Random News: December 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 December 26, 2023, and it’s a Tuesday. I woke up feeling hungover despite the fact that I don’t drink alcohol, which is an indication of how much of a glutton I was yesterday. Let’s see what’s happening in this weird post-Christmas, pre-New Year world.

• In a Christmas message to the nation yesterday, former President Donnie Dump said he hopes supporters of "Electric Car Lunacy" would "ROT IN HELL."
• So that’s nice. Merry Christmas and good tidings to you as well, Don.
• The actual President had some less pleasant business to handle on Christmas. Joe Biden ordered strikes on three locations in Iraq after three U.S. service members were wounded, one critically, in an attack on Erbil Air Base early Christmas morning.
• The attacks on US troops were credited to Kataib Hezbollah, a militia group backed by Iran. A US Central Command statement said early assessments indicated that the US airstrikes likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants.
• Ah well. So much for peace on Earth, eh?
• Also in the naughty file, someone tried a swatting attempt on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) at her Georgia residence on Christmas morning. Side note: her local police department quickly verified that the call was a hoax and did not send officers to the house.
• That didn’t stop Greene from trying to get sympathy points. “I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here,” she posted on a social net.
• Moving on.
• Officials are investigating threats on Colorado Supreme Court justices in the aftermath of their decision to disqualify former president and current accused multiple felon Donald John Trump from the 2024 presidential primary election.
• Online posts about violence towards the justices spread rapidly in the 24 hours after the decision was announced on December 19 that Trump's actions leading up to the failed coup attempt at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 meant that he "engaged in insurrection," disqualifying him from holding future office due to the the 14th Amendment.
• “The FBI is aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement. We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation,” said an FBI spox.
• Get their asses.
• Speaking of El Dumpo, here’s a tip: if you have to do press interviews where you need to explicitly state that you’re "not a student of Hitler,” perhaps you’re not the right person to run the country.
• Dumpy had to do just that in the past few days following backlash to his comments that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country.” Dump claims that he never knew Adolf Hitler had used similar language to describe Jewish people, and said he had never read Hitler's "Mein Kampf" manifesto.
• I don’t believe him.
• "I never read his works. They say that he said something about blood. He didn't say it the way I said it, either, by the way. It's a very different kind of a statement."
• Suuuuuuuuuuure Donnie.
• And now, The Weather: “Typical” by Daniel Noah Miller
• In other weather news, a blizzard-fueling winter storm is sweeping across the Plains and upper Midwest with heavy snow, freezing rain and strong winds, making for dangerous travel during the busy holiday week.
• The storm will generate frequent wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph with isolated gusts up to 75 mph today. Parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming are under blizzard warnings.
• Meanwhile in Minnesota, the Twin Cities set high temperature records on Christmas Day that haven’t been matched in over 100 years. Temperatures rose to 54 degrees at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, breaking the record of 51 degrees in 1922. High temp records were also broken in St. Cloud and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 
• Maybe that’s not good. Maybe climate change is real. Maybe people are going to find out how real very soon.
• From the Sports Desk… we know the NFL teams who are in the playoffs: Ravens (12-3), Dolphins (11-4), Eagles (11-4), Lions (11-4), and 49ers (11-4), and Cowboys (10-5). We’re pretty certain the Browns (10-5) will be there as well.
• But check out how close most of the rest of the teams are who aren’t yet eliminated: Bills (9-6), Steelers (8-7), Bengals (8-7), Jaguars (8-7), Colts (8-7), Texans (8-7), Chiefs (9-6), Raiders (7-8), Broncos (7-8), Vikings (7-8), Packers (7-8), Buccaneers (8-7), Falcons (7-8), Saints (7-8), Rams (8-7), and Seahawks (8-7).
• Just two regular season games remain for all teams. Anything could happen.
• Today in history… Berengar I — my 36th great-grandfather — is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy (887). The opera ‘Agrippina’ by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice (1709). The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, MN, where 38 Native Americans died (1862). Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium (1898). Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee (1919). Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States (1941). The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States (1963). The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach (1966). The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War (1991). China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou (2012).
• December 26 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Mary Somerville (1780), politician Mao Zedong (1893), actor Richard Widmark (1914), radio/TV host Steve Allen (1921), music producer Phil Spector (1939), politician Gray Davis (1942), MLB player Carlton Fisk (1947), MLB player Ozzie Smith (1954), drummer/songwriter Lars Ulrich (1963), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jay Farrar (1966), actor Jared Leto (1971), fashion designer Alexander Wang (1983), and NFL player Trevor Siemian (1991).

I’ve decided to have a mostly regular work day today, because my deadlines are what they are regardless of what day it is and who else is working. On the good news side, most of my clients are closed today, so at least I can work mostly uninterrupted by meetings and calls and such. Enjoy your day.