Random News: June 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 June 25, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. These long days at the start of summer kinda weird me out. I go to bed seemingly not long after sunset, and it’s back up well before my 6AM alarm goes off. I miss the night. But for now, let’s forget that and get into the shit-ton of news that’s happening.

• Looks like we’re finally going to get some resolution in regard to the long-running legal prosecution against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
• He’s agreed to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act and is expected to appear in a U.S. courtroom on the Northern Mariana Islands in the coming days, per court info revealed yesterday.
• The guilty plea is supposed to be finalized tomorrow. The Justice Department has recommended a prison sentence of 62 months in custody as part of the plea agreement.
• That’s on the high end for a single-count violation, but Assange will not spend a day in prison or any time in U.S. custody because, under the plea agreement, he'll receive credit for the approximately five years he has spent in a U.K. prison fighting extradition to the U.S. 
• Assange is expected to return to his native Australia after the court hearing. That’s it.
• You may recall that Assange was indicted in 2019 by a federal grand jury with more than a dozen charges that he illegally obtained and disseminated classified information about America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on his WikiLeaks site.
• Prosecutors accused him of recruiting individuals to hack into computers and/or illegally obtain and disclose classified information.
• He’s faced legal troubles for more than a decade, beginning in 2010 when a Swedish prosecutor issued an arrest warrant related to rape and sexual assault allegations by two women.
• And WikiLeaks was a key player in the 2016 presidential election, publishing thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee that had been stolen by Russian government hackers.
• It could be said that one of the main ways Dumples the Clown got elected in 2016 was with the help of Assange. I’m a free speech and transparency proponent, but he’s really no hero of mine.
• Let’s move on.
• Less than a week left in June, and Pride Month is winding to a close, so for today’s Gay of the Day I have a special entry: activist Jeanne Manford, founder of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).
• PFLAG is the United States' largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.
• In April 1972, Manford and her husband were at home when they learned from a hospital's telephone call that her son Morty, a gay activist, had been badly beaten while distributing flyers at a political gathering in New York City.
• She wrote a letter of protest to the New York Post that identified herself as the mother of a gay protester and complained of police inaction.
• The letter had the famous phrase, “I have a homosexual son and I love him.”
• On June 25 of that year, 52 years ago today, she participated with her son in the New York Pride March, carrying a hand-lettered sign that read "Parents of Gays Unite in Support for Our Children.” At the time, homosexuality was still considered a mental illness and sodomy a crime.
• The first meeting of “Parents of Gays,” as it was known, had 20 people in attendance. Today, PFLAG has nearly 400 chapters across the United States, with more than 350,000 members and supporters.
• Manford was named grand marshal of the New York City's Pride March in 1991, as well as for the first Queens, NY pride celebration in 1993. 
• She died on January 8, 2013, aged 92. A collection of her papers is archived at the New York Public Library.
• Jeanne Manford was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal — the second highest civilian award given by the United States — by President Obama in 2013, honoring her for her work in co-founding PFLAG and ongoing years of LGBT advocacy.
• Moving on.
• Today, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis and called on the nation to address it with the same vigor used to reduce deaths and injuries from tobacco and motor vehicle crashes.
• Good.
• The surgeon general’s advisory marked the first time the nation’s leading voice on public health — the same office that in the 1960s highlighted the lethal consequences of cigarette smoking — had issued an urgent pronouncement on deaths related to firearms.
• Deaths caused by guns rose to a three-decade high in 2021, driven by increases in homicides and suicides. In 2022, more than half of all gun deaths were from suicide, while 40 percent of firearms deaths were homicides.
• I actually wasn’t expecting this, but it’s super smart if you think about it.
• It’s been very difficult to slow down the widespread and frequent instances of gun violence through laws and policing. But treating it via public health measures might be way more effective.
• Key statistic: in a study of 29 countries, 90% of children under the age of 14 who are injured or killed via firearms live in the USA.
• If you don’t give a shit about American kids dying, nothing I say will help you change.
• Let’s move on. 
• You know who’s killing babies? The state of Texas and their abortion ban.
• Since the state’s ban went into effect, Texas's infant death rate increased and more died of birth defects.
• The analysis out of Johns Hopkins University is the latest research to find higher infant mortality rates in states with abortion restrictions.
• The researchers calculated that there were 216 more deaths in Texas than expected between March and December the next year.
• In Texas, the 2022 mortality rate for infants went up 8% to 5.75 per 1,000 births, compared to a 2% increase in the rest of the U.S.. Birth defects showed a massive 23% increase, compared to a decrease of about 3% in the rest of the U.S.
• How did the abortion ban have this impact? The Texas law blocks abortions after the detection of cardiac activity, usually five or six weeks into pregnancy, well before tests are done to detect fetal abnormalities.
• Way to be baby killers, Texas (slow clap).
• Over in Arizona, they’re making their game plan clear for women seeking reproductive rights.
• Jeff Durbin, an ally of Donnie Dump, is the leader of the Republican opposition to the Arizona abortion measure which is currently on the ballot this November to codify the right to an abortion into Arizona's state law.
• In a video clip, Durbin states that, "If you take the life of a human being unjustly, then what the state owes you is capital punishment. You forfeit your right to live."
• Durbin made this claim in relation to anyone who receives an abortion, comparing abortion to murder, and calling for capital punishment for those who get or help someone get an abortion.
• So to be clear: they will hunt you down and kill you if they can’t force you to deliver children. Vote accordingly this fall, Arizonans. It doesn’t have to be that way.
• Let’s move on with some excellent news.
• Conspiracy theorist and textbook asshole Alex Jones’ Infowars media empire will be shut down and sold off, per a bankruptcy court in an emergency court filing.
• As reported here, earlier this month, a bankruptcy judge ruled that Jones’ personal assets would be liquidated to help pay off the nearly $1.5 billion he owes the families of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre.
• But at that time, the judge ruled Jones’ media company Free Speech Systems, the parent of Infowars, would not be liquidated partly because the process would be costly and lengthy.
• Tough shit.
• There are still many details to wrap up regarding the Sandy Hook families in two cases in Texas and Connecticut.
• Moving on, for now.
• In international news, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for compulsory service.
• It’s a landmark decision that could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel continues to wage war in Gaza.
• The historic ruling ends a decades-old system that granted ultra-Orthodox men broad exemptions from military service while maintaining mandatory enlistment for the country’s secular Jewish majority.
• That seems pretty discriminatory to me, at least by US standards.
• However, the ultra-Orthodox parties are politically powerful in Israel, and they’ve been key partners in Netanyahu’s governing coalition. They strongly oppose this change, and may bolt the coalition, causing the government to collapse and likely leading to new elections at a time when its popularity has dropped.
• I would not be upset should Bibi be kicked to the curb.
• Let’s move on.
• I try not to mention horrifying shit here unless there’s something to be learned.
• Thirty-eight-year-old Arntanaro Nelson lost his keys on the Banshee roller coaster at the Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio over the weekend.
• Instead of asking an employee for help, he hopped two fences and went into a restricted area to try and get them back. What he got was plowed by the coaster, which hit him at 70 mph.
• And now he’s dead.
• I am a person who is often guilty for trying to do everything myself and never asking for help. But it’s really not always the best idea, and there have been times when things got worse rather than better as a result.
• Side note: I loved Kings Island when I was little and would visit my grandparents in Cincinnati over the summer.
• In other news…
• Something that happened over the weekend made me sort of throw up in my mouth a little, so I thought I’d pass along the good feelings to you.
• At one of his rallies on Saturday, Donnie Dump had this fascinating statement…
• “Together, we stood up to the communists, Marxists and fascists to defend religious liberty like no other president has ever done. And I have the wounds all over my body. If I took this shirt off you’d see a beautiful, beautiful person but you’d see wounds all over me. I’ve taken a lot of wounds, I can tell you. More than, I suspect, any president ever.”
• Okay, so first of all, Don, never take off your shirt. Certainly not where I can see you. I don’t need to see that. Neither does anyone else.
• As to your having more wounds than any other president ever, Lincoln and Kennedy were both shot in the fucking head.
• Garfield was shot in the shoulder and back, eventually dying weeks later. McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen at close range and also died.
• Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest and did a speech after. Reagan was moments from death after being seriously wounded by a bullet that hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding.
• Donald Trump would burst into tears if he ever had a splinter. Please spare us this bullshit about your imaginary wounds considering how many real Presidents suffered real wounds.
• And now, The Weather: “Orange-coloured day” by liana flores
• Let’s do a chart. This is the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts for late June 1970. I have recently turned one year old. I believe my family is, at this moment, living in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn, OH.
• 1. The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue (The Beatles). 2. The Love You Save/I Found That Girl (Jackson 5). 3. Which Way You Goin' Billy? (The Poppy Family (Featuring Susan Jacks)). 4. Get Ready (Rare Earth). 5. Mama Told Me (Not To Come) (Three Dog Night). 6. Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today) (The Temptations). 7. Love On A Two-Way Street (The Moments). 8. The Letter (Joe Cocker with Leon Russell & The Shelter People). 9. Hitchin' A Ride (Vanity Fare). 10. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) (Melanie With The Edwin Hawkins Singers). 11. Ride Captain Ride (Blues Image). 12. Everything Is Beautiful (Ray Stevens). 13. Up Around The Bend/Run Through The Jungle (Creedence Clearwater Revival). 14. My Baby Loves Lovin' (White Plains). 15. The Wonder Of You/Mama Liked The Roses (Elvis Presley). 16. Make Me Smile (Chicago). 17. Band Of Gold (Freda Payne). 18. United We Stand (The Brotherhood Of Man). 19. American Woman/No Sugar Tonight (The Guess Who). 20. Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel).
• From the Sports Desk… congrats to the Florida Panthers, winners of the 2023/24 NHL championship. They beat the resilient Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in a historic Game 7 last night.
• The Oilers had fought back from a 3-0 deficit to become one of just three teams to do so in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.
• However, the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player in the postseason, went to the most well-deserving player, and he wasn’t on the winning team.
• Connor McDavid of the Oilers is only the sixth player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe from a team that lost in the Stanley Cup Final. He's only the second skater (non-goaltender) in history to win the MVP from a losing team, the other being Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976. 
• Today in history… Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua (1678). Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution (1788). The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for "immoral purposes"; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come (1910). Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer (1910). Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis (1943). Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is published (1947). The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea (1950). The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade (1978). The breakup of Yugoslavia begins when Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence from Yugoslavia (1991). 
• June 25 is the birthday of cartoonist Rose O’Neill (1874), novelist George Orwell (1903), director Sidney Lumet (1924), actress June Lockhart (1925), illustrator Peyo (1928), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1943), actor Jimmie Walker (1947), singer-songwriter Tim Finn (1952), keyboardist/composer David Paich (1954), SCOTUS justice Sonia Sotomayor (1954), chef/author Anthony Bourdain (1956), actor/comedian Ricky Gervais (1961), singer-songwriter George Michael (1963), NBA player Dell Curry (1964), singer-songwriter John McCrea (1964), NBA player Dikembe Mutombo (1966), and actress Angela Kinsey (1971).

That’s way more than enough news for a day. I was pretty productive yesterday and I’d like to carry that forward today without going nuts. That’s the balance I try to achieve daily, sometimes more successfully than others. Enjoy your day.