Random News: September 29, 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 September 29, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Quite a few headlines flying by that should be called to your attention. Let’s take a look-see…

• Starting with some huge breaking news: RIP to Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who’d been the oldest member of the Senate, the longest-serving female senator, the first female Jewish Senator, and the longest-serving senator from California. She passed away overnight at age 90.
• If you’re from California, Feinstein has likely been a political figure for your entire life. She was the head of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1978 and became acting mayor of the city following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk.
• She was elected to serve as Senator in 1992 and has been there representing California ever since. A hugely influential voice in Washington, Feinstein was a centrist Democrat known for trying to find common ground with Republicans, sometimes drawing criticism from her party’s liberal members, including me.
• That being said, I (and nearly everyone, including her critics) respected her greatly. I was 23 years old when she became my Senator… a literal lifetime ago. She has always represented the people of our state in the most distinguished of ways.
• She had planned on retiring after her current term, which was set to end in 2024. Democratic Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff, and Barbara Lee had already announced that they would be running for Feinstein's seat.
• What happens now?
• Well, the timing is awful. The Senate is literally tied between Democrats (and the independents who caucus with them) and Republicans. That means our governor Gavin Newsom will be under intense pressure to quickly name a replacement to avoid a tip in the balance of power.
• Newsom had hoped to avoid this exact scenario; now he has no choice. I think we’ll have an answer very quickly. Side note: this will put Newsom in the remarkable position of selecting both of his state’s senators.
• He elevated Sen. Alex Padilla in 2021 (on the recommendation of Feinstein) after Kamala Harris left the Senate to assume the vice presidency. Padilla was later elected in a special election and then almost immediately re-elected in a general election.
• A similar situation will likely happen here. Newsom will make an immediate appointment to fill the role temporarily, and then that person will need to win the approval of the voters at the earliest opportunity.
• Anyway, DiFi was greatly respected for her service to the state and the country. I really wish she’d retired while going through myriad of health problems and cognitive decline instead of dying in office, but it is what it is.
• Moving on.
• Let’s cheer up with some bad news for the criminal mastermind El Dumpo.
• The trial in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud lawsuit against Donald John Trump, his eldest sons, their companies and several executives, remains on track to begin Monday after a state appellate court denied Trump’s motion to stay the trial.
• Ha ha!
• Increased security measures have been put in place ahead of the trial. They will continue for the duration of the trial, which could last through December.
• Leticia James’s witness list for the trial includes the FPOTUS, his adult children, and his closest business advisers. Hee hee hee… delicious.
• Let’s head down to the fair state of Georgia, where in a 180-degree reversal, Dumpty Dump will not seek to move his criminal election interference case to federal court, per his lawyer’s court filing yesterday.
• Why? Pretty simple: he watched the trainwreck appeals from the other defendants who tried this and failed, and he wants no part of the evidentiary hearing.
• Most of all, he’s hoping to push it out even further. With there being multiple RICO trials on the docket and him at the back of the line, he’s hoping his trial might get moved out pending the duration of the preceding trials.
• So it’s a calculated move, and I doubt he would have been successful at having moved it to federal court regardless. I mean, what was he going to do; say that he was acting in a federal role as president while trying to subvert the election?
• More upside: staying in Georgia means the RICO trial will indeed be televised. Ha ha ha!
• One other Fani Willis-related note. 
• State Sen. Colton Moore (R-GA), who demanded a special session of the Legislature for an investigation of the Fulton County District Attorney was indefinitely suspended from the chamber’s GOP caucus Thursday. Moore represents the district where Marjorie Taylor Greene lives.
• “During his advocacy for his ill-conceived proposal, Senator Moore has knowingly misled people across Georgia and our nation, causing unnecessary tension and hostility, while putting his Caucus colleagues and their families at risk of personal harm,” a statement read.
• Bye fucker.
• Enough on that for now, and on to something relevant: the Republican government shutdown, which is now just over a day away.
• Yesterday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) got into a nasty squabble in a closed door meeting. Gaetz stood up and confronted McCarthy about whether his allies were paying conservative influencers to bash Gaetz in social media posts. Snort.
• This premise is silly. There are many people who will bash Gaetz for free daily and enjoy every moment of it.
• McCarthy responded that he wouldn’t waste his time or money on Gaetz, which is a fair point.
• Fight! Fight! Fight!
• Anyway, the federal government is funded through Saturday, and then everyone is on their own due to this Republican infighting and lack of doing their one written job responsibility, which is to put forth a budget.
• Many of you think that a government shutdown won’t impact you directly for various reasons. Think again.
• Over 70,000 child care programs — about one-third of those that relied on funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act passed in March 2021 — may close immediately. That amounts to about 3.2 million children losing child care.
• This will have a profound impact on working parents, with women shouldering the worst of it, but labor and economic experts warn the ripple effect will be far-reaching in ways that those who don't have young children should be just as concerned about.
• “If parents lose their child care, they will have to cut their work hours or leave their jobs altogether. Fewer people in the workforce means fewer people spending money — and the economy will feel it.” - Julie Kashen, director of women's economic justice and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation
• Moving on.
• Some of the GOP presidential candidates bashed Dumpster yesterday over his comments suggesting that the USA’s top-ranking military officer should be killed.
• See, last Friday, Señor Dumpertino laid into Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley in social posts, saying that the general “turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States.”
• “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” added the Orange Fool.
• Milley has stated that he’s taking appropriate measures to ensure his safety and the safety of his family. 
• In an interview the general said, “As much as these comments are directed at me, it’s also directed at the institution of the military. And there is 2.1 million of us in uniform. And the American people can take it to the bank, that all of us, every single one of us, from private to general, are loyal to that Constitution and will never turn our back on it no matter what. No matter what the threats, no matter what the humiliation, no matter what. If we’re willing to die for that document, if we’re willing to deploy to combat, if we’re willing to lose an arm, a leg, an eye, to protect and support and defend that document and protect the American people, then we are willing to live for it, too.”
• “There is no call for that kind of language directed toward someone who’s worn the uniform of the United States and served with such distinction.” - Mike Pence
• “His statement endangers people and is an insult to those who serve in the military.” - Asa Hutchinson
• Yup.
• Have you noticed I haven’t bothered covering anything about the Republican hearing to impeach Joe Biden for (checks notes) no reason at all?
• It’s not worth the effort of typing.
• I will say that yesterday, the big kickoff to the inquiry (done without a House vote, no direct of evidence of wrongdoing and against the backdrop of an imminent government shutdown) crashed into a brick wall almost before it started. 
• The opening statement of their superstar witness, conservative law professor Jonathan Turley, says it all: "While I believe that an impeachment inquiry is warranted, I do not believe that the evidence currently meets the standard of a high crime and misdemeanor needed for an article of impeachment.”
• Anyway, that’s what the GOP is doing instead of averting a shutdown. Let’s move on to something relevant.
• Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos, a 33-year-old Peruvian man, has been arrested for sending more than 150 fake bomb threats to U.S. schools, airports, synagogues, hospitals and a mall.
• This piece of shit did so in retaliation to teenage girls who refused his requests for nude and sexually explicit photographs.
• Nunez Santos posed as a teenage boy online and asked multiple minors to send him sexually explicit photos. When the girls refused his alleged requests or cut off communications, Nunez Santos allegedly threatened to bomb their schools or kill them. The threats in multiple states triggered school evacuations, a hospital lockdown, and flight delays. The majority of the threats, which began in mid-September, were sent to schools.
• I hope that guy gets royally fucked.
• Let’s do some very good news out of Wisconsin. Their Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit seeking an order blocking any attempt from the state Legislature to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz, a new member of the court whose victory this spring tilted control of the court in favor of liberals.
• The court decided Tuesday not to hear the lawsuit, and issued the order without comment. Protasiewicz did not participate in the decision.
• Nice. Now how about some Florida news?
• A customer angry about his service from an auto repair shop near Tampa targeted and fatally shot its owner, and was also fatally shot by the guy he shot.
• Eugene Frank Becker, 78, asked to see the owner of Stout’s Auto. Jodie Stout, 52, told Becker he was the owner. Becker pulled out a firearm and started shooting in Stout’s direction, then Stout grabbed his own weapon and began firing back.
• Now they’re both dead. The end of another gun story. Most of them end that way.
• And now, The Weather: “Sightseer” by Nation of Language
• Intense flooding in happening in New York City and across Long Island. Stay safe, New Yorkers.
• Switzerland’s alpine glaciers have lost 10% of their volume over the last two years alone. The sudden reduction is clear evidence of the very critical state of the climate. The glaciers have shed as much ice in two years as they did in the 30 years between 1960 and 1990.
• We’re seriously all going to die. We may be among the last generations of humans after 250,000 years of homo sapiens. Ah well. I’m sure something else will evolve and learn from our mistakes.
• China wants their pandas back. Seriously.
• All zoos in the USA and Britain have been notified that their Giant Pandas are expected back in their home country by the end of next year. It will be the first time since 1972 that the United States faces the prospect of having no giant pandas.
• We’ll do fine without them. Also, fuck zoos on general principle. Not zoologists. They’re cool. Zoos are fucked though.
• From the Sports Desk… in last night’s NFL matchup, the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers 34-20 in a game that was way more lopsided than the score indicates. Detroit was up 24-3 at the half. The Lions are for real this year, and for the first time in a very long time are the undisputed leaders of the NFC North over the Packers, Vikings, and Bears.
• Today in history… Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, archbishop of Canterbury, as a prisoner (1011). Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades (1227). Protestant coup officials in Nîmes massacre Catholic priests in an event now known as the Michelade (1567). The United States Department of War first establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men (1789). Germany's Supreme Army Command tells Kaiser Wilhelm II and Imperial Chancellor Georg Michaelis to open negotiations for an armistice in WWI (1918). The First American Track and Field championships for women are held (1923). The Kyshtym disaster is the third-worst nuclear accident ever recorded (1957). NASA launches STS-26, the first Space Shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster (1988). John Roberts is confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States (2005). The stock market crashes after the first United States House of Representatives vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act fails (2008). Over 42 people are killed by members of Boko Haram at the College of Agriculture in Nigeria (2013). 
• September 29 is the birthday of Roman general/politician Pompey (106 BC), polymath Michael Servetus (1511), novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547), English admiral Horatio Nelson (1758), physicist Enrico Fermi (1901), fashion journalist Diana Vreeland (1903), singer/actor Gene Autry (1907), director Stanley Kramer (1913), football coach Bum Phillips (1923), model/actress Anita Ekberg (1931), singer-songwriter/pianist Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), actor Larry Linville (1939), actress Madeline Khan (1942), violinist/composer Jean-Luc Ponty (1942), composer Mike Post (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Mark Farner (1948), TV host Bryant Gumbel (1948), animator Gábor Csupó (1952), journalist Gwen Ifill (1955), singer-songwriter/bass player Les Claypool (1963), actor Mackenzie Crook (1971), NFL player Calvin Johnson (1985), NBA player Kevin Durant (1988), and singer Halsey (1994).

Well hell. That’s a lot of stuff and I need more coffee. I’m going to go do normal Friday things. Enjoy your day.