Random News: June 4, 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 4, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. I awoke to an attack of ants in my kitchen, fortunately limited to the cat food, so before I’d even had a cup of coffee, I had to go into mass murder mode. It’s not the best way to start the day, but life happens and we deal with it accordingly. Let’s do some news.

• Actually, let’s open with a Fun Fact.
• It was 105 years ago today that women, after decades of organizing and protest, were granted the right to vote in the United States.
• And it’s women, this fall, who will use that vote to help save not only their reproductive rights but the future of democracy.
• Now the news.
• President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today allowing him to temporarily seal the U.S. border with Mexico to migrants when crossings surge.
• This will definitely get challenged in court. It’s the single most restrictive border policy instituted by any modern Democrat.
• The order would allow border officials to turn away migrants who claim asylum once border crossings exceed a certain threshold. White House officials have discussed setting the cutoff at 2,500 crossings per day.
• In that case, the border would immediately be closed because roughly 3,500 migrants are currently apprehended each day.
• Keep in mind, Biden pushed Congress earlier this year to enact a similar policy into law, but Republicans thwarted the bill.
• However, it being an election year with illegal migration being a high-level concern of voters, Biden is using his executive authority.
• Immigration policy as a whole has tilted far to the right, and I don’t know if there’s anything I can say that would change that prevailing opinion.
• Moving on.
• Celebrating Pride, today’s Gay of the Day is actually a trio of athletes: soccer’s Justin Fashanu, the NFL’s Carl Nassib, and the NBA’s Jason Collins.
• All three of these men are professional athletes who made the courageous decision to come out only as gay while they were active players.
• They were are well aware that in the macho world of pro sports, their decision to be public about their true selves would almost certainly be limiting to their careers and would subject them to threats and derision… and they did it anyway.
• That’s a big part of what Pride is all about. Almost every person who has been open about their orientation — other than straight people — run some level of real risk in doing so.
• And for that reason, you should admire those who do… especially people in high-profile roles who can help others understand that it’s okay to be who they are.
• Moving on to some breaking news.
• Wisconsin’s attorney general filed charges this morning against an aide and two attorneys who advised Donnie Dump over a meeting of Republicans who claimed to be the state’s 2020 presidential electors even though Trump had lost the state.
• The charges are the first in Wisconsin related to the meeting of electors. Prosecutors have separately charged Republicans who were involved in similar efforts in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia.
• Trump campaign aide Michael Roman and attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and James Troupis were charged with one felony county of forgery each.
• Get their asses, Wisconsin.
• Moving on.
• National hero Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), testified yesterday at a House subcommittee hearing about the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the origins of the virus.
• Fauci said that the US still needs to be better prepared for next pandemic. One thing that he hopes the US will do better moving forward is tightening communication between the federal response and local public health officials.
• As has often been the case, Republicans embarrassed themselves making ridiculous accusations against Dr. Fauci. He shrugged them off, which is the appropriate response.
• He also testified about possible origins of virus that caused COVID-19. He said that scientists found the most likely scenario was a virus that transferred from an animal to a human. 
• And, sadly, Fauci also detailed threats he and his family have received during his time as the director of the NIAID. “Everything from harassments from emails, texts, letters of myself, my wife, my three daughters. There have been credible death threats leading to the arrest of two individuals – and credible death threats means someone who clearly was on their way to kill me. And it’s required my having protective services essentially all the time.”
• People are fucking shit.
• Let’s move on.
• Today’s general election in India — the world’s largest democracy — had Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coalition leading in a majority of seats, but faced a stronger challenge from the opposition than expected after it pushed back against the leader’s mixed economic record and polarizing politics.
• Modi’s Hindu nationalist party appeared unlikely to secure a majority on its own, according to an ongoing count showed, despite pre-election hopes of a landslide victory, but Modi was still expected to be elected to a third five-year term.
• Let’s move on with some fucked up shit.
• A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled yesterday that an Atlanta-based venture capital firm should be blocked from issuing grants reserved for Black women-owned businesses, saying that doing so would likely discriminate against business owners of other races.
• Yes. That’s the point. They want to help out a group that’s been massively disadvantaged for many generations.
• The ruling comes after the Fearless Fund, a VC firm dedicated to funding businesses founded by women of color, was sued last August by a group led by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum.
• Yes, the same guy who crusaded against Harvard and the University of North Carolina and had the Supreme Court overturn race-conscious college admissions last summer.
• The Atlanta federal appeals court reversed a lower court decision that the fund could proceed with its grant contest amid the litigation.
• This case is being viewed as a central legal battle over civil rights and affirmative action, with support pouring in from groups on both sides of the issue.
• Wow. This entire timeline is pretty fucked up. Hopefully I live long enough to see the pendulum swing back.
• Let’s move on to some media news.
• It was pretty concerning when I heard that Sally Buzbee, who had led The Washington Post’s newsroom as executive editor since 2021, announced Sunday night that she had stepped down.
• She had been offered a demotion by publisher Will Lewis, and told him to fuck off. 
• Matt Murray, who was named to at least temporarily replace Sally Buzbee, comes from the Wall Street Journal. That does not bode well.
• Moving on.
• Another reminder to stay away from bison. They will kick your ass.
• On Saturday, an 83-year-old woman from Greenville, SC was seriously injured after being gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park.
• The victim was transported to Lake Medical Clinic and then flown by helicopter to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
• “Bison are not aggressive animals but will defend their space when threatened. They are unpredictable and can run three times faster than humans,” said park officials.
• If something can run 35 mph and weighs 2,000 pounds, you don’t have many options other than to just stay far the fuck away. That’s your best bet.
• In somewhat related news, on Sunday a 46-year-old man was attacked by a shark off the coast in Del Mar, CA, not far from San Diego.
• He sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries to his chest, arms, and hands. After the initial attack, he began punching the shark in the face and fighting back, which probably saved his life.
• I have no advice for people in that situation. When you go into the ocean, you’re on their turf. I was bitten by a small shark when I was about 12. He wasn’t trying to eat me; he was about 18” long, but I’d inadvertently scared it.
• Still have the scar.
• Moving on.
• Are you familiar with the Epoch Times? It was once a small newspaper founded by Chinese dissidents that became a prominent right-wing media outlet that trafficked in conspiracy theories in recent years.
• And it’s now facing accusations that one of its top officers was engaged in a criminal money laundering scheme.
• Snort.
• The chief financial officer for the Epoch Times was charged yesterday with laundering at least $67 million in illegally obtained funds. After the alleged scheme began in 2020, The Epoch Times’ revenue jumped exponentially from almost $15.5 million the year before to over $70 million.
• Fuck that piece of shit newspaper.
• Random Note: there are 37 countries that do not allow anyone convicted of a felony to enter their territory.
• So here, in alphabetical order, are the places that convicted felon Donald John Trump is not allowed to visit: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.
• And now, The Weather: “Cyclops” by Finom
• From the Sports-related Desk… Tucupita Marcano is banned from baseball for life.
• Major League Baseball has permanently banned Marcano after determining that the infielder placed hundreds of bets on baseball, including wagers on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was with the team last season.
• That’s the one thing you can’t do. Marcano appears to be the first active major leaguer banned under the sport's gambling provision since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O'Connell in 1924.
• Pete Rose famously agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on Cincinnati Reds games, but it was while he was managing the team, as opposed to being an active player.
• Sigh. People who worked hard to get everything they ever wanted, and it still wasn’t enough. I have no sympathy.
• Today in history… King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries (1411). The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their hot air balloon (1783). Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain (1792). Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory (1812). Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run (1896). Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage (1912). The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification (1919). The British Armed Forces completes evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France (1940). Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1942). The Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the United States giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights (1975). JVC introduces its VHS videotape at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago (1977). The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with between 241 and 10,000 dead (1989). Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing (1998).
• June 4 is the birthday of UK king George III (1738), actor Dennis Weaver (1924), sex therapist Ruth Westheimer (1928), actor John Drew Barrymore (1932), actor Bruce Dern (1936), singer-songwriter/actress Michelle Phillips (1944), NBA player Xavier McDaniel (1963), actor Horatio Sanz (1969), politician Mike Lee (1971), actor Noah Wyle (1971), comedian Russell Brand (1975), actress/activist Angelina Jolie (1975), UK princess Lilibet (2021).

Yesterday was incredibly annoying, with work stuff coming in faster than I could get it out. And look, I promise, I’m not complaining about that. I am very, very fortunate that my marketing business is constantly in demand. But we all know it doesn’t make it easy. Also, I highly recommend that no more ants enter my home today. I’m not granting any clemency to them. Enjoy your day.