Random News: January 10, 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.

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Good morning. It’s January 10, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. Always stuff to see, always stuff to know, I’ve found some shit, so let’s go…

• About 10 classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered by the president’s personal lawyers at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
• AG Merrick Garland has asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the classified documents which were handed over to the National Archives. The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the National Archives.
• One big difference between Republicans and Democrats: we don’t cover it up if someone on “our side” does something questionable. When I say, “No one is above the law,” I literally mean no one. If Biden’s done something wrong here, he should face consequences.
• Last night finally lived up to the weather headlines here in SoCal. Parts of Northern California, of course, have been a serious mess with the series of storms hitting the West Coast, but down here in my hometown, it’s just been sporadic light and heavy rain, and high surf.
• 32 million people in CA are under flood alert, including me (though I’m no actual flood danger where I personally live… pretty much the worst that could happen is the crap in my garage gets wet).
• I feel like I just tempted fate by saying that, so let’s just say that most folks in CA are in more storm danger than me in Redondo Beach. There.
• Last night, we were chilling after dinner when the entire room filled with white light and almost simultaneously, the loudest crack of thunder I’ve heard in my life shook the walls. My cats sprinted for cover. I think it struck one of the power poles maybe 200 yards from here.
• It was nuts.
• More rain is coming. We always need rain, but Lordy. Be careful what you ask for because you might get it, I suppose?
• And now, The Weather: “Veronica Mars” by Blondshell
• Who caused the attempted insurrection in Brazil? Steve Bannon, of course. 
• In the space of 24 hours over Sunday and Monday, the former Trump political adviser aid no fewer than 10 times on the right-wing social media platform Gettr that Lula "stole the election."
• When he shared images from Brasilia on Sunday showing the houses of Brazil's democracy under attack, Bannon labeled the insurrectionists "freedom fighters."
• How long are we going to put up with a handful of assholes ruining the entire world? Something to consider.
• Where is former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during all this? Yesterday, he tweeted a photo of himself from a hospital bed in Orlando, FL.
• He said he was receiving treatment for complications relating to an old stab wound. I’m pretty sure he’s finding excuses not to be extradited to his own country.
• A little note from our dysfunctional House of Representatives.
• Their first policy bill out of the gate didn’t address inflation or gas prices or immigration, but instead went after the Internal Revenue Service. The bills reverses much of the $80 billion in extra funding set aside for the agency by 2022's Inflation Reduction Act.
• Guess what? That bill has zero chance of passing the Senate. So that’s what will b happening for two years. They’ll pass a bill to make some headlines, it will go nowhere, nothing will happen, repeat.
• Let’s give huge props to teacher Abigail Zwerner. She’s the woman who was shot by her six-year-old student on Friday.
• The bullet went through the teacher's hand and into her upper chest, but she was still able to get all of her students safely out of that classroom.
• Despite being shot and having a life-threatening wound, the 25-year-old teacher prioritized the kids and made sure that every one of those students was safe before seeking help for herself.
• Hero. She’s in stable condition as of today.
• Nothing from the Sports Desk. 
• Today in history… Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war (49 BC). Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London (1645). Thomas Paine publishes his revolution-supporting pamphlet ‘Common Sense’ (1776). Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union (1861). John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil (1870). The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I for all combatant nations except the United States (1920). Fritz Lang's futuristic film ‘Metropolis’ is released in Germany (1927). The New England Journal of Medicine publishes the letter “Addiction Rare in Patients Treated with Narcotics”, which is later misused to downplay the general risk of addiction to opioids (1980). Time Warner is formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications (1990). 
• January 10 is the birthday of poet/philosopher Robinson Jeffers (1887), racing driver Violette Cordery (1900), actor Ray Bolger (1904), journalist/music producer Jerry Wexler (1917), actor Sal Mineo (1939), singer-songwriter Jim Croce (1943), singer-songwriter Rod Stewart (1945), singer-songwriter Donald Fagen (1948), boxer George Foreman (1949), singer-songwriter Pat Benatar (1953), singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin (1956), politician Chris Van Hollen (1959), and whatever Jared Kushner (1981) is.

Well, it’s raining… sometimes more, sometimes less. It doesn’t excuse me from getting into my sweats and working out, as I do each morning. I never want to, but I do it anyway. Typical Tuesday today with meetings, work to handle, and groceries to buy. I’ll be fine. Enjoy your day.