Random News: January 22, 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 22, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. Just woke up, got a full cup, my second grade teacher was Mrs. Hupp. Let’s see what’s going on…

• I guess we’ll start with some shitty news from here in LA.
• At least 10 people are dead and another 10 wounded after a mass shooting last night in Monterey Park, a city that's a few miles northeast from downtown LA just over the hill into the San Gabriel Valley, with a heavy Asian population.
• People were there celebrating the Lunar New Year, which begins today.
• The suspect is still at large, and there has yet to be a clear motivation for the killings.
• You know what would have made it a lot harder to kill a bunch of people at a peaceful and joyous event? Lack of easy access to high-powered, high-capacity handguns and rifles.
• Anyway, it’s the worst mass shooting in California in years. The last major one was in 2018. Our state’s gun control measures, as hampered as they are via national law, are effective to some degree.
• Moving on.
• More documents keep popping up in various locations controlled by President Biden. At the risk of repeating myself, if he’s done something wrong, he should face consequences. No one, be they Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, powerful or weak, is above the law.
• No one.
• The negotiations for raising the debt ceiling continues. The Treasury Department is making short-term moves for the government to pay its obligations for now.
• For now, that means suspending new investments in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. In a few months, it will be necessary to start suspending payments to other government obligations, like paying our military or being able to continue our Social Security and Medicare programs.
• The Republican-led House can pass this budget any time they want. They are choosing not to.
• Speaking of Republicans in the news, let’s see what our pal George Santos (R-NY), aka Anthony Devolder, says about the video of him wearing a sparkly red dress and makeup.
• ”No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young, and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life.” - George Santos, Drag Queen and Republican Congressman
• Santos is facing a number of state and federal investigations for fraud and illegal campaign fundraising. I don’t care that he also likes wearing women’s clothes. He should do that on the floor of the House. It would be fun.
• And now, The Weather: “Boat Cloak” by Fred Thomas
• Even though the worst nightmare of women who don’t want government control over their bodies has already happened via the overturning of Roe v Wade last year, Republican leaders say that was only the beginning of control of American women.
• At a “right to life” rally in D.C. on Friday, House Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), said that overturning Roe “was only the first phase of this battle. Now the next phase begins.”
• What does that mean? Simple. They formerly said abortion was a state issue. Now they want national federal legislation for women in all 50 states to be under their thumb.
• These are the people you elect, so this must be what you want.
• We’ll wrap up news with a quote from yesterday’s off-the-rails memorial celebration of Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway, half of the conservative “Diamond & Silk” entertainment duo.
• “And another secret about Diamond: She had a boyfriend. Yes, that’s right. And she had a boyfriend, and oh, my God, we would talk about him all of the time. His name: President Donald J. Trump. Yes, yes, yes. President Donald J. Trump, that was her boyfriend.”
• Shrug.
• From the Sports Desk… I’ve gotten so used to upsets in the NFL that it was actually a surprise yesterday that both of the favored teams who their respective Divisional Playoff games yesterday.
• Shout-out to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who hung in there and made it a game versus the Chiefs. The NY Giants? Not so much against the powerhouse Eagles.
• Today’s games are the Bengals at Bills, and the Cowboys at Niners. Good luck teams.
• Today in history… Edward VII is proclaimed King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria (1901). Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1924). Australian and American forces in WWII defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna–Gona (1943). KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood (1947). Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space (1968). The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport (1970). The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states (1973). The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during a Super Bowl XVIII television commercial (1984). The space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space (1992). Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (2002).
• January 22 is the birthday of soldier/writer/explorer Walter Raleigh (1552), philosopher/politician Francis Bacon (1561), poet John Donne (1573), sailor/pirate William Kidd (1645), poet Lord Byron (1788), philanthropist Edward Harkness (1874), director D. W. Griffith (1875), actress Piper Laurie (1932), actor Bill Bixby (1934), actor John Hurt (1940), impresario Malcolm McLaren (1946), singer-songwriter Steve Perry (1949), director Jim Jarmusch (1953), NHL player Mike Bossy (1957), actress Linda Blair (1959), singer-songwriter Michael Hutchence (1960), DJ/producer DJ Jazzy Jeff (1965), and chef Guy Fieri (1968).

I don’t have many big plans today beyond some typical life maintenance shit. I’ll check out some NFL games, clean my house a bit… nothing beyond that, I think. It’s good to have a Sunday of non-stress and recuperation from the busy aspects of other days. I think I’ll start with a shower and putting on clothes. There’s only so much one can do in a bathrobe. It’s limiting, to say the least. Enjoy your day.