Random News: November 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 November 7, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. Man, I have a busy-ass day ahead of me, with work meetings and deadlines, grocery shopping, a live show to do in SL, and an election to keep an eye on. That’s okay; I’ll sleep well after all that, assuming I live through it. Let’s do some news.

• It is Election Day here in the USA. If it were up to me, Election Day — the first Tuesday in November — would be a holiday, ensuring everyone had the opportunity to vote.
• I’ve already given my endorsements many times, but here are a few quick-hit reminders…
• Ohio: Please vote Yes on Issue 1, and codify reproductive rights!
• Kentucky: Please vote for Governor Andy Beshear!
• Mississippi: Please vote for Brandon Presley for Governor!
• Virginia: All 140 seats in the General Assembly are on the ballot. Please vote Democrat across the board. Hold the state Senate; flip the House; preserve Virginia’s status as the last abortion rights stronghold in the South; block the governor’s plans to loosen environmental standards in your fine state!
• And wherever you are, with local initiative that affect you and your family, make your voice heard and vote. Everything is else bullshit…. all the lawn signs and flags and social posts and bumper stickers and arguments with relatives mean nothing.
• The only way you have to exercise your power in a democracy is to vote. DO IT.
• Thank you.
• Moving on.
• It was one month ago today, on October 7, that Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and kickstarted the war that’s been raging ever since. Palestine has paid a huge price, but that may just be the tip of the iceberg.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel will take “overall security responsibility” in Gaza indefinitely after its war with Hamas.
• Netanyahu also expressed openness to “little pauses” in the fighting to facilitate the delivery of aid to Gaza or the release of some of the more than 240 hostages seized by Hamas in its attack into Israel that triggered the war.
• But he ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of all the hostages, despite the Biden administration urging him to do so.
• There are no winners in wars.
• Moving on.
• I don’t have much to say about that Orange Idiot who was president for awhile. Yes, he had his day in court yesterday to testify in the New York civil fraud case, but of course he squandered the opportunity to defend himself and instead spent his time on the stand attacking the New York attorney general who brought the case and the judge overseeing the trial itself.
• Yawn.
• The New York attorney general’s office said they will rest their case after Ivanka Trump’s testimony on Wednesday. No courts are open today due to the election. The trial is on track to finish a week early, by December 15.
• I do have just one funny moment I will relate from those trial proceedings.
• NY attorney to Trump: “Did you get copies of statements in 2021?”
• Trump: “I was so busy in the White House with China, Russia, and keeping the country –“
• NY attorney (interrupts): “You were not the President in 2021.”
• What. An. Idiot.
• Let’s briefly touch on another of El Dumpo’s trials, this one the criminal case to subvert the 2020 election.
• Special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutors said yesterday they plan to show at trial that Donald John Trump lied repeatedly about the results of the 2020 election as part of a conspiracy to subvert the legitimate results. But they also said they don’t need to prove whether Trump believed he lost the race.
• This was the first time that the Justice Department weighed in on the debate, saying that what they need to prove is not that Trump believed the “Big Lie” of the election being stolen but that he knowingly spread associated lies in a criminal scheme to stay in power.
• Dumpy’s lies will be key to Jack Smith’s case, as the government indicated by using the word “deceit” 46 times in the 79-page filing, including saying Trump is guilty of “perpetrating an unprecedented campaign of deceit to attack” the election, Congress’s certification of the vote, and Americans rights to have their votes counted.
• The government said they would also prove Trump obstructed Congress in part through deceit, but also by threatening a state official with criminal prosecution and by directing an angry mob to the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The final charge against Trump, violating a civil rights statute, requires showing only that he had the intent to keep some votes from being counted.
• Enough on that guy.
• In our continuing coverage of the assholes who attempted and failed to enact a coup against the USA on January 6, 2021, meet Edward Rodriguez.
• He’s a big fan of the Orange Man, and he used bear sprayed against eight officers. Rodriguez was sentenced to three years in prison following a lengthy hearing yesterday.
• Rodriguez was identified by online "Sedition Hunters" who have aided in the arrests of hundreds of Capitol rioters. They referred to him as "#SuitMacer," because he was wearing a suit as he assaulted law enforcement with what turned out to be bear spray. He was arrested in 2021 and pleaded guilty in March.
• Moving on.
• An Illinois father pleaded guilty yesterday to multiple counts of reckless conduct for helping his troubled underage son obtain a gun that the son used to kill seven people at a Fourth of July parade in 2022.
• Illinois Circuit Court Judge George Strickland sentenced Robert Crimo Jr. to two years of probation and 60 days in custody of the Lake County sheriff, as well as 100 hours of public service. The father of the accused shooter was also ordered to surrender his firearm owner identification card and any ammunition.
• In the Highland Park, IL case, police say Robert Crimo III fired on spectators watching an Independence Day parade on July 4, 2022, killing seven people and injuring dozens. He pleaded not guilty to 117 counts, including 21 charges of first-degree murder.
• Let’s move over to the silliness that is the GOP presidential primary.
• Five candidates will be on the stage tomorrow night, having qualified for the third GOP presidential debate.
• Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina made the cut.
• Speaking of Rhonda Santis, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds touted DeSantis’ accomplishments as governor of Florida as she endorsed him for president yesterday.
• “I believe he can’t win,” Reynolds said of Trump, “and I believe that Ron can.”
• I don’t believe DeSantis can win, and I don’t believe Dumpy or his followers know what the next 12 months will hold for them.
• Moving on to some terrible news.
• The death of a 69-year-old Jewish man at counter pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations Thursday in Thousand Oaks, CA has been ruled a homicide. 
• Authorities located the victim, identified as Paul Kessler, suffering from a head injury. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
• According to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the victim was “struck in the head by a megaphone wielded by a pro-Palestinian protestor.” 
• Sigh.
• And to that end of Americans being hurt or killed due to the current Middle East conflict, more than twice as many U.S. service members may have been injured in recent attacks in Iraq and Syria than the Pentagon previously disclosed.
• Yesterday, U.S. defense officials said at least 45 Americans are reporting everything from minor injuries to potential traumatic brain injuries.
• Back in the USA, schools are still closed in the Portland, OR area due to the ongoing teacher’s strike.
• Even after months of back and forth, the two sides cannot seem to agree on anything, from how much money is available to fund the union’s salary and class size cap requests to when employees might lose their district-paid health insurance.
• The district has offered teachers a cost of living adjustment boost of 4.5% in the first year of the contract, followed by 3% in years two and three. The union countered with 8.5%, 7% and 6%, or slightly less if the district were to agree to its proposals for hard caps on class sizes.
• Pay those people.
• And now, The Weather: “Offline” by Lewis Coleman
• From the Sports Desk… the Chicago Cubs shocked the baseball world yesterday by firing manager David Ross and replacing him with Craig Counsell, a man who’s been synonymous with the Milwaukee Brewers after spending the past 17 years with the organization as a player, executive, and manager.
• I’m sure he’ll do well there.
• Today in history… The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published (1665). The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana, United States (1811). Abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy is shot dead by a mob while attempting to protect his printing shop (1837). A cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, is considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the United States Republican Party (1874). Women in the U.S. state of Colorado are granted the right to vote, the second state to do so (1893). Jesús García saves the entire town of Nacozari de García by driving a burning train full of dynamite 3.7 miles away before it could explode (1907). Jeannette Rankin is the first woman elected to the United States Congress (1916). Woodrow Wilson is reelected as President of the United States (1916). In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public (1929). Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected the 99th mayor of New York City (1933). Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected for a record fourth term as President of the United States (1944). US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1967). U.S. President Richard Nixon is re-elected in the largest landslide victory at the time (1972). A bomb explodes inside the United States Capitol causing an estimated $250,000 in damage (1983). Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive and retires from the NBA (1991). The controversial US presidential election is later resolved in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, electing George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the United States (2000). Joe Biden is elected the 46th president of the United States (2020).
• November 7 is the birthday of captain James Cook (1728), chemist Marie Curie (1867), political theorist Leon Trotsky (1879), philosopher Albert Camus (1913), televangelist Billy Graham (1918), trumpet player Al Hirt (1922), singer Gwyneth Jones (1936), singer-songwriter/guitarist Johnny Rivers (1942), singer-songwriter/guitarist/pianist Joni Mitchell (1943), MLB player Joe Niekro (1945), journalist Lawrence O’Donnell (1951), general/CIA director David Petraeus (1952), DJ/Producer John Benitez (1957), actress Dana Plato (1964), DJ David Guetta (1967), and singer-songwriter Lorde (1996).

Well, that’s not all the news, but it’s enough for now. If there’s an election in your area, PLEASE VOTE. Tomorrow I’ll be reporting on the results of this election. Enjoy your day.