Random News: January 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.

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Good morning. It’s January 26, 2023, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Here are some various things…

• Welcome back to Facebook, Donald J. Trump!
• Ha ha, just kidding. Fuck that guy. But Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is allowing the former President, onetime insurrectionist leader, and current criminal suspect back on its platforms upon his begging request.
• His accounts will be restored in the coming weeks, just over two years after suspending him in the wake of the January 6 Capitol failed coup attempt that he instigated.
• They claim they are doing so “with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.” The FPOTUS could once again be suspended for as much as two years at a time for violating platform policies in the future, per their President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg.
• Now in news that matters…
• Remember a couple of weeks ago, when Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took 15 ballots to get elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives?
• Among the many things he promised a group of 20 hard-right holdouts in order to win was a vote on legislation that would 1) scrap the Internal Revenue System and U.S. taxation system and 2) replace it with a 30 percent national sales tax. You’d still be paying your state tax, by the way.
• I’m sure you know how deeply a 30% sales tax on everything would screw the American people. With the exception of the top 5% of wealth earners, this would result in much higher taxes for Americans overall.
• However, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) has already filed legislation for this "Fair Tax Act”.
• And the punch line: Kevin completely lied to those crazy MAGA people just to get elected Speaker. He now says he didn’t commit to a vote on the ridiculous and unpopular topic at all, and would only give the bill a hearing in committee, where it will immediately fail.
• The GOP tends to fuck itself before trying to fuck everyone else.
• We have yet to address the police killing of Tyre Nichols in this report.
• As you likely know, Nichols, 29, was hospitalized after Memphis, TN police used excessive force to arrest him on January 7, and he died from injuries three days later.
• Five Memphis police officers, who are also Black, were fired for violating policies on excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid. A prosecutor has said a decision on whether to file charges is forthcoming.
• Video of the incident could be released this week or next week. Frankly, while I understand the difference in the public’s level of outrage had Nichols been beaten and tested to death by white cops, it’s still enough to boil anyone’s blood that law enforcement can act this way.
• It affects the perception of law enforcement across the country.
• Nichols’ family wants the officers charged with murder. I don’t blame them.
• In other news…
• It turns out that three times on the day that a six-year-old in Newport News, VA shot his teacher in class, with the bullet going through her hand and into her chest, leaving her in critical condition, school administration was warned that the kid had a gun. It was ignored.
• Note that the child has a disability. But the school administration who did nothing to prevent this from happening is culpable for what transpired.
• The school board voted to fire their superintendent and members of the school administration have since resigned. 
• It’s likely that the teacher, 25-year-old Abby Zwerner, will bring legal action against the school for their inaction.
• And now, The Weather: “Moron pt 2” by Ovlov
• It was three years ago today, on January 26, 2020, that NBA legend Kobe Bean Bryant and his daughter Gianna died in a horrific helicopter crash. 
• One of my distinct memories of that day, apart from the sadness of Kobe’s death, was a secondary news story about a serious virus that had begun in Asia and was seeing its first cases in the USA.
• From the Sports Desk… a quick note about the 49ers Brock Purdy. For those of you who don’t know, this man was selected last in the 2022 NFL draft. He was drafted at #262, a position that is ceremonially called “Mr. Irrelevant” since no person at that low spot had ever had an impact in the league.
• Most of them never even get to play in the NFL. But Purdy has yet to lose a single game since being named the starter. Now he’s one win away from playing in the Super Bowl.
• That’s crazy.
• From the Sports Desk rumor mill… Aaron Rodgers to the Jets? Who even knows.
• Today in history… The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism (1564). The British First Fleet sails into Port Jackson to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia, which is commemorated as Australia Day (1788). Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state (1837). The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union (1861). Virginia is readmitted to the Union (1870). The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress (1915). The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird (1926). The first United States forces in WWII arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland (1942). The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope until BTA-6 is built in 1976 (1949). On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky (1998).
• January 26 is the birthday of the 12th Dalai Lama (1857), general Douglas MacArthur (1880), mafia boss Frank Costello (1891), pilot Bessie Coleman (1892), singer Maria von Trapp (1905), violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908), pianist/composer Jimmy Van Heusen (1913), philanthropist/politician Annette Strauss (1924), actor Paul Newman (1925), director Roger Vadim (1928), cartoonist Jules Feiffer (1929), MLB p[layer/actor Bob Uecker (1934), activist Angela Davis (1944), football coach/child molester Jerry Sandusky (1944), film critic Gene Siskel (1946), singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams (1953), guitarist Eddie Van Halen (1955), singer Anita Baker (1958), comedian/TV host Ellen DeGeneres (1958), NHL legend Wayne Gretzky (1961), singer Andrew Ridgeley (1963), speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy (1965), NBA player Vince Carter (1977), and the Suleman octuplets (2009).

Welp… still having a tough time with stressful family health issues going on. Living isn’t easy, and unfortunately neither is dying. But on my end, I’m still doing fine and pushing through. Life is like running an obstacle course; you’re bound to trip and fall from time to time because it’s designed for that, but the point is whether or not you decide to get back up and stay in the race. That’s up to you. Enjoy your day.