Random News: December 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 December 12, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. My name is Zak, sometimes, and I’m here to tell you important shit, and today we have a whole lot of it. Heed my warnings, you fools!

• We need to continue the discussion about Kate Cox of Texas. She’s the pregnant woman at the center of a legal fight over whether she could have an abortion under a medical exception to the state’s strict bans.
• To bring you up to date: Cox is a mother of two whose fetus has a fatal condition which also jeopardizes her own life were she not to receive the medical care she needs.
• If she doesn’t get proper reproductive health care, she also will likely not be able to have more children, something she and her husband desire.
• For awhile last week, there seemed to be good news when a judge sided with Cox, and issued a temporary restraining order to permit her doctor to perform an abortion without facing civil or criminal penalties under the state law.
• But then Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned the state’s supreme court to intervene in the case.
• Two things happened yesterday. First, Cox decided to leave the state for the procedure, which seems like a good idea. I would have done that first, frankly. A brief side note: I would break any law that unjustly would result in the death of myself or a family member. I wouldn’t even hesitate once.
• And then, proving that leaving Texas was a good plan, the state’s Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling that would have allowed Cox to obtain an abortion.
• They essentially made a legal statement that said Cox should die rather than receive an abortion, a medical procedure that is necessary to save her life. From this point on, no women in Texas is safe. Not that they were very safe there before, but now it’s official. The Kate Cox case proves that Republicans were always lying about the mother’s health exceptions when it comes to abortion.
• In doing so, the GOP-held state is mandating death for pregnant women. Cox’s lawsuit is believed to be one of the first attempts in the country by a person seeking a court-ordered abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
• Republicans want this to be the law of the land. If women die, they die. Republicans never found much value in women under normal circumstances, regardless.
• When you vote in 2024, from the local city council to your state reps to your congress reps to the president, remember what Kate Cox is going through. Do you want that to happen to yourself, your wife, your daughter, and your close friends? There will be no other state to go to if they ban abortion at a federal level, which they have said they will do.
• When they say it, fucking believe it.
• Let’s move on with some other important news.
• Yesterday, special counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to immediately step in to decide whether former President Donnie Dump has immunity from prosecution for his actions seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
• "This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office," Smith wrote in the court filing.
• The Supreme Court said it will expedite consideration of Smith’s petition to rule on the question of whether Trump deserves immunity. Dump has until December 20 to file a response. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan had denied Trump's motion to dismiss his indictment on presidential immunity and constitutional grounds, prompting Trump to appeal and ask for the case to be put on hold.
• I am super glad that Smith is pushing to get this decision handled now, once and for all. As to which way they will vote is anyone’s guess. It’s a gamble for Smith, but a worthy one.
• I have some more Jack Smith news about the Orange Goblin.
• Smith has extracted data from the cell phone Donald Trump used while in the White House, and he plans to present evidence of his findings to a Washington, D.C. jury to demonstrate how Trump used the phone in the weeks during which he attempted to subvert the 2020 election.
• In a court filing yesterday, Smith indicated that he plans to call an expert witness who extracted and reviewed data copied from Trump’s phone, as well as a phone used by another unidentified individual in Trump’s orbit.
• Fascinating!
• Let’s move on to another Supreme Court case, or non-case as is the… case.
• Yesterday the SCOTUS refused to take up a challenge to a state law in Washington designed to protect LGBTQ youths from “conversion therapy,” a decision that drew dissent from three conservative justices.
• Fuck those conservative justices. If you’re wondering (and you’re not), they were Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh.
• But they were overruled, which is very good news. So-called “conversion therapy” is the disgusting practice of psychologically torturing a person to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. More than 20 states and the District of Columbia restrict this “counseling”.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday was the first day of a trial where a jury will determine how much Rudy Giuliani owes two former Georgia election workers for defamation. The federal judge overseeing the case has already ruled that Giuliani spread false information about Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss in the wake of the 2020 election.
• Do you think Rudy did the things that would let him get off easier, or did he make it much worse for himself?
• It’s the latter. When court ended for the day, Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and New York City mayor, continued to attack Freeman and Moss.
• “Everything I said about them is true,” Giuliani told reporters. “Of course I don’t regret it. I told the truth. They were engaged in changing votes.”
• He’s so fucked.
• Are you concerned about polls regarding the 2024 presidential election? I’ve mentioned some of them. I’m not a big believer in polls; I think most of their methodology for getting data is outdated and ineffective.
• But a new Reuters/Ipsos poll out today shows President Biden leading Dump by four points in the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, and North Carolina.
• Keep fighting. Keep encouraging people to vote. We don’t have to accept that the USA is gong to become a dystopian nightmare. We can win this shit, and we will.
• Let’s move on.
• 30-year-old Tyler Anderson of Dover, New Hampshire, was arrested and charged after he sent a text message threatening to kill Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and voters attending a campaign event. 
• That’s not cool. Don’t do that.
• Anderson sent replies to a text message sent by Ramaswamy's campaign on Friday, which notified voters about an event. He wrote, "Great, another opportunity for me to blow Ramaswamy’s brains out!" and then, "I'm going to kill everyone who attends and then fuck their corpses.”
• That’s a little over the top, even in regard to smarmy-ass Ramaswamy. Don’t threaten people. It’s stupid. Also, why reply to a political spam message? I get like 20 a day.
• Moving on.
• The guy who weaponized a folding chair during that famous Alabama riverfront brawl this summer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge yesterday. He was ordered to perform community service and given a suspended sentence.
• I don’t promote violence, but that chair basher is a hero. This was the incident where white boaters tried beating up a Black riverboat co-captain, and then Black crew members and bystanders rushing to his defense.
• And now, The Weather: “Separate Ways” by Eyedress & The Marías
• Let’s do a chart. We’re going back 31 years to December 12, 1992 and looking at the Billboard 200 album charts. Most of these albums are… not great, with a few obvious exceptions.
• 1. The Bodyguard (Whitney Houston). 2. Unplugged (Eric Clapton). 3. The Predator (Ice Cube). 4. Timeless (The Classics) (Michael Bolton). 5. The Chase (Garth Brooks). 6. Home For Christmas (Amy Grant). 7. Some Gave All (Billy Ray Cyrus). 8. Breathless (Kenny G). 9. A Very Special Christmas 2 (Various Artists). 10. Beyond The Season (Garth Brooks). 11. Love Deluxe (Sade). 12. Pure Country (Soundtrack) (George Strait). 13. Automatic For The People (R.E.M.). 14. The Christmas Album (Neil Diamond). 15. Ten (Pearl Jam). 16. What's The 411? (Mary J. Blige). 17. Erotica (Madonna). 18. Bobby (Bobby Brown). 19. Totally Krossed Out (Kris Kross). 20. Keep The Faith (Bon Jovi)
• From the Sports Desk… the full week of upsets in the NFL continued through Monday night, with the Titans (5-8) beating the Dolphins (9-4) and the Giants (5-8) beating the Packers (6-7).
• Today in history… Pennsylvania becomes the 2nd state to ratify the US Constitution (1787). The Battle of Tolvajärvi, also known as the first major Finnish victory in the Winter War, begins (1939). Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery (1941). The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore (2000). The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted (2015). 
• December 12 is the birthday of businessman Henry Wells (1805), novelist Gustave Flaubert (1821), painter Edvard Munch (1863), actor Edward G. Robinson (1893), singer Frank Sinatra (1915), TV host Bob Barker (1923), politician Ed Koch (1924), painter Helen Frankenthaler (1928), singer Dionne Warwick (1940), musician Grover Washington, Jr. (1943), drummer Tony Williams (1945), actor Bill Nighy (1949), gymnast Cathy Rigby (1952), tennis player Tracy Austin (1962), NFL player/radio host Mike Golic (1962), and actress/neuroscientist Mayim Bialik (1975).

I’d love to stay and chat some more about things, but I’m out of time. Hey, here’s an idea… what if we did this live sometime? Like a video thing? And you could all ask questions and I’d tell you whatever the fuck I was thinking? Hmm. Might be fun. Enjoy your day.