Random News: January 18, 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 18, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. I believe that things have happened, and that if you don’t know about them, you shortly shall…

• Swedish climate activist hero Greta Thunberg, 20, was briefly detained yesterday at a protest over the controversial expansion of a Germany coal mine that has become a flashpoint for that country's climate debate.
• At least 15,000 people demonstrated there on Saturday. That included Thunberg, who has been among the world's most prominent climate protesters since she addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference as a teenager.
• Greta was among a group of protesters physically carried away by police after they approached the edge of the mine. She was released shortly after.
• And now I’m more aware of this cause for climate protest as a result, and so are you. Mission accomplished.
• Now check this out.
• Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the guy lied about literally everything about his background and experience to get elected, and is possibly facing various charges, has been rewarded with not one but two congressional committee assignments.
• George — if that’s his real name —  will be seated on the House Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.
• Questions about Santos’s fundraising and violations of campaign finance laws are the topic of a formal complaint to the FEC.
• Wow.
• In world news, Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has resigned after the ruling Communist Party blamed him for “violations and wrongdoing” by officials under his control.
• I did not know until a few minutes ago that Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four “pillars”: the party’s secretary, the president, prime minister and speaker of the house.
• Now I know.
• Meet Aaron Laigaie of Ferndale, WA.
• Aaron was a far-right, anti-vaccine, white supremacist Trump supporter, and a co-founder of his local chapter of the Proud Boys.
• Originally a COVID denier, stating in 2021 that “COVID is over”, Laigale caught the virus early last year and, like most healthy people, got over it. He frequently pointed out that “only 0.1% die” of the virus, and said it was only a problem for the elderly.
• Later in 2022, he tweeted, “I already had COVID. I don’t need to take the fucking vaccine.”
• Anyway, on Friday January 13, Laigale died. Of COVID. So at least for him, COVID is indeed over, along with everything else. Don’t be like Aaron.
• Maybe be like French nun Lucile Randon, aka Sister André, who passed away yesterday as the world’s oldest living person. She was 118.
• Born in 1904 in southern France, she lived through two world wars and saw 27 French heads of state.
• Despite being blind and reliant on a wheelchair, Sister André cared for other elderly people —  some of whom were much younger than herself.
• In an interview last April with the AFP news agency, she said, "People say that work kills. For me, work kept me alive. I kept working until I was 108."
• Meanwhile…
• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential race of 2024, yesterday announced a policy proposal banning many pandemic mitigation efforts involving mask mandates and vaccine requirements in the state.
• The proposal would permanently prohibit COVID-19 vaccine passports in Florida, prohibit Florida schools from instituting COVID-19 vaccine or mask requirements, forbid businesses in the state from requiring masks, and more.
• I’ll tell you right now, I will never put a penny of tourism or business money into Florida ever again.
• Meanwhile in Texas, students at the University of Texas can carry guns on campus, but the app TikTok is too dangerous and has been banned.
• Welcome to Bizarroworld.
• And now, The Weather: “Natural Information” by Bill Callahan
• In super local news, I did something yesterday afternoon I’ve ever had any interest in doing previously: I watched a meeting of my local city council meeting here in Redondo Beach. It was broadcast via Zoom.
• My council member had been accused by a local “watchdog group” of no longer residing in the city. Turns out that was false, and a huge contingent of citizens appeared in person and over Zoom to offer him support.
• Christian Horvath has seemed extraordinarily effective in his role, has held the office for two terms (he’s done in March regardless), and the assholes who made the accusation came off looking very petty and vindictive.
• It did a lot more harm to the opposing council members and the “Rescue Our Waterfront” organization than it did to Horvath. He will serve the remainder of his term, but others will pay a hefty price for having brought this action against him.
• Nice to see the good guy win.
• From the Sports Desk… the 2022 NBA champion Golden State Warriors visited the White House yesterday, as is the tradition for major US sports champion teams. 
• They seemed to enjoy the experience being honored by President Biden as well as Bay Area political figures including Vice President Harris and congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
• You may not be aware that the NBA champs skipped the White House visit for a number of years. In 2016, Cleveland Cavaliers visited the White House and celebrated their NBA championship with President Barack Obama.
• The Golden State Warriors won NBA titles in 2017 and 2018 and chose not to visit Donald Trump, because who would want to do that?
• The Toronto Raptors won it all in 2019 and also opted out of the visit due to Trump.
• The Los Angeles Lakers didn't visit in 2020 after their championship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, almost certainly, because Trump.
• But the Milwaukee Bucks visited Biden in 2021 and now the Warriors have been hosted in 2023, so it seems the tradition is back on.
• Today in history… King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York (1486). James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands” (1778). The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay (1788). An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith (1896). Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship (1911). The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France after WWI (1919). The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto (1943). Willie O'Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins (1958). Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment (1967). Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease (1977). Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting (1990). The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France (2005). 
• January 18 is this birthday of architect John Nash (1752), lawyer/politician Daniel Webster (1782), Australia prime minister Edmund Barton (1849), assistant to Alexander Graham Bell Thomas A. Watson (1854), author A. A. Milne (1882), aviation pioneer Thomas Sopwith (1888), actor/comedian Oliver Hardy (1892), actor Cary Grant (1904), engineer/businessman Ray Dolby (1933), pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins (1938), singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro (1941), singer David Ruffin (1941), actor Kevin Costner (1955), NHL player Mark Messier (1961), politician Martin O’Malley (1963), wrestler/actor Dave Bautista (1969), astronomer Amy Barger (1971), singer-songwriter Jonathan Davis (1971), NFL player Julius Peppers (1980), and NFL player Tee Higgins (1999).

I have a typical day ahead. Oh, I’m making soup tonight. Potato/leek. It’s perfect for this little post-rain cold snap we’re having here. Looking forward to that. Enjoy your day.