Random News: April 18, 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 18, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. We have a literal ton of news. If you printed out all the news and weighed it, it would be at least 2,000 pounds or more. Fortunately, were not going to do that and instead I’ve chosen just a smattering of the crazy shit that goes on the world to include here. You’re welcome.

• For the second time in two weeks, Arizona Republican lawmakers rejected an attempt to repeal a near-total ban on abortion from 1864 that was upheld by the state’s Supreme Court.
• Again, keep this in mind: they’ve now had two opportunities to repeal this 160-year-old law that removes bodily autonomy rights form women of that fine state, and both times have chosen not to do it.
• Even Donnie Dump and failed candidate Kari Lake are pressuring them to repeal the ban so that they won’t pay the political price for it. Nope. They like it. And, of course, they are beholden to the evangelical people who give them money and want to force women to give birth with no exceptions for rape or incest.
• As yesterday’s state House legislative session started, Arizona Democrats introduced a bill to repeal the Civil War-era ban and filed a motion to Republican House leaders requesting an immediate vote.
• The vote to suspend the rules to hold an immediate vote failed, with Republican House Speaker Ben Toma saying, "And I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us believe that abortion is in fact the murder of children.”
• Those Arizona Republicans were cheering and taunting the horrified women who were there in protest. This is no accident.
• So again: this is what they want. It’s not some kind of mistake. And you’ll be able to express your opinion via your vote this fall.
• Let’s move on.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday morning that he would move to dismiss impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a move that would end the Senate trial before arguments even begin.
• And that is exactly what happened. The vote to reject the first article of impeachment against Mayorkas, declaring it unconstitutional, was 51-48, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voting present.
• The second article of impeachment was also rejected as unconstitutional by a vote of 51-49.
• To be clear: Mayorkas never did a damn thing wrong. Nothing. The House Republicans had said they were going to pick a member of Biden’s cabinet and impeach them.
• To be impeached from that position, a person would need to be guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” and Mayorkas has done literally nothing that breaks any law.
• The outright dismissal of the prosecution of Mayorkas, with no chance to argue the case, was an embarrassing defeat for House Republicans and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who made the impeachment a priority.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, we mentioned the process of jury selection, aka voir dire, in Dumpy’s hush money case.
• And I think it was pretty clear that the rules were firm and fair… each side can recommend to strike any juror who exhibits actual prejudice and is incapable of an objective view in the court case at hand.
• And we also mentioned that each side in a case gets another 10 strikes that can be applied with no questions asked, and no reasons provided.
• Side note: because Dumpy is charged with a Class E felony, which is a lower-level felony, he and prosecutors are entitled to 10 peremptory challenges each. The number goes up to 20 for defendants facing the highest level of felony charge, Class A.
• But Dumpy just learned about this, apparently.
• Yesterday he went off on a rant (shocking, I know), saying, “I thought STRIKES were supposed to be 'unlimited' when we were picking our jury? I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country.”
• Now tell me… how would “unlimited” strikes work? Any time anyone had a trial, your lawyer could just continue striking potential jurors infinitely, so the trial would never begin.
• And Donnie’s crowd is not capable of that level of basic intellect, so they buy into his narrative that he’s being treated unfairly, as opposed to receiving more leeway than any other criminal defendant in history.
• The trial is in its third day of jury selection today… but we are down to six jurors.
• Juror 2, the oncology nurse, has been excused from duty. The high profile nature of this case has left her concerned she will not be able to act fair and impartial… and probably concerned about her own safety, with the MAGA community already lining up to harass and attack members of the jury.
• "Yesterday alone, I had friends colleagues and family push things to my phone questioning my identity as a juror," she said.
• So the voir dire jury selection continues today. A fresh panel of 96 potential jurors are being interviewed today, to add to the now-six jurors who were seated on Tuesday.
• From the new batch of 96 potential jurors being questioned this morning, 48 were summarily excused because they said they cannot be fair and impartial.
• I couldn’t be either. No fucking way.
• Moving on to some good news from the Supreme Court.
• Yesterday they made it easier for workers to pursue employment discrimination claims over job transfers, unanimously siding with a female police sergeant in St. Louis who said she was reassigned to a less prestigious role because she is a woman.
• Federal civil rights law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics such as sex, race and religion under Title VII, which is meant to ensure equal employment opportunities and eliminate discrimination in the workplace.
• The debate in this case was whether Title VII guards against all discriminatory job transfers, or requires an additional showing in court by the employee that the involuntary move causes harm to career prospects, or a change in salary or rank.
• Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion, saying that the higher standard applied by some lower courts was wrong, and employees instead must only show some harm.
• Good. Moving on.
• Yesterday, legislators in Maine approved new restrictions on weapons sales but did not pass a measure that would have significantly strengthened the ability to remove guns from those deemed dangerous.
• You probably recall last October when a gunman in the state killed 18 people at a bowling alley and bar, an event that inspired the renewed look at common sense gun regulation.
• However, Maine is a largely rural state where gun ownership is common, and even Democratic lawmakers are reluctant to enact fresh limits.
• Depute that, lawmakers passed bills this week that expanded background checks to cover private gun sales advertised on platforms such as Facebook, and approved a measure instituting a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases.
• Good for them. The right thing isn’t always the popular thing, which is one reason that politicians often support an obviously wrong direction to gain better chances of re-election.
• Moving on.
• Today, more than a dozen members of the Kennedy family will endorse President Joe Biden for a second term, passing over family member and unhinged asshole Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with their support.
• The Kennedy family has stepped up its involvement in the Biden campaign, working to lift Biden's odds and helping to eliminate the potential spoiler risk of RFK that could hand the election to Dumpy.
• In other news…
• I have yet to mention the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which started construction this week here in Southern California.
• It’s a special overpass of the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills that covered in vegetation, and once completed will be one of the largest urban wildlife crossings in the world.
• The 101, aka Ventura Freeway, is extraordinarily busy, and is 10 lanes wide plus exit/entrance lanes. The crossing is particularly critical for the mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains, which have declined and become genetically isolated since the 101 prevents them from moving between the Simi Hills to the north and the Santa Monica Mountains to the south.
• I am 100% in favor of this.
• Hats off to the the Annenberg Foundation who kicked in a $25 challenge grant to get it rolling. The project costs around $90 million in total, with funding from private donations covering about 60% and the rest coming from public funds set aside for conservation purposes.
• Also thanks to our congressional Rep. Ted Lieu (D) for getting $2.5 million in federal funding for the project.
• Moving on to a philosophical note.
• People complain a lot about the things they could have done in the past to make their present situation potentially better.
• But hardly anyone looks at their present situation and does the things that will almost certainly make their future better.
• And even if it’s not a matter of jumping up and making life changes, maybe it’s just about simply appreciating what you do have right now.
• 20 years from now, assuming you’re alive, your life will be different in many ways. The world around you will be different. You, yourself, will be different.
• And you may look back to the good old days of 2024 and wish things were like that again from your vantage point in 2044.
• Why not just enjoy today because you can? Why not do some things you can do right now, at the age you are and in the place you are and in the physical and mental condition you have at this moment?
• And then you’ll have less to regret later.
• Anyway, just a thought.
• And now, The Weather: “Pile of Photos” by Dogs on Shady Lane
• RIP to Bob Graham, who died yesterday at age 87. He was a governor of Florida, a U.S. Senator, and ran for President in 2004.
• Graham was a good guy. He helped found the Democratic Leadership Council and eventually became Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 
• Let’s do a chart. It’s April 1983, and this is the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles. I was nearing the end of my freshman year of high school, so trust me, I know every one of these songs, for better or worse.
• 1. Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners). 2. Beat It (Michael Jackson). 3. Mr. Roboto (Styx). 4. Jeopardy (Greg Kihn Band). 5. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson). 6. Der Kommissar (After The Fire). 7. One On One (Daryl Hall John Oates). 8. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) (Journey). 9. Let's Dance (David Bowie). 10. She Blinded Me With Science (Thomas Dolby). 11. Hungry Like The Wolf (Duran Duran). 12. Little Red Corvette (Prince). 13. Even Now (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band). 14. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (Culture Club). 15. Overkill (Men At Work). 16. I Won't Hold You Back (Toto). 17. You Are (Lionel Richie). 18. Solitaire (Laura Branigan). 19. We've Got Tonight (Kenny Rogers And Sheena Easton). 20. I Know There's Something Going On (Frida).
• From the Sports Desk… we’re one step closer to a complete NBA playoff picture. In the single-elimination play-in tournament, the Philadelphia 76ers won 105-104 in a hard-fought game against the Miami Heat, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 131-116.
• Tomorrow will have the final games of the play-in tournament to determine the last spots in the playoffs, with Chicago at Miami, and Sacramento and New Orleans.
• Playoffs start Saturday.
• Today in history… The British advancement by sea in the Revolutionary War begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements (1775). Black slaves in the United States of America are counted as three-fifths of persons in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation, later adopted in the 1787 Constitution (1783). The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City (1912). The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that "there is no news" in their evening report (1930). The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed (1942). The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands (1946). A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public (2019).
• April 18 is the birthday of Roman emperor Gratian (359), noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia (1480), lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857), conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882), actress Barbara Hale (1922), singer-songwriter Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (1924), journalist Robert Christgau (1942), actor James Woods (1947), actor Rick Moranis (1953), actress Jane Leeves (1961), TV host Conan O’Brien (1963), NFL player Willie Roaf (1970), actor David Tennant (1971), NFL player Derrick Brooks (1973), actress Melissa Joan Hart (1976), ummm… Kourtney Kardashian (1979), MLB player Miguel Cabrera (1983), and actress America Ferrera (1984).

That’s way more than enough news. I am hoping for a good, productive day, filled with positivity and happiness. Or, you know, whatever. Any normal day is fine. Enjoy your day.