Random News: October 30, 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 30, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I’m up before the sun to bring you the latest information that may be useful. Okay, I’m up because I have a job and meetings and shit like the, but also for the news.

• Lots going on with the Creamsicle Criminal at the moment.
• Last night before I went to bed, I saw the happy news that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the federal case charging El Dumpo with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, reimposed a gag order barring him from making public comments targeting prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses.
• After issuing the order on October 20, she had temporarily lifted the gag order as she considered the former president's request to keep it on hold while he challenges the restrictions on his speech in higher courts.
• But then Trump fucked himself, as usual. Chutkan agreed to reinstate the order after prosecutors cited Trump's recent social media comments about his former chief of staff they said represented an attempt to influence and intimidate a likely witness in the case.
• Two separate judges have now imposed orders mandating that he rein in his speech, with the jurist presiding over a civil fraud trial in New York issuing a monetary fine last week.
• The gag order is actually very narrow. It only says Dumpy can’t try to intimidate the prosecutors, court staff, and witnesses. This is typical in any criminal trial of this nature. You wouldn’t be allowed to threaten your ex-wife while going through a child custody hearing, for example.
• Dumpy didn’t take it well. 
• He posted immediately after, "The Corrupt Biden Administration just took away my First Amendment Right To Free Speech. NOT CONSTITUTIONAL! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN…"
• Suck it, Don.
• But wait. Moving over to the great state of Colorado, a Denver court will hear arguments this morning in a lawsuit seeking to bar Dumples the Clown from the state’s 2024 ballot over his role in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
• The trial begins after Colorado Judge Sarah Wallace last week rejected the latest attempt by Dumpy to toss the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of six voters in Denver district court last month.
• The lawsuit cites Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states no person may hold office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after swearing under oath to support and defend the Constitution.
• Dump’s lawyers tried to argue that Congress, not the courts, has the authority to handle questions about ballot eligibility. They also claimed that state election officials don’t have the authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
• Arguments rejected.
• Will this actually keep him off the ballot? Who the fuck even knows at this point?
• My final piece of Dump-o news is purely for comedy. He was giving a speech in Sioux City, IA yesterday, and came out to his adoring crowd and said, “Hello to a place where we’ve done very well, Sioux Falls. Thank you very much.”
• Sioux Falls? That’s in North Dakota. BOOOOOOOOOOO!
• Let’s move on to something actually important, which is a global rise in antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
• Today, the Biden administration is announcing new actions aimed at combating a dangerous scourge of antisemitic incidents on college campuses across the country.
• The White House highlighted a series of steps taken by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education, including engagement with campus law enforcement officials.
• Over this past weekend, a series of antisemitic threats were made against Cornell University’s Jewish community in online posts. At many universities, students are engaging in fervent protests over Israel’s actions after the Hamas attack.
• The Justice Department’s Community Relations Service is providing support to Jewish, Muslim, Arab and other impacted communities.
• Globally, things are much worse.
• Yesterday, a mob in Russia stormed the airport in the region of Dagestan after a plane from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv landed there.
• Hundreds of angry men rushed onto the tarmac of the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, looking for Jews.
• Video and photos on social media showed some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and some trying to overturn a police car. Others held hand-written banners saying “Child killers are not welcome in Dagestan” and “We’re against Jewish refugees.”
• Let me tell you something: singling out any group of people for punishment, by religion or race or ethnicity or national origin or gender or sexual orientation or age or fucking ANYTHING, is wrong 100% of the time.
• This morning’s news from the war shows Israeli troops and tanks attacked Gaza's main northern city from both sides today, three days after they began a major ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave that has drawn more international calls for civilians to be protected.
• Israel’s military said it had struck more than 600 militant targets over the past few days as it expanded ground operations in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian civilians are in dire need of fuel, food and clean water as the war enters its fourth week.
• No one really wins wars. Ever.
• Let’s do some good news.
• All three major automakers — Ford, Stellantis, and as of an hour ago, General Motors — have come to a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union.
• Terms of the GM deal are not yet known, but it is expected to be along the lines of the deals already announced at Ford and Stellantis, including an immediate 11% raise in the top hourly wage rate, additional pay hikes totaling another 14% during the four-and-a-half years of the contract, as well as a return of the cost-of-living adjustment meant to protect workers from rising prices.
• Good for them. Workers of the world, unite!
• Let’s talk abut Delaware, whose voters are leaning toward electing its first Black senator and the first openly transgender member of Congress.
• Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is leading by 10 points among registered Democratic voters. And State Sen. Sarah McBride so far has a plurality of support to replace Blunt Rochester in the U.S. House at-large seat.
• Both races are safe blue seats that will likely be decided in the primary elections on September 10, 2024.
• Blunt Rochester would be the first Black person and first woman to represent Delaware in the Senate.
• That’s where we’re going to win… at the polls. Blue Wave 2024!
• And now, The Weather: “TBD (The Big Death)” by Meagre Martin
• I’m sure a lot of us are still sad about the passing of Matthew Perry over the weekend. Social media voice Charlotte Clymer mentioned a great scene from ‘Friends’ that many of us recall.
• There was an episode where the group was trying to force Chandler and Monica to be open about their budding relationship, and Chandler and Phoebe were playing romantic chicken to try to psyche each other out. The dialogue went as such…
• PHOEBE: "So, this is my bra."
• CHANDLER: ”It’s very nice. I'm very happy we're gonna have all the sex."
• PHOEBE: ”You should be. I'm very bendy."
• Funny scene, funny guy. One thing about being an actor or musician or artist… your work lives on way after you’re gone. The better episodes of ‘Friends’ will still be funny 100 years from now.
• From the Sports Desk… the Vikings beat the Packers 24-10 yesterday, but it was a Pyrrhic victory because in the process, Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins may have had a season-ending right Achilles tear.
• The team will likely confirm soon. The Vikings started 0-3, worked their way back to 4-4, and now? Guess they’ll see how rookie Jaren Hall works out.
• Today in history… Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates (758). Simón Bolívar becomes President of the Third Republic of Venezuela (1817). Orson Welles broadcasts a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's ‘The War of the Worlds’, causing a massive panic in some of the audience in the United States (1938). Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the baseball color line (1945). President Eisenhower approves the top-secret document NSC 162/2 concerning the maintenance of a strong nuclear deterrent force against the Soviet Union (1953). The Soviet Union detonates the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful explosive device ever detonated (1961). Quebec citizens narrowly vote (50.58% to 49.42%) in favor of remaining a province of Canada in their second referendum on national sovereignty (1995). Sweden becomes the first European Union member state to officially recognize the State of Palestine (2014).
• October 30 is the birthday of US president John Adams (1735), poet Ezra Pound (1885), bodybuilder Charles Atlas (1893), actress Ruth Gordon (1896), journalist Fred W. Friendly (1915), trumpeter/composer Clifford Brown (1930), film director Louis Malle (1932), NFL coach Dick Vermeil (1936), singer-songwriter Grace Slick (1939), actor Henry Winkler (1945), journalist Andrea Mitchell (1946), drummer Chris Slade (1946), singer-songwriter/bass player Timothy B. Schmit (1947), singer-songwriter/guitarist Gavin Rossdale (1965), umm… Ivanka Trump (1981), NFL player Trent Edwards (1983), and NBA player Devin Booker (1996).

It’s rather chilly (for here) this morning, so I need to get used to working out in a somewhat cold room. Turn on the heat? Are you insane? Enjoy your day.