Random News: January 9, 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 9, 2023, and it’s a Monday. This Monday feels extra Mondayish, since our last true non-holiday Monday was way back on December 19, so here are some various scraps of illumination for you…

• Brazil seems to be handling their insurrection a bit differently than we did in the USA two years ago.
• President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to punish supporters of the country's ousted far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, after they stormed Congress as well as the Supreme Court and surrounded the presidential palace.
• Police regained control of the buildings in the capital by last night, and immediately arrested 300 people. Officials have vowed to track down others involved.
• This morning, heavily armed officers in Brasilia gathered outside a camp of Bolsonaro's supporters.
• Meanwhile, Brasilia's governor, Ibaneis Rocha, has been removed from his post for 90 days by the Supreme Court. He’s accused of failing to prevent the riot and of being "painfully silent" in the face of the attack. Rocha has apologized for Sunday's events.
• Unlike our country, Brazil seems intent on holding the people who inspired the insurrection immediately accountable, and a number of US lawmakers are calling for Bolsonaro’s extradition to Brazil (he’s hanging out in Florida at the moment).
• Good luck, Brazil. Democracy will always beat tyranny.
• In other news, the concessions that Kevin McCarthy made to become Speaker of the House in the wee hours of Saturday are now public.
• They’re actually pretty stupid.
• The concessions to weaken McCarthy’s position include the clause that even just one member of Congress can call for a motion for him to vacate the speaker's chair. You know they will at some point. Probably this week.

• The rest of the concessions have to do with spending cuts, investigating the "weaponization of the federal government” (pfffft), voting individually on 12 appropriation bills (rather than one omnibus spending bill), and so on.
• All of it is going to make government even slower and more difficult to help people with solutions to their problems.
• “The American people will be held captive over the next two years to the extreme MAGA Republican agenda.” - Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
• The funny thing? The House is set to vote today on the rules package, and some Republican lawmakers have already signaled their intention to oppose it.
• It’s their own rules package and they’re against it. They will accomplish nothing for 24 long months.
• And now, The Weather: “By June” by June McDoom
• President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for California after a week of storms killed at least 12 people in the past 10 days and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in my state.
• The emergency declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts and mobilize emergency resources.
• This morning, there are evacuations underway in Santa Cruz County up north, and half of Sacramento has lost power. Over 100,000 people in our state have no power right now. Most of us here in SoCal will be damp but fine.
• Also this morning: the Georgia special grand grand jury investigating whether FPOTUS Donald Trump and his allies committed any crimes while trying to overturn his defeat has finished its work.
• Note that this special grand jury can’t issue indictments per GA state law, but it can send recommendations to the DA. Guess we’ll see.
• From the Sports Desk… the NFL playoff picture is now finally painted. Here’s what’s up in next weekend’s Wild Card round…
• AFC… (1) Kansas City Chiefs - bye week. (7) Miami Dolphins at (2) Buffalo Bills - Sun 1/15. (6) Baltimore Ravens at (3) Cincinnati Bengals - Sun 1/15. (5) Los Angeles Chargers at (4) Jacksonville Jaguars - Sat 1/14.
• NFC… (1) Philadelphia Eagles - bye week. (7) Seattle Seahawks at (2) San Francisco 49ers - Sat 1/14. (6) New York Giants at (3) Minnesota Vikings - Sun 1/15. (5) Dallas Cowboys at (4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Mon 1/16.
• Good luck teams. I’m pretty sure some combination of the top two seeds will end up in the Super Bowl. We’ll see.
• Today in history… The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated (1349). Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the United States Constitution (1788). British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars (1799). The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process (1822). Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861). Ernest Shackleton plants the British flag 97 nautical miles from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time (1909). Battle of Bear Valley, the last battle of the American Indian Wars (1918). British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty (1957). The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail (1992). Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco (2007). 
• January 9 is the birthday of composer John Knowles Paine (1839), activist Carrie Chapman Catt (1859), engineer Joseph Strauss (1870), art collector Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875), psychologist John B. Watson (1879), philosopher/activist Simone de Beauvoir (1908), US president Richard Nixon (1913), actor Lee Van Cleef (1925), NFL player Bart Starr (1934), actor Bob Denver (1935), singer-songwriter/activist Joan Baez (1941), guitarist/songwriter/producer Jimmy Page (1944), singer Crystal Gayle (1951), actor J. K. Simmons (1955), NBA player Muggsy Bogues (1965), singer-songwriter Dave Matthews (1967), and NFL player Chad Johnson (1978).


I’ve got all the typical Monday things to do… meetings, work to produce, things to plan and organize. I’m sure it will be fine, and if not, I will deal with whatever comes my way. Enjoy your day.