Random News: February 8, 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 8, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I’m slowly but surely getting back toward the realm of normal, for me anyway. Mouth still hurts some, but that’s to be expected, and the swelling is going down. I am improving and soon enough this whole thing will be in my rear view mirror. Let’s do some news.

• At this very moment while I’m typing these words, the Supreme Court has just started hearing oral arguments on whether Donald John Trump is eligible to run for president after Colorado removed him from the state’s 2024 primary ballot due to his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection on the US Capitol.
• The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that Dump isn't an eligible presidential candidate based on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which says public officials who have engaged in insurrection are disqualified from ever serving again.
• Dump appealed the decision and the lower-court ruling has been put on hold pending today’s Supreme Court action.
• So every person in the USA and perhaps around the world should be keeping a close eye on today’s proceedings. I predicted long ago that this far-right SCOTUS would side with Dump; I truly hope I’m wrong.
• Of note: Clarence Thomas, whose wife Ginny directly supported and organized aspects of the insurrection at question, did not recuse himself from the hearing.
• I’ll also state for the record that should some miracle occur and Dump is removed from the ballot, the MAGA populace is going to lose whatever is left of their minds, and various incidents will occur shortly thereafter.
• For now, moving on…
• Super weirdo Marianne Williamson announced she is suspending her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Williamson was only getting a tiny fraction of support in states that have held primaries thus far.
• She lost by a mile to Biden in New Hampshire where he wasn’t even on the ballot.
• “In ways I cannot yet see, none of this will have been in vain. There are hidden gifts that have only just begun to reveal themselves,” she wrote. That’s… yeah, consistently weird as she’s been throughout her bizarre career as a candidate.
• In other news…
• While some folks poked fun at our Southern California storms, no one’s laughing about the five US Marines who were killed in a helicopter crash in Tuesday as a result of the severe weather.
• Authorities are still attempting to recover the remains of the Marines and have launched an investigation into what happened. Authorities found the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter around 9AM yesterday near Pine Valley, CA, outside San Diego.
• They’d been on a routine training flight from Creech Air Force Base, northwest of Las Vegas, to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
• Sad.
• Speaking of sad, I’m sick of talking about how the Republicans in Congress are impeding the power of the government for their own political purposes.
• Today, the Senate is expected to consider a bill to provide assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan after Republicans in the chamber rejected a bipartisan border security and foreign aid bill.
• The Senate voted 49-50 to sink the border bill yesterday afternoon, with Republicans unified in voting to filibuster the agreement they had initially called for.
• Again, to be clear: they, themselves, asked for help with a supposed emergency about security on the US border, and then after a BIPARTISAN plan was proposed, they killed it.
• They just… suck. They do. I’m sorry, but it’s true.
• Moving on with a pop quiz: what country is the top exporter of goods into the USA?
• If you said China, for the past 20 years or more, you’d be correct. But as of last year, that is no longer the case.
• Mexico is now the top exporter of goods into the US, according to new trade data released by the Commerce Department yesterday. Mexico sent $475.6 billion worth of goods into the US last year, a 5% increase from 2022. China, meanwhile, exported $427.2 billion worth of goods to the US last year, a 20% slump from 2022.
• One more political note today, but it’s an important one.
• The two candidates running to replace expelled former Rep. George Santos in New York are neck-and-neck in the final week of the race.
• Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who formerly held the seat, had 48 percent support among likely voters compared to 44 percent for Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip. About 7 percent of voters were undecided in the bellwether race set for this coming Tuesday February 13.
• Bizarre side note: Pilip is a registered Democrat, despite having won local elections as a Republican.
• The winner of this race will tilt the balance of the House, with its razor thin margins between Republicans and Democrats. 
• In Asshole News… while Sean Hannity was interviewing the founder of the Guardian Angels, a New York City-based vigilante group known for targeting immigrants, an off-screen disturbance took place and the camera panned to show group members confronting an unidentified man, pushing him to the sidewalk and placing him in a headlock.
• Curtis Sliwa proclaimed, “In fact, our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys on the corner of 42nd and 7th where all of this has taken place.”
• One small problem: the man wasn’t a “migrant” but rather a New Yorker from the Bronx. Though Sliwa claimed the man had been caught shoplifting, police provided no evidence to support the allegation.
• This is why we don’t want fucking vigilantes “helping” our trained law enforcement agencies. Ask any cop he he or she feels about vigilantes.
• And now, The Weather: “Neverrr Everrr (feat. Merce Lemon)” by villagerrr
• In catching up with events this week, I wanted to be sure to send an RIP to Aston "Family Man" Barrett, the bass player for Bob Marley & The Wailers.
• He was actually the bandleader of Marley's band as well as co-producer of the albums, and the man in charge of the overall song arrangements. His impact on the world of reggae and music overall cannot be recognized enough.
• In 2020 he was selected as number-one all time by the staff of Bass Player Magazine in their ranking of ”20 legendary players who shaped the sound of electric bass.”
• Fun fact: “Family Man” was his nickname from being the bandleader, a name bestowed on him before he had any kids. Then he went on to father 23 daughters and 18 sons. Yes, really.
• He died last Saturday at age 77 after a series of health issues. I can’t possibly explain what a great musician he was. Rest in peace.
• I have another sad RIP in the world of music. 
• Mojo Nixon, a wonderfully weird man who was a musician, actor, and radio DJ, died yesterday while aboard the Outlaw Country Cruise. He was 66. 
• Nixon and his former partner, Skid Roper, scored a bizarro breakthrough in 1987 with their novelty hit “Elvis Is Everywhere.”
• Perhaps my favorite Mojo Nixon track was a rather lewd tune called “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin,” which was an ode to MTV VJ Martha Quinn.
• Rest in peace, you bizarre but cool man.
• From the Sports Desk… it’s the time of year to talk about ridiculous Super Bowl prop bets. With the (sad) popularity of online sports betting, the American Gaming Association estimates that Americans will wager a combined $23.1 billion on the Big Game this year, up from $16 billion year-over-year.
• You can bet that Sam Darnold will win Super Bowl MVP at +20000. For this to happen, Brock Purdy would need to be injured and his backup would have to have the game of lifetime.
• Either kicker hits the uprights/crossbar on a missed field goal/extra point at +400. Doinks do happen.
• Reba McEntire National Anthem length under 90.5 seconds at -128. Bad bet… average length is over 100 seconds, and six of the last ten Super Bowl anthems have eclipsed two minutes.
• Christian McCaffrey scoring the first touchdown at +360. Pretty solid. San Francisco has scored a touchdown on more than half of their first drives this season (10 of 19), and McCaffrey has scored a touchdown in 13 of 18 Niners games this season.
• Travis Kelce to score a TD and Chiefs to win at +240. SF is favored by only -2 points, which means really anything can happen.
• Chiefs trail in the fourth quarter but win the game at +500. When these teams met in Super Bowl LIV, the 49ers led by 10 points in the fourth quarter and KC won. It could happen again.
• And the weirdest bets of all for Super Bowl LVIII are illegal, because bets on outcomes that don't affect the game's result are prohibited. So here are a few of the Taylor Swift bets you can make with friends but can’t make in Vegas…
• Will she be shown on camera at least six times?
• Will she arrive at the SB on time after her show in Tokyo?
• Will Travis Kelce make heart-hands after scoring?
• Will Tay hold the Lombardi trophy?
• Will she be in a Super Bowl commercial?
• There re about 50 more of these I won’t list here. But ya know, if these things get people interested in the game who otherwise wouldn’t have been, that all part of the entertainment aspect of sports.
• The game — if you need a reminder — is this Sunday February 11, and starts at 3:30PM on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
• Today in history… Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I (1587). The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, America, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II (1693). Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate (1837). Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — they would finally do so on February 12, 1901 (1865). The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce (1910). United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House (1922). The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time (1971). After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth (1974). The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act (1996). 
• February 8 is the birthday of mathematician/Philosopher Proclus (412), poet/soldier Agrippa d’Aubigné (1552), physicist Daniel Bernoulli (1700), US general William Tecumseh Sherman (1820), author Jules Verne (1828), chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (1834), Edith Evans (1888), singer-songwriter Lonnie Johnson (1899), actress Lana Turner (1921), actor Jack Lemmon (1925), actor James Dean (1931), composer John Williams (1932), composer Joe Raposo (1937), journalist Ted Koppel (1940), actor Nick Nolte (1941), music producer Terry Melcher (1942), singer-songwriter Dan Seals (1948), actress Mary Steenburgen (1953), author John Grisham (1955), singer-songwriter Vince Neil (1961), actor Gary Coleman (1968), NBA player Alonzo Mourning (1970), actor Seth Green (1974), actress Cecily Strong (1984), NFL player Julio Jones (1989), NBA player Klay Thompson (1990), and NBA player Rui Hachimura (1998).

Admittedly, I am still recovering, and I am still taking it easy to some extent. But I was able to eat macaroni and cheese last night for dinner, the first thing resembling solid food I’d consumed in several days, and goddamn, I loved every bite. Not that I was actually biting it; more like squishing it with my tongue. But it improved my spirits regardless. Enjoy your day.