Random News: March 11, 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 March 11, 2024, and it’s a Monday. It’s also the first Monday after the start of Daylight Saving Time and I’m grumpy as fuck. Making the day all the better, last night I got one of those “hey, you’re old, here’s a random pain for no reason” issues with my knee, and that hurts too. Great start to the week. Let’s do some news.

• As you may have heard president Been mention last week in the SOTU address, a U.S. Army ship is heading to the Mediterranean on an emergency mission to build a temporary pier in Gaza that can receive large aid shipments.
• The expansion of U.S. aid efforts to Gaza comes amid signs of growing tension between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's military operations in Gaza, which have left more than 31,000 Palestinians dead.
• Biden has steadfastly maintained that Israel has a right to defend itself, but said in his address that it also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.
• I agree with both sentiments, and they are not mutually exclusive.
• A logistics support ship, the U.S. Army Vessel General Frank S. Besson, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia on Saturday and is on its way to the eastern Mediterranean, carrying the initial equipment necessary to construct the temporary pier.
• Over the next 60 days, roughly 1,000 troops will deploy to the area to build the floating platform where cargo ships can offload aid onto smaller military vessels, which will transfer them to a causeway attached to the beach, where trucks can pick it up and distribute it within Gaza.
• A full long-lasting cease fire and return of all hostages would be preferable, but this is a good step.
• Moving on.
• A lot of GOP talking heads have been asking if you’re better off than you were four years ago.
• Let’s see… in March 2020, people were wiping their asses with coffee filters, being unable to find toilet paper in any stores.
• In early March 2020, the following things were shut down almost at once: the NBA, the NCAA, the NHL, SXSW, the E3 and NAB shows, Disneyland, almost all international borders.
• None of us knew if we were going to live or die, there was no vaccine, and the president at the time was telling us that only a few people had COVID-19 and it would be gone by Easter, and not to worry about it.
• In fact, it was four years ago this very day — March 11, 2020 — that many places around the USA went into a total lockdown.
• So yes. Unquestionably, 100% without any reservations, I can say with all confidence that I am much, much, much better off now than I was four years ago, and a huge portion of that improvement is thanks to the efforts of Joe Biden.
• Thanks Joe!
• I should probably mention the Oscars. I’ve stated before, I stopped watching awards shows probably 15 or more years ago, and I find I have zero interest in them.
• So I didn’t watch them, but most people seem to be saying that it was a great show. The awards highlights: ‘Oppenheimer’ was the big winner, winning seven awards out of 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.
• That last one was given to Robert Downey Jr., winning the first Academy Award in his 40-plus-year career.
• Of course, what I really enjoyed in reading the recap was host Jimmy Kimmel calling out Donnie Dump in real time while the show aired. After reading a social post from Dump, Kimmel quipped, “I’m surprised you’re up this late. Isn’t it past your jail time?"
• The entire audience erupted in gales of laughter. I’m sure you know how much Dumpy can handle being poked fun at. Answer: not at all. He’s a giant pussy and is probably envisioning revenge against Hollywood right now.
• Super irrelevant side note: one of Jimmy Kimmel’s earlier jobs was here in Los Angeles on local radio station KROQ in the mid-1990s as Jimmy the Sports Guy during the Kevin & Bean morning show. I’ve enjoyed Jimmy for a long, long time.
• Okay, moving on.
• In accountability news (aka the FA, FO section), Peter Navarro, an economic adviser to Dumpy, has been ordered to report to a Miami prison March 19 to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt at the Capitol.
• Navarro, 74, was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress — one for failing to produce documents related to the probe, and another for skipping his deposition.
• Fuck him. I hope he hates prison.
• Sensitive topic ahead, if you want to skip it…
• I limit my specific talk about gun regulation to my Sunday Gunday feature so I’m not constantly bombarding you with that depressing shit. One thing I do not cover there is self-inflicted gun violence.
• In the United States, firearm suicide is a devastating public health crisis, claiming nearly 25,000 lives every year — about 68 deaths a day. The problem is not getting better; the firearm suicide rate has increased over the past decade.
• And no one is more susceptible to it than veterans. An average of 4,600 veterans die by firearm suicide every year.
• That’s approximately one in five adult firearm suicides. Over the past 20 years, the veteran firearm suicide rate has increased by 51 percent, compared to a 32 percent increase for non-veterans over this same period.
• When people have easy access to guns and they go through what might be a temporary depressive episode, they may make a sadly permanent decision.
• If you care about preventing gun violence and care about US military veterans, I may have some recommendations regarding political candidates who support these causes as well.
• Moving on, and still in the “sensitive topic” realm…
• There’s more fallout from the horribly-executed GOP rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union address last week.
• Karla Jacinto, the woman whose story Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) shared in her response as an example of Biden’s immigration policy, spoke up over the weekend, confirming she was trafficked before Biden’s presidency and said legislators lack empathy when using the issue of human trafficking for political purposes.
• Jacinto stated that Mexican politicians also took advantage of her by using her story for political purposes and that it’s happened again in the United States via the Republican’s twisted use of her story.
• And let’s be clear: girls and women are indeed victims of sex trafficking, and calling attention to that fact is very important. It just shouldn’t be done in a misleading way to gain political points and deflect blame from where it belongs.
• And now, The Weather: “Beside Myself” by Little Kid
• The northeast is getting some heavy weather, with high winds and high tides affecting places like New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and elsewhere.
• What was formerly considered severe weather is now more and more commonplace. That will only get progressively worse. Plan accordingly.
• From the Sports Desk… some big moves this weekend during the NFL offseason.
• Former Denver QB Russell Wilson is now a Pittsburgh Steeler, while former Patriots QB Mac Jones is now a backup in Jacksonville. Meanwhile, the Bucs re-signed QB Baker Mayfield to a three-year deal.
• Today in history… Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation (1708). The first performance of ‘Rigoletto’ by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice (1851). In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre (1927). United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan (1941). Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights (1981). Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state (1985). The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague (2003). The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic (2020).
• March 11 is the birthday of politician/SCOTUS justice John McLean (1785), mathematician/economist Joseph Louis François Bertrand (1822), bandleader Lawrence Welk (1903), UK prime minister Harold Wilson (1916), businessman Rupert Murdoch (1931), SCOTUS justice Antonin Scalia (1936), singer-songwriter Bobby McFerrin (1950), author Douglas Adams (1952), music producer/businessman Jimmy Iovine (1953), singer-songwriter Nina Hagen (1955), drummer Vinnie Paul (1964), singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb (1968), actor Johnny Knoxville (1971), singer-songwriter Benji Madden (1979), actor Anton Yelchin (1989), and NBA player Anthony Davis (1993).

Okay, well. I hate daylight saving, or, more specifically, the transition to DST. I’m going to be taking various steps to distract myself from my bad fucking mood so it doesn’t last any longer than necessary. Enjoy your day.