Random News: September 23, 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 September 23, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. I’m up and about with a fresh cup of coffee and a desire to bring balance to the four kingdoms of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Wait, that’s the avatar. I’m just a guy drinking coffee in a room. Never mind.

• New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called on Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to resign following his indictment on federal bribery charges yesterday, joining a growing chorus of fellow Democrats calling for the senator to step aside.
• Menendez, being a shitty person, says he’s “not going anywhere”, refusing to resign. In case you’re wondering, a Senator can get booted out if two-thirds of the Senate votes as such, and in this case, I think they might.
• And yes, Menendez will get his day in court, just like any American accused of a crime, and should be considered innocent until proven guilty, just like I’ve said about Donnie Dump and his Super Crime Gang.
• And if they’re convicted, they should experience the same kind of justice afforded to all others. No one is above the law.
• Side note: as mentioned yesterday, I haven’t seen a single Democrat defending this scum or supporting him in any way… a big difference between how the Dems treat people versus the excuse-making, lie-swallowing Republicans.
• Moving on to recent updates on the crimes of the notorious El Dumpo.
• Yesterday, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing New York Attorney General Letitia James’s $250 million business fraud lawsuit against Donald John Trump, became visibly annoyed with defense lawyers for what he called false statements and previously used arguments.
• Dumpinator and the other defendants are accused of giving banks and insurance companies drastically inflated estimates of Trump’s net worth during a decade’s worth of official transactions to get better loan and policy rates.
• “You cannot make false statements used in business,” Engoron told El Dumpo’s lawyer Christopher Kise, banging his fist on his bench and raising his voice. “That’s what this statute prohibits, and that’s what’s alleged here.”
• Yessir! Tell his ass, your honor.
• Let’s move on.
• In a politically inexplicable move, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson announced yesterday that he is switching parties and will serve as a Republican.
• As you may or may not know, Dallas is a blue-leaning city, and Johnson’s announcement makes him the only Republican among the mayors of the 10 most populous cities in the US.
• It’s not as big of a deal as it may seem. Like most mayor’s offices, the role is mostly non-partisan. Johnson had previously served as a Democrat in the Texas legislature. But unless Johnson is planning to move to a different political role, like a US Rep or Senator, the move doesn’t leave him in good position to stay mayor of Dallas.
• Guess we’ll see. Moving on…
• Let’s talk about what will happen if (when) the government shuts down a week from now on September 30.
• The Department of Health and Human Services expects to furlough about 42 percent of its workforce. The remaining staff will do their best to keep essential services running: Medicare and Medicaid are mandatory programs that aren’t subject to annual appropriations. However, Medicaid could be affected if a shutdown really drags out, since the HHS contingency plan has enough funding for only the remainder of the calendar year.
• The FDA, which oversees approximately 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, says a government shutdown would put its safety work in jeopardy. They’d likely be able to to respond to foodborne outbreaks, but they couldn’t conduct proactive inspections.
• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would remain in operation unless the shutdown is extended. if the government runs out of funds for SNAP, it yanks benefits from 40 million people.
• Just a few days into the shutdown, about seven million pregnant and postpartum recipients of supplemental food aid and their children could lose access to the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.
• Public K-12 schools are mostly funded locally, but programs like Head Start and free and reduced lunch programs at schools across the nation will stop almost immediately.
• Also in immediate question would be the Impact Aid program, which funds the nearly 1,200 school districts on military bases, Native American reservations and other places where the federal government owns land.
• Doing any plane travel? More than one-third of the FAA would be furloughed during a shutdown. Some would obviously stay on the job, being “necessary to protect life and property.” Also, three-quarters of DOT’s inspector’s general’s office would be furloughed, so if your business relies on products being shipped, well… I’d plan on some delays thanks to the GOP’s fuckery.
• There’s much more, but suffice it to say that the people who are the most affected by the sudden removal of federal government support are usually among those who need it the most.
• In other news…
• The jailing of women who maintain control of their own reproductive health is starting, along with those who aid them.
• Yesterday morning, a Madison County, NE judge ordered Jessica Burgess to serve two years in prison for helping her daughter obtain pills and giving her instructions on how to end her pregnancy.
• Earlier this year, her daughter — Celeste Burgess — was sentenced to two years probation, and a judge ordered her to spend 90 of those days in jail.
• You think I’ve been being overdramatic about this shit? It will happen to you or people close to you if this continues unchecked. People will spend years in jail for refusing to be forced to give birth. Women will be force-checked for pregnancy when crossing state lines. The only way to stop it is to elect candidates to promise to respect women’s reproductive rights by codifying the legality of abortion.
• End of fucking story.
• As long as we’re in the “bad but not unexpected” news zone, yesterday a federal judge struck down California’s ban on firearm magazines holding more than 10 rounds as unconstitutional.
• The Second Amendment strikes again, folks.
• The 2016 ban, which we voted on and overwhelmingly approved, has gone through various appeals. The US Supreme Court sent the case back to lower courts last year after a New York case stated that firearm regulations don’t impede on the language of the Second Amendment and be “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition.”
• Judge Roger T. Benitez said my state’s ban on high-capacity magazines fails to meet that standard and that “there is no national tradition of prohibiting or regulating firearms based on firing capacity or ammunition capacity.”
• Sigh.
• Let’s break out of this funk with some good news.
• President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan on Tuesday and walk the picket line with members of the United Auto Workers union.
• “Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they helped create. It’s time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs,” wrote Biden.
• The strike against the nation’s three largest automakers – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis – is entering its second week. Donnie the Dump will also be courting the auto workers, despite other members of his party saying they should all be fired.
• Moving on… to New Orleans, where saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico is threatening the area's drinking water supply. Yikes! 
• The US Army Corps of Engineers is planning to barge 36 million gallons of freshwater daily into the lower Mississippi River to combat the issue, and working to add 25 feet of height to a 1,500-foot-wide underwater levee in the Mississippi River.
• Due to climate change, water levels are plummeting for the second consecutive year after this summer’s blistering heat and low rainfall triggered extreme drought over parts of the central US. Normally the flow of the Mississippi is more than enough to push the saltwater back out to the ocean. 
• And now, The Weather: “shanty” by Slowdive
• Tropical Storm Ophelia has made landfall in North Carolina. It’s gradually weakening, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. Rain bands will continue to surge northward. Stay dry, peoples.
• Let’s talk about Taylor Swift.
• This past Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day, and the singer posted a short message on Instagram encouraging her 272 million followers to register. Immediately afterward, the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org recorded more than 35,000 registrations.
• I have to say, Taylor has shown on many occasions to be a genuinely good person. Using her influence in a positive way is always something that will earn respect points from me.
• Let’s do some charts. Here’s the Top 20 from the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1981. I had just started eighth grade at Margate Intermediate School, was playing guitar a lot, and I had a little girlfriend, and high school was just a year away, so I was feeling pretty good about myself.
• 1. Endless Love (Diana Ross & Lionel Richie). 2. Queen Of Hearts (Juice Newton). 3. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (Stevie Nicks With Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers). 4. Urgent (Foreigner). 5.(There's) No Gettin' Over Me (Ronnie Milsap). 6. Who's Crying Now (Journey). 7. Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) (Christopher Cross). 8. Lady (You Bring Me Up) (Commodores). 9. Step By Step (Eddie Rabbitt). 10. Slow Hand (The Pointer Sisters). 11. Start Me Up (The Rolling Stones). 12. Hold On Tight (Electric Light Orchestra). 13. Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield). 14. The Beach Boys Medley (The Beach Boys). 15. Theme From "Greatest American Hero" (Believe It or Not) (Joey Scarbury). 16. Cool Love (Pablo Cruise). 17. The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) (Greg Kihn Band). 18. The Voice (The Moody Blues). 19. For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton). 20. The Night Owls (Little River Band).
• From the Sports Desk… six MLB teams now have playoff births. Playoff bound from the American League are the Orioles, Rays and Twins; the Braves, Dodgers, and Brewers are in on the National League side.
• The rest of it is still very much inlay, but if the playoffs started today, the AL Wild Card round would be (6) Astros at (3) Twins and (5) Blue Jays at (4) Rays. The National League would have (6) Cubs at (3) Brewers and (5) D-backs at (4) Phillies.
• Today in history… Drusilla, the sister of Caligula with whom the emperor is said to have had an incestuous relationship, is deified (38). The Mongols beat the Ming dynasty at the Battle of Kherlen (1409). King Philip II of Spain orders a halt to colonizing efforts in Florida (1561). The first commencement exercises occur at Harvard College (1642). John Paul Jones, naval commander of the USS Bonhomme Richard, wins the Battle of Flamborough Head (1779). Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States (1806). The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York (1845). Astronomers Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune (1846). Nintendo is founded to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda (1889). Norway and Sweden peacefully dissolve the union between the two countries (1905). Roland Garros of France becomes the first to fly in an airplane across the Mediterranean (1913). The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City (1962). The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released (2002). 
• September 23 is the birthday of Roman emperor Augustus (63 BC), Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan (1215), violinist/composer Giovanni Maria Bononcini (1642), journalist/activist Victoria Woodhull (1838), engineer/businessman Robert Bosch (1861), activist Mary Church Terrell (1863), musicologist John Lomax (1867), actor Walter Pidgeon (1897), actor Mickey Rooney (1920), saxophonist/composer John Coltrane (1926), singer-songwriter/pianist Ray Charles (1930), singer-songwriter/guitarist Roy Buchanan (1939), singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias (1943), NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer (1943), singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen (1949), actress Rosalind Chao (1957), singer-songwriter/guitarist Ani DiFranco (1970), press secretary/dancer Sean Spicer (1971), actor Karl Pilkington (1972), actor Anthony Mackie (1978), and MLB player Matt Kemp (1984).

I picked up Kat and her mom at LAX last night, back from a more than two-week excursion to Australia. Now her mom is headed back to Seattle, and things are feeling more and more normal around here. So that’s good. Alrighty then. I’m starving. Food is imminent. Enjoy your day.