Random News: June 30, 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 June 30, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! It’s also the last day of the Supreme Court’s term for the year, and as has been the case in recent years, they’re fucking up so badly that I’d plan on a whole summer of protests. I’m already planning on them. Let’s try not to be mad and learn more about things first…

• Here we are on the last day of June, and that means my final Pride note of the year.
• We’ve covered a lot in 30 days. Much more than I would have anticipated. I started this out intended on having a short “fun fact” on each day, but as the month progressed, we ended up doing some pretty deep dives into specific LGBTQIA+ topics.
• My feeling is that there are many people who have never thought about looking more closely at the details behind the initials.
• One thing I tried to do was to not present LGBTQIA+ as one subject, but break up the initials into the actual sets of people whose lives are impacted by your treatment of them.
• At the same time, I tried to impart this information not so much in a sterile and scientific way, but with the reminder that we are talking about people. People who have much more in common with everyone else than they do as part of a label that’s placed on them.
• What can you do to further your support of LGBT people? That’s easy.
• Make it clear that you’ll never hate a person because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Say that out loud. Write it in your social posts. Tell it to your friends and your children.
• Vote for candidates and for legislative acts that don’t discriminate against people based on who they are and who they love.
• And when you see instances of homophobia and transphobia, be brave and call it out in the same way I hope you do against racism, sexism, and bigotry.
• Also… pie. LGBT people like pie. Ask them, it’s true.
• Let’s do some very related breaking and sad news…
• An hour ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a web designer, Lorie Smith, who opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds.
• Smith sued the state of Colorado in 2016 saying she would accept customers planning opposite-sex weddings but reject requests made by same-sex couples wanting the same service. She argued that, as a creative professional, she has a free speech right to refuse to undertake work that conflicts with her views.
• The Court agreed in a 6-3 ruling that it’s fine to essentially hang a sign in your business window saying “NO GAYS ALLOWED”.
• And two minutes ago, again in a 6-3 ruling, the SCOTUS stuck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
• It would have allowed eligible borrowers to cancel up to $20,000 in debt. About 43 million people would have been eligible to participate. Not anymore.
• EXPAND THE FUCKING COURT.
• Sigh. More on those topics later.
• Just as I was wrapping up my bullet points yesterday, in a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court declared Affirmative Action unconstitutional. It is now gone.
• As you likely know, Affirmative Action was a policy started during the Kennedy administration in 1961. JFK’s "Executive Order No. 10925” included a provision that government contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated [fairly] during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin"
• Affirmative Action became a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed, or nationality in areas in which such groups are underrepresented, such as education and employment.
• It helped compensate for past discrimination, persecution, or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture, and to address existing discrimination.
• Almost since the start, Affirmative Action was criticized by white conservatives with a variety of arguments that, while often deplorable in intent, are not constitutionally invalid.
• They’ve said that Affirmative Action encourages individuals to identify themselves as disadvantaged, even if they are not. That it may increase racial tension and benefit the more privileged people within minority groups at the expense of the least fortunate within majority groups.
• Mostly they say that affirmative action has been a form of reverse discrimination. Some argue that affirmative action devalues the actual accomplishments of people who are chosen based on the social group to which they belong rather than their qualifications, thus rendering it counterproductive.
• The case the SCOTUS took up, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, was also expanded to include the University of North Carolina. That way it covered both private and public schools by intent.
• Here’s a thought, courtesy of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: if SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous “colorblindness” claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged. 70% of Harvard’s legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didn’t touch that - which would have impacted them and their patrons.
• Moving on…
• 37-year-old Taylor Taranto, of Seattle, WA was arrested by law enforcement in former President Barack Obama's Washington, D.C., neighborhood. 
• He had with him materials to make explosives, and also was wanted with an active Jan. 6-related warrant. Secret Service spotted the man within blocks of the Obama's home. Taranto fled and was running toward the Obama home, but was apprehended before he reached it. 
• This piece of shit had been on the radar of law enforcement because he made threats during recent livestreams on social media.
• In other news…
• A Florida sheriff’s deputy was acquitted yesterday of felony child neglect and other charges for failing to act during the 2018 Parkland school massacre.
• The verdict was pretty simple: former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson was just a coward, and not a criminal for completely betraying the public’s trust and hiding like a scared baby instead of confronting shooter Nikolas Cruz.
• After the not guilty verdict was read, Peterson jumped around and hugged his family. “I got my life back!” he yelled. None of the kids that died due to his inaction, of course, will ever get their lives back.
• Moving on…
• The investigation into impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just got worse for him with the discovery of a series of property purchases he made as he faced a federal probe over allegations that he abused his office.
• Paxton paid nearly $3.5 million on six properties from July 2021 to April 2022 in Oklahoma, Florida, Utah and Hawaii. It was in fall 2020 that several of Paxton’s top aides reported to the FBI that they believed he was misusing his office to help a wealthy campaign donor, Austin real estate investor Nate Paul.
• I hope that guy gets royally screwed. Moving on…
• Wait, what’s this? Some actual news involving Mike Pence?
• It’s true. Former vice president Pence made a surprise trip to Ukraine yesterday where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and sought to reinforce his support for the country in its war with Russia.
• Pence so far is the only GOP presidential candidate to visit Ukraine. Nearly one month into his official campaign launch, Pence has so far struggled to crack double digits in national polls.
• I mean, Pence can also now say he’s now been in two war zones: Ukraine in 2023, and the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
• In other news, tomorrow is July 1, which means in Florida, the permitless carry law goes into effect. It allows anyone who can legally own a gun in the state to carry one concealed without a license.
• Also, it is no longer required to have training and a background check to carry concealed guns in public. Get ready for a whole lot of people shooting each other in the Sunshine State and claiming they were in fear for their lives or were standing their ground.
• One group that’s definitely in danger in Florida as a result: law enforcement. People in Florida are not required to inform a deputy or police officer if they are armed if pulled over for a traffic stop.
• And now, The Weather: “Moonrise” by Night Tapes
• Do you like diet soft drinks? Got some bad news for you.
• Aspartame, one of the world's most common artificial sweeteners used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to many others, will be listed in July as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer research arm.
• Honestly, just drink water. Like, exclusively. Water and coffee, which is basically water with a small amount of bean juice.
• There’s been a string of incidents where female performers have been assaulted in various ways while onstage.
• Country music singer Kelsea Ballerini paused a concert after she was struck in the face by a bracelet while she was on stage in Idaho on Wednesday. Last week, pop star Ava Max was slapped by a concertgoer who rushed the stage as she performed. Days earlier, singer Bebe Rexha was hit in the face with a phone thrown by an audience member during a concert in New York City. At least a guy got charged with assault for that.
• When people are onstage and concentrating on delivering a great performance for a bunch of people, DO NOT THROW SHIT AT THEM. And even if your name is Will Smith, don’t physically attack people onstage either. Fucking morons. Jesus.
• Some more record charts for no reason. Here’s the Billboard charts for June 30, 1984. I had just finished my sophomore year and then spent that summer working as a data processing clerk, and saved up and bought my first synthesizer, the brand new (at the time) Roland Juno-106.
• 1. The Reflex (Duran Duran). 2. Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen). 3. When Doves Cry (Prince). 4. Self Control (Laura Branigan). 5. Jump (For My Love) (The Pointer Sisters). 6. The Heart of Rock ’n’Roll (Huey Lewis and the News). 7. Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper). 8. Eyes Without a Face (Bill Idol). 9. Let’s Hear It For The Boy (Deniece Williams). 10. Almost Paradise… Love Theme from Footloose (Mike Reno and Ann Wilson). 11. Oh, Sherrie (Steve Perry). 12. Borderline (Madonna). 13. Legs (ZZ Top). 14. It’s a Miracle (Culture Club). 15. Magic (The Cars). 16. Stay the Night (Chicago). 17. Doctor! Doctor! (Thompson Twins). 18. Infatuation (Rod Stewart). 19. Dance Hall Days (Wang Chung). 20. Sad Songs (Say So Much) (Elton John).
• From the Sports Desk… congrats to Domingo German of the New York Yankees. He delivered the 24th perfect game in MLB history on Wednesday night in an an 11-0 victory over the A’s.
• German's effort was the fourth perfect game in Yankees history, and the first since Seattle's Felix Hernandez threw one in 2012.
• Today in history… French acrobat Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope (1859). U.S. President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for "public use, resort and recreation” (1864). Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield (1882). Albert Einstein sends the article 'On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies’, in which he introduces special relativity (1905). The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (1906). U.S. President Warren G. Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the United States (1921). U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Dominican Ambassador Francisco J. Peynado sign the Hughes–Peynado agreement, which ends the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1922). The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, MI (1953). The National Organization for Women, the United States' largest feminist organization, is founded (1966). The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults (1986). East Germany and West Germany merge their economies (1990). Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow during the 2013 Egyptian coup d’état (2013). 
• June 30 is the birthday of author Georges Duhamel (1884), car designer/engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash (1889), businessman/philanthropist Dan Reeves (1912), singer/actress/activist Lena Horne (1917), bass player Stanley Clarke (1951), actor/comedian David Alan Grier (1956), conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958), actor Vincent D’Onofrio (1959), guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen (1963), boxer Mike Tyson (1966), MLB player Chan Ho Park (1973), and NBA player Trevor Ariza (1985).

Alright. Fuck this news. Let’s take action. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 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 June 29, 2023, and it’s Thursday for some reason. Some big breaking news happening, and I'm trying to absorb it and think it through, but let's learn some stuff first and become better people...

• June is almost over, and I find I’m going to miss doing the daily Pride notes after the final one tomorrow. But I do feel like we raised some awareness and some people learned some things, so it was time well spent.
• For today’s penultimate note, I want to tell you about a few of the most important organizations that focus entirely or in part on LGBTQIA+ rights. There are many of them, so I’m just including some biggies.
• Let’s start with the ACLU. 
• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States".They provide legal assistance in cases where it considers civil liberties at risk.
• Their current positions include supporting same-sex marriage and the right of LGBT people to adopt, as well as eliminating discrimination against LGBT people.
• Founded in 1980, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. They focus on protecting and expanding rights for LGBTQ individuals, most notably advocating for same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination and hate crimes legislation, and HIV/AIDS advocacy.
• HRC has a number of legislative initiatives as well as supporting resources for LGBTQ individuals.
• GLAAD is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded in 1985 as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since included bisexual and transgender people.
• Formed in New York City as Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in 1985 to protest against what it saw as the New York Post's defamatory and sensationalized AIDS coverage, GLAAD got its start by putting pressure on media organizations to end what it saw as homophobic reporting.
• GLAAD has since been named as one of Hollywood's most powerful entities, and was described as "possibly one of the most successful organizations lobbying the media for inclusion".
• PFLAG is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. PFLAG has over 400 chapters across the United States, with more than 200,000 members and supporters.
• It was formed in 1973, and the original acronym was for “Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays”, if you were wondering.
• These are all US-based national organizations. There are tons of excellent local services available through private, governmental, and school-based entities that can assist members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
• Globally, Amnesty International campaigns to protect and uphold the rights of LGBT+ people, including their right to life, freedom, and safety.
• They help people around the world against a range of unequal treatment in regard to their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.
• If you’re LGBTQIA+ and need some help finding resources for something you’re going through, hit me up and I’d be happy to look for some options with you.
• Let’s start with some breaking news that’s sad but not unexpected…
• This morning, the Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admission policies of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violate the Constitution, bringing an end to affirmative action in college admissions in a decision that is likely to reverberate across college and university campuses nationwide. 
• The vote was 6-3. I don’t have to tell you who was the majority and dissenting justices.
• The court ruled affirmative action does violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, saying the universities’ policies aren’t operated in a way that’s in line with the limited exceptions for the clause’s guarantee of equal rights “without regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality.”
• What to expect: Black and Hispanic college admissions will drop dramatically. White and Asian people will have an even easier time of getting into colleges and universities.
• Again, to repeat: Affirmative Action is GONE. It’s over. I’ll have more to say on this later.
• Let’s do some better news…
• When Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) vetoed a bill in March that banned gender-transition care for minors, people celebrated at the State Capitol. His veto was later overridden by the Republican-controlled legislature.
• But yesterday, federal judges in both Kentucky and Tennessee intervened to temporarily block those laws that would ban gender-transition care for minors. The rulings extend a winning streak in court for transgender-rights advocates.
• The separate rulings came days before key provisions of the laws were set to go into effect, amid a wave of legislation aimed at curbing LGBTQ rights that has cleared Republican-controlled legislatures across the country this year. Several of those laws either remain tangled in legal battles, or have been ruled unconstitutional by federal judges.
• Hell yes. U.S. Constitution for the win!
• Let’s do some criminal news.
• Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani recently sat down for a voluntary interview with special counsel Jack Smith under a proffer agreement.
• What’s a proffer agreement? In U.S. criminal law, a proffer letter, proffer agreement, proffer, or "Queen for a Day" letter is a written agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant or prospective witness that allows the defendant or witness to give the prosecutor information about an alleged crime, while limiting the prosecutor's ability to use that information against him or her.
• So that can only mean one thing: Giuliani flipped on Trump to save his own ass.
• Attorneys working for Jack Smith pelted Giuliani with multiple questions related to the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, including about former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and John Eastman, both of whom have been accused of trying to help the president illegally remain in power despite losing that election to President Joe Biden.
• They also asked Giuliani about a plan to create fake slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that were actually won by Mr. Biden.
• Moving on…
• Michigan’s state legislature gave final approval this week to a pair of bills that would ban so-called conversion therapy for minors, joining other blue states in advancing protections for the LGBTQ community this legislative session.
• Conversion therapy is a disgusting, scientifically discredited practice intended to change a person’s sexual orientation. Most Republican legislators in Michigan voted in favor of conversion therapy; it was banned with the help of the Democratic majority in the state.
• In other news, former Marine Daniel Penny was arraigned yesterday in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on the subway. Penny was charged with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter.
• He pleaded not guilty at State Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan. 
• In other news involving the New York legal system…
• Yusef Salaam, one of the five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman in Central Park and later exonerated, is leading in a race for New York City Council after Tuesday's Democratic primary.
• In 1989, investigators focused on five teens — Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — who had been in the park that night. Then-businessman Donald Trump took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for a return to the death penalty for the teens.
• More than a decade after the attack, serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the assault and claimed he was the only actor; DNA evidence confirmed his involvement. All five defendants sued the City of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress; the city settled the suit in 2014 for $41 million.
• Sending good luck to Salaam.
• And now, The Weather: “All Depends on You” by PWNT (feat. Will Fox)
• Due to global climate change, the weather is fucking horrible for many of you, with heat, storms, and dangerous air quality affecting you and your families and pets.
• At least 112 people have died in Mexico as a result of “natural extreme temperatures” since March. At least 1,559 people received medical treatment for temperature-related problems in the same period.
• Let’s send some well-wishes to Madonna. She was found unresponsive on Saturday, and then spent several days in the ICU after developing a serious bacterial infection.
• Her manager says a a full recovery is expected. Details on the type of infection and how long her recovery is expected to take were not immediately available.
• Madge, 64, will have to postpone her upcoming The Celebration Tour, which was scheduled to begin July 15 in Vancouver.
• From the Sports Desk… Tennessee State University announced yesterday it was adding a club men's hockey team, making it the first historically Black college or university (HBCU) to introduce a college hockey program.
• The Nashville-based school said the men's team will start play as a club program in 2024 and while no timeline was given, TSU said its goal is to eventually field both a Division I men's and women's team.
• Fucking cool!
• Today in history… Sverre is crowned king of Norway, leading to civil war (1194). English crown bans tobacco growing in England, giving the Virginia Company a monopoly in exchange for tax of one shilling per pound (1620). Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time (1889). The first Miss Universe pageant is held and Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe (1952). The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System (1956). Prior to re-entry, the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board (1971). The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment (1972). Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet (1974). Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time (1995). The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law (2006). Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone (2007).
• June 29 is the birthday of diplomat/statesman Peter Agricola (1525), Japan emperor Go-Mizunoo (1596), poet Lavinia Stoddard (1787), poet Celia Thaxter (1835), activist/politician Julia Lathrop (1858), physician/clinic founder William James Mayo (1961), writer/pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900), actor Slim Pickens (1919), actor/producer Robert Evans (1930), singer Little Eva (1943), actor Gary Busey (1944), actor Richard Lewis (1947), drummer Ian Paice (1948), NFL player/sportscaster Dan Dierdorf (1949), sportscaster Craig Sager (1951), singer-songwriter Don Dokken (1953), singer-songwriter Colin Hay (1953), MLB player Pedro Guerrero (1956), actress Maria Conchita Alonso (1957), actor/musician Bret McKenzie (1976), writer/comedian Colin Jost (1982), and NBA player Kawhi Leonard (1991).

Today’s SCOTUS ruling that ended Affirmative Action is another landmark decision on the level of their having killed Roe v Wade a year ago. It’s going to affect a lot of things, including the 2024 elections. More on that later. I’m going to do what I do, and so should you. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 28, 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 June 28, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. Many things happen every day, and we get to find out about some of them. Even when it's things you don't want to know, you're better off being aware than ignorant, so let's go...

• We’re nearing the end of June, which means we’ll soon be closing out our daily look at LGBTQIA+ topics in celebration of Pride.
• I’ve enjoyed it and I learned a lot. I really did.
• I also don’t want to leave anyone out, which is why today we’re going to explore the “I” in the initialism. I is for Intersex.
• I have to be careful here because compared to all the other letters, “I” is the one that can be the most easily misconstrued, and I don’t want to impart any wrong information.
• While I don’t believe that sexual orientation or gender identity is a conscious choice, people who are intersex aren’t given the option of being anyone other than who they are. So, let’s start with a definition.
• Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.
• Somewhere in the range of 0.02%–0.05% of people are born with ambiguous genitals. Doesn’t seem like very many, but do the math: in a world populated by about 8,000,000,000 people, that means up to 40,000,000 people are intersex. That’s a lot.
• Terms used to describe intersex people are contested, and change over time and place. Intersex people were previously referred to as "hermaphrodites" or "congenital eunuchs” in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• These terms are no longer used, and terms including the word "hermaphrodite" are considered to be misleading, stigmatizing, and scientifically wrong in reference to humans.
• Globally, some intersex infants and children, such as those with ambiguous outer genitalia, are surgically or hormonally altered to create more socially acceptable sex characteristics. There is no firm evidence of favorable outcomes of these treatments.
• Note that it’s more than the external genitalia that’s affected. Intersex people often have reproductive organs and chromosomes that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. It’s an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations.
• I’m not going to list the various conditions that result in an intersex condition. It’s extremely varied. One in 5,000 women are born without a vagina. As many as one in 500 males have Klinefelter syndrome which gives them an extra X chromosome and affects their sexual function.
• But here’s the thing: I don’t want you thinking of intersex people as having had “birth defects”. 
• In many cases, intersex people are capable of having completely typical functionality in their lives. But since they are usually assigned some gender at birth, upwards of 20% of people with intersex variations experienced gender dysphoria.
• Why are Intersex people part of the LGBT world? Some say they shouldn’t be.
• The inclusion of intersex in LGBT can fail to address intersex-specific human rights issues, including creating false impressions that intersex people's rights are protected by laws protecting LGBT people, and failing to acknowledge that many intersex people are not LGBT.
• It’s been said that a good reason for inclusion is that LGBT activism has fought for the rights of people who fall outside of expected binary sex and gender norms. I get that.
• At the same time, I also get why intersex people have their own challenges that don’t fall under other parts of LGBT inclusion, and I respect that too.
• It’s a big world with a lot of people, and all of us are, in our own way, at least somewhat unique. I think one of the keys to happiness is to understand and accept the differences between us while making it a priority to support people who may be marginalized by those differences.
• That’s all on that. Let’s do some news…
• I was in a hurry yesterday with Supreme Court rulings flying in, and I don’t think I gave enough significance to the landmark decision in Moore v. Harper, which closes the path to what could have been a radical overhaul of America’s election laws.
• Not to overdramatize it, but the opposite ruling would have essentially meant the end of democracy in America as we know it.
• What they did yesterday was to rebuff a legal theory that argued that state legislatures have the authority to set election rules with little oversight from state courts. This was a huge goal of right-wing conservatives.
• But they rejected this “independent state legislature” theory in a 6-3 vote via a case about North Carolina’s congressional map. The once-fringe legal theory broadly argued that state courts have little — or no — authority to question state legislatures on election laws for federal contests.
• It would have upended congressional elections across the country — and potentially the presidential election — heading into 2024. But the Supreme Court concluded that the U.S. Constitution allows state courts to continue to interpret state constitutions to put limits on lawmakers’ powers.
• Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court’s opinion, joined by Sotomayor, Kagan, Brown Jackson, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett. Not at all surprisingly, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented.
• Just wanted you to be aware that this was one of the most important SCOTUS decisions of your lifetime. The Court was on the right side of history with this. Well done.
• In Marmalade Toast news…
• Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was asked by former President Donald Trump to "find" 11,780 votes for him in the 2020 election, will be interviewed today by investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith.
• President Biden won Georgia by 11,779 votes in the 2020 election, flipping the state blue for the first time since 1992. On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump called Raffensperger, a Republican, and asked him to "find" 11,780 votes for him, which would have given Trump a one-vote margin over Mr. Biden.
• ”So, what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.” - 2020 presidential election loser Donald Trump
• Moving on…
• In a disgusting story that tells you we have a long way to go in this country, five Mississippi deputy sheriffs who responded to an incident where two Black men accused the deputies of beating and sexually assaulting them before shooting one of them in the mouth have been fired or resigned.
• The announcement comes months after Michael Corey Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker said deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department burst into a home without a warrant. The men said deputies beat them, assaulted them with a sex toy, and shocked them repeatedly with Tasers in a roughly 90-minute period during the Jan. 24 episode.
• Jenkins and Parker have also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit and are seeking $400 million in damages. Only two of the deputies who raped and tortured these men, Hunter Elward and Christian Dedmon, have been identified.
• If you say to me that there’s no need to point out that Black lives matter, maybe you need to wake the fuck up.
• Even here in supposedly liberal Los Angeles County, CA, hate crimes soared in 2022, with year-over-year rises recorded in crimes targeting virtually every demographic group.
• All told, there were 2,120 reported hate crimes in California, a 20.2% jump from the year prior. Overall, the number of such events has risen 145.7% since 2013.
• CA Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta: “Hate-filled rhetoric fills our social media feeds and dominates the news cycles. It infiltrates our schools and our community gatherings. It seems to be at so many places; it’s so pervasive.”
• Sigh.
• Here’s a crazy story…
• A former Maryland police chief convicted of setting a dozen fires that targeted officials, chiropractors, and relatives who he felt had snubbed him was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison yesterday.
• David Crawford, 71, was sentenced to eight life sentences plus 75 years in a serial arson case that the state’s attorney’s office said spanned nearly a decade across six counties.
• And now, The Weather: “Thread” by Wombo
• Chicago had the worst air quality among big cities across the world yesterday. I saw AQI numbers from there well over 200, which is fucking awful.
• The smoke is from the worst-ever Canadian wildfires. It made Chicago’s air worse than what’s breathed in the biggest, historically most polluted cities in India and China. Other Midwest cities, including Detroit and Minneapolis, were also rated among the worst. Ugh.
• The smoke is expected to gradually push south and westward and dissipate.
• And yes, Texas continues to be brutalized by extreme heat. Heat-related emergency room visits are spiking in the state. Forecasters warn the dangerously high temperatures will continue to expand into the Lower Mississippi Valley and Mid-South through Thursday.
• Meanwhile, grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas reported preliminary data indicated a historic power use of 80,828 megawatts (MW) yesterday. ERCOT warned the record would likely be broken again today as surging demand for air conditioners puts a strain on the grid.
• Interestingly, solar power provided nearly 20% of the Texas grid’s power needs on Tuesday before demand reached a new high.
• For no reason: the top 20 Billboard hits for June 28, 1980 (I had just finished 6th grade at the time and had already been playing guitar for four years)…
• 1. Coming Up (Paul McCartney). 2. Funky Town (Lipps Inc.). 3. The Rose (Bette Midler). 4. It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me (Billy Joel). 5. Against the Wind (Bob Seger). 6. Little Jeannie (Elton John). 7. Steal Away (Robbie Dupree). 8. Biggest Part of Me (Ambrosia). 9. Cupid/I’ve Loved You for a Long Time (Spinners). 10. She’s Out of My Life (Michael Jackson). 11. Let’s Get Serious (Jermaine Jackson). 12. Let Me Love You Tonight (Pure Prairie League). 13. Shining Star (Manhattans). 14. Cars (Gary Numan). 15. Call me (Blondie). 16. Magic (Olivia Newton-John). 17. One Fine Day (Carole King). 18. Tired of Toein’ the Line (Rocky Burnette). 19. Should’ve Never Let You Go (Neil Sedaka & Dara Sedaka). 20. Don’t Fall In Love with a Dreamer (Kenny Rogers w/Kim Carnes).
• From the Sports Desk… some bizarrely sad news about former college and NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett, who died yesterday in an apparent drowning at a Florida beach. He was 35.
• Mallett was a star at Arkansas and then backed up Tom Brady for the Patriots before stints with the Texans and Ravens.
• Today in history… The American Continentals engage the British in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse resulting in standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness (1778). Coronation of Queen Victoria of the UK (1838). The first conformation dog show is held in England (1859). The US Congress establishes the first federal holidays - New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (1870). Labor Day becomes an official US holiday (1894). The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal (1902). Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, leading to WWI (1914). The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allies of World War I (1919). Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merge their two car companies and call the new one Mercedes-Benz (1926). The Korean People's Army kills almost a thousand doctors, nurses, inpatient civilians and wounded soldiers in the Seoul National University Hospital massacre (1950). Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity (1964). The Stonewall Riots start in New York City, launching the Gay Rights Movement (1969). Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round of a match for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield's ear (1997). 
• June 28 is the birthday of English king Henry VIII (1491), painter Peter Paul Reubens (1577), playwright/composer Richard Rodgers (1902), actor/director/screenwriter Mel Brooks (1926), actor Pat Morita (1932), US secretary of defense Leon Panetta (1938), comedian Gilda Radner (1946), actress Kathy Bates (1948), actress Alice Krige (1954), NFL player John Elway (1960), actor John Cusack (1966), actress Mary Stuart Masterson (1966), NBA player Bobby Hurley (1971), and businessman Elon Musk (1971).

Well, that was mostly shitty news. But it be that way sometimes. I’m going to try and have a normal and productive Wednesday. I think I can do that. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 27, 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 June 27, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I seem to have awakened with a sore throat and I’m trying to not freak out about that, so let’s all assume it goes away on its own, and in the meantime let’s learn some things…

• As we’re heading toward the end of June and hence the end of Pride month, I wanted to be sure we gave some attention to one of the most important and, recently, controversial segments of the LGBTQIA+ populace… the transgender people.
• Transgender is the “T” in LGBT. Let’s clarify some misconceptions you may have.
• A transgender (or just trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. We already covered the concept of gender identity in depth. What I want to talk about today is how people transition to other genders and the challenges they go through before, during, and after that transition.
• But let’s back up a sec.
• The most important aspect of transgender topics is the aforementioned gender identity. A person does NOT need to look like, act like, dress like, or have medical treatment to feel more attuned to a gender which was not assigned to them. A transgender identity is not dependent upon physical appearance or medical procedures.
• By age 4 or even earlier, most children have a conscious and stable awareness of their gender. But for people who have gender dysphoria, over 75% of them aware that they’re not the gender that was assigned to them by age 7, and 96% of them are aware by age 13.
• I should note here that gender dysphoria is not considered a psychiatric disorder. The previous term, gender identity disorder, was eliminated in 2013 to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder. Dysphoria refers to the discomfort or distress felt by the person trapped in the wrong body.
• It must be awful. Try and imagine waking up tomorrow and you’ve been magically transformed into a different gender. Other than some momentary novelty (use your imagination), you’d probably want to quickly get back to the gender with which you identify through any means necessary.
• But let’s be clear. Again, most trans people throughout the ages have not had the option of making physical transformations. Trans people have been around since time immemorial, but most have expressed their gender identity via their dress, their mannerisms, and the like.
• But even today, not all transgender people desire the medical treatments needed to make a full transition, and others may be unable to access them for financial or medical reasons.
• The Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People (SOC) require that patients seeking gender-affirmation hormone therapy be evaluated for gender dysphoria by either a mental health professional or hormone provider who is qualified in the area of transgender care.
• The Standards also require that the patient give informed consent, in other words, that they consent to the treatment after being fully informed of the risks involved.
• Transgender hormone therapy is a treatment in which sex hormones and other hormonal medications are administered to transgender or gender nonconforming individuals for the purpose of more closely aligning their secondary sexual characteristics with their gender identity.
• Masculinizing hormone therapy, for transgender men or transmasculine people, consists of androgens and antiestrogens.
• Conversely, feminizing hormone therapy, for transgender women or transfeminine people, consists of estrogens and antiandrogens.
• An important note: if possible and appropriate. those hormone treatments should get started at the onset of puberty. Puberty-suppressing hormone therapy is a fully reversible intervention if necessary. Delaying puberty allows individuals more time to explore their gender identity before deciding on more permanent interventions, and prevents the physical changes associated with puberty.
• After a full and final commitment to gender transition, continued hormone therapy over the course of 1-5 years does have some irreversible effects, such as breast development in transgender women or voice deepening and growth of facial/body hair in transgender men.
• There are more steps that vary based on the individual. These may include genital surgery, electrolysis or laser hair removal, chest/breast surgery, or other reconstructive surgeries.
• Let’s talk about the end result. I could show you hundreds and hundreds of pictures of men and women and then challenge you to tell me which ones have transitioned and which are still using their assigned gender.
• I absolutely promise you, no matter how confident you are in your ability to discern gender via visual cues, you’d be wrong far more often than right.
• But the more important result isn’t about you and your ability to accept a person’s choice of gender identity. It’s about them, and their relief at being in the body that matches their soul.
• As you’re well aware, in the last few years states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ rights, especially focusing on transgender youth.
• Here are the types of anti-trans laws that have been enacted or are in the process of being pushed through state legislatures, per the ACLU…
• Accurate ID laws: these bills attempt to limit the ability to update gender information on IDs and records, such as birth certificates and driver’s licenses. This puts transgender people at risk of losing jobs, facing harassment, and other harms.
• Civil rights: these bills attempt to undermine and weaken nondiscrimination laws by allowing employers, businesses, and even hospitals to turn away LGBTQ people or refuse them equal treatment.
• Free speech and expression: despite the safeguards of the First Amendment’s right to free expression, politicians are fighting to restrict how and when LGBTQ people can be themselves, limiting access to books about them and trying to ban or censor performances like drag shows.
• Healthcare: these bills target access to medically-necessary health care, like Medicaid, for transgender people. Many of these bills ban affirming care for trans youth, and can create criminal penalties for providing this care. Other bills block funding to medical centers that offer gender-affirming care, or block insurance coverage of health care for transgender people.
• Public accommodations: these bills seek to prohibit transgender people from using facilities like public bathrooms and locker rooms. If you can’t use the restroom, you can’t fully participate in work, school, and public life.
• Schools and eduction: state lawmakers are trying to prevent trans students from participating in school activities like sports, force teachers to out students, and censor any in-school discussions of LGBTQ people and issues.
• There’s nothing new about transgender people. They’ve been part of human culture and society for millennia. It’s time to grow up and accept that not every other person in the world thinks like you, or acts like you.
• And finally, their choice to be open and honest about their true selves, going to great lengths at great costs to do so, should be commended rather than criticized and punished.
• Okay, that’s it. And now, some news…
• Former President, current accused felon, and forever asshole Donald Trump can be heard in an audio recording apparently showing and discussing — "off the record," he says — what he describes as "highly confidential, secret" documents with a writer and aides in 2021.
• ”It is like highly confidential, secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this. You attack and…." Trump can be heard saying, before another person interrupts.
• The July 2021 recording of a meeting at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, NJ, was cited by special counsel Jack Smith in the indictment of Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta, on a combined 37 counts related to alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump entered a not guilty plea to the charges on June 14, and Nauta is expected to plead not guilty at a hearing today.
• In the audio, Trump can be heard saying "these are the papers" and describing them as a plan of attack related to Iran. The audio, which you can hear for yourself on just about any news outlet, appears to confirm the accuracy of the previous reports.
• Let’s move on to another investigation of the Creamsicle Criminal…
• About half a dozen Secret Service agents have testified before the grand jury that will decide whether to indict former President Trump for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt and his efforts to interfere in the peaceful transfer of the presidency.
• Five or six agents have appeared in compliance with subpoenas they received. It is not known what the agents’ proximity to Trump was on Jan. 6 or what information they may have provided to the grand jury.
• Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the events of Jan. 6 is separate from his probe that led to Trump’s recent indictment in Florida for the handling of classified documents. About 24 Secret Service agents had appeared before the grand jury that considered that case in Washington before the case moved to Florida. 
• Get his ass, Jack.
• Let’s talk SCOTUS.
• In breaking news from a few minutes ago, the Supreme Court declined to impose new limits on state courts reviewing certain election-related issues by ruling against Republicans in North Carolina fighting for a congressional district map that would heavily favor their candidates.
• This is a HUGE win for voting rights, and a huge blow to an evil plan that was supported by Trump.
• The justices ruled on a 6-3 vote that the North Carolina Supreme Court was acting within its authority in concluding that the map constituted a partisan gerrymander under the state constitution. This has national voting right implications, since other states were poised to try the same bullshit.
• In another SCOTUS case, yesterday the Supreme Court left in place an appellate ruling barring a North Carolina public charter school from requiring girls to wear skirts to school. A federal appeals court had ruled that the school's dress code violated students' constitutional rights.
• School founder Baker Mitchell had said the dress code was intended to promote “chivalry” by the male students and respect for the female students, according to court documents. What a load of fucking shit.
• And then, literally seconds ago, the Supreme Court vacated a Colorado man’s stalking conviction on First Amendment grounds, ruling in a 7-2 decision that an unprotected “true threat” must require a showing of recklessness.
• Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, rejected Colorado’s test that would weigh how an objective, reasonable person would perceive the statement.
• Billy Counterman was guilty of stalking after he sent more than 1,000 online messages to musician Coles Whalen. Counterman argued that he was diagnosed with a mental illness and did not personally intend for the statements to cause fear. 
• “The State must show that the defendant consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence,” Kagan wrote. “The State need not prove any more demanding form of subjective intent to threaten another.”
• We’re expecting a number of important SCOTUS decisions — student loan debt, affirmative action, LGBTQ rights and more — over the final few days of June. I’ll keep you abreast of them.
• In other news… with no comment needed…
• “Nobody died in the Holocaust. It SHOULD happen. Six millions Jews SHOULD die right now, because they cause all the problems in the world.” - Roseanne Barr
• That’s nice.
• Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, who pleaded guilty to killing five people and injuring 17 others at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, was sentenced yesterday to life in prison.
• The shooter was charged with 323 criminal counts including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and bias-motivated crimes.
• Ensuring Aldrich has close to zero chance of freedom again as long as he lives, the FBI has also opened a case against Aldrich in conjunction with the Department of Justice. An indictment or further charges could come from the DOJ or the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado.
• It won’t bring back the dead or heal the hurt, but at least it shows that this country takes seriously the job of meting out harsh punishments for hate crimes.
• In other news…
• Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of the return of locally acquired cases of malaria, meaning the infections were not linked to foreign travel and appear to have been transmitted by mosquitoes in the U.S. carrying the parasite.
• They’re the first new local cases of malaria in the USA in two decades. So far, there have been four locally acquired cases of malaria in Florida and one in Texas within the last two months.
• Imagine asking people in Florida and Texas to get a malaria vaccination.
• In related CDC news, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who spent decades on the front lines of America's fight against infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, will join the faculty at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., starting July 1.
• Fauci will serve as a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Medicine's Division of Infectious Diseases. Georgetown is lucky to have him.
• And now, The Weather: “Silent Song” by Night Tapes
• The miserable heat down over Texas is going to be around for awhile. Dallas “feels like” temps have climbed over 115. Houston will remain unbearably hot for another week or more. People die in those temps. Please do what you can to stay cool and hydrated.
• From the Sports Desk… literally nothing except, I guess, people qualifying for Wimbledon. I don’t know who they are. I assume they are good at tennis.
• Today in history… The thirteen Stratford Martyrs are burned at the stake near London for their Protestant beliefs (1556). In the Battle of Dettingen, George II becomes the last reigning British monarch to participate in a battle (1743). Cherokee warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Echoee near present-day Otto, NC (1760). The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia (1898). The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War (1950). U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union (1974). France grants independence to Djibouti (1977). Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4 (1982). Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister (2007). NASA launches the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, a space probe to observe the Sun (2013).
• June 27 is the birthday of French king Louis XII (1462), French king Charles IX (1550), anarchist/activist Emma Goldman (1869), author/activist Hellen Keller (1880), pool player Willie Mosconi (1913), philosopher/activist Grace Lee Boggs (1915), businessman/politician Ross Perot (1930), fashion designer Norma Kamali (1945), fashion designer Vera Wang (1949), actor Tobey Maguire (1975), actor Drake Bell (1986), and singer-songwriter H.E.R. (1997).

Okay, I’m capping this shit there for now. Time to work out and then do those things I do. Enjoy your day.

Random News: June 26, 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 June 26, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I seem to have a jam-packed day on my schedule, so let’s jump in…

• Today’s Pride note combines two topics that include at least one of which I really actually know what I’m talking about. It’s time for a look at the history of music created by LGBT people and that which focuses on the experiences of gender and sexual minorities.
• Let’s start with an easy (and more than a little stereotypical) example with Broadway musical theater. Gay men are not only some of the primary audiences for Broadway, but often have a hand in the production and creation of it.
• Notable gay men involved in the creation and production of Broadway musicals include some of the very best, like Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Noël Coward, Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, and Stephen Sondheim.
• But historical LGBT music creators also hail far from Broadway, with early Black queer artists like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, who recorded overtly lesbian songs in the 1920s. Little Richard had a hit with "Tutti Frutti" in the late ‘50s, and c’mon, that’s a super gay song.
• After the sexual/cultural revolution of the late ‘60s, counterculture started becoming more mainstream allowing LGBTQ+ music artists to find more acceptance and popularity.
• One of the earliest US top 40 singles to feature a positive depiction of the LGBT community was bisexual rocker Lou Reed's 1972 song "Walk on the Wild Side", which detailed the lives of gay, bi, and trans members of Andy Warhol's social circle. Other hits, such as "Lola" by The Kinks and "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie, also brought attention to non-heteronormative situations in the world of rock.
• In the mid- and late ‘70s, the disco music that had been cultivated exclusively in gay bars suddenly crossed over into the mainstream.
• In the ‘80s, LGBTQ+ culture was in the forefront with artists such as Culture Club, George Michael and Wham!, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Melissa Etheridge, Pet Shop Boys, Dead or Alive, and Erasure.
• Some of the world’s most iconic artists in that time frame — think Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and Prince — were purposefully ambiguous about their orientation and identity.
• In fact, LGBT musicians have had some of the most successful careers and huge hits. The best-selling single of the 1990s? "Candle in the Wind 1997” by Elton John. The best-selling single of the 2000s? Will Young’s"Anything is Possible”.
• Countless other LGBT artists have had massive hit records, from Ty Herndon to Luther Vandross to Lil Nas X to Lady Gaga to Barry Manilow to Janelle Monáe to the B-52s to k.d. lang to… look, I’m not going to write this list. It would take all day.
• The point I want to make: LGBTQIA+ folks have made massive contributions to the world of popular music that include some of the most critically acclaimed, most influential, best-selling, and beloved songs of the past 100 years.
• We’re all better off for their presence in our lives…. both the music and the people who created it.
• And now some news…
• The short-lived revolt in Russia over the weekend has weakened President Vladimir Putin just as his forces are facing a fierce counteroffensive in Ukraine.
• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the weekend’s events as “extraordinary,” recalling that 16 months ago Putin appeared poised to seize the capital of Ukraine and now he has had to defend Moscow from forces led by his onetime protege. “I think we’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian façade,” he said yesterday.
• It’s hard to know long-term how this affects the war in Ukraine, but short-term it resulted in some of the best forces fighting for Russia being pulled from the battlefield: the Wagner troops and the Chechen soldiers who were sent to stop them on the approach to Moscow.
• What’s going to happen to Prigozhin and his mercenaries? He supposedly is going into exile in Belarus but will not face prosecution. Few trustworthy details of the deal brokered by Belarusian President Lukashenko have been released.
• Crazy, though. And I’ll repeat, there are no good guys in that conflict. Even if you feel the world would be better off without Putin running Russia, and it would, replacing him with an aggressive warlord Prigozhin and handling him access to Russia nuclear arsenal? That doesn’t feel great either.
• Moving on…
• Today, President Biden is set to announce more than $42 billion to expand high-speed internet access nationwide. An estimated 8.5 million families and small businesses remain in places where modern-day connectivity has not yet been possible for them.
• The money, which will go out to states over the next two years, serves as the centerpiece of a vast and ambitious campaign to deliver reliable broadband to the entire country by 2030. The funding is a centerpiece of the recent bipartisan infrastructure law.
• White House officials described the new infrastructure project as reminiscent of the government’s work to electrify the nation’s darkened heartland in the late 1930s, when more than 90 percent of farms had no electric power in the face of high costs and prohibitive terrain.
• I think most of us just assume that everyone has had high-speed internet for a long time. Not true. This is great news.
• There will be a flurry of actions by the Supreme Court in coming days.
• Today, they lifted the hold on a Louisiana case that could force the state to redraw congressional districts to boost Black voting power.
• The order follows the court’s rejection earlier in June of a congressional redistricting map in Alabama and unfreezes the Louisiana case, which had been on hold pending the decision in Alabama.
• In both states, Black voters are a majority in just one congressional district. Lower courts had ruled that the maps raised concerns that Black voting power had been diluted, in violation of the landmark federal Voting Rights Act.
• Good. Keep doing that stuff.
• Things to keep an eye on between now and Friday: decisions on student debt relief, affirmative action and federal election laws. There are still 10 cases pending decisions.
• The court has given no indication it will break its norm of finishing decisions by the end of June, and the next batch is slated to be released tomorrow morning.
• In not-great news, Ohio Republicans are jamming in an August election with national political implications.
• The August 8 special election is for a measure that seeks to make it harder to amend the state’s constitution. Republicans’ immediate goal is to make it harder for voters to pass an abortion rights amendment that is in the works for November.
• Other brewing constitutional amendments in Ohio also could be affected, including efforts to legalize recreational marijuana, increase the minimum wage, reform Ohio’s redistricting system and limit vaccine mandates.
• Fucking pricks. I’ll have more news on this Ohio election in coming weeks.
• Back to good news; New York Governor Hochul signed a bill yesterday to protect access to gender-affirming care in her state.
• The bill prevents New York from cooperating in hostile states’ retaliation against gender-affirming care providers, patients, family members, and those who help people access care.
• We’re going to keep fighting this shit, from forced births to open discrimination against LGBT citizens, and we’re going to win.
• And in every election at all levels, we’re going to make sure that the candidates who get our votes have no ambiguity in their commitment to support the rights of women and marginalized members of our communities.
• Count on it.
• Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride has announced a congressional bid. She would be the country’s first transgender member of Congress if she is elected.
• “It’s clear that diversity in government is necessary for us to not just ensure we have a healthy democracy but also to truly deliver for people,” she said.
• While McBride is aware of the potential to make history if she wins her House bid and the diversity her voice would bring to Capitol Hill, “ultimately, I’m not running to be a trans member of Congress,” she said.
• McBride is running for Delaware’s lone, at-large House seat, currently held by Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who announced last week that she would mount a bid to replace retiring Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE). Both elections are slated for next year.
• In other news, the piece of shit who killed five people and wounded 17 at a gay club in Colorado Springs last year is expected to plead guilty today.
• The plea could bring a life sentence for suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich and end the court case just seven months after the shooting — sparing victim’s families and survivors a potentially painful trial that would force them to revisit the attack.
• Victims’ family members and survivors are expected to speak at today’s hearing about how their lives were forever altered by the terror that erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q and indiscriminately fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
• And now, The Weather: “Ricochet” by Vitesse X
• And as long as we’re on the weather, I am getting the feeling that things are going to be more and more severe this summer and fall. There were deadly storms across the midwest this weekend that are heading toward the East Coast. Thousands and thousands of people are without power in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Georgia.
• In “I Wish I Didn’t Know This” news, authorities are investigating the death of a ground worker at San Antonio International Airport who was “ingested into” a plane’s engine Friday. Jesus.
• Throughout your day, people are doing incredibly dangerous jobs all around you that you hardly think about twice. 
• Roofers, garbage collectors, ironworkers, delivery drivers, agricultural workers, crossing guards, construction helpers, and highway maintenance workers are all in the top 20 professions that are statistically most likely to kill you.
• And adding insult to literal injury, many of those rank among the lowest-paying jobs as well, typically in the $30,000 to $50,000 range.
• From the Sports Desk… Belgium’s track and field team had a problem at the European Championships in Poland this weekend. Their two hurdlers had to pull out with injuries. Had no Belgian athlete competed in the event, the team would have been disqualified.
• Enter the hero, Jolien Boumkwo, who was there to compete in the shot put and hammer throw events. To save her team, this strength athlete who is definitely not a sprinter stepped up to run the 100-meter hurdles. She slowly but steadily finished the race without knocking down any of the hurdles in 32.81 seconds, 19 seconds after winning sprinter.
• Boumkwo was applauded by the crowd and congratulated by her opponents as she earned two points for the team, which could be crucial as the bottom three countries will be relegated from Division I.
• Today in history… Roman emperor Augustus adopts Tiberius (4). Richard III becomes King of England (1483). The Battle of Fleurus marks the first military use of aircraft — balloons in this case (1794). The first Grand Prix motor race is held at Le Mans (1906). The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France for WWI (1917). The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, CA (1945). William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor (1948). Shirley Jackson's short story ‘The Lottery’ is published in The New Yorker magazine (1948). Madagascar gains its independence from France (1960). U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall (1963). The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, OH (1974). Elvis Presley held his final concert in Indianapolis, IN (1977). The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (1997). J. K. Rowling publishes the first of her Harry Potter novel series, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ (1997). The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional (2003). The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (2013). The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution (2015).
• June 26 is the birthday of astronomer Charles Messier (1730), engineer/busienssman Willy Messerschmitt (1898), US Marine Chesty Puller (1898), singer-songwriter Big Bill Broonzy (1903), actor Peter Lorre (1904), athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911), illustrator/designer Milton Glaser (1929), pianist/composer Dave Grusin (1934), singer-songwriter/politician Gilberto Gil (1942), singer-songwriter Mick Jones (1955), singer-songwriter Chris Isaak (1956), singer-songwriter Patty Smyth (1957), singer-songwriter Terri Nunn (1961), NFL player Shannon Sharpe (1968), actor Sean Hayes (1970), actor Nick Offerman (1970), MLB player Derek Jeter (1974), NFL player Michael Vick (1980), actress Aubrey Plaza (1984), and singer Ariana Grande (1993).

Alrighty. My message to you today is this: things are getting better. It’s hard to tell, but they are. And while it’s no time to be complacent about issues we face, we’re going to step up and fight… and win. Enjoy your day.

Hotel Chelsea 16th Anniversary (06.25.23)

Rocking my ass off at Hotel Chelsea's 16th anniversary bash. Photo by Kat.

Not long ago, I was doing whatever I was doing at that moment, and a message arrived from my manager Maali Beck. She was asking if I was available to do a show on Sunday June 25. I didn't have any other specific plans on my schedule that day, but I also wasn't eager to relinquish my rare relaxation time unless it seemed worthwhile enough to do so.

"Where at?" I asked.

"It's for Hotel Chelsea's 16th anniversary."

"Yes. Yes, absolutely yes, Say no more. I'm in. Yes."

I've literally never had a bad show at Hotel Chelsea. I've played to five people there, and to 50 people there, and it's always good nonetheless. I have to believe that it boils down to one simple thing I've said many times over the years I've been doing shows there, and it's the fact that I have never felt unwelcome there to play any song I felt like doing at any time I felt like doing it.

What Else Has Been Up?

Uh, like really not a lot. Normally by this point in a year, I'd have done something out of the ordinary, but nope. I will say I'm glad that I've stayed consistent with my daily Random News bullet lists. It's really quite the tome now since it got started in May 2022, having surpassed 440,000 words total.

Unlike an actual journalist, my bullet points are just an aggregate of other people's research and reporting. But I try and curate a specific kind of news where the criteria for inclusion prioritizes information that I think the person reading it can react in a way that's helpful. Or other times, I just throw in weird shit that interested me at the moment. And my news is never fully copy/pasted shit from elsewhere. I do add opinion, context, and my own spicy presentation.

Cruising through my area of Redondo Beach yesterday morning before my show, and always glad to see Pride represented in my neighborhood.

I've received particularly good reactions and engagement this month after I decided to include a special Pride Note to begin each day's bullet list. It's a bit of extra work for me to choose topics and do the required research, but I've enjoyed that process and I actually believe I am helping people learn about details of LGBTQIA+ history and culture that they'd never have sought out on their own. I've also heard from my many friends across the LGBT spectrum who are appreciative for my efforts.

So that's good, I suppose.

Anything Else?

No, nothing of note. My life has been pretty settled into the typical work and life routine for a good long while. I do need something to break that up in the near future. The timing for that just hasn't been great, but I'm thinking maybe a stupid Vegas trip over an upcoming weekend sounds like an excellent change of scenery.

Why not go to my favorite place of Joshua Tree? Because it's almost July and the desert is fucking hot. But planning a trip for October is probably an excellent idea. I can see the stars and hear the coyotes and smell the Pappy & Harriet's ribeye steak from just thinking about it.

I can't think of anything else that's noteworthy.

All things considered, a trip to JTree with friends sounds awesome... in the fall. When it's cool and lovely, and not hot and hellish.

Okay, Just Talk About The Show

Fine. Here's a weird thing: I inadvertently did two sets of songs sung by vocalists with different bands: Kurt Vile (solo and with the Sadies) and Jeff Tweedy (Golden Smog and Wilco).

Beyond that, I guess the notable aspect of this show was that it was held out in the street in front of Hotel Chelsea as opposed to inside the club downstairs. That made for a nice change of scenery. I also have to say, I'm super grateful for the large crowd that turned out for this special gig. When I arrived, there were three people there; when I got off stage, there was roughly ten times more than that.

Getting my show rolling. Photo by Kat.

I was proud to be part of this great day of music and art. Photo by Kat.

Me being me. Photo by Kat.

I like playing in the street. Seriously. I've done some terrific real life shows in streets as well. I think everyone feels welcome to enjoy some live music that's being performed where they happen to be passing by. Photo by Kat.

More importantly, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the music. I was well warmed up and I think both my guitar and voice were as good as I'm capable of making them, so I have zero complaints there. I will tell you, I did the thing where I was putting 100% of my energy into the performance, and when I wrapped up my show and got off stage, I was damn near ready to collapse here in real life.

But I got over it pretty quickly after some dramatic moaning and stumbling around the house, and then spent the next hour hanging out at Chelsea to hear my friends Matthew and Beth do a dual-stream that was completely fun. I'm definitely proud to have Hotel Chelsea in SL as my regularly scheduled show. Good place, good people. I don't ask for more than that.

Hotel Chelsea 16th Anniversary set list...

Shame Chamber (Kurt Vile)

You Don't Know How It Feels (Tom Petty)

Pecan Pie (Golden Smog)

Northern Sky (Nick Drake) 

California (Joni Mitchell)

Either Way (Wilco)

Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 

Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts) 

It's Easy Like Walking (The Sadies w/Kurt Vile) 

Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)

Drive (Incubus)

Tribute (Tenacious D)

Tea for the Tillerman (Cat Stevens)

Gigantic thanks to the folks who came to my show at Hotel Chelsea's 16th anniversary event, with extra super duper thanks tot he following people who helped support the show!

Magneat Resident, Beth Odets, Grace McDunnough, Guru Witte, Merope Madrigal, Harpo String, Jenna Graycloud, Trymetwice Resident, Annah DeCuir, AutumnFoxx Sutherland, Kat Claxton, Icon Allen, Cactusboss Resident, my manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff. Happy anniversary!

Random News: June 25, 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 June 25, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I have a rather rare — for me — live show to do this afternoon, so that’s kind of exciting, and if you Second Life people wanna come see me at Hotel Chelsea for their 16th anniversary event at 1PM, you should. Meanwhile, let’s check out this stuff, whatever it may be…

• For today’s Pride note, let’s do the B… as in Bisexuals.
• Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, which is also known as pansexuality.
• A bisexual identity does not necessarily equate to equal sexual attraction to both sexes; commonly, people who have a distinct but not exclusive sexual preference for one sex over the other also identify themselves as bisexual.
• Fun Fact: the term bisexuality, like the terms hetero- and homosexuality, was coined in the 19th century by Charles Gilbert Chaddock.
• One thing about a person’s evolving sexual attraction, behavior, and identity is that they may also be incongruent, as sexual attraction or behavior may not necessarily be consistent with identity.
• Some individuals identify themselves as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual without having had any sexual experience, and that’s fine.
• Others have had homosexual experiences but do not consider themselves to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Likewise, self-identified gay or lesbian individuals may occasionally sexually interact with members of the opposite sex but do not identify as bisexual.
• Yes, this stuff seems confusing and contradictory.
• The bisexual activist Robyn Ochs defines bisexuality quite well, saying it’s "the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree."
• A study of bisexual women interestingly found that they have fewer personal insecurities than heterosexuals and homosexuals. This finding described bisexuals as self-assured and less likely to have mental instabilities.
• The same research suggested that, for most women, high sex drive is associated with increased sexual attraction to both women and men. For men, however, high sex drive is associated with increased attraction to one sex or the other, but not to both, depending on sexual orientation.
• Bisexual people are not nearly as “out” as gays and lesbians. A survey showed that 28% of bisexuals said that "all or most of the important people in their life are aware that they are LGBT" vs. 77% of gay men and 71% of lesbians. Furthermore, when broken down by gender, only 12% of bisexual men said that they were "out" vs. 33% of bisexual women.
• Are there many well known bi people? Um, yes, of course. Like, millions.
• Alanis Morissette, Billie Joe Armstrong, Cardi B, David Bowie, Drew Barrymore, Frank Ocean, Freddie Mercury, Frida Kahlo, Gillian Anderson, Giorgio Armani, Halsey, Iggy Pop, Janis Joplin, Jason Mraz, Joan Baez, Katharine Hepburn, Kristen Stewart, Kyrsten Sinema, Lady Gaga, Leonard Bernstein, Lil Nas X, Lou Reed, Marlon Brando, Megan Fox, Michael Stipe, Miley Cyrus, Montgomery Clift, Nina Simone, Richard Pryor, Sia, Susan Sarandon, Tyler the Creator, Vincent Price, and thousands upon thousands of other well known actors, musicians, politicians, writers, business leaders, and others openly identified as being bisexual.
• Do bisexuals face their own specific form of discrimination? Of course they do, because people are shitty for the most part.
• Biphobia can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative stereotypes about people who are bisexual (such as the beliefs that they are promiscuous or dishonest).
• In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include the belief that bisexuality itself does not exist. Bisexual erasure may include the assertion all bisexual individuals are in a phase and will soon choose a side, either heterosexual or homosexual.
• Another common variant of bisexual erasure involves accepting bisexuality in women while downplaying or rejecting the validity of bisexual identity in men.
• One belief underlying bisexual erasure is that bisexual individuals are distinctively indecisive, and misrepresentations of bisexual individuals as hypersexual erases the sexual agency of bisexuals, effectively erasing their true identities as well.
• In the same way I’d recommend trying to understand and accept that gay and lesbian people merit your lack of judgement and condemnation, I’d say the same thing about their lesser-noted part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
• I mean, come on. The B is the third letter in! Respect and appreciate your bi friends. And trust me, you have bi friends even if you don’t think you do. I’ve become friends with too large a number of them, male and female and non-binary, to believe otherwise.
• Moving on… and let’s follow up on yesterday’s dramatic news on the situation in Russia…
• It’s still hard to say exactly what’s happened with the near paramilitary coup in Russia, or more appropriately what’s still in the midst of happening, but yesterday the chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, agreed to a truce for his forces to "stop movement inside Russia, and to take further steps to de-escalate tensions.”
• Prigozhin had brokered this supposed peace deal through Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus and a close ally of Putin. They held two meetings to negotiate a deal that includes "security guarantees for the Wagner PMC fighters.”
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov state that accusations were dropped against Prigozhin, who has left Russia for Belarus; that the people of Wagner who did not participate in the uprising will sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense; that Wagner's fighters who participated were not charged; and that there will be no change in leadership in the Russian army.
• I don’t really believe any of that.
• The one takeaway that everyone seems to agree on: despite large parts of this story still missing, the 36-hour insurrection has left Putin seeming weak and ineffective, and more vulnerable to being replaced than any previous time in his 23+ year reign.
• Moving on…
• Special counsel Jack Smith has requested a delay in the classified and sensitive documents trial of Donald John Trump. On Friday, Smith filed a request for the start date for the trial be set for Dec. 11, which would be about four months after the initial Aug. 14 date that Judge Aileen Cannon set last week. 
• The filing notes that the case will require Trump’s counsel to receive interim security clearances because the case concerns classified information, which will require additional time for the counsel to review and process the evidence that the government has gathered. 
• Smith’s request also explains that additional time would be needed for legal proceedings under the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), which states that parties involved in cases concerning classified information can make a motion for a pretrial conference to consider possible matters that may arise related to the prosecution of the case.
• Keep in mind that in addition to the indictment of Trump for the stolen documents and obstruction of such, Smith is also tasked with investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the legal election from 2020.
• To that end, Smith has compelled at least two Republican fake electors to testify to a federal grand jury in Washington in recent weeks by giving them limited immunity.
• That activity could signal that investigators are nearing at least some charging decisions in a part of the 2020 election probe. 
• Get their asses, Jack.
• Moving on…
• A train carrying potentially hazardous materials derailed into the Yellowstone River in Montana early yesterday. The incident left multiple tankers in the river and decimated the the railroad portion of the Yellowstone Twin River Bridges in Stillwater County, MT.
• Three of the railcars that derailed were carrying hot asphalt, and four were carrying molten sulfur. Two impacted railcars were also carrying sodium hydro sulfate, a corrosive substance, but those substances did not enter the river, according to Montana Rail Link.
• Get your shit together, trains.
• Following up on a recent story, Republican lawmakers in Montana are sharing that they’ve also received letters with white powder as federal agents investigate mysterious substances similarly mailed to GOP officials in in Tennessee and Kansas.
• Gov. Greg Gianforte said he has received "disturbing" reports of anonymous threats sent to legislators. The Montana attorney general’s mother, a state representative, opened one letter with a "white powder substance" sent to her home address.
• Not cool. Don’t do this.
• I usually cover gun violence on Sundays, since a big chunk of America’s constant mass shooting event happen over the weekend. I don’t do it because I like spreading bad news; I do it so you understand the need for common-sense gun laws.
• Three people are dead and multiple are injured after two shootings in Kansas City. Pittsburgh has one dead and multiple wounded in three shootings early this morning. 15 shot and two dead in Saginaw, MI. Two dead and two more shot in Indianapolis. One shot in San Diego. One in San Antonio. One in Rochester. One in Memphis. One in Rockford, IL. 
• There were more, but that’s enough to maybe make you think that voting for candidates who will help slow this down is a good idea.
• On the opposite end of the shooting issue, three San Antonio police officers have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was experiencing what the city's police chief said was a “mental health crisis.”
• Sgt. Alfred Flores and Officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos were suspended without pay and later arrested on murder warrants in the shooting death of Melissa Perez, 46, when she refused police orders to come out of her apartment.
• Cops have a very tough job… extraordinarily tough. And yet, there’s a point where the use of deadly force has to be considered the last possible option, and in this case it doesn’t seem like the officers exhausted the possibilities of bringing Ms. Perez out of the situation alive.
• And now, The Weather: “Sit Right” by Honeymoan
• The weather is fucked up in many places. Tornadoes, record high temps, unhealthy air quality, severe storms. I’ve been telling you about global climate change for many years and most of you didn’t give a shit, so…
• Sigh. I want to do some good news.
• Scrolling down my Facebook feed this morning, I see tons of friends who went to Pride events yesterday all over the USA, from San Francisco to San Antonio to New York to Cincinnati to Boston to Nashville, with more events happening today in Seattle, Chicago, and many other places. 
• I am proud… of you!
• From the Sports Desk… so, I’m browsing around Twitter last night and someone comments on the Angels game, saying they are lighting up the Rockies. I pop over to ESPN and… what the fuck? They’d scored 13 runs in the third inning alone, and ended up winning the game 25-1. That 24-run differential is the largest win in Major League Baseball since the Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles by 27 runs in 2007.
• Today in history… Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua (1678). Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution (1788). The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for "immoral purposes"; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come (1910). Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer (1910). Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis (1943). Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is published (1947). The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea (1950). The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade (1978). The breakup of Yugoslavia begins when Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence from Yugoslavia (1991). 
• June 25 is the birthday of cartoonist Rose O’Neill (1974), novelist George Orwell (1903), director Sidney Lumet (1924), actress June Lockhart (1925), illustrator Peyo (1928), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1945), actor Jimmie Walker (1947), singer-songwriter Tim Finn (1952), keyboardist/composer David Paich (1954), SCOTUS justice Sonia Sotomayor (1954), chef/author Anthony Bourdain (1956), actor/comedian Ricky Gervais (1961), singer-songwriter George Michael (1963), NBA player Dell Curry (1964), singer-songwriter John McCrea (1964), NBA player Dikembe Mutombo (1966), and actress Angela Kinsey (1971).

As I mentioned about, I have a show today. I adore the folks at Hotel Chelsea and am more than happy to help them celebrate their anniversary. Also, Matthew and Beth are performing together right after me at the same event, so I’ll likely hang out for their shenanigans too. Enjoy your day.