Random News: May 20, 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 20, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. I’m glad it’s a weekend. Let’s do this…

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Today is the 140th day of 2023. That doesn’t matter in any way, but you know that now.
• Nebraska has joined the list of states that force women to have birth and don’t accept the gender identity of its citizens.
• Yesterday lawmakers there gave final approval to legislation that bans gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and prohibits abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
• Gov. Jim Pillen is expected to sign the bill into law on an “emergency clause”, which means the measure will take effect immediately.
• A note to folks who support this: any ban that takes away a person’s ability to make their own medical decisions is unacceptable, and someday you’ll be on the end of having the government or someone else make medical decisions for you.
• Karma is a bitch and I will offer you the same amount of sympathy you currently show to pregnant women and trans people. Keep it in mind.
• One thing to keep in mind about these draconian abortion laws. Most women don’t know they’re pregnant until the sixth week.
• Even in situations where they can travel to a state that offers reproductive medical health care (say, Virginia for now), there are purposeful administrative and bureaucratic hoops to jump through… and the simple matter that not every person is financially able to travel to a different state to receive health care.
• "A lot of our clients haven’t ever left their county. Many have never been on an airplane before.” - Serra Sippel, The Brigid Alliance
• Another side effect of all this is how these forced birth states will fare when businesses refuse to offer employment there, not wanting to put their staff in places where they can’t receive health care.
• That includes medical resources in those states. A survey of medical students this week found that nearly 60% said they were unlikely or very unlikely to apply to a single residency program in a state with abortion restrictions.
• In other news…
• I’ve been lax on mentioning news about Russia’s continual invasion of Ukraine (there are many places to get information about that and you don’t need it form me), but I thought I’d mention this.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky joined leaders of major democracies today at the G7 summit in Japan with a push to present a unified front against both Russia and China.
• The talks in Hiroshima are seeking common ground on a host of global issues, including how to confront Beijing’s growing military and economic assertiveness as well as the war raging in Europe.
• The previous day, the G7 nations announced a string of further sanctions against Moscow while Joe Biden told his counterparts he was dropping objections to providing Ukrainians F-16 fighter jets and would train Ukrainian pilots in the United States.
• That’s gonna be big for them. And, as you’d expect, Russia doesn’t like that news at all.
• “We see that Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario. It involves colossal risks for themselves.” - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko
• Fuck off, Alexander.
• Side note: the US currently has about 800 F-16s in its fleet, and each one costs about $16 million. Over 4,600 of them have been built since production was approved in 1976, making it the world's most numerous fixed-wing aircraft in military service.
• The F-16 is a multirole combat aircraft, with roles that can include air to air combat, air support, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and suppression of air defenses.
• Moving on…
• Let’s do some good news.
• Phoenix mom Claudia Jimenez woke up Thursday morning to find flames ripping through her apartment. The front door was blocked by an inferno. She and her family had no way to escape except for a second-story window.
• Enter houseless man Joe Hollins. He saw the flames and heard Jimenez’s desperate screams for help and ran to the rescue. Positioning himself under the window, he told her to drop her two children down, swearing he would catch them.
• First went one-year-old Valerie. Next up was eight-year-old Natalie. Then, Jiminez threw out the family's two dogs. Hollis safely caught each and every one of them, and then caught Jiminez herself. It was an extraordinary act of bravery.
• "I will forever be thankful to him, you know? Like I said, to me he was an angel," Jiminez said. "Because of him we're here, we're alive and my daughters are safe." 
• Hollins wouldn't listen to the praise, though. He said anyone would do the same. "Those are children," he said. 
• Applause for this courageous dude.
• Russia has permanently banned a bunch of people from entering their country. Among them are talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers.
• The full list of 500 Americans who can’t go to Russia includes former President Barack Obama, CNN anchor Erin Burnett, MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Joe Scarborough, and former NBC News anchor Brian Williams.
• You know who’s still welcome there? Donald J. Trump, their favorite comrade.
• An explosive story came out last week with a group saying that New York City Mayor Eric Adams had evicted nearly two dozen homeless veterans to make room for a group of asylum seekers. How awful, right?
• Laura Ingraham of Fox News and other far-right news anchors talked about it relentlessly for three consecutive days.
• One problem: it never happened. One Republican lawmaker in New York who helped spread the story is now calling for an investigation, saying he and others were duped.
• Yesterday, it came out that several men staying at a homeless shelter in Poughkeepsie, NY had come forward to say they were recruited to pretend they were among the veterans kicked out of the hotel. They said they were offered $200, food and alcohol to take part in the ruse.
• The woman who attempted this fraudulent action is Yerik Israel Toney Foundation chief executive Sharon Toney-Finch. She needs to be prosecuted ASAP.
• Speaking about fraudulent actions… a pair of federal law enforcement veterans who accused the FBI of drumming them out of service because of their conservative political beliefs have admitted to receiving money from Donald Trump’s aide Kash Patel.
• These were the “FBI whistleblowers” touted by GOP reps like Jim Jordan (R-OH).
• Suspended Special Agent Garrett O’Boyle was asked if he knows Patel and whether he received money from the ex-Trump staffer or his organization. O’Boyle said he had.
• Former FBI special agent Steven Friend was asked as well. Friend replied that Patel had “gave me a donation last November”.
• When Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) asked whether Friend was “a charitable organization,” Friend said he had been “an unpaid, indefinitely suspended man trying to feed his family” when he took money from Patel to testify.
• Ugly. Moving on…
• Yesterday, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) officially filed paperwork to seek the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election.
• Scott is the most prominent Black figure in the Republican Party and one of the Senate's most formidable fundraisers.
• The current field of GOP candidates for president includes former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and That Orange Guy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his presidential bid this coming week.
• Speaking of Donnie, Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis hinted that she might seek indictments in early to mid-August in her long-running inquiry as to whether the former president and his allies broke any Georgia laws when they pressed state officials to “find” votes and call for a special legislative session to reverse Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow win.
• The timetable was disclosed in a letter to Fulton Superior Court’s chief judge and 20 other county officials. Willis listed 10 days between July 31 and August 18 in which she plans to direct a large percentage of her staff to work remotely.
• Haha. Get his ass.
• And now, The Weather: “sulky baby” by yeule
• Minnesota keeps kicking ass. 
• Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed two gun safety initiatives into law yesterday, establishing universal background checks and a process for temporarily removing firearms from those who imminently pose a threat to themselves or others. 
• It was part of a broader public safety budget bill that passed by one vote along party lines in the state Senate last week.
• Every election is important now. Every single one at every level of government.
• From the Sports Desk… yikes! The Miami Heat shocked the Boston Celtics in game two of the ECF. Boston was up by as much as 10 at the start of the 4th quarter, and Miami still came back and took another road victory. They’re up 2-0 now; Game 3 is Sunday in Miami.
• In non-sports sports news, Jim Brown, one of the greatest football players of all time, has died. He was 87.
• Brown was also an actor and a civil rights activist. Like most people, he had negative aspects in his life as well, such as accusations of domestic violence. I’ll remember the good parts. RIP.
• Today in history… The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated (685). John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (1497). Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode, India (1497). Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas (1570). The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in the American Civil War, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state (1861). Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets (1873). Cuba gains independence from the United States (1902). Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day (1932). The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz (1940). In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established (1949). Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias (1964). In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada (1980). First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier (1983). The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians (1996). 
• May 20 is the birthday of architect William Thornton (1759), novelist/playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799), businessman William Fargo (1818), minister Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825), inventor Emile Berliner (1851), actor James Stewart (1908), tank commander Alexandra Boyko (1918), NFL coach Bud Grant (1927), NHL player Stan Mikita (1940), singer-songwriter Joe Cocker (1944), singer-songwriter/actress Cher (1946), music engineer/producer Andy Johns (1950), singer-songwriter Jane Wiedlin (1958), singer-songwriter Susan Cowsill (1959), MLB player David Wells (1963), rapper Busta Rhymes (1972), and MLB player Jayson Werth (1979).

Okay then. I’m gonna shower and eat breakfast, though not at the same time. Enjoy your day.