Random News: August 18, 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 August 18, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I have a lengthy work day ahead of me, so let’s jump into this big batch of news…

• In our continuing coverage of the Guy Who Used to be President and his many felonious troubles, we should note that there were also 30 unindicted co-conspirators listed in the indictment in the Georgia RICO case.
• What is an unindicted co-conspirators? Welp…
• Grand jury cases refer to people as “unindicted co-conspirators” if they allegedly conspired with others to commit a crime, but are immunized from prosecution in exchange for their testimony. In other words, people who flipped.
• They could also have previously plead guilty, are sick or dead, or are simply unknown.
• But these ones are known, hee hee.
• Per reports, in this case they include Tom Fitton of far-right activist group Judicial Watch; Boris Epshteyn, a Trump political adviser; Bernie Kerik, former NYPD Commissioner and close pal of Rudy Giuliani; Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones; Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan and analyst Jeffrey Lenberg; a whole bunch of GOP operatives and election officials; and 13 of the fake electors for Donald Trump, who signed papers “unlawfully falsely holding themselves out as the duly elected and qualified presidential electors from the State of Georgia.”
• So when that trial gets rolling, expect to hear them testifying against the felon in chief. Speaking of trials…
• Trump is asking the federal judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal election subversion case against him to set the trial for April 2026.
• Not a typo. April 2026.
• In a filing yesterday evening, Trump urged US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC, to reject Smith’s proposal for a January 2024 trial.
• Are you fucking kidding me? No. Absolutely not. The oldest rule is that innocent people want their trials as soon as possible, and the longer you push the date out, the more guilty you are. Fuck that 2026 shit.
• Getting back to Georgia, earlier this week Donnie told the world that he would hold a press conference on Monday to release a detailed, 100-page report into what he described as "election fraud" in the state of Georgia during the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
• He said the report would “totally exonerate” him from his myriad crime accusations.
• Yesterday, Trump canceled the press conference, saying his attorneys would put his arguments in court filings instead.
• What is far more likely is that his lawyers made him understand that what he was about to do was to add directly to some of the felony crimes of which he’s already been formally charged, providing even more ammunition to the prosecution.
• Or that there is no report and never was, and he was just talking out his ass like he’s done for his whole life. Moving on…
• I’d promised you I’d give you a closer look at the rest of the co-defendants in that Georgia indictment. We covered a few on each of the past couple of days. Here are some more…
• Let’s do a few of the lawyers.
• Rudy Giuliani you know. Former mayor of NYC. Ironically famous for prosecuting mafia members under RICO statutes. Giuliani promoted unsupported allegations of widespread election fraud in Georgia. He was also involved a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans serve as fake electors. 
• In addition to RICO, Rudy’s being charged with Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, False Statements and Writings, Conspiracy to Impersonate a Public Officer, Forgery in the First Degree, Filing False Documents, and related crimes. All of these lawyers are facing similar charges.
• John Eastman was deeply involved in Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election. He was the one who pushed the illegal theory that Mike Pence could unilaterally overturn the election against the rules of the Constitution. He also planned to put “alternate” electors in seven battleground states, including Georgia, who would falsely certify that Trump had won their states.
• Sidney Powell, aka The Kraken Lady. Powell asked Lin Wood to help find Georgia residents to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits contesting the state’s election results. Powell was also involved in arranging for a computer forensics team to travel to rural Coffee County to copy data and software from elections equipment there in January 2021.
• Like the above, Jenna Ellis is yet another Trump lawyer. Along with Giuliani, she made false election fraud allegations to state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol, and wrote at least two legal memos to Trump and his attorneys advising that Pence should “disregard certified electoral college votes from Georgia and other purportedly ‘contested’ states”.
• You might recall when Jenna caught COVID after Rudy farted on her during that hearing. I’m serious.
• Well, I hope for their sake that those lawyers have good lawyers.
• And I also hope that those lawyers’ lawyers also have good lawyers.
• One more story about insurrectionists before I move on.
• Federal prosecutors are seeking sentences of 27 to 33 years in federal prison in the cases of four Proud Boys found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their actions during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as 20 years for a fifth Proud Boy found guilty on other charges.
• Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl were all convicted of seditious conspiracy in May after a monthslong trial that began in January. A fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of the seditious conspiracy charge but found guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. Pezzola smashed a Capitol window with a stolen police shield, leading the first breach of the building.
• Sentencing hearings are set for the week of August 28. I’ll get my popcorn ready.
• Moving on…
• At least two brands have said they will suspend advertising on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after their ads and those of other companies were run on an account promoting fascism.
• A report published Wednesday showed that ads for a host of mainstream brands have been run on the account, which has shared content celebrating Hitler and the Nazi Party.
• Ads for brands including Adobe, Gilead Sciences, the University of Maryland’s football team, New York University Langone Hospital and NCTA-The Internet and Television Association were run alongside tweets from the account that had garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
• Spokespeople for NCTA and pharmaceutical company Gilead said that they immediately paused their ad spending on X after their ads were flagged on the pro-Nazi account.
• Wow.
• In other news, Arkansas is joining Florida in getting rid of the Advanced Placement African American studies course from its schools.
• The state announced right before classes began for the 2023-2024 school year that AP African American studies would not count for credit toward high school graduation.
• However (drum roll)… schools in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Jonesboro say they’ll continue to offer AP African American Studies, and that the Arkansas Department of Education can go fuck themselves.
• I made up that last bit, but it’s essentially correct. The schools have all confirmed they will offer the course and calculate grades on the same elevated, 5-point GPA scale as other Advanced Placement classes.
• The schools are exploring options for covering test costs for the AP African American Studies exam, since the state will not do so — unlike with every other AP class offered.
• Good for them. Salute, Arkansas schools!
• Let’s do some global news.
• The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.
• Washington will expedite the approval of transfer requests for F-16s. The US must approve the transfer of the military jets from its allies to Ukraine.
• “It remains critical that Ukraine is able to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression and violation of its sovereignty.” - Tony Blinken, US Secretary of State
• And now, The Weather: “Dinah” by Maple Glider
• The top news story in my feed this morning was about Hurricane Hilary, which is expected to weaken to a tropical storm before reaching California.
• I mean, it’s sorta cloudy now and our forecast says we have like a 50% chance of rain on Sunday and Monday.
• I don’t think this is going to be a big deal. Hopefully I’m right.
• Let’s wish a happy birthday to former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who will celebrate her 96th birthday at home Friday with her husband, former President Jimmy Carter.
• She has dementia and the former president, now 98, continues to receive hospice care. Yet they remain together in the same small town where they were born, married and that anchored Jimmy Carter’s victorious 1976 presidential campaign.
• Those are genuinely good people.
• How about some album charts from this date in 1982? It’s pretty amazing how so many genres used to be represented on the best-selling music lists. This one include progressive pop, country, new wave synth pop, hard rock, R&B, and more.
• 1. Asia (Asia). 2. Always On My Mind (Willie Nelson). 3. Dare (The Human League). 4. Toto IV (Toto). 5."Still Life" (American Concert 1981) (The Rolling Stones). 6. Tug Of War (Paul McCartney). 7. American Fool (John Cougar). 8. Diver Down (Van Halen). 9. Get Lucky (Loverboy). 10. Eye Of The Tiger (Survivor). 11. Special Forces (38 Special). 12. Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I (Stevie Wonder). 13. Throwin' Down (Rick James). 14. Keep It Live (Dazz Band). 15. Aldo Nova (Aldo Nova). 16. Picture This (Huey Lewis & The News). 17. Vinyl Confessions (Kansas). 18. Escape (Journey). 19. Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet (Rick Springfield). 20. Good Trouble (REO Speedwagon)
• From the Sports Desk… got some cool local news. The boys all-star baseball team from El Segundo rallied to win its opening game in the Little League World Series last night, beating Ohio 4-3.
• With El Segundo down 3-1 in the third inning, Brody Brooks and Louis Lappe hit back-to-back home runs, a two-run shot to center followed by a solo homer to right field to take the lead.
• Let’s go! El Segundo is a coastal area only about six miles north of my home in Redondo Beach, and is the city adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Wishing the best for them.
• Today in history… Castillian and Aragonese forces take Málaga (1487). John White returns from England to find the Roanoke Colony deserted (1590). A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain (1783). Pierre Janssen discovers helium (1868). A great fire destroys almost half of Thessaloniki, Greece (1917). The 19th Amendment is ratified, giving voting rights to women (1920). Nabokov’s controversial novel ‘Lolita’ is published in the US (1958). James Meredith becomes the first Black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi (1963). Australia and New Zealand withdraw their troops from Vietnam (1971). Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko is arrested and beaten and later dies from his injuries (1977). A power blackout in Java affects nearly 100 million people, one of the largest outage events in history (2005).
• August 18 is the birthday of first English-descent child born in the USA Virginia Dare (1587), composer Antonio Salieri (1750), UK prime minister John Russell (1792), businessman Marshall Field (1834), businessman Max Factor (1902), activist Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911), politician Caspar Weinberger (1917), US first lady Rosalynn Carter (1927), businesswoman/racist Marge Schott (1928), director/rapist Roman Polanski (1933),MLB player Roberto Clemente (1934), actor Martin Mull (1943), singer-songwriter Sarah Dash (1945), comedian Elayne Boosler (1952), actor Patrick Swayze (1952), actor Edward Norton (1969), actor Christian Slater (1969), actor Andy Samberg (1978), and NFL player Jeremey Shockey (1980).

I have a show tonight at 6PM, so betwixt and between my work and meetings and such, I’ll be putting together a set list. It’s at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life, for those of you who might like to attend. Also (he said foreshadowingly), I got some super weird news about a colleague yesterday that I will share with you over the weekend when I can write more leisurely. Enjoy your day.