Random News: December 27, 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 27, 2023, and it’s a Wednesday. We’re in the middle of that weird week I experience every damn year for 30 years, where I am both busy as hell with upcoming business actions, and yet everyone is floating in some holiday daze. That’s okay; I keep cranking shit out and everything will work out in the end. So, let’s do some news.

• After a lot of doom and gloom predictions, holiday shoppers offered yet another sign that the U.S. economy will roar into the new year.
• Yesterday, fresh retail sales data showed that consumers spent big on gifts, meals and apparel in November and December despite shitty lingering inflation. Consumer confidence is strong, and the S&P 500’s approached an all-time high.
• It’s clear that the U.S. economy is in a far better place than just about anyone expected, and while there are many factors involved, you have to give some credit to President Joe Biden (just in the same way he’d be blamed were the situation reversed).
• In other news, a group of former officials for Republican presidents issued an amicus brief that was accepted yesterday by the Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. They urged the federal appeals court to shut down Donnie Dump’s claim of "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution.
• The Republican officials said siding with Trump would encourage future presidents to commit crimes and stage coups to remain in power. They’re right.
• "The last thing presidential immunity should do is embolden Presidents who lose re-election to engage in criminal conduct, through official acts or otherwise, as part of efforts to prevent the vesting of executive power required by Article II in their lawfully-elected successors," the officials wrote in the brief.
• The group also noted reports that Trump's allies were encouraging him to use the military to enforce his election lies — and said a future president who lost reelection could deploy the military or armed federal agents to stage a coup if Trump gets his way.
• Among the Republican officials who signed on to the brief are ex-Senator and UN Ambassador John Danforth; former Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan, Charles Fried; and Mickey Edwards, a former House lawmaker and chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
• Moving on to another battle we’ll all be fighting this coming year.
• Generative artificial intelligence tools have made it far cheaper and easier to spread the kind of misinformation that can mislead voters and potentially influence elections. And social media companies that once invested heavily in correcting the record have shifted their priorities.
• “I expect a tsunami of misinformation,” said Oren Etzioni, an artificial intelligence expert and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. “I can’t prove that. I hope to be proven wrong. But the ingredients are there, and I am completely terrified.”
• It’s pretty easy to imagine… people who are already gullible and prone to believe lies and buy into conspiracy theories, now being offered visual “proof” that’s actually AI-generated content.
• So if you thought January 6, 2021 was bad, imagine it on a much more broad scale… especially now that platforms like Elon Musk’s X support and encourage it.
• Moving on.
• This morning, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected an attempt to remove former president and current accused felon Donald John Trump from the 2024 primary ballot based on the US Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.”
• This was not unexpected. Keep in mind, this ruling is specific for the GOP primary and an effort to remove him could be renewed for the general election, though I doubt it will unless the SCOTUS rules otherwise.
• The Michigan Court of Claims judge who first got the case said state law doesn’t give election officials any leeway to police the eligibility of presidential primary candidates. His decision was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which said: “At the moment, the only event about to occur is the presidential primary election. But as explained, whether Trump is disqualified is irrelevant to his placement on that particular ballot.”
• Shrug.
• Let’s talk about women’s reproductive rights. 
• There has been a shift in the rounds of state-level litigation, away from the broad, head-on challenges and toward narrower issues arising from the bans.
• A newer wave of lawsuits has focused on when emergency medical exceptions to abortion bans apply and whether states can stop their citizens from traveling to states where abortion remains legal — a trend experts expect to continue in the new year.
• All of the 18 states that have banned or sharply restricted abortion allow exceptions for medical emergencies when continued pregnancy would endanger the mother's life, or, in some states, health. But in practice, those exceptions are often unavailable because the laws are so vague that physicians are not sure when they apply, and so are unwilling to perform abortions for fear of prosecution.
• Make sure to find out how the candidates you support feel about protecting women’s reproductive freedom before you cast your vote next year. Thank you.
• An update from the Israel-Hamas war…
• Israel said it’s expanding combat operations in refugee camps as it targets Hamas. A hospital director said the toll from a strike on a residential block in a central Gaza in Maghazi camp rose to 80.
• There is mounting global pressure for a pause in fighting, but the chief of the general staff of the IDF, Herzi Halevi said yesterday that the war is expected to continue for many months to come. The United States wants Israel to move away from block-flattening airstrikes to using greater military precision when targeting Hamas militants.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks with Ron Dermer, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about “the transition to a different phase of the war to maximize focus on high-value Hamas targets” as well as “governance and security in Gaza” after the war.
• See, you can’t just destroy a place and then let it rot away. That’s not how it works. After WWII, the USA spent decades helping to rebuild places like Japan and Germany so that their citizens would have the opportunity to thrive, as they’ve done.
• Israel will have the same responsibility in Palestine.
• On the flip side, the people who attempted a protest inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are fucking disgusting assholes. It is peak activist narcissism. The far left often demonstrates an astonishing commitment to their incompetent self-aggrandizing.
• Get a fucking clue.
• Some good news…
• This morning, a federal judge temporarily blocked an Idaho law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, stating the law is unconstitutional.
• Keep it up.
• And now, The Weather: “drifting” by Night Tapes
• Here’s something nice at a time when we could all use niceness.
• A Pennsylvania animal shelter is celebrating after all their dogs were adopted in time for Christmas.
• The Adams County SPCA in Gettysburg, PA announced that this is the first time in nearly five decades that they've had all empty kennels ahead of the holiday.
• All of my pet friends have come from shelters or were rescued off the street. Never buy from pet stores if you have the option to adopt.
• From the Sports Desk… while the Detroit Lions are making a historic run toward the playoffs, the city’s basketball team is also setting records, but not the good kind.
• The Pistons dropped their 27th straight game with a 118-112 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. It's the most consecutive losses in a single season in NBA history. Detroit hasn't won a game since its home opener on October 28, and now is 2-28 on the season.
• Yikes!
• Today in history… Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution (1831). Journalist John L. O'Sullivan argues in his newspaper New York Morning News that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country under “manifest destiny” (1845). Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway (1927). Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City (1932). The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations (1945). Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon (1968).  Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship (1978). Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth, the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet (2004). 
• December 27 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571), microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822), actress/singer Marlene Dietrich (1901), gynecologist William Masters (1915), guitarist/songwriter Scotty Moore (1931), actor John Amos (1939), journalist Cokie Roberts (1943), guitarist/songwriter Mick Jones (1944), guitarist/songwriter Lenny Kaye (1946), actor Gérard Depardieu (1948), drummer/songwriter Terry Bozzio (1950), wrestler Chyna (1969), journalist Savannah Guthrie (1971), NFL player Deuce McAllister (1978), NFL player Carson Palmer (1979), MLB player Cole Hamels (1983), singer/songwriter Hayley Williams (1988), and NFL player Brock Purdy (1999).

Okay. Lots to do, places to go, people to see… okay, no, just lots to do. Enjoy your day.