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.