Random News: April 4, 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 4, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. It’s also Arrestmas! Merry Arrestmas to all who celebrate. Let’s see what’s shakin’ (apart from the former president’s knees)…

• Donnie Dingbat landed in New York yesterday afternoon to be arrested for charges that are still under seal but will be made clear later today.
• The scuttlebutt on the Ochre Ogre is that he’s to be charged with 34 Class E felony counts of falsifying business records, but we won’t know for sure until the judge reads them, and even then they’re not allowing cameras in the court.
• On that note… thank God. Trump wants nothing more than for this to be a dramatic spectacle, and he’s been rehearsing this moment for weeks to appear as a victim. No cameras means no pandering to his base during the process.
• His schedule looks something like this: he will surrender at the Manhattan district attorney's office, at which point a member of that office will inform him he is under arrest pursuant to the indictment.
• Trumpalumpagus will be processed at 100 Centre Street, the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. He will be fingerprinted there. Will there be a mugshot? That’s still up in the air, but likely not. Sources indicated there was some concern it could be leaked. I don’t need to see it. I don’t need to see any pic of him ever again, frankly.
• After that, the former president and current alleged felon will be escorted to a room on the 15th floor. He will not be handcuffed, nor will he stop in a holding cell. Media will be kept at a distance. The arraignment is expected to be brief.
• As per my news yesterday, the Creamsicle Criminal is then scheduled to fly back to Florida, where he has promised to deliver a public address tonight from Mar-a-Lago.
• Even if the judge issue a gag order, you know that Felonious Punk won’t be able to stop himself from blabbing, even at the risk of being in contempt of court and damaging his own case.
• I guess we’ll see how all that goes. Could be an interesting Tuesday!
• A historic event already did happen today, with Finland officially joining the NATO military alliance.
• It’s a huge blow to their next door neighbor Russia, and probably would never have happened had Russia not invaded another neighboring country, Ukraine.
• Here’s a message: fuck you, Tennessee.
• The state’s House Republicans have moved to expel three Democrats from their seats in the legislature because they joined protesters who didn’t want more children being killed by gun violence.
• Yesterday, the TN Republicans filed resolutions to expel Reps. Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson for protesting after the March 27 mass killing at Nashville’s Covenant School.
• It’s funny how our military fights to the death to protect your American right to protest until you protest about something that Republicans don’t like, and then they try to destroy you.
• In very related news, Florida Democrats chair Nikki Fried and state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) were among 11 people arrested last night while protesting abortion legislation outside Tallahassee’s City Hall.
• Upset about protests? Wait until this summer.
• Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said her First Amendment rights were being stomped on when warned to behave during today’s protests in NYC about Orange Man’s arrest.
• See how it works?
• As mentioned previously, big elections today in Chicago and the state of Wisconsin. I hope all my Midwest peoples vote and vote for the right people.
• Got some good news out of North Dakota.
• The state’s House Republicans failed yesterday to secure enough votes to override Gov. Doug Burgum’s (R) veto of legislation that would have allowed state employees and educators to misgender transgender staff and students.
• The vote in the ND House was 56-36 vote, not enough for a two-thirds majority needed to override Burgum’s veto of Senate Bill 2231, which had sought to prevent public schools and state government entities from adopting policies that require students and employees to address a transgender person using pronouns consistent with their gender identity.
• Don’t get too happy; at least 15 other bills targeting LGBTQ people have been introduced in the North Dakota legislature this year, including legislation to criminally prosecute doctors who provide gender-affirming health care to minors.
• NASA has named the astronauts that will orbit the Moon during the Artemis II mission. Artemis II is humanity’s first manned mission to the moon in over 50 years. Exciting!
• It is scheduled to launch in November 2024. The crew is, appropriately, diverse.
• It includes a woman (Christina Hammock Koch, who holds the record for the longest stay in space by a female astronaut), a Black man (Victor Glover, who made history by participating in the first operational Crew Dragon mission in 2021), Commander Reid Wiseman (who was also a test pilot in the F-35 Lightning II program), and even a Canadian (Jeremy Hansen, a fighter pilot and one of just four current astronauts from the Great White North).
• California water officials reported Monday in their April snow survey the Sierra snowpack is among the largest on record. The snow depth on April 2, 2022 was just 2.5 inches. Twelve months later, officials measured a snow depth of 126.5 inches.
• Amazing… but when it melts, and snows do melt, it’s going to be a big problem.
• And now, The Weather: “Something Wrong” by Hand Habits
• From the Sports Desk… the NCAA basketball tournament is finally done so I can now return my focus to actual professional sports. Congrats, I guess, to the UConn Huskies who took the championship once again with a 76-59 win over the San Diego State Aztecs last night.
• I liked SDSU because they were an underdog and because about a billion years ago, I attended SDSU my first year out of high school.
• “Attended” should have an asterisk. I mostly smoked weed and watched Magnum P.I. that year.
• Today in history… Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for completing a circumnavigation of the world (1581). Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture (1796). The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state — 20 at that time (1818). William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration (1841). Argonia, KS elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States (1887). The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany (1925). Soviet Red Army troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves (1945). Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949). The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London (1958). The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart (1964). Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, TN (1968). The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated (1973). Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, NM (1975). Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space on STS-6 (1983). 
• April 4 is the birthday of guitarist/composer/priest Gaspar Sanz (1640), politician Thaddeus Stevens (1792), engineer/businessman Linus Yale Jr. (1821), architect Mary Colter (1869), Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884), MLB player Tris Speaker (1888), dancer Arthur Murray (1895), singer-songwriter Muddy Waters (1913), composer Elmer Bernstein (1922), poet Maya Angelou (1928), music producer Clive Davis (1932), trumpeter Hugh Masekela (1939), actor Craig T. Nelson (1944), bass player Berry Oakley (1948), actress Christine Lahti (1950), singer-songwriter/guitarist Gary Moore (1952), actor Hugo Weaving (1960), talk show host Graham Norton (1963), actor/producer David Cross (1964), actor Robert Downey Jr. (1965), bass player Mike Starr (1966), actor Heath Ledger (1979), comedian Eric Andre (1983), and actress Jamie Lynn Spears (1991).

This is sorta funny. I always seem to end up having a live show when some major sociopolitical event is happening. I was actually doing a show on November 3, 2020, the night of what might have been the most important presidential election in the country’s history. Kinda felt good to get away from the insanity of election returns that night, I recall. Anyway, I’m performing tonight at 5PM PST at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life. Who even knows what will happen between now and this evening? Not me. I’ll just be a guy with a guitar, though. Enjoy your day.