Random News: November 13, 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 13, 2023, and it’s a Monday. I’m up and showered and dressed and ready to be a productive person, but first let’s see what’s been going on.

• Another one bites the dust. Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina announced yesterday he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
• Scott was only commanding consideration from about 4% of voters, putting him in a distant fifth place behind the frontrunner, accused felon Donald John Trump.
• Shrug.
• We spent a good chunk of yesterday’s news pointing out vulnerable Democrats in the 2024 Senate race. Are there any vulnerable Republicans whose seats could flip?
• Why, yes. In some way, all of them. We’re going to need to talk about how the national debate about women’s reproductive rights will inevitably spill into the 2024 elections on a local, state, and federal level.
• But there are a couple of specific seats where Democrats should focus their efforts. 
• Texas: incumbent Senator Ted Cruz (R) is seeking a third term in office. Texas has been moving toward a leaner Republican voting tract in recent years, only considered moderately red at this point. Cruz was last reelected in 2018 by only 2.6 points, narrowly defeating Beto O’Rourke. In 2024, his likely opponent will be Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) who is very well respected and has done well in fundraising and endorsements.
• Florida: while the state has been veering more and more red each year, incumbent one-term Senator Rick Scott (R) was elected with only 50.05% of the vote in 2018. The race in 2024 still favors Scott, but former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) is gaining some traction.
• Let’s do some breaking news.
• Secret Service agents protecting President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi opened fire after three people tried to break into an unmarked Secret Service vehicle in the nation’s capital.
• The agents were out with her in the Georgetown neighborhood late last night when they saw the three people breaking a window of the parked and unoccupied SUV.
• No one was struck by the gunfire. The three people were seen fleeing in a red car. I mean, talk about bad choices. Of all the cars to burglarize, you choose the one that’s going to fuck you up more than any other in a whole city.
• Moving on.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is already losing his first big clash with the far-right lawmakers who are making the Republican majority and the nation ungovernable as time races down to yet another federal funding cut-off and government shutdown.
• Every week of the House Republican majority’s term since the summer has been wasted on this one issue. the people will remember this going into next year’s election cycle.
• Over the weekend, Johnson unveiled a complex two-tiered plan to temporarily fund the government, with a pair of deadlines in January and February for the passage of permanent department budgets.
• The two-step approach appears to be a concession to the far right, but it may already have backfired since it lacks the sweeping cuts that hard-right Republicans demanded even though they have no chance of getting them past a Democratic-run Senate and White House.
• So basically, it’s the same scenario that caused the right wing to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his job. It’s pointless, it hurts Americans, and the far-right doesn’t care one bit.
• In another political news tidbit, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), a former CIA officer and swing-district Democrat, announced this morning that she will not seek a fourth term next year and will instead run for Virginia governor in 2025.
• She’s the first candidate from either party to formally jump into the contest. She is running to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who is barred by the state constitution from serving back-to-back terms.
• I’m sure the results of Tuesday’s big Democratic victory in VA had something to do with this. Youngkin had hoped to ride a big GOP victory in the state into a presidential run. That didn’t happen. Heh.
• But wait. I have some more political news, this one in the comedy file.
• Jacob Chansley, who gained notoriety as the “QAnon Shaman” when he was part of the mob of insurrectionists on January 6, 2021, filed paperwork to run for Congress as a Libertarian candidate in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.
• As you likely recall, Chansley stood out among the Capitol rioters by appearing shirtless with face paint, wearing a furry headdress with horns and carrying a U.S. flag affixed to a spear and a bullhorn.
• Fucking douchebag. Chansley served about 27 months in prison before he was transferred to a halfway house in Phoenix in March.
• Let’s move on.
• Former president and current accused criminal Donnie “El Dumpo” Dump paid homage to Adolf Hitler over the weekend in a speech where he said,“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”
• That speech was nearly a word-for-word copy of those that Hitler gave during his rise to power, including the use of the word “vermin” to refer to Jews.
• Let’s just move on.
• I want to once again mention the futility of polls a year out from an election. On this date in 1983, Ronald Reagan’s approval rate was awful at 37%. He had one of the highest margins of victory when re-elected in 1984.  On this date in 1991, George H. W. Bush was enjoying an 87% approval rate in the polls. He would lose badly to Bill Clinton in 1992. On this date in 2011, Barack Obama’s approval was just a few points higher than Biden’s is now. Obama destroyed Romney in the 2012 election.
• Do not allow any stupid poll make you think there no path forward. Let’s keep rolling with optimism and enthusiasm in 2024.
• I did not mention the massive pallet yard fire in Downtown LA over the weekend that caused the closure of the 10 freeway. Normally I don’t cover local events, but this is kind of a big deal.
• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass held a 6AM news conference this morning to update Angelenos on the freeway closure. Over 300,000 people each day would usually be commuting on that portion of the freeway.
• All I have to say is that I’m very grateful I don’t have to drive through DTLA to get where I need to go. It’s gonna be a mess for a good while.
• And now, The Weather: “Echo Park” by Group Hug
• Let’s do a heartwarming story out of Houston, TX, where on Saturday, a cop was shot by a carjacking suspect on the Southwest Freeway.
• John Lally sprung into action and after jumping from his truck, dragged the wounded officer out of the range of gunfire at great personal risk. He’s being heralded as a hero by Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.
• Lally was on his way to work when the gunfire erupted. "I was like man, let me record what's going on just in case my job doesn't believe me," he said.
• The cop, whose life was likely saved by Lally, had surgery on his leg and will be fine. He's 29 and has been with HPD for five years, and has a 20-month-old baby.
• Lally said he’s has many run-ins with the law, but, “This is somebody's life, so at the end of the day, I think we should all do anything and everything that we can to help people.”
• Good job, bro.
• From the Sports Desk… someone has pointed out that everyone who catches balls from QB Derek Carr (Saints) gets arrested. Some of his wide receivers over the years include Antonio Brown, Henry Ruggs III, Mike Thomas, and Chris Olave, all of whom have faced varying degrees of legal issues.
• Carr himself got injured and had to leave the game yesterday.
• Today in history… Louis VII of France and Adela of Champagne, my 28th great-grandparents, get married (1160). The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle (1851). The United States Supreme Court upholds mandatory vaccinations for public school students in Zucht v. King (1922). The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City (1927). The Supreme Court of the United States declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal (1956). The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles (1947). Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death (1969). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans (1982). Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union (1994). Hawaii legalizes same-sex marriage (2013). Islamic State operatives carry out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, including suicide bombings, mass shootings and a hostage crisis (2015).
• November 13 is the birthday of novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850), SCOTUS justice Louis Brandeis (1856), Mexican railroad brakeman Jesús García (1881), actor Jack Elam (1920), film/TV producer Garry Marshall (1934), musician Ray Wylie Hubbard (1946), actor Joe Mantegna (1947), musician Terry Reid (1949), actor Chris Noth (1954), actress Whoopi Goldberg (1955), NFL player Vinnie Testaverde (1963), TV host Jimmy Kimmel (1967), and actor Gerard Butler (1969).

I suppose that’s enough for now. Enjoy your day.