songwriter/guitarist Michael Nesmith (1942), actor/singer-songwriter Davy Jones (1945), singer-songwriter Patti Smith (1946), singer-songwriter/guitarist/producer Jeff Lynne (1947), journalist Matt Lauer (1957), actress/singer Tracey Ullman (1959), bag of dicks Sean Hannity (1961), US secretary of state Mike Pompeo (1963), pimp Heidi Fleiss (1965), singer-songwriter Jay Kay (1969), golfer Tiger Woods (1975), NBA player LeBron James (1984), and NFL player Carson Wentz (1992).


Anyway, I’m much improved now and am going to do various things. Enjoy your day.

Friday, December 29, 2023

Random News: December 29, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 29, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Contrary to most people’s experiences, the week between Christmas and New Year’s has been busy as fuck for me, getting my clients ready for 2024 product rollouts and a big upcoming trade show. For that and other reasons, I’m very glad it’s Friday, so let’s see what’s happening.


  • Maine’s top election official has removed former President and current accused felon Donnie Dump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot, in a decision based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrectionist ban.
  • As was the situation in Colorado, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court.
  • The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment tot he US Constitution, a provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists.
  • And apparently, it’s working! It’s like they knew what they were doing when they wrote it. Mission accomplished. 
  • Ratified after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment says American officials who engage in insurrection can’t hold future office. Seems straightforward to me.
  • Moving on to some more very good news.
  • A new system that will put independent lawyers in charge of the prosecution of sexual assault cases in the U.S. military took effect on yesterday.
  • As a result of the change, sexual assault and other serious crimes will shift away from military commanders to legal organizations within each military service called the Offices of Special Trial Counsel.
  • In 2022, the Pentagon's Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military showed incidents rose 13% in the Navy, 9% in the Air Force and 3.6% in the Marine Corps. While incidents in the Army fell 9%, there were still 8,942 reports of sexual assault across the entire force. In military academies, 1 in 5 female students said they experienced sexual assault
  • Last year, Congress passed legislation to strengthen protections for service members, and in July, President Biden approved the system that takes effect today.
  • It’s about time. When you thank a servicewoman, remember that she’s probably had to fight battles that their male counterparts never faced.
  • And yes… I am fully aware that sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact, in the military and elsewhere, happens to men as well.
  • Moving on.
  • Yesterday the Biden administration warned Texas that it will sue the state if it implements a strict immigration law known as SB4 that would empower state and local law enforcement officials to arrest, jail, and prosecute migrants suspected of entering the U.S. unlawfully.
  • In addition to creating illegal entry crimes at the state level, the law would allow Texas judges to issue de facto deportation orders.
  • The DOJ said SB4 would effectively criminalize actions that are already illegal at the federal level, undermine relations with Mexico, and prevent officials from enforcing federal immigration laws, including those designed to grant refuge to migrants fleeing persecution. 
  • Also, as I questioned before, how are local law enforcement officers in Texas going to handle SB4? By asking people for their birth certificate on the street? Who will they ask? Anyone who is brown skinned?
  • Fucking un-American bullshit is what that is. Texas leaders should be deeply ashamed.
  • In other news, some disconcerting reports on the global front this morning.
  • Poland's armed forces believes a Russian missile entered their country for almost three minutes and then turned back into Ukrainian airspace.
  • President Andrzej Duda convened an emergency security meeting after the object was picked up on radar.
  • Poland is a member of the NATO alliance, and Polish and Allied aircraft were scrambled in response to the incident today. I’ll remind you that the NATO pact says that any attack on a member nation is viewed as an attack on all… including the United States.
  • In Ukraine, at least 18 people were killed in the attacks which targeted Lviv, the closest Ukrainian city to Poland’s Lublin region, as well as Dnipro, Kyiv, and other cities.
  • Let’s try not to think about WWIII and move on to some better news.
  • With 2023 almost at a close, our country is poised to finish the year with its biggest annual drop in homicides on record.
  • The homicide rate in the United States is expected to plummet nearly 13% compared to 2022, meaning more than 2,000 fewer people were the victims of homicide this year.
  • Cities say the 2023 drop in homicides and other violent crimes can be attributed to expanded efforts to prevent crime, including working with community volunteers, targeting gun possession in high-crime areas, and placing officers on foot and bike patrols.
  • Good. Let’s keep that trend rolling. 
  • I was skimming the news yesterday when I ran across a CBS headline that made me laugh incredulously.
  • Here was the headline: "How much house can I afford on a $50,000 salary?”
  • The answer, if you were wondering, is a house that costs $150,000. I then looked at local real estate listings, and the lowest-priced residence I could find that one is able to purchase in Redondo Beach, CA is $980,000.
  • Yes, I know I live in an expensive beachside city. But still, you tell me what kind of house you can buy in your area for $150,000. I’m interested in seeing what you find.
  • And now, The Weather: “December” by Shuttle
  • A massive rogue wave slammed into a sea wall along the beach, in Ventura, CA yesterday, sweeping up a truck and sending numerous people to the hospital. Ventura is about an hour drive north of where I live.
  • Video of the moment shows a crowd standing in a parking lot near the ocean before quickly scrambling to try to outrun the incoming wave.
  • Be careful, fellow beach people.
  • I found myself musing about my age, a topic that neither concerns me nor that I consider very often.
  • I was born in 1969, making me 54 years old. There was a time not very long ago in the big picture where that would have been considered old. Human life expectancy in 1900 worldwide was 32 years. It went up to 48 years by 1950. Today it is 73 years globally.
  • Japan has the highest life expectancy at 84. Congo is one of the lowest at 62. It’s currently about 78 in the USA.
  • But that’s not what I was thinking about. Instead, I was thinking about the people who had a big impact on the world, but died at a younger age than I am now… sometimes much younger.
  • Obviously, there’s a “27 Club”, the musicians, artists and actors who all managed to be dead at that relatively young age. Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse are but a few of that dubious group.
  • But I’m also older than John Lennon ever was (40), or Babe Ruth (53). John F. Kennedy was 46 when he was murdered. I’m quite a bit older than those guys ever were.
  • How about some folks who are among the living?
  • I am older than current presidential candidates Nikki Haley (51) and Vivek Ramaswamy (38). I am older than gross-ass Republican reps like Marjorie Taylor Greene (49), Elise Stefanik (39), and Lauren Boebert (37), as well as cool Democratic reps like Hakeem Jeffries (53), Katie Porter (49), Ruben Gallego (44), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (34). I am older than Senators like Ted Cruz (53), Brian Shatz (51), Kysten Sinema (47), Laphonza Butler (44), Jon Ossoff (36), and several more.
  • That’s fine. I’ve done a lot of shit in my 54 years and I intend to do a lot more, regardless of how much time I have. I’ll make good use of it, however long it may be.
  • Hopefully pretty long.
  • From the Sports Desk… I must admit, I was a person who laughed about Joe Flacco continuing his NFL career at the ancient age of 38. Guess what? I was wrong.
  • In last night’s 37-20 victory over the Jets which secured a playoff spot for the Cleveland Browns, Flacco passed for 296 yards in the first half, the most in any half in his career. He has now thrown for more than 300 yards in every victory in Cleveland's four-game winning streak.
  • Hats off to the old guy.
  • In other Sports Desk news, the list of candidates for admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame has narrowed to 15. They include first-time candidates Julius Peppers and Antonio Gates, as well as Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Patrick Willis, Andre Johnson, Dwight Freeney, Jared Allen, Willie Anderson, Darren Woodson, Devin Hester, Eric Allen, Rodney Harrison, Fred Taylor, and Jahri Evans.
  • That list will be brought down to 10, among which maybe 5-7 will enter the hall in 2024.
  • Today in history… According to John Smith, Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan leader Wahunsenacawh, successfully pleads for his life after tribal leaders attempt to execute him (1607). Three thousand British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, GA (1778). The United States annexes the Republic of Texas (1845). Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man (1913). The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution (1937). Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia (1989). The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct (2003).
  • December 29 is the birthday of inventor Charles Macintosh (1766), chemist Charles Goodyear (1800), US president Andrew Johnson (1808), UK prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809), cellist Pablo Casals (1876), politician Tom Bradley (1917), golfer/architect Pete Dye (1925), actress/producer Mary Tyler Moore (1936), actor Jon Voight (1938), singer-songwriter/bass player Rick Danko (1943), singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull (1946), actor Ted Danson (1947), drummer/songwriter Cozy Powell (1947), comedian Paula Poundstone (1959), NFL coach Sean Payton (1963), director/screenwriter Lilly Wachowski (1967), actor Jude Law (1972), NFL player Myles Garrett (1995), and MLB player Julio Rodríguez (2000).


Time to exercise and then to work. Also, I am getting a COVID booster this afternoon. I’m personally acquainted with probably 20-30 people who’ve had COVID in the past couple of weeks, and I have a major trade show coming where I’ll be exposed to tens of thousands of people from around the country and the world. I need all the help I can get. Enjoy your day.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Random News: December 28, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 28, 2023, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I’m having a relatively busy but pretty good week overall. Let’s talk a little stroll down the information superhighway and try not to get run over.


  • Starting with the queen of public handjobs, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
  • Boebert had no possibility of being elected in the CO-3 congressional district she represented since 2021, which covers a huge swath of western and southern Colorado. This was true long before the infamous video went public of Boebert and her date performing sexual acts on each other in a theater with children present.
  • In 2022, she won her election by only a few hundred votes, less than two percentage points over Democrat Adam Frisch.
  • Boebert’s solution? She’s going to abandon her district and run in a different one in 2024. She said in a Facebook video that she intends to seek office in Colorado's 4th Congressional District, which covers the Eastern Plains, currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck. 
  • Buck said last month that he won't seek reelection in 2024, due to the Republican Party's support of former President Donald Trump and, what he called an embrace of conspiracy theories. He's represented the district since 2015.
  • I’m not saying BoBo is smart — this was likely a decision forced on her by the national GOP. But she was going to lose her election next year. Now she has a pretty good shot at winning in the super-conservative CO-4 district, and the Republicans can run a candidate with a better chance of beating Frisch in CO-3.
  • Side note: don’t you have to actually live in the district you represent? Maybe she’ll just jack off the voters and that’s good enough for their ballot support.
  • Moving on…
  • Last night, when a town hall attendee asked Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley what the cause of the U.S. Civil War was, she did not cite slavery as a factor in what led to the bloody conflict.
  • Haley is the former governor of South Carolina -- the first state to secede from the Union in 1860. She said that the catalysts were “basically how the government was going to run” and “freedoms and what people could and couldn't do."
  • The questioner told Haley they thought it was “astonishing” she gave an answer that did not mention slavery.
  • ”What do you want me to say about slavery?” she responded before pivoting and asking for the next question.
  • This morning, President Joe Biden wrote a four-word response on the Threads social network: “It was about slavery.”
  • Fact check: Correct.
  • Moving on to some news of fucking idiots.
  • Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters blocked morning traffic yesterday around Los Angeles International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport – two of the nation’s busiest – in coast-to-coast demonstrations that ended with dozens of arrests.
  • I support peaceful demonstration 100%. I have participated in many rallies, marches, and demonstrations. My political outlook would be described as liberal, and even progressive by some.
  • However, these fucking people are clueless. Some of the anti-Israel protesters chanted “from the river to the sea,” a phrase regarded as a call for the destruction of Israel and which Jewish watchdogs call antisemitic.
  • The slogan generally appears as the first half of the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — referring to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
  • Over 60 people were arrested during the two protests after the demonstrations stopped cars on the outskirts of New York’s JFK, where some travelers set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway, as well as at LAX.
  • I’ll say it again, LOUDLY: you can support Israel’s right to defend itself again terrorist attacks while condemning their overly aggressive military actions against Palestine. You can support the rights of Palestinian citizens who have nothing to do with terrorism while condemning the horrible actions of Hamas terrorists.
  • But saying that Israel doesn’t have a right to exist, or blaming Jews around the world for the actions of Israel’s government? You call that a progressive mindset? Fuck all the way off. You’ve done nothing but damaged your cause and forced public support for Palestine to dwindle through actions like this.
  • Stupid assholes.
  • Moving on.
  • Speaking of assholes, though… Jodi Hildebrandt, the business partner of former YouTube personality Ruby Franke, pleaded guilty yesterday to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse.
  • Police had found one of Franke’s children with open wounds after escaping from Hildebrandt’s home, as well as another one of her children in similar malnourished condition inside her home.
  • The details of the infliction of physical torture and severe emotional harm to these children are enough to make any decent human sick. Hildebrandt’s sentencing, like Franke’s, is scheduled for February 20.
  • I hope the punishment fits the crime.
  • Here’s a weird story that I’m not sure how to feel about.
  • The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously fired UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow yesterday after discovering videos posted on porn websites featuring him and his wife.
  • Gow, 63, and his wife, Carmen Wilson, appear in videos on several porn websites using "Sexy Happy Couple" as the account name. The couple also published two books under pseudonyms detailing their experiences in the adult film industry. Both books and the social media accounts feature photos clearly showing Gow and Wilson.
  • "I would say that anything that I do or my my wife and I do, we do as citizens in the United States, who have the freedom of First Amendment to the Constitution, to create and publish books and videos that explore consensual adult sexuality," he said.
  • I mean, he’s not wrong. However, it’s probably something that the University of Wisconsin doesn’t want to be associated with, I guess.
  • And now, The Weather: “In The Shadow Of Her” by Horsebeach
  • Speaking of which, I have some very local weather news for you in the form of huge-ass surf.
  • Residents and beachgoers are being warned about the dangers of a massive swell that is expected to reach its peak along the Southern California coastline today. The high surf and flooding dangers are of particular concern in Ventura County and here at Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, and Palos Verdes beaches.
  • Waves of 10 to 15 feet with sets to 20 feet are expected. A high surf warning and coastal flood warning are in effect from 4am today to 10pm Saturday.
  • I may have to walk down the street and check it out. When I was a kid, I would have been tempted to surf that shit. Not anymore. Death is less appealing to me now.
  • Rest in peace to Tom Smothers, the older half of the comic folk duo the Smothers Brothers, whose skits and songs on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in the late 1960s brought political satire and a spirit of youthful irreverence to network television. He was 86.
  • You might not know this, but the Smothers Brothers show paved the way for shows like “Saturday Night Live”, “The Daily Show,” and many others.
  • Another RIP goes out to Herb Kohl, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Wisconsin and former owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, who died at 88.
  • Kohl was a popular figure in Wisconsin, purchasing the Bucks to keep them from leaving town, and spending generously from his fortune on civic and educational causes throughout the state. He also used his own money to fund his Senate races, allowing to him to portray himself as “nobody’s senator but yours.”
  • Let’s do a chart. Rewinding back to exactly 40 years ago today, on December 28, 1983, here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100. I am a sophomore in high school and I could sing every lyric to every one of these songs. I probably still could, though I don’t want to test that theory past the first chorus.
  • Side note: my friend Derek and I saw Big Country on March 30, 1984 at the Hollywood Palladium, with Wire Train opening. Really great show!
  • 1. Say Say Say (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson). 2. Say It Isn’t So (Daryl Hall & John Oates). 3. Union Of The Snake (Duran Duran). 4. Owner Of a Lonely Heart (Yes). 5. All Night Long (All Night) (Lionel Richie). 6. Uptown Girl (Billy Joel). 7. Love Is a Battlefield (Pat Benatar). 8. Trust Of Fate (Olivia Newton-John). 9. Undercover of the Night (The Rolling Stones). 10. Break My Stride (Matthew Wilder). 11. I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues (Elton John). 12. Talking In Your Sleep (The Romantics). 13. Church of the Poison Mind (Culture Club). 14. Major Tom (Coming Home) (Peter Schilling). 15. Cum On Feel The Noize (Quiet Riot). 16. Synchronicity II (The Police). 17. Karma Chameleon (Culture Club). 18. Islands In the Stream (Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton). 19. Why me? (Irene Cara). 20. In A Big Country (Big Country).
  • A little update on this actual news report, as I’m prone to do now and then.
  • Since I started Zak’s Random News — my daily compilation of news stories and various musings — in May 2022, we’re now up to 772,105 words.
  • To be clear, this isn’t journalism. That would mean that I was researching and fact-checking information on a direct basis, maintaining my own independent sources and putting together completely original content.
  • Instead, it’s simply dissemination of existing news content, along with some opinions and trivial info. Still, having passed over three-quarters of a million words since I started, it’s no small feat.
  • Where do I get my news that I pass along to you? Almost all of it comes from neutral news sources like the Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and information that I initially discover on social media (such as Threads) but then verify before adding to my daily news.
  • Anyway, at 772,105 words, I long ago surpassed the word count of book series such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ including “The Hobbit” at 550,147 words. I’ve also left Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” in the dust at its 587,287 words. “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell is a paltry 418,053. “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville is just 206,052 words.
  • I mean, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis is seriously just 36,363 words, a sum that I pass in under a month.
  • A typical novel ranges anywhere from 70,000 to 120,000 words, with the average coming in at around 90,000 words. 
  • From the Sports Desk… the Denver Broncos are benching quarterback Russell Wilson for the remainder of the 2023 NFL season.
  • This is too complicated to get into now, but the reason is a combination of Wilson’s poor performance and his huge contract. It’s obvious that the Broncos are looking to unload Wilson on another team as soon as possible.
  • Today in history… John C. Calhoun is becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign, after being elected Senator from South Carolina (1832). Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army (1835). Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state (1846). Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays (1895). The Syracuse Athletic Club defeat the New York Philadelphians, 5–0, in the first indoor professional football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden (1902). The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco (1912). Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium (1958). American businesswoman Muriel Siebert becomes the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (1967). The last scheduled day for induction into the military by the Selective Service System (1972). 
  • December 28 is the birthday of brewer John Molson (1763), astronomer Thomas Henderson (1798), US president Woodrow Wilson (1856), singer-songwriter Pops Staples (1914), writer/publisher Stan Lee (1922), NHL player Terry Sawchuk (1929), actress Maggie Smith (1934), musician Edgar Winter (1946), singer-songwriter Alex Chilton (1950), actor Denzel Washington (1954), NHL player Ray Bourque (1960), computer programmer Linus Torvalds (1969), and actor/TV host Seth Meyers (1973).


That’s all for now. Enjoy your day.

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Random News: December 27, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 27, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. We’re in the middle of that weird week I experience every damn year for 30 years, where I am both busy as hell with upcoming business actions, and yet everyone is floating in some holiday daze. That’s okay; I keep cranking shit out and everything will work out in the end. So, let’s do some news.


  • After a lot of doom and gloom predictions, holiday shoppers offered yet another sign that the U.S. economy will roar into the new year.
  • Yesterday, fresh retail sales data showed that consumers spent big on gifts, meals and apparel in November and December despite shitty lingering inflation. Consumer confidence is strong, and the S&P 500’s approached an all-time high.
  • It’s clear that the U.S. economy is in a far better place than just about anyone expected, and while there are many factors involved, you have to give some credit to President Joe Biden (just in the same way he’d be blamed were the situation reversed).
  • In other news, a group of former officials for Republican presidents issued an amicus brief that was accepted yesterday by the Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. They urged the federal appeals court to shut down Donnie Dump’s claim of "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution.
  • The Republican officials said siding with Trump would encourage future presidents to commit crimes and stage coups to remain in power. They’re right.
  • "The last thing presidential immunity should do is embolden Presidents who lose re-election to engage in criminal conduct, through official acts or otherwise, as part of efforts to prevent the vesting of executive power required by Article II in their lawfully-elected successors," the officials wrote in the brief.
  • The group also noted reports that Trump's allies were encouraging him to use the military to enforce his election lies — and said a future president who lost reelection could deploy the military or armed federal agents to stage a coup if Trump gets his way.
  • Among the Republican officials who signed on to the brief are ex-Senator and UN Ambassador John Danforth; former Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan, Charles Fried; and Mickey Edwards, a former House lawmaker and chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
  • Moving on to another battle we’ll all be fighting this coming year.
  • Generative artificial intelligence tools have made it far cheaper and easier to spread the kind of misinformation that can mislead voters and potentially influence elections. And social media companies that once invested heavily in correcting the record have shifted their priorities.
  • “I expect a tsunami of misinformation,” said Oren Etzioni, an artificial intelligence expert and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. “I can’t prove that. I hope to be proven wrong. But the ingredients are there, and I am completely terrified.”
  • It’s pretty easy to imagine… people who are already gullible and prone to believe lies and buy into conspiracy theories, now being offered visual “proof” that’s actually AI-generated content.
  • So if you thought January 6, 2021 was bad, imagine it on a much more broad scale… especially now that platforms like Elon Musk’s X support and encourage it.
  • Moving on.
  • This morning, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected an attempt to remove former president and current accused felon Donald John Trump from the 2024 primary ballot based on the US Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.”
  • This was not unexpected. Keep in mind, this ruling is specific for the GOP primary and an effort to remove him could be renewed for the general election, though I doubt it will unless the SCOTUS rules otherwise.
  • The Michigan Court of Claims judge who first got the case said state law doesn’t give election officials any leeway to police the eligibility of presidential primary candidates. His decision was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which said: “At the moment, the only event about to occur is the presidential primary election. But as explained, whether Trump is disqualified is irrelevant to his placement on that particular ballot.”
  • Shrug.
  • Let’s talk about women’s reproductive rights. 
  • There has been a shift in the rounds of state-level litigation, away from the broad, head-on challenges and toward narrower issues arising from the bans.
  • A newer wave of lawsuits has focused on when emergency medical exceptions to abortion bans apply and whether states can stop their citizens from traveling to states where abortion remains legal — a trend experts expect to continue in the new year.
  • All of the 18 states that have banned or sharply restricted abortion allow exceptions for medical emergencies when continued pregnancy would endanger the mother's life, or, in some states, health. But in practice, those exceptions are often unavailable because the laws are so vague that physicians are not sure when they apply, and so are unwilling to perform abortions for fear of prosecution.
  • Make sure to find out how the candidates you support feel about protecting women’s reproductive freedom before you cast your vote next year. Thank you.
  • An update from the Israel-Hamas war…
  • Israel said it’s expanding combat operations in refugee camps as it targets Hamas. A hospital director said the toll from a strike on a residential block in a central Gaza in Maghazi camp rose to 80.
  • There is mounting global pressure for a pause in fighting, but the chief of the general staff of the IDF, Herzi Halevi said yesterday that the war is expected to continue for many months to come. The United States wants Israel to move away from block-flattening airstrikes to using greater military precision when targeting Hamas militants.
  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks with Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about “the transition to a different phase of the war to maximize focus on high-value Hamas targets” as well as “governance and security in Gaza” after the war.
  • See, you can’t just destroy a place and then let it rot away. That’s not how it works. After WWII, the USA spent decades helping to rebuild places like Japan and Germany so that their citizens would have the opportunity to thrive, as they’ve done.
  • Israel will have the same responsibility in Palestine.
  • On the flip side, the people who attempted a protest inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are fucking disgusting assholes. It is peak activist narcissism. The far left often demonstrates an astonishing commitment to their incompetent self-aggrandizing.
  • Get a fucking clue.
  • Some good news…
  • This morning, a federal judge temporarily blocked an Idaho law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, stating the law is unconstitutional.
  • Keep it up.
  • And now, The Weather: “drifting” by Night Tapes
  • Here’s something nice at a time when we could all use niceness.
  • A Pennsylvania animal shelter is celebrating after all their dogs were adopted in time for Christmas.
  • The Adams County SPCA in Gettysburg, PA announced that this is the first time in nearly five decades that they've had all empty kennels ahead of the holiday.
  • All of my pet friends have come from shelters or were rescued off the street. Never buy from pet stores if you have the option to adopt.
  • From the Sports Desk… while the Detroit Lions are making a historic run toward the playoffs, the city’s basketball team is also setting records, but not the good kind.
  • The Pistons dropped their 27th straight game with a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. It's the most consecutive losses in a single season in NBA history. Detroit hasn't won a game since its home opener on October 28, and now is 2-28 on the season.
  • Yikes!
  • Today in history… Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution (1831). Journalist John L. O'Sullivan argues in his newspaper New York Morning News that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country under “manifest destiny” (1845). Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway (1927). Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City (1932). The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations (1945). Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon (1968).  Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship (1978). Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth, the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet (2004). 
  • December 27 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571), microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822), actress/singer Marlene Dietrich (1901), gynecologist William Masters (1915), guitarist/songwriter Scotty Moore (1931), actor John Amos (1939), journalist Cokie Roberts (1943), guitarist/songwriter Mick Jones (1944), guitarist/songwriter Lenny Kaye (1946), actor Gérard Depardieu (1948), drummer/songwriter Terry Bozzio (1950), wrestler Chyna (1969), journalist Savannah Guthrie (1971), NFL player Deuce McAllister (1978), NFL player Carson Palmer (1979), MLB player Cole Hamels (1983), singer/songwriter Hayley Williams (1988), and NFL player Brock Purdy (1999).


Okay. Lots to do, places to go, people to see… okay, no, just lots to do. Enjoy your day.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Random News: December 26, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 26, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I woke up feeling hungover despite the fact that I don’t drink alcohol, which is an indication of how much of a glutton I was yesterday. Let’s see what’s happening in this weird post-Christmas, pre-New Year world.


  • In a Christmas message to the nation yesterday, former President Donnie Dump said he hopes supporters of "Electric Car Lunacy" would "ROT IN HELL."
  • So that’s nice. Merry Christmas and good tidings to you as well, Don.
  • The actual President had some less pleasant business to handle on Christmas. Joe Biden ordered strikes on three locations in Iraq after three U.S. service members were wounded, one critically, in an attack on Erbil Air Base early Christmas morning.
  • The attacks on US troops were credited to Kataib Hezbollah, a militia group backed by Iran. A US Central Command statement said early assessments indicated that the US airstrikes likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants.
  • Ah well. So much for peace on Earth, eh?
  • Also in the naughty file, someone tried a swatting attempt on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) at her Georgia residence on Christmas morning. Side note: her local police department quickly verified that the call was a hoax and did not send officers to the house.
  • That didn’t stop Greene from trying to get sympathy points. “I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here,” she posted on a social net.
  • Moving on.
  • Officials are investigating threats on Colorado Supreme Court justices in the aftermath of their decision to disqualify former president and current accused multiple felon Donald John Trump from the 2024 presidential primary election.
  • Online posts about violence towards the justices spread rapidly in the 24 hours after the decision was announced on December 19 that Trump's actions leading up to the failed coup attempt at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 meant that he "engaged in insurrection," disqualifying him from holding future office due to the the 14th Amendment.
  • “The FBI is aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement. We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation,” said an FBI spox.
  • Get their asses.
  • Speaking of El Dumpo, here’s a tip: if you have to do press interviews where you need to explicitly state that you’re "not a student of Hitler,” perhaps you’re not the right person to run the country.
  • Dumpy had to do just that in the past few days following backlash to his comments that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country.” Dump claims that he never knew Adolf Hitler had used similar language to describe Jewish people, and said he had never read Hitler's "Mein Kampf" manifesto.
  • I don’t believe him.
  • "I never read his works. They say that he said something about blood. He didn't say it the way I said it, either, by the way. It's a very different kind of a statement."
  • Suuuuuuuuuuure Donnie.
  • And now, The Weather: “Typical” by Daniel Noah Miller
  • In other weather news, a blizzard-fueling winter storm is sweeping across the Plains and upper Midwest with heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds, making for dangerous travel during the busy holiday week.
  • The storm will generate frequent wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph with isolated gusts up to 75 mph today. Parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming are under blizzard warnings.
  • Meanwhile in Minnesota, the Twin Cities set high temperature records on Christmas Day that haven’t been matched in over 100 years. Temperatures rose to 54 degrees at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, breaking the record of 51 degrees in 1922. High temp records were also broken in St. Cloud and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 
  • Maybe that’s not good. Maybe climate change is real. Maybe people are going to find out how real very soon.
  • From the Sports Desk… we know the NFL teams who are in the playoffs: Ravens (12-3), Dolphins (11-4), Eagles (11-4), Lions (11-4), and 49ers (11-4), and Cowboys (10-5). We’re pretty certain the Browns (10-5) will be there as well.
  • But check out how close most of the rest of the teams are who aren’t yet eliminated: Bills (9-6), Steelers (8-7), Bengals (8-7), Jaguars (8-7), Colts (8-7), Texans (8-7), Chiefs (9-6), Raiders (7-8), Broncos (7-8), Vikings (7-8), Packers (7-8), Buccaneers (8-7), Falcons (7-8), Saints (7-8), Rams (8-7), and Seahawks (8-7).
  • Just two regular season games remain for all teams. Anything could happen.
  • Today in history… Berengar I — my 36th great-grandfather — is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy (887). The opera ‘Agrippina’ by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice (1709). The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, MN, where 38 Native Americans died (1862). Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium (1898). Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee (1919). Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States (1941). The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States (1963). The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach (1966). The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War (1991). China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou (2012).
  • December 26 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Mary Somerville (1780), politician Mao Zedong (1893), actor Richard Widmark (1914), radio/TV host Steve Allen (1921), music producer Phil Spector (1939), politician Gray Davis (1942), MLB player Carlton Fisk (1947), MLB player Ozzie Smith (1954), drummer/songwriter Lars Ulrich (1963), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jay Farrar (1966), actor Jared Leto (1971), fashion designer Alexander Wang (1983), and NFL player Trevor Siemian (1991).


I’ve decided to have a mostly regular work day today, because my deadlines are what they are regardless of what day it is and who else is working. On the good news side, most of my clients are closed today, so at least I can work mostly uninterrupted by meetings and calls and such. Enjoy your day.

Monday, December 25, 2023

Random News: December 25, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 25, 2023, and it’s a Monday. Merry Christmas to all my friends and anonymous readers. I am up and have everything ready to go for the holiday… and an adult son who is far removed from the time he’s spring out of bed at the crack of dawn to see what’s under the tree. We’ll get the day rolling after everyone else in this house gets out of bed.


  • Today is Christmas, a complicated holiday.
  • I’ll tell you a story. There’s a retailer that was actually founded in March, but does their annual huge “Anniversary Sale” in August. Why? Because August was a slow sales month for them, and they ceremonially celebrated it at a convenient time for their business.
  • Why am I mentioning this?
  • Well, virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus Christ existed historically. So he was a real person, and by all accounts, a really decent dude as well.
  • Jesus was the Woke King. He protested the racial divide between Jews and Samaritans, and was against the mutual hatred between the Jews and the Romans. Jesus opposed nationalism and xenophobia, or any discrimination and oppression practiced against a people based on their nationality, place of origin, or even religion.
  • Jesus practiced inclusivity and acceptance. He associated with people from marginalized and stigmatized groups, such as tax collectors, prostitutes, and lepers. He challenged injustice. He confronted religious hypocrisy and social injustice, speaking out against oppressive systems and practices. He opposed greed and hypocrisy. And he told his followers on multiple occasions to stay aware of what was happening around them.
  • “And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37)
  • So I think we’d get along pretty damn well, Jesus and I. We prioritize the same topics and talk about a lot of the same stuff, and we’re both Jews with scraggly beards. We could definitely have hung out.
  • His actual name was Yeshua, or possibly the original Hebrew version of that name, Yehoshua. That name today in the English language would be Joshua. For reasons of translations and whatnot, we call him Jesus.
  • He was a Jewish preacher and religious leader. His profession is well known as a carpenter, but his job title “τέκτων” could also refer to makers of objects in various materials, including woodworkers or builders.
  • Fun fact: “Christ” is a title, not a last name. It means “anointed," and is usually transliterated into English as “messiah."
  • Apart from all that, it’s believed by many religious and historical scholars that Jesus was probably born sometime in the summer, and despite our entire system of dates being based on his purported year of birth (i.e., it is currently been 2023 years), it’s more likely he was born somewhere in the range of 6 to 4 BC.
  • So why do we celebrate this guy’s birthday in late December?
  • It’s… convenient. There’s been a holiday at that time of year for thousands of years before Jesus came round. It was easier to just use that date as opposed to creating a whole other holiday. Makes sense.
  • Directly before (and during) Christ, this holiday was also known as Yule and was celebrated by Germanic pagans, but that’s just one of many previous incarnations of the festivities.
  • Romans in the pre-Christian era had celebrations for the Winter Solstice. December 25th was the Romans’ general date to mark the solstice, which is where the specific date of Christmas comes from.
  • Also from ancient Rome, the celebration included adorning buildings and temples with evergreen plants, including evergreen trees, holly, mistletoe and ivy. So that’s where your Christmas tree started. The colors of green and red for Christmas are from these plants and their berries.
  • But way before that, there is evidence that the time around the winter solstice was deemed an important observance for multiple cultures going as far back as the Neolithic, i.e., 10,000 years ago.
  • Not all that long ago, many Christian sects prohibited Christmas. The Puritans in England and in Colonial New England outlawed Christmas on the grounds that Christmas was not mentioned in Scripture and therefore violated their principles of worship.
  • Booooooo.
  • Anyway, Jesus is the main character of Christianity, the world's most popular religion. I am happy to celebrate the concepts of Christianity, many of which seem pretty good to me.
  • Happy birthday, Jesus.
  • As I’ve done my entire life, despite being ethnically Jewish and religiously a devoted lifelong atheist, I celebrate Christmas. We give presents and cook a big-ass feast. Tonight’s menu…
  • Roast beef, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, roasted carrots with apple cider gastrique, green beans with mushrooms and shallots, and a pecan pie.
  • I bought the pie.
  • I think what I like most about Christmas is the concept of having at least one day where people are willing to acknowledge that peace on Earth and goodwill toward men is something we should strive for.
  • I can get behind that shit, all year long. 
  • And now, The Weather: “Wait and See (Real Good)” by Intac
  • From the Sports Desk… congrats to the Detroit Lions, who yesterday earned their first NFL division title in 30 years, and will also host their first ever playoff game at Ford Field, where they’ve played since 2002.
  • Today in history… First documented sign of Christmas celebration in Rome (336). The coronation of Charlemagne — my 39th great-grandfather — as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome (800). William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy — my 29th great-grandfather — is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London (1066). The Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch (1492). Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage (1758). George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day (1776). The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance (1815). United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans (1868). A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front of WWI to celebrate Christmas (1914). Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat (1977). Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union and the union itself is dissolved the next day (1991). The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005 (2004). An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital (2020). The James Webb Space Telescope is launched (2021).
  • December 25 is the birthday of physicist/mathematician Isaac Newton (1642), diarist/poet Dorothy Wordsworth (1771), nurse/humanitarian Clara Barton (1821), busiensswoman/philanthropist Helena Rubinstein (1872), race car driver/businessman Louis Chevrolet (1878), businessman Conrad Hilton (1887), actor Humphrey Bogart (1899), singer/bandleader Cab Calloway (1907), screenwriter/producer Rod Serling (1924), anthropologist/author Carlos Castaneda (1925), singer-songwriter O'Kelly Isley Jr. (1937), keyboardist/songwriter Bob James (1939), NFL player Ken Stabler (1945), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jimmy Buffett (1946), NFL player Larry Csonka (1946), singer Merry Clayton (1948), actress Sissy Spacek (1949), singer-songwriter Annie Lennox (1954), singer-songwriter Alannah Myles (1958), singer-songwriter Dido (1971), Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau (1971), and NBA player Eric Gordon (1988).


Okay. I’m gonna wake some people’s assess up, get dressed, put on some music, and open some presents. Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy your day.

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Random News: December 24, 2023



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.



Good morning. It’s December 24, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. It’s also Christmas Eve. Other wrapping a bunch of things and purchasing the green beans that my grocery store neglected to stock enough of, I am ready for the big day. At the moment, it’s early on a Sunday and I am sipping coffee in a blue robe.


  • On Friday, President Biden issued a wide-reaching proclamation that further pardons people who have certain convictions related to marijuana under federal and D.C. law.
  • The pardon builds on actions Biden took last year on pardons related to simple possession of marijuana. It encompasses U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who committed or were convicted of simple possession, attempted simple possession or use of marijuana — regardless of whether the offender had been charged or prosecuted yet.
  • It’s another step in the right direction, but a messy patchwork of state legislation means the vast majority of convictions remain unchanged. The pardon does not apply to state-level marijuana convictions.
  • "Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the use or possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either," said Joe, and I agree.
  • Moving on.
  • Late last night, Donnie Dump begged a federal appeals court to throw out the federal election subversion criminal case in Washington, DC, again arguing in a filing that he is protected under presidential immunity.
  • He wants the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower-court ruling rejecting his claims of immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case. The appeals panel is weighing Dump’s request, which the Supreme Court on Friday refused to take up on an expedited basis.
  • Just so you’re clear, his legal defense hinges on the idea that a president is above the law and commit crimes while in office without fear of prosecution. He is saying that his attempt to overturn the 2020 election was an official act as president, and that his indictment is unconstitutional because presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for official acts.
  • Richard Nixon made a very similar argument in 1974. He famously said, "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”
  • Nixon was wrong then, and Dump is wrong now.
  • In regard to Dump’s most recent challenge — being removed from state ballots due to his participation in an insurrection against the USA — I like the take of former federal judge Michael Luttig.
  • “It will be crystal clear to the American public that it’s the Constitution of the United States that’s disqualifying the former president from higher office, if he is to be disqualified. It’s not President Joe Biden. It’s not the Democrats. It’s not the anti-Trumpers.”
  • And that’s an important point. You don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the Constitution you appreciate and obey. If you’re a big fan of the 2nd Amendment but don’t want to follow the 14th Amendment (or any others for that matter), tough shit.
  • Do you know how hard it is to amend the constitution? 
  • First, an amendment must be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate, or two-thirds of the States can request one by a convention called for that purpose. 
  • Then, the amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each State for ratification.
  • Point being, every single word of the Constitution truly represents the grand majority of Americans’ opinions. And when they wrote the 14th Amendment, they meant what they said. You don’t get a second chance. If you commit insurrection against the USA, you’re done. You do not get to apologize and continue on as if nothing had happened.
  • While we’re on this topic, another motion has been filed to remove El Dumpo from the 2024 Presidential Primary Election, this time in Virginia, and again based on the 14th Amendment.
  • If Virginia decided to take Trump off the ballot, they would be the second state to do so after Colorado.
  • Enough on that. It’s a Sunday, which is also Gunday here at Zak’s Random News. It’s where we look at the past couple of days of gun violence in the USA.
  • One dead, four wounded in a shooting outside a club in Houston, TX. A woman shot dead, four men wounded in a shooting in Lockhart, FL. One dead, four wounded in a shooting in the Woodlawn suburb of Baltimore, MD. One dead, two wounded in a shooting outside a Brewery District bar in Columbus, OH. One dead, one critically wounded on a street in Westminster, CO. One dead, one injured in a shooting in a mall in Ocala, FL. One dead, one injured in a shooting near Lake and Hiawatha in Minneapolis, MN. One dead, one injured in a shooting at a business in Oakland, CA. One shot dead at his home in Fall River, MA. One shot dead at his home in Knoxville, TN. One shot dead at a bar in Lawrence, MA. A father of two shot dead in a bar in Wheaton, IL. One person is dead after a shooting in Over-the-Rhine on Saturday night. One shot dead after a shooting in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, OH. One shot dead after a dispute between two employees of a Top Golf in Thornton, CO. Another woman shot dead in Cincinnati, OH. One shot dead in downtown Kansas City, MO. Two shot, one critically, in Fort Wayne, IN. Two shot in a home in Baton Rouge, LA. A migrant seriously wounded in a shooting outside of a shelter in Chicago, IL. One man in critical condition after shooting outside of a bar in Hartford, CT.
  • So, as you can tell, it was a relatively light weekend of gun violence compared to many in the USA. Perhaps it’s the spirit of peace on Earth and goodwill toward men that gave us 48 hours with only around 40 people shot so far.
  • Were these all the shootings? Oh no. Just some I saw from a quick scroll through the news.
  • When you vote for political candidates who don’t support common sense gun laws, this is what you get, so it must be what you want.
  • And now, The Weather: “All The Wine” by Blanco Niño
  • As I do each Christmas Eve, I’ll be keeping an eye on NORAD’s Santa Tracker. I’m sure you know the story, but I tell it every year anyway.
  • It actually starts back in December 24, 1948. The United States Air Force, who had just split off from the Army a year before, issued a cute communique claiming that an "early warning radar net to the north" had detected "one unidentified sleigh, powered by eight reindeer, at 14,000 feet, heading 180 degrees."
  • But it was in 1955 that a Sears department store in Colorado Springs ran an ad which told children they could place a call to Santa Claus and included the number ME 2-6681. That number was off by one digit, and instead went to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center.
  • It got answered by the crew commander on duty, Colonel Harry Shoup.
  • Shoup recognized it as a good PR opportunity, and told public affairs officer Colonel Barney Oldfield to inform the press that CONAD was tracking Santa's sleigh.
  • In his release to the press, Oldfield added that "CONAD, Army, Navy, and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh.”
  • The following year in 1956, Oldfield informed Shoup that the Associated Press and United Press International were awaiting reports that CONAD again was claiming to be tracking Santa Claus. Shoup agreed that Oldfield should announce it again, and the annual tradition was born.
  • In 1981, CONAD was renamed NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), and published a hotline number for the general public to call to get updates on Santa Claus’ progress.
  • And obviously, the tradition continued in the online age. Starting in 1997, people could track Santa using a website set up for this purpose.
  • If you want a less military-based Santa and opt for a more corporate-based Santa, Google has its own Santa Tracker.
  • From the Sports Desk… let’s check in on the NHL. Here are the 10 best teams in hockey based on current points.
  • 1. Vancouver Canucks (49). 2. New York Rangers (47). 3. Vegas Golden Knights (47). 4. Dallas Stars (44). 5. Boston Bruins (44). 6. Colorado Avalanche (44). 6. Winnipeg Jets (43). 8. Los Angeles Kings (42). 9. New York Islanders (41). 10. Toronto Maple Leafs (40).
  • The Sports Desk also notes that after the next couple of days of NFL games (and yes, there are three of them being played tomorrow on Christmas), we will have a much more solid idea of the playoff picture.
  • At this very moment, only one AFC team has secured a playoff spot (Ravens), and just three NFC teams — 49ers, Cowboys, and Eagles — have done so.
  • Today in history… Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di (759). Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook (1777). The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria (1818). The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt (1871). Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast, consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech (1906). U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Operation Overlord (1943). The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so (1968).
  • December 24 is the birthday of astronomer Jean-Louis Pons (1761), frontiersman/general Kit Carson (1809), brewer/physicist James Prescott Joule (1818), engineer/pilot/businessman Howard Hughes (1905), actress Ava Gardner (1922), general George Patton IV (1923), producer/businessman/politician Mike Curb (1944), trumpeter Woody Shaw (1944), singer-songwriter/bass player Lemmy (1945), guitarist Jan Akkerman (1946), actor Diedrich Bader (1966), author Stephenie Meyer (1973), radio/TV host Ryan Seacrest (1974), and NFL player Davante Adams (1992).


I hope you all are simply having a wonderful Christmastime. Ha ha… made you think of that fucking horrible Paul McCartney song. Enjoy your day.