Random News: January 10, 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 10, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. I am up, I’ve got my cup, everybody let’s get fffff… familiar with the news of the day.

• We usually don’t start with weather-related news, but the series of storms pounding the US is probably top-of-mind for many of you.
• Multiple people have died and over half a million homes are without power after a series of powerful winter storms swept through parts of the eastern US and Canada. Strong winds flipped cars and knocked over homes in Florida, where several tornadoes were reported.
• More than 1,300 flights in or out of the US were cancelled yesterday. Vice-President Kamala Harris' plane had to be diverted due to weather.
• Nearly one million households in the eastern US, from Florida to New York State were without electricity. A state of emergency was declared for 49 Florida counties, where storms have blown roofs off homes and knocked down power lines.
• More than 22 million people were under tornado watches.
• As I always remind people, your need to get somewhere for work or fun needs to be balanced by your need to survive for the long term. Stay safe.
• I mentioned yesterday that Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson had negotiated a spending deal to fund the government along with Democrats Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
• That’s how it’s supposed to be done. The two sides of the aisles negotiate, compromise, and come to a decision that works for the people of the country.
• But not according to the MAGA faction. Now they want Johnson out. Yes, the guy they just unanimously elected to the Speaker role this fall. Some of the far-right freaks are upset that Johnson’s deal brings the spending in line with the deal struck last year between Democratic President Joe Biden and McCarthy that led to the former speaker's removal.
• Fact check: no, the deal is around $16 billion less in cuts compared to the deal reached between McCarthy and Biden. The MAGA cabal is rumbling about removing Johnson from his new post. How embarrassing that would be for them.
• Moving on.
• A short and sad story of a young woman in Texas who has lost her life as a result of the state’s draconian abortion ban.
• Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick was pregnant but had high blood pressure and pulmonary edema. She should have been advised of the need for an abortion to save her life, but she wasn’t.
• Instead she died. She was 27 years old. And of course, her baby died as well.
• That’s two deaths for one, due to laws that try to control women’s reproductive freedom. Please do not continue to cause these needless deaths. Please do not support the sick and twisted actions of men who want to control every aspect of women’s choices.
• Vote blue. Moving on.
• As we mentioned yesterday, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington heard arguments on Tuesday in a momentous case over former President and current accused felon Donald John Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal charges for the efforts he took to overturn the 2020 election.
• The court could issue a ruling that decisively resolves the immunity question, allowing the trial to move quickly forward, or adopt a more narrow ruling that could leave some issues unresolved. They could also simply rule that Dump had no right to bring an appeal at this stage of the litigation.
• Dump was there in the court. He grew flustered at points when the prosecution's lawyer was speaking. He could be seen passing notes to his lawyers on a yellow legal pad.
• One interesting point was brought up by Judge Karen Henderson, the sole Republican appointee on the panel. She cited another part of the Constitution, a provision that requires the president to ensure that laws are faithfully executed.
• “I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,” she said.
• Judge Michelle Childs mentioned the fact that President Richard Nixon was pardoned upon leaving office as a data point suggesting that no one has ever assumed presidents are immune from prosecution after leaving office, whether or not they have been convicted in an impeachment proceeding.
• She’s right. And Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.
• In other news, Ronnie Long, a Black North Carolina man who spent 44 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of raping a prominent white woman, has been awarded a historic $25 million settlement more than three years after he was exonerated.
• The settlement is the second-largest wrongful conviction settlement recorded. Long is now 68 years old. His whole life was taken from him, having been wrongfully convicted by an all-white on October 1, 1976, and imprisoned ever since.
• I wouldn’t trade $25 million for that, or any amount of money, frankly.
• In another story of a Black person being treated badly, I have some good news.
• You may recall Ralph Yarl, the 16-year-old who was trying to pick up his brothers from a friend's home on the night of April 13 and had gone to the wrong Kansas City address.
• When he rang the doorbell, the homeowner, Andrew Lester, shot Yarl in the head.
• Just nine months after the horrifying event, Yarl was one of just four students in the area to secure a spot in Missouri’s all-state band. He plays bass clarinet and was named second chair in this prestigious recognition of his musical acumen.
• Congratulations to this courageous young man.
• Let’s do some international news.
• Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has declared an internal armed conflict in the country, ordering security forces to neutralize several criminal groups accused of spreading extreme violence in Ecuador.
• The decree came shortly after hooded and armed men interrupted a live television broadcast – one of several violent incidents playing out across the country yesterday. There were also reports of armed individuals at a hospital and a university in the city of Guayaquil.
• The assailants were seen forcing the staff of TC Television onto the floor of the studio as shots and yelling were heard in the background. Ecuador’s police later said they had arrested all the armed men, members of the media outlet had been evacuated, and all staff and hostages of the network were alive.
• Scary shit, man. Its sounds like something the MAGAs in this country would attempt (and fail) to do with our own media they don’t like.
• Let’s move on to the trashiest people you can imagine… the Boeberts.
• After an altercation in a restaurant over the weekend, Rep. Lauren Boebert's (R-CO) ex-husband was arrested yesterday and is facing charges including misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief.
• Previous reports said that Jayson was the one who called police following the restaurant incident and claimed he was a victim of domestic violence during the altercation.
• Stay classy, Colorado.
• In other news of people behaving badly, Hailey Clifton-Carmack, a 26-year-old math teacher at Laquey High School in Pulaski County, Missouri, is accused of raping a teenage student while other classmates acted as lookouts.
• She was arrested in Texas on Friday after fleeing the state. She faces multiple charges, including second-degree statutory rape and sexual contact with a student.
• Not cool.
• And now, The Weather: “I Saw a Flying Saucer” by Bluey & ctrl + me
• From the Sports Desk… more carnage in the NFL coaching world, as often happens the week after the regular season ends. The Tennessee Titans fired coach Mike Vrabel yesterday after back-to-back losing seasons.
• I think this is a bad decision, and that Vrabel will get picked up by another team and do well in the future.
• Today in history… Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war (49 BC). Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London (1645). Thomas Paine publishes his revolution-supporting pamphlet ‘Common Sense’ (1776). Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union (1861). John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil (1870). The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I for all combatant nations except the United States (1920). Fritz Lang's futuristic film ‘Metropolis’ is released in Germany (1927). The New England Journal of Medicine publishes the letter “Addiction Rare in Patients Treated with Narcotics”, which is later misused to downplay the general risk of addiction to opioids (1980). Time Warner is formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications (1990). 
• January 10 is the birthday of poet/philosopher Robinson Jeffers (1887), racing driver Violette Cordery (1900), actor Ray Bolger (1904), journalist/music producer Jerry Wexler (1917), actor Sal Mineo (1939), singer-songwriter Jim Croce (1943), singer-songwriter Rod Stewart (1945), singer-songwriter Donald Fagen (1948), boxer George Foreman (1949), singer-songwriter Pat Benatar (1953), singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin (1956), politician Chris Van Hollen (1959), and whatever Jared Kushner (1981) is.

That’s all I’ve got. Time to go work out. Little side note: after using my Nintendo Wii Fit every morning for the last 13 years for exercise, I receive a whole other discontinued and defunct gaming console for Christmas — a Wii U — and now have an updated workout program. I’m getting used to it but I like it so far. Enjoy your day.