Random News: November 12, 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 November 12, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. The sun is shining, the birds are… flying around and shit. I have a fresh cup of Peet’s Brazil, and I’m in a robe. Time to look at news.

• I want to start today by talking about the Senate, and taking a look at some of the 2024 Democratic incumbents in vulnerable seats who will need our help to stay in office. Let’s see who they are.
• Michigan: Debbie Stabenow (D) announced in January that she is not running for a fifth term. The obvious Dem candidate to get behind is Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who will be excellent as a Senator. The field of GOP opponents already getting crowded but it likely will end up being former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI).
• Montana: incumbent is Jon Tester (D), who is broadly popular in this strongly red state, and is seeking a fourth term. Tester's re-election is essential for Democrats' chances to retain the Senate majority in 2024. His GOP opponent will likely be Tim Sheehy, an aerospace exec and retired Navy SEAL.
• New Jersey: the incumbent is Bob Menendez (D), an asshole who is currently under federal indictment for federal corruption charges. He’s got to go, so this primary will be important. I like Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) to replace Menendez. New Jersey will remain safely blue in 2024; there are no current strong GOP candidates in serious contention.
• Nevada: a definitive swing state with no clear historical path of voting for one party over another in any given election. The current incumbent is Jacky Rosen (D). She’s done an excellent job so far and polls well among Nevadan voters. Her likely GOP opponent is currently Sam Brown, a U.S. Army veteran who was severely disfigured by an explosive device in Afghanistan, but there are several other contenders.
• Pennsylvania: another crucial one. The incumbent is three-term Senator Bob Casey (D). While PA currently enjoys Democratic control of both U.S. Senate seats, the Governorship, a majority of its U.S. House congressional delegation, and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, there’s no guarantee that Casey will cruise to victory. The only current declared GOP candidate is David McCormick, former U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. I like Casey’s chances here, but you remember the insanity in 2022 with Fetterman and Oz there.
• Ohio: alongside Montana and West Virginia, Ohio is one of three Democratic-held U.S. Senate seats up for election in 2024 in a state Donald Trump won in both the 2016 and 2020. The incumbent is Sherrod Brown (D), who won reelection in 2012 and 2018 and is generally popular among Ohioans. There are two GOP opponents to keep an eye on: Matt Dolan, a state senator, and Bernie Moreno, a car dealership owner (yes, I’m serious). As you recall, Republican J. D. Vance soundly defeated Democrat Tim Ryan by about 6 points in Ohio’s 2022 U.S. Senate election. Sherrod will need a boost to win in 2024.
• Virginia: incumbent Tim Kaine (D), who you may remember as Hillary Clinton’s VP candidate in 2016, is running for re-election to a third term in office. Kaine was re-elected with 57.0% of the vote in 2018. The 2024 race clearly favors Kaine, and no clear GOP contender has made strong leads in polling, endorsements, or fundraising.
• Wisconsin: Incumbent two-term senator Tammy Baldwin (D) was re-elected with 55.4% of the vote in 2018. WI is definitely a purple state; they currently have one Dem and one GOP Senator. Also, Republicans control both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature and hold a supermajority in Wisconsin's U.S. House delegation, but they re-elected Democrat Tony Evers as Governor. Again, no strong Republican candidates have offered a big challenge yet, but Baldwin will need support regardless.
• West Virginia: once a solid blue state, WV is now staunchly Republican and considered a deeply red state. Trump had a 38.93 percentage point margin of victory there in 2020, his second-strongest performance in the nation. And, as you heard this week, Joe Manchin (D) just announced he will not seek re-election to a third full term in office. Is there any hope of a Democrat holding this seat? Almost certainly not. While we have no idea who the Dem candidate will be, the GOP already has two serious contenders between Jim Justice, 36th Governor of West Virginia, and Alex Mooney, U.S. Rep (R-WV). I have to be realistic here; it would take a miracle for a Dem to retain West Virginia, but many things can happen in a year.
• My final notes for now are about two Independent Senators up for re-election.
• Arizona: the incumbent is, of course, the bizarre Kyrsten Sinema (I), who was elected in 2018 as a Democrat and then switched to Independent last December. She has not openly declared if she will run for re-election, but she filed paperwork to do so. The person I’ll be supporting 100% is Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is seeking the Democratic nomination. Who’s the GOP challenger? Only the possible worst person in the world: Kari Lake, former news anchor and failed nominee for governor in 2022. Between the uncertainty of Sinema's intentions, the state's purple lean, and the potential for a three-way race, AZ is a toss-up on everyone’s list.
• Maine: let’s wrap this up with the weirdest Senate race, featuring incumbent Angus King (I). Maine is the only state that is neither blue nor red nor… anything. Its rating is “Solid I”. I’m not even sure anyone will even be running against Angus King.
• In upcoming reports, we’ll also talk about some of the Republicans running for Senate re-election, and some plans we might use to disrupt their chances.
• Moving on… to Sunday Gunday, where we talk about some of the gun violence in the USA over the past couple of days.
• Four dead, including a SWAT officer, and two others injured after a standoff in a home in South Austin, TX. One dead and two wounded in a shooting in Charlotte, NC. One dead and one wounded in a shooting in Chicago, IL. One dead, one critically wounded in the Cylburn neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. Two food delivery drivers shot, one of them fatally, in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL. One dead at an apartment complex in the South Broadmoor neighborhood of Shreveport, LA. One dead after he was shot at a large house party west Phoenix, AZ. One dead in Albuquerque, NM. Two shot in a drive-by in the Rolando community of San Diego, CA. Two shot in Franklin, TN, with the shooter being the husband of one of the victims. One dead in a shooting in Biloxi, MS. One dead in a shooting in Brunson, SC. One dead in a shooting in Grand Rapids, MI. A teen killed in a drive-by in Tampa, FL. A high school student shot dead in Birmingham, AL. One dead in a church parking lot after threatening a pastor in Harris County, TX. A woman shot dead in the parking lot of Chili’s Grill & Bar in San Leandro, CA. One man in his mid-20s shot dead after an altercation inside a residence on the Southside of Jacksonville, FL. Six people shot during a party being hosted at an Airbnb in South Hill, WA. Two shot in Gaffney, SC — an 11-year-old child and a 74-year-old woman who is the mother of the shooter — when a guy shot nearly 40 rounds into his neighbor's home. Two shot with life-threatening injuries in Richmond, VA. Two women shot at a large gathering in Long Beach, CA. Two women shot at a gas station on the North Side of San Antonio, TX. Another two shot in Uptown Charlotte, NC. Two more shot in the West Poplar section of Philadelphia, PA. A cop critically wounded in a shooting that happened near the Virginia State U campus in Petersburg, VA. One man shot and in critical condition in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, WA. One man shot and in critical condition in Lockwood, MT. One shot and in serious condition in Toledo, OH. One shot and in serious condition in Greensboro, NC. One shot in Belle, WV. Another one shot in Huntington, WV. One shot in Columbus, GA. One shot in Harrison Township, OH. One shot in Lexington, KY.
• That’s not even half of them. I don’t have all day to do this. And yes, that’s just Friday and Saturday, the day Americans statistically love to kill each other (but far from the only days).
• Want it to stop? Elect better politicians. That’s all you have to do.
• And now, The Weather: “My Friend” by Kevin Abstract (feat. MJ Lenderman & Kara Jackson)
• From the Sports Desk… currently watching the NFL games, and they are going somewhat as expected. Thats all i’ve got.
• Today in history… Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, playing for the Allegheny Athletic Association (1892). Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union (1927). In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic (1936). Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy (1938). Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins and ends three days later with an American victory (1942). In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran (1979). The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings (1980). Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev (1982). Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web (1990). The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ends the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears (2021).
• November 12 is the birthday of entomologist Thaddeus William Harris (1795), activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815), sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840), SCOTUS justice Harry Blackmun (1908), bassist/composer Sam Jones (1924), actress/princess Grace Kelly (1929), cult leader Charles Manson (1934), actor Wallace Shawn (1943), keyboardist/composer Booker T. Jones (1944), sportscaster Al Michaels (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Neil Young (1945), singer-songwriter/guitarist Buck Dharma (1947), actress Megan Mullally (1958), MLB player Sammy Sosa (1968), figure skater/criminal Tonya Harding (1970), NBA player Corey Maggette (1979), actor Ryan Gosling (1980), actress Anne Hathaway (1982), and NBA player Russell Westbrook (1988).

Okay then. Off to do other things. Enjoy your day.