Random News: January 5, 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 5, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I’m feeling a bit more chipper today, though still dealing with a ton of shit. But nearly all shit is temporary; things get better. Let’s see how the world is doing.

• As we mentioned yesterday in breaking news, former President Donnie Dump received at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments during two of his four years in the White House, per a report from the House Oversight Committee.
• This is a much bigger deal than you may realize. This happened while he was in office. It’s a direct Constitutional violation.
• Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution unambiguously states that a president can’t profit off the presidency. Simple as that.
• The report demonstrates that Dump violated the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from accepting money payments or gifts of any kind whatsoever from foreign governments and monarchs unless the president obtains the consent of the congress to do so.
• Twenty foreign governments made the payments to Dump's businesses during the two-year period that the committee was able to review.
• China was the leading spender in money paid to Dump, giving him more than $5.5 million. Some of the other countries that made payments to Dump included Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, India, and Afghanistan.
• Here’s an example of the illegality that has transpired. Documents provided to the committee showed that Saudi Arabia and its royal family spent at least $615,400 at Trump properties during his administration. After Saudi Arabia did this, Trump signed an arms deal as president in 2017 between Saudi Arabia and the USA that was worth more than $100 billion.
• It’s being speculated that the $7.8 million found this far is almost certainly only a fraction of Dump's harvest of unlawful foreign state money.
• I can tell you that when this eventually goes to trial, Dump should absolutely be required to pay back the money he took from those countries, as well as serve whatever punitive action (jail, fines, and so on) is required.
• With tomorrow being the three-year anniversary of January 6, 2021, the day that a bunch of assholes thought they’d be able to take over the United States government without a fight, here’s some more good news in the “fuck around, find out” file.
• Meet Christopher Worrell of Florida. He’s a member of the far-right Proud Boys group who was convicted on charges that included assaulting police on January 6. After he was arrested, he cut off his ankle monitor in an attempt to flee from law enforcement.
• Worrell was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison. He’d been convicted of seven counts at a bench trial last year after prosecutors alleged he sprayed law enforcement officers during the attack as they defended the north side of the Capitol against a large group of assholes.
• The mission to bring every one of the January 6 insurrectionists to justice is far from over. Authorities are still working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to find out who placed pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices the day before the Capitol attack.
• More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes in the riot, ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.
• Some 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while another 170 or so have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury.
• Only two January 6 defendants have been acquitted of all charges, and those were trials decided by a judge rather than a jury.
• In related news…
• Yesterday, groups of voters from Illinois and Massachusetts filed motions to remove Donnie Dump from the 2024 ballot, adding to the list of states where the former president faces a challenge to his candidacy under the 14th Amendment’s insurrectionist ban.
• Good.
• And in still more related news, a group of House Democrats yesterday formally called on far-right Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a case involving El Dumpo’s eligibility to appear on Colorado's Republican primary ballot.
• Led by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s courts subcommittee, the lawmakers say Thomas should recuse himself because his wife, conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, was an outspoken supporter of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
• The letter cited Ginni Thomas’ attendance at the “Stop the Steal” rally that took place before the Capitol attack, and said, “Not only did your wife attend the January 6 rally, but she was instrumental in planning it and bringing the insurrectionists to the Capitol.”
• How is this even a question? Of course Thomas needs to recuse himself.
• Our final (for the moment) January 6 news item is about national joke Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who’d planned a big party and book signing to celebrate the third anniversary of January 6, 2021.
• It was scheduled for tomorrow at a resort in Florida. Unfortunately for Sporky, the resort canceled the event today, claiming it was “not made aware” of its purpose.
• The Westgate Resort in Kissimmee, FL stated, “Please be advised that Westgate was not made aware of the purpose of this event when we were approached to host a book signing. This event has been cancelled and is no longer taking place at our resort.”
• Ha ha.
• Moving on.
• Let’s back up to the list of names connected to disgraced financier/rapist Jeffrey Epstein.
• Some of the connections between people on this list of names are so tenuous that it’s just ridiculous we’re even discussing it.
• Example: in a deposition from May 2016, victim Virginia Giuffre described going on foreign trips with Epstein and his equally perverted pal Ghislaine Maxwell, including several trips to France. On one trip to southern France, Giuffre claimed she had sexual contact with Maxwell before attending a birthday party for supermodel Naomi Campbell.
• ”We were going to Naomi Campbell's birthday party," Giuffre clarified in her deposition. "[The sexual encounter] wasn't at the birthday party."
• So you get a headline saying that Naomi Campbell’s name was “on Epstein’s list”. See what I mean?
• It’s a similar situation with celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Bruce Willis, and Cameron Diaz. Epstein’s victim Johanna Sjoberg testified, "I did not meet them, no. When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging [Epstein], and he would get off — he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, ‘Oh, that was Leonardo, or, that was Cate Blanchett or Bruce Willis.’ That kind of thing."
• These are literally just names that someone mentioned at some point. It would be great if there were people who were directly accused of some wrongdoing who could be brought to justice.
• But that doesn’t seem to be the case in anyone who’s been mentioned thus far.
• And just to be very clear here: Epstein and his associates 100% did sexually victimize and exploit young women and girls. In court papers and trial testimony, they have described depraved actions perpetrated not only by Epstein but also by his friends and business associates. It’s abhorrent.
• It’s just that none of the evidence presented seems to implicate these well-known celebs of having done anything other than to have known Epstein in some way, or having been mentioned by him.
• Let’s move on.
• Some excellent news out of Florida today, where women’s reproductive rights advocates reached a major milestone that could shape abortion access throughout the south. Today, groups seeking a constitutional amendment protecting abortion secured enough state-certified signatures by the February 1 deadline to put a referendum on the 2024 ballot.
• If successful, voters in the country’s third most populous state could undo Florida’s abortion bans, keeping access open to thousands of patients throughout the south who travel to Florida from neighboring states — and from as far away as Texas — to avoid more restrictive prohibitions.
• “Make no mistake: we will put abortion on the ballot in 2024 and take back the rights that have been stolen,” said Florida Senate Democratic leader Lauren Book.
• Fuck yes. Hats off to the fighters for rights in Florida!
• Now let’s balance that with some shitty news from Ohio.
• A transgender woman running for an Ohio House seat has been disqualified for failing to disclose her former name on petitions circulated to voters, in violation of a seldom-enforced state law.
• Local election officials informed Vanessa Joy, who hoped to run as a Democrat for Ohio House District 50, that she was not eligible to do so, despite having collected the signatures necessary to run.
• Here’s a question… what about all the other candidates who run under names that are not their birth name? People like Nimarata Randhawa (aka Nikky Haley) or Rafael Edward Cruz (aka Ted)? Or does this only apply to transgender people who they want to force to use their deadname?
• And now, The Weather: “Cake” by Yune
• Rest in peace to actor/musician David Soul, a guy you probably know as the blond half of crime-fighting duo "Starsky & Hutch.” he died at age 80.
• At the height of his fame, Soul also hit the music charts with the single "Don't Give Up on Us."
• Let’s do a chart. It’s January 1977. I’m in third grade, but I hear these songs all the time on the radio, and I like most of them. It’s bizarre to note how many very different styles and genres are represented in this group of 20 songs topping the Billboard Hot 100.
• 1. I Wish (Stevie Wonder). 2. Car Wash (Rose Royce) 3. You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Leo Sayer). 4. Dazz (Brick). 5. You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) (Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.). 6. Hot Line (The Sylvers). 7. New Kid In Town (Eagles). 8. After The Lovin' (Engelbert Humperdinck). 9. Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann's Earth Band). 10. Torn Between Two Lovers (Mary Macgregor). 11. Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Rod Stewart). 12. Walk This Way (Aerosmith). 13. Lost Without Your Love (Bread). 14. Enjoy Yourself (The Jacksons). 15. I Like Dreamin' (Kenny Nolan). 16. Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra). 17. Fly Like An Eagle (Steve Miller). 18. Jeans On (David Dundas). 19. Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born") (Barbra Streisand). 20. Weekend In New England (Barry Manilow)
• From the Sports Desk… gonna check out the final NFL games of the regular season tomorrow and Sunday? Here are some crucial ones that have huge playoff implications.
• Texans (9-7) at Colts (9-7). Falcons (7-9) at Saints (8-8). Bears (7-9) at Packers (8-8). And the biggest one of all, Bills (10-6) at Dolphins (11-5).
• My team (the Las Vegas Raiders) are out of playoff contention, but I still want them to beat the asses of the Denver Broncos, who are also out.
• Today in history… Robert-François Damiens becomes the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering after attempting to assassinate Louis XV (1757). Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold (1781). The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses (1914). The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich (1919). Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay (1933). The play ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris (1953). US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program (1972). The United States Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu is evacuated by helicopter airlift days after the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu (1991). The dwarf planet Eris is discovered by Palomar Observatory-based astronomers, later motivating the International Astronomical Union to define the term planet for the first time (2005).
• January 5 is the birthday of explorer Xu Xiake (1587), businessman King Camp Gillette (1855), actor George Reeves (1914), actress Jane Wyman (1917), music producer Sam Phillips (1923), US vice president Walter Mondale (1928), actor Robert Duvall (1931), NFL player/coach Chuck Noll (1932), music producer Phil Ramone (1934), journalist Charlie Rose (1942), actress Diane Keaton (1946), politician Mike DeWine (1947), actor Ted Lange (1948), guitarist/songwriter Chris Stein (1950), actor Clancy Brown (1959), singer-songwriter Marilyn Manson (1969), actor Bradley Cooper (1975), actress January Jones (1978), and musician Deadmau5 (1981).

That’s plenty, and I need to head down and do my workout. Try to be nice to people and animals and plants and the planet, because why not? It’s easy. Enjoy your day.