Random News: March 31, 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 March 31, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! A couple things have happened…

• Donald John Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America, has been indicted for a crime, or possibly a number of crimes. It's the first time in American history a current or former president faces criminal charges.
• The indictment of Trump by a Manhattan grand jury has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time.
• There have been unofficial reports that Trump is facing 34 counts of crimes involving falsification of business records.
• We do know that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.
• The money paid by Trump to Daniels via his fixer/attorney Michael Cohen was made through the Trump Organization, and he labeling the payments as legal fees.
• We also know that it’s a misdemeanor in New York to make that kind of misrepresentation on financial documents, and if the misrepresentation is in furtherance of another crime—which the district attorney alleges in this case—it is a felony in New York and carries a prison sentence of up to four years.
• Trump’s criminal defense attorney Joe Tacopina said Trump will likely be arraigned early next week. It’s being reported the date will be Tuesday April 4. He will be required to surrender in-person at the New York district attorney’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan. Once there, he’ll be booked, fingerprinted, get a mug shot, and so on.
• Tacopina also stated that the former president was initially asked to turn himself in to authorities in New York on Friday (today), but that more time was needed, as the Secret Service needs to coordinate his surrender in New York.
• Trump released a deranged blathering word-salad statement yesterday after the indictment became public. Sources say that despite Trump’s own incorrect prediction of being arrested last week, he was totally caught off guard by the indictment.
• Figures.
• I seriously doubt that Trump will decide not to comply with the indictment, in which case he would have to be forcibly extradited. I mean, I can hope this will happen, but it almost certainly won’t. Right?
• If it did, though, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul would send a written extradition demand to Florida Gov. DeSantis, who would then be legally obligated to verify the indictment before ordering Trump’s extradition from Florida.
• Snort. Hee hee.
• After he’s booked, Trump will be required to attend an arraignment hearing in front of a New York judge, who will read all charges aloud. It’s at this point that Trump would be required to enter a formal plea; he’s expected to plead not guilty.
• Trump will then be released until his court date. New York law dictates people indicted on nonviolent felony charges can be released on their own recognizance, without bail, unless they’re considered a flight risk.
• Hmm. Welp.
• By the way, the MAGA world isn’t taking it well. Some are calling for everything from open civil war to immediate arrests of all Democrats and more. It’s the typical rational, well-thought-out stuff you expect from people who thought they were going to win a coup on January 6, 2021.
• Some better takes, though, from others… 
• “If we are to be a nation of laws, then we must apply the law equally and to everyone, regardless of their station. Few nations have lived up to this ideal, and our own country has often fallen far too short. But if we are to have justice, if we are to have a rule of law that is meaningful and protective of our democracy, we must hold the rich and powerful to account, even when those persons hold high office — perhaps most importantly, when they hold high office. To do otherwise, because holding a president accountable is controversial or provocative, will not bring order, but breed disorder, and disrespect of the law.” - Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
• So, that’s a fluid situation and I’m sure we’ll be updating as it progresses.
• Moving on…
• Yesterday morning, over a thousand people coalesced at the Tennessee Capitol and into its halls, where they crowded into its marble rotunda and lined the chamber galleries.
• They were there to protest the utter lack of any response by legislators in the state to curb gun violence, and chanted "Gun Reform Now!” repeatedly as lawmakers filed into the House chamber.
• A Fox News poll this week asked people how they felt about a potential Biden executive order requiring background checks on all gun purchases. The result was Approve 74%, Disapprove 24%.
• Today, March 31, is Transgender Day of Visibility. The holiday celebrates transgender people and raises awareness of discrimination they face worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. It was founded by transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009.
• In case you were unaware, transgender is the “T” in LGBTQIA+.
• I can’t imagine the bravery required, especially in this political environment, to live your true life openly. I am fortunate enough to be friends with a number of transgender and nonbinary people, and my life is more rich having seen their perspective.
• I also have a surprisingly large number of friends who have transgender children, and it’s difficult to witness the 100% justifiable concern they have for how the world will treat them as they grow up.
• And now, The Weather: “Left Behind” by pecq
• Severe storms are expected to sweep across some central and southern states beginning this afternoon, bringing the threat of several strong tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds to nearly 90 million people across 21 states.
• Stay safe, my people.
• From the Sports Desk… the Women’s NCAA Final Four games are today. South Carolina (1) will face Iowa (2), while LSU (3) plays Virginia Tech (1). I’ll note that I called Virginia Tech and South Carolina before this all started, which isn’t much of a prediction since they were both top seeds.
• Today in history… Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore to present-day Limasawa to participate in the first Catholic mass in the Philippines (1521). The Long Parliament presents the Humble Petition and Advice offering Oliver Cromwell the British throne, which he eventually declines (1657). The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act (1774). The Eiffel Tower is officially opened (1889). The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence (1913). Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time (1918). The Motion Picture Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years (1930). The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada (1949). Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau (1951). The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon (1966). Selena is murdered by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, TX (1995). Netscape releases Mozilla source code under an open source license (1998).
• March 31 is the birthday of mathematician/philosopher René Descartes (1596), composer Joseph Haydn (1732), writer Mary Abigail Dodge (1833), businessman Alfred E. Hunt (1855), boxer Jack Johnson (1878), poet Octavio Paz (1914), labor union leader/activist Cesar Chavez (1927), NHL player Gordie Howe (1928), fashion designer Liz Claiborne (1929), actress Shirley Jones (1934), songwriter/producer Herb Alpert (1935), politician Barney Frank (1940), guitarist Hugh McCracken (1942), actor Christopher Walken (1943), guitarist/songwriter Mick Ralphs (1944), actor Gabe Kaplan (1945), US vice president Al Gore (1948), actress Rhea Perlman (1948), guitarist/songwriter Angus Young (1955), NHL player Pavel Bure (1971), actor Ewan McGregor (1971), and comedian/musician Kate Micucci (1980).

A brief editorial note. Am I happy Trump was finally indicted? Sure, definitely, but not for the reasons you might assume. I like to believe I live in a country where no one is above the law. I would want anyone who allegedly committed crimes to be investigated and either charged or not, and to receive a fair trial by the due process we have in place to try and have some semblance of a fair judicial system. I don’t care who it is or what their alleged crime is. Trump is just a man, like any other man, and neither he nor anyone else should be immune to the laws to which every other citizen must adhere. Justice and equality are two of the most important aspects of living in a fair and free society, and frankly I don’t give a shit who gets upset about it and what they do as a result. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 30, 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 March 30, 2023, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I am enjoying some delicious coffee on a very rainy morning, so let’s all see what it be…

• If you recall, last year when Roe v Wade was overturned, I (and many others) made a prediction that states would start to prevent women from traveling to other states without proving they are not pregnant.
• The process has now begun.
• The Idaho state legislature is moving forward with a bill that criminalizes transporting minors to get an abortion without their parents’ consent, potentially soon becoming the first state to restrict interstate travel for abortion as Republican lawmakers seek to strengthen existing state bans on abortion and enact further limits.
• The next step will be expanding this to adult women. Soon you (or your wives or daughters or other loved ones) will be stopped and forced to take a pregnancy test or other kind of physical examination when you cross a state line.
• It’s amazing that the party who claims to want smaller government and less government regulatory control are now the ones driving the most invasive government actions of our country’s history.
• More to come on that.
• In Kentucky, Republican state lawmakers voted yesterday to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a sweeping GOP bill that curbs transgender medical procedures and limits teaching certain sex-related topics in Kentucky schools.
• The TN House and Senate — both controlled by Republican supermajorities — easily set aside the governor’s March 24 veto. The Senate voted 29-8 in a mostly party line vote. The House followed with a vote of 76-23. 
• Like many other bigoted states, TN’s new law bans school districts from using a student's preferred pronouns, limits what sex-related courses can be taught, and requires school policies ensuring students use restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms for their biological sex. In many ways, the new TN law will endanger children.
• I am looking forward to this blowing up in the legislators’ faces. It will.
• Elon Musk and a group of over 1,000 artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society.
• Somewhat predictably, the letter was notably not signed by Sam Altman, chief executive at OpenAI, nor was it signed by Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella, CEOs of Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft.
• "Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," said the letter issued by the Future of Life Institute.
• Guess what? They’re right. AI is highly likely to be the thing humans invented that kills us all. We thought that was the atomic bomb, but AI is likely much worse and can kill humanity much more quickly.
• That being said, the genie is already out of the bottle and varying forces will continue its development at full speed regardless of this warning, mostly driven by potentials of big profits.
• The latest news in the battle between the Walt Disney Company and Florida governor Ron DeSantis took a hilarious turn yesterday.
• Their squabble began in March 2022 when DeSantis passed the state’s“don’t say gay” law banning classroom teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. Disney stated public opposition to the bill, which prompted DeSantis to try to revoke privileges Disney has had for decades at its theme park, which employs 75,000 people.
• But this week, it came out that the agreement between Florida and Disney has a clause that states that its provisions will stand until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of this declaration”.
• That means, without being specific about it, forever. It means DeSantis and his anti-gay GOP cronies are fucked. Forever.
• Ha ha.
• The spokesperson of Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) resigned amid controversy over a social media post invoking gun violence posted hours after the deadly shooting at a Nashville school on Monday.
• Josselyn Berry had posted a scene from a movie with an actress holding s handgun in each hand, and posted it with the words, "Us when we see transphobes.”
• Wrong way to say it, Josselyn.
• North Carolina is the newest state where anyone can now buy a handgun without getting a permit. Their Republican-controlled legislature overrode the Democratic governor’s veto.
• As of immediately in NC, there is no requirement to perform character evaluations or criminal history checks of pistol applicants. Private gun sales in NC require no background check at all, and there is no way to prevent them from being used to commit violent crimes.
• The Democratic-led U.S. Senate voted 66-30 on legislation to formally repeal the war authorizations that justified the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War. The action is largely symbolic as U.S. combat operations against Iraq ended more than a decade ago.
• However, per their statements, it was important for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority to start and end wars.
• Fair point.
• The effort faced indifference from the Obama administration and outright opposition from the Trump administration, but President Biden has indicated he will sign it if it reaches his desk.
• And now, The Weather: “Selene” by Night Tapes
• Here’s a good weather headline: “L.A. Rainier Than Seattle As Latest Dangerous Storm Plows Through”
• Jesus.
• Another big train derailment with toxic chemicals involved this morning. Residents of Raymond, MN had to evacuate after 22 cars derailed around 1am, with some of them carrying ethanol and corn syrup, and started on fire.
• The government’s effort to ban the video sharing platform TikTok hit a surprising snag in the form of Rand Paul (R-KY).
• "If Republicans want to continuously lose elections for generations, they should pass this bill to ban TikTok, a social media app used by 150 million people, primarily young Americans,” he said.
• He’s in agreement with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who says, "The solution here is not to ban an individual company but to actually protect Americans from this kind of egregious data harvesting that companies can use without your significant ability to say no.”
• Other members of Congress note that banning TikTok for reasons that are equally applicable to Facebook, Instagram, Google and others doesn’t feel right.
• Valid points.
• From the Sports Desk… after a 16-year hiatus, the Sacramento Kings are back in the NBA playoffs. After a win last night, Sacramento clinches its first playoff berth since the 2005-06 season. Why is this newsworthy? It was U.S. major sports' longest postseason drought.
• Today in history… The Florida Territory is created in the United States (1822). Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long (1842). Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of the element thallium (1861). Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece (1863). Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward (1867). Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction (1870). The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (1939). A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík when Iceland joins NATO (1949). U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident (1981). SpaceX conducts the world's first reflight of an orbital class rocket (2017).
• March 30 is the birthday of painter/sculptor Francisco Goya (1746), author Anna Sewell (1820), poet Paul Verlaine (1844), painter Vincent van Gogh (1853), writer/philosopher/monk Chunseong (1891), animator Marc Davis (1913), singer-songwriter/harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson (1914), actor Richard Dysart (1929), singer-songwriter Rolf Harris (1930), actor Warren Beatty (1937), NBA player Jerry Lucas (1940), singer-songwriter/guitarist Eric Clapton (1945), model Naomi Sims (1949), actor Robbie Coltrane (1950), actor Paul Reiser (1956), rapper MC Hammer (1962), singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman (1964), singer-songwriter Celine Dion (1968), and NFL player Richard Sherman (1988).

Well, that’s a lot of stuff. I have a pretty normal Thursday. Got meetings to attend, press releases to write, ads to make, web content to post. I do this shit daily. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 29, 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 March 29, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. I am an idiot — something I’ll explain at some point below — but first, here’s some news… 

• Something you didn’t probably notice in the wake of this week’s nightmarish shooting rampage at an elementary school in Nashville, TN…
• That same day, a federal judge quietly cleared the way to drop the minimum age to 18 for Tennesseans to carry handguns in public without a permit.
• These folks are much more afraid of losing their completely unencumbered access to more guns than they are about protecting children. I doubt anything will ever change that.
• The same is true at the federal level. None of the people who could enact common sense gun regulation have the balls to do so, and most of them actually prefer things as they are now. It will not change.
• One last note on that topic for now. Shooter Audrey Hale had recently posted on Facebook about the death of a romantic partner. Grief has a terrible effect on rational thought. It certainly doesn’t justify what she did in any way, but it’s another factor of understanding her mindset and trying to prevent future mass shootings.
• I do need to note that in stark contrast to the Uvalde, TX school massacre, the law enforcement team in Nashville who took out the suspect did so with extreme speed and bravery, and almost certainly prevented more carnage. Kudos to officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo.
• I also need to note the number of Republican figures who are saying that trans people should not be allowed to own guns. The subtext to each of these situations is that the Second Amendment should only apply to white heterosexual cisgender men, which is generally the outlook toward everything from voting rights to land ownership and beyond.
• Moving on…
• On Tuesday, a federal district court in Washington ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before the grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
• That will be fun.
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had her congressional Twitter account suspended for “violating rules against violent speech”. She was unsuspended but then immediately resuspended for pushing ignorant false narratives about transgender people being a part of ANTIFA. She was then forced to remove her disgusting tweets to regain access to her account. 
• Sporky is trying to stoke hate and fear of transgender Americans by using a few individuals to paint all transgender Americans in a specific violent way. 
• We don’t do that in America.
• Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has put a hold on nearly 160 military promotions, some for very senior positions, citing his objections to its policy post-Roe v. Wade.
• He’s singlehandedly blocking the promotion of nearly 160 senior U.S. military officers in a dispute arising from the Defense Department’s abortion policy. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that by impeding these officers’ promotions, Tuberville had caused a “ripple effect in the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be.”
• What an asshole.
• Tuberville’s complaint is in regard to the policy granting up to three weeks of paid time off and travel reimbursement for service members and dependents if they travel out of state to receive an abortion.
• Almost 80,000 of our servicewomen are stationed in places where they don’t have access to non-covered reproductive health care.
• Speaking of our military… today marks the 50th anniversary of combat troops departing South Vietnam, the beginning of the end of the United States' direct military involvement in the unpopular war. 
• Nearly 60,000 Americans and 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters were killed in the war, which also claimed the lives of as many as 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and more than 2 million civilians.
• War sucks.
• Let’s feel better about ourselves. It’s easy. Just compare yourself with just about anyone in America’s national joke, the state of Florida.
• A parent of a second grade student at North Shore Elementary in St. Petersburg, FL filed a formal complaint requesting the removal of the 1998 movie “Ruby Bridges” from the school’s list of approved films.
• Why? The parent argued it could teach students that “White people hate Black people.”
• The film is about a Black first grader who integrated an all-White elementary school in the South. These people would much rather whitewash history than face it and learn from its lessons.
• And now, The Weather: “In The Rear View” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
• It’s raining again this morning in Southern California. Apparently it will just always rain here, forever and ever, for the rest of time.
• Yesterday, I went into my podiatrist’s office for a scheduled minor surgery. I have a large trade show coming up soon and needed to resolve an issue with my foot before standing for 8-10 hours per day.
• It wasn’t going to be a big deal, but it did mean I’d be bandaged up after, and not able to show for a few days, and would need to stop exercising for a week or so.
• I was not happy about any of that. However, when I got there and was examined, it turned out that my foot issue was not what I thought it was. Instead… it was just a fucking callus. She took care of it, my foot was 99% better ten minutes later, and now I am fine, and all that concern was for absolutely nothing.
• Today in history… Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway (1806). United States forces in the Mexican-American War led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege (1847). The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab (1849). Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes Canada on July 1 (1867). Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria (1871). Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage (1951). The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections (1961). Lieutenant William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder in the My Lai Massacre and sentenced to life in prison (1971). NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury (1974). The Baltimore Colts load its possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transfer its operations to Indianapolis (1984). The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark for the first time, during the height of the dot-com bubble (1999). Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join NATO as full members (2004). The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed (2014). Prime Minister Theresa May invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, formally beginning the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (2017).
• March 29 is the birthday of biologist/physician Santorio Santorio (1561), US president John Tyler (1790), engineer/inventor Elihu Thomson (1853), MLB player/manager Cy Young (1867), US first lady Lou Henry Hoover (1874), actress/singer Pearl Bailey (1918), businessman Sam Walton (1918), saxophonist Michael Brecker (1949), NFL player Earl Campbell (1955), actress Marina Sirtis (1955), MLB player/manager Billy Beane (1962), politician Catherine Cortez Masto (1964), actress Lucy Lawless (1968), politician Ted Lieu (1969), and tennis player Jennifer Capriati (1976).

Time for me to be a productive human with two functional feet. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 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 March 28, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m stressed and annoyed, and neither thing can be easily assuaged, so here’s some info and hopefully it’s useful…

• It’s the 87th day of 2023, and in those 87 days, the USA has had 129 mass shootings, almost exactly 1.5 every day.
• A mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter. 
• There have been thousands more when “only” 1-3 people were shot.
• Yesterday’s mass shooting was at the Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in an upscale area of Nashville, TN.
• Three 9-year-old children and three adults are dead, along with the shooter.
• That shooter was Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old Nashville resident. She gained entry into the school by shooting through one of the doors. She had two assault-style rifles (presumably AR-15s) and a handgun during the attack.
• Like most of these asshole killers, she left behind a manifesto. I’d prefer not to read it, though I’m sure there’s a story that led her to this murderous point, perhaps from her time as a student at that school.
• There will certainly be people trying to connect the fact that Hale was trans to her heinous acts. I put no more validity in that than I would someone connecting a person’s race or religion to a crime. The fact that someone is White, Black, Christian, Gay, Sikh, Hispanic, Muslim, or any other innate quality is not the root cause of evil action, ever.
• Also, frankly, I’m not sure if I’m inadvertently misgendering this person. I don’t know if Audrey was her birth name, dead name, or otherwise. She, or he, or they, are dead now, so I suppose it doesn’t matter at this stage.
• Hale had no previous criminal record.
• The leading cause of death in children in the USA is now guns.
• Moving on…
• An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Monday showed that three in four U.S. adults believe that Orange Julius Caesar has done something either illegal or unethical.
• Americans were also asked if the ongoing local, state, and federal probes of Trump are fair. 56% said they think the probes of Trump are indeed fair, versus just 41% who viewed them as a “witch hunt."
• That same poll indicated that a whopping 61% of Americans do not want Trump to be President again.
• A staffer of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was "brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C.," over the weekend, according to Paul. Glynn Neal, 42, was charged with assault with intent to kill using a knife. The staffer was apparently stabbed in the head and torso.
• Neal told officers he heard “a voice was going to get him” before the attack occurred. This seems more “crazy attack” than “political attack”.
• Here’s a tip: if you’re sane, don’t stab people, or shoot people, for any reason at all. Try not to cause harm to any person, or thing. It’s really not hard.
• The protests in Israel seemed to have had their desired effect; Bibi Netanyahu has suspended his proposed judicial overhaul for the time being.
• Meanwhile in France, major protests continue. The French are très en colère about President Emmanuel Macron's changes to France's retirement system. He is raising France's legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
• Meanwhile in this country, I will likely never be able to retire. Where’s my protest?
• At least I live in California. Our governor, Gavin Newsom, pushed through the nation’s first penalty for price gouging at the pump. State regulators now have the power to punish oil companies for profiting from the type of gas price spikes that plagued us last summer.
• The Democrats in charge of the state legislature worked quickly to pass the bill on Monday, just one week after it was introduced, despite the powerful oil industry spending millions of dollars to stop it.
• And now, The Weather: “Lovely Sewer” by Yves Tumor
• Something just to file away in your brain somewhere…
• Airports are frantic places with a lot of shit going on. I live not very far from one of the country’s busiest: Los Angeles International (LAX). So when you’re at a busy airport to catch a flight or pick someone up, always be aware of your surroundings. Case in point…
• Vishwachand Kolla, 47, of Lexington, MA is dead after he was struck by a coach bus last night outside of a terminal at Boston Logan International Airport. He was hit while standing outside the driver’s side of his SUV. Ugh.
• From the Sports Desk… at the Dodgers’ spring training game against the Royals on Saturday, during the seventh inning, LA prospect Michael Busch smashed a homer over the fence where it was caught by… a dog.
• Good doggy. Opening day of MLB in March 30.
• Today in history… Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco (1776). Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered (1802). First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai (1842). France and Britain declare war on Russia in the Crimean War (1854). In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory (1862). Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid after a three-year siege (1939). The United States Department of State releases the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power (1946). The US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity (1978). A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, PA leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown (1979). President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal (1990). 
• March 28 is the birthday of painter Fra Bartolomeo (1472), brewer Frederick Pabst (1836), novelist Maxim Gorky (1868), actress Beulah Dark Cloud (1887), politician Edmund Muskie (1914), scientist/engineer Paul C. Donnelly (1923), diplomat/political activist Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928), NBA player/coach Jerry Sloan (1942), actor Ken Howard (1944), Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte (1945), actress Dianne Wiest (1948), singer-songwriter Reba McEntire (1955), NBA player/coach Byron Scott (1961), actor Vince Vaughn (1970), NBA player/coach Luke Walton (1980), singer-songwriter/actress Lady Gaga (1986), and NFL player Derek Carr (1991).

I have to have very minor outpatient surgery today. I’ve had it before. Like most humans, I’m not happy about having a knife shoved into my foot, but I am looking forward to having the ailment that necessitates it gone. I’ll be fine, though I’ll complain about it while recovering, so you have that to look forward to. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 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 March 27, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I’m sure we should be aware of certain things, so let’s see what they are…

• Let’s start today’s news in Israel, where hundreds of thousands of people stopped working Monday to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unprecedented plans to overhaul the country’s judicial system.
• That was after widespread unrest Sunday night, after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who became the first member of his Likud Party to speak out against the proposed changes. Tens of thousands protested in Tel Aviv, where demonstrators were sprayed with water cannons. Beersheba, Haifa, and Jerusalem also saw unrest.
• In addition to the general strike for workers, Israel’s diplomatic staff were on strike Monday on the advice of their trade union. Israel’s embassies in Washington and around the world shut as a result and some diplomats have replaced their social media profile pictures with the Israeli flag. All departing flights from Ben-Gurion International Airport have been grounded.
• Way to go, Bibi (slow sarcastic clap).
• Back in the USA, the beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank has a new owner. It’s being purchased by First Citizens Bank, and all 17 of SVB’s branches will open today under the new ownership. 
• SVB’s collapse earlier this month was the second-largest in U.S. history.
• Also exclusive to the USA: about 1 in 20 U.S. adults — roughly 16 million people — now own at least one AR-15. Coincidentally (actually not), ten of the 17 deadliest U.S. mass killings since 2012 have involved AR-15s.
• A ridiculous number of shootings happened this past weekend. Six teens in Brooklyn Center. MN. Two people in OK City. 10 in Chicago. One dead in Spartanburg, SC. A cop in Jacksonville. Two at a Sikh temple in Sacramento, CA. A guy at a gas station in Birmingham, AL. A drive-by in Colorado Springs. Someone at a mall in Indianapolis. Two dead and another five shot in Little Rock, AR. Two in West Louisville. I’d list more but I don’t want to be even more depressed.
• Today, the grand jury in NYC that’s been hearing testimony and reviewing evidence related to a criminal hush money payment benefiting former President Donald Trump is set to resume work. They could be asked to issue an indictment of Trump today. Or not. Guess we’ll see.
• As mentioned previously, the Florida school board led by chair Barney Bishop is now the topic of global ridicule after they demanded the resignation of a principal for showing middle schoolers a photo of Michelangelo’s iconic “David” sculpture, saying the biblical art masterpiece was pornography.
• The Florence, Italy museum housing the “David” invited parents and students from the Florida charter school to visit. Florence Mayor Dario Nardella also tweeted an invitation for ousted principal Hope Carrasquilla to visit so he can personally honor her.
• Confusing art with pornography was “ridiculous,” Nardella said. He’s right.
• Elongated Muskrat has sent an email to employees to announce a stock compensation program. In it, Musk said Twitter was still in bad shape financially.
• He claims Twitter is now worth $20 billion, despite having paid more than twice that much — $44 billion — for the platform last year. Since then, about 75 percent of the company’s 7,500 employees have been laid off or resigned. He also claimed the company was four months away from running out of money at one point.
• Adding to Musk’s woes, parts of Twitter’s source code were leaked online. Twitter moved on Friday to have the leaked code taken down by sending a copyright infringement notice to GitHub, who complied. It was unclear how long the leaked code had been online, but it appeared to have been public for at least several months.
• So sad, too bad.
• And now, The Weather: “Shadowbanned” by Scotch Mist
• Thousands of people in the Greater Cincinnati, OH-region lost power this weekend as strong wind gusts caused power lines and trees to fall. From shutdown traffic lights to detours on the roads, many people were stuck in the dark from the high winds. The outage affected over 350,000 people across Ohio.
• If you’ve never seen the YouTube series “What’s In My Bag?” from Amoeba Records, it’s always pretty cool regardless of what artist/band they talk to. Last week there was a cool one from composer/musician Danny Elfman.
• My favorite Oingo Boingo song? Probably “Nothing Bad Ever Happens”, with “Private Life” in a close second, respectively from 1983 and 1982.
• From the Sports Desk… the NCAA Men’s tournament has a Final Four. On April 1, FAU (9) will face San Diego State (5), and UConn (4) will go up against Miami (5). The winners of those games will battle in the championship on Monday April 3.
• Today in history… Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France (1625). The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates (1794). In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814). President of the United States of America Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, but his veto is overridden by Congress and the bill passes into law on April 9 (1866). Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1958). Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins (1975). The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States (1998). North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO (2020).
• March 27 is the birthday of activist Virginia Minor (1824), physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (1845), engineer/businessman Henry Royce (1863), actress Gloria Swanson (1899), bandleader Pee Wee Russell (1906), guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. (1915), music producer Phil Chess (1921), singer Sarah Vaughan (1924), mathematician/computer programmer Margaret K. Butler (1924), actor Michael York (1942), keyboardist/songwriter Tony Banks (1950), NFL player Randall Cunningham (1963), film director Quentin Tarantino (1963), singer-songwriter Mariah Carey (1969), and singer-songwriter Fergie (1975).

And now I will go about my day. It’s gonna be busy and stressful, but I’m going to flow with the go, or groove with the move, or dance in my pants. I don’t know what I’m doing. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 26, 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 March 26, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. Let’s take a pleasant walk together through the fields of information and see if there’s anything worth seeing…

• I have just hit 300,000 words since I started this silly list of bullets last May. 
• With 300,000 words, I’ve just passed the word count of ‘A Game of Thrones’ (298,000 words), but I’m still far behind ‘War and Peace” (561,304), ‘Les Miserables’ (530,982), and the utterly shitty ‘Atlas Shrugged’ (561,996). But I am coming up on Ayn’s Rand’s equally detestable ‘The Fountainhead’ (311,596).
• Former president Donald Trump had his first 2024 campaign rally yesterday in Waco, TX.
• As you may recall, Waco was the site where exactly 30 years ago, in March/April 1993, the Branch Davidian religious cult led by David Koresh was raided by the ATF and FBI for stockpiling weapons.
• Two years later, Timothy McVeigh cited the Waco incident as a primary motivation for the Oklahoma City bombing that claimed 168 lives and left over 600 injured in the deadliest act of terrorism before 9/11. The Waco siege also kicked off the career of conspiracy spreader Alex Jones.
• Anyway, that’s where Trump decided to hold his rally yesterday. Very little to report from that. he just continued to repeat provably false claims as always… the election was rigged, he completed the border wall with Mexico, etc.
• He also spent some time attacking his presumptive Republican competitor, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
• But most of his speech was about being a poor, persecuted, innocent victim in relation to the multitude of criminal investigations he’s facing.
• Yawn.
• Trump’s own lawyer in the Stormy Daniels hush money case said today that Orange Goblin’s recent post attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was not a good idea.
• “I’m not his social media consultant. I think that was an ill-advised post that one of his social media people put up, and he quickly took down when he realized the rhetoric and the photo that was attached to it.” - Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina
• Meanwhile, President Biden declared an emergency to quickly help the people of Mississippi who were devastated by the deadly tornado that ripped through the Delta on Friday, killing dozens and destroying entire blocks of homes.
• Best of luck to them.
• I meant to mention yesterday… RIP to Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel. He was 94.
• Moore is known for Moore’s Law, the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years, something he initially said in 1965. His prediction held steady almost the entire time since then (though we’re now reaching a point for that to soon become physically impossible).
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has finally been released from an inpatient physical therapy facility after he fell earlier this month and was treated for a concussion and rib fracture. He’s 81.
• The long-serving human-turtle hybrid will be working from home while he continues to recuperate.
• And now, The Weather: “No Repair” by Bodywash
• Let me talk a little about carrying weapons and humanity’s propensity to act on immediate emotional situations.
• Kevin Madrid, 24, worked at a Family Dollar store in Phoenix. A serial shoplifter came in a Kevin told him to leave. The guy punched him in the face. And Kevin pulled out his weapon and shot him more than 10 times.
• You may think to yourself that you wouldn’t do that, but in the heat of the moment, you don’t know that for sure. Now Kevin is being charged with murder, and his life is ruined. Had he not had a concealed weapon on him at that moment, the worst he’d have was a black eye and a bruised ego.
• You always hear about how things would go better if there had been “a good guy with a gun”. Ask your friends in law enforcement how often things go better in that situation.
• From the Sports Desk… we’re close to a Final Four in the NCAA tournament. On the men’s side, UConn (4) will face the winner of the Miami (5) and Texas (2) game, while FAU (9) will play the winner of the SDSU (5) and Creighton (6) game.
• For the WNCAA, the Final Four will see the winners of the South Carolina (1)/Maryland (2), Miami (9)/LSU (3), Louisville (5)/Iowa (2), and Virginia Tech (1)/Ohio State (3) games.
• Today in history… William Caxton prints his translation of ‘Aesop's Fables’ (1484). Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands (1636). A political cartoon in the Boston Gazette coins the term "gerrymander" to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection (1812). The Vancouver Millionaires win the 1915 Stanley Cup Finals, the first championship played between the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the National Hockey Association (1915). The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces (1945). Ten thousand people gather for one of many Central Park be-ins in New York City (1967). East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Liberation War begins (1971). Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in Washington, D.C. (1979). Thirty-nine bodies are found in the Heaven's Gate mass suicides (1997). 
• March 26 is the birthday of socialist/visionary Edward Bellamy (1850), poet Robert Frost (1874), first president of South Korea Syngman Rhee (1875), socialist activist Kate Richards O’Hare (1876), engineer Othmar Ammann (1879), fashion designer Guccio Gucci (1881), mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904), playwright Tennessee Williams (1911), US general William Westmoreland (1914), actor Strother Martin (1919), SCOTUS justice Sandra Day O’Connor (1930), actor Leonard Nimoy (1931), actor Alan Arkin (1934), physicist Anthony James Leggett (1938), actor James Caan (1940), politician Nancy Pelosi (1940), novelist Erica Jong (1942), journalist Bob Woodward (1943), singer-songwriter Diana Ross (1944), singer-songwriter Steven Tyler (1948), actress/singer Vicki Lawrence (1949), singer-songwriter Teddy Pendergrass (1950), actor Martin Short (1950), composer Alan Silvestri (1950), politician Elaine Chao (1953), actress Jennifer Grey (1960), NBA player John Stockton (1962), actor Michael Imperioli (1966), singer-songwriter Kenny Chesney (1968), guitarist James Iha (1968), and actress Keira Knightley (1985).

I should get dressed and do things. In a bit. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 25, 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 March 25, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. I have things to do, unfortunately, but for now I’m in a bathrobe and telling you what’s up…

• The multitude of criminal actions against the former president is piling up.
• Yesterday, a federal judge ordered several former Donald Trump aides, including Mark Meadows, to testify before a grand jury as part of the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election
• The Orange Orangutang has claimed they couldn’t due to executive privilege. Trump’s legal team had challenged subpoenas issued by special counsel Jack Smith demanding testimony and documents from Meadows, the former president’s White House chief of staff, as well as several others.
• In addition to Meadows, those subpoenaed by Jack Smith include former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, and former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli.
• Get ‘em, Jack.
• In another of criminal investigations against Trump, this one involving the hush money given to porn actress Stormy Daniels, police say a white powder was discovered in a parcel inside the mail room for the New York building that houses the office for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 
• Bragg is the DA who may be indicting Trump for that case. There was a note saying "Alvin – I’ll kill you" in the envelope.
• Trump must also be held responsible for stoking violence against those investigating his numerous crimes. Yesterday, the Orange Menace warned of “death and destruction” if he is indicted for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
• Fuck you, fat man.
• Here’s some very, very good news.
• A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled this week that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest in 2020 can proceed against Rittenhouse, police officers and others.
• Anthony Huber’s father alleged that Rittenhouse conspired with law enforcement to cause harm to protestors. John Huber is seeking unspecified damages from city officials, officers and Rittenhouse.
• U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman on Wednesday dismissed motions filed by Rittenhouse and the government defendants seeking to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit.
• Remember, just because a person isn’t legally found guilty of murder doesn’t make them immune from civil prosecution. As you likely recall, that’s what happened between O.J. Simpson and the family of Nicole Brown.
• Michigan is on a roll lately… a good one.
• Yesterday, they became the first state in decades to repeal a union-restricting law known as “right-to-work” that was passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature.
• The state's “right-to-work” law had allowed those in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues and fees. Its repeal is seen as a major victory for organized labor with union membership reaching an all-time low last year.
• Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is fulfilling all of her campaign promises. I see her as a contender in a future presidential election.
• Some more potentially good news…
• The Los Angeles Unified School District and Service Employees International Union Local 99 have reached a deal following a three-day strike. The agreement must be ratified by the union’s bargaining unit and the board of education.
• But a deal is better than no deal.
• Moving on…
• Yesterday, I told you about a new law in Utah that’s designed to protect kids form the evils of the Internet. You’re probably thinking it doesn’t apply to you in any way.
• Wrong.
• Privacy advocates point out that identity verification rules take away consumers’ rights to use these services anonymously, while companies get to collect even more of their data than before.
• The only way to prove you aren’t a child subject to these rules is to verify that you’re an adult. And companies that run platforms like Facebook and Twitter are salivating at the prospect of having this go nationwide, because then they’d have verified data on your name, where you live, and then connect all the dots.
• Isn’t this only about kids in Utah? Probably not for long.
• Sigh.
• A company in West Reading, PA that specializes in hollow chocolate Easter bunnies had a massive explosion yesterday.
• Five people were killed and six people remain missing after the catastrophe at R.M. Palmer, who one would assume is in their busy season right before Easter.
• And now, The Weather: “Alliance” by Parks, Squares & Alleys
• In real weather news, thoughts to the people of Mississippi. A deadly tornado and strong thunderstorms swept across the state late Friday, killing at least 23 people and leaving a trail of destruction for more than 100 miles.
• From the Sports Desk… the women’s NCAA tournament as been pretty chippy, with two fights in the handshake line following games this week.
• I think the championship will be between South Carolina and Virginia Tech, but I don’t know shit about these teams, so don’t quote me on that.
• Today in history… Italian city Venice is founded (421). Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (1306). Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia (1584). Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens (1655). Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet ‘The Necessity of Atheism’ (1811). Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, OH for Washington, D.C. (1894). The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape (1931). United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds (1957). Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, AL (1965). The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch (1979). 
• March 25 is the birthday of U.S. navy founder John Barry (1745), sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867), conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867), composer Béla Bartók (1881), director David Lean (1908), journalist Howard Cosell (1918), film critic Gene Shalit (1926), activist Gloria Steinem (1934), singer-songwriter Hoyt Axton (1938), singer-songwriter Elton John (1947), actress Sarah Jessica Parker (1965), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jeff Healey (1966), WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes (1971), and race car driver Danica Patrick (1982). 

Time for me to shower and dress. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 24, 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 March 24, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Let’s talk about whatever…

• You know how I start each Friday report with “… and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again!”? I took that from David Lynch, the great filmmaker. Up until January, David did a daily weather segment on YouTube, and he started each Friday’s report with that phrase.
• I used to watch it every day until one day, he just… stopped. I was sad. I’m still sad.
• The United States launched airstrikes in Syria in retaliation after a drone strike killed a U.S. contractor, injured five American service members and wounded one other contractor.
• The drone was of Iranian origin, per Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
• In response, the U.S. Central Command conducted "precision airstrikes" on targets it believed were connected with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran has launched an estimated 78 attacks on U.S. forces in Syria since January 2021.
• War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, say it again.
• Today, Evan Corcoran, the primary defense attorney for the former president, will testify to a federal grand jury in regard to the documents probe.
• Corcoran has been told by the federal court he cannot withhold information any longer about communications he had with Trump, his client, leading up to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last summer. He was also ordered earlier this week to turn over notes he had considered to be his written work as an attorney in the probe.
• Prosecutors have made clear in court proceedings that are still under seal that they believe Trump tried to use Corcoran to advance a crime.
• Keep an eye on that.
• Meet Riley Williams. She’s the bespectacled young woman from Pennsylvania who led insurrectionists up a set of stairs toward Nancy Pelosi's office and was present when rioters swiped the then-Speaker’s laptop on January 6, 2021.
• She was ultimately convicted on six counts: felony civil disorder, resisting and impeding certain officers, and four misdemeanor charges. 
• Yesterday she was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Side note: her public defender tried to get her sentenced reduced because she was so stupid, she posted during the failed coup attempt that she was “STORMING THE WHITE HOUSE”.
• Williams plans to raise sheep for their wool and cows for milk after serving her sentence. That’s nice.
• Moving on…
• The prospect of popular video sharing app TikTok being banned in America is becoming increasingly likely. Regulators and lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle have it in their crosshairs over its ties to China.
• I mean, I get it. But let’s be clear: apps like Facebook and Twitter are tied to funds from Russia and Saudi Arabia. And, most importantly, all of them build dossiers on every user to monetize their information for various purposes.
• TikTok is only being banned because of the ill will toward China. It is what it is.
• In “There’s An Entire State Full Of Idiots” news, a Tallahassee, FL school principal resigned, following accusations that middle school students were shown inappropriate adult content.
• They showed these kids pornography? That’s horrible! What was the porn?
• The students were shown images of the renowned sculpture, Michelangelo’s “David”.
• Yup. One of the most well known, respected, and beloved pieces of art that humanity has ever created. But because that sculpted marble has a penis, someone had to resign.
• I’m going to name and shame the horrible excuse for a human being who caused this… school board chair Barney Bishop. Way to fucking go, Barney. If I was in a certain mood, I’d send him every dick pic in the universe.
• Some good news…
• The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill today by a vote of 68-62 that would prevent state courts or officials from complying with child removal requests, extraditions, arrests or subpoenas related to gender-affirming health care that a person receives in that state. 
• Well done, Minnesota.
• Eight states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah – have issued all out bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including medication and surgical services. Meanwhile, Arizona has outlawed surgical treatments and dozens of other states have bans under consideration.
• Fuck them all.
• Here’s a weird one.
• Utah just became the first state to enact laws limiting how children can use social media.
• Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a pair of measures yesterday that require parental consent before kids can sign up for sites like TikTok and Instagram. The laws also prohibit kids under 18 from using social media between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., and require age verification for anyone who wants to use social media in the state.
• Not sure that’s going to work out well.
• Classes resume today for hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District students after a planned three-day strike by union employees ended with no new agreement.
• LA Mayor Karen Bass is actively involved in the negotiations between the district and the Service Employees International Union, Local 99, which represents around 30,000 teachers’ aides, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and other support staff.
• And now, The Weather: “The Afterparty” by Portraits Of Tracy
• From the Sports Desk… according to a panel of ESPN analysts, here are the ten best players in Major League Baseball coming into the 2023 season: 1. SP/DH Shohei Otani, 2. CF Mike Trout, 3. OF Aaron Judge, 4. 3B Manny Machado, 5. 1B Freddir Freeman, 6. RF Juan Soto, 7. CF Julio Rodriguez, 8. SS Trea Turner, 9. RF Mookie Betts, and 10. 3B Nolan Arenado.
• Today in history… King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France (1199). James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland upon the death of Elizabeth I (1603). The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne (1663). Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos (1721). Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops (1765). Japanese Chief Minister Ii Naosuke is assassinated by rōnin samurai outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle (1860). Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (1882). Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn (1900). Direct rule is imposed on Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom under Edward Heath (1972). In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period (1976). In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground (1989). Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 is discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy at the Palomar Observatory in California (1993). Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting (2018).
• March 24 is the birthday of clock maker John Harrison (1693), politician Rufus King (1755), poet/composer Fanny Crosby (1820), activist Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826), SCOTUS justice Horace Gray (1828), businessman/philanthropist Andrew W. Mellon (1855), magician Harry Houdini (1874), actor Roscoe Arbuckle (1887), MLB player George Sisler (1893), animator Ub Iwerks (1901), criminal Clyde Barrow (1909), animator Joseph Barbera (1911), poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919), actor Norman Fell (1924), actor Steve McQueen (1930), fashion designer Bob Mackie (1940), actor/drill instructor R. Lee Ermey (1944), harmonica player Lee Oskar (1948), singer-songwriter Nick Lowe (1949), fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger (1951), actor/comedian Louie Anderson (1953), businessman Steve Ballmer (1956), actress/model Kelly Le Brock (1960), actress Lara Flynn Boyle (1970), NFL player Mike Vanderjagt (1970), comedian/actor Tig Notaro (1971), actor Jim Parsons (1973), NFL player Peyton Manning (1976), actress Jessica Chastain (1977), and NBA player Chris Bosh (1984).

I think the coming weeks will be filled with interesting news tidbits, but I’ll stop today’s stuff for now. There’s always so much more, but this is all you get for now. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 23, 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 March 23, 2023, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Plenty of stuff going on, perhaps too much, but we’ll peek into what’s what…

• Following up on the story of the former prez and his lawyers that kicked off Tuesday night…
• Yesterday, the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled extraordinarily swiftly and rejected an effort by Donald Trump's attorneys to block lawyer Evan Corcoran from having to testify and hand over records to special counsel Jack Smith's team investigating Trump's handling of classified records after leaving the White House.
• That order came from the chief judge for the D.C. District Court, who determined the government had made a prima facie case that Corcoran's legal services were likely used by Trump in the furtherance of a crime. Note: “prima facie” means “at first impression” or “until proven otherwise”.
• If you’re confused between all the looming Trump indictments, this is about the stolen documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago. Jack Smith believes Trump intentionally and deliberately misled his own attorneys about Trump's retention of classified materials after leaving office.
• That’s a crime. Corcoran is expected to testify as soon as Friday.
• In “Fools and Their Money” News, Trump bilked $1.5 million from easily-misled people in the three days following his announcement that he was to be arrested.
• One other side note: Trump’s lawyers have told him that he’s going to lose the case involving his hush money to cover up his sexual encounter with porn actress Stormy Daniels, but that he’ll win on appeal. Ha ha.
• Moving on (but not for long… all of this is going to keep blowing up)…
• Hey Proud Boys: you got snitches. Ha ha.
• Federal prosecutors disclosed yesterday that a witness expected to testify for the defense at the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates was secretly acting as a government informant for nearly two years after the Jan. 6, 2021 failed coup attempt.
• Carmen Hernandez, a lawyer for former Proud Boys chapter leader Zachary Rehl, said in court papers that the defense team was told by prosecutors yesterday that the witness they were planning to call to the stand on Thursday (today) had been a government informant.
• Snort. Those guys are fucked.
• In other news…
• The Walt Disney Company will host a major conference promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the workplace in Central Florida this September, gathering executives and professionals from the world’s largest companies in a defiant display of the limits of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign against diversity training.
• Disney has had a longstanding relationship with Out & Equal, the organization behind the event, and is listed on its website as one of its most generous sponsors.
• Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed extending Florida’s controversial prohibition on classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity to all grades (aka, the “Don’t Say Gay” law). Previously it was only through 4th grade; DeSantis now wants all discussion of orientation and gender to be banned through 12th grade.
• As long as we’re talking about asshole governors who are filled with hate…
• Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill into law that bars transgender people from using school restrooms that do not align with the sex listed on their birth certificate, the latest in a series of GOP-led legislative efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights in schools.
• The bill covers restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and shower rooms. It allows superintendents, teachers and principals to be fined a minimum of $1,000 if they do not comply with the law.
• A very similar situation is true in Iowa, where Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed bill SF 482 into law yesterday. Transgender students in that state won’t be allowed to use a public school restroom that aligns with their gender identity, nor will they be allowed gender-affirming care.
• These horrible, evil people will see their comeuppance someday, or at least we can hope so.
• Back on DeSantis, his super PAC is making a major expansion, establishing its headquarters in Atlanta. They also hired Jeff Roe, who previously ran Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign.
• That means he’ll declare his candidacy pretty soon. He’s probably also waiting for the Trump indictments as well.
• In People Shooting People News, a 17-year-old student shot and wounded two administrators at his high school in Denver yesterday. The student fled the scene after the shooting at East High School but was later found dead in the woods. In more shitty shootings, 42-year-old Charles Slacks, Jr. gunned down three children (including two of his own) and an active-duty soldier in a domestic mass shooting in South Carolina, then killed himself.
• Why does this happen every day in the USA and not other countries? I’ll let you think that through on your own.
• And now, The Weather: “Vega” by Lannds
• We had a fucking tornado here in the LA area yesterday. 
• It hit Montebello, a city where I worked for several years at the start of the 2000s. The “intense microcell” hit an industrial area of the city. At least 17 buildings were damaged, 11 so severely the fire department deemed them too dangerous to use.
• The videos are insane. Entire roofs were ripped off. A whole street full of cars all got severely damaged. At least one person got injured.
• A record was set in 2022, and not a good one. 
• More than 1,200 books were attempted to be banned last year, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.
• You know what should be banned? Assholes. Human being-type assholes. Not actual assholes. We need those.
• From the Sports Desk… very sad news about former Raiders tight end and current free agent Foster Moreau. He announced last night that he has Hodgkin lymphoma and will be stepping away from football at age 25.
• Incredibly, it was only through the free agency process that his cancer was discovered. It was during a routine physical by the Saints that he found out. Moreau intends on fighting and beating his cancer, and I wish him well. He’s a good dude.
• Today in history… Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty, or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA (1775). After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home (1806). The University of California is founded in Oakland, CA (1868). In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time (1888). In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement (1919). The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany (1933). NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight, crewed by Gus Grissom and John Young (1965). Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt (1982). The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States (2010). Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19 (2020). A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days (2021). 
• March 23 is the birthday of writer/assassin Lorenzino de' Medici (1514), US vice president Schuyler Colfax (1823), outlaw Nathaniel Reed (1862), psychologist/sociologist Erich Fromm (1900), film director Akira Kurosawa (1910), physicist Wernher von Braun (1912), runner Roger Bannister (1929), race care driver Craig Breedlove (1937), singer-songwriter/producer Ric Ocasek (1944), mandolin player David Grisman (1945), NFL player Ron Jaworski (1951), singer-songwriter Chaka Khan (1953), fashion designer Kenneth Cole (1954), NBA player Moses Malone (1955), actress Amanda Plummer (1957), singer-songwriter Damon Albarn (1968), NBA player/coach Jason Kidd (1973), blogger Perez Hilton (1978), runner Mo Farah (1983), NFL player Maurice Jones-Drew (1985), and NBA player Kyrie Irving (1992).

Yikes. Well, that’s a lot of stuff. How am I, you ask? I’m fine. I’m super busy right now, but I’m getting through the shit I need to do. It’s a lot, but I’m pretty good at what I do. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 22, 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 March 22, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. There are layers and layers of things that happen, and much like an onion, you rarely see beyond the skin…

• While everyone was waiting to see if the former president was going to be indicted in New York, the Mar-a-Lago documents case ramped up in a massive way. At about 10pm local time, the DC Circuit Court — ostensibly the second highest court in the US behind the Supreme Court — set an unprecedented schedule requiring Trump counsel to submit filing by midnight THAT NIGHT, and ordered the DOJ to reply by 6am today.
• You can’t imagine how shocking this is. Normally the schedule for things like this takes weeks or months, not overnight. Experts are speculating that the urgency is because the court saw evidence of immediate national security threats.
• Federal prosecutors filed a more than 6,000-word response shortly before the 6am deadline this morning, leaving the matter in the appeals court's hands.
• Yikes! Jack Smith is coming, Donnie.
• Little side-note to everything. When you see the words “Soros-backed” or “Soros-funded”, that’s dog-whistle speak for “Jew”. Most people have no idea who George Soros is, but they know he represents Jewish support of liberal causes.
• Moving on…
• I promised yesterday that I would add some more details about the proposed Florida “Don’t talk about periods” law.
• Legislation moving in the Florida House would ban discussion of menstrual cycles and other human sexuality topics in elementary grades.
• The bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Stan McClain would restrict public school instruction on human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and related topics to grades 6 through 12.
• “So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in 5th grade or 4th grade, will that prohibit conversations from them since they are in the grade lower than sixth grade?” asked state Rep. Ashley Gantt, who noted that girls as young as 10 can begin having periods.
• “It would,” McClain responded.
• The GOP-backed legislation cleared the House Education Quality Subcommittee on Wednesday by a 13-5 vote.
• It’s pretty mind-blowing that when you think Florida can’t possibly be worse than it already is, it keeps swirling down the toilet.
• I will give kudos to a Florida dude, though.
• Police said fast-acting security guards at the well-known Mons Venus adult entertainment club in Tampa very likely stopped a mass shooting on Sunday night. Security camera video shows a large man wearing a devil mask try to enter the club. Police said there were more than 200 people inside.
• As the man got to the front door, a member of the security team confronted him and grabbed his handgun. The security guard, Manny Resto, says he’s worked as a guard for 30 years and is an MMA fighter and professional wrestler.
• Resto grabbed the gun and then the two men fought until other members of the security team jumped in. Police say the suspect, Michael Rudman, 44, has a history of domestic violence and mental health issues.
• In other news for the Southeast…
• Georgia is the latest state to ban most medical treatments that help transgender kids affirm their gender identity. Senate Bill 140 now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
• The bill was approved by the Senate 31-21 on party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The measure would prohibit providing hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery to minors. Doctors and health care providers who don’t comply could lose their licenses and potentially be exposed to criminal or civil liability.
• These will be shameful moments to look back on in American history.
• One bright spot of news regarding women’s rights to have autonomy of their own bodies happened yesterday when a divided Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a portion of the state’s near total ban on abortion, ruling women have a right to abortion when pregnancy risks their health, not just in a medical emergency.
• It was a narrow 5-4 ruling. The lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood, Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic and others challenging the state laws passed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
• Women should be able to get an abortion for any reason in every state, but until it’s codified in law, every state has its own take on controlling women. I am thankful to not live in a forced-birth state.
• And now, The Weather: “Flood Into” by Faderdaze
• I do love trees, but sometimes they can try and kill you. Four people were in critical condition and one person sustained moderate injuries due to fallen trees amid windy conditions in San Francisco yesterday afternoon.
• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will tell lawmakers Thursday that banning the app in the U.S. would hurt American businesses and the country's economy.
• I think with all the anti-China sentiment in the USA lately, and the fact that the TikTok ban seems to have bi-partisan support, and despite the fact that other apps like the one you’re on right now are equally invasive to your privacy, TikTok doesn’t have good odds of remaining around much longer.
• I saw Dick Van Dyke trending and had an “oh no” moment, but the 97-year-old icon had just crashed his car into a gate in Malibu. He’s fine. Minor injuries.
• From the Sports Desk… RIP to the great Willis Reed. He passed away yesterday at age 80. Reed won two NBA championships during his legendary career with the New York Knicks. He played 10 seasons in the NBA from 1964 to 1974, was named to the All-NBA team five times, made seven All-Star teams, and won MVP in the 1969-70 season.
• Also in sports… huge congrats to Japan, who beat the USA 3-2 and won the World Baseball Classic. The final at-bat had a storybook ending with Shohei Ohtani striking out his Angels teammate (and fellow MVP) Mike Trout. Ohtani was subsequently named MVP of the World Baseball Classic.
• Today in history… Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century (235). The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags (1621). The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables (1631). The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies (1765). The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States, and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the purpose of importing slaves (1794). In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment (1871). The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada (1894). The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia (1934). Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser (1960). The Beatles release their debut album ‘Please Please Me’ (1963). In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives (1972). NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3 (1982). The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path (1993). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19 (2020). Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19 (2020).
• March 22 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Ulugh Beg (1394), Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I (1459), actor Chico Marx (1887), novelist Louis L’Amour (1908), actor Karl Malden (1912), talent agent Lew Wasserman (1913), mime Marcel Marceau (1923), composer Stephen Sondheim (1930), actor William Shatner (1931), drag queen Foo Foo Lammar (1937), International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound (1942), siner-songwriter/guitarist George Benson (1943), singer-songwriter Keith Relf (1943), journalist Wolf Blitzer (1948), composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), sportscaster Bob Costas (1952), figure skater Elvis Stojko (1972), actress Reese Witherspoon (1976), NFL player J. J. Watt (1989), and MLB player Edwin Díaz (1994). 

I’m going to post this before some news items pops up to render all this shit meaningless. Enjoy your day.