Random News: March 28, 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 28, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I slept well but had a night full of vivid dreams, which was making me think that I hadn’t slept well until I realized that I’d gotten damn near eight hours of solid slumber interrupted only by my bizarre little mind movies. Anyway, I’m awake and have coffee now, so let’s check the news.

• Texas’ shitty on-again, off-again SB4 immigration law is off… again.
• The 2-1 ruling late Tuesday from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will prevent enforcement of the law that allows the state to arrest and deport people who are merely suspected of being in the country illegally.
• Do me a favor and take a walk around your area. Can you tell by looking at people which ones are “legal” are which ones are not?
• How can you tell? Is it the color of their skin? the shape of their facial features? Their hair texture? Their language and/or accent? Their clothing? The car they drive?
• If you can’t tell with certainty, how do you expect law enforcement to know for sure?
• The Justice Department has argued that Texas’ law is a clear violation of federal authority and would create chaos at the border. That is correct.
• My favorite (not really) part of the law is that it commands police to take suspected immigrants back to the US-Mexico border, regardless of what their country of origin actually is.
• So if you’re from Sweden (or, perhaps more likely in terms of being racially arrested, Guatemala) and you want a free trip to Mexico, just go to Texas and announce that you’re not an American, and they’ll hook you up.
• But not today. The law remains moot until a final decision on its merits, either by the 5th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Moving on.
• Per a March 1-20 Gallup survey, 55% of Americans currently disapprove of Israel’s military actions in the Gaza, while just 36% approve.
• Last November, national approval for Israel was at 50%.
• All three major party groups in the U.S. have become less supportive of Israel’s actions in Gaza than they were in November. This includes declines of 18 percentage points in approval among both Democrats and independents and a seven-point decline among Republicans.
• Democrats, who were already largely opposed in November, are even more so now, with 18% approving and 75% disapproving.
• Republicans still support Israel’s military efforts at 64% approval, but that is down from 71%.
• Note that the poll was taken before the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Monday calling for a cease-fire during Ramadan, if it makes a difference.
• Let’s move on.
• Today is a hearing in the Georgia election interference case against El Dumpo. I thought you’d enjoy the excuse they’re going to offer.
• Dumpy’s lawyers are expected to argue that that the indictment should be dismissed because the stuff that Dump said and did to illegally try to subvert the election results is protected by the First Amendment.
• Hahahahahaha.
• As a reminder, Dumpy and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
• Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
• Previous First Amendment challenges by former Trump co-defendants Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell were unsuccessful.
• In his denial at the time, McAfee ruled that various case law pointed to facts and evidence needing to be established in a courtroom before a First Amendment challenge can even be considered.
• Anyway, that’s happening right now.
• The only other notable news about that fat orange prick is that one day after receiving a gag order from the judge in the hush money case, Dump lashed out yesterday anyway, making a false claim about his daughter and urging him to step aside from the case.
• Attacking a person’s children is way up top in the Dump school of action. He’s a purely despicable man, and I have zero respect for anyone who would continue to support him at this stage.
• It means that you share his values. It means that you would also think that attacking people’s children is the right thing to do., along with everything else he does.
• If you still support him at this point, you have to own it 100%, and you will carry the Dump stench forever.
• In other news…
• Joe Lieberman, who served as a US Senator from Connecticut and was Al Gore’s Democratic running mate for vice president in 2000, died yesterday after a fall. He was 82.
• Lieberman was a Senator 1989 to 2013. previous to that, he’s been a Connecticut state senator from 1971, and the state’s attorney general from 1981.
• I was not a fan. Lieberman was a supporter of the Iraq War, favored greater use of surveillance cameras by the federal government, suppressed whistleblowing, and nearly got the job of FBI director under Dump.
• Joe Lieberman likely received excellent health care throughout his life, something which millions of people did not receive because as a Senator, he killed the public option as a favor to insurance companies.
• Lieberman eventually left the Democratic Party, serving his final term in the Senate as an independent in 2006. He was also a founding chairman of No Labels, a political group that is currently in a futile effort for a third-party presidential ticket in 2024. 
• Little side note on No Labels: you know what they don’t have in their effort to elect a third-party candidate?
• A candidate. They can’t even get their shit together enough to name someone. The latest guy to turn down the spot was Chris Christie as of yesterday.
• Anyway, RIP Joe Lieberman.
• Moving on.
• In today’s asshole files, conservative attorney John Eastman is losing his California law license over his efforts to keep former President Donnie Dump in power after the 2020 election.
• Ha!
• Eastman, a former law school dean, faces 11 disciplinary charges in the state bar court stemming from his development of a legal strategy to have then-Vice President Mike Pence interfere with the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
• Yesterday, State Bar Court of California Judge Yvette Roland sent her recommendation to the California Supreme Court for a final ruling on whether Eastman should be disbarred.
• My note: yes. Yes he should.
• Let’s move on with some other asshole news.
• Remember Kari Lake, the crazy election denier who lost the Arizona governor’s race in 2022? The one who applies a noticeable blur filter on all of her video interviews?
• She’s about to be on the hook for a big bill.
• Stephen Richer, who presided over Maricopa county’s 2022 election, filed a defamation claim against Lake in June alleging that she repeatedly and falsely accused him of causing her electoral defeat in the race for governor won by Democrat Katie Hobbs.
• Lake falsely claimed that Richer had misprinted ballots “so that the tabulators would jam all day long.” In another instance, her campaign’s Twitter account claimed that Richer “sabotaged” Election Day.
• It’s so bad that Lake has literally no evidence to defend herself and will not attempt to challenge the suit, and is only fighting to keep the damages low.
• Prediction: they won’t be low, as recent defamation suits against people like Donnie Dump and Rootie Tootie Giuliani have shown. Rudy, for example, was ordered to pay $148 million last year in a similar case over false claims he made about two former election workers in Georgia.
• Richer’s lawsuit alleges that he and his family have been the target of threats of violence, and even death, and have had their lives turned upside down because of Lake's knowing and malicious falsehoods.
• And now, of course, Lake is running for the soon-to-be open Senate seat for the state. She’s going up against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a decorated former Marine. So every penny you donate to her will go to paying off her lawsuit instead of helping her election.
• Sound familiar? MAGA… Make Assholes Go Awry.
• Moving on.
• A sad story about longtime Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader Krystal Anderson, who died shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Charlotte Willow, who was stillborn.
• Anderson, 40, had been diagnosed with sepsis during her pregnancy. Despite undergoing multiple surgeries, it wasn’t enough to save her or her daughter.
• In the last two decades, maternal deaths in the U.S. have more than doubled. Black mothers are at the highest risk of dying in childbirth. The maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women in the U.S. was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births — almost three times the rate among non-Hispanic White women. 
• I have to think that at least part of the culprit for this is a decline in the accessibility and affordability of quality women’s health care. There’s no acceptable excuse for this to be happening in a wealthy country in 2024.
• Let’s move on to some news we can enjoy.
• Something we haven’t covered yet, but I’ve been meaning to… the upcoming total solar eclipse that will cover a large swath of North America less than three weeks from now on Monday, April 8.
• This is a big deal. It will be the first total solar eclipse to be visible in the provinces of Canada since February 26, 1979, the first in Mexico since July 11, 1991, and the first in the U.S. since August 21, 2017.
• You may remember that one. Donnie Dump was president and he tried to stare directly into the sun with people screaming at him to not do exactly that.
• The April 8 eclipse will be the only total solar eclipse in the 21st century where totality will be visible in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. It will also be the last total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States until August 23, 2044.
• I’m not going to tell you what a solar eclipse is. If you don’t know, you can go find out elsewhere. I’m not your guy, bro. I’m not your dude, man.
• I will tell you this, though… the path of totality — where the sun is fully blocked out by the moon and it gets dark in midday — is relatively narrow.
• Coming up from Mexico, that path heads northeastward from Texas (including the Dallas are), and heads through parts of places like Oklahoma, Arkansa, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
• What if you don’t live anywhere near those places? Well, you’ll still get a partial eclipse, with less dramatic effect the further you are form the path of totality. The entire USA will get some degree of partial eclipse.
• I don’t care what you’re doing at that moment (assuming it’s not brain surgery). Make a fucking point to go outside during the eclipse. For some of you, it will be the only one you experience in person in your lifetime.
• Do it.
• Oh, and do NOT ever look into the fucking sun. Again, the fact that I feel compelled to mention that is sorta sad, and yet if I don’t, someone will permanently damage their corneas and it will somehow be my fault.
• There are ways to experience an eclipse that don’t involve ruining your sight forever. Look them up. Thank you.
• And now, The Weather: “rose lenses” by Shane Malone
• Let’s do a chart. It’s late March 1987, and here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles. I’m pretending to go to class at SDSU, but mostly I’m taking bonghits and watching afternoon reruns of “Magnum P.I.” and not much else.
• Side note: the late-mid/late ‘80s was not a great time for music. As always, there are some reasonably decent tunes here at the top of the pop charts (and a couple of great ones), but it’s also dissolving into schlocky shit from many artists and bands who are past their prime.
• 1. Lean On Me (Club Nouveau). 2. Let's Wait Awhile (Janet Jackson). 3. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (Starship). 4. Mandolin Rain (Bruce Hornsby & The Range). 5. Somewhere Out There (From "An American Tail") (Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram). 6. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (Genesis). 7. Jacob's Ladder (Huey Lewis & The News). 8. Respect Yourself (Bruce Willis). 9. Come Go With Me (Expose). 10. Big Time (Peter Gabriel). 11. The Final Countdown (Europe). 12. Livin' On A Prayer (Bon Jovi). 13. You Got It All (The Jets). 14. Don't Dream It's Over (Crowded House). 15. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!) (Beastie Boys). 16. Let's Go! (Wang Chung). 17. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Aretha Franklin & George Michael). 18. Brand New Lover (Dead Or Alive). 19. Midnight Blue (Lou Gramm). 20. I Wanna Go Back (Eddie Money)
• From the Sports Desk… good news if you’re a sports fan in Washington, D.C.
• D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Ted Leonsis, owner of the Wizards (NBA) and Capitals (NHL), signed a deal yesterday that would keep the teams in downtown D.C. until 2050, abruptly ending the owner’s planned move to Virginia.
• Of course, there are some shenanigans. D.C. will spend $515 million over three years to help Leonsis modernize the arena, along with other provisions that address Leonsis’s concerns about the state of downtown, and more.
• So that’s… good, I guess?
• Today in history… Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco (1776). Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid ever to be discovered (1802). First concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Otto Nicolai (1842). France and Britain declare war on Russia in the Crimean War (1854). In the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory (1862). Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid after a three-year siege (1939). The United States Department of State releases the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power (1946). The US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity (1978). A coolant leak at the Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, PA leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown (1979). President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal (1990). 
• March 28 is the birthday of painter Fra Bartolomeo (1472), brewer Frederick Pabst (1836), novelist Maxim Gorky (1868), actress Beulah Dark Cloud (1887), politician Edmund Muskie (1914), scientist/engineer Paul C. Donnelly (1923), diplomat/political activist Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928), NBA player/coach Jerry Sloan (1942), actor Ken Howard (1944), Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte (1945), actress Dianne Wiest (1948), singer-songwriter Reba McEntire (1955), NBA player/coach Byron Scott (1961), actor Vince Vaughn (1970), NBA player/coach Luke Walton (1980), singer-songwriter/actress Lady Gaga (1986), and NFL player Derek Carr (1991).

That’s plenty of news and stuff. I don’t have anything unusual planned today. Just meetings and work and typical stuff one does on a Thursday. Enjoy your day.