Random News: August 4, 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 4, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Everybody’s working for the weekend. I don’t know what that means, but let’s find out what’s been happening together…

• Yesterday saw the third arraignment in four months for accused federal felon Donald John Trump.
• He is, of course, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. As an American, he has the same rights of due process as we all enjoy.
• Trump pleaded not guilty. It would have been pretty funny had he not done so. 
• Quick side note: Trump is very lucky he lives in the USA where he gets a fair trial. Throughout history in many other countries, leading a failed coup attempt would have the perpetrator hanging from the nearest tree rather than complaining about it on social media.
• Not much to report from the arraignment itself. It was in a rather small room. The location of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse is only two blocks away from where the failed coup attempt of January 6, 2021 occurred.
• You could see the dome of the Capitol from exterior TV shots of the court.
• Trump mostly gave brief answers of one or two words to the Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya's questions.
• He was allowed to leave court without travel conditions, and no cash bond was required. Magistrate Judge Upadhyaya ordered, however, that he must not violate federal or state law while awaiting trial and that he must not communicate with anyone known to be a witness, except through counsel or in the presence of counsel.
• That’s it for now. The next scheduled hearing in this case is on August 28. That is when the trial date will be set. Trump need not appear there.
• Trump is facing a total of 78 charges across three criminal cases. They are 44 federal charges and 34 state charges, all of them felonies, in three jurisdictions.
• It is likely that another set of indictments is heading his way soon, this one from the state of Georgia. That criminal accusation is coming from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and it’s likely to arrive imminently. They recently erected barricades outside the county courthouse in Atlanta.
• Moving on…
• Back in April, you probably recall the “Tennessee Three”… members of the TN house who were supportive of an anti-gun protest resulting in two of them being expelled from their legislative seats (the two Black guys, of course).
• Yesterday, Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones both won special elections to fully reclaim their positions. Both easily defeated their opponents.
• Jones, who lives in Nashville, was up against Republican candidate Laura Nelson. Pearson, from Memphis, faced independent candidate Jeff Johnston.
• This entire episode is going to end up propelling both of these young Black lawmakers to more high profile positions.
• Good stuff. Moving on.
• Following up on a sickening story I mentioned earlier this year, six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi who called themselves the “Goon Squad” have pleaded guilty pleaded guilty to 13 federal felony offenses, including civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, regarding their racist assault on two Black men who were brutalized during a home raid.
• On January 24, the officers burst into a home in Braxton, MS because a white neighbor had complained that Black people were staying with the white woman who owned the house. The cops had no warrant.
• Then they handcuffed the two men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. Once restrained, the cops assaulted them with a sex object, beat them mercilessly, and used their stun guns repeatedly over a roughly 90-minute period. The assault culminated with one deputy placing a gun in Jenkins’ mouth and firing.
• Here are the cops’ names: former sheriff deputies Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, and former police officer Joshua Hartfield.
• Disgusting scum. I hope they rot in jail for the rest of their lives. Moving on…
• Poor Florida keeps getting worse and worse.
• The state’s school superintendents were advised yesterday to nix their Advanced Placement Psychology classes unless they exclude any topics related to gender or sexuality, according to The College Board, which oversees the AP program.
• Such a shift would mean the courses couldn't be called Advanced Placement, however, or used by students to earn college credit, the College Board said. And the organization is advising Florida districts not to offer the class until the state reverses its decision, saying any AP Psychology course taught in Florida will violate either state law or college requirements.
• ”We are sad to have learned that today the Florida Department of Education has effectively banned AP Psychology in the state by instructing Florida superintendents that teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law," the College Board said. "The state has said districts are free to teach AP Psychology only if it excludes any mention of these essential topics."
• Can you imagine living in a state where people are kept ignorant by law?
• Moving on.
• Just a quick note about polling. I’m sure you’ve seen headlines about Trump and Biden being tied in a hypothetical 2024 matchup.
• The majority of polls are still done to landlines. Who primarily uses landlines in 2023? Old people.
• The number of older voters has diminished greatly over the past eight years. The number of young, primarily liberal voters — who don’t have land lines and don’t answer their mobile phones for pollsters or most other people — has increased dramatically.
• Keep it in mind.
• And now, The Weather: “All The Good Times Never Die” by LEISURE & Night Tapes
• I’ve recently mentioned some work I’m doing on my own genealogical roots. Here’s an interesting related story.
• In 1979, a previously unknown cemetery at Catoctin Furnace, MD was found and excavated as the state worked on a highway in the area. Many of those buried there had been slaves.
• The unmarked bodies were put in the care of the Smithsonian. Now, with more advanced methods of collecting ancient DNA, the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, the Smithsonian, Harvard University and the biotech company 23andMe have connected 27 of those bodies to nearly 42,000 people from the present-day who are related in some way to the people buried there – and to each other.
• This is a landmark discovery to help Black Americans trace their genetic ancestry, which had previously been considered difficult or impossible. Awesome news.
• Got some charts. This week in August 1992, I was getting my shit together to wrap up my final semester in college. I seem to recall being constantly broke and having a Toyota pickup that was falling apart, often while I drove it. The hit music of the moment? A mixture of corporate pop/rock schlock, glossy R&B, and a few gems.
• 1. This Used To Be My Playground (Madonna). 2. Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-A-Lot). 3. Baby-Baby-Baby (TLC). 4. End Of The Road (From "Boomerang") (Boyz II Men). 5. November Rain (Guns N' Roses). 6. Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus). 7. Just Another Day (Jon Secada). 8. Life Is A Highway (Tom Cochrane). 9. Giving Him Something He Can Feel (En Vogue). 10. Too Funky (George Michael). 11. Wishing On A Star (The Cover Girls). 12. Come & Talk To Me (Jodeci). 13. Warm It Up (Kris Kross). 14. Move This (Technotronic Featuring Ya Kid K). 15. If You Asked Me To (Celine Dion). 16. I'll Be There (Mariah Carey). 17. The One (Elton John). 18. Friday I'm In Love (The Cure). 19. The Best Things In Life Are Free (Luther Vandross And Janet Jackson With BBD And Ralph Tresvant), 20. Under The Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• From the Sports Desk… Congrats to Diana Taurasi, the greatest scorer in WNBA history, who hit a huge milestone last night by surpassing 10,000 points. The 41-year-old Phoenix Mercury star in her 19th season is the all-time scoring leader by more than 2,400 points. 
• Also in sports, for no particular reason, the MLB teams with the best record as of this morning…
• 1. Atlanta Braves (69-37), 2. Baltimore Orioles (67-42), 3. Tampa Bay Rays (66-45),  4. Los Angeles Dodgers (62-45), 5. Texas Rangers (63-46), 6. Houston Astros (62-48), 7. San Francisco Giants (61-49), 8. Toronto Blue Jays (60-50), 9. Philadelphia Phillies (59-50), and 10. Milwaukee Brewers (59-51).
• The worst team in baseball right now? The Oakland Athletics (30-79).
• Today in history… Dom Perignon invents champagne (1693). England and the Netherlands capture Gibraltar from Spain (1704). The Revenue Cutter Service is formed, eventually to be renamed the US Coast Guard (1790). The Saturday Evening Post is first published (1821). The Great Fire of Spokane, WA destroys 32 blocks of the city (1889). Anne Frank and her family are arrested by the Gestapo (1944). Jimmy Carter signs off on creation of the US Department of Energy (1977). The FCC rescinds the Fairness Doctrine, probably destroying the world in the process (1987). 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon (2020).
• August 4 is the birthday of Austrian Duke Leopold I (1290), poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792), fashion designer Louis Vuitton (1821), mathematician John Venn (1834), trumpet player/singer Louis Armstrong (1901), businessman Warren Avis (1915), journalist Helen Thomas (1920), NHL player Maurice Richard (1921), actor Richard Belzer (1944), keyboardist/composer Klaus Schulze (1947), runner Mary Decker (1958), US president Barack Obama (1961), MLB player Roger Clemens (1962), actor Daniel Dae Kim (1968), race car driver Jeff Gordon (1971), race car driver Kurt Busch (1978), and actress/royal family member Megan, Duchess of Sussex (1981).

There’s always more news than I give you here, but hopefully you learn some stuff regardless of it being an incomplete picture. I’m gonna go do what I do. Enjoy your day.