Random News: March 23, 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.

---

Good, uh… no longer morning. It’s March 23, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. I’ve been lazily enjoying a drizzly morning in my bathrobe, sipping some Peet’s Luminosa Breakfast Blend. It’s a lovely way to begin a weekend. And yet, news has happened and I feel compelled to tell you what it is.

• Side note on that.
• Throughout my life, when I’ve ben put in a position of having to teach or inform, I find that I am greatly more informed myself as a result of preparing whatever it is I’m going to then disseminate to others.
• So while I sometimes say that I do these daily bullet points for you, I probably get the very most benefit from the action of researching and then writing it.
• Okay, let’s go.
• At 2:03AM EDT this morning, the Senate voted for a $1.2 trillion spending plan to fund the government, avoiding a shutdown and sending the measure to President Joe Biden for his signature.
• The 74-to-24 vote happened after more than 12 hours of negotiations following a House of Representatives vote yesterday morning of 286-134. The 1,012-page bill covers an estimated 70% of discretionary government spending.
• But once again, 112 House Republicans went against House Speaker Mike Johnson's move to work with Democrats and unsuccessfully voted no on the bill. The queen of moronic conservatives, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), even filed a motion to vacate and remove Johnson from his position for having supported the bill.
• Many of her fellow Republicans lambasted her.
• “It’s not only idiotic, but it actually does not do anything to advance the conservative movement. And in fact, it undermines the country, and our majority,” - Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY).
• “I consider Marjorie Taylor Greene to be my friend. She’s still my friend. But she just made a big mistake. To think that one of our Republican colleagues would call for his ouster right now — it’s really, it’s abhorrent to me and I oppose it.” - Clay Higgins (R-LA).
• Sporky claimed that a number of her colleagues are behind her effort to find a new Speaker — ”I’m not the only one” — but refused to disclose just how many.
• Pfft. That far-right MAGA contingent wants the government to shut down and have our country’s military and civilian employees not be paid. They are sick and sad people.
• President Biden was expected to sign off on the budget this morning. He may have already. I’m too busy writing this and enjoying my coffee to check.
• Oh wait, he just did. Okay, cool.
• Let’s move on to a horrible event in Russia.
• At least 133 people are known to have been killed in a massive terrorist attack near Moscow at the Crocus City complex, home to a popular music hall and shopping center. Yesterday, crowds had gathered there for a concert by the Russian rock band Picnic.
• Additionally, 121 others were injured in the incident, 44 of whom are in serious condition.
• Heavily armed attackers entered the popular concert venue complex with automatic rifles and opened fire indiscriminately, killing dozens of people at point-blank range.
• The Islamic militant group ISIS claimed responsibility for the assault in a short statement published by their news agency. American officials had warned Moscow that militants from Islamic State-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K, were determined to target Russia in the days before assailants stormed the concert hall, but President Vladimir Putin rejected the advice as “provocative.”
• Leaders around the world condemned the attack. Despite the claim from ISIS, Putin seemed to be trying to put the blame on Ukraine, who strongly denied any involvement.
• In other international news…
• Yesterday, Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored U.N. resolution calling for an immediate and sustained cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza to protect civilians and enable humanitarian aid to be delivered to more than 2 million hungry Palestinians.
• The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 members in favor and three against, including Algeria, the Arab representative on the council. There was one abstention, from Guyana.
• Sigh.
• Back in the USA…
• The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is getting smaller and smaller.
• Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) announced yesterday he would resign from Congress before his term is up. Gallagher is a four-term lawmaker who is considered a rising star within the GOP.
• He’d already announced last month he would not seek reelection. But yesterday, he said he would leave the House on April 19. Whoa!
• Why does this seem purposeful? Because under Wisconsin law, vacancies occurring prior to the second Tuesday in April get filled… but after that, it keeps the seat vacant until November.
• Gallagher’s departure will leave House Republicans with 217 members to Democrats’ 213, meaning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can afford to lose only one vote on any bill that doesn’t have Democratic support.
• In congressional news that won’t matter to anyone, ever…
• Former Rep. George Santos said yesterday that he's leaving the Republican Party. Snort.
• Santos says, “The Republican Party continues to lie and swindle its voter base. I in good conscience cannot affiliate myself with a party that stands for nothing and falls for everything.”
• He’ll run as an independent. Hahahahahahaha.
• In the good news/bad news folder, yesterday, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) vetoed a bill that would have erected significant barriers to abortion, should it remain legal in the state, but then signed legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors.
• The rejected abortion bill would have required facilities providing surgical abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgical centers, adding to their cost and the burdens they face to operate.
• At least for now, abortion is still legal in Wyoming pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging new laws to ban the procedure. The bill was aimed at the state’s only full-service abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access that opened in 2023 — almost a year later than planned after being badly burned in an arson attack by an insane woman who opposed abortion.
• Sigh.
• Wyoming’s lawmakers are very, very much against women’s reproductive rights. the abortion bill passed their state senate on a 24-6 vote March 1, and earlier cleared the state House with a 53-9 vote.
• These are people you elect. You get the leaders and the laws you choose when you vote. Keep it in mind this fall.
• Finally, Missouri and Louisiana hold their presidential primaries today. Biden will appear in the Democratic primary in both states. Republicans will vote only in Louisiana as the Missouri GOP already held caucuses on March 2.
• None of the races will offer suspense. Biden and Trump have already clinched their party nominations and beaten their major competitors. But the primary races are still closely watched for turnout and signs of protest voters.
• I’ll check on them tonight, as I always do.
• And now, The Weather: “Krillin (feat. Greg Mendez & Sun Organ)” by They Are Gutting a Body of Water
• Let’s do a chart. It’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart for March 1981. I’m in the spring semester of seventh grade, and holy fuck, look at this list. I know it’s reflective of my age and culture, but at least three of my favorite albums in history were all in the top 20 albums at the same damn time. Wow.
• 1. Hi Infidelity (REO Speedwagon). 2. Paradise Theater (Styx). 3. The Jazz Singer (Soundtrack) (Neil Diamond). 4. Double Fantasy (John Lennon & Yoko Ono). 5. Zenyatta Mondatta (The Police). 6. Crimes Of Passion (Pat Benatar). 7. Autoamerican (Blondie). 8. Moving Pictures (Rush). 9. Captured (Journey). 10. Guilty (Barbra Streisand). 11. 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs (Dolly Parton). 12. Arc Of A Diver (Steve Winwood). 13. Back In Black (AC/DC). 14. Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits (Kenny Rogers). 15. Celebrate (Kool & The Gang). 16. The Gap Band III (The Gap Band). 17. The Two Of Us (Yarbrough & Peoples). 18. Hotter Than July (Stevie Wonder). 19. Horizon (Eddie Rabbitt). 20. Winelight (Grover Washington, Jr.)
• If you like piña coladas, the place to be is Westford, MA, where a tractor-trailer veered off Interstate 495 early this morning and spilled a load of thousands of pineapples.
• From the Sports Desk… the NCAA Women’s bracket hasn’t been as tumultuous as their male counterparts. So far advancing to the second round are powerhouse teams like 1-seed South Carolina, 1-seed Texas, 1-seed USC, 1-seed Iowa, 2-seed Stanford, 2-seed Ohio State, 3-seed Oregon State, 3-seed UConn, and others.
• Today in history… Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty, or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA (1775). After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home (1806). The University of California is founded in Oakland, CA (1868). In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time (1888). In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement (1919). The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany (1933). NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight, crewed by Gus Grissom and John Young (1965). Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt (1982). The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States (2010). Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19 (2020). A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days (2021). 
• March 23 is the birthday of writer/assassin Lorenzino de' Medici (1514), US vice president Schuyler Colfax (1823), outlaw Nathaniel Reed (1862), psychologist/sociologist Erich Fromm (1900), film director Akira Kurosawa (1910), physicist Wernher von Braun (1912), runner Roger Bannister (1929), race care driver Craig Breedlove (1937), singer-songwriter/producer Ric Ocasek (1944), mandolin player David Grisman (1945), NFL player Ron Jaworski (1951), singer-songwriter Chaka Khan (1953), fashion designer Kenneth Cole (1954), NBA player Moses Malone (1955), actress Amanda Plummer (1957), singer-songwriter Damon Albarn (1968), NBA player/coach Jason Kidd (1973), blogger Perez Hilton (1978), runner Mo Farah (1983), NFL player Maurice Jones-Drew (1985), and NBA player Kyrie Irving (1992).

Well, I’ve showered, dressed, and cooked and eaten breakfast while constructing these news items for you. Now I have other things to do. Enjoy your day.