Random News: July 17, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s July 17, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I’m feeling reasonably good for a Monday morning, so let’s look at the news and try not to be depressed…

• Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) knows a thing or two about supporting the USA and its military.  She’s an Army veteran helicopter pilot who lost both legs while serving in Iraq.
• So when she states her opinion on what Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is doing to harm the nation, it’s worth listening to.
• “It is bizarre for Senator Tuberville to say that he’s not jeopardizing national security when he injects politics into the defense process. And frankly this is not the time to do it, not when there is a war going on in Europe, not when American leadership is vital to the international global order.”
• As I’ve reported multiple times before, Tuberville has spent months blocking crucial leadership confirmations over the Pentagon’s policy of paying for service members to travel to seek abortions if they’re stationed in forced-birth states.
• Concurring with Duckworth is Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), a former CIA officer. She warned that foreign adversaries are likely watching as U.S. military linger in limbo awaiting confirmation.
• “I think that it is real that foreign countries are recognizing that one person can absolutely put to a screeching halt the progression of military careers, and importantly, can stop vital positions to our national security from being filled.”
• Tuberville’s ridiculous theatrics have left the Marine Corps without a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time in 100 years, and in coming weeks, it could mean the same for the leaders of the Army, Navy and the nominee for the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• One guy singlehandedly destroying the US military. He has got to go.
• Moving on to some global news…
• Ukraine’s military and security services were responsible for the attack on a key bridge that connects the Crimean peninsula to the Russian region of Krasnodar.
• Ukraine used sea surface drones to attack the bridge, which is an important supply artery for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• In retaliation, Russia said it would resume its military blockade on Ukrainian grain, suspending a United Nations-backed deal that allowed shipments from Black Sea ports despite wartime hostilities.
• That’s the same bridge that got blown up last October, if you were wondering.
• In other news…
• Let’s talk about Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). I respect her, as I do most progressive members of Congress. But she stepped into an area in interviews this weekend when she said “Israel is a racist state” while addressing pro-Palestine protesters who interrupted a panel discussion at the Netroots Nation conference in Chicago.
• Is she right or wrong? It doesn’t matter, because politically, it’s never a good idea to paint an entire nation as racist whether its accurate or not.
• Yesterday, top House Democrats are rebuked her comments. “Israel is not a racist state,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu said in a statement that did not mention the progressive leader by name.
• Here’s some local news that’s pissing me off…
• Hector Mayoral and his brother are gardeners. They were working in Torrance, CA on July 8 when he noticed what he thought looked like a golf ball near his work truck. When Mayoral picked the object up, thinking it was trash, it immediately exploded.
• It was an illegal firework left over from July 4. The blast took off most of his left hand, burned much of his face and affected his sight.
• Who is going to pay that man’s bills if he can never work again? Was your little neighborhood Independence Day fun worth it?
• Jesus. Isn’t there anything good to learn today? Wait… here we go…
• While the far-right Supreme Court was fucking the country, the Democratic-controlled Senate has been confirming judicial nominees whose progressive legal backgrounds served as a foil to the direction the conservative justices were heading.
• Since Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) return to work, the Senate has been on a spree of judicial confirmations.
• The new federal judges include Casey Pitts, a labor lawyer who had helped fend off a legal challenge to a pro-union law in Seattle. 
• Another new federal judge is Natasha Merle, a civil rights attorney and former public defender who represented defendants bringing post-conviction challenges.
• Another one is Julie Rikelman, the reproductive rights lawyer who argued before the justices in favor of preserving abortion rights.
• There’s also Tiffany Cartwright, whose legal background includes bringing wrongful deaths lawsuits against law enforcement for fatal shootings of Black people and a sexual harassment case brought by a corrections officer against a state prison.
• Kymberly Evanson represented the ACLU of Washington in its challenge to the Trump travel ban aimed at Muslim countries
• Myong Joun is a state court judge with previous experience in criminal defense and plaintiff-side employment law.
• Dale Ho previously led the ACLU Voting Rights Project.
• Nusrat Choudhury’s ACLU resume includes major roles in its racial justice program and its national security project.
• All of these newly-minted judges represent the culmination of promises by President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers to bring more diversity, including varied professional experiences, to the federal bench.
• Their appointments will mean decades of more fair judgements.
• And now, The Weather: “1.2” by Liam Halliwell
• I probably don’t need to keep repeating myself about the weather. As expected, yesterday broke a number of records for the highest heat ever recording in many places. Both Phoenix and Vegas hit 118. People were killed by raging floodwaters.
• I used to berate people about their lack of attention to global climate change, but now I’ll just say that you need to be prepared, wherever you live, for these extreme weather patterns. They won’t stop and they will get worse.
• Let’s do some charts. It’s exactly 40 years ago in July 1983. I am between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. I am surfing a lot and spending nearly every day at the beach with my friends, which I’ve really never done since. I have a girlfriend or two. Playing guitar a lot. Starting to feel like an actual human person.
• 1. Every Breath You Take (The Police). Electric Avenue (Eddy Grant). 3. Flashdance… What A Feeling (Irene Cara). 4. Never Gonna Let You Go (Sergio Mendes). 5. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Michael Jackson). 6. Come Dancing (The Kinks). 7. Our House (Madness). 8. Is There Something I Should Know (Duran Duran). 9. Stand Back (Stevie Nicks). 10. She Works Hard For The Money (Donna Summer). 11. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This (Eurythmics). 12. 1999 (Prince). 13. Too Shy (Kajagoogoo). 14. Maniac (Michael Sembello). 15. Baby Jane (Rod Stewart). 16. Cuts Like A Knife (Bryan Adams). 17. All This Love (Debarge). 18. (Keep Feeling) Fascination (The Human League). 19. Hot Girls In Love (Loverboy). 20. It’s A Mistake (Men At Work).
• While we’re on music, let me give a mention to country singer Jason Aldean. I’m not a fan, of him or his music, But the dude suffered heatstroke on stage Saturday at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, CT.
• Temps at the venue reached a high of 89 degrees. At one point during the show, Aldean appeared to struggle to sing before running off stage. Yesterday it was confirmed that the show would be rescheduled to an undetermined date and that Aldean is doing well. 
• I will tell you, performing live music in very hot or very cold temps is way more difficult — in multiple ways — than most folks realize. Get well soon, dude.
• From the Sports Desk… huge congrats to 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz. In yesterday’s Wimbledon men’s final, the young world No. 1 seed won his second Grand Slam title in less than a year, defeating seven-time Wimbledon champ Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. 
• The match lasted four hours and 42 minutes and was the third-longest final in Wimbledon history. It was regarded as one of the most exciting in the storied tournament’s history. It was only Alcaraz’s fourth tournament on grass.
• I respect Djokovic’s game and acknowledge that he will be forever regarded as one of the best tennis players in history. But his obstinate refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19 really soured my perception of him as a human being.
• The Sports Desk also notes that LeBron James will change his uniform number from 6 back to 23 for the Los Angeles Lakers this coming season.
• Last summer, after Russell died at the age of 88, the NBA retired No. 6 across the league — the first time a player was honored in such a fashion. Current players wearing No. 6 at the time were grandfathered in and could keep the number should they so choose.
• LeBron said he is changing back to 23 out of respect for Russell. That’s cool.
• The Sports Desk — who apparently was actually paying attention to shit this weekend — also notes that NBA player Steph Curry won the 2023 American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe, NV.
• Steph hit a hole-in-one in Saturday and then won the tournament with a long eagle putt on the 18th hole Sunday for the walk-off victory.
• Today in history… Damasus II is elected pope and dies 23 days later (1048). King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered (1717). The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States (1821). Harvard School of Dental Medicine, the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university, is established in Boston, MA (1867). Willis Carrier creates the first air conditioner in Buffalo, NY (1902). Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are executed by Bolsheviks (1918). The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany (1945). Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, CA (1955). An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations (1975). The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal (1976). The national drinking age in the United States was changed from 18 to 21 (1984). First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber (1989). 
• July 17 is the birthday of US vice president Elbridge Gerry (1744), businessman/philanthropist John Jacob Astor (1763), actor James Cagney (1899), TV/radio host Art Linkletter (1912), actress/comedian Phyllis Diller (1917), physicist Gordon Gould (1920), pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi (1928), actress/singer Diahann Carroll (1935), actor Donald Sutherland (1935), singer-songwriter/guitarist Spencer Davis (1939), NFL player Daryle Lamonica (1941), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Zoot Money (1942), guitarist/composer Ron Asheton (1948), bass player/composer Geezer Butler (1949), singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow (1950), actor David Hasselhoff (1952), singer-songwriter Nicolette Larson (1952), German chancellor Angela Merkel (1954), actor Alex Winter (1965), and singer-songwriter/musician Lou Barlow (1966).

Alrighty. I’m going to try and stay positive today. Trust me, it’s a challenge for me as much as anyone. But I do keep in mind: overall, in the big picture, things slowly do get better all the time. Except the climate. That’s fucked. But we’ll figure some shit out. Enjoy your day.