Random News: January 3, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s January 3, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. It’s the first normal-feeling, regular-ass weekday in awhile, and here I am to spooge you with info…

• As mentioned many times previously, today is the day that Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tries to fulfill his dream of becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• It’s a big gig… the second line line to the presidency behind the VP. 
• The vote for the Speaker is usually a ceremonial event where everyone knows in advance who it will be and they have widespread support within their party.
• That’s not how it will be today. McCarthy’s votes, in the slim majority margin of Republicans in the House, is being held hostage by the furthest right-wing members who swear they will never vote for him.
• If McCarthy is able to get elected as Speaker, he’ll have done so by conceding a ton of his power to the far-right crazies.
• A reminder that it takes 218 votes, or exactly half the chamber, to be elected Speaker. Republicans have only 222 members, meaning it takes just four of them to derail shit.
• Ah well. We’ll see how it goes.
• In the midst of this GOP chaos, another joke is happening in Washington, and that’s George Santos being sworn in as a congressman from New York.
• The latest headline on George — if that’s his name — is that Brazilian prosecutors have reopened their criminal fraud case against him. 
• In 2008, Santos went into a clothing store in Rio de Janeiro and spent almost $700 using a stolen checkbook and a fake name.
• He left the country before he could be arrested. Now that his whereabouts are known, the case has been reopened.
• He’ll fit right into the GOP, come to think of it.
• Here’s my standing reminder that if there are “no-travel” advisories in your state due to severe weather, please take that as an actual warning and don’t travel. I promise that your stupid fucking job isn’t worthy dying for.
• And now, The Weather: “Moderation” by Cate Le Bon
• From the Sports Desk… last night during the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field after making a tackle, was administered CPR for ten minutes on the field, and then was taken by ambulance to University of Cincinnati’s hospital, where he remains listed in critical condition.
• They postponed the game in the first quarter. It was horrifying.
• The suspected cause is called commotio cordis, where a blow to the chest at a precise moment in the electrical cycle stops the heart. It’s happened to several athletes over the years, like NHL player Chris Pronger (who made a full recovery and end up in the hockey Hall of Fame).
• If you’re among the world’s most awful people, you’ll try to tie this to something about vaccines. If so, fuck you.
• Moving on to better stuff.
• I spent a huge chunk of yesterday reviving a song that my band had initially recorded almost ten years ago, in June 2013.
• The challenge — in addition to wanting to replace/revise/re-record some of the tracks — was that I no longer use the audio workstation software that I did back then.
• As opposed to going through some time-consuming process to convert the old mix, instead I did “File>New” and started the whole damn thing from scratch, importing raw audio files, redoing a bunch of tracks, and giving it a temporary mix that I think is already a lot better than the last one.
• I’m glad I did. It took up about eight hours of my day yesterday, but was a great project to kick off the new year.
• Today in history… Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem (1521). American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton (1777). Delaware votes not to secede from the United States (1861). Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States (1933). Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time (1947). Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state (1959). Apple Computer is incorporated (1977). Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces (1990). 
• January 3 is the birthday of philosopher/politician Cicero (106 BC), soprano Henriette Sontag (1806), businessman Ichizō Kobayashi (1873), UK prime minister Clement Attlee (1883), writer J.R.R. Tolkien (1892), pianist/comedian Victor Borge (1909), NFL coach Hank Stram (1923), producer George Martin (1926), director Sergio Leone (1929), actor Robert Loggia (1930), singer-songwriter Stephen Stills (1945), bass player/composer John Paul Jones (1946), WBNA player Cheryl Miller (1964), racing driver Michael Schumacher (1969), singer-songwriter Kurt Vile (1980), NFL player Eli Manning (1981), and environmental activist Greta Thunberg (2003).

I’m jumping back into the regular life with an extremely busy day, with back-to-back meetings this morning, plenty of work to crank through, grocery shopping in the afternoon, and a live music show tonight at Hotel Chelsea in SL. Come if you want… it’s at 5PM. Enjoy your day.