Random News: May 23, 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 23, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m feeling physically better today than the last couple of days — getting old sucks — so let’s see what’s happening out there in this crazy-ass world…

• Let’s get rolling with a big one.
• Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for details on real estate licensing and development dealings in seven countries: China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.
• And these are deals that happened since he took office in 2017.
• The subpoena suggests that investigators are looking at a much wider range of crimes than had been previously made clear. 
• There are many more details to this, including a lot about Trump’s role in Saudi-owned LIV Golf — and many unknown factors that we’ll not hear about until if/when indictments are issued. But my spidey sense tells me this is of important note.
• Moving on…
• Remember Kari Lake, that crazy Republican woman who is the queen of election deniers? She ran for Arizona governor and lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs last year.
• She’s still been challenging that loss in court, and has a perfect track record of continuous losing ever since. Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Peter A. Thompson denied her only remaining legal claim, saying Lake failed to prove her claim that Maricopa County did not verify signatures on mail ballots as required by law.
• They did. She lost. Unfortunately, much like herpes, it’s unlikely Lake is going away forever.
• Speaking of Katie Hobbs, who seems to be doing a great job thus far, the AZ governor has vetoed a bill that would have compelled schools not to refer to transgender students by the names or pronouns they identify with.
• “Instead of coming up with new ways to target and isolate our children, we should be working together to create an Arizona where everyone has the freedom to be who they are without fear of harassment or judgement," she said in a statement.
• Well said.
• A couple of news items about 2024 presidential candidates not named Biden or Trump.
• The top two campaign officials for Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson resigned over this past week.
• Jason Call, the campaign’s deputy manager left Williamson’s team on Friday. Campaign manager Peter Daou announced on Saturday on Twitter that he was leaving the campaign “after much consideration,” about one month into the job.
• Probably a smart move.
• Meanwhile, roughly 0.73 seconds into yesterday morning’s official kickoff of the Republican presidential campaign for Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), he managed to Howard Dean himself into oblivion.
• Taking the microphone, he screamed “Hello North Charleston!”, but his voice cracked halfway through and it came out sounding like an insane unintelligible yodel. I watched it on repeat for about 742 times and laughed as hard each time as the first.
• To Scott’s credit, he claims he will not try to overturn the election if he loses, placing him in contrast to other GOP candidates.
• Back in serious news…
• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is issuing an advisory that social media use may be harmful to the mental health of young people, citing growing evidence that online content is hurting the development of the nation’s youth.
• Murthy specifically pointed to the possibility of a link between time spent on social media and depression and anxiety.
• Yup.
• In very related news, TikTok has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Montana after it passed an unenforceable law last week intended to ban the app from being downloaded within its borders.
• The widely expected lawsuit argues that banning a hugely popular social media app amounts to an illegal suppression of free speech tantamount to censorship. The Montana law "unlawfully abridges one of the core freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment," the suit claims.
• Probably accurate.
• Here’s a not-fun fact: in the history of the United States, only two Black women have ever served as senators… Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, elected in 1992; and current Vice President Kamala Harris, elected to the Senate in 2017.
• I find it likely that when Dianne Feinstein retires — or whatever — that her appointed replacement as the Senator from California will be Barbara Lee. It’s unknown as to whether or not Lee can win in the following election cycle, especially against high-profile candidates like Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter who will run for the job.
• And now, The Weather: “NYC UMTs” by May Rio
• Hats off to Tool singer Maynard James Keenan. At the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, FL on Sunday night during Tool’s headlining set, Keenan wore a blonde wig, exaggerated red lipstick, and prosthetic breasts during the performance.
• It was just this past Wednesday that Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a series of bills targeted against drag shows and transgender rights. One bill in particular prevents minors from attending drag shows.
• Since Welcome to Rockville is an all-ages festival, Keenan was, essentially, in violation of the new law.
• Fuck that law.
• I am seriously considering doing my next Second Life performances in drag, even if it means spending a few bucks on a nice dress.
• Here’s a nice story.
• About eight years ago, Brad Ryan, 41, was speaking to his grandmother Joy Ryan, 93, and she told him that she regretted how few trips she had taken during her life.
• They subsequently set out on a journey to visit all 63 national parks. This week they completed their goal when they arrived at the National Park of American Samoa.
• Before their first trip, Joy had spent her entire life in the small town of Duncan Falls, OH. She told Brad she’d never even seen a mountain.
• Grandma Joy has now made history as the oldest living person to visit every US National Park.
• The two received certificates and a number of other gifts from the National Park Service, commemorating their 63-national park achievement.
• My personal experience in visiting national parks such as Joshua Tree has been incredibly fulfilling. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
• From the Sports Desk… as I predicted, the Denver Nuggets swept the Los Angeles Lakers 4-0 in the Western Conference finals, winning a close match last night 113-111.
• The Lakers had an unexpectedly great playoff run, beating the Grizzlies and the Warriors against all odds. The Nuggets were the best team in the west all year. Best of luck to them in the Finals, which start in just over a week on Thursday June 1.
• From the not-really-sports desk… the Las Vegas Raiders have a new partner in its ownership group. His name? Tom Brady.
• "We're excited for Tom to join the Raiders.” - majority owner Mark Davis. Brady also is part of Davis' WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces ownership group, acquiring a stake in March.
• Pending league approval, Brady will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League to become a team owner. The other two? George Halas and Jerry Richardson.
• From the sports-meets-politics desk, the Los Angeles Dodgers have re-invited the drag and nonprofit activist group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to the team's upcoming Pride Night, following public outcry after the Dodgers rescinded the group's initial invitation to the event.
• They never should have been disinvited, and the people behind that push used religion as a platform to discriminate against drag performance. We don’t act that way in Los Angeles. I’m glad the Dodgers came to their senses and issued an apology.
• If you’re unaware, the Sisters started in 1979, and are a charitable organization that has been highly successful in activism and fundraising for for AIDS, LGBT-related causes, and mainstream community service organizations, while promoting safer sex and educating others about the harmful effects of drug use and other high risk behaviors.
• From the definitely-not-sports desk… a follow-up on a story I reported awhile back. The Oakland A's have fired long-time broadcaster Glen Kuiper after he used a racial slur on the air earlier this month.
• ”Following an internal review, the decision has been made for NBC Sports California to end its relationship with Glen Kuiper, effective immediately. We thank Glen for his dedication to Bay Area baseball over the years.” - NBC Sports California
• I’ve heard that while the incident per above may have seemingly been a simple verbal gaffe, there were other factors that made it seem like Kuiper may use that word at other times as well. Bye dude.
• Today in history… South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state (1788). Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire (1829). A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would be considered to be a forerunner of the Baháʼí Faith (1844). The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1873). The New York Public Library is dedicated (1911). American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, LA (1934). The first version of the Java programming language is released (1995). Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party is sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia after winning the 2022 Australian federal election, ending 9 years of conservative rule (2022).
• May 23 is the birthday of botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707), religious leader `Abdu’l-Bahá (1844), activist Isabella Ford (1855), actor Douglas Fairbanks (1883), actor Scatman Crothers (1910), bandleader Artie Shaw (1910), singer/acress Rosemary Clooney (1928), actress Joan Collins (1933), engineer Robert Moog (1934), composer Michel Colombier (1939), chess player Anatoly Karpov (1951), boxer Marvin Hagler (1954), journalist Mitch Albom (1958), actor/TV host Drew Carey (1958), musician Jewel (1974), and NFL player Aaron Donald (1991).

Okay then. I’m actually fine, by the way. I have some chronic lower back problems and a foot problem and I don’t like feeling anything less than superhuman, so when I complain about “health issues”, it’s nowhere near the degree of validity of people who have actual real, serious challenges to their health every single day. I just like feeling 100% good all the time. Enjoy your day.