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.