Random News: December 16, 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 16, 2023, and it’s a Saturday. I’m a dude in a robe with a cup of coffee and an internet connection, so listen to what I have to say.

• Rubbing hands together with schadenfreude glee…
• Formerly known as “America’s Mayor” after 9/11, and then slowly morphing into the world’s weirdest evil little alcoholic man over the subsequent 22 years mostly due to attaching himself to Donald John Trump, Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay a staggering $148 million to two former Georgia election workers he spread lies about following the 2020 election.
• The decision comes at the end of a week-long federal civil trial in Washington D.C., where an eight-person jury heard from the workers — Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman — about how 2020 election conspiracies spread by Giuliani and former President Donald Trump turned their lives upside down.
• Want to hear a typical message of the thousands and thousands sent to Freeman after Rudy lied and told the public that she was responsible for Dump’s loss in Georgia?
• "Ruby Freeman. I hope the federal government hangs you and your daughter from the Capitol dome. I pray that I will be sitting close enough to hear your necks snap!"
• And that is Rudy’s fault, and he’s now going to pay for what he’s done.
• The jury yesterday said the former mayor must pay $16.2 million to Freeman and $17 million to Freeman, as well as $20 million to each for emotional distress, and an additional $75 million in punitive damages.
• Let’s get this out of the way: will Freeman and Moss ever see any of that money?
• Rudy says he will appeal the jury’s verdict. During the trial, he and his attorneys repeatedly said that he already doesn’t have funds to cover his various debts, but it’s unclear how much this alcoholic prick actually has.
• What will happen next will be an investigation to try and determine Rudy’ assets — property, investments, cash, and so on — and collect as much as possible for the remainder of Rudy’s life.
• For example, Giuliani listed his three-bedroom Manhattan apartment for sale. It’s still on the market for $6.1 million. But even if he were to declare bankruptcy, the judgment in all likelihood is independent and Rudy will have to pay them in any case.
• It won’t be $148 million… but Rudy will be hounded by bill collectors for each of his remaining days. Anything he earns will go straight to the plaintiffs. Any income he gets will be garnished. Any money that gets sent to him from a pitiful crowdsourced campaign will be delivered to Freeman and Moss.
• Even if, God forbid, Rudy were to drop dead tomorrow, the court award would be taken from his estate instead passed to whatever heirs with whom he remains on speaking terms.
• So that’s the end of that guy.
• Let’s move on.
• A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Dumpy’s presidency. This increases the concern that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed.
• This has not been previously reported. The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election.
• The intelligence in this specific binder was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.
• Where is that binder? Who has Trump shown it to? All questions that need to be answered, and quickly.
• Let’s talk once again about women’s reproductive freedom and the absolute evil of states that try and take it away.
• 33-year-old Brittany Watts, an Ohio resident who was 21 weeks and 5 days pregnant, began passing thick blood clots.
• Her doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face significant risk of death.
• What followed was a nightmare that included multiple trips to the hospital before Watts miscarried into a toilet. Watts, who is Black, is now being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
• The “pro life” community wants all abortion seekers to face criminal charges. These days, pregnant women like Watts, who was not even trying to get an abortion, have increasingly found themselves charged with crimes against their own pregnancies.
• Please, for the love of God, do NOT vote for any candidate who supports this cruelty.
• A related side note about the Supreme Court, who is poised to reenter the debate around abortion, this time considering the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one-half of the abortion pill regimen that can be taken up to 11 weeks after a missed period.
• The far-right conservative Court may block the availability of this prescription drug nationwide.
• Mifepristone is necessary for a safe medical abortion. But the dirty little secret that anti-abortionists don’t want you to know is that if you remove it from the equation with its sister pill, misoprostol, women can still achieve a medical abortion — but it’s much more painful.
• In other words, this case isn’t about banning abortions; it’s about making women’s health care as painful as it can possibly be. And this conservative court seems ready to create more laws that hurt women.
• I know that women are familiar with being second-class citizens in the USA, but you are all capable of saying that you do NOT accept this kind of treatment. Use your vote wisely.
• Moving on with some very sad news from the Israel-Hamas war.
• Three Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza were mistakenly killed by friendly fire. The hostages were not wearing shirts and were waving a white flag on a stick, but two were killed immediately. The third ran away crying for help in Hebrew. There was another burst of fire at the third hostage, which killed him.
• This is not the type of military action that helps Israel gain support.
• Let’s move on.
• Deja Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old who shot his first-grade teacher in a Virginia classroom, was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison after pleading guilty in August to a charge of felony child neglect.
• The judge, Christopher R. Papile, said that Ms. Taylor had abdicated her responsibilities as a parent, and that the results were egregious.
• Even a relatively gun-friendly state like Virginia has laws that prohibit leaving a loaded gun where it is accessible to children under 14, but there is not a broad law in the state that requires that all guns be safely stored in homes.
• There should be… in every state. And I will add that any action (or lack thereof) of a gun owner that results in the weapon being used in a scenario that involves crime or violence of any kind should be held liable.
• If you’re walking around like a big man with your gun loaded and someone beats the shit out of you and steals it and robs a bank or shoots a kid, that’s your fault, and you should be punished as if you’d committed the crime yourself.
• Moving on.
• Um.
• Here’s something I wasn’t expecting to report. A video is making the rounds that very graphically shows two men having sex in what appears to be Hart 216, the cavernous room in the US Capitol that has played host to Supreme Court nominees, the 9/11 Commission hearings, and more.
• Like, these guys are fucking right there on the dais, between where Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Chris Coons were sitting at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee markup. The staffer who was involved, Aidan Maese-Czeropski, is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate.
• Don’t have sex at work. Not gay sex, not bi-sex, not any sex. It’s just a bad idea and pretty tacky, ya know? Have sex elsewhere.
• Moving on.
• The guy who was expected to fill the seat of departing Rep. Kevin McCarthy… can’t.
• California Assemblyman Vince Fong (R) isn’t eligible to run for Congress in 2024, the state Secretary of State determined yesterday. Fong is a longtime McCarthy ally and former senior staffer, and was believed to be the favorite to run for California’s 20th District.
• He filed for candidacy on Monday after another McCarthy ally considered and turned down a bid. But the Secretary of State determined that since Fong is already on the ballot in California for his Assembly reelection, he cannot be removed from that race to run in a different one, according to state law.
• Womp womp.
• Moving on.
• In lawsuits, five women say eXp Realty long ignored complaints that two male agents were preying on their female peers at alcohol-fueled work events.
• On Thursday, Anya Roberts filed a lawsuit, alleging she was drugged and sexually assaulted by agents of the brokerage. Her lawsuit goes after the same two agents accused of sexual misconduct in a previous lawsuit this year, Michael Bjorkman and David Golden.
• Roberts claims both men sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious. She is also going after the brokerage, claiming it is accountable because leadership was aware of these alleged assaults at the time.
• This is really simple: if an employee is assaulted and the company either doesn’t investigate it or otherwise shoves it under the rug, they are responsible. End of story.
• In other news, SmileDirectClub, the at-home, do-it-yourself orthodontic service that ceased operations last week, is leaving customers with payments due but no further treatment.
• SmileDirectClub filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. Despite closing down, the company is telling anyone who has the SmileyPay Plan they that must continue to "make all monthly payments until payment has been made in full.”
• What the fuck? No. Fuck you.
• And now, The Weather: “Carsick” by youbet
• You’ve probably heard by now that the cause of death of beloved actor Matthew Perry was from the acute effects of ketamine, a drug that is used to treat depression and is also used as a recreational drug.
• Perry had taken ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety a week-and-a-half before his death. However, the ketamine in his system at the time of his death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine's half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.
• It’s terribly sad. Addiction is sad. You may assume he was just using the drug recreationally, but he may have just been trying to get past his pain.
• From the Sports Desk… after the record-setting beating by the Raiders over the Chargers, someone had to bear the brunt of that loss, and it’s coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco. Both were fired by the team yesterday.
• The Chargers were 24-24 under Staley, with one playoff berth in 2022 that ended with a 27-point blown lead to the Jacksonville Jaguars — the third-largest comeback in playoff history.
• Today in history… Pepin of Herstal — my 42nd great grandfather and mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille in modern-day Belgium (714). Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris (1431). Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act (1773). Virginia becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation (1777). The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest (1944). The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day (1971).
• December 16 is the birthday of Spanish princess/Queen consort of England Catherine of Aragon (1485), poet/scholar Elizabeth Carter (1717), composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770), novelist Jane Austen (1775), philosopher/novelist George Santayana (1863), painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866), playwright Noël Coward (1899), anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901), writer Arthur C. Clarke (1917), music producer Cy Leslie (1922), author Philip K. Dick (1928), sportswriter Frank Deford (1938), journalist Lesley Stahl (1941), writer/producer Steven Bochco (1943), singer-songwriter Benny Andersson (1946), singer-songwriter/guitarist Billy Gibbons (1949), guitarist/songwriter Robben Ford (1951), comedian Bill Hicks (1961), and comedian/actor J. B. Smoove (1965).

Alrighty, that’s plenty for now. My two things to do for the day, apart from this news, is to create my annual “best-of” music list and to go with my family to get a Christmas tree. Enjoy your day.