Random News: March 3, 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 3, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. I slept in until 8AM, which is almost unheard of for me, so now I’m enjoying my coffee and figuring out what’s going on in the world. Never really do, but at least I can tell you some things that are happening in the meantime.

• Yesterday, the USA completed a successful airdrop of food into Gaza, parachuting in packages that contained more than 38,000 meals intended to help alleviate hunger in the besieged enclave.
• We plan to do more of those soon.
• The operation marked an expansion of the United States’ direct role in addressing a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza — where a lack of food and acute hunger have forced some people to eat weeds and animal feed. However, aid groups have warned that the airdrops are insufficient for the enormous need.
• Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and France have also carried out aerial aid deliveries in recent days.
• Why not just drive food and other aid into Gaza via land vehicles? Well, last week, at least 118 people were killed and 760 injured when a crowd converged on an aid convoy. Israeli troops fired on the crowd, leading to the carnage.
• Let’s be clear here: if it wasn’t for the actions of terrorist groups like Hamas and the Houthis, there wouldn’t be the dire situation in the first place.
• But if there’s no ceasefire in the near future, it’s understandable that many people around the world consider this war a form of genocide against the Palestine people.
• Something has to change. Since the war began after a Hamas attack on October 7, at least 30,410 people have been killed and 71,700 injured in Gaza, per the Gaza Health Ministry. A majority of those people are civilians (including children). It’s unacceptable. 
• In somewhat related world news, the cargo ship Rubymar sank in the Red Sea after being struck by an anti-ballistic missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis on February 18, and sank early Saturday.
• This poses a significant environmental risk to one of the world’s busiest waterways and the home of many coral reefs; the ship was carrying some 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer.
• The ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying will cause an environmental disaster. No one seems to give a shit about the longterm effects of their actions anymore.
• Moving on.
• It’s the biggest week of the 2024 primary elections in the USA, with Super Tuesday lined up for March 5 in a couple of days.
• I’ve had a number of people ask me whether voting in the primaries matters. My general response is that voting always matters, and there are always candidates and legal initiatives that are important in every single election.
• Ironically, perhaps the least important race — the one for President of the USA — gets all the attention. It’s actually the stuff below that slot which most impacts your lives.
• Anyway, Super Tuesday includes Democrat and/or Republican primaries in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and American Samoa.
• We already know the presidential candidates who will be officially nominated by their respective parties soon enough: Joe Biden and Donald Trump. It’s not in question.
• But the primary elections have many more important things going on in many states.
• Here in California, for example, is a State race that will be impactful. There are four main candidates who are vying to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee, plus Republican Steve Garvey, a former first baseman for the Dodgers.
• Schiff is the easy favorite, polling at around 25 percent. Garvey and Porter are right around 20 percent for the coveted second spot.
• Schiff is running a smart game. See, in my state, the top two candidates from any party end up facing off in the fall, which means it could be two Democrats (i.e., Schiff and Porter). But Schiff has essentially been promoting Garvey, who has zero chance of winning in the general election, as opposed to Porter, who would have a better shot.
• Also in California pre-election polling, a majority of voters (69%) plan to vote “yes” on Prop 1, a ballot measure that authorizes $6.38 billion in bonds to build mental health treatment facilities for those with mental health and substance use challenges.
• I already voted. I’m not tell you who I voted for in the Senate race, but I will tell you I voted yes on Prop 1. And yes, of course I voted for Joe Biden, and to re-elect my great congressional Rep. Ted Lieu.
• I’ll remind you that no matter where you live, a vote for a Republican candidate or Republican-backed law is always, without fail, a vote for removal of women’s rights, a vote for government control of your private choices, and a vote for the elimination of civil rights and systems of equality and diversity that we’ve worked so hard to achieve for the past 60+ years in this country.
• Don’t go backwards. Anyway, please do vote… every election, every time. It all matters, I promise.
• I do have to mention one item from this week about El Dumpo, the man who would like to lead the country again. he was talking to Sean Hannity and said this while bragging about having killed right right for women to make their own reproductive choices…
• “Under Roe v. Wade, they had the right to kill the baby after birth. I mean, literally, after birth in some cases.” - Donald John Trump
• Now, I don’t care what your political outlook is. Just ask yourself if that is true. Ask yourself if that guy is telling you the truth. Take your time. Do all the research you want. Find out if Roe v. Wade permitted the killing of children after they are born. Find out if that was ever, in any conceivable way, true.
• Why would you put your trust in a guy who simply lies whenever the truth is inconvenient for him?
• I know I talk a lot about the MAGA faction that has bullied their way into taking over what used to be the Republican Party.
• But there are — I promise this is true — an impactful number of people who still consider themselves Republican but could not, in good conscience, ever support another presidency under Donnie Dump.
• Recent polling data via AP VoteCast says that if Dumpy is the GOP nominee, which he will be,  a large enough percentage of primary voters say they would not vote for him in November's general election.
• It’s not huge numbers, but it is definitely substantial enough to impact the election.Two in 10 Iowa voters, one-third of New Hampshire voters, and one-quarter of South Carolina voters say they will refuse to vote for Dump in the fall. And this unwillingness to contemplate a presidential vote for El Dumpo isn’t confined to voters in the earliest states.
• Keep in mind that based on the previous election, Dump would have to win over some of the moderates who supported Biden in 2020 if he wants to return to the White House.
• From that perspective, even a small amount of opposition from within his own party — not to mention broad skepticism among independents — will be a problem for him this fall.
• In other news…
• Oregon recriminalized drugs on Friday, undoing a key part of the state's first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law as governments struggle to respond to the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history.
• The state Senate approved House Bill 4002 in a 21-8 vote after the House passed it 51-7 on Thursday. Gov. Tina Kotek will sing it into law.
• The measure makes the possession of small amounts of drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail. It enables police to confiscate the drugs and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks. Drug treatment is to be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties.
• So much for that. Look, I’d support full-on decriminalization if I thought the majority of people could be responsible with their drug use. They can’t and they won’t.
• Let’s go back to politics for a moment.
• Yesterday afternoon, Republican J.R. Majewski announced he will bow out of the GOP primary for a key Ohio congressional seat they’re looking to flip.
• He thought he was being funny on a podcast when he said that Democrats arguing with him on the internet was “like being in the Special Olympics. No matter how good you perform, you’re still a fucking retard.”
• Ohio’s primary in March 19. Please lend your support to incumbent Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur if you’re in the 9th district. She’s far less likely to use slurs like that about your disabled children. Thank you.
• And now, The Weather: “Pop Star” by Lime Garden
• From the Sports Desk… last night, LeBron James reached 40,000 regular season points. He drove past Michael Porter Jr. and hit a layup with 10:39 left in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' game against the Denver Nuggets for the historic basket.
• LeBron passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's mark of 38,387 points to become the league's all-time leading scorer in February 2023. He has also played the second-most regular season and most playoff minutes in league history. He is the only NBA player with at least 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists.
• Amazing. I don’t care how you feel about him otherwise; these are records that are unlikely to be broken in our lifetimes. Who’s the second place active player in scoring? It’s Kevin Durant, with 28,342.
• Today in history… The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau (1776). The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise (1820). Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state (1845). The Territory of Minnesota is created (1849). The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene literature and articles of immoral use" through the mail (1873). John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy (1910). The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem (1931). In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India (1939). NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module (1969). An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers (1991). 
• March 3 is the birthday of author/journalist William Godwin (1756), engineer/businessman George Pullman (1831), engineer Alexander Graham Bell (1847), businessman/con artist Charles Ponzi (1882), actress Jean Harlow (1911), actor James Doohan (1920), actress Diana Barrymore (1921), singer-songwriter/guitarist Doc Watson (1923), fashion designer Perry Ellis (1940), singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes (1947), singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock (1953), radio host Ira Glass (1959), NFL player and failed political candidate Herschel Walker (1962), rapper Tone Lōc (1966), actress Jessica Biel (1982), and NBA player Jayson Tatum (1998).

Okay, that’s plenty for now. Time to get out of this robe and into some responsible adult things. Oh, but first to eat the super unhealthy breakfast that just arrived. Enjoy your day.