Random News: February 28, 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 February 28, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. Here are some observations that someone would probably make if that person scanned the news and started talking shit…

• We all knew this, and yet it’s good to get some verification and validation…
• Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, acknowledged in a deposition taken by Dominion Voting Systems that some Fox News hosts endorsed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
• The testimony which was made public yesterday is from Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
• In his deposition, Murdoch rejected that the right-wing talk network as an entity endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. But Murdoch conceded that Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs promoted the falsehood about the presidential contest being stolen.
• “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” he claimed.
• Too little, too late, Rupert.
• While we’re talking about assholes, I’d be very remiss to not mention “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams.
• In the past, Adams has inaccurately described people who are not vaccinated against COVID as the real "winners" of the pandemic. He also questioned the accuracy of the Holocaust death toll. Another of Adams' claims is that he had lost multiple job opportunities for "being white."
• So yeah, basic Trump-voter, MAGA-type conservative. However, he pushed it way over the line in a YouTube rant last week where he called Black Americans a “hate group” and said that white people should “get the hell away” from them.
• Here comes the “find out” part.
• Hundreds of newspapers across the country immediately stopped running “Dilbert.” Side note: who the hell still reads “Dilbert”? It was last funny in 1994 or so.
• But wait, there’s more: Andrews McMeel Universal, the company that syndicates “Dilbert,” said it is cutting ties with Adams. And, the Penguin Random House imprint Portfolio said it won’t publish Adams’ upcoming book.
• I guess we’ll continue the asshole brigade with Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), one of a cavalcade of first-term GOP lawmakers who “embellished” their background.
• “I previously stated that my degree from MTSU was in International Relations. When I pulled my transcript to verify, I realized I was mistaken. My degree is in Liberal Studies. I apologize for my misstatement.”
• Hahahahah.
• The congressional rep also made claims that he is an economist and a human trafficking expert, among others. He is… not.
• Here are two consecutive headlines you might appreciate…

• Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Monday he intends to sign an anti-drag show bill into law when it reaches his desk.
• And then…
• Image appearing to show Tennessee governor in drag surfaces as state set to pass anti-drag bill
• Snort.
• And now, The Weather: “Thorns” by Yum Yuck
• This feels like a good place to note that in the past few days, California had graupel, the middle of the country had a derecho, and yesterday there was a haboob in Texas. I’m not making up any of this shit; these are all names for specific weather phenomena.
• Get used to weather phenomena; it’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life.
• Also in weather… they’re saying the biggest snowstorm of the season is heading into New York and New England. Enjoy those snow days, kids.
• Hong Kong announced today that it will end its face mask mandate nearly three years after it was enacted to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Their mandate had required facial coverings in all public spaces including outdoors, indoors and public transport.
• The one time I didn’t wear a mask in a public setting, I immediately got COVID. 
• Not making that mistake again.
• And no, of course I don’t wear a mask alone in my car, or walking around and enjoying the outdoors, or on a beach, or in a desert, and so on. Just when I’m in an enclosed space breathing the same air as other disgusting human germ bags.
• In traitor news, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to honor the American actor Steven Seagal with the state Order of Friendship.
• Seagal has been a regular visitor to Russia and became a citizen of the country in 2016, when he received a Russian passport from Vladimir Putin personally.
• Seagal looks like a bucket of fried chicken that’s been sitting in a closet for a week and then sprayed painted with black hair dye.
• Let’s do some good news.
• Ohio school bus driver April Wise is being honored and hailed as a hero for saving a student’s life. The kid was getting off her bus when a car ignored the bus’s red lights and sped by.
• Wise checked her mirrors and grabbed the kid by his backpack. Had he stepped off the bus at that moment, it would have been a tragedy.
• So many people around you every day, from bus drivers to garbage collectors to nurses to cooks and many more, have roles that are so incredibly important, and yet they get looked down upon by other people whom, if their job vanished tomorrow, it would affect no one at all. 
• From the Sports Desk… the Washington Commanders released quarterback Carson Wentz yesterday. Wentz started only seven games this season because of a finger injury.
• He’ll be a good backup somewhere else. He was a Pro Bowl QB just five years ago. Funny how fast NFL careers can turn. There’s a reason the players call the league “Not For Long”.
• Today in history… Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés (1525). The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (1922). James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place in April's Nature Magazine (1953). The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers (1983). The first Gulf War ends (1991). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, TX, starting a 51-day standoff (1993). GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way (1997). The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area (2001). Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415 (2013). 
• February 28 is the birthday of screenwriter Ben Hecht (1894), chemist/activist Linus Pauling (1901), gangster Bugsy Siegel (1906), architect Frank Gehry (1929), actor Gavin MacLeod (1931), racing driver Mario Andretti (1940), graphic designer Storm Thorgerson (1944), NFL player/actor Bubba Smith (1945), actress Bernadette Peters (1948), comedian Gilbert Gottfried (1955), actor John Turturro (1957), singer-songwriter Cindy Wilson (1957), NHL player Eric Lindros (1973), MLB player Aroldis Chapman (1988), and NBA player Luka Dončić (1999).

I am feeling pretty good. Also, I appreciate feeling good, and that feels good too. I took a Mucinex last night (this is starting to sound like an ad) and drank a ton of water, and that really seemed to help clear up my post-COVID lungs. Mucinex: that shit works! Anyway, off to have a normal day of meetings and work and grocery shopping and all that. Enjoy your day.