Random News: June 15, 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 June 15, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. I’m enjoying a quiet morning with no immediate need to do much of anything at the very moment. That will come later. For now, ensconced in my blue bathrobe and drinking a cup of Peet’s (Las Hermanas blend, very delicious), I shall attempt to make sense of the world. Wish me luck at that.

• Yesterday, a federal judge ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ personal assets, clearing the way for long-overdue payouts to families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting.
• However, Judge Christopher Lopez ruled against a liquidation of Jones’ company Free Speech Systems, which owns the Infowars brand.
• Too bad. But at least this horrible human being will finally begin to feel some pain after the pain he’s caused so many others.
• I mean, think about this. Your child was murdered in a senseless act of violence, and then some guy not only claims you are lying but then riles people up so much that they are doing things like digging up your child’s grave?
• No amount of money would be payback for that. I have tons of admiration for the Sandy Hook families because I know myself. There’s no way I’d be able to stop myself from enacting revenge directly upon Jones.
• No way in hell, no matter the consequences.
• Relatives of Jones’ victims have won a total of $1.5 billion in defamation judgements against him and his company over his false statements about the attack.
• The liquidation as it stands now will force the sale of Jones's assets, which include a multimillion-dollar ranch, other properties, cars, boats, and guns. Jones currently has around $8.6 million in personal assets.
• However, his Free Speech Systems and Infowars will continue to operate. Most of the company’s income is from selling dietary supplements and other items.
• But the decision does not remove Free Speech Systems’ liability, and the plaintiffs in the defamation cases will be able to pursue the damages they are owed in state courts or through further bankruptcy hearings.
• Let’s move on.
• Today’s Gay of the Day, in celebration of Pride Month, is Lil Nas X.
• Something that is often misunderstood: the LGBTQIA realm encompasses people of every age, gender, nationality, religion, ethnicity, and race.
• Born as Montero Lamar Hill, Lil Nas X is a rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence in 2019 with the release of the genre-crossing country rap single "Old Town Road.” 
• At 19 weeks at the #1 spot, the song became the longest-running number-one song since the U.S. Billboard Hot 100's inception in 1958.
• And simultaneously with his huge hit, Lil Nas X came out as gay, the only artist to do so while having a number-one record.
• He’s received numerous accolades, including two Grammy Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, two BET Hip Hop Awards, two iHeartRadio Music Awards, and two American Music Awards.
• His success caused him to become the first person of color and the first openly gay performer to be listed by Forbes in its annual Highest-Paid Country Acts list.
• Which — if you think about it — is all the more amazing, considering the prevailing attitude among both the country and hip-hop music communities is non-acceptance of gays.
• I have one other related story about Pride.
• Two weeks ago on June 1, Col. Edward Thomas Ryan died at age 85. The military veteran had also served as a decorated firefighter. A tough guy who spent his life serving the public.
• He wrote something for his own obituary that read as follows…
• "I must tell you one more thing. I was Gay all my life: thru grade school, thru High School, thru College, thru Life. I'm sorry for not having the courage to come out as Gay. I was afraid of being ostracized: by Family, Friends, and Co-Workers. Seeing how people like me were treated, I just could not do it. Now that my secret is known, I'll forever Rest in Peace."
• All I can say in response to that is to have you ask yourself: is that how you’d want to live your life? Waiting until you were literally dead before being your true self?
• While I understand Col. Ryan’s honest sentiments, it’s heartbreaking to consider. It’s also one reason why Pride is so important.
• If, through my tiny efforts here covering Pride Month, I can make one LGBTQIA person feel better about being who they are, it’s been worth every damn minute I’ve spent researching, and every word written.
• Moving on.
• The next set of Supreme Court decisions for the current term will be heading our way on Thursday June 20. There are still well over a dozen cases with pending decisions.
• Some of them may change the world, and maybe you should be aware of them. Let’s start with the big ones.
• Trump v. United States: prosecuting Dumpy for trying to block the 2020 election results.
• The oral arguments were held April 25. The question is whether Dump is immune from prosecution for his alleged efforts to stay in power by overturning Joe Biden’s election victory.
• Dump says that presidents cannot be criminally charged for acts they undertook while in the White House, whether those actions were part of the presidential duties or not. This will obviously have a massive impact on his multiple felony trials still to come.
• Fischer v. United States: charging January 6 insurrectionists and Dump with obstruction.
• The case asks whether prosecutors properly charged hundreds of Jan. 6 assholes and their leader Dump using a law that makes it a crime to obstruct or impede an official proceeding — in this case, the disruption of Congress’s certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
• I mean, how could this not be obstruction? But this far-right SCOTUS will likely vote in favor of Dump and his minions.
• United States v. Rahimi: allowing domestic abusers to own guns.
• Yep, just like it sounds. People who beat the shit out of their spouses and family members want to have the right to have guns so they can kill them more easily. 
• The SCOTUS will be determining if this is a violation of the Second Amendment. Such a decision would be among the first to show the limits of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, the court’s historic 2022 decision expanding the rights of gun owners.
• Idaho v. United States: emergency room abortions.
• This case asks whether a federal law requiring emergency room care for life-threatening cases means ER doctors in states with strict abortion bans can allow women to die rather than perform a live-saving abortion.
• The Medicare law is called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, aka EMTALA. As sickening as it seems, this far-right court — the same court that overturned Roe v. Wade almost exactly two years ago today — will likely say that hospitals should let the women die.
• This is why we vote, kids.
• NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, LLC: limits on social media posts.
• The case is in regard to whether the First Amendment allows states to restrict social media companies from removing certain political posts or accounts.
• Tough to say how this will go. What it’s really all about is whether the far-right is allowed to spread misinformation unchecked. Both Texas and Florida laws passed laws in 2021 saying that posts with misinformation could not be pulled down by entities like Facebook and YouTube.
• City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson: homeless encampments in public spaces.
• The case asks whether state and local officials can punish homeless individuals for camping and sleeping in public spaces when shelter beds are unavailable.
• I’ll just ask you: where the fuck else are they supposed to go? I’m sorry if seeing homeless encampments bothers you. They bother me too, but not for the reasons that others might have.
• I’m bothered that we live in a supposedly wealthy nation and we still let people who are down on their luck sleep on a fucking street. And before you get all high and mighty about it, a huge percentage of you are about two paychecks away from being homeless as well.
• There are many more, but that’s plenty for now. I’ll be reporting as these decisions come down next week.
• Moving on.
• On June 27, we have something to definitely not look forward to: the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle.
• Ugh god no.
• The debate will be hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta, pitting Biden and Dump. Both candidates have accepted the network’s invitation and agreed to accept the rules and format of the debate.
• Here are the basic rules.
• The podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.
• Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.
• No props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, but both of the elderly men will be given a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water.
• Don is not allowed to try and fuck the bottle of water. Sorry, I made that one up.
• There will be no audience present.
• The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time.
• Sigh. I mean, I know I’m going to watch, in the same way that I’d watch a train hurtling toward a gap in a bridge.
• Moving on.
• Here’s a question for those of you heading out on planes for summer vacations: can you bring your weed?
• Sort of maybe but yes but kinda no is the official answer.
• TSA does have some guidelines on what cannabis products you can have in your checked bag or carry-on: those with no more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis, and those approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
• But only four drugs meet that definition: Epidiolex, a cannabidiol (aka CBD) and three synthetic cannabis-related drug products: Marinol, Syndros, and Cesamet.
• Those don’t sound like weed to me. What about big fat doobies?
• The TSA says, “If during the security screening process, an item is identified as a potential security threat, additional screening will occur. If during that follow-up screening a TSA officer discovers anything that violates local, state or federal law, TSA refers the matter to the appropriate law enforcement agency. TSA remains focused on carrying out our transportation security priorities.”
• So… I mean, what if I’m flying from California (a state with legalized recreational weed) to Illinois (another such state)?
• Some airports, like O’Hare in Chicago, have amnesty boxes that allow travelers to abandon their weed before security. But Los Angeles International warns passengers that while its airport police division has no jurisdiction to arrest individuals if they are complying with California’s marijuana law, TSA screening stations are under federal jurisdiction.
• Meaning they can arrest you… I think.
• Look, until they clarify this shit at a federal level, there’s no way to know for sure. My rule of thumb — which I maintained long before any of this was legal in any way — is if I was flying to someplace like Texas where they might shoot me for having weed, I… don’t.
• So maybe just get your weed when you arrive, if you want to be safe and enjoy your vacation and not spend it in jail.
• And now, The Weather: “Across The Sky” by Idaho
• From the Sports Desk… I was pretty sure that the Boston Celtics were going to win the NBA championship last night. I was wrong.
• The Mavericks blew them out 122-84 in game 4, clinging to a 3-1 tally in the Finals. It was one of the biggest blowouts in title-round history.
• Luka Doncic scored 25 of his 29 points in the first half, Kyrie Irving added 21 and the Mavericks stayed alive.
• Game 5 is in Boston on Monday.
• Today in history… Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history (763 BC). King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta (1215). Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1648). The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys (1667). Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (1752). New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document (1804). Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber (1844). Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres of the Arlington estate formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee are officially set aside as a military cemetery (1864). Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs, and the study becomes the basis of motion pictures (1878). Bessie Coleman earns her pilot's license, becoming the first female pilot of African-American descent (1921). In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, killing over 800 people (1991). Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders (1970). Microsoft retires Internet Explorer after 26 years in favor of its new browser, Microsoft Edge (2022).
• June 15 is the birthday of Mona Lisa model Lisa del Giocondo (1479), chocolatier Charles-Amédée Kohler (1790), composer Edvard Grieg (1843), psychologist Erik Erikson (1902), Russian politician Yuri Andropov (1914), pianist/composer Erroll Garner (1921), politician Mario Cuomo (1932), singer-songwriter/guitarist Waylon Jennings (1937), singer/actor Johnny Hallyday (1943), singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (1941), NFL coach Mike Holmgren (1948), MLB player/manager Dusty Baker (1949), singer-songwriter Steve Walsh (1951), actor Jim Belushi (1954), actress Courteney Cox (1964), rapper/actor Ice Cube (1969), actress Leah Remini (1970), actor Neil Patrick Harris (1973), MLB player Tim Lincecum (1984), and NFL player Cooper Kupp (1993).

That’s plenty of stuff. I’m going to get out of this robe and into a shower, and then into clothing. And then I’ll do a bunch of shit that needs doing. Enjoy your day.