Random News: March 2, 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 2, 2023, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I suppose we can find things that we should know, so let’s go ahead and do that…

• There’s an old English phrase, “Mad as a March hare.” It’s derived from the observed antics said to occur only in the March breeding season of the European hare (Lepus europaeus). The phrase goes back to at least 1500.
• That phrase is where Lewis Carroll got his March Hare character in ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.’
• I’m not telling you this for any reason other than it’s March and I thought you should know.
• March is Women’s History Month. Since 1995, each president has issued proclamations naming March as such. President Biden did just that on Tuesday.
• "Women — often women of color — have been on the frontlines, fighting for and securing equal rights and opportunity throughout our country's history as abolitionists, civil rights leaders, suffragists, and labor activists. But despite significant progress, women and girls continue to face systemic barriers to full and equal participation in our economy and society.” - Joe Biden
• “That’s true.” - Zak Claxton
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the first time since the war in Ukraine began.
• It was at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi. The two spoke for roughly 10 minutes.
• In the conversation, Blinken called on Russia to release wrongfully detained American Paul Whelan, noting the US “had put a proposal on the table and that they should accept it.”
• Hope it works out.
• Last night, some unfortunate soul on Twitter was yelling for everyone to look at the double lights in the night sky, assuming they were aliens.
• It was fucking Venus and Jupiter. Lordy.
• The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was once one of the premier gatherings on the GOP campaign calendar.
• No longer.
• Many of the party’s best-known likely candidates — from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former Vice President Mike Pence — are skipping the event that started yesterday.
• One reason — beyond no one wanting to align with Trump — is that CPAC chief Matt Schlapp, is accused of grabbing another man’s dick during a car ride in Georgia before the November election.
• The GOP doesn’t like people getting caught grabbing dicks.
• In asshole news… a couple of weeks ago, the FBI National Threat Operations Center told the Detroit FBI office that a person on Twitter by the handle of “tempered_reason” said he was heading to Michigan and “threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is Jewish in the Michigan govt.” Any attempt to “subdue” him would “be met with deadly force in self-defense,” the user said.
• Authorities traced the Twitter handle to a man named Jack Eugene Carpenter III.
• “When the defendant was arrested, in his vehicle they found approximately a half dozen firearms and ammunition,” federal prosecutor Hank Moon said in court yesterday. “One of the threats he made was to shoot somebody.”
• According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic attacks reached a record high in the US in 2021 – up 34% from 2020.
• Fuck those piece of shit anti-Semites. 
• And now, The Weather: “Wreck” by Bleary Eyed
• Yesterday, it (very briefly) snowed here in Redondo Beach, CA. The last time that happened was 1989.
• Today and tomorrow, the Midwest and South are going to get some powerful storms and damaging winds. Tornadoes, rain and snow are all on the schedule in various spots. 
• Stay safe and warm and dry, please.
• Students at schools in Iowa walked out yesterday over proposed LGBTQ bills working through the state’s legislature.
• Students could be seen Wednesday morning leaving Urbandale High School, chanting "We say gay.” Students from Johnston High School and East High School in Des Moines also had walkouts. Students from East High School went to the Statehouse, chanting "East says gay."
• There are several bills on LGBTQ issues being debated at the Iowa statehouse. One would ban patients under the age of 18 from getting gender-transition surgery. Another looks to restrict which restrooms transgender Iowans can use at schools.
• I love the fact that the exact opposite of what is intended with these draconian bills will be the end result.
• In other news…
• A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder he did not commit was declared innocent by a judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
• Maurice Hastings was released from prison last year after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different suspect.
• Can you imagine how you’d feel, spending more than half your life in fucking prison for no reason at all? I can’t.
• Here’s some good news.
• New York City is going to pay $21,500 per person to 300 protesters who were ‘kettled’ by police during a 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstration about George Floyd.
• NYPD officers in body armor blocked the crowd from both ends of East 136th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood, trapping them with no way to disperse.
• Officers were seen in videos using pepper spray, throwing protesters to the ground and striking them with batons. Among those arrested were legal observers and medics.
• The NYPD said in its own statement that the period was a “challenging moment” and that it has revised its policies for policing large-scale demonstrations.
• In Big Fat Liar News… Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) mysterious new treasurer is unknown to local politicians but lists his address as the apartment where Santos' sister used to live.
• Snort.
• From the Sports Desk… only 11 MLB players in history have over 11,000 at-bat appearances. They are: 1. Pete Rose - 14,053, 2. Hank Aaron - 12,364, 3. Carl Yastrzemski - 11,988, 4. Cal Ripken - 11,551, 5. Ty Cobb - 11, 434, 6. Albert Pujols - 11,421, 7. Eddie Murray - 11,336, 8. Derek Jeter - 11,195, 9. Adrian Beltre - 11,068, 10. Robin Yount - 11008, 11. Dave Winfield - 11,003
• Today in history… Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique (1498). The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound banknotes (1797). The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country (1807). The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico is adopted (1836). The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, begins (1859). The U.S. Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act (1867). Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declares Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote (1877). United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion (1901). Allied aircraft defeat a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea (1943). Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points (1962). The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets (1972). Previously been available only in Japan, Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets (1983). Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, San Marino, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the United Nations (1992). The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson are officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia (2017).
• March 2 is the birthday of Scotland king Robert II (1316), politician DeWitt Clinton (1769), soldier/politician Sam Houston (1793), brewer/philanthropist Carl Jacobsen (1842), pianist/composer Kurt Weill (1900), writer/illustrator Dr. Seuss (1904), actor/singer/producer Desi Arnaz (1917), actress Jennifer Jones (1919), author/journalist Tom Wolfe (1930), Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), novelist John Irving (1942), singer-songwriter Lou Reed (1942), author Peter Straub (1943), guitarist Larry Carlton (1948), singer Karen Carpenter (1950), actress Laraine Newman (1952), singer-songwriter Dale Bozzio (1955), singer-songwriter Jon Bon Jovi (1962), actor Daniel Craig (1968), rapper/actor Method Man (1971), singer-songwriter Chris Martin (1977), NFL player Sebastian Janikowski (1978), actress Rebel Wilson (1980), NFL player Reggie Bush (1985), and NFL player Tua Tagovailoa (1998). 

Yesterday was busy. Today will again be busy, Friday will definitely be busy. I like being normally busy. I do not like this super high level of busy. I’ll complain about it and no one will care. And then I’ll get past all this shit and neither will I. Enjoy your day.