Random News: September 3, 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 3, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I’m sure that various things have happened since we last met here. I don’t know what they are. so let me go check and then I’ll tell you.

• I guess we can talk about Burning Man?
• There was a time that I really wanted to go to Burning Man. Just to check it out. I’ve been — back in the day — part of many peripheral scenes, like being a Deadhead, or being a desert rat, or being a general weirdo, that would make it seem like the kind of thing I’d be into.
• But there was always some aspect that made it disconcerting for me. It’s hard to describe. I do like being isolated; I don’t like being isolated with 70,000 other people, if that makes sense.
• Anyway, at the moment, tens of thousands of people attending Burning Man are being told to conserve food, water and fuel as they shelter in place in the Black Rock Desert after a heavy rainstorm pummeled the area.
• After heavy rains started saturating the area Friday night, the entire place turned into thick, ankle-deep mud. The desert sand has turned into thick clay and puddles and mud are everywhere. People are wrapping trash bags and Ziploc bags around their shoes to avoid getting stuck, while others are walking around barefoot.
• Now there’s no way in or out. At least one person has died. And that all sounds like just straight-up hell to me.
• Moving on…
• Sunday is Gunday at Zak’s Random News, where we look at the mass shootings and other instances of gun violence over the weekend this far.
• One dead, six injured in a mass shooting in Lynn, MA (a city in which I once resided). Two dead and one wounded overnight in Moreno Valley, CA (a city I drive through on the way to the desert). A 16-year-old dead and another injured at a football game near Baton Rouge, LA. One shot dead in Roanoke, VA. One dead, one injured in a carjacking in Monroe, MI. One in critical condition after being shot in Hartford, CT. A female victim hospitalized after being shot in South Bend, IN. Two shot dead in Indianapolis, IN. One shot dead in Atlanta, GA. Three shot on the west side of Chicago, IL. Some guy shot at a Shake Shack in Kansas City, MO. one dead, another in critical condition after a shooting in Philadelphia, PA. One dead in Henry County, VA. One killed, another shot in Fayetteville, NC. A 20-year-old student shot dead at NSU in Norfolk, VA. One shot, one killed in Colorado Springs, CO. One shot dead in Cincinnati, OH. Three dead in a murder-suicide in Miami-Dade, FL. Two women dead and a teen hurt in Washington, DC.
• I just can’t keep doing this. There are more, but what’s the point?
• That is a typical weekend of gun violence in America. And those are just the ones I saw in a quick scroll of the news.
• The most likely way your children will die is via gun violence. Are you going to wait until after their funerals to become people who support sensible gun control laws? Because it seems that’s what most people do.
• Moving on…
• In “the Party of Family Values” news, longtime Republican campaign operative and former aide to Chris Christie, Kevin Tomafsky, has been arrested and charged with possession and creation of child pornography, and engaging in sexual conduct with a child.
• Tomafsky, 41, was indicted in July and arrested on August 15 after being charged alongside the victim's father. Fucking hell.
• In other news, CBS Sunday Morning ran a piece today about Oregon, and how the eastern part of the state wants to secede and join Idaho because Idaho is more representative of their red-state values.
• Some would opine that they could simply move to Idaho, but no, apparently they want their cake and to eat it too.
• There are plenty of states we call “blue” or “red” where those definitions don’t at all represent all areas of the state. Washington, Illinois, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, and many more states all have large populations that buck the stereotypical outlook of the state.
• And yes, it’s very typical that larger, more urban areas are liberal/Democrat while rural, sparsely populated areas are conservative/Republican. We have no choice than to try and get along regardless. Isolating ourselves by location and ideology isn’t going to help in the short or long run.
• Let’s do some other news.
• Yesterday, a Florida judge struck down congressional district lines for northern Florida advocated by Gov. Ron DeSantis, ruling that the Republican governor’s map had improperly diluted Black voting power.
• That seems to be happening a lot, huh? Almost like these states are taking whatever desperate measures for the will of the people to be negated in order to hang on to power? Hmm.
• Judge J. Lee Marsh concluded that the congressional boundaries – which essentially dismantled the seat once held by Al Lawson, a Black Democrat – violated the state’s constitution, which protects minority-access districts.
• He’s ordered the legislature to draw a new map. The DeSantis administration is expected to quickly appeal the case all the way to the Florida Supreme Court.
• Similar gerrymandering efforts in states such as Alabama and Georgia could play a significant role in which party controls the US House of Representatives after next year’s elections. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in the chamber.
• And now, The Weather: “Leave That Town” by Joe Vann
• How’s your weather? Mine is overcast and gloomy and sprinkly, and I couldn’t be happier (though we are having what they call “monsoon-like” conditions, meaning it may be raining but it feels more like someone is pissing on you).
• Not that I know what that feels like specifically. I just have a good imagination.
• Some Don the Con news? Sure, why not.
• Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who you may recall as Hillary Clinton’s running mate back in 2016, is the latest to add his voice to the idea that a strong legal argument can be made to use the 14th Amendment to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in 2024.
• "In my view, the attack on the Capitol that day was designed for a particular purpose at a particular moment, and that was to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power of as is laid out in the Constitution. So I think there's a powerful argument to be made."
• Per the 14th Amendment, anyone who engages in insurrection against the USA can’t run for office unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.
• Guess we’ll see if they have the balls to uphold our Constitution. I doubt they will, but you never know.
• On a very different topic…
• Someone mentioned awhile back how most of the people mentioned in my daily birthday list are not young, and it’s true; some of them were born 3,000 years ago. But I know what they meant.
• Truth is, as I mentioned in reply, that it often takes awhile to achieve enough significant things in life that would merit a mention here, and I have pretty high standards for inclusion. However, it brought up another idea.
• I’d like to give you a list of politicians and politically-focused social media influencers who are part of Gen Z, meaning that they are no older than about 25. No matter how old you are or how wise you think you are, I definitely recommend that you search for and follow these people…
• Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), gun control activist David Hogg, Democratic delegate/activist Victor Shi, anti-animal cruelty activist Ed Winters, women’s rights activist Nadya Okamoto, social justice activist Chloé Hayden, disability rights activist Madeline Stuart, anti-cyberbullying activist Trinity Morisette, gun control activist Emma González, poet/activist influencer Amanda Gorman, environmental activist Mya-Rose Craig, LGBTQIA+ activist/organizer Desmond Napoles, climate activist Greta Thunberg, education/gender activist Malala Yousafzai, and many others.
• I’m more than twice as old as any of these people and I learn things from them. So can you. Side note: I think Gen-X has more to relate to with Gen-Z than we do with the Boomers or Millenials. Just an opinion.
• Today’s charts are from the Billboard Top 200 albums list in September 1970. I was just over a year old and may hav been living in a Cleveland, OH suburb called Brooklyn. Pretty damn great list, if you ask me.
• 1. Cosmo's Factory (Creedence Clearwater Revival). 2. Woodstock (Soundtrack). 3. Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (Blood, Sweat & Tears). 4. Chicago II (Chicago). 5 Deja Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). 6. Closer To Home (Grand Funk Railroad). 7. Tommy (The Who). 8. Absolutely Live (The Doors). 9. Live At Leeds (The Who). 10. John Barleycorn Must Die (Traffic). 11. Mad Dogs & Englishmen (Joe Cocker). 12. On The Waters (Bread). 13. Eric Clapton (Eric Clapton). 14. Let It Be (Soundtrack) (The Beatles). 15. Ecology (Rare Earth). 16. ABC (Jackson 5). 17. Sweet Baby James (James Taylor). 18. Eric Burdon Declares "War" (Eric Burdon And War). 19. McCartney (Paul McCartney). 20. Neil Diamond/Gold (Neil Diamond)
• From the Sports Desk… I gleefully gave you the schedule for week 1 of the NFL season that starts Thursday night. Just in case you have total amnesia about which teams may be good or bad this year, here are the biggest point spreads for this week. 
• Ravens (-10) over Texans. Commanders (-7) over Cardinals. Chiefs (-6.5) over Lions. Vikings (-6) over Buccaneers. Everyone else is within one touchdown, and even so, no one really knows how teams will be in the first week with all the changes that happen in offseason trades, drafts, coaching changes and so on.
• I’ll bet that at least one if not more of the “sure picks” above loses, much less doesn’t cover the spread.
• Today in history… Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa defeats Sextus Pompey, ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate (36 BC). San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded (301). Richard I of England — aka Richard the Lionheart — is crowned at Westminster (1189). During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time (1777). Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery (1838). Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph (1935). France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allied nations (1939). Qatar becomes an independent state (1971). The American ‘Viking 2’ spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars (1976). The U.S. and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally ratify the Paris global climate agreement (2016).
• September 3 is the birthday of engineer/businessman Ferdinand Porsche (1875), physicist Carl David Anderson (1905), actress Kitty Carlisle (1910), pianist/composer Memphis Slim (1915), singer-songwriter/guitarist Freddie King (1934), singer-songwriter Al Jardine (1942), singer-songwriter/bassist Dug Pinnick (1950), singer-songwriter Steve Jones (1955), MTV veejay Adam Curry (1964), actor Charlie Sheen (1965), NBA player Damon Stoudamire (1973), and snowboarder Shaun White (1986).

Alrighty. That seems like plenty. I’m on my second cup of coffee and have several things that I might do today. I might not, but I probably should. Enjoy your day.