Random News: January 7, 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 7, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. At the moment it’s so quiet around here that I had to snap my fingers a couple of times just to make sure I hadn’t suddenly gone deaf. But no, I can hear, and I have a cup of Peet’s Luminosa Breakfast Blend that is bringing happiness to a chilly winter morning.

• Special counsel Jack Smith's team has uncovered previously undisclosed details about former President and current accused felon Donald John Trump's refusal to help stop the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol three years ago as he sat watching TV inside the White House.
• Many of the exclusive details come from the questioning of Dumpy’s former deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, who is now a paid senior adviser to Dump's reelection campaign. Scavino told Smith's investigators that as the violence began to escalate that day, Dump "was just not interested" in doing more to stop it.
• After unsuccessfully trying for up to 20 minutes to persuade Dump to release some sort of calming statement, Scavino and others walked out of the dining room, leaving the smelly man alone. That's when El Dumpo posted a message on his Twitter account saying that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done."
• The aides were shocked by the post. Aside from Dumpy himself, Scavino was the only other person with access to Dump's Twitter account, and he was often the one actually posting messages to it, so when the message about Pence popped up, White House attorneys raced to find Scavino, demanding to know why he would post that in the midst of such a precarious situation.
• Even Dump's daughter Ivanka rushed down to the Oval Office dining room to convince her father that issuing a public message could discourage violence. 
• More than a half-hour after El Dumpo was first pressed to take some sort of action, he finally let Scavino post a message on Dump's Twitter account telling supporters to support law enforcement and stay peaceful.
• Keep in mind: Dump could have stopped it before it started. He could have stopped it while it was ongoing. He chose not to. He wanted the insurrection to go on, and he was only sad it didn’t result in a hostile takeover of the country.
• Let’s move on, sort of.
• Michigan Republicans have voted to remove state GOP Chair Kristina Karamo during a meeting Saturday after many of the party’s leaders called for her resignation following a year of leadership plagued by debt and infighting.
• There’s something hilariously ironic abut this. Karamo is a big election denier, and guess what? Now she’s denying her own ouster.
• Karamo did not attend the meeting and has made it clear she will not recognize the vote if removed, claiming the meeting was not official and had been illegally organized. The unfolding situation could set the stage for a court fight to determine control of the highest position within the Michigan GOP.
• “Their performance has no legal standing, I am still chair of the Michigan Republican Party,” Karamo said.
• Hahahahaha! 
• Michigan Republicans suffered historic losses in the 2022 midterms. Michigan is among several swing states where parties overtaken by far-right leadership have struggled to overcome infighting and money issues. Similar situations have unfolded in Georgia and Arizona.
• Shocking! Not.
• On a very related topic, this morning, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) wouldn’t commit to certifying the 2024 election results during an interview. She was asked, “Would you vote to certify, and will you vote to certify, the results of the 2024 election no matter what they show?”
• Stefanik, who has boosted El Dumpo’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, said that she did not vote to certify the 2020 results in the state of Pennsylvania and several other states because there were “unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature and unilaterally changing election law.”
• When pressed on the upcoming election, Stefanik wouldn’t commit to certifying the election results. “We will see if this is a legal and valid election,” she said.
• I will tell you right now: they are planning ahead for another January 6 event except on a much more widespread basis after Dumpy loses this fall.
• Moving on.
• You probably heard about the horrifying incident that happened with Alaska Airlines flight 1282. The flight had just departed from Portland, OR when an entire panel blew out of the side of the plane.
• They were at 16,000 feet and the plane depressurized with the gaping hole in its midsection. Amazingly, there were no deaths or serious injuries, though I’m sure there remains some severe trauma for those onboard. The plane made an emergency return to PDX.
• Following the incident on Friday, the FAA ordered the temporary grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines.
• Moving on.
• A bit of a weird situation with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was hospitalized starting on Monday for complications from elective surgery. He remains hospitalized as of Saturday evening at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
• The problem? Pentagon officials did not make a public announcement about Austin's hospitalization until Friday. The secrecy is in contrast to the usual practice among the president and Cabinet members, who will generally provide notice of when they are stepping away from their official duties.
• The Pentagon did not inform the White House about Austin's hospitalization until Thursday. Last night, Austin said, "I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon. I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure."
• Probably a good idea.
• Today is Sunday, aka Gunday here at Zak’s Random News, where we look at just some of the incidents of gun violence in the USA over the past couple of days.
• Two people dead and another injured in a shooting at a game room in north Austin, TX. Two people dead in a shooting at an apartment complex in Rancho San Diego, CA. Two shot and killed in separate shootings — one in a car, the other in a laundromat — in Chicago, IL. One dead and two injured in a shooting in Stockton, CA. One dead after being shot in Boardman, OH. One woman dead after a shooting in Oakland, CA. A woman shot and killed by her estranged husband at grocery store in Urbana, MD. A woman shot and killed in the Latonia neighborhood of Covington, KY. A 19-year-old man dead after a shooting in Lancaster, PA. Another teenager killed in the Tioga neighborhood of North Philadelphia, PA. One person dead after a shooting in a parking garage in Orlando, FL. One man killed in the Harney Heights neighborhood of Vancouver, WA. Two men injured in a shooting in Pittsfield, NH. Two shot at a party in Miami, FL. 
• And while we usually just cover a smattering of shootings on Friday and Saturday, there’s another one I want to bring up.
• On Thursday, the first day back to school after the winter break, an 11-year-old was killed and seven others were injured in a shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. The slain student, Ahmir Jolliff, was a sixth grader at the neighboring middle school.
• The school’s principal, who remains in critical condition, had acted bravely and heroically, and was nearly killed while trying to protect the kids.
• It so happened that Donnie Dump was doing a campaign event in the area, and had these soothing words for the community.
• “It’s just horrible to see that happening, it’s just horrible. So surprising to see it here. But, uh, have to get over it. We have to move forward, we have to move forward.”
• Remember that when your friends, your kids, your family are shot and killed. You just have to get over it. That’s what Dumpy wants you to do.
• Get over it.
• And now, The Weather: “Pill” by DOLLY ZOOM
• Weather remains blustery and occasionally dangerous in many areas today. 
• Here in Southern California, dangerously strong winds continue to sweep across parts of Los Angeles County today, and the Grapevine — the mountainous pass where the I-5 freeway connects the area to the rest of CA — might be shut down due to snow and ice and strong gusts.
• About 30 years ago, I was driving the Grapevine in a winter storm when I hit black ice. An 18-wheel truck in front of me started to jackknife. Cars were sliding across multiple lanes. There’s nothing but a steep drop into wilderness canyons on either side of the road.
• I lived but it was fucked up. I’m still traumatized by it.
• Let’s do a chart. It’s the Billboard 200 album charts for January 1992. I was still in college, working on my music major at Cal State Dominguez Hills. A pretty great amount of variety on this chart, spanning country, R&B, pop, grunge, rock, blues, and more.
• 1. Ropin' The Wind (Garth Brooks). 2. Dangerous (Michael Jackson). 3. Too Legit To Quit (M.C. Hammer). 4. Nevermind (Nirvana). 5. Metallica (Metallica). 6. Time, Love And Tenderness (Michael Bolton). 7. Achtung Baby (U2). 8. Cooleyhighharmony (Boyz II Men). 9. Emotions (Mariah Carey). 10. Use Your Illusion II (Guns N' Roses). 11. Use Your Illusion I (Guns N' Roses). 12. No Fences (Garth Brooks). 13. C.M.B. (Color Me Badd). 14. Diamonds And Pearls (Prince And The New Power Generation). 15. Waking Up The Neighbours (Bryan Adams). 16. Unforgettable: With Love (Natalie Cole). 17. We Can't Dance (Genesis). 18. Luck Of The Draw (Bonnie Raitt). 19. Spellbound (Paula Abdul). 20. Two Rooms: Songs Of Elton John & Bernie Taupin (Various Artists)
• From the Sports Desk… there are still four playoff spots open as we head into the final day of the regular NFL season today… two slots in the AFC, and two in the NFC.
• I’m not going to tell all of the many permutations that would allow various teams to make it in or get eliminated. By tonight, we’ll have a complete playoff picture, so we’ll let you know about that when it’s solidified.
• Today in history… The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army (49 BC). French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England (1558). Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia (1608). Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa (1610). HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago (1835). The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS" (1904). The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen (1920). The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London (1927). Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's ‘Un ballo in maschera’ (1955). U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation (1980). The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins (1999). Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others (2007). Chinese authorities confirm that they have identified a novel coronavirus, initially named 2019-nCoV by WHO (2020). The longest U.S. House of Representatives speaker election since 1860 concludes and Kevin McCarthy is elected 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (2023).
• January 7 is the birthday of politician Thomas of Woodstock — my 20th great-grandfather (1355). U.S. president Millard Fillmore (1800), businessman Thomas Henry Ismay (1837), film producer Adolph Zukor (1873), cartoonist Charles Addams (1912), flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal (1922), publisher Jann Wenner (1946), singer-songwriter/guitarist Kenny Loggins (1948), painter/sculptor Robert Longo (1953), actor David Caruso (1956), journalist Katie Couric (1957), NFL player/coach Ron Rivera (1962), actor Nicolas Cage (1964), actor Jeremy Renner (1971), NHL player Donald Brashear (1972), singer/rapper Aloe Blacc (1979), and NFL player Lamar Jackson (1997).

Time for me to get my ass into the shower and do things that need to be done. Not, like, in the shower. After that. When I am clothed. Enjoy your day.