Random News: April 19, 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 19, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. Lots off stuff to discuss, as usual…

• As the defamation trial of Dominion Voting Systems versus Fox News got underway yesterday, after the jury was selected and opening statements were just about to start, Fox News panicked, realizing that they’d painted themselves into a corner.
• They’d be forced in court to openly admit their lies about the 2020 election to the American people. They might have also eventually faced liability for events that happened afterwards as a result of spreading the Big Lie, including the January 6 failed coup attempt.
• I’m sure that they tried to settle with Dominion for lesser amounts over the months preceding the trial, but the goal of a civil suit is one thing: money. As the trial kicked off, Fox settled with Dominion for $787.5 million. Yes, $787,500,000. Over three quarters of a BILLION dollars.
• The settlement does NOT seem to require Fox to issue a retraction or a formal apology.
• The pre-trial investigations had already concluded that Fox had been lying.
• “The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” - Judge Eric Davis
• So is that all, and Fox skates away freely? Hold up there, Rupert.
• Smartmatic, another voting equipment company, is suing Fox News for $2.7 billion. Former Fox producer Abby Grossberg who worked with Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson is also suing the company, alleging she was coerced into giving misleading testimony.
• And speaking of money, they also face a separate lawsuit from a shareholder who is seeking damages and argues that executives breached their fiduciary duty to the company by causing false claims about the election to be broadcast.
• So did you get your big show where justice would be served? No, that was never going to happen in a civil suit. But Fox and many other news outlets don’t like bleeding money, and I promise that this will impact the kind of reporting they do in the future.
• Moving on.
• A few assholes in the Charlottesville, VA white nationalist rally in 2017 have finally been indicted.
• This was that “Jews will not replace us” event that Trump said had some “very fine people” in it.
• A grand jury in Virginia indicted three of them for burning an object (aka, their tiki torches) with the “intent to intimidate”.
• Shrug.
• It’s hard to believe but yet another “whoops” shooting happened. This time it was in Elgin, TX, a suburb of Austin. Two teenage cheerleaders were shot after one said she mistook the suspect’s vehicle as her own in a supermarket parking lot.
• The guy in the car got out and shot both girls. One had serious injuries was rushed by helicopter to a hospital in critical condition.
• It’s the third time in ONE WEEK where young people got shot for no reason at all. A 16-year-old shot in the head after ringing the wrong doorbell in Kansas City, a 20-year-old killed by the owner of a home whose driveway she’d inadvertently turned into, and now this.
• There are about 120 guns for every 100 Americans, and more and more of our kids will be killed by them, especially as more states relax or eliminate waiting periods, background checks, and red flag laws.
• It’s now said that 1 in 5 American families have been directly impacted by gun violence. I guess that’s the kind of country we want, since we keep electing people who straight-up tell you they support the murder of your children. They’re called Republicans.
• In other news…
• Lots going on in the Supreme Court.
• Today they are deciding whether women will face restrictions in getting a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the United States.
• This is in regard to the case from Texas in which abortion opponents are seeking to roll back FDA approval of the drug mifepristone that has been in safe use since 2000.
• If they rule against it, no Republican should ever be elected again at any level.
• Also today, the Supreme Court revisits a question the court has never answered: When is a threat a "true threat?"
• The case involves Coles Whalen, a singer-songwriter from Colorado, and Billy Counterman, a man convicted and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for stalking Whalen and making true threats against her.
• This guy harassed the hell out of her via private messages, social media, and in-person stalking. It impacted her ability to perform live and earn a living.
• Counterman’s lawyer says that his client has been diagnosed with a mental illness and didn't know that he was frightening Whalen.
• Sounds like a simple case, right? Nope.
• There have been several examples of journalists being charged under stalking laws for doing things within the scope of their job, like leaving voicemail messages for public officials or approaching them at home to get responses for stories.
• What makes that different? Obviously it’s the intent and the lack of a genuine threat, unlike the case with Whalen.
• The ACLU adds that the fact that many of these statements occur online "underscores the need for a subjective intent requirement."
• So now it’s a First Amendment challenge, and that’s why it’s before the SCOTUS.
• Another SCOTUS case this week is about balancing religious rights in the workplace.
• Gerald Groff sued the U.S. Postal Service claiming religious discrimination after he was forced to work on Sundays, when he observes the Christian Sabbath.
• And the current conservative court seems to agree with him, going against previous rulings. But they seemed inclined to reinforce those protections without getting rid of past precedent, and couldn’t articulate an alternative for evaluating when an employer can reject a request related to religious observance.
• As I tend to bring up in these situations, you’d better be prepared to accommodate ALL religious requests for days off. Pagan, Muslim, Zoroastrian, and so on. The Christofascists ten to not think these things through.
• And now, The Weather: “Scared” by Pynkie
• Remember yesterday when I told you about the Oklahoma sheriff and county officials caught on tape talking about killing two journalists and hanging Black people? And they were asked to resign by the governor? Yeah? What do you think happened next?
• Welp, their argument is that the audio recording was illegal and they want to file felony charges against the newspaper who recorded them.
• Of course they do. 
• From the Sports Desk… things got very ugly in Game 2 of the NBA playoffs between the Dubs and the Kings. After Domantas Sabonis slipped and fell in the paint, he grabbed Draymond Green's right leg. Green reacted by stomping with full force on Sabonis' chest. Sabonis suffered a bruised sternum and is questionable for Game 3.
• Green is a talented player but also a head case who can’t control his emotions. He’s been suspended for one game for this action. Sacramento has a 2-0 lead in the series.
• "The suspension was based in part on Green's history of unsportsmanlike acts," the NBA said in a statement. Yup.
• Today in history… Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia (1770). The American Revolutionary War begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord (1775). John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government (1782). A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city (1861). Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play ‘Sex’ (1927). Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco (1956). Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign (1960). Charles Manson is sentenced to death — later commuted to life imprisonment —  for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders (1971). Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; they surrender two days later (1985). ‘The Simpsons’ first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with "Good Night” (1987). The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out (1993). The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six (1995). Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961 (2011). Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police (2013).
• April 19 is the birthday of musician Christoph Bach (1613), politician Roger Sherman (1721), writer/editor Mary Louise Booth (1831), actress Constance Talmadge (1898), law enforcement agent Eliot Ness (1903), chemist Glenn T. Seaborg (1912), actress Jayne Mansfield (1933), actor Dudley Moore (1935), keyboardist Alan Price (1942), keyboardist Bernie Worrell (1944), actor Tim Curry (1946), record executive Suge Knight (1965), actress Ashley Judd (1968), actor James Franco (1978), actress Kate Hudson (1979), NFL player Troy Polamalu (1981), comedian Ali Wong (1982), WNBA player Candace Parker (1986), and tennis player Maria Sharapova (1987).

Everything is fine over here. I’m just doing my usual stuff. I also am starting to think about a short vacation sometime soon here, now that my trade show is done. Maybe Vegas. I haven’t done anything like that since before the pandemic. Could be stupid and fun. Enjoy your day.