Random News: June 7, 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 7, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. It’s a typical June Gloom overcast day thus far here at the beach in Southern California, so let’s see what’s happening around the world…

• Today’s Pride note is about… me!
• Am I gay? Am I bi? Am I straight? Was I born as the male that I currently identify being? What’s in my pants? Who do I fuck?
• These are all good questions that might interest many people. But I won’t be answering any of them. Instead, I’ll tell you that I support many causes which may not seem to impact me personally. I’m not Black but I do help in the fight for civil rights. I’m not a person who is affected by the disparity of gender-based equality, but I support actions like the Equal Rights Amendment. I’m definitely not a tree or a squirrel, but I’ll fight like hell for environmental issues that affect them too.
• And, no matter what I am, or am not, I remain an ally to those who need my help.
• Let’s do some news…
• A federal judge in New York has granted a request from media organizations to unseal the identities of three people who signed the bond for Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) release after his indictment. Santos has until noon Friday to challenge the decision.
• Santos had previously said that he’d rather be remanded to jail than reveal the identities of the people who came up with $500,000 to get him out before his trial for 13 federal fraud charges. We’ll see if he follows through. 
• Moving on…
• Announced this morning, Chris Licht has stepped down as CEO of CNN. Side note: no CEO “steps down”. His ass got fired.
• Licht took over CNN just over a year ago, and was tasked with reshaping the network's news coverage. But the way he did it alienated CNN’s viewers, leading to falling ratings. His biggest failure was a horribly executed recent town hall show with the former president.
• Speaking of whom…
• Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed multiple witnesses to testify before a previously unknown grand jury in Florida in the criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of national security materials and obstruction of justice.
• The new grand jury activity at the US district court in Miami marks the latest twist in the investigation that for months has involved a grand jury that had been taking evidence in the case in Washington but has been silent since the start of last month.
• Trump aide Taylor Budowich is scheduled to testify before the Florida grand jury today. Questioning is expected to be led by Jay Bratt, the justice department’s counterintelligence chief detailed to the special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation.
• Why is this a big deal? Because the previously unreported involvement of Bratt could suggest the questioning could focus on potential Espionage Act violations, particularly whether Trump showed off national security documents to people at his golf motel.
• Fascinating. You know who else testified in this matter?
• Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff. Meadows was asked about the former president’s handling of classified documents as well as efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
• Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger said, “Without commenting on whether or not Mr. Meadows has testified before the grand jury or in any other proceeding, Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”
• Heh heh. It’s not looking good for Donnie.
• Want some more good news?
• A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers. Judge Robert Hinkle said in a ruling yesterday that gender identity is real and the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
• Here’s a story that’s been developing for awhile…
• Smoke from wildfires in Canada is making life miserable for people all over America’s East Coast.
• As a result, New York City topped the list of the world’s worst air pollution for parts of Tuesday. The Big Apple’s air quality index was above 200 at one point Tuesday night – a level that is “very unhealthy.” As of last night, the city had the worst quality of air of any major metropolitan area.
• The terrible air quality extends all the way down to places like Charlotte, NC.
• Use those masks, people. You know, the ones you were supposed to be using for COVID? They work for other things too, like really shitty air.
• Moving on…
• The pharmaceutical company Merck sued the US government yesterday over a law passed last year that empowers Medicare to negotiate prices of certain medications.
• To be clear, this giant company is suing so that it can keep charging outrageous profits for its drugs that are necessary to keep people alive.
• Merck claims that the provision in the Inflation Reduction Act is unconstitutional and threatens to stifle the industry’s future investments in cancer treatments and other drugs.
• But really, any program designed to lower prices for seniors, promote competition in the market, and strengthen Medicare means less profit for this huge corporation, and they’re not happy about it. Honestly, fuck them.
• Should we talk about UFOs? I’m not sure we should talk about UFOs.
• Okay, let’s talk about UFOs.
• The US has been urged to disclose evidence of UFOs after a whistleblower former intelligence official said the government has possession of “intact and partially intact” alien vehicles.
• The former intelligence official David Grusch, who led analysis of unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAP) within a US Department of Defense agency, has alleged that the US has craft of non-human origin. He says that information on these vehicles is being illegally withheld from Congress.
• In 2021, the Pentagon released a report on UAP – the term is preferred to UFO by much of the extraterrestrial community – which found more than 140 instances of UAP encounters that could not be explained.
• (cue “The X-Files” theme)
• What do I think? Well, the universe is really big, and it would seem likely that we’re not the only technological civilization out of billions of galaxies that host trillions of planets.
• But have they visited us and are global superpowers concealing that information from us? I mean… I wouldn’t put it past them. But I’m not going to get all worked up about it either.
• And now, The Weather: “I'll be your star” by Tyler Burkhart
• Another fool has thrown his hat into the Republican presidential circus. 
• Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, has announced his candidacy for the party’s presidential nomination next year. He’s a 66-year-old former software entrepreneur, Microsoft executive and venture capitalist.
• There are now ten or more people who claim they’re challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination.
• Moving on…
• Are you sick of your iPhone substituting the word “duck” when you just want to write “fuck”? The upcoming iOS 17 update, set to debut this fall, will allow you to say any ducking thing you want.
• Basically the AI in the software will recognize that you really don’t want to talk about water fowl.
• I mentioned that it was my birthday yesterday. After I did my show at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life, we had a cheese party here at my home. All the cheese came from my favorite cheesemonger in the world… Point Reyes Station, CA’s own Cowgirl Creamery.
• So amazing. So expensive. So worth it.
• Moving on…
• The founder of OneTaste, a sexual wellness company that claims to teach "orgasmic meditation", has been charged with forced labor conspiracy, federal prosecutors said yesterday.
• Prosecutors in Brooklyn, NY said the defendants subjected OneTaste members to surveillance in communal homes, instructed them to engage in sex acts for "freedom and enlightenment," and failed to pay promised wages.
• RIP to Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer best known for her smooth performance of "The Girl from Ipanema.” She died at age 83. 
• Her iconic performance of "The Girl from Ipanema” was the first song she’d ever recorded. Amazing.
• I also sadly heard about the passing of a member of our Second Life community. Lauren Payton, known in SL as Maddison Thespian, passed away last week, causes unknown. She was a delightful woman who had a 16-month-old daughter.
• From the Sports Desk… I’m still super angry about the PGA/LIV merger. I will tell you more on that later.
• Tonight’s NBA Finals game has the Denver Nuggets traveling to Miami to face the Heat. The series is tied 1-1.
• Today in history… Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries (1494). Louis XIV is crowned King of France (1654). Richard Henry Lee presents the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress, leading to the United States Declaration of Independence (1776). The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade (1862). Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the "whites-only" car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1892). Allied soldiers detonate a series of mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge, killing 10,000 German troops (1917). The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight (1938). The United Kingdom's BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of World War II (1946). The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples (1965). The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (1971). Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public (1982). Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column 4.3 miles high (1991).
• June 7 is the birthday of fashion designer Beau Brummell (1778), Paul Gauguin (1848), Hungary prime minister Imre Nagy (1896), actress Jessica Tandy (1909), poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917), actor/singer Dean Martin (1917), singer Tom Jones (1940), guitarist Clarence White (1944), MLB player Thurman Munson (1947), actor Liam Neeson (1952), singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/actor Prince (1958), US VP Mike Pence (1959), guitarist Dave Navarro (1967), NBA player Allen Iverson (1975), actor/screenwriter Bill Hader (1978), tennis player Anna Kournikova (1981), actor Michael Cera (1988), rapper Iggy Azalea (1990), rapper Fetty Wap (1991), and NFL player Christian McCaffrey (1996).

Alright. Time to go workout. I need it after all that cheese. Be well. Enjoy your day.