Random News: June 23, 2023

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s June 23, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I’m happy it’s Friday and despite not yet having had breakfast, I’m already looking forward to sushi for lunch, but first let’s do some learning…

• For today’s Pride note, I’ve often heard straight and cisgender people wonder out loud about the things that gay and trans people do. To find out, I asked a number of various queer people what they do, and this, in no order, is what I was told.
• Go to work. Go to school.
• Do laundry. Vacuum rugs. Clean kitchens and bathrooms.
• Go grocery shopping.
• Pay taxes. Pay bills.
• Cook food and eat meals and snacks. Order delivery food.
• Read. Sit around doing nothing.
• Take vacations and travel for both personal and business reasons.
• Go to restaurants, bars, and clubs. Socialize with friends. Dance.
• Sleep.
• Go to music concerts and plays.
• Date people, have longterm relationships, and possibly get married.
• Watch TV and movies in theaters and on streaming services.
• Have sex.
• Go to church.
• Enjoy spectator sports.
• Buy homes, renovate homes, and/or rent apartments.
• Shop for clothing and household items.
• Do artistic things like make music, paint, sculpt, and so on.
• Drink and/or use drugs, or be sober, or occasionally one or the other.
• Raise children.
• Get medical and dental care.
• Handle basic bodily functions and hygiene, shave, put on makeup.
• Watch/read news.
• Fix broken plumbing and broken vehicles.
• Play golf, tennis, softball, bowling, skiing, motorsports, yoga, and so on, and go running or walking or hiking.
• Play video games.
• So if you do any of these things, you’re probably gay. Or trans. And you didn’t even know.
• Wait, hold on, I meant if you do any of these things, you’re probably every bit of a normal person as all other people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Gay and trans people are PEOPLE. They’re like you, except they’re probably better in tune with their own feelings and are more true to themselves than most cisgendered and heterosexual people.
• You have to ask yourself, what is it about these people that scare you so much? The differences between all of us are so minuscule compared to the things that we assume divide us.
• That’s enough of that. Now, some news…
• The Supreme Court rejected a claim by the Navajo Nation yesterday that the United States held an obligation to determine the tribe's water needs and secure supplies to meet those needs.
• Assholes.
• The 5-4 decision represents a setback for the tribe, which still lacks reliable water sources in many communities. Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the U.S. treaty with the Navajo Nation "said nothing about the affirmative duty for the United States to secure water."
• Kavanaugh was joined in the majority by Roberts, Thomas, Alito and Coney Barrett. Dissenting were Gorsuch, Sotomayor, Kagen and Brown Jackson.
• The Navajo Nation is the largest Indigenous tribe on the Colorado River without defined water rights. Navajo leaders have negotiated with state and federal leaders for decades in an attempt to secure water, but have never reached an agreement.
• In better news from the SCOTUS, this morning they revived the Biden administration’s immigration guidelines that prioritize which noncitizens to deport, dismissing a challenge from two Republican state attorneys general who argued the policies conflicted with immigration law.
• The ruling was an 8-1 vote, saying Texas and Louisiana did not have the “standing,” or the legal right, to sue in the first place in a decision that will further clarify when a state can challenge a federal policy in court going forward.
• The ruling is a major victory for President Joe Biden and the White House, who have consistently argued the need to prioritize who they detain and deport given limited resources. By ruling against the states, the court tightened the rules concerning when states may challenge federal policies with which they disagree.
• Who was the only justice to dissent? The enemy of all good things in the world, Samuel Alito.
• Moving on…
• Yesterday, a federal judge unsealed the identities of the co-signers on Rep. George Santos’ (R-NY) $500,000 bond that allowed him to stay out of federal custody after he was charged in a 13-count indictment.
• The guarantors were listed as Elma Santos Preven and Gercino Dos Santos, Santos’ aunt and father, respectively. Neither relative secured the bond with cash or property, but “agreed to be personally responsible” for the congressman’s compliance with the terms of his release.
• Weird. Why would Santos have gone through so much trouble to hide that mundane fact? Something still seems fishy here.
• In other news… a marine tragedy.
• Dozens of people are feared drowned after a migrant boat sank near Spain’s Canary Islands on Wednesday. The dead include many children.
• Was that the story you expected to hear about? Did you even hear anything about that while every top headline for days was about the 5-person tourist submersible trying to see the Titanic wreck that likely imploded not long after launch?
• Both events are tragic. But one involved a small number of very wealthy white people and the other was packed with dozens of brown migrant people. And that is how you are manipulated by the media.
• Moving on…
• Don’t eat frozen pineapples. 
• Certain frozen fruit products are being recalled from major grocery stores from across the country, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, Aldi and AWG, according to a recall notice posted by the FDA.
• SunOpta Inc.’s subsidiary, Sunrise Growers Inc., issued the voluntary recall of specific frozen fruit products that contain pineapple as they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The organism can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
• Gross. Moving on…
• 3M announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement to settle lawsuits that claimed that toxic “forever chemicals” had contaminated water supplies in the United States.
• The company said it would pay up to $10.3 billion over 13 years to fund public water suppliers in the US that have detected these chemicals in drinking water.
• Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” have been found in hundreds of household items, including makeup and carpeting, and are used to make coatings that repel water, grease, and oil.
• And in other news…
• Amazingly, six lanes of I-95 in Philadelphia are set to reopen to traffic today at noon, per Gov. Josh Shapiro. Less than two weeks ago on June 11, a section of the highly-traveled northbound interstate was damaged in a tanker truck accident and collapsed.
• That’s incredibly fast and efficient work. Well done, PA DOT!
• In news to the north…
• Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is following through with a threat to block Canadians from sharing news on its platforms, after the federal government passed a law requiring digital firms to pay domestic media organizations for their content.
• I mean, imagine wanting to be paid for the work you do. Sigh.
• And now, The Weather: “Upset” by Bleary Eyed
• Speaking of which, Chris Gloninger has spent nearly two decades reporting on the weather and the climate crisis. But on Wednesday, he resigned, citing numerous harassing emails and even a death threat over his reporting. 
• He was the chief meteorologist for CBS affiliate KCCI in Des Moines, IA.
• ”After a death threat stemming from my climate coverage last year and resulting in PTSD, in addition to family health issues, I've decided to begin this journey now. I take immense pride in having educated the public about the impacts of climate change during my career."
• Death threats to a man trying to save your goddamn life. Sounds like proper MAGA to me.
• From the Sports Desk… the Golden State Warriors are acquiring Chris Paul from the Washington Wizards for a trade package headlined by Jordan Poole. Golden State is sending Poole, a top-20 protected 2030 first round pick, and a 2027 second round pick to Washington for Paul.
• Shit went downhill for the Dubs this past season when Draymond Green punched Poole at practice. Poole went on to have an underwhelming year, and the Warriors were ultimately eliminated in the second round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs by the Lakers.
• Today in history… The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again (1611). Empress Catherine II of Russia allows Jews to settle in Kyiv (1794). John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company (1810). At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army (1865). Christopher Sholes gets a patent on an invention he calls the Type-Writer (1868). The College Board administers the first SAT exam (1926). Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city (1940). The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act (1947). The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world (1960). The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force (1961). Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren (1969). IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry (1969). U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins (1972). Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America on the Sega Genesis platform (1991). The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48% (2016). Twelve boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand are trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18-day rescue operation (2018).
• June 23 is the birthday of Egyptian king Caesarion (47 BC), sexologist Alfred Kinsey (1894), UK king Edward VIII (1894), computer scientist Alan Turing (1912), businessman Art Modell (1925), choreographer Bob Fosse (1927), singer-songwriter June Carter Cash (1929), novelist Richard Bach (1936), runner Wilma Rudolph (1940), bass player Stuart Sutcliffe (1940), singer-songwriter Robert Hunter (1941), SCOTUS justice Clarence Thomas (1948), singer-songwriter Glenn Danzig (1955), bass player/producer Randy Jackson (1956), actress Frances McDormand (1957), singer-songwriter Chuck Billy (1962), actress Selma Blair (1972), singer-songwriter Jason Mraz (1977), NFL player LaDainian Tomlinson (1979), and MLB player Tim Anderson (1993).

As mentioned above, it’s Friday. My Fridays are almost always pretty busy, but that’s okay. I know what I plan on getting done today, so now I just have to do it. Simple enough. Enjoy your day.