Random News: January 8, 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 8, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I just rolled out of bed and have a giant mug of coffee, so let’s see what there is to see…

• Got some breaking news for ya.
• In Brazil, supporters of losing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro have stormed the National Congress in Brazil. There are reports that protesters have also broken into the Presidential residence, Planalto Palace, and the Supreme Federal Court.
• If this sounds familiar, Bolsonaro is considered the “Brazilian Trump”, so… we know where this insurrection bullshit is coming from. Losers don’t like losing.
• Anyway, keep your eyes on that developing news.
• President Joe Biden is at the U.S.-Mexico border today. It’s his first trip there as president after two years of people being super annoying about his having not visited.
• Now he has.
• Joe is spending a few hours in El Paso, TX, currently the biggest corridor for illegal crossings, due in large part to Nicaraguans fleeing repression, crime and poverty in their country.
• From there, he’ll continue south to Mexico City, where he’s meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada tomorrow and Tuesday for a North American leaders summit. Immigration is among the items on the agenda.
• Meanwhile, per their promise, House Republicans say their first order of business is investigating the President’s son Hunter Biden.
• We have serious problems in the USA, from homelessness to lack of mental health resources to fighting inflation to a health care system that’s the laughingstock of the world.
• Perhaps the one silver lining about this GOP-led House will be that Americans are all the more ready to tackle real problems while Congress spends two years squandering the opportunity to bring real help to American lives.
• The first time someone’s Social Security or Medicare benefits are lessened or denied outright, they’re going to feel mighty foolish for having voted for those who’ve said all along it was on their agenda to do just that.
• Moving on.
• If you’re in New York, it’s a bad week to have a medical emergency.
• Nearly 9,000 nurses from four NYC hospitals — Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, and Montefiore — will likely be on strike this coming week.
• They're fighting for better pay and staffing, and if no agreement is reached by 6am Monday, many nurses will be in picket lines instead of saving your life as they do every single day.
• The biggest issue with the looming strike is, understandably, the adverse nurse-to-patient ratio. Give them what they want.
• Northern and Central California are bracing for more stormy weather. The National Weather Service warned of a "relentless parade of atmospheric rivers" over the coming week, producing heavy rain and mountain snow.
• The storms obviously impact us here in SoCal as well, but to a much less harsh degree in most areas (though we will allegedly be having more heavy rain coming soon and potential for serious flooding).
• However, we are having some insanely high surf on westward-facing beaches like my home here in Redondo Beach.
• These powerful Pacific storms raise the potential for road flooding, rising rivers and mudslides on soils already saturated after days of rain. Thousands are still without power.
• And yes, these storm help make a dent in our permanent drought. But no, we’re not set up infrastructure-wise to handle a massive onslaught of precipitation.
• And now, The Weather: “Hours” by Volleyball
• Here’s a story to keep an eye on: Seattle public schools filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth.
• The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children.
• It blames them for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media, and providing additional training to teachers.
• Thank God we didn’t have social media when I was growing up. What a fucking nightmare.
• The ongoing backlash from constituents in New York having elected a compulsive liar for Congress included some protests at the Queens office of rep George Santos (if that’s his name) that he has yet to visit.
• In other George Santos news, this man who says he is half black and has Jewish relatives who died in the Holocaust also allegedly flashed a white power symbol in Congress.
• Psychopath.
• After her own inauguration, new Massachusetts governor Maura Healey started the process of swearing in one of the most diverse cabinets in the state’s history.
• Women are leading much of the MA Executive Office, including Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao, and others.
• Healey jumped into work quickly on her first full day in office, signing an executive order that established an Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience overseen by a newly appointed climate chief, Melissa Hoffer. The governor says climate change is her first order of business.
• From the Sports Desk… the aforementioned final NFL games of the regular season are being played as I write this. Perhaps the biggest football news is that Damar Hamlin is awake in the hospital and tweeting about the game in progress which is simply amazing for a man who was basically dead less than a week ago.
• I will single out the Jacksonville Jaguars, who went from worst to first in the AFC South and are heading to the playoffs.
• I’ll post the full playoff matchups tomorrow.
• Today in history… The premiere of George Frideric Handel's ‘Ariodante’ takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1735). George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City (1790). In the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British (1815). The Democratic Party of the United States is organized (1828). The United States Congress passes the bill to allow African American men the right to vote in Washington, D.C. (1867). President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I (1918). Britain introduces food rationing for WWII (1940). Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic (1959). President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States (1964). The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins (1973). Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband (1975). AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions in the breakup of the Bell System (1982). President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act (2002). Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is shot in the head along with 18 others in a mass shooting in Tucson, AZ (2011). 
• January 8 is the birthday of composer/conductor Hans von Bülow (1830), philanthropist Winnaretta Singer (1865), economist/sociologist/pacifist Emily Greene Balch (1867), physicist Walther Bothe (1891), burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee (1911), actor Larry Storch (1923), comedian Soupy Sales (1926), businessman Bill Graham (1931), journalist Charles Osgood (1933), singer Shirley Bassey (1937), actor Graham Chapman (1941), physicist Stephen Hawking (1942), guitarist/songwriter Robby Krieger (1946), singer Mike Reno (1955), businesswoman Betsy DeVos (1958), drummer Dave Weckl (1960), singer-songwriter Andrew Wood (1966), singer/convicted felon R. Kelly (1967), and MLB player Jason Giambi (1971).

Well, it’s time for me to do responsible things, like get dressed and all that. Enjoy your day.