Random News: February 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 February 26, 2024, and it’s a Monday. It’s time to see what is happening in this world of ours. If you don’t know, how can you make it better?

• Let’s start with some breaking news: Donnie Dump has appealed his $454 million New York civil fraud judgment. His lawyers filed a notice of appeal this morning asking the state’s mid-level appeals court to overturn Judge Arthur Engoron’s verdict.
• Dump’s appeal was expected. What’s unclear is if he’s already put up the nearly half billion dollars it takes to formally move the appeal process forward.
• And if so, where he got it. Fascinating. Guess we’ll all see eventually.
• Moving on…
• As expected, Ronna McDaniel said this morning that she will step down next month as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee following Donnie Dump's endorsement of a new slate of leaders to direct the party.
• Dump has endorsed North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Whatley to be the next chairman of the RNC, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to be co-chair, and top campaign aide Chris LaCivita to be the party’s chief operating officer.
• What is the Dumpinator’s goal here? Simple. He wants the RNC to pay all of his legal bills, and not to use their spending power on any other candidates but himself.
• There is currently a resolution circulating within the RNC that would bar the committee from paying the legal bills of Dumpy. That will be tossed aside quickly as soon as the new regime takes over in March.
• Moving on.
• Let’s talk about tomorrow’s primary elections in Michigan, an important swing state.
• An effort to vote for “uncommitted” rather than supporting President Biden is being spearheaded by progressive groups and Arab American grassroots organizations in the state.
• This is, of course, a form of protest toward a perceived lack of support for Palestine and refusal to force a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel/Hamas war. Michigan has the highest population density of Arab Americans in the USA.
• I think Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says it well: “A second Trump term would be devastating, not just on fundamental rights, not just on our democracy here at home, but also when it comes to foreign policy. This was a man who promoted a Muslim ban. This is, I think, a very high-stakes moment. I am encouraging people to cast an affirmative vote for President Biden.”
• Think about the big picture, folks. Thank you.
• In other election news, it’s only a matter of time before Nikki Haley is forced to end her campaign as the only obstacle against Dumpy taking the GOP nomination.
• Americans for Prosperity, the organization backed by conservative billionaire Charles Koch, will stop its spending in support of Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign, they announced yesterday.
• Even after her unsurprising primary loss in South Carolina over the weekend, Haley said she still planned to continue her campaign. But without major donor cash, it’s difficult to see how she presses on past another week or so.
• Dump mocked her after the loss on Saturday. I think she’s out after Super Tuesday (March 5) and will immediately endorse Dump afterwards. That’s what they do.
• Let’s move on.
• Vigils took place across the nation for Nex Benedict, a bullied nonbinary Oklahoma teenager who died the day after a fight in a high school bathroom.
• The local police department has since said Benedict’s death was not a result of injuries suffered in the fight, based on the preliminary results of the autopsy.
• Vigils for Nex were held in Oklahoma and locations across the country, including Boston, Minneapolis, New York and Southern California in the days following the student's death.
• As mentioned yesterday, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in two cases that could dramatically reshape social media, weighing whether states such as Texas and Florida should have the power to control what posts platforms can remove from their services.
• The case will affect whether sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok should be able to make their own decisions about how to moderate spam, hate speech, and election misinformation.
• It’s a big fucking deal. I’ll keep you abreast of how it goes, of course.
• And now, The Weather: “loner” by Night Tapes
• In other weather news, Michigan — where today’s important primaries are being held — faces severe storms with possible hail and up to 60mph wind gusts. It’s shit like that which makes me happy to live somewhere where early voting is easy and encouraged.
• Let’s talk about porn… and AI.
• For the past decade or so, porn has been primarily dominated by two entities: Pornhub, a free site supported by ads, and OnlyFans, a subscription platform where individuals control their businesses and their fate.
• But AI will soon be able to create photorealistic images and videos that put viewers in the director’s chair, letting them create whatever porn they like. 
• The big question is how to prevent abuse. AI generators don’t have morals; they can be used to create content that depicts violence, rape, sex with children, or a celebrity — or even a crush from work who never consented to appear.
• Currently, no federal laws protect the victims of nonconsensual deepfakes. That means that you, or your family and friends, could end up in porn images that never existed in reality and that they certainly never consented to.
• To add some perspective… porn remains a giant industry accounting for a substantial chunk of all internet traffic. Major porn sites get more monthly visitors and page views than Amazon, Netflix, TikTok, or Zoom.
• It’s going to be a problem, and unless lawmakers start doing something soon, it’s a genie that won’t easily be put back into the bottle.
• Let’s do a chart. It’s this exact day 40 years ago in February 1984, and this is the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles.
• I am a sophomore in high school and I am constantly jamming and practicing and recording music, including working on some of my own songs. What else am I doing in February 1984? I have various girlfriends, I smoke weed, I play various sports, and I can’t drive because I am a grade ahead of my age and while most of my classmates are getting drivers licenses, I am still doing a lot of walking.
• 1. Jump (Van Halen). 2. Karma Chameleon (Culture Club). 3. 99 Luftballons (Nena). 4. Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper). 5. Thriller (Michael Jackson). 6. Joanna (Kool & The Gang). 7. Nobody Told Me (John Lennon). 8. Let The Music Play (Shannon). 9. Wrapped Around Your Finger (The Police). 10. An Innocent Man (Billy Joel). 11. That's All (Genesis). 12. Somebody's Watching Me (Rockwell). 13. I Want A New Drug (Huey Lewis & The News). 14. Talking In Your Sleep (The Romantics). 15. Here Comes The Rain Again (Eurythmics). 16. New Moon On Monday (Duran Duran). 17. Running With The Night (Lionel Richie). 18. Think Of Laura (Christopher Cross). 19. Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Yes). 20. Yah Mo B There (James Ingram With Michael McDonald).
• From the Sports Desk… not really a sports story, but a video popped up yesterday that shows 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton involved in a scuffle at a youth football tournament in Atlanta.
• Newton does not appear to throw any punches in the video and seems to be fending off three other people. It’s uncertain what prompted the altercation.
• C’mon people. Be better.
• Today in history… Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun (1616). Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba (1815). Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London (1909). President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park (1919). President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km2) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming (1929). Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration which leads directly to the development of radar (1935). U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day (1971). The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff (1987). In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people (1993). Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, FL (2012). 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 are kidnapped by bandits in Zamfara State, Nigeria (2021).
• February 26 is the birthday of playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564), author Victor Hugo (1802), fashion designer Levi Strauss (1829), soldier/hunter Buffalo Bill (1846), physician/businessman John Harvey Kellogg (1852), businessman Herbert Henry Dow (1866), animator Tex Avery (1908), actor Robert Alda (1914), actor Jackie Gleason (1916), actor Tony Randall (1920), singer-songwriter/pianist Fats Domino (1928), singer-songwriter/guitarist Johnny Cash (1932), singer-songwriter Mitch Ryder (1945), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Jonathan Cain (1950), singer-songwriter Michael Bolton (1953), politician Tim Kaine (1958), bass player Tim Commerford (1968), singer-songwriter Erykah Badu (1971), NFL player Marshall Faulk (1973), and NBA player Tim Thomas (1977).

Okay then. Lots of ongoing things to keep an eye on. I hope you’re staying aware and awake. Enjoy your day.