Random News: January 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.

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Good morning. It’s January 27, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here are things I’m seeing while thinking about sushi…

• The city of Memphis, TN will be releasing the video of Tyre Nichols’ murder by five police officers at 6PM local time tonight. 
• It’s so bad, apparently, that the Department of Homeland Security said that it is coordinating with partners across the United States.
• The chief of Memphis police stated that the footage is worse than the infamous Rodney King beating that launched the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
• There may finally be a smoking gun to get serial liar George Santos (R-NY) out of office.
• This week, he listed a man as his campaign financier against his wishes and used his signature without consent.
• On Tuesday Santos filed an updated campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission, in which Thomas Datwyler, an experienced campaign financial consultant, was listed as his new treasurer, with the filing signed with his name.
• However, Datwyler had previously informed Santos that he would not serve in the role, but Santos is alleged to have fraudulently signed the name to the FEC form anyway. That’s a big, massive, hugely illegal act.Guess we’ll see.
• Meanwhile, as reported earlier, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has rejected an Advanced Placement course on African American studies.
• DeSantis’s decision to whitewash history has led to a strong nationwide backlash. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote to the college board, "One Governor should not have the power to dictate the facts of U.S. history.”
• On Wednesday, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump announced that three Florida high school students are prepared to challenge the state's decision in court. AP courses help high school students across the country earn college credit.
• Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest labor union, tweeted, "When we censor classes and whitewash lesson plans, we harm our students and do them a deep disservice. I support the educators at Florida's state capitol today to demand complete and honest education for all Florida students."
• And now, The Weather: “Poppy Seeds” by Who Boy
• Speaking of Florida…
• Having a lively discussion with myself as to whether or not to mention the latest allegations about Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
• On one hand, I feel a need to bring it up due to Gaetz’s terrible mix of horrible behavior and blatant hypocritical tendencies.
• On the other, I firmly believe that all people’s sexual outlook and orientation and activities, as long as they’re done with consenting adult humans, are no one else’s business.
• So if married (to a woman) Matt Gaetz is having an affair with his male press secretary Joel Valdez, and everyone involved is cool with it, so am I. I do find it odd as such that Matt is supportive of Florida’s discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” laws, but to each his own.
• It’s said that bisexuals are probably the most misunderstood and least supported members of the LGBTQIA+ community, so perhaps Matt has good reasons for keeping it on the downlow, I suppose, if this alleged information is accurate.
• From the Sports Desk… not much. Just awaiting the two final NFL games this weekend that will determine the matchup for the Super Bowl on Sunday February 12.
• Today in history… Dante Alighieri is condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence (1302). The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31 (1606). The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States (1785). A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast (1820). Modest Mussorgsky's opera 'Boris Godunov’ premieres in Mariinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg (1874). Thomas Edison receives a patent for his incandescent lamp (1880). First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (1939). Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger (1951). Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, FL (1967). The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress (2003). Apple announces the iPad (2010).
• January 27 is the birthday of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756), labor leader Samuel Gompers (1850), NFL team owner Art Rooney (1901), psychologist James J. Gibson (1904), editor/publisher William Randolph Hearst, Jr. (1908), singer-songwriter Elmore James (1918), actress Donna Reed (1921), NBA team owner Jerry Buss (1933), actor Troy Donahue (1936), actor James Cromwell (1940), drummer Nick Mason (1944), dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948), guitarist G. E. Smith (1952), SCOTUS chief justice John Roberts (1955), actress Mimi Rogers (1956), NFL player/commentator Cris Collinsworth (1959), journalist Keith Olbermann (1959), actress Bridget Fonda (1964), singer-songwriter Mike Patton (1968), and comedian Patton Oswalt (1969).

I’m continuing to go through some personal shit regarding a family member’s dire health situation. It’s difficult to keep up a normal pace of life with that going on. At the same time, and I say this having been through the deaths of my sister and father and a number of friends, I am and always have been pragmatic about the finite nature of life. I can come off kind of cold and stoic as a result, but it’s not a matter of not having feelings. Instead, I prefer to direct my energy toward things I can affect, and that’s what I do. Enjoy your day.