Random News: October 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 October 3, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. And whew, I have a busy day ahead with a lot of work shit going on, groceries to shop for, and a show to do tonight in Second Life. But, ya know, you only get one life so you might as well make the most of whatever time you have. Sometimes it be that way. Let’s do some news…

• In the “news you knew was coming” file, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a resolution yesterday evening to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his seat.
• It’s likely we’ll know whether McCarthy will keep his seat in the next day or two.
• When McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House in January, he did it with provision that a single person can force the House to consider removing the speaker. Now Gaetz, who’s been waiting for this opportunity, is trying to get rid of the GOP leader.
• Gaetz’s reasoning is that Kevin relied on Democratic votes to pass the temporary budget, which is exactly what happened on Saturday after McCarthy could not get a majority of Republicans to support various proposals to fund the government with only GOP votes.
• The ultimate irony: it’s not at all clear that Gaetz has the necessary 218 votes to remove McCarthy without (drum roll please)… relying on Democratic votes. Both Gaetz and McCarthy have claimed they will not turn the the Dems to accomplish their goals in this matter. Heh.
• So what will Democrats do… save McCarthy or let him be eaten by his own party? I wonder what sort of deals might be in the works right this moment to help make that decision easier?
• If McCarthy is successfully removed, both Democrats and Republicans worry they will be in a speakership election fight that could drag on for days, blunting progress on passing full year appropriation bills before government funding runs out in mid-November.
• Which — a government shutdown — is also something that Gaetz badly wants. Life is interesting, isn’t it?
• Moving on to the first day of the New York trial of El Dumpo. He sat in the court with his arms crossed and a sour look of fear on his face for most of AG attorney Kevin Wallace’s presentation to Judge Arthur Engoron.
• Wallace said Trump overvalued his financial statements by $812 million to $2.2 billion, knew that they were false, and used them to obtain loans at terms he was not entitled to and other benefits.
• “We’re going to be here for months with a judge that already made up his mind. It’s ridiculous,” Trump whined during a lunch break. And in a rare moment of honesty, he is correct.
• Judge Engoron has already sided in part with James' office, finding last week that Trump committed repeated acts of fraud for years that included lying to banks and insurers by both overvaluing and undervaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth by billions of dollars.
• So the evidence now being presented only determines how steep of a penalty, in immediate financial punishment and ability to continue in business, that Dumpy will pay for his actions.
• Day two of this trial is already underway, resuming a few minutes ago (this is why most newspeople don’t live on the west coast… we’re barely showered and dressed by the time shit starts happening). 
• Little side note: Dumpinator and his crack team of lawyers were complaining that he was not given a trial by a jury of his peers in this case. The thing is, you have to request a trial as such.
• His lawyer Alina Habba did not check the box to request a jury trial. As to whether or not this was due to strategy or pure incompetence is anyone’s guess.
• And no matter what what kind of blustering you heard yesterday from Dumpty Dump, it was a very bad day in court for him and it’s going to keep getting worse.
• Enough on that, for now.
• I don’t cover stuff like this very much — you get enough of the shittiest news from every other source — but the ends on a high note.
• Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old girl who went missing while on a camping trip at a New York state park two days ago, has been found safe, and kidnapping suspect Craig Ross Jr. has been arrested and charged.
• Few specifics were given, but she’s been found, is reportedly in good health, and far too many times these things end up with a body being found, so it’s already infinitely better than it cold have been.
• In other crime news… 
• Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) got jacked. He was held up at gunpoint while his car was stolen in Washington last night.
• Cuellar parked his car about a mile from the Capitol when he was approached by three armed people. The 68-year-old congressman's phone and iPad were also taken. Fortunately, he was unharmed and his vehicle was later recovered.
• Moving on…
• Yesterday, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) announced that the State Land Department has terminated one of the Saudi-owned Fondomonte Arizona, LLC's four leases. She also said the State will not renew the company's other three leases which will in February 2024.
• “It’s unacceptable that Fondomonte has continued to pump unchecked amounts of groundwater out of our state while in clear default on their lease. I’m proud my administration has taken swift action to hold defaulting high-volume water users accountable and bring an end to these leases. And moving forward, I will continue to do everything in my power to protect Arizona’s water so we can continue to sustainably grow for generations to come.”
• Well done!
• In other news, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded today to three scientists who look at electrons in atoms during the tiniest of split seconds.
• Pierre Agostini of Ohio State University, Ferenc Krausz of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, and Anne L'Huillier of Lund University in Sweden won the award.
• They “have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy,” which sounds pretty fucking awesome to me.
• Moving on… to a follow-up from a story a couple of months back.
• The asshole police chief of Marion, KS who directed searches of a publisher and his newsroom over its retrieval of public information has resigned. Marion Mayor David Mayfield suspended Gideon Cody on Thursday, and Cody resigned yesterday.
• As you may recall, Cody used his five-member force and help from Marion County sheriff's deputies to launch searches of the Marion County Record newsroom, as well as the homes of its publisher. The paper’s co-owner Joan Meyer, 98, died of stress caused by the questionable raid.
• I still think Cody should face charges over violating the protected role of journalism. At least he’s out of a job for now.
• Moving on.
• And now, The Weather: “The Fire” by Meltt
• California’s new civil court process, called “CARE Court," started yesterday in seven counties as part of a massive push to address the homelessness crisis in our state.
• It’s an alternative mental health court program designed to fast-track people with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders into housing and medical care. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) created the process and lawmakers approved it, saying they needed to try something new to help those suffering in public from apparent psychotic breaks.
• Families of people diagnosed with severe mental illness rejoiced because the new law allows them to petition the court for treatment for their loved ones. Residents dismayed by the estimated 171,000 homeless people in California cheered at the possibility of getting them help and off the streets.
• However, the eligibility criteria is narrow and limited largely to people with untreated schizophrenia and related disorders. Severe depression, bipolar disorder, and addiction by itself do not qualify.
• San Francisco, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Glenn counties launched the new program yesterday. Los Angeles County will begin its program December 1.
• I’m not sure if you saw any of the footage from U2’s opening shows last weekend at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The inside of that place is kind of insane. The $2.3 billion structure features more than 1 million LED lights, so a good portion of the entire interior is like a giant spherical high-res display.
• Let’s do a chart. It’s October 1979 and these are the top 20 singles for Billboard’s Hot 100. I am in sixth grade, having just started middle school. You can see the early phases of New Wave crossing into the pop charts, with remnants of disco and pop country still abundant.
• Side note: I would win a sixth grade dance contest that December and get a vinyl copy of Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’, which included the number one hit.
• 1. Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson). 2. Rise (Herb Alpert). 3. Sad Eyes (Robert John). 4. Sail On (Commodores). 5. My Sharona (The Knack). 6. I'll Never Love This Way Again (Dionne Warwick). 7. Pop Muzik (M). 8. Dim All The Lights (Donna Summer). 9. Lonesome Loser (Little River Band). 10. After The Love Has Gone (Earth, Wind & Fire). 11. Heaven Must Have Sent You (Bonnie Pointer). 12. Cruel To Be Kind (Nick Lowe). 13. Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra). 14. You Decorated My Life (Kenny Rogers). 15. Heartache Tonight (Eagles). 16. Born To Be Alive (Patrick Hernandez). 17. Spooky (Atlanta Rhythm Section). 18. Dirty White Boy (Foreigner). 19. The Boss (Diana Ross). 20.  Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' (Journey).
• From the Sports Desk… in Monday Night Football, the Seattle Seahawks beat the shit out of the New York Giants 24-3. Seattle is good; New York is not.
• QB Geno Smith was angry at Giants linebacker Isaiah Simmons, whom Smith said tackled him in a dirty way meant to cause injury. Smith was out of the game for a short while with his knee being checked out. He was treating the knee gingerly on his return, but says he’s fine. 
• Simmons had a different take: "I really don't got much to say about it. We playing football. He's mad he got hit? What do most quarterbacks do when they don't want to get hit? They go down. I don't really know what else to tell him about that."
• Okay then.
• Today in history… Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, surrenders to the Romans under Julius Caesar (52 BC). George Washington proclaims a Thanksgiving Day for that year (1789). The last Thursday in November is declared as Thanksgiving Day by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (1863). Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque becomes the first Latin American player to appear in a World Series (1919). The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Yugoslavia by King Alexander I (1929). The Kingdom of Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom (1932). WERD, the first black-owned radio station in the United States, opens in Atlanta (1949). The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon in Australia to become the world's third nuclear power (1952). The California State Superior Court rules that the book ‘Howl and Other Poems’ is not obscene (1957). The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight (1985). The German Democratic Republic is abolished and becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany (1990). O. J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman (1995). 
• October 3 is the birthday of tribal chief John Ross (1790), novelist Thomas Wolfe (1900), novelist Gore Vidal (1925), composer Steve Reich (1936), singer-songwriter/guitarist Eddie Cochran (1938), singer-songwriter Chubby Checker (1941), poet/songwriter/activist John Perry Barlow (1947), singer-songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (1949), saxophonist Ronnie Laws (1950), musician/songwriter Keb’ Mo’ (1951), astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan (1951), MLB player Dave Winfield (1951), NFL coach Bruce Arians (1952), MLB player Dennis Eckersley (1954), minister/activist Al Sharpton (1954), singer-songwriter/guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn (1954), songwriter/bass player Allen Woody (1955), golfer Fred Couples (1959), comedian Greg Proops (1959), actor Clive Owen (1964), filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (1967), singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani (1969), actress Neve Campbell (1973), singer-songwriter India Arie (1975), songwriter/guitarist Josh Klinghoffer (1979), singer-songwriter Ashlee Simpson (1984), and rapper ASAP Rocky (1988).

Welp, I’m outta time. More news tomorrow. Enjoy your day.