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.