Random News: March 19, 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 19, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. Kinda feels like a normal Tuesday thus far, but I’ve only been awake for an hour, so it’s hard to know for sure. One thing I do know: there is a metric fuckton of news that’s recently happened, so (cracking knuckles) let’s not dilly dally here and get on this shit.

• First, a note about time and space.
• Depending on where you live in the world, spring starts today or early tomorrow. The exact official moment of the spring equinox is at 8:06pm PDT/11:06pm EDT tonight.
• I write this assuming you live in the Northern Hemisphere. 87% of all humans live in the Northern Hemisphere. True story.
• Fun Fact: Neopagans observe the March equinox (referred to as Ostara) as a cardinal point on the Wheel of the Year.
• Now onto the big news that broke yesterday morning.
• Former president, accused felon, and supposed billionaire Donald John Trump told a New York appellate court yesterday that it’s impossible for him to post a bond covering the full amount of a $454 million civil fraud judgment while he appeals.
• Dump’s lawyers asked the state’s intermediate appeals court to overturn a previous ruling requiring that he post a bond covering the full amount in order to halt enforcement while he appeals the judgment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.
• With interest, the Dumpster owes $456.8 million. In all, he and co-defendants, including his company, sons L’il Eric and Dumpy Dump Jr. and other executives, owe $467.3 million. To obtain a bond, they would be required to post collateral worth $557 million.
• His lawyers said they have approached 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers, and none of them were willing to post the bond for Dump.
• Dump has less than a week until March 25 to pay the judgment or obtain a court order known as a stay which would prevent enforcement while he is appealing. Tish James has said she will seek to seize some of Trump’s assets if he is unable to pay by the deadline.
• But he owns all that high-priced property, you think to yourself. Why not just sell some off and put up the cash, or use it as direct collateral for the loan?
• Welp.
• If this was a typical situation with a less horrible person, a bondsman could consider taking his real property as collateral for the bond.
• But Dumpy is a self-described debt master. He's likely mortgaged up to his eyeballs, and has little actual equity in his properties, or at least not enough to convince them he's worth the risk.
• That’s probably why Chubb, the one company who’s already been loaning Dump money to file the appeal in a separate judgement (his $93 million bill for rape and subsequent defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll), said that they would not accept real property as collateral.
• Also, ironically, Dumpy massively overvalues his properties when it’s convenient for him… which is the basis of the New York case itself.
• I mean, who would buy a building for $50 million when it’s actually worth $20 million? No one.
• So now, this man’s irresponsibilities are becoming a national security risk.
• At the moment, Dump owes $467,358,000 in the judgement for his New York civil fraud, $88,300,000 in the judgement for his E. Jean Carroll rape/defamation, $400,000 in his New York Times lawsuit and another $100,000,000 in legal fees.
• He’s in the hole for some $656,058,000, and that’s just the debt we know about.
• Any foreign adversary of the USA now knows the price to buy favors from the GOP nominee for President. To put this into perspective, all members of the US Congress are required to post regular reports of their assets and liabilities.
• That’s to help prevent a situation where they can be blackmailed or corrupted.
• The D.C.-based watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington warned that, “Giving the highest and most powerful office in the land to someone deeply in debt and looking for ways to make back hundreds of millions of dollars he lost in court is a recipe for the kinds of corruption that aren’t theoretical when it comes to Trump. Despite his financial ups and downs in office, one thing remained remarkably consistent: Trump’s laser focus on using the presidency to line his pockets.”
• Yesterday, That Guy also offered his opinion about about Jews.
• He stated, “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion.”
• I state that any Jewish person that votes for Trump would have apparently also supported Hitler in 1933. Don’t believe me? Ask the crowd that Trump called “very fine people” who chanted “Jews will not replace us!” a few years back.
• We should mention an upcoming criminal case El Dumpo faces.
• Yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing Dumpy’s criminal trial stemming from hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, rejected Big Smelly’s attempts to block her testimony.
• Ha ha!
• The judge also denied Dump’s attempts to block testimony from Michael Cohen, his former attorney/fixer who helped bury the compromising details of Dump’s many weird sexual affairs leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
• While he was rejecting all that Dump begged for, he also denied attempts to block testimony from former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also had an affair with Stable Genius before his presidency.
• Reminder: that trial got pushed back to mid-April after the government found some fresh evidence against the Dumpster. They’re giving him time to review it.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court indefinitely blocked Texas from enforcing an immigration law — the infamous SB4 — that would have allowed state officials to arrest and detain Latino people for no reason at all.
• The stay will remain in place while the court considers emergency appeals from the Biden administration and others, who want the justices to block enforcement of the law while their legal challenges to it play out. 
• Senate Bill 4, signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in December, immediately raised concerns among immigration advocates of increased racial profiling as well as detentions and attempted deportations by state authorities in Texas, where Latinos represent 40% of the population.
• So, still keeping an eye on that big pile of bullshit, but good news for now.
• Oh yes, and there was another notable Supreme Court action yesterday.
• Chief Justice John Roberts rejected former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro's attempt to stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress.
• Navarro is expected to report to federal prison in Miami today. This Dump sycophant was charged and found guilty after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.
• He was sentenced to four months in prison in January. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time, sucka.
• Here’s some more rather significant shit regarding the SCOTUS.
• U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges can no longer avoid disclosing the value of travel-related gifts they receive by classifying such free trips as "reimbursements" on their financial disclosure forms under new regulations now in effect.
• The regulations, announced on Friday by the federal judiciary, follow revelations that conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had not disclosed luxury trips paid for by a wealthy benefactor.
• Let’s move on.
• As I mentioned previously, today is another big batch of state primaries. Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio all have their primaries for both Democratic and Republic voters.
• This isn’t only a presidential primary. Other candidates and possibly propositions may be on your ballot as well. It’s also important to show trends moving forward toward the November general election.
• Please vote at every opportunity. Thank you!
• In other news…
• As of yesterday, the cancer-causing material asbestos has been banned in the USA.
• Wait, what? Wasn’t it banned decades ago? No, only some forms of it.The carcinogen has already been banned by more than 50 countries and is linked to around 40,000 US deaths every year from lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers.
• In 2005, a real estate developer testified to Congress, arguing against the ban and describing asbestos as "the greatest fire-proofing material ever made".
• His name? Donald John Trump. And when Dump came to office in 2017, with his administration overseeing the EPA, the effort to ban it was quashed.
• Industries still using white asbestos will have up to 12 years to phase it out of use.
• Got one more note on one more asshole.
• The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and the Hellsite Formerly Known as Twitter uses ketamine.
• Elon Musk defended his usage of the drug, saying it helps him alleviate a "negative chemical mind state.”
• You may recall that ketamine, a "dissociative anesthetic hallucinogen,” was cited as a cause of actor Matthew Perry's death last year. Musk says that he takes it about once every other week.
• So that’s the guy who has defense contracts with the USA and other countries, and builds cars in which you transport your families.
• Suddenly some of Elon’s decisions make more sense now.
• And now, The Weather: “Soul-net” by DIIV
• From the Sports Desk… here’s who’s leading the NHL.
• Atlantic Division: Boston Bruins (40-14-15), Florida Panthers (45-19-4), Toronto Maple Leafs (38-19-9), Tampa Bay Lightning (36-25-6), and Detroit Red Wings (34-28-6).
• Metropolitan Division: New York Rangers (45-19-4), Carolina Hurricanes (42-20-6), Philadelphia Flyers (34-26-8), Washington Capitals (33-25-9), New York Islanders (29-23-15).
• Central Division: Winnipeg Jets (43-19-5), Colorado Avalanche (43-20-5), Dallas Stars (41-19-9), Nashville Predators (39-25-4), St. Louis Blues (36-29-3).
• Pacific Division: Vancouver Canucks (42-18-8), Edmonton Oilers (40-21-4), Los Angeles Kings (34-22-11), Vegas Golden Knights (36-24-7), Calgary Flames (33-30-5).
• Today in history… The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it "useless and dangerous to the people of England” (1649). Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men (1687). First documented bank heist in U.S. history, when burglars stole $245,000 from the City Bank — now Citibank — on Wall Street (1831). The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines, and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000 (1863). The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (1918). Governor Fred B. Balzar signs a bill legalizing gambling in Nevada (1931). Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed (1945). The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN (1979). 
• March 19 is the birthday of lawman/gambler Wyatt Earp (1848), politician William Jennings Bryan (1860), politician Edith Nourse Rogers (1881), SCOTUS chief justice Earl Warren (1891), comedian/singer Moms Mabley (1894), actress Ursula Andress (1936), singer Ruth Pointer (1946), actress Glenn Close (1947), producer/rapist Harvey Weinstein (1952), songwriter/guitarist Ricky Wilson (1953), actor Bruce Willis (1955), NFL coach Andy Reid (1958), police officer/murderer Derek Chauvin (1976), NBA player Hedo Türkoğlu (1979), NFL player EJ Manuel (1990), and NFL player Julian Love (1998).

So yes, that was a lot of stuff, but sometimes a lot of stuff happens all at once, and I don’t like leaving shit out just because your attention span doesn’t appreciate this level of detail. You’re welcome. Enjoy your day.