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.