Random News: May 17, 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 May 17, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. And though it may seem like a random date and a random Wednesday, today is sorta special, because…

• I started these bullets one year ago today, on May 17, 2022.
• Like most things, it took a little while to get into the swing of things. My earliest bullet lists are kind of random and weird.
• Not that they’re not random and weird now, but they’re mostly consistent in their format.
• Some of it, I started pretty much right away, like the “Today in History” and “From the Sports Desk” sections.
• But I also used to do these stupid “Quote of the Day” sections. No one needs that shit.
• My very first bullet point was about the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, and the fact that a bunch of MAGA men were freaking the fuck out about a plus-sized model on the cover.
• Why did I start doing these? Simple: there was so much going on that I felt was worthy of greater attention that I’d been posting various news and political info multiple times each day. I know not everyone comes to Facebook for that, so I simply consolidated that info into one post in the morning.
• It’s extremely rare that I post any news info outside of my bullets.
• Anyway, there are now about 370,000 words in this list. That seems like a lot.
• Do I copy/paste stuff straight out of the news? Yes, but no. I usually rewrite, edit, and add my own takes to current news information.
• I have been asked where I get this news… especially since I don’t watch TV.
• First, let me tell you: in most cases, the stuff you see in my bullets is often before it airs on TV, because I get my stuff form the same sources as the TV newspeople do, which is from trusted sources like Reuters and the Associated Press.
• Google News is a good amalgamation of information from a variety of courses.
• And quite often I initially find out about stuff via Twitter, and then confirm through other sources before writing it here.
• Have I ever posted wrong information? Extremely rarely, and never on purpose. I think in a full year of doing this, only once did I discover something I’d mentioned turned out to be completely false, and I rectified that at the earliest opportunity.
• There are news topics I don’t cover here at all. I try and stick to information that you people who read these bullets can actually use… things that may affect what political candidates you support, or raising your awareness to issues that may be important to you but you don’t see covered in other sources.
• I also cover things that are silly and/or fun, because you need that too.
• The other big question I get asked: how do you have time to do this?
• I am a professional information gatherer. I do it for my job, and I’ve become quite good at it, and can do it more quickly than most folks. So, the grand majority of what you see here is whatever I can research and write between 7:10am and 7:55am. I am too busy before and after those times to deal with it.
• Do I miss important stories? God, yes. Either I run out of time, or I’m not clear on how important something is when it first comes up, or I feel like the information is so slanted that it’s not a good idea to pass along.
• But the thing I’ll leave you with in this regard is that I hear from people ALL THE TIME who say that they enjoy this little news blast, and even have been told that people took some action in their lives — voting, joining some kind of community action and so on — directly as a result of this list.
• I mean, I you couldn’t ask for more than that. And I repeat, I hear this multiple times each week, often from people who never make comments and you’d never know were reading it unless they mentioned it.
• So, I have no plans of stopping. One other positive note: I have never once been sanctioned or silenced. I have provable sources for literally every piece of information I write here. If something is an opinion rather than a fact, like when I call some politician an asshole, it’s fairly obvious and regardless is covered under my First Amendment rights.
• Anyway, enough about this and me. Happy one-year anniversary, Zak’s Random News. Now let’s do some actual news.
• A group of Republican lawmakers in the Alabama House of Representatives are introducing a new bill that would open the door for a pregnant person to be charged with murder if she has an abortion — or even if she has a miscarriage.
• So again, to be clear: they want to charge women in Alabama with murder if they have a miscarriage. We told you this was coming. If you didn’t believe us, I don’t know what to tell you.
• But I’ll bet other forced-birth states will take similar actions.
• In other news about the Republican drive to remove bodily autonomy rights from women, as expected, North Carolina’s lawmakers voted yesterday to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper over a bill that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks.
• The NC Senate vote was 30-20 along party lines. The House, where Republicans hold a 72-48 majority, also voted on party lines. When I say this is a Republican decision, this vote illustrates that completely.
• Every Republican in every state at every level is aligned to control women’s bodies and actions. Remember it.
• This is being done against the will not only of the majority of Americans, but even the majority of citizens of North Carolina. You will have the opportunity to vote each and every one of these reps out of office at the next couple of elections.
• Moving on…
• Daniel Cameron won yesterday’s Republican primary for Kentucky governor, becoming the first major-party Black nominee for governor in the state's history and setting up a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear.
• Cameron is an ally of Mitch McConnell and is endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Now you know all you need to know about Cameron.
• Cherelle Parker won the Philadelphia Democratic primary for mayor. Parker will face Republican David Oh in November's general election. If Parker beats Oh in November, she would be the first woman to become mayor of Philadelphia.
• Also in Pennsylvania: House Democrats will retain their one-seat majority in the state House. Democrat Heather Boyd is the winner of the special election to replace former State Rep. Mike Zabel. She defeated Republican Katie Ford in the 163rd House District.
• In Colorado Springs, CO, Yemi Mobolade won a solid victory in Tuesday’s runoff election for the city’s mayor, defeating Republican former Secretary of State Wayne Williams. Mobolade is a Nigerian-born businessman and unaffiliated, non-partisan political newcomer, and will become the city’s first elected Black mayor.
• And in a major electoral upset on Tuesday, voters in Jacksonville elected their first female mayor, defeating a Republican backed by business leaders and endorsed by Ron DeSantis.
• Suck it, Ronda.
• Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) introduced a resolution yesterday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress, seeking to force Republicans in the House to go on the record over whether the indicted congressman should keep his seat.
• Garcia’s resolution was introduced as privileged, meaning it must get a vote within two days under House rules.
• In response, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that he wants the House Ethics Committee to “move rapidly” on its investigation of Santos. This is a stalling tactic; House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to oppose McCarthy’s effort and instead vote immediately on expulsion.
• A Missouri high school student who recorded a teacher using a racial slur says she was suspended for three days after the incident. Mary Walton, who began her three-day suspension on Friday, is now fighting to get it lifted.
• The sophomore at Glendale High School in Springfield said she recorded the teacher so that she could have proof and hold him accountable. "I don't think what he did was right," she said, adding that he used the slur six times.
• It’s very on-brand for Republican-led states to blame the victims of racism and bigotry.
• Moving on…
• Dancers at a topless bar in Los Angeles are close to becoming the only unionized group of strippers in the U.S.
• Lawyers representing the owners of the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar have withdrawn all election challenges and have agreed to recognize the union, who are seeking higher compensation and safer workplace conditions.
• The National Labor Relations Board still must certify the union election vote. Once certified, the strippers will join the Actors' Equity Association, a union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers.
• Good for them. Power to the people.
• And now, The Weather: “She’s on Fire” by Strange Ranger
• Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO), alleged champion of family values who is about to become a grandmother at age 36, is getting divorced.
• Her husband didn’t take the news well.
• “Once he learned that he was being served with Dissolution of Marriage papers he was extremely angry,” the process server wrote. “I tried to hand him the documents but did not take them. He started yelling and using profanities, and told me that I was trespassing, and that he was calling the Sheriff’s Office. I told him I was leaving the documents on the chair outside of the door, he closed the door then let the dogs out.”
• The document noted that Jayson was cleaning a gun and drinking a “tall glass of beer” when he was served.
• Side note: Jayson Boebert pleaded guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure after allegedly exposing himself to two minor girls at a bowling alley in January 2004.
• Nice people, these Republicans.
• From the Sports Desk… the Denver Nuggets took Game 1 of the Western Conference NBA finals, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 132-126. The Nuggets dominated early on, and a late effort to bring the game closer was unsuccessful for the Lakers.
• Tonight is Game 1 of the ECF, with 8-seed Miami Heat visiting the 2-seed Boston Celtics.
• Today in history… Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled (1536). The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement (1792). Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis (1875). The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States (1900). Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer (1902). The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools (1954). Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure (1969). Televised hearings in the Watergate scandal begin in the United States Senate (1973). Nolan Bushnell opened the first ShowBiz Pizza Place — later renamed Chuck E. Cheese — in San Jose, CA (1977). The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, TN in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request (1983). The General Assembly of the World Health Organization eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases (1990). The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts (2004).
• May 17 is the birthday of physician/microbiologist Edward Jenner (1749), mathematician/social activist Charlotte Barnum (1860), pianist/composer Erik Satie (1866), businessman Horace Elgin Dodge (1868), lawyer/politician Archibald Cox (1912), singer-songwriter Antonio Aguilar (1919), actor Dennis Hopper (1936), singer-songwriter Taj Mahal (1942), drummer Bill Bruford (1949), actor Bill Paxton (1955), boxer Sugar Ray Leonard (1956), comedian/actor Bob Saget (1956), singer-songwriter/producer Enya (1961), TV host Craig Ferguson (1962), keyboardist Page McConnell (1963), singer-songwriter/producer Trent Reznor (1965), and drummer Dave Abbruzzese (1968).

Well, as I said above, I’m glad these bullets give you something you enjoy and learn from. I’m about to have a typical Wednesday, if things go as planned. Enjoy your day.