Random News: February 3, 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 3, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. And yes, I finally have an actual day off, perhaps even two in a row. This must be that “weekend” thing you people talk about. I’m looking forward to experiencing it. First, some news…

• Voting in the South Carolina primary actually started back on January 22, but today it end. Polls close tonight at 7pm EST.
• President Joe Biden will glide to an easy victory over his supposed opponents, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), and Marianne Williamson (weirdo).
• Biden’s only focus, as you already know, is beating Dump in the general election. The primaries are just an opportunity for him to build his case against El Dumpo.
• So, we’ll be monitoring those election returns tonight. I believe Biden will be declared the winner about two minutes after the polls close.
• As long as we’re covering election stuff…
• On Thursday, the Supreme Court once again is at the center of the 2024 presidential campaign when the justices will, for the first time, wrestle with a constitutional provision that prevents former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from reclaiming power.
• The case is the court’s most direct involvement in a presidential election since Bush v. Gore. It comes to a court that has been buffeted by criticism over ethics, and at a time when public approval of the court is at near-record lows in surveys.
• As we’ve covered here many times, the dispute stems from the push by Republican and independent voters in Colorado to kick Donnie Dump off the state’s Republican primary ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, culminating in the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol.
• The court has signaled it will try to act quickly, dramatically shortening the period in which it receives written briefing and holds arguments in the courtroom. The primaries are already underway, and the SCOTUS will need a fast decision in advance of the upcoming Super Tuesday elections.
• Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out. We’ll be watching closely. My initial prediction was a 6-3 ruling in favor of Dump along conservative/liberal lines, but it’s impossible to really know what’s going to happen.
• Just as a reminder, I’m going to once again give you the actual text of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Read it yourself and then make your own decision if Donald John Trump should be allowed to run for office again…
• Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
• There you have it.
• Might as well get some less-than-encouraging news out of the way.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan formally postponed Dump's March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election because a key legal appeal from the former president remains unresolved in the courts.
• She vacated the March 4 trial date in the case brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith but did not immediately set a new date.
• Please keep in mind, the delays in justice for Dumpy are indeed setbacks,, but not failures. he will inevitably someday face full justice for his high crimes of stealing/mishandling classified documents and plotting to subvert a presidential election.
• Let’s move on for now.
• There’s a convoy of far-right extremist assholes heading for the Texas-Mexico border right now, purportedly to show support for the Texas government in its ongoing standoff against the USA over the migrant crisis.
• The "Take our Border Back" convoy started its journey from Virginia Beach, Virginia, earlier this week with just a few dozen cars and trucks, but it swelled to several hundred vehicles since then. They plan to hold three rallies today in Yuma, AZ, San Ysidro, CA, and of course Eagle Pass, TX.
• Proud Boys members, neo-Nazi groups, and racist militias are also involved with the convoy. In an incredible perversion of Christianity, they are calling themselves “God’s Army”. Here’s hoping they remain non-violent, knowing that violence is their favorite answer to everything.
• Moving on…
• Yesterday the Supreme Court rejected an emergency petition to block the United States Military Academy’s race-conscious admissions policies.
• The anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions had filed an emergency petition to overturn a lower court decision that temporarily allowed West Point to continue to use race in admissions while a challenge against the practice proceeds.
• The Biden administration had urged justices to reject the petition, arguing that the Army has “a compelling interest in the diversity of its cadets” because West Point serves as a direct pipeline for future military leaders.
• I agree. You want a military of all-white leaders barking orders to Black and brown troops? You think that’s in the best interest of the country? I don’t.
• In other news…
• U.S. strikes against Iran-linked militants in Iraq and Syria overnight killed dozens of fighters and several civilians in a first round of retaliatory action as the Biden administration attempts to respond to the killing of three U.S. soldiers without stoking regional conflict.
• The airstrikes were a show of force, but appeared to do little damage to direct Iranian assets in the region, instead largely targeting Iran’s proxy forces.
• The overnight strikes on 85 targets, carried out using B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were part of what U.S. officials say would be a multiday campaign at regional targets linked to Iran.
• Can we not? With the war?
• And now, The Weather: “Lindo Lindo” by TOLEDO
• We’re being told in Southern California to prepare for “life-threatening” rains and the potential for damaging floods. The National Weather Service Los Angeles office predicted heavy to very heavy rains in parts of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles, beginning tomorrow morning and continuing through Monday evening.
• So that will be fun. Yes, we’ll be safe here.
• My friends in Oklahoma got some California-style excitement last night when a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook the state last night. The initial quake was followed by at least eight smaller temblors through Saturday morning, ranging in strength from magnitude 2.5 to 3.4.
• A 5.1 is a sizable quake… I don’t laugh at anyone for feeling a little freaked out by that.
• Rest in peace to two guys whose work in their respective arts I enjoyed a lot.
• Wayne Kramer was the co-founder, lead guitarist, and vocalist of the iconic Detroit proto-punk band MC5. He died yesterday at 75.
• MC5 started in 1963 when Kramer and his bandmates Fred “Sonic” Smith, Rob Tyner, Michael Davis, and Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson were students at Lincoln Park High School in the suburbs of Detroit.
• They were known as much for their influential raunchy sound as they were for their radical left-wing politics.
• Another RIP to actor Carl Weathers, who died Thursday at 76. Most people know him from his iconic role as Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies. Some people don’t know that Weathers was also a pro athlete before his acting career took off.
• He was an NFL linebacker who played two seasons with the then-Oakland Raiders, and three seasons for the Canadian Football League's BC Lions.
• He was also great in his co-starring role in Adam Sandler’s golf film ‘Happy Gilmore.’
• From the Sports Desk… Let’s see who’s leading the NBA, since there’s only one football game left and I’m trying not to be depressed about that.
• Eastern Conference: 1. Celtics (37-12), 2. Bucks (32-16), 3. Knicks (32-17), 4. Cavaliers (30-16), 5. 76ers (30-17).
• Western Conference: 1. Thunder (34-15), 2. Timberwolves (34-15), 3. Clippers (32-15), 4. Nuggets (34-16), 5. Kings (28-19).
• Today in history… Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona — my 29th great-grandfather — and Douce I, Countess of Provence — my 29th great-grandmother — marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states (1112). The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India (1509). The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas (1690). Spain–United States relations are first established (1783). The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress (1809). The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race (1870). The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax (1913). The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare (1917). As part of Operation Thunderclap in WWII, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000 (1945). Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community (1958). Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died (1959). The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post (1961). The Soviet Union's Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon (1966). Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the United States announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth (1984). Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida (1995). 
• February 3 is the birthday of soldier/politician Samuel Osgood (1747), pianist/composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809), physician/educator Elizabeth Blackwell (1821), engineer Hugo Junkers (1859), writer Gertrude Stein (1874), painter Norman Rockwell (1894), gangster Pretty Boy Floyd (1904), author James A. Michener (1907), physician Henry Heimlich (1920), filmmaker Kenneth Anger (1927), musician Johnny "Guitar" Watson (1935), film director Michael Cimino (1939), NFL player Fran Tarkenton, NFL player Bob Griese (1945), guitarist/songwriter Dave Davies (1947), actress Morgan Fairchild (1950), MLB player Fred Lynn (1952), actress Maura Tierney (1965), NBA player Vlade Divac (1968), soldier/lawyer/politician Beau Biden (1969), actor Warwick Davis (1970), and businesswoman/criminal Elizabeth Holmes (1984).

Okay. Time to take off this robe and purify myself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. Or at least take a shower. Enjoy your day.