Random News: May 29, 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 29, 2023, and it’s a Monday. It’s also Memorial Day, a holiday here the good ol’ USA. I’m mostly chilling today, still in my robe for the time being, but let’s see what’s shakin’…

• Memorial Day is a US holiday that specifically honors the military personnel who died in duty. It’s not Veterans Day, which is a general holiday that salutes anyone who ever served.
• You’re always welcome to thank a veteran for their service regardless of what holiday it is, or isn’t, but today is for the ones who died, to be clear.
• It seems like it would be obvious, but frankly most Americans think of it as a day off work in weather that’s good for barbecuing and drinking beer.
• One thing I find fascinating about Memorial Day… many of the people who seem to support it with giant American flags waving in their yards are those who are most against the causes that these soldiers, sailors, and Marines died for: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and fighting the scourge of fascism, authoritarianism, antisemitism and other forms of hatred.
• Let’s do some news…
• Here’s a preview of how America would be under the laws currently supported in places like Florida and other Republican-led states.
• Uganda’s president signed into law a wide-ranging anti-LGBTQ bill today. It imposes life imprisonment for same-sex activity and the death penalty in some cases.
• The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 punishes those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” with death. The new law also imposes life imprisonment as punishment for anyone found to have performed a sexual act with a person of the same gender, and up to seven years in prison for “an attempt to commit the offense of homosexuality.”
• You may think of what’s happening in places like Florida as not a big deal. But one look at Twitter, with immediate calls to boycott any company or brand that shows support for LGBTQ+ people — from Bud Light to Target to Kohl’s to many more — and you’ll see, the Uganda law is exactly what these folks support.
• Hey, maybe Ron DeSantis can use “Make America Uganda” is his new slogan.
• In other international news… in as much as I was hoping for a different result, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been elected to a third term to lead Turkey after winning the country's presidential runoff election yesterday.
• Erdogan received 27,513,587 votes, or 52.14% of the votes cast, beating challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu who had 25,260,109 votes, or 47.86%.
• Moving on…
• This week, the Biden administration announced the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism to protect Jewish communities across the US.
• He released a video about the new strategy, saying hate has been "given too much oxygen" in recent years and has fuelled a "record rise in antisemitism."
• At least one Republican felt threatened by Biden’s plan: Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
• Responding to Biden’s statement about antisemitism, Boebert tweeted, “When they say stuff like this, they mean they want to go after conservatives.”
• White House press secretary Andrew Bates correctly responded, “Congresswoman Boebert is mistaken; antisemitism is not 'conservative' — it is evil. If anyone finds opposition to hate threatening, they need to look inward. Congresswoman Boebert should also Google the Soviet Union's long, repulsive history of antisemitism.”
• The Anti-Defamation League counted 3,697 antisemitic incidents last year, a 36 percent increase from the previous year and the highest figure since it began keeping records in 1979.
• Who would have thought that after all the progress the USA made — from fighting a whole-ass war to eliminate slavery in the 1800s to allowing voting for women in the early 20th century to the civil rights battles of the 1960s — that we’d end up in 2023 with a whole faction of politicians built on open hatred toward gays and Jews?
• I’ve mentioned this many times, but they won’t stop at gays or Jews. They will not stop until everyone who deviates from their white nationalism and Christian fascism is subdued or eliminated.
• Moving on…
• Russia’s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant today for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) following his comments related to the fighting in Ukraine.
• In a video of his meeting on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Graham noted that “the Russians are dying” and described the U.S. military assistance to Ukraine as “the best money we’ve ever spent.”
• Please don’t put me in a position to defend Lindsey Graham, Russia.
• Let’s move on…
• Now that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been impeached and is currently removed form duty pending his trial by the Texas Senate, he’s been replaced by his assistant Brent Webster.
• Is Webster a better guy? No, no, no, no, no.
• Webster took over for Jeff Mateer, who resigned after reporting Paxton’s alleged criminal behavior to law enforcement agencies along with seven other top Paxton aides.
• Webster faced a professional misconduct case brought by the State Bar of Texas for helping Paxton file a long-shot federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in four battleground states.
• So he’s definitely another piece of shit. And don’t worry; there’s a line of pieces of shit behind him as well.
• And now, The Weather: “Horsey Girl Rider” by bar italia
• How about this crazy shit?
• A bus driver and passenger opened fire on each other on a moving Charlotte, NC transit bus earlier this month. The incident started when a passenger identified as Omarri Shariff Tobias got up while the bus was in motion and asked the driver to let him off between designated bus stops.
• The driver, David Fullard, told Tobias he would have to wait until the next approved stop. After about a two-minute exchange, Tobias pulled out a gun and pointed it at Fullard. Then Fullard pulled out his own firearm. Both men shot. Fullard was struck in the arm and Tobias was struck in the abdomen.
• THERE WERE OTHER PEOPLE ON THAT BUS. These two fools are spraying bullets. Does this fit the “good guy with a gun” narrative?
• Aaaaand moving on…
• I very rarely write things that would be called “opinion” here, though I obviously express my opinion all over most bullet points.
• But here’s a speculative opinion regarding the 2024 Republican primaries. Why is there a crowded GOP field when Trump’s cult and his poll numbers make him that obvious candidate? Two things.
• First is the distinct possibility that Trump, for a plethora of legal reasons, might not actually be available to be the president by the time the general election comes around. In that circumstance, whomever was in second place, no matter how distant, becomes the presumed candidate.
• Second is that all these people, from DeSantis to Scott to the rest, are using the 2024 election cycle as a big advertisement for themselves to get public awareness and recognition in advance of the 2028 election. It’s not rocket science.
• That’s all. Just some speculation from me.
• Hey, you know that respiratory virus that’s sending people to the hospital?
• No, not COVID. Cases of human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, spiked this spring. It filled hospital intensive care units with young children and seniors who are the most vulnerable to these infections. At its peak in mid-March, nearly 11% of tested specimens were positive for HMPV, a number that’s about 36% higher than the average, pre-pandemic seasonal peak of 7% test positivity.
• Unlike COVID-19 and the flu, there’s no vaccine for HMPV or antiviral drugs to treat it. Doctors care for seriously ill people by tending to their symptoms.
• One study of patient samples collected over 25 years found that it was the second most common cause of respiratory infections in kids behind RSV. A study in New York conducted over four winters found that it was as common in hospitalized seniors as RSV and the flu.
• When you see me wearing a mask in the grocery store, be aware that i’ve gone since 2019 without getting even a little cold. I like this whole “not being sick” thing, and I don’t give a fuck if you miss seeing my face.
• Yes, I did get COVID in February… by being in a high-risk environment and removing my mask. Not gonna make that mistake again.
• From the Sports Desk… tonight’s the night for game 7 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals between the Celtics and Heat. May the best team win. A reminder: no NBA playoff team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, so if Boston does it tonight, it will be a historical moment in sports.
• Today in history… Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland (1660). Rhode Island becomes the last of North America's original Thirteen Colonies to ratify the Constitution and become one of the United States (1790). Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state (1848). The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal (1886). Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot (1913). Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested and later confirmed by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin (1919). Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953). Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, CA (1973). Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station (1999).
• May 29 is the birthday of English king Charles II (1630), poet/playwright G. K. Chesterton (1874), actor/singer Bob Hope (1903), US president John F. Kennedy (1917), race car driver Al Unser (1939), failed assassin John Hinckley Jr. (1955), singer LaToya Jackson (1956), actress Annette Bening (1958), musician/activist Melissa Etheridge (1961), singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher (1967), actress/activist Laverne Cox (1972), Spice Girl Mel B (1975), comedian Daniel Tosh (1975), NBA player Carmelo Anthony (1984), and NBA player Austin Reaves (1998).

Time to take off this robe (woo woo) and take a shower and be a person who does things. Enjoy your day.