Random News: April 25, 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 25, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I woke up somewhat discombobulated, still immersed in a bizarre dream. But then as I gained more consciousness, I realized I’m immersed in a bizarre life. Let’s take. look around at the weirdness.

• It’s another huge-ass news day, so buckle up. They’re coming in fast and furious lately, and it’s only gonna get crazier, I promise.
• Okay, let’s go.
• Yesterday, after overcoming months of opposition by Republicans in Congress, President Biden signed a military aid package worth $95 billion that will arm Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
• The shipments of weaponry, ammunition, and other aid toUkraine began within hours after Biden’s sign-off.
• Good. Slava Ukraini!
• In another super important news item, the far-right Supreme Court seemed skeptical yesterday that federal law can require hospitals to provide emergency abortion care in states with strict bans on the procedure.
• Throughout two hours of argument, only the court’s three liberal justices — Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson — strongly backed the Biden administration’s view that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act — known as EMTALA — preempts Idaho’s strict ban that imposes penalties of up to five years in prison on doctors who perform the procedure.
• But the radical conservative SCOTUS judges pushed back on the Biden administration’s interpretation of EMTALA during oral arguments and suggested the federal government cannot force private hospitals that receive federal funds to violate a state’s law.
• I will tell you now… whether it’s Donnie Dump or laws that curtail your rights, the path to victory won’t go through the courts. They’ll happen at the ballot box.
• Moving on to another abortion rights story.
• Yesterday, the Republican-controlled Arizona House approved a repeal of an 1864 abortion law that would have banned nearly all abortions, sending the measure to the state Senate. 
• Like many Republican politicians, the AZ House members are well aware that supporting draconian abortion laws that remove all reproductive freedom form women is a sure ticket to losing their next election.
• Arizona's state Senate is set to consider the law on May 1. The 1864 law is set to go into effect on June 8, and it would supersede what had been the state’s current 15-week abortion ban. 
• In yesterday's contentious AZ House session, three Republicans joined all the Democrats in a 32-28 vote to overrule GOP House Speaker Ben Toma, who twice previously blocked the bill from moving forward. Republicans control the chamber by a 31-29 margin.
• Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court ruled that the highly-restrictive 160-year-old law that bans nearly all abortions — put in place during the Civil War before Arizona was a state — can be enforced. 
• Let’s do some Dumpy news. Despite the fact that he wasn’t in criminal court, it was another not-good day for him yesterday, in what will be a more and more common occurrence of very bad, very sad, never glad days.
• Let’s start in Michigan.
• Yesterday it was revealed that Dumpy, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Rudy Giuliani are unindicted co-conspirators in the Michigan attorney general's case against the state's fake electors in the 2020 election.
• Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 Republicans last year with forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery for allegedly attempting to replace Michigan's electoral votes for Joe Biden with electoral votes for Dump at the certification of the vote on January 6, 2021.
• During a hearing yesterday, a special agent for the attorney general's office also testified that former Dump attorney Jenna Ellis is also an unindicted co-conspirator.
• Now let’s head to Arizona, where a state grand jury indicted their own batch of fake electors and their illegal attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election in the state. 
• What did they do? A month after the 2020 election, 11 Dump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College.
• These morons not only committed a crime, but then signed their names to it, documented it on social media, and sent it to Congress and the National Archives.
• Among those charged is Kelli Ward, who served as chair of the Arizona GOP during the 2020 election and the immediate aftermath.
• Others charged include state legislators Anthony Kern and Jake Hoffman; Michael Ward, Kelli Ward’s husband; Tyler Bowyer, the Republican National Committee's Arizona committeeman and CEO of right-wing group Turning Point USA; Greg Safsten, the former Arizona GOP executive director; former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon; Robert Montgomery, the former head of the Cochise County GOP; and Republican Party activists Samuel Moorhead, Nancy Cottle and Loraine Pellegrino.
• Oh, and also named was "Unindicted Coconspirator 1,” identified as Donnie Dump. It also includes redacted names of other people who have been charged in the case but have not yet been served.
• They will all face justice, both as a punitive action to pay for what they did and as a message to those in the future who are planning to do the same thing.
• Moving on, sort of.
• As we mentioned yesterday, right at this moment, the Supreme Court is tackling the question as to whether or not US Presidents have total immunity from crimes they commit in office, like a king.
• And early reports say that the judges on both sides on the spectrum — Sotomayor and Thomas — agreed early on that there’s no mention of absolute immunity in the Constitution.
• That’s a hopeful sign.
• Finally note on the Creamsicle Criminal: his trial for election interference via hush money payments continues in New York today.
• Lots going on right now. Stay awake and informed, peoples.
• Moving on.
• Rest in peace to Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ), who died yesterday following a heart attack brought on by complications from diabetes. He was 65.
• Payne entered Congress somewhat reluctantly in 2012 following the death of his father, Rep. Donald Payne Sr., who was the first Black person elected to Congress in New Jersey and who became one of the city’s luminaries during his more than two decades in Congress.
• Payne’s district is one of the most heavily Democratic in the country. Primary ballots were due to be mailed on April 20, so his name will remain on the ballot.
• Let’s do some “Sucks to Be You” news.
• The Gateway Pundit, a far-right website known for spreading election conspiracies, will declare bankruptcy as it faces lawsuits for defamation.
• Those lawsuits include one from the Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who sued the organization in Missouri, where it is based, after the website perpetuated false claims that the two had been involved in election fraud in Georgia.
• Here’s something that shouldn’t surprise you if you’re paying attention to the direction of the world.
• The pace of babies born each year in the U.S. has slowed to a new record low. 3,591,328 babies were born in the U.S. in 2023, down 2% from the 3,667,758 born in 2022.
• The fertility rate is now the lowest in a century.
• When people can’t feel secure about their future, economically or socially or otherwise, they will take further measures to make sure they’re not bringing more people into the world.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, Ohio lawmakers finally voted to make it illegal to drug and rape your spouse. That’s nice of them.
• It took over a decade for the state’s lawmakers to agree. State Rep. Bill Dean (R-Xenia) still opposed it, saying the law could "be used as a wedge between husband and wife."
• Fucking piece of shit.
• The bill now goes to be signed by Gov. Mike DeWine.
• And speaking of rape…
• Producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned this morning by the New York Court of Appeals.
• The court ordered a retrial, ruling that the judge in Weinstein’s original trial improperly allowed testimony about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
• Weinstein was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison for forcibly performing oral sex on a former production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.
• Before you get too concerned… the case will be retried and Weinstin will spend the rest of his life in prison regardless.
• And now, The Weather: “Wild Life” by Molly Drag
• From the Sports Desk… a little update from the NBA playoffs.
• Celtics and Heat are tied at 1-1, as are the Bucks and Pacers. The Knicks have a 2-0 lead over the 76ers, as do the Cavs over the Magic.
• In the West, the Thunder are up 2-0 over the Pelicans. Same with the Nuggets over the Lakers and the T'wolves over the Suns. The Clippers and Mats are knotted at 1-1.
• Today in history… The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar (1607). Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine (1792). Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War (1846). Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, LA (1862). New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates (1901). The United Negro College Fund is incorporated (1944). Assaulting Chinese forces in the Korean War are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong (1951). Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA (1953). Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit (1961). President George W. Bush pledges U.S. military support in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan (2001). The March for Women's Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. (2004). The Flint water crisis begins when officials at Flint, Michigan switch the city's water supply to the Flint River, leading to lead and bacteria contamination (2014).
• April 25 is the birthday of my 25th great-grandfather, French king Louis IX (1214), my 22nd great-grandfather, England king Edward II (1284), general/politician Oliver Cromwell (1599), astronomer James Ferguson (1710), inventor/businessman Guglielmo Marconi (1874), physicist Wolfgang Pauli (1900), journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908), singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917), singer-songwriter/guitarist Albert King (1923), actor/director Paul Mazursky (1930), basketball player/actor Meadowlark Lemon (1932), songwriter/music producer Jerry Leiber (1933), actor Al Pacino (1940), bass player Stu Cook (1945), drummer Steve Ferrone (1950), singer Paul Baloff (1960), actor Hank Azaria (1964), bass player Eric Avery (1965), sportscaster Joe Buck (1969), actress Renée Zellweger (1969), and NBA player Tim Duncan (1976).

So much going on. Try not to let important things get lost in the shuffle. And please, keep your fingers crossed over the current presidential immunity case at the Supreme Court. Our county’s founders did a lot to make sure the USA would not be led by kings. Let’s respect their wishes. Enjoy your day.