Random News: July 11, 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 July 11, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I’ve got things to do and meetings up the ying-yang today, so without delay, here’s what I have to say…

• A grand jury in Atlanta today will likely consider whether criminal charges are appropriate for former President Donald Trump or his Republican allies for their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
• Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating since shortly after Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early 2021 and suggested the state’s top elections official could help him “find 11,780 votes,” just enough needed to beat Democrat Joe Biden.
• In another pending criminal trial for the former Pres, his lawyers asked Judge Aileen Cannon late last night to delay setting a trial date for their federal case in Florida.
• The indictment for that case, which was filed in Florida, alleges that Trump "endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal retention of classified documents."
• He wants to push the trial back until after the 2024 election, at which point if he wins election, he can fire the staff of the DOJ who have investigated him and quash the entire trial.
• Do you think that’s fair?
• Moving on…
• The leader of a U.S. think tank has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil.
• Gal Luft, who is also the supposed star witness against nebulous crimes by Hunter Biden, is accused of recruiting and paying a former high-ranking U.S. government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, without registering as a foreign agent as required by law.
• Luft, 57, was arrested in February in Cyprus on U.S. charges, but fled after being released on bail while awaiting extradition, prosecutors said. He is not currently in U.S. custody.
• In “Fuck You” news, a Kansas judge issued an order yesterday that prohibits the state from allowing transgender drivers to change the sex listed on their driver’s licenses. 
• Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach ® sued two members of the Democratic administration for what he claimed were violations of a new law that took effect July 1. 
• The new law mandates that a person’s sex be defined as male or female and that it be based on the “biological reproductive system” identified at birth. The state would be required to use these designations when enforcing any law or regulation.
• Pieces of shit.
• Moving on once again…
• Yesterday, Gen. David Berger stepped down as commandant of the Marine Corps, but due to one Republican Senator, the Corps has no leader for the first time since 1910.
• The lapse in command is because Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is blocking senior military nominations in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy.
• In December 2022, Tuberville pledged to block all senior military and civilian Department of Defense nominations over a new Pentagon policy that covers the travel costs of service members seeking abortions in states outside of where they are stationed if they are based in a state that bans the procedure.
• Can you imagine something so un-American as compromising our military leadership in this way? It’s pathetic that one guy can hold an entire nation’s security hostage.
• By the way… Tuberville was also in the news this week with the following quote…
• “My opinion of a white nationalist, if someone wants to call them white nationalist, to me, is an American. It’s an American.”
• It might be time to look for some ways to expedite the removal of this unqualified and frankly disgusting man from office. People of Alabama, take note.
• Talks between shipping giant UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters fell apart last week, upping the possibility that the union could strike in a massive walkout when their current contract expires at the end of this month. 
• The union, which represents roughly 340,000 members working for UPS, voted last month to authorize a strike if a deal isn’t reached before July 31. The strike would be one of the largest in U.S. history. 
• Yikes.
• Let’s do some big global news…
• NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday that Turkey has agreed to back Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance – a major development on the eve of the NATO summit.
• For two centuries and through multiple world wars, Sweden was neutral. Putin’s disastrous decision to invade Ukraine last year ended Swedish neutrality today.
• With its powerful navy, Sweden's pending accession to the transatlantic alliance is another signal to Putin, the NATO leaders say, that his unprovoked war has backfired, uniting the West against him rather than dividing his global adversaries.
• In other news…
• More than 100 million users have joined Meta’s new Threads platform in less than five days, making the Twitter competitor the fastest-growing online platform in history.
• I am enjoying Threads thus far. I find myself less stressed than when using Twitter, a platform I’d been on since 2009. You can find me there @zakclaxton as usual.
• My reasonably-informed opinion is that it’s not that Threads is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think the app’s huge popularity is being driven by spite against how the new owner of Twitter turned on its formerly loyal user base.
• User traffic on Twitter is tanking as a result. I find myself just… not going there at all.
• There was nothing wrong with Twitter until Elmo took it over. Amazing how fast he crashed that shiny new car into a pole and it caught on fire and everyone died.
• Or is it?
• And now, The Weather: “Cruiser” by Stephen Steinbrink
• And in the real world, the weather — driven by global climate change — is still a major fucking problem.
• Example: intense rainstorms inundating the Northeast are turning streets into rivers, forcing evacuations and have prompted officials in Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, to close its entire downtown area.
• When it’s not raining and flooding, it’s heating up to dangerous levels.
• This is the new normal, and it’s going to keep getting worse. Be aware.
• MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has claimed the company "lost $100 million" after major retailers stopped stocking its products in response to his vocal support for the discredited conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.
• Due to its difficult financial situation, the company is currently selling hundreds of pieces of surplus equipment.
• Go fash, lose cash.
• From the Sports Desk… the New York Times announced yesterday that it will shut down its sports desk.
• Zak’s Random News now has one more Sports Desk than the New York Fucking Times. How about that?
• Despite that, sports stories across The Times’ website will be sourced from the nearly 150 daily stories published by The Athletic, which includes coverage of leagues, teams, and players, both domestic and international.
• At Wimbledon, a 16-year-old from Russia named Mirra Andreeva was having a storybook debut at the fabled tournament… until she faced American Madison Keys and was beaten 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
• USA! USA!
• In the men’s tourney, I’m going to assume that Djokovic already won and they’re just waiting to tell us. If I hear otherwise I’ll be sure to let you know.
• Today in history… Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time (1405). While exploring the North Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage, Martin Frobisher sights Greenland, mistaking it for the hypothesized  island of “Frisland" (1576). Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last since until 1979 (1735). The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty (1796). The United States Marine Corp is reestablished after having been disbanded since the Revolutionary War (1798). A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1804). Waterloo railway station in London opens (1848). Tijuana, Mexico is founded (1889). Fiat founded by Giovanni Agnelli in Turin, Italy (1899). Babe Ruth makes his MLB debut (1914). Former president of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices (1921). The Hollywood Bowl opens (1922). ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is first published (1960). First transatlantic satellite television transmission (1962). Martin Luther King Jr. is posthumously given the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977). America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean (1979). Richard Branson becomes the first civilian to be launched into space via his Virgin Galactic spacecraft (2021).
• July 11 is the birthday of Scottish king Robert the Bruce (1274), physician/censor Thomas Bowdler (1754), US President John Quincy Adams (1767), painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834), writer E. B. White (1899), actor Yul Brynner (1920), actor Tab Hunter (1931), fashion designer Giorgio Armani (1934), boxer Leon Spinks (1953), actress Sela Ward (1956), singer-songwriter Peter Murphy (1957), guitarist Richie Sambora (1959), singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega (1959), rapper Lil’ Kim (1975), and NFL player Joey Bosa (1995).

I had a super productive work day yesterday, and I likely have a busy day ahead today, with some scheduled meetings and the typical creative deadlines. No worries; I’ve got this. Enjoy your day.