Random News: November 26, 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 26, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. I’m up and about on a chilly (for here) morning, but I’ve got my coffee so we might as well get rolling on this news.

• A second group of hostages released from Gaza — comprising 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals — arrived in Israel late yesterday. Around the same time, 39 Palestinian detainees and prisoners were released from Israeli jails.
• Hamas had delayed the second exchange over a dispute about the prisoners and aid for Gaza that was resolved through mediation, according to Qatar, which helped negotiate the 4-day truce and exchange agreement between the two sides.
• Israel has been given a new list of hostages expected to be released today in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. For the first time under the deal, an American citizen is expected to be among them.
• I hope that goes smoothly.
• Moving north to a war that has continued this whole time, both Russia and Ukraine have reported thwarting major drone attacks in their respective territories.
• Russia’s claims that at least 20 drones were shot down over Russian regions, including Moscow. Ukraine says it destroyed eight of nine attack drones launched overnight by Russia.
• Ukraine has warned in recent weeks that Russia will target critical infrastructure in a winter aerial campaign, as it did last year.
• Would’t it be nice to wake up one day in your life where there was no war going on anywhere?
• Here’s hoping.
• It’s Sunday, which means it’s Gunday here at Zak’s Random News, where we look at just some of the gun violence in the USA for Friday and Saturday.
• Two shot dead in in Sacramento County, CA. Two more shot dead at Juniata Park in Philadelphia, PA. One dead, two injured in a shooting in Midtown Anchorage, AK. One dead, one injured at a shooting in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, MA. One dead, one injured at a shooting in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, CA. A 3-year-old shot dead at a hotel in Tamarac, FL. One shot dead in Jackson, MI. Another in Savannah, GA. Another in Toledo, OH. Another in Raleigh, NC. Another in Auburn, WA. Another in South St. Paul, MN. A woman dead after being accidentally shot in Laurens, SC. One shot dead on I-65 in Nashville, TN. One shot dead in the East Bluff of Peoria, IL. Five people shot at a bar and lounge in Winston-Salem, NC. Three Palestinian students shot in Burlington, VT. Three shot at a bar in Dixmoor, IL. Three shot at Katy Mills Mall in Houston, TX. Two teens shot in Public Square, Cleveland, OH. Two teens in critical condition after being shot in Sharon, PA. Two shot in Portland, OR. One in critical condition after being shot at a blues club in Memphis, TN. Another in critical condition after being shot at an apartment in Colorado Springs, CO. Another in critical condition following a shooting in Prince William County, VA. Another in critical condition after a shooting in Indianapolis, IN. A woman shot in road rage incident on the Harding Place exit ramp off of I-24 in Nashville, TN. One shot in Orlando, FL. Another in Wentzville, MO. Another in Douglasville, GA. Another in Fort Wayne, IN. Another in Appleton, WI. A boy shot at Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, WA. A man shot at a Dollar Tree in Orlando, FL. A teenager shot in Lansing, MI. A teenager shot in Cayce, SC. A baby shot in Memphis, TN.
• Once again, I’ll remind you that these are just some of the shootings in the USA. I don’t have all day to list them all. And yes, just those on Friday and Saturday.
• Guns are the number-one cause of death of children in the USA, and those shootings happen in every place in every sort of race and socioeconomic class. Can you imagine being a parent and voting for a political candidate who supports more people having guns when it’s provable the most likely way their own child will die?
• Vote accordingly. Thank you.
• Moving on.
• Rep. George Santos (R-NY), facing near-certain expulsion from Congress as early as this coming week, launched a tirade in a livestream Friday night. Santos accused his House colleagues of casting votes hungover, cheating on their spouses, and being “hypocrites.”
• Shocking, am I right? Heh.
• The three-hour-long rant came after House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest introduced a resolution to expel Santos that many of his former allies have promised to support.
• Santos added that some of his colleagues are “more worried about getting drunk every night with the next lobbyists they're going to screw” than doing their jobs. “I’m not running for reelection because I don’t want to work with a bunch of hypocrites,” he said. “It’s gross.”
• Santos may not be an expert on much, but he is definitely qualified to speak about things that are gross.
• Moving on.
• Former president and current accused felon Donald John Trump was met with loud boos as he arrived at Williams-Brice Stadium in South Carolina yesterday ahead of the Palmetto Bowl college football game between the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks and Clemson University's Tigers.
• Booooooooo!
• In other Dump News, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said he would vote for some Democratic presidential candidates as the 2024 race for the White House approaches, calling them an “upgrade” from former President Donald Trump.
• He’s right.
• And now, The Weather: “Dumb Guitar” by Mount Kimbie
• In other weather news, multiple states are under winter weather alerts across the country today as millions of Americans prepare for one of the busiest travel days of the year.
• The National Weather Service forecasted that “moderate to heavy snowfall” will continue to impact the Southern Rockies and the Central Plains regions, including most of Kansas. It said the storm system will then shift into the Mississippi Valley Region and the western Great Lakes into Monday. 
• Be safe, peoples.
• RIP to Marty Krofft, the guy who produced “Land of the Lost,” “H.R. Pufnstuf” and numerous other television shows. He died at age 86.
• Known as the “King of Saturday Mornings,” Krofft and his brother Sid dominated children’s television programming for decades. In addition to “Land of the Lost” and “H.R. Pufnstuf,” Sid & Marty Pictures produced “The Bugaloos,” “Lidsville,” “Pryor’s Place” and “The Krofft Supershow.”
• Here’s a weird list: US Presidents (or eventual Presidents) who were alive at the time I was born…
• Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994), Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006), Jimmy Carter (1924- ), Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), George H. W. Bush (1924-2018), Bill Clinton (1946 - ), George W. Bush (1946 - ), Barack Obama (1961- ), Donald Trump (1946 - ), Joe Biden (1942 - ).
• Relevant side note: Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) died just a couple of months before I was around.
• Side note two: I find it likely that the 2028 election has a high possibility of the first time we elect a US president younger than me. I can accept this. Or at least I will be able to in five years.
• From the Sports Desk… here are the ten current worst teams in the NFL.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6), Los Angeles Chargers (4-6), New York Jets (4-7), Washington Commanders (4-8), Tennessee Titans (3-7), New York Giants (3-8), Chicago Bears (3-8), New England Patriots (2-8), Arizona Cardinals (2-9), and the worst team in the NFL, the Carolina Panthers (1-9).
• This list will update considerably after today’s games.
• Today in history… Vlad the Impaler becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time (1476). In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui (1778). A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as proclaimed by President George Washington at the request of Congress (1789). United States President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November (1863). The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams (1917). Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years (1922). ‘Casablanca’ premieres in New York City (1942). George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida's electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote (2000). The World Health Organization identifies the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (2021). 
• November 26 is the birthday of physicist Rudolph Koenig (1832), policeman/journalist Bat Masterson (1853), inventor Willis Carrier (1876), AA founder/activist Bill W. (1895), cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922), actor Robert Goulet (1933), comedian Rich Little (1938), singer-songwriter Tina Turner (1939), bass player John McVie (1945), producer Michael Omartian (1945), NFL player Art Shell (1946), NBA player Shawn Kemp (1969), NHL player Chris Osgood (1972), rapper DJ Khaled (1975), and NBA player Malik Beasley (1996).

My plan for the day? Not much of one. I have laundry to do and some general housekeeping, and that’s about it. Not every moment has to be glamorous or exciting. Enjoy your day.