Random News: June 24, 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 24, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. There’s a LOT of stuff going on right now, some of it potentially history-making, so I’m going to try and jump right in while things are moving so fast, this will be old news by the time I hit “post”…

• So my Pride note this morning is brief: love is love.
• If you don’t want someone else telling you how to love, don’t presume to tell anyone else how to.
• That’s it. Let’s move on to Russia.
• I have to be very careful how to describe this accurately, so let’s start conservatively.
• The is an armed insurrection happening now in Russia that started yesterday. Some would call it a civil war, or a paramilitary coup. Until the endgame is made clear, it’s impossible to define accurately for the moment.
• Let’s stick to the facts, which require a bit of background.
• And let me add, there’s no way I’m going to educate everyone on the intricacies of Russian geopolitical goings-on in a few bullets. This will be a ridiculously abbreviated version of things.
• Russia is led by Vladimir Putin. He has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999.
• In February 2022, Russia invaded the country to their south called Ukraine. But Russia’s limited military capabilities meant that they needed some help to do this. So they brought in an army of paid mercenaries called the Wagner Group, led by a thug named Yevgeny Prigozhin.
• Prigozhin is a fascinating story. He has been a close confidant of Putin for many years. He was a criminal as a teenager and served jail time. He opened a hot dog stand in Leningrad in 1990, which then grew to a grocery store business, then a bunch of restaurants, and then got a catering contract to supply meals to the Russian military that was worth billions per year.
• Then he founded the Wagner Group, hired and trained a private army now numbering in the range of 50,000+ soldiers, and became a warlord. This is not a good guy. I promise you that.
• Prigozhin has admitted his role in Russian interference in U.S. elections. He is the founder and long-time manager of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company accused of online propaganda operations (aka troll farms spreading right-wing talking points). Again, he is very much not a good guy.
• Okay.
• Prigozhin and his Wagner Group have been instrumental in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But in early May, 2023 Prigozhin blamed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov for "tens of thousands" of Wagner casualties.
• Yesterday, shit started escalating quickly.
• Prigozhin released a video saying that Russian government justifications for the Russian invasion of Ukraine were based on lies. The Russian government accused Prigozhin of organizing an armed uprising after he threatened to attack Russian forces in response to a claimed air strike on his paramilitary soldiers.
• Then, the Wagner mercenaries left Ukraine and started advancing on Russian cities. They seemed to enter Rostov-on-Don last night (or this morning, if you’re in Russia) without any resistance.
• The Wagner army then continued north, easily taking control of all military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about 300 miles south of Moscow. Both Rostov and Voronezh are military strongholds.
• And as of this moment, reports are saying that Wagner is on the outskirts of Moscow.
• Putin made a televised address vowing to crush what he calls an armed mutiny. He accuses Prigozhin of "treason" and a "stab in the back".
• And some reports say Putin has already fled Moscow for St. Petersburg. Martial law has been declared in certain areas of Russia. 
• So, I’ll wrap that up there with the note that this is a case where the enemy of our enemy is also our enemy. However, there may be an upside to all this.
• But also, a crazy thug may strong-arm control of the country with the largest nuclear arsenal.
• So.
• We’ll wait and see what happens. Moving on for the moment…
• One year ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court rescinded a five-decade-old right to abortion, and in the process denied women the right to have a say in their own bodily autonomy.
• Twenty-five million women of childbearing age now live in states where the law makes abortions harder to get — or even impossible to get, and criminally liable to perform or receive — than they were before the ruling.
• In the year since then, most Republican-led states have restricted abortion. Fourteen ban abortion in most cases at any point in pregnancy.
• And at the same time, twenty Democratic-leaning states have protected access to abortion. Officials in many of those states, including California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, and New York, have explicitly invited women from places where the procedure is banned.
• Support for the rights of women to get an abortion in the US has been steady over the past 30 years, with about 60% of Americans believing abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
• But in the year after the Supreme Court decision, public support for abortion has actually gone up. In 2019, 31% of people in red states that would later institute bans believed that abortion should be easier to access. But in 2023, after those bans were put in place, 46% of the population thought it should be easier.
• Over 60% of Americans (and 84% of Democrats) believe abortion should be legal in most cases.
• During the 2022 midterm elections, abortion became the primary issue in many political races. Voters in Kansas, Kentucky and Montana rejected attempts to curtail access, and Democrats held the Senate (and a “red way in the House never materialized) in part because of the Dems’ promise to protect abortion rights.
• The fight to protect women’s rights for bodily autonomy continues every day at many levels. It should be a huge factor in the 2024 elections when you vote for your local, state, and federal representatives.
• And now, The Weather: “Sweet” by feeble little horse
• Today in history… The Vikings sack the French city of Nantes (843). John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings (1497). Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are crowned King and Queen of England (1509). The first Republican constitution in France is adopted (1793). Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract (1916). The American Professional Football Association is renamed the National Football League (1922). Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the country's third prime minister (1939). The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, starring William Boyd, is aired on NBC (1949). In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment (1957). South Africa defeats New Zealand and Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb Ellis Cup in an iconic post-apartheid moment (1995). In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional (2004). In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 that the U.S. Constitution does not assign the authority to regulate abortions to the federal government, thereby returning such authority to the individual states and overturning the prior decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (2022).
• June 24 is the birthday of explorer John Ross (1777), psychologist Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795), businessman Roy O. Disney (1893), boxer Jack Dempsey (1895), basketball player/businessman Chuck Taylor (1901), astronomer Fred Hoyle (1915), actor Al Molinaro (1919), astronomer Carolyn S. Shoemaker (1929), actor/director Robert Downey Sr. (1936), singer Arthur Brown (1942), guitarist/composer Jeff Beck (1944), saxophonist Chris Wood (1944), economist Robert Reich (1946), drummer Mick Fleetwood (1947), actor Peter Weller (1947), singer-songwriter Curt Smith (1961), singer-songwriter Ariel Pink (1978), actress Mindy Kaling (1979), NBA player JJ Redick (1984), soccer player Lionel Messi (1987), and my son Nick (1999).

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now. Keep your eye on the Russia situation, which is evolving every passing moment. If you do Twitter, I highly recommend you check out updates from Alexander Vindman (@AVindman), former director for European affairs for the United States National Security Council. Enjoy your day.