Random News: October 13, 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 October 13, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! And yes, it’s a Friday the 13th, and oddly enough, I’ve tended to have pretty good days on that superstitiously unlucky date, but I’m not predicting anything for the moment. Let’s see what’s been going on.

• Local and federal law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are stepping up their patrols of Jewish houses of worship, Jewish-owned businesses and Israeli diplomatic buildings as calls for attacks on the Jewish community in the United States intensify online.
• Former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal recently called for Friday to be a global day of "anger" in support of the recent Hamas attack on Israel, which has left over 1,300 Israelis dead. He said demonstrations would send a "message of rage to Zionists and to America."
• Just for some context, such calls for action or for a “day of rage” have produced large demonstrations and unrest in Gaza and the West Bank. But they have not led to large-scale attacks in the U.S. in the past.
• Here’s hoping it stays that way.
• Before we get to more news of war in the Middle East, let’s take a look at our own little issues here in the USA.
• After being nominated by a small majority of his party on Wednesday, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) decided yesterday to drop his bid to be House speaker.
• Reminder: the Speaker needs to get a majority of the 435 members of the House to vote for him or her. That’s about 217, and with the razor-thin majority the GOP has there, it doesn’t take more than 4-5 Republicans opposing a Speaker candidate to blow their chances of victory.
• Roughly 20 Republicans had been publicly opposing Scalise. Many GOP reps said it didn’t feel like anyone could actually get to the 217 votes needed. Keep in mind that the other declared candidate for Speaker, Jim Jordan, had even less support than Scalise. There are at least as many members of the “Never Jordan” club as there were those opposing Scalise, and likely more.
• Where does that leave us? Well, in total limbo, with no Speaker of the House and no ability to move legislation, provide aid for our allies, or do any of the business for which the House is responsible, we’re a rudderless ship.
• And please keep in mind: it’s not up to the Democrats — the minority party in the House — to solve this problem. If there was a Democrat majority, 100% of the members have voted their support behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). The Dems exhibit none of the disarray and infighting that you see holding up the US via the Republican side.
• Let’s move on.
• The White House said that at least 27 Americans have died as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. There are currently 14 unaccounted for U.S. citizens, some of whom are being held hostage by Hamas.
• At any point, there are in the range of 100,000 Americans living in Israel. I didn’t know that.
• Israel's military has warned more than 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate southwards, but the UN said the order for the mass evacuation was impossible. Hamas, conversely, told residents not to leave their homes.
• Israeli forces are bombing the hell out of Gaza to retaliate for Hamas' terror attacks that killed more than 1,300 people. Israel has also amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border.
• And in Gaza, where there are many civilian people and their families trying to lead normal lives who have nothing to do with the Hamas terrorists, around 1,800 people have been killed, thousands more severely injured including many children, over 400,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and it’s a humanitarian crisis with many at risk of starvation.
• No one wins wars, ever.
• In other news…
• Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was hit with new charges yesterday, accusing him of accepting bribes to behalf of a foreign government and acting as foreign agent.
• The new indictment, filed by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, alleges Menendez, “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.”
• In the indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Menendez's wife and other defendants “worked to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to Menendez for the purpose of establishing and solidifying a corrupt agreement.”
• He’s got to go. I’m sure New Jersey can find an immediate Democrat replacement for him as to not topple the fragile balance of power in the chamber of Congress.
• Moving on.
• In the continuing woes of El Dumpo, a Colorado judge has rejected his attempt to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to keep him off the state ballot, ruling that his objections on free-speech grounds did not apply.
• Dumpy’s attorneys argued that a Colorado law protecting people from being sued over exercising their free speech rights shielded him from the lawsuit, but Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace said that law doesn’t apply in this case.
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington claims in its lawsuit that putting Trump on the ballot in Colorado would violate a provision of the 14th Amendment that bars people who have “engaged in insurrection” against the Constitution from holding office.
• I agree.
• In other news of terrible people…
• More than 85 women are suing a former doctor at Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital and other various local hospitals for alleged sexual abuse.
• Dr. Derrick Todd, a rheumatologist, practiced "primary care" on patients at Brigham and other local hospitals, but also performed inappropriate pelvic examinations, breast examinations and rectal examinations for his own sexual gratification, per the suit.
• I hope he gets a rectal examination in federal prison.
• In better news, President Joe Biden acknowledged the 25th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death yesterday, and condemned the nation’s recent uptick in anti-LGBTQ threats and acts of violence.
• Shepard, a gay college freshman at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, was abducted, robbed, and beaten into a coma on October 6, 1998. The two men who attacked Shepard tied him to a fence in freezing weather.
• He was discovered 18 hours later by a bicyclist, who initially mistook him for a scarecrow. Shepard died in a Colorado hospital on October 12, 1998. 
• And now, The Weather: “Levee” by Wilco
• Rest in peace to Rudolph Isley, the singer and songwriter for the Isley Brothers, who died yesterday at at 84. 
• Isley co-wrote many of the group’s greatest hits, including “Shout,” “Fight the Power” and “It’s Your Thang.”
• From the Sports Desk…  trifecta of MLB playoff upsets was completed last night as the Phillies eliminated the 104-win, top-seeded Braves. Philadelphia now moves on to the NLCS to face the Diamondbacks.
• Today in history… Roman emperor Claudius dies from poisoning under mysterious circumstances and is succeeded by his adoptive son Nero (54). Rinchinbal Khan becomes the Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty, reigning for only 53 days (1332). Coronation of Henry IV of England (1399). The Continental Congress establishes the Continental Navy, the predecessor of the United States Navy (1775). The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is publicly proclaimed (1821). Edward Emerson Barnard discovers first comet discovered by photographic means (1892). The Boston Red Sox win the first modern World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth game (1903). Margaret Travers Symons bursts into the UK parliament and becomes the first woman to speak there (1908). The Pacific Northwest experiences a cyclone the equal of a Category 3 hurricane, with winds above 150 mph (1962). The first electron micrograph of an Ebola virus is taken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Dr. F. A. Murphy (1976). Ameritech Mobile Communications launches the first US cellular network in Chicago (1983). Kenyan Brigid Kosgei sets a new world record for a woman runner with a time of 2:14:04 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon (2019).
• October 13 is the birthday of hunter/businessman Leon Leonwood Bean (1872), pianist Art Tatum (1909), artist Terry Frost (1915), comedian Lenny Bruce (1925), politician Margaret Thatcher (1925), bassist Ray Brown (1926), saxophonist/bandleader Pharaoh Sanders (1940), music producer/manager Neil Aspinall (1941), singer-songwriter/guitarist Paul Simon (1941), businessman Jerry Jones (1942), singer-songwriter/pianist Robert Lamm (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Sammy Hagar (1947), singer Marie Osmond (1959), singer Joey Belladonna (1960), NBA player Derek Harper (1961), NBA player/coach Doc Rivers (1961), NFL player Jerry Rice (1962), skater Nancy Kerrigan (1969), comedian/actor Sacha Baron Cohen (1971), NBA player Paul Pierce (1977), NFL player Brian Hoyer (1985), politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) and singer Jimin (1995).

Well, as someone who is ethnically Jewish, hopefully I won’t be attacked or killed by a terrorist today, as has been threatened. I actually hope that every day, but I refuse to spend my life being scared or angry about shit like that. I’ve got too much good shit in my life to have it ruined by assholes. Enjoy your day.