Random News: October 27, 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 27, 2023, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I’m trying to keep a positive vibe going into the weekend despite a world filled with madness. Sometimes you have to put the bad shit aside to let the good shit in. This will not be a quote in any philosophy book. Let’s see what’s up.

• The manhunt for 40-year-old Robert Card of Bowdoin, ME continues today. Card is the suspect in the mass shooting at a bowling alley and restaurant on Wednesday night in Lewiston. 
• The official toll of carnage in Maine had 18 people were killed and 13 injured. It is the deadliest mass shooting of the year thus far. There have been 565 mass shootings nationwide so far in 2023, killing 597 people.
• Contrary to popular belief, there is a way to stop a bad guy with a gun. It’s making sure he never gets one in the first place.
• I mean, what is a the typical profile of a mass murder? It’s an American with a gun. That’s it. That’s the profile.
• It’s unknown whether law authorities are any closer to finding Card than they have been since the mass shooting took place, so that’s all I have to say about that.
• Let’s find some good news in this horrible story. Thomas Giberti, the manager at Sparetime bowling alley where Card started his murderous rampage, led countless children to safety before he was shot in the legs during the Maine massacre.
• Giberti risked his life directing kids to a secure area in the bowling alley while under fire during the shooting. He is currently fighting for his life in the hospital.
• Hero.
• Moving on.
• The U.S. military conducted strikes yesterday against two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iranian-backed groups in retaliation for recent attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
• The strikes, ordered by President Biden and conducted by F-16 aircraft, hit a weapons storage area and an ammunition storage area connected to Iranian-aligned militias in Abu Kamal.
• "The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop.” - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
• "My warning to the Ayatollah was that if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond, and he should be prepared. It has nothing to do with Israel.” - Joe Biden
• I’d prefer not to have any massive multi-national war in the Middle East, or frankly anywhere.
• Let’s move on.
• I have two tales of congressional maps… one happy, and one very sad.
• Yesterday, a federal judge ordered Georgia to draw new congressional and state legislative maps, ruling that state legislators improperly diluted the political power of Black voters in establishing those boundaries following the 2020 census.
• The ruling by US District Judge Steve Jones could result in Democrats securing an additional seat in the US House from Georgia. Republicans currently hold nine slots in the state’s 14-member congressional delegation.
• There are several legal and political fights underway in nearly a dozen states that could determine whether the GOP retains its narrow majority in the US House after next year’s elections.
• In his ruling, Jones said Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature had violated the Voting Rights Act, the nation’s landmark civil rights law, in establishing district lines. He noted that minorities accounted for all of the state’s population growth in the past decade but said that the number of majority-Black congressional and legislative districts remained the same.
• But in North Carolina, Republicans have approved new maps that could flip multiple House seats in their favor.
• The GOP-led state General Assembly passed maps on Wednesday that alter the lines for North Carolina’s 14 U.S. House seats, changes that would give Republicans a leg up in defending their House majority in 2024.
• NC Democrats have called them out.
• “North Carolina Republicans have just enacted one of the most gerrymandered maps in the country. NC is a 50/50 state — but you wouldn’t know that from looking at the new maps — which cement an illegitimate advantage for the GOP. It’s shameful & undemocratic.” - National Democratic Redistricting Committee
• North Carolina’s congressional delegation is currently an even split between Democrats and Republicans in the House, but the new maps could help give Republicans the majority of the 14 seats.
• It’s going to be a tough fight in 2024, but I believe in you and what you can do to not give this country away to the MAGA sickness.
• Moving on.
• As we’d mentioned would be likely awhile back, a group of House Republicans from New York forced a vote on a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from the House. The vote will happen next week.
• It’s extraordinarily rare for lawmakers to try and kick a member of their own party out of Congress. They’d never do it unless Santos had become a huge liability to their own political futures.
• Santos was hit with with 10 new charges including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud earlier this month but remains a voting member of the House. he is being arraigned for those criminal accusations today in Long Island, NY.
• I know most of you are just getting to know the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Here’s another little tidbit so you can understand what kind of person he is.
• Johnson claims that states have a right to ban "sex of any kind outside the marriage of one man and one woman."
• So the GOP, which calls itself the party of small government, now wants to know exactly what kind of sex you’re having and with whom. Johnson is also a textbook Christian Nationalist who believes the USA has an official religion, and it’s conveniently the one he believes in.
• This is yet another example of why it’s essential that we flip the House and maintain the Senate and the Presidency in 2024.
• I’ve told you for years that the MAGA folks would be prying into your bedroom, trying to take away contraception, forcing women to give birth, removing the Constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex or a different race, taking away your Social Security and Medicare, and much more. If you thought I was being an extremist then, just listen to them today. They’ll openly tell you.
• I want to bring up an important example of how things are changing rapidly, and perhaps a sign of how things can go in next year’s election cycle if we stay strong and do it right.
• Last week I mentioned the municipal election in Franklin, TN, which is a wealthy suburb of Nashville that Donnie Dump carried by 26 points in 2020. Franklin is as red as red gets.
• Despite that, the MAGA candidate for mayor, along with a slate of MAGA alderman candidates were destroyed at the polls. Like, utterly crushed.
• The entire country as a whole is sick of this MAGA shit. And every Republican signed on to the MAGA team this week when they unanimously voted to have Mike Johnson (R-LA) be our new Speaker of the House.
• As I mentioned last week, I’ll be compiling a state-by-state guide to 2024 where we can look at each House and Senate race and see which seats are vulnerable, which are flippable, and what we can do together to stir up a beautiful new Blue Wave.
• Moving on.
• Hey, this is neat.
• A Chinese J-11 fighter jet flew within 10 feet of an American B-52 bomber operating in international airspace over the Pacific this week, passing beneath the bomber’s wing and disappearing from the pilot’s view.
• It was a highly unsafe maneuver that risked causing a midair collision, officials said. The encounter happened at night.
• You know, one small slip in a situation like that, and we suddenly have a major international conflict going on.
• And now, The Weather: “Roadflower” by Helena Deland
• Rest in peace to Angelo Bruschini, the English guitarist best known for his work with Bristol trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack. has died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 62.
• Angelo joined the band in 1997 in time to create Mezzanine, Massive Attack's most commercially successful album.
• Got a happy little story with the offspring of two ‘90s icons. On October 7, Frances Bean Cobain (the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love) was married to Riley Hawk (the son of legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk).
• The ceremony was officiated by R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, who is Frances’ godfather. Wow.
• There’s a new way to describe Taylor Swift in one word: billionaire.
• Per Bloomberg, Swift’s total net worth is now at $1.1 billion, thanks to a record-breaking Eras tour that helped boost the US economy this summer. They say Swift is one of the few entertainers in history to reach that status based on just her music and performance.
• Cool. Well done, Tay.
• Got a chart for you. It’s late October 1974. I am five years old. I am — even at the time — aware of and enjoy many of these songs, because we almost constantly have music playing in the house, the car, wherever. Thanks Mom.
• 1. I Honestly Love You (Olivia Newton-John). 2. Nothing From Nothing (Billy Preston). 3. Then Came You (Dionne Warwicke & Spinners). 4. Beach Baby (First Class). 5. You Haven't Done Nothin (Stevie Wonder). 6. Another Saturday Night (Cat Stevens). 7. The Bitch Is Back (Elton John). 8. Never My Love (Blue Swede). 9. Earache My Eye (Cheech & Chong Featuring Alice Bowie). 10. Can't Get Enough (Bad Company). 11.Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight) (Tony Orlando & Dawn). 12. Stop And Smell The Roses (Mac Davis). 13. Skin Tight (Ohio Players). 14. You Little Trustmaker (The Tymes). 15. Jazzman (Carole King). 16. Do It Baby (The Miracles). 17. Love Me For A Reason (The Osmonds). 18. Clap For The Wolfman (The Guess Who). 19. Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd). 20. Tin Man (America)
• From the Sports Desk… the World Series starts tonight with the Texas Rangers hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game starts at 8pm ET, with Texas favored pretty heavily.
• Also from the Sports Desk… the Buccaneers had a chance to have a big upset in last night’s game against the Buffalo Bills when Baker Mayfield threw a Hail Mary pass as time expired, but the refs didn’t see (or chose not to see) a bunch of pass interference instances. Oh well.
• Here are the current leaders of each NFL division: AFC East: Miami Dolphins (5-2). AFC North: Baltimore Ravens (5-2). AFC South: Jacksonville Jaguars (5-2). AFC west: Kansas City Chiefs (6-1). NFC East: Philadeplhia Eagles (6-1). NFC North: Detroit Lions (5-2). NFC South: Atlanta Falcons (4-3). NFC West: San Francisco 49ers (5-2).
• Today in history… Æthelstan, the first king of all England, dies and is succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I — my 34th great-grandfather (939). Founding of the city of Amsterdam (1275). Philadelphia is founded in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1682). United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida (1810). The first underground New York City Subway line opens, later designated as the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (1904). Mrs Wallis Simpson obtains her divorce, which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (1936). NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1 (1961). By refusing to agree to the firing of a nuclear torpedo at a US warship, Vasily Arkhipov averts nuclear war (1962). The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire (1971). United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay (1992). A gunman opens fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue killing 11 and injuring six, including four police officers (2018).
• October 27 is the birthday of writer Mary Sidney (1561), composer Niccolò Paganini (1782), businessman Isaac Singer (1811), US president Theodore Roosevelt (1858), poet Dylan Thomas (1914), actress Nanette Fabray (1920), artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923), Watergate lawyer H. R. Haldeman (1926), poet Sylvia Plath (1932), singer/pianist Floyd Kramer (1933), actor John Cleese (1939), mob boss John Gotti (1940), race car driver Dick Trickle (1941), actress Carrie Snodgress (1945), bass player Garry Tallent (1949), guitarist/songwriter K. K. Downing (1951), actor Roberto Benigni (1952), actor Robert Picardo (1953), singer-songwriter Simon Le Bon (1958), NBA player Yi Jianlian (1984), NFL player Brady Quinn (1984), and NBA player Lonzo Ball (1997).

That’s enough news for now. I hope you have a good day. I also hope I have a good day. IT’s hard to know at 7am what the day will be like. As I said up top, I’m hopeful. I refuse to be otherwise. Enjoy your day.