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.
Good morning. It’s June 2, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. It’s fully overcast and melancholy, just the way I like it. I’m in a blue bathrobe and have a cup of Peet’s, so it’s prime time to see what’s going on in the world.
- There’s some possible good news on the Israel-Hamas front, though it’s impossible to know for sure in a fluid situation that seems to change by the minute.
- An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to the framework for President Joe Biden’s plan to bring an end to the war in Gaza, though he said it was “not a good deal.”
- Biden had announced Friday that Israel had proposed a three-part plan that would ultimately lead to a complete cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, as well as the release of all hostages who have been held there for the last eight months. It’s “time for this war to end,” Biden said.
- But a deal is yet to be finalized, and Netanyahu appeared to undermine the plan, releasing a statement yesterday that called a permanent cease-fire in Gaza a “nonstarter” until long-standing conditions for ending the war are met.
- So we’ll see.
- A huge demonstration in Israel last night, led by families of hostages held by Hamas, urged the government to act now.
- Moving on.
- Continuing our recognition of Pride Month, our Gay of the Day for June 2 is artist Keith Haring.
- I can’t think of many thing that are more ‘80s than Haring’s graffiti-inspired pop art.
- And in fact, Haring’s popularity grew from his spontaneous drawings in New York City subways, like chalk outlines of human figures, dogs, and other stylized images.
- Much of his work includes sexual allusions that turned into social activism by using the images to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness.
- He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, many of them created voluntarily for hospitals, day care centers, and schools.
- On February 16, 1990, Haring died of AIDS-related complications at his apartment in Greenwich Village.
- His art, though, lives on vibrantly as ever.
- Now, more news.
- A new Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted immediately following Dump's criminal conviction in New York found a significant number of Republicans say they are less likely to vote for him in November.
- And, surprisingly, I found out about it via Fox News.
- One in 10 registered GOP voters said Trump's felony conviction for falsifying business records would make them less likely to support him for president.
- That’s more than I expected. I was thinking maybe 3-5%, not 10%.
- Unsurprisingly, the poll also found that 56% of Republican voters said the outcome of the case would have no effect on their vote, and 35% said they were even more likely to support Trump.
- But as tight as the Biden-Trump race is going, a few percentage points of support make a huge difference.
- Moving on.
- Today is Sunday Gunday, where we take a short look at just some of the incidents of gun violence that happened in the USA, just over the past couple of days.
- Two dead and seven injured after a shooting in a bar in Penn Hills, PA. Two dead and two injured after a shooting at a neighborhood block party in Rock Hill, SC. Two dead and one injured after a shooting in Grand Rapids, MI. Two dead and one injured after a shooting in the Winton Hills area of Cincinnati, OH. Two brothers shot dead near the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA. One dead and 26 injured — some critically — in a shooting at a street party in Akron, OH. One dead and three injured after a shooting in northeast Columbus, OH. One dead and two wounded after being shot through a window in a suburban home in Joliet, IL. One dead and two injured in a shooting in downtown Los Angeles, CA. One dead and one critically injured in two shootings in Birmingham, AL. One shot dead in downtown Anchorage, AK. One shot dead at a gas staton in West Little River, FL. One shot dead in Minneapolis, MN. One shot dead in Springfield, MA. One shot dead in Syracuse, NY. One woman dead in a shooting in West Miami, FL. One woman dead in a shooting the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, MA. A juvenile dead in a shooting in Northeast Washington, D.C. Four people injured in two shootings in Des Moines, IA. Two injured — one critically — in shooting in Colorado Springs, CO. Two injured in shooting in northwest Roanoke, VA. One in critical condition after a shooting in Toledo, OH. One shot in the Parkway Village area of Memphis, TN. One shot at a carnival in Shelbyville, TN. One shot at a shopping area in Ogden, UT. One shot at a bar in East Nashville, TN. One shot in Savannah, GA.
- Holy fuck, Ohio. I will not be visiting the state of my birth any time soon.
- Reminder: these are just SOME of the shootings. I can’t spend all day listing them. If you don’t like it, you could do something about it.
- There’s an election in November, you know.
- Moving on.
- A Boston-area fifth grade teacher who held a mock slave auction and used the N-word for no reason during instruction has been placed on paid leave.
- The teacher at Margaret A. Neary Elementary School in Southborough, MA made examples of two Black children at the front of the room, discussing attributes such as teeth and strength.
- Not acceptable. Not to teach a lesson, not to prove a point. Inflicting new trauma in teaching about old trauma isn’t necessary. And at the elementary school level, it can even trivialize the horrors of slavery.
- Fire that fucker.
- In other news…
- I’ll be keeping an eye on returns from today’s presidential election in Mexico, where one of two women — Claudia Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City, or Xóchitl Gálvez, an opposition senator and tech entrepreneur — will become the country’s first female president.
- In our southern neighbor country, violence tops the list of issues that matters most to voters, with cartels and other criminal groups using local elections as an opportunity to make power grabs.
- Polls close at 5:00PM EST, with preliminary results expected several hours later. Sheinbaum was leading handily in all recent polls.
- And now, The Weather: “Another Season” by Frances Quinlan
- From the Sports Desk… the Florida Panthers are heading to the Stanley Cup finals after beating the Boston Bruins four games to two in a series that included three overtime victories. It’s Florida’s second straight year heading to the Finals (they lost in 2023 to Vegas 4-1).
- They’ll face the winner of the Western Conference, which the Edmonton Oilers are ahead of the Dallas Stars three games to two. Their Game 6 is tonight.
- Today in history… Vandals enter Rome and plunder the city for two weeks (455). Virginia gets new charter, extending borders from "sea to sea” (1608). Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort (1763). The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided (1774). P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States (1835). Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph (1896). Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities (1919). U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States (1924). In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic, after which King Umberto II of Italy is exiled (1946). The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey (1953). During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history (1962). Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world (1966). Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died (1997). Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution (2012).
- June 2 is the birthday of U.S first lady Martha Washington (1731), philosopher/politician Marquis de Sade (1740), novelist/poet Thomas Hardy (1840), composer Edward Elgar (1857), swimmer/actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904), businessman Tex Schramm (1920), writer/architect Norton Juster (1929), actress Sally Kellerman (1937), actor Stacy Keach (1941), drummer Charlie Watts (1941), composer Marvin Hamlisch (1944), actor Jerry Mathers (1948), NHL player/coach Larry Robinson (1951), NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (1952), philosopher Cornel West (1953), actor Dana Carvey (1955), race car driver Kyle Petty (1960), activist Candace Gingrich (1966), TV host Andy Cohen (1968), actor Wayne Brady (1972), NBA player Earl Boykins (1976), actor Zachary Quinto (1977), drummer Fabrizio Moretti (1980), soccer player Abby Wambach (1980), and actress/rapper Awkwafina (1988).
That seems like plenty for now. I’m gonna shower and dress and do things. Enjoy your day.
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