Random News: January 31, 2024

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 January 31, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. Every year I do this trade show, I lie to myself that after it’s done will be a time to relax, but no… this week has been very much on the busy side as I continue with follow-up actions. No worries; the days go by quickly, getting me that much closer to an actual weekend. For now, let’s do some news.

• This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee is grilling the chief executives of five big tech companies — Jason Citron (CEO of Discord), Shou Zi Chew (CEO of TikTok), Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta), Linda Yaccarino (CEO of X), and Evan Spiegel (CEO of Snap) — about potential harms from their products on teens.
• This is a topic we cover often here at Zak’s Random News. Until now, the social platforms have largely held that their products are safe and that they empower kids and parents to decide for themselves how to responsibly use them.
• But growing claims that social media can hurt young users, including worries that it risks driving them to depression or even suicide, indicate that the social media response falls far short.
• I’ll let you know how it goes. But this is a serious problem that affects teens around the world.
• Relevant side note: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (aka Facebook, Instagram, and other tech properties) spent $20 million on lobbying last year to try and defeat these commonsense reforms. They hired one lobbyist for every eight members of Congress. Elon Musk’s X spent $900,000 on lobbying for the same purpose last year.
• Moving on for now.
• Today, we may see the size and scale of the penalty against Donnie Dump from his civil fraud trial. Judge Arthur Engoron has previously indicated that he hopes to come to a decision by today (Wednesday, January 31).
• El Dumpo is accused of filing fraudulent financial statements for years, which inflated the value of his properties and assets in order to obtain perks such as improved loans or tax breaks.
• Ahead of the start of the civil trial in New York, Engoron ruled that Trump had committed fraud in his financial statements and that the proceedings were mainly to determine the size of the penalty, as well as six other claims, including conspiracy, falsifying business records and insurance fraud which feature in James' lawsuit.
• AG Letitia James argued that Dumpy, his co-accused, and the company should pay $370 million in penalties over claims that Dump’s financial statements overvalued his net worth by billions of dollars down the years.
• Guess we’ll see.
• House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee voted early today to advance two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over failure to enforce U.S. immigration policies at the border.
• Except there’s one small problem: Republicans have not yet offered any evidence that Mayorkas committed any high crimes or misdemeanors, and they held two public impeachment hearings over the past month without Mayorkas’s in-person testimony or testimony from any fact witnesses.
• Voting to convict Mayorkas would open Republicans to charges that they’re weaponizing the impeachment process to score political points… which is precisely what they’re doing.
• GOP senators have warned their House Republican counterparts about cheapening the impeachment process and deploying it in the absence of clear allegations of criminal wrongdoing. Probably a bad idea, but that never stopped them before.
• Let’s move on.
• Yesterday, a Delaware judge ruled that Elon Musk’s generous 2018 compensation package, which helped make the tech entrepreneur the world’s richest person, was unfair and should be undone.
• Ha ha.
• The $56 billion package entitled Musk to stock options in the company as it hit specific performance targets. Shareholders sued Musk, alleging the process that led to the package was improper.
• Musk has asked for 25 percent control over the company — which went on to become the world’s most valuable automaker after the pay package was implemented — after he sold off billions worth of stock to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
• Meanwhile, Tesla reported disappointing quarterly financial results last week. One analyst described their recent investor call as a “train wreck.”
• In her written opinion, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick said that plaintiff Richard Tornetta was entitled to “rescission,” meaning that Musk’s package should be undone. Hee hee.
• Let’s do some good news.
• Aimenn D. Penny, 20, of Alliance, OH, who is a member of the pro-Nazi group White Lives Matter, has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for firebombing an Ohio church that had been planning to host two drag events.
• Good. Fuck that guy.
• More good news? Sure.
• Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking enforcement of an Idaho law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender people under 18.
• This is a major victory for trans youth and their families. And fuck you, Idaho.
• And now, The Weather: “Big Sigh” by Marika Hackman
• Rest in peace to Broadway star Chita Rivera, who died yesterday at 91. She dazzled audiences for nearly six decades, most memorably starring as Anita in “West Side Story” and Velma Kelly in “Chicago.”
• I saw her in “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in the ‘90s at what was then the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (now Disney Hall).
• In weird notable dates, January 31 is International Zebra Day. This is my contribution to raise awareness of zebra conservation.
• I’ve been told that zebras are assholes, but I will likely never have the opportunity to ascertain this for myself.
• From the Sports Desk… not sports. Instead, a singer-songwriter.
• Conservative social media is currently aflame with a Taylor Swift conspiracy theory centered on the idea that the NFL is rigging games to ensure the pop superstar’s boyfriend’s team wins the Super Bowl — just in time to give a nod to President Biden in the presidential election.
• Yeah, because that’s a solid plan. These fucking people. Jesus.
• Today in history… Four of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering (1606). The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital (1747). The United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee (1846). The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification (1865). US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War (1945). President Truman orders the development of thermonuclear weapons (1950). Doug Williams becomes the first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII (1988). Both a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse occur (2018). The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state (2020). The FDA grants full approval to Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 18 and older (2022).
• January 31 is the birthday of composer Franz Schubert (1797), chemist Theodore William Richards (1868), singer-songwriter/actor Eddie Cantor (1892), actress Tallulah Bankhead (1902), musicologist Alan Lomax (1915), MLB legend Jackie Robinson (1919), actress Carol Channing (1921), novelist/playwright/journalist Norman Mailer (1923), actress Suzanne Pleshette (1937), politician Dick Gephardt (1941), guitarist Terry Kath (1946), MLB legend Nolan Ryan (1947), singer-songwriter Harry Wayne Casey (1951), guitarist Adrian Vandenberg (1954), singer-songwriter John Lydon (1956), bass player Fat Mike (1967), businessman Dov Charney (1969), actress Minnie Driver (1970), actress Portia de Rossi (1973), singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake (1981), and film producer Megan Ellison (1986).

Okay, that’s plenty for now. Things are going to be very interesting soon. I’ll have more news for you as it happens. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 30, 2024

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 January 30, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. Each year I have this trade show, the following week seems more akin to the Bataan death march than a typical work week. It’s been a good few weeks since I had a day off work, so it’s sort of understandable. Instead of complaining about it, I’ll give you all some news and hope the weekend arrives soon.

• Things remain ugly in the ongoing battle of the state of Texas versus the United States of America.
• In a municipal park previously used for family cookouts and Independence Day festivities, Texas National Guard Humvees carry rifle-toting troops and patrol newly erected gates. Along the riverbank, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has ordered the state National Guard to deploy coils of razor wire, rusting shipping containers and dirt-filled barrels to declare his state’s sovereignty.
• Abbott seized the park in Eagle Pass this month and shut out U.S. Border Patrol agents who had long used the terrain as a staging point… a dangerous overreach of state power.
• The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Abbott to allow Border Patrol agents to remove or cut wire to reach the river and aid migrants in distress. But now Abbott’s troops are installing even more wire, defying the order from the US.
• This will get worse before it gets better.
• Moving on.
• US House Republicans are trying to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but it doesn’t seem to be gong well for them. Both the left and the right argue that the GOP is falling short of the constitutional standards to remove a Cabinet official from their post.
• Today, the House Homeland Security Committee will mark up its resolution claiming Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors for his handling of the southern border, even though a number of constitutional experts have said the evidence does not reach that high bar.
• The controversial and frankly ridiculous move would make Mayorkas the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.
• When you ask your Republican congressional rep why they’ve done nothing for you, they will point out that they spent most of their time and effort doing shit like this.
• Let’s move on.
• Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service who pleaded guilty to leaking tax information about former President Donnie Dump and thousands of the country's wealthiest people, was sentenced to five years in prison Monday.
• U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes imposed the maximum sentence, saying the crime targeted the nation's system of government and its democracy.
• Here’s the deal: what he did was wrong regardless of whom he did it to. You don’t get to pick and choose when a crime is justifiable based on who the victim is.
• In other news, a deep-sea exploration team may have found the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane. The aviator disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean 87 years ago.
• Deep Sea Vision said this week that it had captured a sonar image in the Pacific Ocean that appears to be Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft.
• Wow.
• I want to talk about school bullying in the modern world.
• The family of a New Jersey teen who died by suicide after video of her being assaulted at her high school was posted online is suing the board of education and school officials.
• Adriana Kuch took her own life after she was attacked by other students in her high school and the video of the attack was posted online. The assault and the video led to her public humiliation and ultimate suicide.
• The video showed Adriana being struck with no warning in the face. Two students attacked her and two others recorded it. Four students were criminally charged.
• I’ll state for the record: yes, of course there was bullying when people my age were in school. But having it recorded and then put on social for others to laugh at you? That didn’t happen in the ‘80s.
• Please talk to your children and make sure they know that you will defend and support them. Also, if you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 
• Moving on.
• Russell Douglas Warren, 48, of Prudenville, MI was charged Sunday with threatening President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
• Authorities became aware of several threatening statements on X over the weekend, including some concerning the killing of the President of the United States, law enforcement agents, and the bombing of US government buildings.
• Hot tip: don’t do shit like that, no matter who the president is or what you think they’ve done.
• And now, The Weather: “Alcohol” by Dad Bod
• A monster Pacific storm will throw heavy rain and gusty winds at the West Coast of the United States this week, with most of the focus on California from Wednesday to Thursday. The upcoming storm will trigger an atmospheric river that can bring rain heavy enough to trigger flooding, mudslides and major travel disruptions.
• We’re probably gonna get sandbags ready.
• From the Sports Desk… former NBA point guard Rajon Rondo was arrested over the weekend for unlawful possession of a firearm, drug paraphernalia, and marijuana. Rondo was a four-time All-Star and a two-time NBA champion.
• Ugh.
• In other Sports Desk musings, this will be the first weekend without actual football games in a good while, being that weird week between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl.
• I am tied for third in my football pick ‘em pool, which means my choice for the Super Bowl will actually matter in some way. I want that third place trophy, dammit.
• Today in history… Charles I of England is executed in Whitehall, London (1649). Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed (1661). The Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka (1703). In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself (1835). Yerba Buena, CA is renamed San Francisco, CA (1847). Japanese carmaker Mazda is founded, initially as a cork-producing company (1920). Adolf Hitler takes office as the Chancellor of Germany (1933). Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery bus boycott (1956). Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies (1968). The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London (1969). The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (2020). 
• January 30 is the birthday of statesman/poet George Villiers (1628), lawyer/politician John Lansing, Jr. (1754), nun/saint Angela of the Cross (1846), US president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882), actor Gene Hackman (1930), actress Vanessa Redgrave (1937), US vice president Dick Cheney (1941), singer-songwriter Marty Balin (1942), singer-songwriter Steve Marriott (1947), singer-songwriter/drummer Phil Collins (1951), golfer Payne Stewart (1957), singer Jody Watley (1959), NBA player Jalen Rose (1973), actor Christian Bale (1974), actress Olivia Colman (1974), actor Wilmer Valderrama (1980), and rapper/singer-songwriter Kid Cudi (1984).

That’s enough for now as I ease back into my news reporting. I’m still busy, by the way… lots of follow-up and follow-through after a big business event. I do need a day or two off. But really, my only goal for now is to make it through to the weekend without being pissy about it. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 29, 2024

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 January 29, 2024, and it’s a Monday. I’ve been gone but now I am back, so let’s see if anything important happened since last Wednesday.

• Where was I?
• Not far away from home but a million miles away nonetheless. I was working at the NAMM Show, the annual trade event for people in the music and audio product industry.
• It was my 31st NAMM Show. I am old.
• It went fine. My exhibiting clients all seemed happy with my work. I did have one aspect of my business travels that went awry; when I checked into my hotel which was to have been paid for by my main client there, I handed them a card which I thought was being held for incidental purchases.
• And they mistakenly rang up the entire $1,700+ room charge on the card. They immediately reversed the charges, which was great… and then it took three full days for the reversal to refill my bank account.
• But no big harm was done, and I managed fine without access to money between Wednesday and Saturday through the generosity of various friends.
• Okay. Anyway, I’m back. Let’s get back to the news.
• We should probably note the $83.3 million judgement against Donnie Dump for having raped, then defamed writer E. Jean Carroll, and then continuing to do so.
• The verdict was the second time over the past year that a jury has awarded Carroll millions of dollars in damages from Dump, who states he’ll appeal the judgement.
• Fuck him. I’m even more looking forward to this week’s potential decision in the civil fraud case against Dumpy in New York City.
• Closing arguments in the case were made Thursday, and Judge Arthur Engoron indicated that he hopes to make a decision by Wednesday of this week.
• How much will it be? AG Letitia James has asked Engoron to force El Dumpo to pay a nearly $370 million penalty for falsely altering his net worth on key financial statements to receive tax and insurance benefits.
• The state is also asking the judge to bar the former president from New York’s real estate business for life.
• Here’s hoping.
• Moving on.
• Things in the Middle East and other parts of Asia seem to continue to deteriorate in recent times. Three US Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured in a drone attack overnight on a small US outpost in Jordan.
• It’s the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the Gaza war. President Joe Biden said that the US will respond, as you would expect we would.
• The drone was fired by Iran-backed militants and appeared to come from Syria. It is still being determined which militia group specifically is responsible. The number of wounded is expected to rise as service members seek treatment for symptoms consistent with traumatic brain injury.
• Sigh. War sucks and violence is stupid. Let’s move on.
• On Friday, the Illinois State Board of Elections held a hearing on whether the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” applies to former President and current accused felon Donald John Trump.
• The judge’s recommendation is expected to be announced tomorrow when the full election board meets. The panel will then vote on the recommendation.
• Interestingly, an attorney for the challengers asserted that Dump filed false paperwork with Illinois election officials when he certified that he was “fully qualified to serve as president.”
• I think that may be provable.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday the Republican National Committee made fun of President Joe Biden for having attended a church service in South Carolina, but as happens a lot with the evil RNC, it backfired spectacularly.
• They put up a social post deriding Biden for having entered a Black church 15 minutes after the service started.
• In doing so, they made it clear that they didn’t know special guests are traditionally introduced after the service begins in Black churches.
• If there’s a way to do something wrong and misguided and ignorant, that’s what the Republicans will choose to do.
• Meanwhile, Biden’s presumed opponent in the 2024 presidential election decided to trash workers and their unions after United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain endorsed President Biden.
• Fain is pretty clear with his reasons: “When you look at these two candidates, you know, Joe Biden has a history of serving others, and serving the working class, and fighting for the working class, standing with the working class. Donald Trump has a history of serving himself and standing for the billionaire class. And that’s contrary to everything that working class people stand for,” he said yesterday.
• Hey, how’s that classy lady Lauren Boebert doing? Not so good.
• A straw poll of voters in the district where the controversial congresswoman recently relocated had her coming in fifth place out of the nine Republican candidates.

• And now, The Weather: “How To Feel Uncomfortable” by Dana Gavanski
• The northeast is getting slammed with snow, rain, ice, and a wintery mix of utter shit today. Stay warm and stay safe, friends.

• I have a chart for you. It’s this date in 1968. I won’t be born for about a year and a half. Vietnam is raging, social unrest is peaking, and the tunes were pretty damn good.
• 1. Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) (John Fred And The Playboys). 2. Chain Of Fools (Aretha Franklin). 3. Hello Goodbye (The Beatles). 4. Woman, Woman (The Union Gap Featuring Gary Puckett). 5. Green Tambourine (The Lemon Pipers). 6. Daydream Believer (The Monkees). 7. Bend Me, Shape Me (The American Breed). 8. I Second That Emotion (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles). 9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Gladys Knight And The Pips). 10. If I Could Build My Whole World Around You (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell). 11. Honey Chile (Martha Reeves & The Vandellas). 12. Skinny Legs And All (Joe Tex). 13. Susan (The Buckinghams). 14. Different Drum (Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt). 15. Monterey (Eric Burdon & The Animals). 16. Spooky (Classics IV). 17. Nobody But Me (The Human Beinz). 18. Boogaloo Down Broadway (The Fantastic Johnny C). 19. Who Will Answer? (Ed Ames). 20. Baby, Now That I've Found You (The Foundations)
• From the Sports Desk… the NFL conference championship games were yesterday. I actually returned from my business event in time to catch most of the first game and all of the second.
• In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs upset the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 to head to the Super Bowl. Frankly, the Ravens beat themselves. They had plenty of opportunities to win, and all the weapons to do so, and then… didn’t.
• I respect the Chiefs, but I would have preferred some more new blood in the championships this year.
• The NFC game between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers was a massive heartbreak for Lions fans, who are at least familiar with that sensation. The Lions were up 24-7 at halftime, and then the Niners rattled off 27 consecutive second-half points and surged to a stunning 34-31 win to claim the franchise's eighth NFC championship.
• So we now have a Super Bowl matchup between the Chiefs and 49ers. It’s as even a match as we’ve seen in history; the current odds have San Francisco as a favorite, but only by -1.5 points.
• Today in history… "The Raven" is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe (1845). Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state (1861). Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile (1886). Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator (1907). The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty (1918). The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced (1936). In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea (2002). The Trump administration establishes the White House Coronavirus Task Force under Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar (2020).
• January 29 is the birthday of scientist/philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688), activist/philosopher Thomas Paine (1737), US president William McKinley (1843), playwright Anton Chekhov (1860), businessman/philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874), actor W. C. Fields (1880), actor John Forsythe (1918), composer Leslie Bricusse (1931), bass player James Jamerson (1936), actor Tom Selleck (1945), drummer Tommy Ramone (1949), actress/TV host Oprah Winfrey (1954), diver Greg Louganis (1960), actor Nicholas Turturro (1962), NHL player Dominik Hašek (1965), actor Edward Burns (1968), actress Heather Graham (1970), actress Sara Gilbert (1975), singer Adam Lambert (1982), and MLB player José Abreu (1987).

Okay then. That’s enough for now. My day should be mostly on the lower end of the stress scale today, with my entire industry recovering from our efforts at NAMM. I do have a big list of “we’ll get to that after NAMM” things to do, but they don’t need to be done all at once. I’m going to relish the quiet comforts of being home. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 28, 2024

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 January 28, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. I am not able to do my news today since I am being a business drone. Here are some historical things nonetheless.

• Today in history… Edward VI, the nine-year-old son of Henry VIII, becomes King of England on his father's death (1547). Execution of Agnes Sampson, accused of witchcraft in Edinburgh (1591). Sir Horace Walpole coins the word “serendipity” in a letter to a friend (1754). Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois (1851). An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces (1915). Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance (1956). The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today (1958). The National Football League announces expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for the 1961 NFL season (1960). Supergroup USA for Africa records the hit single “We Are the World” to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief (1985). Space Shuttle STS-51-L Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board (1986).
• January 28 is the birthday of poet/critic Johann Elias Schlegel (1719), businessman William Seward Burroughs I (1855), businessman Charles W. Nash (1864), painter Jackson Pollock (1912), artist Claes Oldenburg (1929), actor Alan Alda (1936), businessman Carlos Slim (1940), NBA coach Gregg Popovich (1949), singer-songwriter Peter Schilling (1956), singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan (1968), SCOTUS justice Amy Coney Barrett (1972), NFL player Daunte Culpepper (1977), singer Nick Carter (1980), and NBA player Andre Iguodala (1984).

I'll be back. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 27, 2024

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 January 27, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. I am not able to do my news today since I am being a business drone. Here are some historical things nonetheless.

Today in history… Dante Alighieri is condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence (1302). The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31 (1606). The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States (1785). A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast (1820). Modest Mussorgsky's opera 'Boris Godunov’ premieres in Mariinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg (1874). Thomas Edison receives a patent for his incandescent lamp (1880). First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (1939). Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger (1951). Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, FL (1967). The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress (2003). Apple announces the iPad (2010).

January 27 is the birthday of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756), labor leader Samuel Gompers (1850), NFL team owner Art Rooney (1901), psychologist James J. Gibson (1904), editor/publisher William Randolph Hearst, Jr. (1908), singer-songwriter Elmore James (1918), actress Donna Reed (1921), NBA team owner Jerry Buss (1933), actor Troy Donahue (1936), actor James Cromwell (1940), drummer Nick Mason (1944), dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948), guitarist G. E. Smith (1952), SCOTUS chief justice John Roberts (1955), actress Mimi Rogers (1956), NFL player/commentator Cris Collinsworth (1959), journalist Keith Olbermann (1959), actress Bridget Fonda (1964), singer-songwriter Mike Patton (1968), and comedian Patton Oswalt (1969).

I'll be back. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 26, 2024

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 January 26, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I am not able to do my news today since I am being a business drone. Here are some historical things nonetheless.

• Today in history… The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism (1564). The British First Fleet sails into Port Jackson to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia, which is commemorated as Australia Day (1788). Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state (1837). The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union (1861). Virginia is readmitted to the Union (1870). The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress (1915). The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird (1926). The first United States forces in WWII arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland (1942). The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope until BTA-6 is built in 1976 (1949). On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky (1998).
• January 26 is the birthday of the 12th Dalai Lama (1857), general Douglas MacArthur (1880), mafia boss Frank Costello (1891), pilot Bessie Coleman (1892), singer Maria von Trapp (1905), violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908), pianist/composer Jimmy Van Heusen (1913), philanthropist/politician Annette Strauss (1924), actor Paul Newman (1925), director Roger Vadim (1928), cartoonist Jules Feiffer (1929), MLB p[layer/actor Bob Uecker (1934), activist Angela Davis (1944), football coach/child molester Jerry Sandusky (1944), film critic Gene Siskel (1946), singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams (1953), guitarist Eddie Van Halen (1955), singer Anita Baker (1958), comedian/TV host Ellen DeGeneres (1958), NHL legend Wayne Gretzky (1961), singer Andrew Ridgeley (1963), speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy (1965), NBA player Vince Carter (1977), and the Suleman octuplets (2009).

I'll be back. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 25, 2024

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 January 25, 2024, and it’s a Thursday. I am not able to do my news today since I am being a business drone. Here are some historical things nonetheless.

• Today in history… Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn (1533). São Paulo, Brazil, is founded by Jesuit priests (1554). University of Virginia chartered by Commonwealth of Virginia, with Thomas Jefferson one of its founders (1819). The ‘Wedding March’ by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, and becomes a popular wedding processional (1858). Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company (1881). Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco (1915). The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia (1918). The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games (1924). ‘The Guiding Light’ debuts on NBC radio from Chicago (1937). Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the first ever electronic game (1947). The first Emmy Awards are presented in the United States (1949). The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States reacts to the "payola" scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records (1960). Blue Ribbon Sports, which would later become Nike, is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes (1964). Charles Manson and four "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders (1971). The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes (2011). 
• January 25 is the birthday of chemist/physicist Robert Boyle (1627), poet Robert Burns (1759), businessman William Colgate (1783), abolitionist/activist/educator Anna Gardner (1816),  writer W. Somerset Maugham (1874), writer Virginia Woolf (1882), conductor/composer Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886), singer-songwriter Sleepy John Estes (1899), politician Corazon Aquino (1933), singer Etta James (1938), director Tobe Hooper (1943), runner Steve Prefontaine (1951), NHL player Chris Chelios (1962), NFL player Mark Schlereth (1966), singer-songwriter Emily Haines (1974), politician Volodymyr Zelenskyy (1978), and singer-songwriter Alicia Keys (1981).

I'll be back. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 24, 2024

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 January 24, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. I’m going to be brief on today’s news for reasons that will be shortly apparent.

• I’ll note up front today… you’re going to have to find your own news for a little bit.
• Where will I be? Working a trade show. And while I have often had the optimistic idea that I’ll find time to write these news bullets in the morning before I head into the madness, the reality is that when my brain is in show mode, it’s nearly impossible for me to focus in the way that is required for me to pick and choose the news that’s appropriate for this little column.
• So, Thursday through Sunday, I’ll drop some posts when I can, but they won’t be in regard to things that actually matter. Just a heads-up so you don’t think I’ve stopped.
• I will not stop.
• For today, though, let’s start with the 100% unsurprising news that former president and current accused felon Donnie Dump won the GOP new Hampshire primary over former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
• I expect that Haley will soon drop out and endorse Dump… if not soon, then after the South Carolina primary on February 24, which she will also lose.
• President Joe Biden was not on the ballot in New Hampshire, but still won the primary by overwhelming numbers as a write-in candidate. He faced 21 opponents, many of whom have names like Vermin Supreme, Paperboy Prince, and President Boddie (I’m not making any of this up).
• There are two semi-legitimate fools going up against Biden: Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and author Marianne Williamson. They didn’t make a big impact in the NH primary, nor will they elsewhere.
• Biden’s victory in New Hampshire — despite not being on the ballot — was so impressive that it surpassed Barack Obama’s performance in the state in 2012, a year he ran unopposed in the primary.
• Of note: Dump beat Haley by just 11 points in New Hampshire. Biden crushed his nearest opponent by 46 points.
• We need to step back a moment and talk about the mental health of Donald John Trump. His signs of dementia and decline overall are getting worse on a daily basis.
• You tell me what this Dumpy quote means…
• “We are an institute in a powerful death penalty. We will put this on.”
• In other news…
• A day after the US Supreme Court voted to let federal Border Patrol agents remove the razor wire barrier along a contested section of the US-Mexico, the wire is still up. The Department of Homeland Security demanded Texas gives it full access to the border by January 26.
• And in fact, Texas has said Eagle Pass’ Shelby Park area is open to the public, but US Customs and Border Protection have been blocked from accessing it.
• In typical Republican fashion of disobeying laws they don’t like, Republican congressman Chip Roy is encouraging officials in his home state of Texas to ignore the Supreme Court ruling.
• This is the same mentality that led to January 6. Chip Roy should consider how his statements and actions will be perceived when read back in court.
• Moving on, for now.
• Kevin Monahan, the 66-year-old man who fatally shot a 20-year-old woman when the car she was in came up his driveway at night, was found guilty yesterday of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and tampering with physical evidence.
• Kalyin Gillis was shot by Monahan in April 2023. She was a passenger in a car that mistakenly turned around in Monahan’s driveway. Monahan’s laughable defense was that the gun malfunctioned and fired the deadly shot without Monahan pulling the trigger. 
• I’ll look forward to his sentencing.
• In international news, after 20 months of demands, obstruction and delay, last night the Turkish parliament voted in favor of Sweden joining NATO, clearing one of the final hurdles for a major expansion of the military alliance set in motion by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• That is awesome. Looking forward to welcoming Sweden to our team.
• In other news, do you recall Martin Shkreli, the guy known as “Pharma Bro” and was informally voted to have the most punchable face in history?
• Shkreli was known for hiking the price of a life-saving drug more than 4,000%. He later served more than four years in prison following his 2017 conviction for defrauding investors in two hedge funds and scheming to defraud investors in another drugmaker.
• Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a lower court judge acted properly in imposing a lifetime ban on Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry, and ordered him to repay $64.6 million because of his antitrust violations.
• Good. Fuck that guy.
• Let’s talk about a much. letter guy: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.
• Evers vowed in his State of the State speech yesterday to veto any bill that would limit access to abortions, and he announced plans to expand access to emergency contraception.
• Enrollees in the state’s BadgerCare Plus Medicaid program will have access to over-the-counter contraception, including emergency contraception, without a separate prescription. The medication will be provided without any out-of-pocket costs.
• Well done, sir. That’s how you do it. I will opine that state leaders who try and attack women’s reproductive rights will soon find themselves out of jobs across the country.
• And now, The Weather: “The Birds Attacked My Hot Air Balloon” by Pile
• I mentioned the torrential rainstorm I awoke to on Monday. Most of LA County’s coastline saw between one and three inches of rain over the last three days. The San Gabriel Valley saw almost three inches of rain.
• Typically sunny San Diego has a new record on Monday – the "wettest day in January history.” The Southern California city saw 2.73 inches of rain on Monday, beating the previous record for the wettest January day that was set on Jan. 31, 1979.
• Rest in peace to award-winning journalist Charles Osgood, who anchored "CBS Sunday Morning" for 22 years.  He was 91. 
• Osgood was a gifted news writer, poet and author, and spent 45 years at CBS News before retiring in September 2016.
• From the Sports Desk… congrats to the newest batch of Baseball Hall of Famers: Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton all exceeded the 75% threshold required from the Baseball Writers' Association of America to gain entry to Cooperstown.
• Today in history… Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula (41). King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later erratic behavior and possible impotence (1536). King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament (1679). James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, CA (1848). The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell (1908). In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional (1916). The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices (1933). The Voyager 2 space probe makes its closest approach to Uranus (1986). Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, with over 30 known victims, is executed by the electric chair at the Florida State Prison (1989). The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation (2003).
• January 24 is the birthday of Roman emperor Hadrian (76), philosopher Christian Wolff (1679), Prussian king Frederick the Great (1712), US Air Force general Hoyt Vandenberg (1899), businessman J. Howard Marshall (1905), painter Robert Motherwell (1915), evangelist Oral Roberts (1918), singer-songwriter Ray Stevens (1939), singer-songwriter Neil Diamond (1941), singer Aaron Neville (1941), actress Sharon Tate (1943), congressman John Garamendi (1945), singer-songwriter Warren Zevon (1947), actor John Belushi (1949), NBA player Mark Eaton (1957), pianist/singer-songwriter Jools Holland (1958), actress Nastassja Kinski (1961), actor Phil LaMarr (1967), gymnast Mary Lou Retton (1968), actor Matthew Lillard (1970), actor Ed Helms (1974), actress Mischa Barton (1986), and NFL coach Sean McVay (1986).

Okay. I’ll miss you while I’m gone for a little while. I mean, I’ll still be here, just without the news. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 23, 2024

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 January 23, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m here to talk about news-like things while I drink coffee and figure our my plans for the day.

• The six registered voters of tiny Dixville Notch in New Hampshire all cast their ballots for Nikki Haley at midnight, giving her a clean sweep over former President and current accused felon Donnie Dump and all the other candidates.
• STOP THE VOTES!
• Just kidding. I’d rather Joe Biden go up against El Dumpo than anyone else in November.
• Today is, in fact, the New Hampshire primary. The only reasons I want Haley to do well is to irritate Dumpy, at least for a little while. My guess is that Dump will win today, and probably every other GOP primary contest over the coming months.
• Joe Biden is not on the New Hampshire primary. This is very purposeful. The brief story as to why this is the case…
• From 1976 to 2020, both parties began their nominating process with a wintertime trek through Iowa and New Hampshire. Iowa had its caucuses, and New Hampshire had its “first in the nation” primaries.
• But are the states really representative of the whole of America? Iowa and New Hampshire, are, between them, about 90% white. Many Democrats wanted a change from this routine, and Biden agreed. 
• So, at Biden’s urging, the DNC shook things up, officially making South Carolina the first state to hold primaries for the Democrats. Along with putting South Carolina at the front of the line, the DNC committee also allowed Nevada, Michigan, and Georgia in the early window.
• Republican officials in Georgia blocked the plan to move up that state’s primary date (because of course they did). But the rest of the changes still meant a massive influx of voters of color into the Democrats’ primary process. Biden and other Democrats believe this more diverse electorate will select presidential candidates with wider appeal and give the party an edge in future races.
• I agree.
• So, in sticking with that principle, no Joe on today’s ballot, though it’s still pretty certain he’ll win anyway in NH via write-in votes. None of it will matter; Biden is the Dem candidate for 2024, and I’m happy to support him.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday the Supreme Court allowed federal immigration agents to remove the razor wire that Texas state officials have set up along some sections of the US-Mexico border.
• A lower court ruling last year had barred the federal government from removing the razor wire that National Guard soldiers deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott assembled on the banks of the Rio Grande, near the Texas border town of Eagle Pass.
• But in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court suspended that lower court ruling at the request of the Biden administration, which has argued the razor wire obstructs Border Patrol's ability to process migrants who are already on American soil and to help those who may be in distress.
• Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the court's three liberals — Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson — in voting to lift the lower court's injunction. Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh would have allowed it to remain in place.
• So fuck Greg Abbott and his fucking cruel bullshit.
• In other news, Florida Gov. and recently failed Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis suggested he would veto GOP-led legislation in his state to use taxpayer funds to help former President El Dumpo pay his legal bills.
• Yes you read it right. They wanted the state to pay Dump’s fucking legal bills with taxpayer money. I would be fucking outraged.
• Moving on.
• In state election news, last night there was a debate among senate hopefuls in my state of California. One of these candidates will succeed the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
• There are three Democrats and one Republican running… Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee (all current US Reps), and former Dodger first baseman/Republican Steve Garvey. 
• Garvey refused to say if he was voting for Dump and avoided answering the question multiple times over the 90-minute affair, which led to a moment of hilarity courtesy of Katie Porter.
• “Well, California, I think what they say is true, ‘once a Dodger, always a Dodger,’” she zinged about the former major league ballplayer. “Ballots go out in six weeks, Mr. Garvey, this is not the minor leagues. Who will you vote for?”
• And in fact, Garvey had trouble providing coherent answers to any question. The leading candidate is still, by far, Adam Schiff.
• Interestingly, much like Garvey claims, I still don’t know who I’m voting for in this contest. I’d be fine with any of the three Dem candidates. I have until early March to decide, when California casts its primary votes on Super Tuesday.
• I do love Katie Porter, but I also have reasons to want her to maintain her Congress seat in Orange County.
• Moving on.
• The popular baby clothing company Kyte Baby is trying to head off a consumer boycott after the family of an employee said she was forced to give up her job to be in the hospital with her premature newborn.
• Marissa Hughes was fired after not returning from maternity leave in order to care for her newly-adopted son. He was premature, weighed 1 pound, and was in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nine hours from their Dallas home.
• Kyte Baby gives two weeks of paid leave. But when that time was up, Hughes' request to work remotely from the NICU was denied. When Hughes' story went viral, the online backlash against the company was swift.
• Can you imagine a worse decision by a company who makes baby clothes?
• And now, The Weather: “Blink” by Rozi Plain
• Again, stay safe from the fucked up winter weather that still plagues much of the nation.
• The nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were announced this morning, with “Oppenheimer” sweeping 13 nods, surprising no one.
• It was followed by “Poor Things” with 11 nominations, while “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Barbie” also picked up several nods.
• Here are the nominees for “Best Picture”: “American Fiction,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Barbie,” “The Holdovers, ” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Past Lives, ” “Poor Things,” “Oppenheimer, ” and “The Zone of Interest.”
• From the Sports Desk… um, nothing.
• Just kidding. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers became the ninth player in NBA history to score 70 points in a game, and broke Wilt Chamberlain's 76ers franchise record of 68 points in the process.
• Congrats. Embiid is a phenomenal player.
• Today in history… Zhu Yuanzhang ascends the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries (1368). The Royal Exchange opens in London (1571). Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his ‘Lettres provinciales’ (1656). Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, MD, now a part of Washington, D.C. (1789). Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, NY, becoming the United States' first female doctor (1849). Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler (1941). American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee" (1957). The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified (1964). The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley (1986). Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State (1997). Netscape announces Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source (1998). A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted (2003). 
• January 23 is the birthday of general/politician John Hancock (1737), painter Édouard Manet (1832), weapons designer John Browning (1855), engineer Frank Shuman (1862), actor Randolph Scott (1898), guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910), pianist Marty Paich (1925), actor Rutger Hauer (1944), singer Anita Pointer (1948), actor Richard Dean Anderson (1950), pilot Chesley Sullenberger (1951), singer Robin Zander (1953), and NHL player Brendan Shanahan (1969).

Alrighty. I’m a busy boy, but I’ll make it through. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 22, 2024

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 January 22, 2024, and it’s a Monday. It’s pouring rain here in Southern California as dawn breaks on this Monday morning. It’s a day where I have, in many previous years, encountered bad anxiety, being the Monday before a major annual business event. But I’m feeling just fine, so let’s see what’s going on in the world.

• About five minutes after we posted our news yesterday morning speculating that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was about to drop out of the Republican presidential race, he… dropped out of the Republican presidential race.
• He claims that he had no clear path to victory. That is almost correct. He actually had no path at all to victory.
• The real reason he dropped out is much more simple: he ran out of money. No one had faith in him to win, so they stopped bankrolling his campaign.
• Despite having been constantly denigrated and humiliated by Dump throughout the campaign, DeSantis immediately offered his endorsement to Dump. No one should be surprised by this.
• A brief comedic moment here. While making his speech about ending his campaign, DeSantis quoted renowned UK prime minister Winston Churchill by saying, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
• One problem: Churchill never said that. It was from some Internet meme awhile back. Jesus.
• Soon after DeSantis announced he was dropping out of the race, Nikki Haley told reporters, "He's been a good governor and we wish him well," and noting that the race is now down to "one fella and one lady," she added, "May the best woman win."
• That’s cute and all, but Haley will also be endorsing Dump when she also drops out, which probably will happen within a month or so, I‘m guessing.
• Haley is still polling significantly below Dump, even in New Hampshire which was expected to be one of her strongest states in the primaries.
• Let’s move on.
• Today wld have been the 51st anniversary of Row v Wade, the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected a right to have an abortion. 
• It was decided by the Court on January 22, 1973, and was ended by a new decision of the Court on June 24, 2022 via their ruling on the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
• Donald Trump has taken credit for ending Roe. He says he is proud to have removed an aspect of women’s rights that had been in place for over 49 years.
• Nikki Haley has taken it a step further. Yesterday on “Face the Nation”, she gave support to a national law banning abortion in every state.
• I’d like to think that some of you care about women’s reproductive freedom, and that you (or your wife or daughter or sister or friend) shouldn’t be forced by the government to give birth.
• That’s one reason I’m asking you over and over to support Democratic candidates at every level of government. It’s one of many reasons, but it’s an important one.
• In related news, today the Biden administration is announcing new steps intended to ensure access to contraception, abortion medication and emergency abortions at hospitals.
• Federal agencies are issuing guidance that would make no-cost contraceptives more available under the Affordable Care Act and take similar actions to expand contraception access for federal employees.
• The federal health department also announced a new team dedicated to enforcing its interpretation of a law, known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, which the Biden administration has said requires hospitals to provide emergency abortions nationwide, including in the 21 states where the procedure is limited or banned.
• Keep this in mind: no matter how you feel about abortion, you will be welcome to keep that opinion. No laws force people to get abortion; under Roe v. Wade, what women got was the freedom of choice regarding their own reproductive decisions.
• Now, under right-wing Republican policies, that freedom of choice has been removed by the government. How can anyone support this? I will never understand people who prefer less freedom and strict government control of their lives.
• Moving on.
• Things are getting mighty weird in Eagle Pass, TX, right on the US-Mexico border.
• At a place called Shelby Park, there’s a standoff going on between Texas and the federal government.
• The entire 47-acre park, including a golf course, is enclosed with concertina wire and patrolled by state troopers from Texas and Florida. At the entrance, behind a chain-link fence, National Guard members are strapped with rifles.
• Under federal law, the federal government has sole authority to enforce immigration laws — a power that’s been affirmed by Supreme Court decisions.
• But Governor Greg Abbott has sent state troopers and National Guard members to different parts of the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border. He ordered state police to arrest migrants on suspicion of trespassing. He lined the river at Shelby Park with shipping containers. He ordered 70,000 rolls of concertina wire to be deployed along 29 miles of the river.
• This is ugly both literally and figuratively, and the previously unthinkable idea of a clash at the site between the USA and Texas isn’t all that far-fetched anymore.
• And now, The Weather: “New Year Song” by Wandering Years
• I don’t have to all you that the weather is fucked up; you can look out a window in most places in the USA. Nationally, winter storms have claimed at least 72 lives around the U.S. in January thus far, many involving hypothermia or road accidents.
• Here in typically lovely Southern California, a three-part storm is gaining strength by the minute right now, impacting both coastal and mountain communities. We’re getting a ton of rain along with gusty winds.  
• From the Sports Desk… we have our matchups for this year’s NFL Conference Championships. First, let me tell you about yesterday’s divisional games.
• The Buccaneers put up a good fight against the Lions, but despite throwing for 349 yards and three touchdowns, Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield also threw two very untimely interceptions, and that was all it took. Detroit won 31-23.
• The later game was a slugfest between the Chiefs and Bills. You hate to see it come down to this, but Buffalo missed a heartbreaking field goal that would have tied the game with less than two minutes remaining. The Bills have a horrifying history of crucial missed field goals; this one was as bad as any of them. Final score: KC 27, Buffalo 24.
• Next weekend’s conference championship games will feature the Kansas City Chiefs at the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC, and the Detroit Lions at the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC. And of course, the winners of those two games meet in the Super Bowl on Sunday February 11.
• Betting lines for the conference championships are up. Baltimore is favored by -3.5 over KC, and San Francisco is favored -6.5 over Detroit. Both should be good games.
• In other sports news — and despite the fact that I don’t cover the NCAA or coaching, except when I do — huge congratulations are due to Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, who is the new winningest basketball coach in NCAA history.
• The Stanford women's basketball team defeated Oregon State 65-56 at Maples Pavilion yesterday to give VanDerveer her 1,203rd career victory, passing former Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski.
• Today in history… Edward VII is proclaimed King of the United Kingdom after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria (1901). Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1924). Australian and American forces in WWII defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna–Gona (1943). KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood (1947). Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space (1968). The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport (1970). The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states (1973). The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during a Super Bowl XVIII television commercial (1984). The space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space (1992). Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (2002).
• January 22 is the birthday of soldier/writer/explorer Walter Raleigh (1552), philosopher/politician Francis Bacon (1561), poet John Donne (1573), sailor/pirate William Kidd (1645), poet Lord Byron (1788), philanthropist Edward Harkness (1874), director D. W. Griffith (1875), actress Piper Laurie (1932), actor Bill Bixby (1934), actor John Hurt (1940), impresario Malcolm McLaren (1946), singer-songwriter Steve Perry (1949), director Jim Jarmusch (1953), NHL player Mike Bossy (1957), actress Linda Blair (1959), singer-songwriter Michael Hutchence (1960), DJ/producer DJ Jazzy Jeff (1965), and chef Guy Fieri (1968).

Okay, enough for now. I have things to do. But I”m alright, so that’s good. Enjoy your day.

Random News: January 21, 2024

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 January 21, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. Unlike yesterday, which ended up being a full-fledged work day for me that lasted for hours on end, today is my last bit of chill time before I go into full-on trade show mode next week. I’m therefore enjoying this quiet time in my bathrobe while checking the news for you.

• In as much as I dislike Nikki Haley and disagree with nearly 100% of her platform and policies, at least she has the balls to call out El Dumpo as everyone should.
• “Last night, Trump is at a rally and he’s going on and on mentioning me multiple times as to why I didn’t take security during the Capitol riots. Why didn’t I handle Jan. 6 better? I wasn’t even in D.C. on Jan. 6. I wasn’t in office then,” she stated accurately.
• “They’re saying he got confused, that he was talking about something else, he’s talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiple times in that scenario. The concern I have is — I’m not saying anything derogatory — but when you’re dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this. We can’t.”
• Welp, she’s not wrong.
• The New Hampshire GOP primaries are on Tuesday of this week. Haley has had some decent momentum in polls in the state, but she still lags well behind Don the Con. I don’t think she’ll win New Hampshire; I think she can only hope to come close. But even if she did, she’d likely lose every other state to Big Smelly.
• Guess we’ll see. I think the only reason these GOP people continue their campaigns is in the hope that Dump doesn’t live to the time of the general election, or ends up jailed, or wants one of them for his VP.
• Again, considering the state of Dump’s age and lack of wellness, there’s a strong likelihood that his VP will end up becoming President by default. That’s why some people like Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) are pushing so hard for the role.
• Meanwhile, there are some signs that Ron DeSantis’s campaign may be spiraling to an ignominious ending. Yesterday, he abruptly canceled appearances that had been scheduled for today on both CNN "State of the Union" and NBC's "Meet the Press”.
• Odd thing to do for a candidate two days before a primary. DeSantis is, however, adding an event today in New Hampshire. Shrug.
• As long as we’re talking about losers and failures, let’s not leave out that fact that another batch of El Dumpo’s lawyers resigned this week. It was the legal team led by Joe Tacopina.
• The lawyer did one interview about this topic. Tacopina had represented Smelly Dumpster at the initial E. Jean Carroll trial, which Dump didn't attend and ended up losing. Just before the second trial, Tacopina left and took two other attorneys with him.
• His reason? ”My compass told me my time there was done. There are a lot of personal reasons that went into that. Things that I can't and won't discuss,” he said. Tacopina also was asked if a federal conviction against Dumpy was likely.
• "The two federal cases are serious cases. I think they are not to be taken lightly. Let's put it that way," Tacopina replied. "Is it possible? Absolutely. You have a jury of 12 who is ultimately going to decide this. Jack Smith is a federal prosecutor who I knew from his days in Brooklyn. That's a serious prosecutor. These are federal cases, and you have a jury."
• Moving on.
• As we do each week, it’s Sunday Gunday at Zak’s Random News, where we do a quick scroll through some of the acts of gun violence over the past two days in the USA.
• Three dead and two injured in a shooting at a party in a rental house in Katy, TX. Three dead and two injured in a shooting at an apartment complex in Palm Bay, FL. One dead and three injured in a shooting in the Buhl community of Tuscaloosa County, AL. One dead and three injured in a shooting in Coraopolis, PA. One dead and two injured in a shooting at a gas station in Omaha, NE. One dead and two injured in a shooting at a bar in San Pedro, CA. A 14-year-old boy shot dead at a residence in Giles County, VA. A 15-year-old girl shot dead at a residence in Olathe, KS. A woman shot dead in Montgomery, AL. One shot dead in the San Marco area of Jacksonville, FL. One shot dead at a 7 Eleven in Reno, NV. One shot dead in a drive-by in Goulds, FL. One shot dead in Lexington, KY. One shot dead in Springfield, MO. Four people shot in the parking lot of a Best Buy in Plantation, FL. Three shot at a nightclub in Roanoke, VA. Two wounded — 1 critically — in a shooting at a BART station in Pittsburg, CA. Two shot at a Kia dealership in Cape Coral, FL. A 16-year-old girl shot in Virginia Beach, VA. One shot and in critical condition in Brooklyn Center, MN. One shot in Dayton, OH. One shot in east El Paso, TX. One shot in west Charlotte, NC. 
• This does not happen anywhere but in the USA. It happens because we elect political candidates who refuse to enact common sense gun laws.
• It’s not because of mental health issues. It’s no because of race. It’s not because of gender or sexual orientation. It happens because of guns. If you don’t like it, just vote.
• Let’s move on.
• Here’s a bizarre story. Nearly all the copies of a small-town Colorado newspaper were stolen from newspaper racks this week on the same day the Ouray County Plaindealer published a story about charges being filed over rapes alleged to have occurred at an underage drinking party at the police chief’s house while the chief was asleep.
• Um, that’s not how stopping information flow works in 2024. In fact, the fact that I’m reposting this info right now gives you a better idea about how it does work.
• The newspaper smartly posted the story on social media and removed its website paywall so people could read about the felony sexual assault charges filed against three men, including a relative of the police chief, for actions that allegedly occurred at party in Ouray where drugs and alcohol were used.
• The suspects were ages 17, 18 and 19 at the time, and the person who reported the rapes was 17. By Thursday evening, someone had returned a garbage bag full of newspapers to the Plaindealer, and supporters had donated about $2,000 to the paper.
• That’s cool.
• And now, The Weather: “Company Car” by Snõõper
• The weather is still very dangerous in many places across the USA. The Midwest is still particularly fucked; northwest Indiana saw a record 21 inches of lake-effect snow, while Chicago temperatures remained well below freezing yesterday. people in Michigan City, IN woke up to 35 inches of snow.
• Stay safe, wherever you are.
• From the Sports Desk… as expected, the AFC top-seed Baltimore Ravens put a handy beating on the Houston Texans. Houston kept it close in the first half but Baltimore is a juggernaut with too many weapons. The Ravens move on to next week’s AFC Championship game.
• Later in the day was an absolute thrill ride between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. The NFC top-seed Niners had to rely on turnovers and a 4th quarter comeback to beat that Packers, winning by 24-21. The Niners will host next weekend’s NFC Championship.
• Today’s games have the Buccaneers at Lions, and then the Chiefs at Bills. Tomorrow we’ll know everything about the two remaining conference championship games. Exciting.
• Today in history… The first American novel, ‘The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth’ by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston. (1789). After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine (1793). Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate (1861). New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor (1908). Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty (1932). American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury (1950). The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States (1954). Production of the DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, UK (1981). The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined (1997). Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States (2017). Officials in Washington state confirm the first coronavirus case on US soil (2020).
• January 21 is the birthday of anatomist Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714), businessman/soldier/politician Ethan Allen (1738), explorer/soldier/politician John C. Frémont (1813), Confederate loser Stonewall Jackson (1824), chemist Felix Hoffmann (1868), mystic Grigori Rasputin (1869), director Baldassarre Negroni (1877), fashion designer Christian Dior (1905), soldier Richard Winters (1918), actor Telly Savalas (1922), actor Paul Scofield (1922), actor Benny Hill (1924), golfer Jack Nicklaus (1940), tenor Plácido Domingo (1941), singer-songwriter/guiutarist Richie Havens (1941), singer-songwriter/guitarist Mac Davis (1942), actress Jill Eikenberry (1947), singer-songwriter Billy Ocean (1950), lawyer/politician Eric Holder (1951), businessman/philanthropist Paul Allen (1953), actress Geena Davis (1956), NBA player Hakeem Olajuwon (1963), NBA player Detlef Schrempf (1963), actor Ken Leung (1970), singer-songwriter Cat Power (1972), and NHL player Jonathan Quick (1986).

That’s all for now. I’m going to get my ass in the shower and put on clothes and do various things. Enjoy your day.