Random News: November 5, 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 5, 2023, and it’s a Sunday. If you’re like me, despite your best efforts, you probably woke up earlier than you’d hoped today. That being said, it’s foggy and weird and quiet here in Redondo Beach at 7am on a Sunday, but I have my coffee so let’s do some news.

• A massive crowd of demonstrators converged in Washington, D.C. yesterday to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, as the death toll in Gaza climbed past 9,200 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned away American requests for a humanitarian pause in the fighting.
• Similar demonstrations occurred in New York, London, Paris, and elsewhere.
• On Friday, protesters at the Port of Oakland in California scaled a U.S. military vessel believed to be headed to Israel. In Europe, multiple people were arrested in London yesterday afternoon as a surge of hundreds of demonstrators shut down the Oxford Circus shopping and tourist district, blocking streets and chanting slogans in support of the Palestinian people.
• War is always much more complex than most people understand, but people’s reactions are much easier to figure out.
• Most people are horribly binary, and lack the ability to comprehend that issues can have more than one side. They’d prefer life to be more like a football game, where you root for one team with 100% of your effort.
• Life isn’t like that, or at least very rarely.
• So by saying that Hamas had no right to behead children and kidnap peaceful citizens in Israel, and by also saying that Israel’s overly aggressive military response has resulted in far too much civilian death and destruction, all I’m doing is stating facts. That’s not a position or an opinion or “taking a side”; I can say both things with equal belief and back up both statements with both current and historical evidence.
• But, as I said, most people do not seem to have this ability. They are binary, like machines instead of human beings. This or that. Black or white. Male or female. Gay or straight. Red or blue. Old or young. On or off. 1 or 0.
• And that’s why, when I sympathize with the real victims of the Israel/Hamas conflict, I refer to all people whose lives are destroyed by powers they cannot control. I don’t give a shit what side of a flimsy fence they’re on, or what language they speak, or where they go to church.
• So, no judgement on those who protest, and no judgement on those who believe Israel can do no wrong. Nothing I can say will change your mind. I think you’re all missing the bigger picture which is that terrorism and violent military conflict are both always inherently wrong under all circumstances.
• And finally, if you think there’s literally no other way to solve issues, you’ve been indoctrinated by those who personally benefit from pain and bloodshed, and they’re laughing at all of you.
• Moving on.
• It’s Sunday Gunday here at Zak’s Random News, where we look at just some of the gun violence in the United States that’s happened over the past couple of days.
• Is this literally all of the shootings? Nah, not even close. Just a portion of them that I see after a short scroll through news on a Sunday morning, and only those from Friday and Saturday, which are the days when Americans really love to shoot each other.
• An 11-year-old boy killed and six more people injured after a shooting in the West End of Cincinnati, OH. One dead, seven wounded (some critically) in shootings on the south side of Indianapolis, IN. One dead, six wounded at an after-hours club in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, CO. One dead, three wounded at a business in Tacoma, WA. One person dead and two injured in Troup County, GA. One dead, one wounded at a shopping center in Troutman, NC. One dead, one wounded at an apartment building in Swatara Township, PA. One dead, one wounded at a shopping center in Montgomery County, MD. A teenager shot dead in the parking lot of his high school in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis, IN. One shot dead in the East Hills neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. One shot dead in the Central City area of New Orleans, LA. One shot dead in a home in Wake County, NC. One shot dead in NE Albuquerque, NM. One shot dead on the Southwest Side of Chicago, IL. One woman dead following an accidental shooting in Sparta, GA. One shot dead at a Motel 6 in central Tallahassee, FL. One shot dead in the Cheviot suburb of Cincinnati, OH. Five shot during a motorcycle rally in Galveston, TX. Three people in critical condition after a shooting at a bar in Dyersburg, TN. Two people in critical condition after a shooting the Ventura Village area of Minneapolis, MN. Three shot, one critically, in Speedway, IN. Two teens shot near Fairfield High School in Fairfield, AL. Two shot in Greensboro, NC. One shot and in critical condition in Uptown Charlotte, NC. One shot and in critical condition in east Wichita, KS. One shot in Winston-Salem, NC. One shot in Savannah, GA. One shot in downtown Memphis, TN. One shot in Manitowoc, WI. One shot in Raleigh, NC. One shot in South Boston, MA. A teenager shot in a drive-by in Oakland Park, FL. A man shot in a drive-by on the east side of San Antonio, TX. A man shot in Portland neighborhood of Louisville, KY. Another one shot in northwest Kalamazoo, MI.
• So, that’s a pretty typical Friday and Saturday’s worth of gun violence in the USA. Trust me, I track this shit. This is normal weekend in the USA. It’s a remarkable coincidence that the majority of these shootings happen in places with lax laws regarding gun ownership.
• Let’s move on.
• Today’s date is November 5, meaning that it’s exactly one year to the calendar day that we’ll be having our 2024 general election.
• I’ll use this opportunity to ask you to please confirm your voter registration status and make sure you haven’t been purged from the voter rolls in your area. It just takes a minute. I’ll put a link in the comments to help.
• And I’ll add this: choosing not to vote isn’t a protest. It’s a surrender. It’s saying that you want other people to make your decisions for you, and that like a weak-minded slave, you will just abide by whatever anyone else wants regardless of how terribly it affects you and the people and things you love.
• Fucking vote. Vote every time you can. Thank you.
• To that end, there are important elections happening this very week, on Tuesday November 7, in states across the country. Especially in places like Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and Mississippi, issues and candidates are on the ballot that will affect the whole nation moving forward.
• In other news…
• The judge in the civil fraud trial against El Dumpo and the Dump Org has issued a gag order on Dumpy’s lawyers, citing their repeated, inappropriate remarks about court staff and the hundreds of threats that the court has received since the trial began.
• In his ruling on Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron said Dumpy’s lawyers had singled out his principal law clerk, falsely accusing her of bias against them and of improperly influencing the ongoing bench trial.
• Dumpy and his team of lawyers have been fixated on Engoron’s clerk. El Dumpo has already been fined twice for violating the order, to the tune of $15,000, and could face more severe punishment for contempt of court should he continue, which I am sure he will.
• I have another fascinating piece of Dumpy news for ya.
• At a rally tomorrow night, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is going to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary. Reynolds initially indicated she would likely remain neutral in the GOP primary race, but more recently has signaled willingness to back a candidate.
• Why isn’t she backing Dumpy, who leads the GOP field by far? It’s very interesting to consider.
• Finally, as a follow-up to our recent news of the bipartisan campaign to disqualify Donald John Trump from the 2024 ballot in every state based on Section 3 of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, there’s a very good chance that a top court in Minnesota, Colorado or Michigan will rule on the issue before the end of the year.
• And that ruling, whatever it be, would result in an urgent review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• The district court in Colorado is expected to deliver an initial ruling this month. Buckle up.
• Side note: this still feels like a long shot to me, but I 100% support it being pursued. That’s why we have courts and constitutional experts.
• Moving on.
• Mark McNamara, a San Jose, CA police officer, was fired after an investigation revealed he had sent disgusting text messages that demonstrated racial bias.
• "I hate black people" was one of the texts McNamara sent. He also used variations of the N-word multiple times.
• Fuck that racist piece of shit. Hopefully he doesn’t get immediately rehired by another law enforcement agency who doesn’t mind having racially biased officers… because that does happen.
• And now, The Weather: “Now and Then” by The Beatles
• Speaking of which, I want to mention something not about the song itself, but about its music video, which was directed by Peter Jackson.
• Yes, that Peter Jackson, who is probably best known as the director of both the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ film trilogies, but also the 'Beatles: Get Back’ documentary series.
• I have two distinctly different reactions to the video. One is the amazement of Jackson and his team’s compositing skills, with the video integrating footage from the band’s early days, from 1995 when McCartney, Starr, and George Harrison first attempted to record “Now and Then,” and current scenes of McCartney and Starr working on the song. Brilliant filmmaking, especially considering Jackson had never done a music video before.
• My second reaction is that is just creepy and weird to see two dead guys creating and performing along with their living bandmates. What’s the other option? I suppose you could have a video that didn’t feature any of the band members, or could do one that paid homage to John and George without portraying them as being vibrant and alive.
• Again, just a subjective thought. The video is amazing. The song is just okay for a Beatles song, but it’s cool to hear a new Beatles song of any sort in 2023, I suppose.
• From the Sports Desk… the Chiefs and Dolphins played their game in Frankfurt, Germany this morning. The Chiefs won 21-14 in a tough game.Both teams had been tied record-wise beforehand; now the Chiefs are 7-2 and the Fins are 6-3.
• Other marquee matchups in today’s NFL games: Seahawks (5-2) at Ravens (6-2), Cowboys (5-2) and Eagles (7-1), and Bills (5-3) and Bengals (4-3).
• Today in history… Guy Fawkes is arrested in the Gunpowder Plot (1605). French-American forces under Colonel LaBalme are defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle (1780). Nat Turner, American slave leader, is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Virginia (1831). In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100 (1872). Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th President of the United States, defeating incumbent William Howard Taft (1912). The Everett massacre takes place in Everett, WA as political differences lead to a shoot-out between the Industrial Workers of the World organizers and local police (1916). Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first and only President of the United States to be elected to a third term (1940). Richard Nixon is elected as 37th President of the United States (1968). Bill Clinton is reelected President of the United States (1996). The Astroworld Festival crowd crush results in 10 deaths and 25 people being hospitalized (2021).
• November 5 is the birthday of painter Anna Maria van Schurman (1607), socialist/politician Eugene V. Debs (1855), journalist Ida Tarbell (1857), writer/philosopher Will Durant (1885), astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple (1906), singer/guitarist/actor Roy Rogers (1911), actress Vivien Leigh (1913), accordionist Myron Floren (1919), singer-songwriter/guitarist Ike Turner (1931), singer-songwriter/guitarist Art Garfunkel (1941), actor/playwright Sam Shepard (1943), musician Gram Parsons (1946), musician Peter Noone (1947), actor Armin Shimerman (1949), guitarist/songwriter Jeff Watson (19556), actor Robert Patrick (1958), singer-songwriter/guitarist Bryan Adams (1959), actress Tatum O’Neal (1963), actress Famke Janssen (1965), actor Sam Rockwell (1968), guitarist/songwriter Jonny Greenwood (1971), MLB player Johnny Damon (1973), singer-songwriter/guitarist Ryan Adams (1974), golfer Bubba Watson (1978), NBA player O. J. Mayo (1987), and NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. (1992).

That’s it for now. I didn’t quite manage to shower yesterday because I’m really gross, so I’m going to go do that now. Enjoy your day.