Random News: March 1, 2023

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

---

Good morning. It’s March 1, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. Let’s take a drive down the information superhighway and try not to get pulled over…

• Rabbit rabbit rabbit. Welcome to March.
• February was obviously a fucked-up month in my life, but I’m not one of those people who think things magically get better or worse based on some arbitrary point on a calendar.
• If this was 2024, today would be February 29, not March 1. Ya with me? Ya hear what I’m saying? You know what I mean? Time doesn’t exist, man.
• Some huge breaking news this morning.
• Effective immediately, drug maker Eli Lilly will cap the out-of-pocket cost of its insulin at $35 a month.
• This change comes thanks to Joe Biden and the Inflation Reduction Act, which last month imposed a $35 monthly cap on the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for seniors enrolled in Medicare.
• Now it’s true for everyone. The cap automatically applies to people with private insurance. People without insurance will be eligible as long as they sign up for Eli Lilly’s copay assistance program. 
• It’s very likely the other two major insulin suppliers — Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — will have no choice but to meet the same price.
• In addition to political pressure, Eli Lilly also faces the threat of competition from outside the industry, with non-profits and state governments having announced plans to offer low-cost insulin.
• I’m going to tell you: I’ve had friends who had to choose between paying for food/rent versus getting the drug they need every day to stay alive. A couple of those friends are no longer alive today.
• They had to ration their insulin since they couldn’t pay for the next batch. That should have never happened in a supposedly wealthy first-world country, or anywhere frankly.
• Moving on…
• In Chicago, mayor Lori Lightfoot has lost her reelection bid after facing widespread criticism over her divisive leadership and the city's increase in crime.
• The mayor’s race in the US’s third-largest city will head for a run-off between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson, both well-known Democrats in the city’s political landscape.
• Speaking of elections, the former president is apparently trying to use programs such as Social Security and Medicare as a dividing line between himself and possible Republican opponents like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
• He’s painting himself as the good guy who won’t go after those programs like the others… conveniently forgetting that as recently as 2020, Trump called for eliminating payroll taxes, which fund Social Security and in part Medicare.
• Yawn.
• On the other side of the upcoming Republican civil war, people wearing Trump/MAGA clothing were told by police to leave a DeSantis book signing yesterday. That is going to get SO ugly, and I for one cannot wait to watch it.
• Chef’s kiss.
• All signs are pointing to the Supreme Court tanking President Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs. I’m not at all surprised.
• The direction the SCOTUS is taking is a power grab to put them above the executive and legislative branch. It’s not going to end well for anyone.
• And now, The Weather: “Talk to Death” by Mui Zyu
• It’s March 1, and as of today, millions of Americans will have less to spend on groceries as emergency food assistance that Congress enacted early in the pandemic has ended.
• On average, individuals will get about $90 less this month in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Some households will see a cut of $250 a month or more at a time where food prices continue to rise.
• Because this is America, so fuck poor people, am I right?
• In somewhat better news, federal officials sued a Louisiana chemical maker yesterday, alleging that it presents an unacceptable cancer risk to the nearby majority-Black community and demanding cuts in toxic emissions.
• Denka Performance Elastomer LLC makes synthetic rubber, emitting the carcinogen chloroprene and other chemicals in such high concentrations that it poses an unacceptable cancer risk, according to the federal complaint. Children are particularly vulnerable. There is an elementary school a half-mile from the plant.
• Get those fuckers.
• In Fucking Florida News, a bill was filed in the Florida House of Representatives yesterday that would restrict the use of preferred gender pronouns in schools.
• According to the online filing, House Bill 1223 would require schools to adopt policies that support the notion that "a person's sex is an immutable biological trait."
• Honestly, that state is doomed.
• From the Sports Desk… QB Aaron Rodgers said he found an inner peace during his four-day darkness retreat last week. He promised that it won't take much longer to decide his plans for the future, which include a) staying with the Green Bay Packers, b) going to another team, c) retiring from football, or d) running naked through the streets of America handing out ayahuasca psychedelic drugs to anyone who asks.
• I made that last part up but it still could happen.
• Today in history… Emperor Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesars, marking the beginning of the Tetrarchy, known as the Quattuor Principes Mundi, or"Four Rulers of the World” (293). The Articles of Confederation goes into effect in the United States (1781). United States President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas (1845). Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state (1867). Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park (1872). Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, MO (1893). Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay (1896). Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later (1953). Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice (1974). Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992). Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide (1998). Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security (2003). 
• March 1 is the birthday of mathematician/diplomat John Pell (1611), SCOTUS justice William Cushing (1732), pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin (1810), poet Basil Bunting (1900), bandleader Glenn Miller (1904), actor/soldier David Niven (1910), novelist Ralph Ellison (1914), singer/TV host Dinah Shore (1917), Israel prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (1922), NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle (1926), singer/activist Harry Belafonte (1927), actor Robert Conrad (1935), singer Roger Daltrey (1944), actor Alan Thicke (1947), actress Catherine Bach (1954), actor/director/producer Ron Howard (1954), singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw (1958), actor Javier Bardem (1969), singer-songwriter Kesha (1987), singer-songwriter Justin Bieber (1994), NFL player Tyreek Hill (1994), NFL player Ja'Marr Chase (2000). 

Okay, well… there’s always more news, but I don’t always have more time. I’m heading to go workout as I do each morning. I do that because not doing it is even shittier. Enjoy your day.