Random News: May 1, 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 1, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. So many things to discuss on this fine Wednesday morning, so let’s just jump in.

• Rabbit rabbit rabbit.
• Disclaimer: nothing bad will happen if I don’t say those three words at the start of a new month, nor will anything good happen as a result of saying it.
• Some things are just fun to do.
• Let’s do the news.
• It was an evening of conflict at college campuses on opposite coasts.
• Dueling groups of protesters clashed last night at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking, and using sticks to beat one another.
• After hours of scuffles between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators at UCLA, police wearing helmets and face shields formed lines and slowly separated the groups. That quelled the violence, and the scene was calm as day broke this morning.
• Hours earlier, police burst into a building at Columbia University that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school while inspiring others.
• And very early this morning at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, SWAT officers descended on the campus with guns drawn, surrounding an encampment of protestors. Multiple law enforcement agencies began clearing the encampment around 4AM.
• Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza have spread across the country in a student movement unlike any other in the 21st century, reaching from New York to Texas and California.
• How do I feel? Welllll…
• I mean, I obviously support the right for peaceful protest. I’ve been personally involved in protests for causes in which I believe.
• And a lot of people are making comparisons between this series of pro-Palestine actions and the anti-war demonstrations the late ‘60s regarding Vietnam.
• But the USA was a direct participant in the Vietnam conflict, which makes it a bit different than the current Israel-Hamas war.
• And the protestors in the ‘60s never demanded to have their occupation catered. Kids are just different now. That’s fine. I get it.
• And finally, as has happened in many protest movements, there are a bunch of people involved who are not students but rather full-time agitators, anarchists, nihilists, and the like who just want to tear the whole system down.
• As I know from personal experience, protest movements can be very compelling, especially for young people who perhaps previously never felt they had a chance to make a real difference.
• And as cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas are appearing to gain steam, it’s still not clear whether those talks would inspire an easing of campus protests.
• Anyway, it’s an interesting time to be alive.
• Let’s move on.
• As long as we’re talking about “power to the people” topics, I should mention May Day, which is today.
• The original May Day holiday is a European festival of ancient pagan origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on May 1, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.
• But I’m referring to International Workers' Day, often also referred to as May Day. It celebrates laborers and the working classes… basically, anyone who actually works for a living, as do most of us.
• Not-Fun Fact: the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan are the only countries that don’t have a public holiday on May 1, but all of the above have some kind of Labor Day later in the year.
• Moving on.
• In a historic shift, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
• The DEA’s proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.
• But once OMB signs off, the DEA will move marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD, to Schedule III, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids.
• The move comes after President Joe Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law in October 2022 and moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug. He has also called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase marijuana convictions.
• As I’ve noted many times, cannabis is currently fully legal for recreational use in nearly half of US states, and is legal for medicinal use in another 20 states, leaving only six states where it’s outright illegal in all circumstances.
• Removing this discrepancy between the federal law and state laws will make it much easier for marijuana to be distributed and taxed in a manner similar to alcohol sales have been since the end of prohibition in 1933.
• Let’s move to another topic.
• Donnie Dump gave a new interview where he was asked about abortion.
• He states that states with restrictive abortion bans might monitor women’s pregnancies and should be left to decide whether to prosecute women for having the procedure.
• How will the state “monitor” your (or your wife’s) pregnancy?
• When asked whether he would be comfortable with “states prosecuting women for having abortions beyond the point the laws permit,” Dump told Time Magazine, “It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.”
• Dump actually got three opportunities to say that he’d veto a federal abortion ban, and he refused to give an outright answer.
• So a big batch of refusing responsibility, as usual. He would not confirm that he won’t enact a national ban on abortion that would impact every person in every state in the country, however.
• In other news…
• This morning, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) triggered her motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the top leader of the House, announcing she wants an imminent floor vote on the speaker’s future.
• What an embarrassment she is to… literally everyone, but primarily to her Republican party.
• House Democratic leadership has pledged to rescue Johnson from this idiot’s “motion to vacate” by attempting to kill the measure before it can gain any traction.
• Republicans hold only a two-vote House majority, and anything could happen in the volatile chamber where support from GOP hard-liners is always in question.
• I promise, there will come a time when you look back and laugh that someone these people were ever worthy of a headline news story.
• Speaking headlines, here’s one that brought me happiness this morning: “Democrats Massively Overperform In Special Election Triumph.”
• Timothy Kennedy, a Democratic New York state senator, has won the special election for the Congressional seat vacated by the retired Democrat Brian Higgins. He easily defeated his Republican opponent for New York's 26th district seat, which includes Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
• Kennedy won by more than 36 percentage points. The Cook Political Report had expected Kennedy to win the seat by nine percentage points.
• The Blue Wave is coming, folks. All you have to do is vote.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court allowed Texas to enforce age-verification requirements for porn sites, rejecting a request from the adult entertainment industry to block the law on First Amendment grounds.
• If that’s what a state wants, sure, I agree they should be allowed to do that. The state isn’t taking away a First Amendment right; they’re not doing anything differently than if a kid got his ID checked for trying to buy a titty magazine at a gross little store in a mini-mall.
• And now there’s gonna be a big business of hacking porn site databanks and getting the photo ID information of Texans, and then blackmailing them to not release the info to their spouses and co-workers in regard to what kind of porn they watch.
• The Supreme Court offered no explanation for its decision, common for decisions on its emergency docket. There were no noted dissents.
• Let’s keep moving on. Lordy, so mujch going on.
• I’m mostly sad to say that my state, California, has reversed a three-year population decline.
• A rebound in legal immigration and drop in COVID-19 deaths fueled the increase of 67,000 in 2023. California still lost more residents to other states than it gained from them — as has been the case for two decades — but the number of people leaving for other parts of the country fell to pre-pandemic levels.
• Obviously, the good news is that we don’t lose any more House seats based on our slowly declining population.
• The bad news is that we already have almost 40,000,000 people living in this state. My county — Los Angeles County — is the most populous in the USA.
• With our population of just under 10,000,000, more people live in LA County than in 40 states. Trust me, I’d be fine with some of them moving away.
• But both Los Angeles and San Francisco grew last year, in a reversal of fortunes which suggests that a return to hybrid or in-person work is attracting some employees back to major cities.
• Here’s something else I’d wanted to talk about.
• There’s been a little fun discussion flowing around social media about whether it would be worse for a woman to unexpectedly run into a bear while in the remote woods versus running into a strange man.
• It would seem obvious that the bear is a far scarier situation.
• But that’s not what the facts say. From 2020 until now, eight women have been killed by bears.
• However, in the year 2020 alone, about 80,000 women were killed by men… 47,000 of which were family members.
• Is that some kind of false equivalency? Perhaps. Are “not all men” evil murderers? Of course. But any way you look at it, women are always, in every possible circumstance, in more danger of being killed by men than by bears.
• “But I would never!” says a man, and I believe you. I wouldn’t either. But how is a woman supposed to look at you as you emerge between a dense stand of trees and immediately discern that you’re not one of the rapey-killey kind of guys?
• Little relevant side note: over 90% of homicides are committed by men, as opposed to women. Now tell me how bears are scarier than men. I’ll listen.
• And now, The Weather: “Slow Learning, Long Yearning” by Vilde
• From the Sports Desk… let’s see where we’re at the first round of the NBA playoffs.
• Eastern Conference: Celtics lead the Heat 3-1, Knicks lead the 76ers 3-2, Pacers lead the Bucks 3-2, and Cavs lead the Magic 3-2.
• Western Conference: Thunder sweep Pelicans 4-0, Nuggets beat the Lakers 4-0, Timberwolves sweep the Suns 4-0, and Mavs and Clippers tied at 2-2.
• Today in history… Wars of Scottish Independence end: England recognizes Scotland as an independent state (1328). Christopher Columbus presents his plans discovering a western route to the Indies to the Spanish Queen Isabella I of Castile (1486). The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect (1707). The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire (1807). The Memphis Race Riots begin (1866). Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries (1886). "Pluto" is officially proposed for the name of the newly discovered dwarf planet Pluto. (1930). The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public (1956). Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis (1960). Amtrak — the National Railroad Passenger Corporation — takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service (1971). In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended” (2003). Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden (2009).
• May 1 is the birthday of physician/activist Emily Stowe (1831), frontierswoman Calamity Jane (1852), singer Kate Smith (1907), comedian/TV host Jack Paar (1918), novelist Joseph Heller (1923), novelist Terry Southern (1924), NFL player Chuck Bednarik (1925), singer-songwriter Judy Collins (1939), singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge (1945), actress Joanna Lumley (1946), songwriter/producer Glen Ballard (1953), singer-songwriter/guitariist Ray Parker Jr. (1954), bass player D'arcy Wretzky (1968), director/film producer Wes Anderson (1969), NFL player Wes Welker (1981), and MLB player Marcus Stroman (1991).

I know that was a lot, but it’s just one of those times where it’s had to pick and choose what’s important. It’s probably all important in some way to some people. Enjoy your day.