Random News: October 7, 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 7, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. I”m in my robe, I’ve got a big, hot cup of delicious coffee, so let’s see what’s worth seeing.

• Yesterday, two directly-conflicting news articles came out simultaneously. One headline read, “Kevin McCarthy considers resigning from the House before the end of his term,” and the other read “McCarthy denies reports he’s leaving Congress.”
• McCarthy also added that he has talked to both Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, who are running for his former seat, but would not endorse anyone when pressed. Asked about former President Donnie Doo Doo’s endorsement of Jordan, McCarthy said: “Only members vote, and I think members sit down and can make their decision.”
• That is accurate.
• The presumed front-runner is indeed Jordan. Here’s a reminder that assuming all Dems vote as a block and unite behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), as you can be sure they will, it would take just five centrist Republicans to block Jordan in a formal speaker vote on the House floor.
• We’ll see how that goes sometime this coming week. Just so you’re aware of the math, it also means that if five Republicans defected, they cold actually elect Jeffries as Speaker.
• Don’t hold your breath for that, but it could, at least in theory, happen.
• Bit of an embarrassing moment for Fox News regarding the Speaker vacancy.
• Fox announced that Bret Baier would be hosting a Monday debate with House Majority Leader Scalise (R-LA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK).
• Then all three of them backed out. They’re not idiots; airing their dirt in public wasn’t going to help any of them. Fox had to do a lame “Whoops, sorry,” to their viewers.
• As vile and despicable and deplorable as Jordan is, there could be an upside if he’s installed as Speaker. Political pundits have publicly predicted that Jordan being speaker will result the Democrats picking up 15-20 seats in 2024.
• Now that’s a Blue Wave. We should be aiming for that or more regardless.
• In our continuing coverage of the participants in the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt against the United States, meet Shane Jenkins.
• This fucking guy is a member of the jailhouse choir that got promoted by former president and current felony defendant Donald Trump and his allies.
• Jenkins used a tomahawk he brought with him from Texas to smash a window on the West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol, and was caught on video shouting “we paid for it, it’s our fucking building.”
• That breach gave rioters access to senators’ offices, which were trashed and ransacked. Jenkins was convicted at trial on eight felony charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison. It’s really not enough; prosecutors had asked for a sentence of over 19 years.
• Moving on.
• Jeff McConney, the former controller of the Trump Organization, says that Eric Trump directed him to make certain decisions that led to the inflated valuations of several Trump properties.
• McConney, who is also a co-defendant in the fraud case against El Dumpo, Dumpy Junior, and L’il Eric Dump, testified yesterday as the first week of the civil fraud trial came to an end.
• Eric is in serious trouble. It goes without saying that if his father can throw him under the bus to avoid his own punishment, he will do so in a heartbeat.
• Moving on to another person who fucked around and is finding out.
• A condo owned by Rudy Giuliani in Palm Beach, FL, has been placed under a federal tax lien by the Internal Revenue Service as he owes more than a half-million dollars in unpaid income taxes.
• The tax lien for $549,435.26 is the latest sign of Giuliani’s financial struggles as he faces millions of dollars in legal bills amid a number of lawsuits and criminal charges. The former New York City mayor has publicly mentioned in court his struggle to pay for mounting legal fees and adverse court decisions, while even more are expected to pile up in the future.
• Remember when he was a respected person before he attached himself to Dumpy and developed a horrible alcoholism problem? It’s hard to even recall the person he once was.
• Let’s move on to some good news about the UAW.
• United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said yesterday that Ford, General Motors and Stellantis will all avert an expansion of the UAW’s work stoppages at this time, suggesting the unprecedented strikes against all three could be nearing an end.
• Fain said the union had a major breakthrough in talks with GM on a key bargaining goal concerning the future of auto jobs. GM agreed to have the workers at its future EV battery plants be covered by the national labor agreement governing other UAW members at GM.
• Now back to shitty people.
• Members of a Florida family who claimed they had a "miracle" cure for COVID-19 that contained a toxic bleach were sentenced to federal prison yesterday.
• Mark Grenon, 66, and his three sons -- Jonathan Grenon, 37, Jordan Grenon, 29, and Joseph Grenon, 36 -- were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug. The federal jury also found Jonathan and Jordan Grenon guilty of contempt of court following a trial this summer.
• Fuck them.
• A federal judge in Tulsa, OK declined to stop a new law from taking effect that makes it a felony crime for health care workers in the state to provide gender-affirming medical care to young transgender people.
• U.S. District Court Judge John Heil III wrote that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that parents have a fundamental right to choose such medical care for their children.
• Fuck him too. Let’s get something positive in here.
• Jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for fighting against women's oppression in Iran and advocating for human rights.
• The Iranian regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. 
• Mohammadi, 51, worked as an engineer and a columnist for various newspapers. She was first arrested in 2011 for assisting jailed activists and their families. After her release, she spent two years on bail and then began campaigning against Iran's death penalty laws, for which she was arrested again in 2015.
• Upon her return to prison, she began opposing the regime's systematic use of torture and sexualized violence against political prisoners and especially women. I’m glad to see she’s been recognized for her incredible bravery.
• And keep in mind: there’s a faction right here in the USA who believes in things like a forced single religion and institutionalized rules about gender norms and sexuality.
• They’re called MAGA Republicans. They want to Make America Iran Again.
• And now, The Weather: “Honey” by PACKS
• From the Sports Desk… here in week 5 of the NFL season, there remain only two undefeated team, with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers both at 4-0. 
• Teams with three wins include the Bills, Dolphins, Ravens, Chiefs, Cowboys, Lions, Buccaneers, and Seahawks.
• Just one team remains winless: the Carolina Panthers, who look just… awful.
• Today in history… The epoch reference date origin of the modern Hebrew calendar (3761 BC). The charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued (1691). King George III issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements (1763). American militia defeat royalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson in South Carolina (1780). Cornell University holds opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment is 412, the highest at any American university to that date (1868). Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving vehicle assembly line (1913). Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history (1916). The McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States (1940). The U.S. manned space-flight project is renamed Project Mercury (1958). Four men from the Palestine Liberation Front hijack the MS Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt (1985). Fox News Channel begins broadcasting (1996). Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming (1998). The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and covert operations on the ground (2001). Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan, the first time an asteroid impact is detected prior to its entry into earth's atmosphere (2008).
• October 7 is the birthday of writer John Marston (1576), composer William Billings (1746), musician/comedian Uncle Dave Macon (1870), activist Joe Hill (1879), physicist Neils Bohr (1885), religious leader Elijah Muhammad (1897), Nazi Heinrich Himmler (1900), actress June Allyson (1917), archbishop/activist Desmond Tutu (1931), TV host Joy Behar (1942), USMC colonel/war criminal Oliver North (1943), singer-songwriter Kevin Godley (1945), singer-songwriter/guitarist John Mellencamp (1951), politician Vladimir Putin (1952), cellist/educator Yo-Yo Ma (1955), audio engineer/producer Mike Shipley (1956), TV host Simon Cowell (1959), activist/journalist Dan Savage (1964), singer-songwriter Toni Braxton (1967), singer-songwriter/guitarist Thom Yorke (1968), NFL player Charles Woodson (1976), singer-songwriter/guitarist Lockett Pundt (1982), rapper/producer Flying Lotus (1983), MLB player Evan Longoria (1985), and MLB player Mookie Betts (1992).

That seems like enough, and I need to take a shower and do things. Enjoy your day.