Random News: April 15, 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 April 15, 2024, and it’s a Monday. I’ve got a busy day ahead, with a bunch of work (typical) and a live show tonight (less typical), so let’s not dilly dally.

• This morning is the start of the first criminal trial of Donald John Trump, which, as I’ll remind you, is the first time a former US president has been tried as a criminal.
• One thing I want to point out that differentiates Dump’s first criminal trial to his many previous civil trials: attendance is not optional.
• The Dumpster will be spending four days a week in court for the next several weeks. of course, being who he is, during that time he’s going to try and make the courtroom into a campaign rally.
• Is this trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records related to his $130,000 payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels serious? Well yes, yes it is. It may not not as egregious as his other criminal charges, but it’s a lot of felonies.
• A Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week found 64 percent of surveyed voters viewed the hush money charges as at least somewhat serious.
• Anyway, it’s now underway. So far this morning, a court clerk opened the proceedings by saying, "This is the people of the state of New York vs Donald J. Trump."
• The next order of business was Judge Juan Merchan noting that there are two motions for recusal pending, one before him and one before a New York appeals court. He immediately denied the motion for recusal and says he won't consider it again until the appellate court rules.
• I’m not going to sit here and recap this shit moment by moment. We’ll fill you in tomorrow morning on how today’s proceedings went.
• Fun Fact: if convicted of a felony, Dump will not be allowed to vote for himself, or anyone else, this fall. Ha ha.
• Oh, and a relevant side note — while I very much doubt Dump will ever see prison time for any of his crimes, the New York state department of corrections states: “No skin tanning or coloring or hair coloring products.” Hairspray (non-aerosol) is permitted only for female inmates.
• Moving on.
• The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the cargo ship that slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and caused it to collapse in Baltimore last month.
• Federal agents boarded the 985-foot ship Dali early this morning with search warrants. 
• A portion of inquiry involves whether there was prior crew knowledge that the vessel had potential mechanical problems that would have made it unsafe in the harbor. 
• A valid question. FBI agents are collecting physical evidence and data from inside the ship relating to the moments before, during, and after the impact.
• In other news…
• Today is the sentencing for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the movie weapons supervisor who is facing up to 18 months in prison for the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.”
• She was convicted in March by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins and has been held for more than a month at a county jail on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
• On a much broader basis, I’ll say that most people have jobs, and with jobs come certain responsibilities. Some are seemingly more critical than others, like being an airplane pilot or a surgeon or a cop.
• But really, every job has some degree of public trust involved, as well as the expectation that your actions won’t harm your coworkers.
• What I do seems mostly harmless. How could anyone be hurt by some guy who writes about guitars and speakers and stuff?
• Well, let me tell you. If I include a wrong specification on an amplifier and a building burns down and people die… that’s on me. If I purposefully mislead people about a product my client is sued, that’s on me too.
• Most of you don’t understand that what you do is important. If they pay you for it, it’s important. You’re important.
• Let’s move on.
• After Saturday drone attacks by Iran against Israel and with renewed bipartisan pressure to do fucking anything at all, Speaker Mike Johnson is vowing to take up aid to our important Middle East ally.
• The action also fuels questions whether the GOP leader will also act on Ukraine aid, which comes as Ukrainian leaders warn they are running out of resources to combat Russia’s military aggression.
• Meanwhile, Johnson faces ouster threats by some of his own membership.
• On the news shows yesterday, Johnson said he plans to move forward with Israel aid bills this week, though he did not provide further details.
• Dump wants Johnson to set up the aid as “loans,” which for Johnson would be an effort to appease the far-right contingency of the House.
• Several top Republicans — including the three leaders of relevant committees — argue in the wake of the attacks that Johnson must hold a vote to grant aid to both allies as well as to Taiwan and other Pacific partners.
• We’ll see how that goes.
• Meanwhile, world leaders are urging Israel not to retaliate after the drone and missile attack.
• Among others, US President Joe Biden, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, and French President Emmanuel Macron are clearly stating their respective countries will not support any retaliatory measures.
• Let’s all hope this starts to settle down over there.
• Moving on.
• Tesla will lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, per an internal memo that was seen today.
• Falling sales can be attributed to several factors, including Elon Musk’s public behavior and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles.
• By market value, Tesla remains the world's largest automaker. Some staff in California and Texas have already been notified of layoffs.
• And now, The Weather: “AMAMA” by Crumb
• From the Sports Desk… first, congrats to Scottie Scheffler, who picked up his second green jacket with a victory at the 2024 Masters.
• Scheffler has been ranked the No. 1 golfer in the world for more than 80 weeks during his short career. He's won eight times on the PGA Tour since February 2022, a stretch that saw him become the first golfer ever to win the Players Championship in back-to-back years.
• In sorta-sports news, Nike’s new outfit design for the US women’s Olympic team has been widely criticized by athletes and fans alike.
• Images of both the men’s and women’s outfits dressed on mannequins were made public last week as part of a launch ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. The picture of the women’s leotard on display had a very high-cut bikini line.
• I had to giggle a bit when US long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall, upon seeing the new uniforms, wrote, “Wait my hoo haa is gonna be out.” But she’s right; it’s not acceptable to blatantly sexualize women’s sports.
• Today in history… Samuel Johnson's ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’ is published in London (1755). Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf, the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, CT (1817). President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War (1961). Upon Lincoln’s death, vice president Andrew Johnson is sworn in as president (1865). The General Electric Company is formed (1892). U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal (1922). Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes (1923). Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line (1947). McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, IL (1955). The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China (1989). The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire (2019).
• April 15 is the birthday of painter/sculptor/architect Leonardo da Vinci (1452), mathematician/physicist Leonhard Euler (1707), novelist Henry James (1843), general/politician Nikita Khrushchev (1894), singer Bessie Smith (1894), general/politician Kim Il Sung (1912), actor Michael Ansara (1922), educator/politician Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (1930), musician/TV host Roy Clark (1933), actress Elizabeth Montgomery (1933), businessman/criminal Kenneth Lay (1942), singer-songwriter/guitarist Dave Edmunds (1944), composer/conductor Michael Kamen (1948), singer-songwriter/producer Linda Perry (1965), guitarist Ed O’Brien (1968), NFL player Jason Sehorn (1971), singer-songwriter/guitarist Chris Stapleton (1978), actor/screenwriter Seth Rogen (1982), NHL player Ilya Kovalchuk (1983), and actress Emma Watson (1990).

That seems like enough news for now. For those of you who do Second Life, I’ll be playing a show tonight for the fifth anniversary celebration of the Bellisseria community, with my show at 5PM SLT following Max Kleene at 4PM and ahead of Noma Falta at 6PM. Come see me if you can. Enjoy your day.