Random News: May 31, 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 May 31, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! And what better day of the week — the most joyful day, if you ask me — to talk in detail about a historic moment in the USA that occurred yesterday? Let’s fucking go.

• Donald John Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America, was found guilty yesterday on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime.
• I will preface everything else I’m about to say with this simple statement, which is one of the greatest pillars of our country: no one is above the law.
• Dump himself once opined that he was so impervious to justice that he could walk onto 5th Avenue in New York City and shoot someone in the head and not be convicted.
• He has been proven wrong.
• And now we can say the words “former President and convicted felon Donald John Trump,” and it’s inarguably true.
• Let’s get the “what could happen next?” out of the way before we talk about what will actually happen and the likely effect of it all on the upcoming election.
• El Dumpo faces a maximum sentence of 1⅓ to four years in prison. Justice Juan Merchan scheduled the former president’s sentencing for July 11. Merchan will also be able to take into account extenuating circumstances, such as Dump’s 10 violations of his gag order and so on.
• Judge Merchan also kindly allowed Dump to remain free without bail. Nice of him.
• Now to the land of reality: given his age and his lack of a prior criminal record, the much higher likelihood is that Dumpy will serve no term of incarceration at all. 
• Zero. None. Nothing.
• If you’re getting your hopes high for some big day of celebration on July 11 — which happens to be just days before the start of the Republican National Convention — don’t spend much on the champagne.
• You’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment if you’re counting on this guy ever being inside a jail cell for anything. Don’t make that the important part.
• But the big news is in the moment, which is the the first time in our nation’s 248-year history that we’ve passed the test — we aren’t a nation of kings and subjects. Again, no one is above the law.
• That there isn’t one set of rules for the elite class and another for the people.
• If you believe in justice and fairness and all that you hope America is truly about, yesterday was a very good day in American history.
• Let’s do some Q&A.
• Can Dump serve as president now that he’s a felon? Absolutely yes. There is nothing in our Constitution saying that a felon can’t be elected President. Even if by some miracle Dump was literally incarcerated in a prison (which he won’t be), he could still be President.
• 100% true. Look it up.
• But can Dump vote? He is a legal resident of the state of Florida, and here’s what their law says: “If you are convicted of a felony not of moral turpitude, you lose your right to vote, until the following conditions are met: You have completed your sentence, including probation and parole.”
• However, if the conviction would leave the felon eligible to vote in the state where the person was convicted — New York in this case — Florida generally defaults to the laws of that state.
• So the answer is probably yes, but it would be affected by his sentence. The only thing that would stop him would be to be actually incarcerated during the election.
• Can Dump own a gun? NO. It's unlawful for a convicted felon to carry any type of firearm under both Florida and federal law. Although the U.S. Code and Florida Statute share similar elements for the offense, both have different penalties and enhancements for the crime.
• Can Dump leave the country? Perhaps not while he’s on any kind of probation or parole. After that, then yes. But some countries simply don’t accept felons entering their territory, understandably.
• Can Dump as a felon get any kind of national security clearance? Welllll… it’s less clear cut than you’d assume.
• Again, until we know the actual sentencing in July, a lot of this is still guesswork.
• More importantly than any of this, how will Dump’s voting base react to him now being a convicted felon?
• I don’t think it will make a big difference to most of them. These folks are in a cult. Dump could kill babies in front of them and they’d come up with excuses as to why the babies deserved it and still vote for him.
• However, a portion of his voting base — those who believe in law and order, who feel that America doesn’t have kings, will have feelings about it.
• We don’t need his entire base to change their feelings in order for it to impact the election. Just a small percentage will make a large difference.
• How is the MAGA world handling Dump’s conviction, by the way? Exactly as you’d expect.
• They furiously flooded pro-Dump websites with calls for riots, revolution, and violent retribution. That’s what they do. It’s all they know.
• Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.
• And there were indeed many general calls for murdering liberals after the verdict.
• Bring it on, you red-capped bitches. Oh, also, enjoy the fact that each of these threats are being catalogued by law enforcement agencies at many levels.
• You wanted to be on a list? You wanted to have an eye kept on you? I promise, you’re on one now. Learn a little bit about IP addresses and geolocation tracking when you think you’re safe behind your “BrandonSlayerUSA666” posting handle.
• I’ll end with a reminder that Dumples the Clown still faces far more serious criminal cases in Florida (the stolen documents case), Georgia (the RICO trial from the 2020 election), and Washington, D.C. (subverting the transfer of power after the 2020 election).
• We know that due to appeals and pretrial motions, it’s highly likely none of them will go to trial before Election Day.
• But they will happen, as long as Dump isn’t elected and dismisses all charges against himself.
• Okay. Whew. As I said, yesterday was a good day. I was… I think the word is giddy. I was giddy pretty much the entire rest of yesterday.
• Believe it or not, there is other news.
• President Joe Biden secretly gave Ukraine permission to use American weapons to strike inside Russia, a reversal of previous policy that Kyiv’s allies hope helps turn the tide of the war.
• The decision only applies to some weapons supplied by the United States, and only in one area: the northeastern Kharkiv region where Russia launched a sweeping cross-border assault three weeks ago.
• But Ukraine is heartened by this effort and hopefully will give them some much-needed wins against Russia.
• Moving on.
• Here’s a question: if Hamas releases literally all of their Israeli hostages, would that end the terrible war in the region?
• Not according to Israel National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, who told relatives of those hostages yesterday that the current government will not agree to end its war against Hamas under any terms including the release of all hostages.
• Kinda makes you wonder about Israel’s big-picture motives. I see no possible good endings to that conflict, nor any timeline to get back to peaceful existence.
• If I was a citizen there, I wouldn’t accept that message from my government.
• Meanwhile, today, the Israeli military confirmed that its forces are operating in central parts of Rafah in its expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city.
• Israel launched its ground assault into the city on May 6, triggering an exodus of around 1 million Palestinians out of the city and throwing U.N. humanitarian operations based in the area into turmoil.
• Palestinian people there are dying daily of hunger and disease and lack of basic human necessities.
• Moving on.
• ChatGPT maker OpenAI said yesterday that it caught groups from Russia, China, Iran, and Israel using its technology to try to influence political discourse around the world.
• This highlights concerns that generative artificial intelligence is making it easier for state actors to run covert propaganda campaigns as the 2024 presidential election nears.
• OpenAI removed accounts associated with well-known propaganda operations in Russia, China, and Iran; an Israeli political campaign firm; and a previously unknown group originating in Russia that the company’s researchers dubbed “Bad Grammar.”
• The groups used OpenAI’s tech to write posts, translate them into various languages, and build software that helped them automatically post to social media.
• Not surprising at all.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Rifle Association can pursue a claim that a New York state official’s efforts to encourage companies to end ties with the gun rights group constituted unlawful coercion.
• It was a unanimous decision by the SCOTUS. The justices unanimously found that the NRA can move forward with arguments that its free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment were violated by the actions of Maria Vullo, the then-superintendent of the New York state Department of Financial Services.
• The opinion came from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote, ”Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.”
• She’s right. Look, I dislike the NRA as much as anyone, but defending free speech means you defend the speech you like and the speech you don’t. That’s how it works.
• In other news…
• Andrew Tate, one of the most dank assholes in the social media influencer realm, who is awaiting trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape, lost an appeal yesterday to have the court relax geographical restrictions preventing him from traveling outside the eastern European country.
• Tough shit, you rapist fuck.
• Tate had requested that he be able to leave Romania, provided he stay within Europe’s ID-check-free Schengen zone, which Romania partially joined in March.
• A former professional kickboxer and dual British-U.S. citizen, Tate was initially arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest, Romania’s capital, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women.
• Fuck him. I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison there.
• And now, The Weather: “Side By Side” by Crumb
• From the Sports Desk… the Mavs crushed the T’Wolves in game 5 124-103, winning the Western Conference finals 4-1. We now have an NBA championship finals matchup!
• The Boston Celtics will face the Dallas Mavericks, with Game 1 in Boston on Thursday June 6. It’s Dallas’s first NBA Finals since 2011.
• Today in history… Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome (455). King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge of Paris, France (1578). Citing poor eyesight as a reason, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary (1669). The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790 (1790). The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time (1859). Gilmore's Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue (1879). The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, convenes for the first time (1909). The RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland (1911). The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300 (1921). The U.S. Supreme Court expands on its Brown v. Board of Education decision by ordering district courts and school districts to enforce educational desegregation "at all deliberate speed.” (1955). The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed (1977). Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal 9.72 seconds (2008). 
• May 31 is the birthday of poet/journalist Walt Whitman (1819), entrepreneur John Ringling (1866), actor Don Ameche (1908), Monaco prince Rainier III (1923), actor/director Clint Eastwood (1930), singer-songwriter Peter Yarrow (1938), actress Sharon Gless (1943), NFL player Joe Namath (1943), singer-songwriter Jimmy Cliff (1946), drummer John Bonham (1948), actor Tom Berenger (1949), guitarist Tommy Emmanuel (1955), actress Lea Thompson (1961), Hungary prime minister Viktor Orbán (1963), rapper Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels (1964), model/actress Brooke Shields (1965), actor Colin Farrell (1976), MLB player Jake Peavy (1981), NBA player Nate Robinson (1984), NFL player Jordy Nelson (1985), and rapper Azealia Banks (1991).

Okay then. Like I said, I’m just happy as can be that we still live in a country where justice can be served, and where — say it with me — no one is above the law. That’s all I asked for. It isn’t a lot, but it matters. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 30, 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 May 30, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I had one of those days yesterday where I found myself still responding to work emails after 9pm, which shouldn’t be how we lead our lives and yet here we are. Hopefully things are slightly more chill today. Let’s do some news.

• The jury in the Donnie Dump criminal hush money trial did not reach a verdict in their first day of deliberation yesterday.
• It would have been weird (and possibly problematic) if they had.
• One thing you may not be considering as you ponder how long it will take: there are 34 separate felony charges.
• Example: Count 1 says, “The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.”
• And Count 2 says, “The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 842457, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.”
• You can’t just make a sweeping judgement that applies to all of them. You have to consider each one individually and come to a verdict on each discrete count.
• If they’d come back five minutes later (or maybe even five hours later) with a guilty or innocent verdict, it would have been immediately brought into question whether or not they actually considered the details in each of the 34 counts.
• So their deliberations are continuing today. Something I posted yesterday on Threads is probably applicable as a reminder here as well.
• Even if they convict his sorry ass on all 34 felony counts (and they should and I hope they do), it's still very unlikely he'd ever see the inside of a jail cell.
• But not because he’s Donald Trump or any other entitled prick. For a person with no criminal history, even being guilty of multiple Class E felonies likely means a sentence of probation, not jail time.
• And as I say here over and over again, the courts will never save you from this piece of shit; you will save yourself with your vote in November.
• Jury deliberations are continuing this morning. The most recent update is that the jury had Judge Merchan re-read parts of his instructions to them a few minutes ago.
• Moving on.
• As if Nikki Haley couldn’t be any more disappointing, she managed to step up her position on the Asshole List by writing “Finish them” on an artillery shell in Israel this week.
• I assume she’s referring to the compete annihilation of the Palestinian people, something that most Republicans seem to fully support.
• Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations and a member of the Israeli Parliament, shared a photo on social media on Tuesday showing Haley signing the shell.
• This was on a visit that came just days after Israel drew international condemnation for a strike that killed dozens of Gazan civilians in a camp for displaced Palestinians.
• Nikki Haley is a disgusting scummy human being.
• While we’re covering the humanitarian disaster in Gaza…
• The U.S. military-built pier that was intended to delivery at least some relief to the region  was broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational.
• It’s safe to say it hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag.
• However, they’re not giving up. The steel causeway connected to the beach in Gaza and the floating pier are being repaired and reassembled at a port in southern Israel, then will be reinstalled and working again next week.
• Even when the pier is in place, the Israeli offensive in Rafah has made it nearly impossible to get aid into the region by land routes.
• Sigh.
• And in more related news, yesterday Brazil withdrew its ambassador to Israel with tensions between the two countries over the war in Gaza. Israel continues to make itself more and more isolated in the world.
• Moving on.
• Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving El Dumpo and his brigade of January 6 insurrectionists, saying his wife hoisted the two controversial flags that flew above their homes.
• In letters to members of Congress, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying both an upside-down flag over their home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at their New Jersey beach house last year. Both flags were like those carried by the piece of shit MAGA assholes who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 while echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
• Alito says, “I am confident that a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that the events ... do not meet the applicable standard for recusal. I am therefore required to reject your request.”
• Supreme Court justices decide for themselves whether to sit out a case. The only potential consequence for refusing to step aside is impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. That has never happened in American history.
• So, that’s it, then, I guess.
• Let’s do some good news before I throw up.
• Federal investigators took down one of the world's largest malicious botnets, one that helped generate tens of thousands of fraudulent transactions that cost victims billions — including many related to COVID relief funding.
• Fuck those bots.
• They also arrested the botnet's administrator, YunHe Wang, a Chinese national. He's been accused of orchestrating an international plot to deploy malware and surreptitiously sell access to the infected computers' IP addresses.
• Wang is charged with leading an operation — known as the 911 S5 Botnet —  that deployed 19 million compromised IP addresses in over 190 countries, using them as for carrying out crimes such as bomb threats, financial fraud, identity theft, child exploitation, initial access brokering, and many other computer crimes.
• That rat fucker already purchased $30 million in property in the U.S., St. Kitts and Nevis, China, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, and paid over $4 million for luxury items including a BMW, Rolls Royce and several watches. 
• And now, The Weather: “Somber The Drums” by DIIV
• Hurricane season officially starts this coming Saturday, June 1. It might be a good weekend for you Easter Coasters, Floridians, and Gulf Coast people to put together some kind of plan in case you suddenly find yourself in 150mph winds.
• Just a thought. Do what you want.
• From the sort-of Sports Desk… yesterday, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler, less than two weeks after the world's top golfer was arrested outside the PGA Championship in Louisville, KY.
• He’d been charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic when he was arrested outside Louisville's Valhalla Golf Club, which was hosting the tournament.
• Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell said his office couldn't move forward with the charges based on the evidence in the case.
• Not that it matters, but I agree. Everything I saw looked like complete overreactive bullshit by the cops involved.
• In actual Sports Desk news, tonight is Game 5 in the Western Conference Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves. Dallas leads the series 3-1 and can punch a ticket to the finals with a win.
• In the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs, the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers are locked up 2-2 in the East, while the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers are also tied at 2-2. Exciting times for hockey fans!
• Today in history… Beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England (1381). In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal (1431). Johann Sebastian Bach assumed the office of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, presenting his first new cantata, ‘Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75’ (1723). The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the U.S. territories of Kansas and Nebraska (1854). Decoration Day — the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day” — is observed in the United States for the first time (1868). At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race (1911). The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. (1922). Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators (1937). Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars (1971). Spain joins NATO (1982). Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage (2013).
• May 30 is the birthday of mathematician Grace Andrews (1869), film director Howard Hawks (1896), actor Stepin Fetchit (1902), voice actor Mel Blanc (1908), clarinetist/bandleader Benny Goodman (1909), NFL player Gale Sayers (1943), actor Colm Meany (1953), drummer Topper Headon (1955), actor Ted McGinley (1958), singer-songwriter Wynona Judd (1964), songwriter/guitarist Tom Morello (1964), singer-songwriter Stephen Malkmus (1966), singer-songwriter Idina Menzel (1971), MLB player Manny Ramirez (1972), and singer CeeLo Green (1975).

I’m going to be glad when this Dump verdict is in. These past couple of mornings, I’ve had to rush through these news tidbits in the event that the jury came back with a verdict, thereby rendering everything I wrote to be moot. But as I said earlier (and many times before): guilty or innocent, there’s nothing you can do personally to save the world from this fucking fascist asshole than to vote and to encourage every single person in your life to also vote. That’s what matters. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 29, 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 May 29, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. After a work day where I basically had to cram Monday and Tuesday into a single grueling day of work tasks, the holiday weekend is now a distant memory and I’m already yearning for the weekend to arrive. Until then, let’s see what’s happening in this world of ours.

• Jurors in El Dumpo’s hush money trial are beginning deliberations this morning after receiving instructions from the judge. Their goal is to reach a verdict in the first criminal case against a former American president.
• No one knows how long that might take. There might be a verdict later today, or it could be in two weeks, any any time in between.
• At this very moment, the judge is reading the final version of the jury instructions to the jury.  He says it should take about an hour. So at least I can get this news posted before anything earth-shattering happens.
• Their deliberations today follow a marathon day of closing arguments in which the prosecutor accused Trump of trying to mislead voters in the 2016 presidential election by participating in a hush money scheme meant to stifle embarrassing stories he feared would torpedo his campaign.
• In their closing arguments, the defense lawyers leaned into the concept that everyone testifying against Dump is a liar, denied he’d had sex with Stormy Daniels at all, and proclaimed his client innocent of all charges, asking the jurors for a unanimous acquittal on all 34 felony charges against Dump.
• So, that’s it. We’ll see how it goes. No matter what the jury’s findings will be, there will be some sort of chaos afterwards, so be prepared for that.
• One noteworthy dramatic moment happened outside of the courthouse yesterday, where actor Robert De Niro made an appearance with former Capitol police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, who were cited for their heroism defending our country against the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt.
• While De Niro spoke, a MAGA psycho called Dunn and Fanone traitors. De Niro shot back: "They stood there. They didn’t have to. They stood there and fought for us. They fought for you, buddy. You’re able to stand right here. They are the true heroes. I’m honored to be with these two heroes today."
• I liked that.
• Moving on.
• In a different criminal case against El Dumpo, Judge Aileen Cannon chastised special counsel Jack Smith’s team yesterday after she said they failed to meaningfully reach out to Dump’s attorneys on a motion to limit his speech in the classified documents case after Dump claimed law enforcement had the power to assassinate him.
• Cannon also denied a motion from Trump’s legal team seeking to censure prosecutors over the matter.
• Anyway, she was mad that the prosecutors didn’t reach out to Team Dump until 5:30PM ahead of Memorial Day weekend. Tough shit, I say, but I’m not in charge of that trial.
• Let’s move on to some really good news.
• Philanthropist Melinda French Gates is donating $1 billion over the next two years to support women and families, including reproductive rights.
• French Gates said in a NYT op-ed that she is committed to advocating for women and girls.
• ”While I have long focused on improving contraceptive access overseas, in the post-Dobbs era, I now feel compelled to support reproductive rights here at home. For too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women's rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense. I want to help even the match."
• Hell yes. Fuck them up, Melinda.
• Moving on.
• A note of derisive laughter to the douchebags in the Ohio legislature who thought they had a backdoor to keeping Joe Biden off their state’s ballot this fall.
• There was an administrative issue about the timing of the Democratic National Convention and the date required by Ohio law to have the official nominee listed on the ballot there.
• It had to be done by August 7, and the DNC’s in-person convention doesn’t start until August 19. Oh no! What to doooooo?
• Easy. The Democratic National Committee will move to conduct virtual proceedings to certify President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party nominees ahead of the deadline.
• There will be a virtual roll call and nomination of Biden and Harris, but the DNC will still hold in-person ceremonial events for this process at their convention during the week of August 19 in Chicago.
• Suck my Ohio-born dick, Ohio GOP.
• Moving down to Texas, where some sorta good news happened when incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) narrowly won his primary yesterday against an ammosexual.
• Gonzales defeated Brandon Herrera, a gun nut YouTuber who calls himself "The AK Guy.” Why is this only “sorta” good?
• Because supporters of Gonzales had warned, perhaps accurately, that a loss in yesterday's election could open the door for Democrats to flip the district in November.
• Another prominent Texas Republican, state House Speaker Dade Phelan, also edged out a challenger from the right who was backed by Dump.
• Alright. Let’s move on.
• Another American who was arrested in the Turks and Caicos Islands for possessing ammunition was sentenced yesterday to time served and a $9,000 fine.
• Tyler Wenrich was facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in prison for ammunition charges in the British territory. 
• Wenrich was arrested in April after two 9 mm rounds were found in his backpack as he was trying to board a cruise ship. He pleaded guilty last week.
• He’s the second American tourist to be sentenced this month over ammunition found in his luggage. Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania received a yearlong suspended sentence and was fined $6,700 on Friday over 20 rifle rounds found in his checked bag in February.
• Sigh. Next time I get arrested, I’ll just say that I forgot to remove the contraband from my backpack. I’m sure I’ll be treated as leniently.
• Let’s move on.
• ”Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz was denied parole after his twelfth board appearance.
• Berkowitz, now 70 years old, was rejected after a Board of Parole prison interview on May 14. He’d terrorized New York City with a series of shootings that killed six people and wounded seven beginning in July 1976, and was arrested August 10, 1977.
• Let’s do a better New York story.
• Twice per year, New Yorkers are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers.
• Neat. The first Manhattanhenge of the year happened last night at 8:13PM, with a slight variation happening again tonight at 8:12PM, and will occur again on July 12 and 13.
• And now, The Weather: “shaniatwainlovestory” by Winter
• Just a note that yesterday was the 41st anniversary of the start of the US Festival in Southern California. It kicked off on May 28, 1983 with “New Wave Day,” featuring the Divinyls, INXS, Wall of Voodoo, Oingo Boingo, The English Beat, A Flock of Seagulls, The Stray Cats, Men at Work, and The Clash, who played their final show ever with Mick Jones.
• From the Sports Desk… a very important and newsworthy story.
• Major League Baseball announced back in December 2020 that it would be correcting a longtime oversight by adding the statistics of Negro League players to the record books.
• As of yesterday, that came to fruition. Due to the long-overdue correction, Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball's career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb's .367.
• Records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated yesterday after a three-year research project. Gibson also became the career leader in slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177), moving ahead of Babe Ruth (.690 and 1.164).
• In other Sports Desk news, the Boston Celtics have moved on to the NBA Finals after sweeping the Indiana Pacers 4-0. In the West, the T’Wolves staved off elimination by beating the Mavericks 105-100 last night. The Mavs lead that series 3-1.
• Today in history… Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland (1660). Rhode Island becomes the last of North America's original Thirteen Colonies to ratify the Constitution and become one of the United States (1790). Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state (1848). The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal (1886). Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot (1913). Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested and later confirmed by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin (1919). Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953). Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, CA (1973). Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station (1999).
• May 29 is the birthday of English king Charles II (1630), poet/playwright G. K. Chesterton (1874), actor/singer Bob Hope (1903), US president John F. Kennedy (1917), race car driver Al Unser (1939), singer-songwriter/composer Danny Elfman (1953), failed assassin John Hinckley Jr. (1955), singer LaToya Jackson (1956), actress Annette Bening (1958), musician/activist Melissa Etheridge (1961), singer-songwriter/guitarist Noel Gallagher (1967), actress/activist Laverne Cox (1972), singer-songwriter Mel B (1975), comedian Daniel Tosh (1975), NBA player Carmelo Anthony (1984), and NBA player Austin Reaves (1998).

We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Dump hush money jury today, obviously. And always remember what I’ve told you many times before: no matter what happens, the courts won’t save America from this fucking guy. You will, with your vote. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 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 May 28, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. As usual after a three-day weekend, this Tuesday feels like a Super Monday thus far. I awoke not quite remembering who I was or what I did for a living, so perhaps writing this news column will help alleviate my hopefully temporary holiday-based amnesia.

• I’m calling bullshit on this first news item before you even read it.
• Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that a “tragic mistake” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people.
• Yeah, a tragic mistake for yourself and your country, Bibi.
• The strike greatly added to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas, with even its closest allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths.
• Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.
• Netanyahu did not elaborate on the error. As details of the strike and fire emerged, the military said it had opened an investigation into the deaths of civilians.
• At least 45 people were killed in Israel’s strike on Rafah. The dead included at least 12 women, eight children, and three older adults, with other bodies burned beyond recognition.
• Around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes. Severe hunger is widespread, and parts of the territory are experiencing famine.
• I can’t see how the world will stand back and allow this to continue. The US has stepped into plenty of other conflicts where unabated genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other war crime actions were evident.
• As of today, despite their admission of wrongdoing, Israeli forces have reached the center of Rafah. Tanks were stationed at al-Awda roundabout, which is considered a key landmark.
• Western areas of the city also came under intense bombardment overnight. They have no intention of stopping this nightmare.
• Moving on.
• In seemingly better international news, this coming Sunday June 2 is Mexico’s election day, and all signs say that the next President of our southern neighbor is going to be Claudia Sheinbaum.
• The politician, 61, has a a PhD in environmental engineering and served a term as Mexico City mayor. Now she’s poised to make history as Mexico’s first female president and first Jewish head of state.
• Polls say that Sheinbaum has a wide lead over the next-placed candidate, conservative entrepreneur Xóchitl Gálvez.
• Good luck, Mexico.
• Let’s move on.
• Today the Supreme Court turned away a bid by disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti to overturn his conviction for attempting to extort nearly $25 million from sporting goods giant Nike.
• The rejection of Avenatti's appeal means his conviction on three federal charges will remain in place. 
• Good. Avenatti, 53, is currently incarcerated at a federal corrections facility not far from here in San Pedro, CA. He is scheduled to be released in 2035.
• Separate from the Nike case, the scumbag was also convicted for cheating Stormy Daniels and other clients out of millions of dollars.
• Let’s move on.
• I want to talk about the recent Texas GOP convention, because if you want to see the ultimate in a horrifyingly dystopian future, it already exists today.
• Steve Hotze was an exhibitor there. An indicted election fraud conspiracy theorist, Hotze has helmed hardline anti-abortion movements and virulently homophobic campaigns against LGTBQ+ rights, comparing gay people to Nazis and helping popularize the “groomer” slur that paints all gay people as pedophiles.
• Those opinions used to be considered fringe, and not representative of the Republican party as a whole. Now they’re mainstream. Hotze said Saturday that he was pleased by the party's growing embrace of his calls for spiritual warfare with “demonic, Satanic forces” on the left.
• Delegates at the event approved rules that ban candidates — as well as judges — who are censured by the party from appearing on primary ballots for two years, a move that would give a small group of Republicans the ability to block people from running for office.
• The party’s proposed platform also included planks that would effectively lock Democrats out of statewide office by requiring candidates to win a majority of Texas’ 254 counties, many of which are dark-red but sparsely populated, and called for laws requiring the Bible to be taught in public schools.
• This is real. This is today. These aren’t just weirdos in a basement somewhere.
• At the event, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said,“They want to take God out of the country, and they want the government to be God.”
• State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) said, “Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
• And not to be left out, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas stated, ”Look at what the Democrats have done. If you were actively trying to destroy America, what would you do differently?”
• If you empower these people, they will force their religion on you by law. They will remove the rights of women to vote. They will sound up people who aren’t straight and white and those who aren’t killed immediately will meet worse fates.
• We do not live in a theocracy like Iran. This is America.
• One thing that we can count on, though, is Republicans turning one each other.
• Remember the ill-fated 2022 Senate election in Georgia when former football star lost to Reverend Raphael Warnock?
• Georgia and national Republicans, in dire need of money, are furious that Walker is sitting on more than $4 million in leftover campaign funds and seems to have no intention of using it to help the GOP or Donald Trump in the key battleground state in November.
• Hahahahah. Snort.
• And now, The Weather: “In Amber” by DIIV
• Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas and elsewhere remain without power today after getting battered by severe storms. Good luck, friends.
• A pre-Sports Desk rest in peace going out to the iconic NBA center Bill Walton, who died yesterday at 71 after a long battle with cancer.
• In college, he was a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year under coach John Wooden.
• In the NBA, Walton was MVP of the 1977-78 season and a member of the league's 50th and 75th anniversary teams. He also had a long career as a sports broadcast commentator.
• Many of us will also remember Bill as one of the world’s most beloved Deadheads. He was a hardcore fan of the band for more than 50 year.
• From the Sports Desk… in the midst of NHL and NBA playoff finals, let’s look at the divisional leaders in MLB standings.
• AL East: Yankees (37-18). AL Central: Guardians (36-18). AL West: Mariners (29-26).
• NL East: Phillies (38-17). NL Central: Brewers (31-22). NL West: Dodgers (33-22).
• Today in history… A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales (585 BC). In the first engagement of the French and Indian war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania (1754). U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them (1830). In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club (1892). Alan Turing submits ‘On Computable Numbers’ for publication (1936). Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded (1937). Peter Benenson's article ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ is published in several internationally read newspapers, later thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International (1961). The Palestine Liberation Organization is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader (1964). U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud (1996). The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site (2002). 
• May 28 is the birthday of UK prime minister William Pitt the Younger (1759), poet/composer Thomas Moore (1779), inventor Carl Richard Nyberg (1858), athlete Jim Thorpe (1888), author Ian Fleming (1908), singer-songwriter/guitarist T-Bone Walker (1910), actress/activist Zelda Rubinstein (1933), NBA player/executive Jerry West (1938), lawyer/politician/national joke Rudy Giuliani (1944), singer-songwriter Gladys Knight (1944), physician Patch Adams (1945), singer-songwriter John Fogerty (1945), bass player Leland Sklar (1947), singer-songwriter Wendy O. Williams (1949), guitarst Jerry Douglas (1956), MLB player Kirk Gibson (1957), singer-songwriter/actress Kylie Minogue (1968), politician Rob Ford (1969), politician Marco Rubio (1971), and NFL player Percy Harvin (1988).

That’s all for now. I could really use another day off. Or two. Or ten. But no, back to being a productive member of society, I suppose. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 27, 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 May 27, 2024, and it’s a Monday. It’s a holiday here in the USA, so I didn’t set my alarm for 6am, which was nice as far as Monday’s go. But I’m up and about now, so let’s chat as we do every day.

• As I like to remind people, not that you don’t hear it elsewhere…
• Memorial Day specifically honors the military personnel who died in duty. It’s not Veterans Day, which is a general holiday that salutes anyone who ever served.
• Seems kinda morose for a nice day in late May, which is probably why most people forget that fact and observe the somber day of reflection by barbecuing and going to the beach and drinking beer and whatnot.
• It’s telling that some of my top “news” headlines today talk about sales on consumer electronics and bed mattresses. I’m not sure how those things respect the people who died fighting in wars.
• I don’t like war at all, and I really don’t like young people dying for reasons that are rarely worthwhile. But I still honor those who died doing something they thought was right at the time.
• That’s what war generally is… someone convincing someone else that there’s a noble reason to give their life. And even if, like me, you detest war and find the entire concept of violent conflict to be archaic and barbaric, you should never take out those feelings on the people who thought they were doing the right thing.
• For example, over 400,000 American soldiers died in WWII so that a fascist maniac didn’t take over the world.
• We’ve paid a huge price to keep the world out of the hands of psychotic dictators. If you want to honor their memory today, the very best thing you can do is to continue their efforts by not allowing the same thing to happen again.
• You don’t need a gun to do that. You can do it today by not supporting genocidal regimes. You can do it this fall with your vote.
• By the way… you can thank a person for their service any day of the year. Today is not specifically the day to do that, unless the person you’re thanking is no longer among the living.
• Let’s do some news.
• An Israeli airstrike last night triggered a massive blaze killing at least 45 people in a tent camp in the Gaza city of Rafah, prompting an outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt the assault.
• In scenes we’ve witnessed far too often over the past eight months, Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after the strike set tents and rickety metal shelters ablaze.
• And once again, women and children made up most of the dead and dozens of wounded.
• The attacks came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population had sought shelter before Israel’s incursion earlier this month. Tens of thousands of people remain in the area while many others have fled.
• More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, stemming from the Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7 which killed around 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of about 250 hostages.
• Is that fair? Is any of this fair?
• Moving on.
• Tomorrow, after more than four weeks and nearly two dozen witnesses giving testimony, the hush money felony case against Donnie Dump heads into the pivotal final stretch of closing arguments, jury deliberations, and — hopefully — a verdict.
• Here’s what to expect in the days ahead.
• Starting tomorrow morning, prosecutors and defense lawyers will have their final opportunity to address the jury in closing arguments. Those are expected to last for much of the day, if not all of it.
• A closing argument is pretty simple. It recaps of the key points the lawyers want to leave jurors with before the panel disappears behind closed doors for deliberations.
• In the United States, all people are innocent until proven guilty. A defense team does not have to prove a defendant’s innocence. The burden of proving guilt is the job of the prosecutor.
• To prevent a conviction, the defense simply needs to convince at least one juror that prosecutors haven’t proved Dump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard for all criminal cases.
• Since the prosecution has the burden of proof, it will deliver its summation last — the reverse order from opening statements, in which the prosecution went first.
• It will likely be on Wednesday morning that, right before the jury begins its deliberations, Judge Juan M. Merchan would spend about an hour instructing the jury on the law governing the case.
• Like any court case you’ve seen in person or on TV, then the jury deliberations will proceed in secret. Jurors can communicate with the court through notes that ask the judge for legal guidance, or to have particular excerpts of testimony read back to them.
• We don’t know how long those deliberations will go. The have to evaluate all 34 counts of falsifying business records. A verdict might come back quickly, or it may not come by the end of the week.
• You know the rest of it. All 12 jurors must agree with the decision for the judge to accept it.
• If they can’t come to a consensus on a verdict, the judge will give them further instruction. If the jury still can’t reach a verdict after that, the judge would declare a mistrial.
• So we’ll all be watching that this week.
• Moving on.
• A U.S. congressional delegation met Taiwan’s new leader today in a show of support after China held drills around the self-governing island in response to his inauguration.
• Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), the co-chair of the Taiwan caucus in the U.S. Congress, said the United States is fully committed to supporting Taiwan militarily, diplomatically, and economically.
• As I think (hope) you understand, China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must come under its control, by force if necessary.
• Due to that, most other countries — the U.S. included — do not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but we do a lot of business with the territory and provide it with the means to defend itself.
• Let’s move on.
• After all the hubbub at their convention — including the delicious intense dislike shown to the Dumpster — the Libertarian Party chose its candidate for President… and it wasn’t Dump or RFK Jr.
• Chase Oliver won the Libertarian Party presidential nomination yesterday after seven rounds of voting at the party’s convention in Washington, DC.
• The 38-year-old, who has previously run for Congress multiple times in Georgia, focused his pitch on making Libertarian values palatable to a broader audience.
• And don’t laugh. If Oliver gets 2% of the popular vote nationally — a goal that’s statistically within the realm of possibilities — it could tip the scales in this super tight election one direction or another, depending on which side those votes come from.
• In other news, a follow-up note on the insane new Louisiana law that classifies the two most common abortion medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, as dangerous controlled substances.
• You can bet your ass that other states that limit women’s reproductive freedoms think it’s a great idea, and will soon enact similar laws there as well.
• The only way to defeat this outrageous attack on women’s health care rights is to enshrine the right to abortion at a national level, and only one presidential candidate has vowed to make that happen.
• His name is Joe Biden.
• And now, The Weather: “Microgravity tank” by Draag
• At least 21 people were killed by tornados and other severe weather this weekend, especially in Texas and Kentucky but also across the entire eastern half of the US. Wherever you are, try and be safe, friends.
• From the Sports Desk… are we on our way to a dual NBA conference finals sweep? With the Celtics having gone up 3-0 against the Pacers in the East on Saturday, last night the Mavericks beat the T’Wolves 116-107 to also take a commanding 3-0 lead in that series.
• Over in the NHL, the Rangers lead the Panthers 2-1 in the East, while the Stars and Oilers are tied at 1-1… they play tonight.
• Today in history… John — my 25th great-grandfather — is crowned King of England (1199). Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg (1703). First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson (1863). The 1,046 feet Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public (1930). The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission (1933). The Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, CA (1937). U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency” to deal with WWII (1941). Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census (1967). Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire (1996). Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot that led to the Oklahoma City bombing (1998). The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo (1999).
• May 27 is the birthday of businessman/philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794), journalist/activist Amelia Bloomer (1818), businessman Jay Gould (1836), police officer Wild Bill Hickok (1837), biologist/environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907), US vice president Hubert Humphrey (1911), actor Vincent Price (1911), actor Christopher Lee (1922), politician Henry Kissinger (1923), businessman/philanthropist Sumner Redstone (1923), author/screenwriter Harlan Ellison (1934), pianist/composer Ramsey Lewis (1935), model/actress Lee Meriwether (1935), actor Louis Gossett Jr. (1936), singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (1945), bass player Pete Sears (1948), singer-songwriter Siouxsie Sioux (1957), singer-songwriter Neil Finn (1958), actress Peri Gilpin (1961), actor Adam Carolla (1964), MLB player Jeff Bagwell (1968), actor Paul Bettany (1971), rapper Lisa Lopes (1971), rapper André 3000 (1975), and NFL player Daniel Jones (1997).

So, that’s all. Unlike most Mondays, where I’d have written this in a flustered hurry before getting in my workout and jumping into business stuff, today I’ll now leisurely shower and dress and do various things that are not work. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 26, 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 May 26, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. It’s the midpoint in a holiday weekend, and while I am sure I’ll do something today, I don’t know what it might be, so for now let’s look at the news while I sip my coffee and lounge about.

• I’m not sure what Dumpy would think would happen when he spoke yesterday at the Libertarian Party’s national convention.
• Some people do mistake Libertarians for Republicans, or at least assume that they share the same conservative values.
• No. It’s a mixed bag, but some Libertarians are actual huge supporters of civil liberties (hence the name of the party)… something that an authoritarian, wannabe dictator prick like Dump would represent the opposite of.
• Dump was loudly and consistently booed throughout his speech, particularly when he asked attendees to “nominate me or at least vote for me.”
• The heckling began the moment the former president and current accused felon took the stage. It was ugly. Dumpy left the stage after just 34 minutes, marking one of his shortest campaign speeches to date.
• The Libertarian Party is expected to select its presidential nominee today. The best-performing Libertarian candidate in history? That was Gary Johnson who earned slightly more than 3% of the popular vote in 2016 – a high point in the party’s history.
• Why did he want to appear there? Because the margins are so close between Dump and Biden that any small percentage of a voter base is now drastically magnified in its importance.
• And Dump is scared that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ability to siphon some votes from his GOP base is indeed a potential problem in an election expected to be decided by a narrow margin in a handful of states.
• RFK Jr. might end up getting the official Libertarian nomination. Despite asking for their nomination, Dump never filed paperwork to actually be considered.
• Dumbass. Let’s move on.
• After the holiday weekend, the closing arguments in the Dumpy hush money/election interference trial will happen on Tuesday, and then the jury will deliberate on whether Dump is guilty or innocent of the multiple felonies of which he is accused in that case.
• How will they decide? No matter what you’ve been told, no one can possibly know.
• Based on the trial, the only prediction that’s fairly certain is that the jury will likely not be unanimous in finding him innocent. But that’s not what matters.
• To convict him, all 12 of the jurors must agree to the same decision on each of the 34 counts against Dump, or the case ends up as a mistrial.
• So all the defense needs is just one juror to not agree to convict, which is exactly what his defense is going for. Just one weak person in some way, shape, or form, is all they need.
• We’ll see soon enough. Moving on.
• Speaking things we’ll see, it seems inevitable that there will be threats and actions of violence against poll workers during and after the election this fall.
• A bipartisan panel of four secretaries of state from key battleground states this week on “Meet the Press” said that they’re prepared to execute a safe and secure presidential election.
• The secretaries of state, from Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, had all been personally threatened multiple times during and after the 2020 election.
• Beyond straight-up intimidation and violence, their biggest challenge is dealing with misinformation in their respective states, each of which had legal challenges after Dump lost there in 2020.
• Moving on.
• Let’s get Sunday Gunday out of the way. Yes, these are only from the past two days and not nearly all of them.
• Two or more dead and 10 others injured in multiple shootings in Chicago, IL. One dead, six injured in a shooting in the Midtown-Westport area of Kansas City, MO. One dead, three injured in a shooting in downtown Cleveland, OH. One dead, one injured in a shooting at a home in Naugatuck, CT. One dead, one injured in a shooting at an apartment in Nashville, TN. A 15-year-old girl dead and a man injured in a shooting near a carnival in Virginia Beach, VA. One dead in a shooting in the Glendale neighborhood of Salt Lake City, UT. One dead in a shooting in downtown Los Angeles, CA. A teenager dead in a shooting in Elkhart, IN. A woman dead in a shooting in Savannah, GA. One dead in a shooting in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle, WA. One dead in a shooting in Santa Fe, NM. One dead in a shooting in downtown Greenville, SC. One dead in a shooting in Durham, NC. A woman killed in a shooting in downtown Milwaukee, WI. A man shot and killed by his own brother in Farmington Hills, MI. Four injured in a shooting in North St. Paul, MN. Two shot in Mobile, AL. Two shot near a hotel in Prospect Heights, IL. One shot in Huntsville, AL. One shot in Harrisburg, PA. One shot in Myrtle Beach, SC. One shot outside a bar in Toledo, OH. One shot at bowling alley in Torrance, CA… about a five-minute drive from my home.
• I stopped about halfway through the list. Try not to shoot and wound and/or kill anyone today, fellow Americans. I know it’s difficult, but I have faith in you.
• And now, The Weather: “The Flowering” by Lightning Bug
• At least 11 people are dead across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas after powerful storms rocked the region. Be safe, peoples.
• And as I’m writing this, the Indianapolis 500 is being delayed due to severe weather.
• From the Sports Desk… rest in peace to two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray, who died by suicide yesterday at age 30.
• He had long battled both alcohol abuse and mental health issues. Murray withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial after the 16th hole of Friday's second round, citing illness.
• Sad. The national suicide and crisis hotline inn the USA is 988.
• In other Sports Desk news, the Celtics took a nearly impossible to overcome 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals, beating the Pacers 114-111.
• Game 3 of the Mavericks/T’Wolves series in the West is tonight. Mavs are up 2-0 at the moment.
• Today in history… Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city (1538). Montana is organized as a United States territory (1864). The Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, TX (1865). The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson ends with his acquittal by one vote (1868). Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (1896). The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles (1927). In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session (1938). In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk (1940). The Beatles' ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is released (1967). Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first crewed moon landing (1969). The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972). The European Community adopts the European flag (1986). United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing (2004). Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupt in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, before becoming widespread across the United States and around the world (2020). 
• May 26 is the birthday of singer/actress/musician Mamie Smith (1883), singer/actor Al Jolson (1886), photographer Dorothea Lange (1895), actor John Wayne (1907), actor Peter Cushing (1913), singer-songwriter Peggy Lee (1920), trumpet player/composer Miles Davis (1926), pathologist Jack Kevorkian (1928), singer-songwriter/drummer/actor Levon Helm (1940), guitarist/songwriter/producer Mick Ronson (1946), singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks (1948), actress Pam Grier (1949), physicist/astronaut Sally Ride (1951), actor Bobcat Goldthwait (1962), singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz (1964), actress Helena Bonham Carter (1966), animator Matt Stone (1971), singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill (1975), singer-songwriter Phil Elvrum (1978), NHL player Jimmy Vesey (1993), and NFL player Micah Parsons (1999).

That’s all for now. Hope you’re having fun this weekend, or something. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 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 May 25, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. It’s also, at least here in the USA, the start of a three-day holiday weekend, which is pretty fucking awesome. I’ve had some interesting things happen and perhaps I’ll mention those later, but for now, the news.

• Following up on a big story we mentioned earlier this week, yesterday Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law the state’s insane new legislation that classifies two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances, like fentanyl and meth.
• The measure — the first of its kind — affects the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used in medication abortions, the most common method of abortion in the country.
• In Louisiana, since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, there’s been a near-total abortion ban making it impossible to get one even in cases of rape or incest. Anyone who provides an abortion deemed illegal there can go to jail for 15 years.
• If you do have the baby, by choice or otherwise, you have to deal with some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the US. Louisiana is also near at the top of in infant mortality rates.
• Just… do not get pregnant in Louisiana, whatever you do.
• The bill was originally positioned as a way to protect pregnant people by making it a crime to intentionally give an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without her consent, and yes, that seems like a reasonable idea.
• Except that’s hardly ever happened, and this was just an excuse to ban the drugs entirely and remove all access to women’s reproductive freedom in the state.
• The new classification requires doctors to have a specific license to prescribe the drugs, and the drugs would have to be stored in certain facilities that in some cases could end up being located far from rural clinics.
• Mifepristone and misoprostol have other common uses, such as treating miscarriages, inducing labor, and stopping hemorrhaging.
• Let’s move on.
• Two Democratic senators are requesting a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts after reports that two separate flags carried by insurrectionists at the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt at the Capitol had flown outside of houses owned by Justice Samuel Alito.
• Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Judiciary panel, wrote Roberts on Thursday asking him for a meeting to discuss Supreme Court ethics.
• Specifically, they want to take steps to ensure that Alito recuses himself from any cases before the court concerning the January 6 attack or on Dump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
• Alito’s wife told a reporter at the time that the inverted American flag flown at the couple’s house in January 2021 was “an international signal of distress.”
• “We request a meeting with you as soon as possible, in your capacity as Chief Justice and as presiding officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States, to discuss additional steps to address the Supreme Court’s ethics crisis,” Durbin and Whitehouse wrote to Roberts in a letter released yesterday.
• Here’s hoping, though I’m not very optimistic anything will happen.
• Moving on to something more pressing.
• When Dumpy falsely claimed in a fundraising email on Wednesday that President Biden was “locked & loaded and ready to take me out,” special counsel Jack Smith moved swiftly.
• Yesterday, Smith asked federal judge Aileen Cannon for an immediate gag order, insisting that Dump’s reckless comments not only could spur violence but also violated his terms of release after his indictment.
• So here’s the deal.
• Smith knows that Cannon, being a Dump loyalist, will deny the gag order. That’s what Smith is counting on, because then he’ll petition the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to have her removed from the case.
• As you know, El Dumpo is charged in that case with taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office, and then obstructing the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials.
• Cannon has blatantly slow-walked the case to protected Dump from a trial before the November election.
• In two previous instances in the case, Cannon has been rebuked by the 11th Circuit, and experts believe this could be strike three.
• Let’s fucking go.
• Moving on.
• Families of the victims of the Uvalde school shooting that happened two years ago yesterday are suing the manufacturer of the gun used in the attack, the maker of a video game, and Instagram parent company Meta.
• It seems like a long shot to me, but the premise is interesting.
• The companies are accused of being responsible for “grooming” a generation of young people who live out violent video game fantasies in the real world, with easily accessible weapons of war.
• The lawsuits contend that Meta’s Instagram and Activision’s Call of Duty game knowingly exposed the killer to the gun he used at Uvalde and conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems.
• The gunman had been playing CoD since he was 15 years old, and simultaneously the subject of aggressive marketing by Daniel Defense, the AR-15 style weapon manufacturer which targeted the teen with ads on Instagram, per the suit.
• They’re not wrong. I just don’t know if the directness of the harm can be legally proven.
• Again, here’s hoping.
• Let’s take a look at South Dakota, the state run by Governor and puppy murderer Kristi Noem. 
• A new state policy there to stop the use of gender pronouns by public university faculty and staff in official correspondence is also keeping Native American employees from listing their tribal affiliations in a state with a long and violent history of conflict with tribes.
• Two University of South Dakota faculty members, Megan Red Shirt-Shaw and her husband, John Little, have long included their gender pronouns and tribal affiliations in their work email signature blocks.
• But both received written warnings from the university that doing so violated a policy adopted in December by the South Dakota Board of Regents, and were told that they would be suspended or immediately terminated if they didn’t comply.
• As of this week, Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is now banned from all nine tribal lands in the state. She is not allowed to set foot in nearly 20 percent of South Dakota.
• Good.
• And now, The Weather: “Empires Never Know” by Jessica Pratt
• The “interesting thing” I referred to up top was that yesterday, for the first time, I made contact with someone in the family of my biological father.
• Nothing big so far, but now at least they do know I exist, and that I share DNA with them because of reasons of… science.
• I’ve traded a couple of messages with a niece and provided my contact info if they want to reach out and learn more about me.
• The whole thing is a trip. I’m fine regardless of whatever transpires next, if anything.
• From the Sports Desk… let’s go back to the NHL’s Stanley Cup conference finals.
• In the East, the new York Rangers and Florida Panthers are tied 1-1. The Western Conference has the Edmonton Oilers with a 1-0 lead over the Dallas Stars, with Game 2 tonight.
• Today in history… The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw (1521). A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners (1738). Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ opens at the Opera Comique in London (1878). Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison (1895). John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching human evolution in Tennessee (1925). The Walt Disney Company cartoon Three Little Pigs premieres at Radio City Music Hall, featuring the hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” (1933). At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test (1953). The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston (1953). U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of the U.S. Congress, his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade (1961). The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is dedicated (1968). Star Wars is released in theaters (1977). The Hands Across America event takes place (1986). Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her 25-year run of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ (2011). Ireland votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment of their constitution that prohibits abortion in all but a few cases (2018).
• May 26 is the birthday of US speaker of the house/SCOTUS justice Philip P. Barbour (1783), poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803), actress Marie Doro (1882), aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky (1889), Burma prime minister U Nu (1907), songwriter Hal David (1921), actor Claude Akins (1926), NBA player Bill Sharman (1926), soprano Beverly Sills (1929), NBA player K. C. Jones (1932), actor Ian McKellen (1939), puppeteer/actor/director Frank Oz (1944), singer-songwriter Klaus Meine (1948), singer-songwriter Paul Weller (1958), politician Amy Klobuchar (1960), actor Mike Myers (1963), actress Anne Heche (1969), and NFL player Brian Urlacher (1978).

That’s enough news and whatnot for now. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 24, 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 May 24, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Today is the 145th day of 2024. I have nothing to add here, so let’s jump into the news.

• Today the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people had sought refuge in dire conditions.
• The top United Nations court cited an "immediate risk" to Palestinians, noting that more than 800,000 people had been forced to flee Rafah since Israeli forces began ground operations in an area that had once been declared a safe zone.
• There’s no way in hell that Israel will comply with the order, which the ICJ has no power to enforce, but the landmark ruling will pile pressure on the increasingly isolated U.S. ally.
• Moving on.
• Steve Kramer, the political consultant who admitted that he was behind a robocall impersonating Joe Biden's voice, has been indicted in New Hampshire and fined $6 million by the Federal Communications Commission.
• In separate announcements yesterday, New Hampshire's attorney general charged Kramer with 26 counts, while the FCC fined him $6 million for "scam calls he set up to defraud voters" in violation of a federal Caller ID law.
• The charges include 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonation of a candidate, based on 13 New Hampshire voters who received the calls.
• The FCC also fined a telecom company allegedly involved in the call an additional $2 million.
• Good. Maybe the next piece of shit who tries this will think twice.
• Let’s move on.
• Last year, a 9-year-old girl and her family were on a flight out of Texas, and a flight attendant taped his phone to the toilet seat to record her in the bathroom. The family sued the airline after the FBI told them that videos of the girl were found on the flight attendant’s phone.
• What was American Airlines’ defense? They said in a court document that it would dispute the family’s claim by showing that any injuries the 9-year-old girl suffered were caused by the girl’s “own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by (her) use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
• So it was the girl’s fault. Right.
• Yesterday, American backed off that position, saying that outside lawyers working for the company “made an error in this filing.”
• “We do not believe this child is at fault, and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously,” the spokesperson said.
• I genuinely hope a jury awards this child ten times what they would have had American not tried to blame her for her own assault.
• There’s a long-standing legal tactic of refocusing blame on the victims of crimes, especially those involving sexual assault. It’s one reason why lawyers are often lumped in among the world’s most scummy people.
• Let’s move on before I get angrier about that.
• The first of several Americans recently charged with possession of ammunition in Turks and Caicos is being sentenced this morning.
• Bryan Hagerich pleaded guilty. In the Turks and Caicos, possession of firearms or ammunition carries a minimum 12-year sentence, though the law allows judges to impose a reduced sentence under “exceptional circumstances,” the local governor said.
• Hagerich is one of five Americans arrested in recent months in the country. Each is accused of bringing various amounts of ammunition to the 40-island chain in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the Bahamas.
• I’ve talked about this before but I’ll say it again: first, why do you people have loose ammo rolling around in your fucking bags? And second, why would you go to a different country and not have any concept of their laws?
• I love America but sometimes Americans are fucking insanely ignorant and thoughtless.
• Moving on.
• Morgan Spurlock, a documentary filmmaker who captured his own psychological and physical symptoms from eating McDonald’s every day for a month in the Oscar-nominated 2004 feature “Super Size Me,” died yesterday in upstate New York due to complications of cancer. He was 53.
• That’s terribly sad. Frankly, I think I’d die within 30 days of eating McDonald’s daily. By the end of the experiment for the film, Spurlock had gained 25 pounds and suffered from depression and liver dysfunction.
• Sigh. I’m suffering from momentary depression at the thought of eating McDonald’s for a month straight. Let’s move on.
• Many of you have kids who are graduating various levels of scholastic institutions this week. At Harvard College, Harvard University’s undergraduate college, hundreds staged a walkout to decry its disqualification of 13 students involved in earlier protests.
• The school’s interim President Alan M. Garber spoke at commencement and was prepared for the action.
• ”As our ceremony proceeds, some among us may choose to take the liberty of expressing themselves to draw attention to events unfolding in the wider world," he said. "It is their right to do so."
• Fair enough.
• Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a strong rebuke of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, saying the court overreached its authority in the landmark decision that banned separating schoolchildren by race.
• Yes, I’m serious. The Black SCOTUS judge attacked one of the most important racial equality decisions in our country’s history. It was part of his concurring opinion that allowed South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that openly discriminates against Black voters.
• It likely won’t be long before Black students won’t be allowed to go to white schools, and Black people won’t be allowed to drink from white water fountains… and forget about interracial marriages. Those will be long gone soon enough.
• Anyone can see the direction in which this country is moving. And you all have the opportunity to do something about it right now.
• Will you do anything?
• At least I can still be proud of my state. Arizona doctors can temporarily come to California to perform abortions for their patients under a new law signed yesterday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
• California’s law is meant to give Arizonans an option to receive legal abortions from their doctor over the next several months. The move was a reaction to a recent Arizona Supreme Court decision to reinstate a law trio 1864 that bans nearly all abortions in Arizona, without exceptions for rape or incest.
• The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 allowed states to set their own abortion laws. More than 20 states have since enforced abortion bans of varying degrees.
• In Arizona, it is still unclear exactly when — or if — the Civil War-era ban will be instituted. But the Democrats who control California’s Legislature didn’t want to take chances.
• “California stands ready to protect reproductive freedom,” Newsom said. Fuck yes we do.
• And now, The Weather: “Genie” by Crumb
• Brought to you by Ancestry dot com, here are the top four names of people who shared DNA to create me.
• Tempy Storm Dupree, Pleasant Meadows, Tree Shor, and (my favorite) Dangereuse de l'Isle Bouchard.
• Fun fact: my name is not Zak Claxton. But my actual name — the one on my birth certificate — is not the name of any of my biological ancestors.
• Fascinating.
• From the Sports Desk… the Celtics beat the Pacers 126-110 in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals, giving Boston a 2-0 lead.
• Game 2 of the WCF between Dallas and Minnesota is tonight.
• Today in history… Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, is founded (1607). Peter Minuit buys Manhattan (1626). South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (1813). Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought” from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, MD, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. (1844). The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction (1883). The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field (1935). Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight (1940). The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland (1956). United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service (1958). Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, MS, for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus (1961). Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel (1991). Four men are convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; each one is sentenced to 240 years in prison (1994). Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party (2019). A mass shooting occurs at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States, resulting in the deaths of 21 people, including 19 children (2022).
• May 24 is the birthday of Roman general Germanicus (15 BC), physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686), UK queen Victoria (1819), SCOTUS Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870), candy maker H. B. Reese (1879), actress Lilli Palmer (1914), politician Jane Byrne (1933), actor Tommy Chong (1938), singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (1941), actor Gary Burghoff (1943), singer-songwriter Patti LaBelle (1944), actress Priscilla Presley (1945), drummer Albert Bouchard (1947), guitarist Waddy Wachtel (1947), singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash (1955), singer-songwriter Larry Blackmon (1956), actress Kristin Scott Thomas (1960), boxer Héctor Camacho (1962), NBA player Joe Dumars (1963), actor John C. Reilly (1965), MLB player Bartolo Colón (1973), and NBA player Tracy McGrady (1979).

That seems like enough for now. Time to go workout. Enjoy your day.