Random News: April 18, 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 April 18, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m kinda getting back in the swing of things, so let’s see what’s shakin’…

• Yesterday, a special grand jury in Ohio declined to indict the Akron police officers who fatally shot Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man, dozens of times after a car chase and foot chase last year.
• Walker had been pulled over for a broken license plate light. Walker was unarmed at the time he was killed, though police say a gun was found in his vehicle. Eight police officers fired a total of 94 shots at Walker within 6.7 seconds. After being hit by 46 gunshots, Walker was then handcuffed.
• The grand jury concluded the officers were legally justified in their use of force. Wow. Okay then, I guess.
• Moving on…
• The FBI arrested two defendants on charges that they set up and operated an illegal Chinese police station in the middle of New York City. What the actual fuck?
• They did so in order to influence and intimidate dissidents critical of the Chinese government in the U.S. Their secret police station was in a Manhattan office building. Wow.
• In other news…
• Folks, be sure you have the right address when you visit someone here in United States of Gun-Happy Insanity.
• On Saturday night, a young woman looking for a friend's house in upstate New York was shot to death after the car she was riding in mistakenly went to the wrong address and was met with gunfire in the driveway.
• Kaylin Gillis, 20, was trying to turn the car around in a driveway when the homeowner, Kevin Monahan, 65, came out onto his porch and fired two shots. One round hit Gillis.
• Monahan was booked into the Warren County jail on a charge of second-degree murder.
• The last-minute decision to delay the Dominion Voting Systems vs. Fox News trial only lasted a day, and the trial began this morning in Wilmington, DE with opening statements and jury selection.
• The defamation trial is expected to last six weeks.
• There was a lot of speculation around a potential out-of-court settlement after the Wall Street Journal reported on it (and WSJ is owned by Fox chief Rupert Murdoch). Dominion’s suit is for $1.6 billion. I’m glad the settlement hasn’t happened. Gimme that sweet-ass Fox-humiliating trial!
• Let’s talk about Oklahoma and racism. 
• On March 6, McCurtain County officials were recorded making racist and violent remarks. The discussion included thoughts on how to kill a local reporter, and how frustrating it was that Black people could no longer be lynched because they "have more rights" than others.
• On Sunday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said the officials should resign. “I am calling for the immediate resignation of McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings, Investigator Alicia Manning, and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix,” he said.
• So I guess we’ll see if they give a shit. Probably not.
• Let’s talk about Florida and its thin-skinned governor Ron DeSantis.
• After being humiliated by the Disney Corporation in multiple ways, DeSantis’s latest retaliatory plan is a threat to build a new state prison next to the company’s central Florida theme parks.
• This is all because Disney refused to support DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.
• Derek Chauvin, the murderer of George Floyd, appealed his conviction and sentencing. Yesterday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Chauvin's second-degree murder conviction and let his 22 1/2-year sentence remain in place.
• Good.
• Here’s something you probably hadn’t thought about in a little bit: former President Trump’s case for alleged rape and libel.
• It’s now set to begin next week after a judge rejected Trump’s request for a one-month delay. It’s a civil trial stemming from author E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that Trump raped her in a New York department store in the 1990s.
• And now, The Weather: “The Dream” by Jana Horn
• Calls for Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton's resignation have grown after the Republican state representative organized a vote to expel two Black Democrat lawmakers from the chamber for staging a protest over gun control. The Democrats were immediately reinstated by their respective districts.
• Since Sexton performed his extraordinarily racist maneuver that backfired horribly, allegations have emerged that he does not live in the district he represents, and may also have had an affair.
• Typical GOP, in other words.
• From the Sports Desk… things do not look good for last year’s NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Not only are they down 2-0 versus the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs, but last night, star forward Draymond Green stomped on the chest of Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis. Green was given a flagrant foul 2 that led to an automatic ejection. More punishment may be forthcoming after the league reviews the incident.
• Another current 2-0 series is the Philadelphia 76ers over the Brooklyn Nets. The rest of the matchups are on their first game. NBA playoffs continue every night this week.
• Today in history… The British advancement by sea in the Revolutionary War begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements (1775). Black slaves in the United States of America are counted as three fifths of persons in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation, later adopted in the 1787 Constitution (1783). The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City (1912). The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that "there is no news" in their evening report (1930). The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed (1942). The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands (1946). A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public (2019).
• April 18 is the birthday of Roman emperor Gratian (359), noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia (1480), lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857), conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882), actress Barbara Hale (1922), singer-songwriter Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (1924), journalist Robert Christgau (1942), actor James Woods (1947), actor Rick Moranis (1953), actress Jane Leeves (1961), TV host Conan O’Brien (1963), actor David Tennant (1971), actress Melissa Joan Hart (1976), ummm… Kourtney Kardashian (1979), and actress America Ferrera (1984).

I have a pretty typical Tuesday ahead. Got some meetings, got some groceries to buy, got some work to accomplish. That’s all fine. Normalcy is very underrated. Enjoy your day.