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.