Random News: July 31, 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 July 31, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. I’m feeling pretty normal so far today. No complaints.

• We’ll start with some very exciting news.
• The DNC announced last night that Vice President Harris will be the only candidate on the Committee's virtual roll call ballot for president.
• No other candidates met the threshold of support necessary to qualify.
• Starting tomorrow (August 1), delegates in the Democratic Party will begin their virtual vote to select their new nominee.
• The nearly 4,000 pledged delegates allocated during the Democratic primary process will be voting on the nomination.
• Party leaders announced last night that delegates will be able to vote electronically beginning at 9am ET on Thursday, August 1. The voting will conclude at 6pm ET on Monday, August 5. Delegates will vote through an online platform run by the DNC. 
• Once the roll call begins, each of the voting delegates will receive a personalized and watermarked form to cast their vote. The DNC will then tally the votes and share the full results after the roll call is closed. 
• I can’t really remember an election in my lifetime when this many Democrats stood unified in support of a single candidate like we are now. Recent polling shows nearly 90% of Democrats are supportive of a Harris presidency.
• The first schedule of speakers has come out for the Democratic National Convention, which runs August 19-22. It has President Joe Biden speaking on the opening Monday, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on Tuesday, the as-yet-unnamed VP nominee on Wednesday, and Kamala Harris herself on Thursday.
• Let’s move back to yesterday evening’s National Organizing Call that came in the form of a front seat to the Harris rally, streamed live from Atlanta, GA.
• First off, the arena was packed with 80,000 excited people of all ages, genders, and races. Packed in a way that Dumpy could only dream about. When Harris walked out, the place erupted with the same intense energy as if a rock star was taking the stage.
• Harris told the boisterous crowd that the next few months would be a serious fight and acknowledged the Democrats were right now the underdogs — but assured them they would win in November.
• And I have to say… two weeks ago, I was almost ready to write off Georgia in the presidential win column. Biden was not polling well there versus El Dumpo. But with Harris? I think this state is 100% back in play and winnable.
• You likely remember 2020, when Biden won that state by just 11,779 votes out of 5,000,000 voters. The same folks who made that happen are even more excited about the Harris campaign. I think they’ll do it again.
• Harris’s speech there was superb… full of good energy, straightforward messaging, a combination of seriousness and humor, and much more human and down to Earth than any presidential candidate since Obama.
• Including Hillary Clinton. I think Kamala is just far more electable for about a zillion reasons.
• Another Zoom call for Harris happened last night. It was a gathering based on JD Vance’s comments that the US was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs, and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too”.
• So those cat ladies (and dog ladies) organized on a call that was hosted by Christine Pelosi, a political consultant and daughter of Nancy Pelosi, and Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic party.
• 22 million US women meet JD Vance’s description of being miserable childless cat ladies. I wonder how they’ll vote in November?
• In more Harris news…
• I’m 100% fine with whoever she chooses as her VP/running mate. Any of the remaining 4-5 possible contenders are great by me.
• And I’m in no hurry to know her choice, but it is coming very soon. Her campaign announced that next week, she’s hitting the road in battleground states, and her VP is coming along.
• It’s now been confirmed that early next week, we’ll know whether its Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, or Andy Beshear. Or someone completely out of left field, though I doubt it.
• Harris is heading out on a barnstorming 7-city, 4-day tour of battleground states along with her running mate next week… and the first stop is in Philadelphia, in a state where one of her VP candidates happens to be the governor.
• Hmm.
• After Philly, Harris and her VP will be heading to western Wisconsin, Detroit, Raleigh, Savannah, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. And that all between Monday and Thursday.
• The weird 78-year-old Republican candidate can only handle one event per week, sadly.
• Let’s move on to some important international news.
• Hamas said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital of Tehran yesterday.
• You’d probably think this is good news, but this major development throws the region into an unpredictable and dangerous new phase.
• Haniyeh was the second leader of an Iran-backed group to have been assassinated in the past day, following the killing by Israel of Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in Lebanon.
• And here’s the problem: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s death. 
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was “not aware of or involved in” the killing of Haniyeh. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the Haniyeh assassination.
• I hope you all understand, Iran is a big, developed country with a formidable military force and advanced weaponry. Don’t mistake it for Iraq despite being one letter apart in name.
• If Iran launches a full assault on Israel as a result of this, the USA would be obligated to defend its ally.
• Let’s warily move on for now.
• Project 2025 has become a weight around the neck of Dumples the Clown, the Republican presidential candidate.
• So sad, too bad.
• Former member of the Donald Trump administration and director of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 Paul Dans stepped down yesterday after Dump’s campaign freaked the fuck out.
• But make no mistake: the Heritage Foundation confirms that they’re moving forward with Project 2025.
• Heritage is currently busy building a database of potential highly-vetted new loyalist hires to staff a second Trump White House.
• Dump has claimed that he hasn’t read Project 2025 (which I believe, since he doesn’t read at all), that he doesn’t know who’s behind it (although the creators are former Dump staffers and people close to him), and doesn’t know anything about it.
• But Ohio Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, wrote a foreword to a forthcoming book by Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, in which Vance lauds their work..
• “The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump,” wrote Vance.
• Last note… a reminder: Dumpy’s name appears in the Project 2025 manifesto 312 times.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday was the primary election in Arizona. In the most significant races of the night, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and former local news anchor Kari Lake were officially chosen as their parties’ respective Senate nominees.
• Gallego is a Harvard grad, a devoted Marine vet who fought in Iraq, and has been a successful lawmaker in the US House since being elected in 2010. He’s going to beat Lake handily and replace outgoing weirdo Kyrsten Sinema.
• Moving on.
• A brief note about the Republican messaging via Dump’s running mate J. D. Vance, when he stated that, “People without children don't have the same stake in America" compared to those who’ve produced offspring.
• “They don't have the same stake in America” was literally said about German immigrants, Irish immigrants, Italian immigrants, Jewish immigrants, pretty much every group of immigrants, women, freed slaves, Black people in general, and anyone who didn't own land.
• Keep it in mind when you vote.
• Been awhile since I had a need to mention Ye Olde Human Turtle. I kinda almost forgot he existed.
• Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that President Biden’s proposed term limits for Supreme Court justices are “unconstitutional” and will be “dead on arrival” in Congress.
• Biden has proposed authorizing presidents to appoint justices every two years and limiting them to 18 years in active service.
• Joe also called for a constitutional amendment to make clear that no former president would have immunity for crimes committed while in office, and for a binding code of conduct for Supreme Court justices.
• Both concepts are popular with a wide swath of the American people.
• But Mitch is shocked and appalled. Gotta say, times are gonna change sooner or later, and they will eventually with or without the likes of Mitch McConnell.
• What is Dumpy doing today? I really don’t care, do you?
• Turns our Ole Dumpster is addressing the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago, and they are not happy about it.
• NABJ co-chair and Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah announced that she had stepped down from her position at the convention following the announcement, writing, “To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck. For everyone else, I’m looking forward to meeting and reconnecting with all of you in the Windy City.”
• And now, The Weather: “Wish You Well” by Peel Dream Magazine
• From the Sports Desk… more medals for Team USA at the Paris Olympics. The total is now 27.
• The Women’s gymnastic team brought home the gold in the Artistic category, with a team that included that best of the best: Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Hezly Rivera.
• Silver medals were awarded to Robert Finke (Men's 800m Freestyle swimming), the Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay swimming team (Drew Kibler, Brooks Curry, Blake Pieroni, Chris Guiliano, Carson Foster, Luke Hobson, and Kieran Smith), and Perris Benegas (Women's Park BMX Freestyle cycling).
• We also picked up a big batch of bronze medals in various events. Congrats go out to the Men’s gymnastic team in the Artistic category: Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Frederick Richard.
• Bronze medals also went to Team USA in swimming - Women’s 400m Individual Medley (Emma Weyant), Men's 200m Freestyle (Luke Hobson), Men's 100m Backstroke (Ryan Murphy), fencing - Men's Individual Foil (Nick Itkin), rugby - Women’s (Team USA), and swimming - Women's 100m Backstroke (Katharine Berkoff).
• USA! USA!
• Today in history… Marc Antony wins the Battle of Alexandria over Octavian, but most of his troops desert (30 BC). The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (781). All remaining Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect (1492). Christopher Columbus “discovers” Trinidad (1498). Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's War (1763). Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city (1856). The Nazi Party wins 38% of the vote in German elections (1932). New York International Airport is dedicated, and is later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport (1948). Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes (1964). Michael Phelps breaks the record for most medals won at the Olympics (2012).
• July 31 is the birthday of Holy Roman emperor Maximillian II (1527), French Prime Minister Henri Brisson (1835), painter Mary Vaux Walcott (1860), animation producer Fred Quimby (1886), music producer Ahmet Ertegun (1923), guitarist/composer Kenny Burrell (1931), tennis player Evonne Goolagong (1951), actor Michael Biehn (1956), drummer/composer Bill Berry (1958), businessman Mark Cuban (1958), guitarist Stanley Jordan (1959), NFL player Kevin Greene (1962), actor Wesley Snipes (1962), DJ/musician Fatboy Slim (1963), author J. K. Rowling (1965), NFL player Gus Frerotte (1971), MLB player/manager Gabe Kapler (1975), singer-songwriter/guitarist Zac Brown (1978), actor/screenwriter B. J. Novak (1979), and NFL player DeMarcus Ware (1982).

Whew. These bullets are getting harder and harder to write comprehensively each morning in a one-hour flurry between 7-8am. But I think it’s worth it. Enjoy your day.

Random News: July 30, 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 July 30, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m up and about, knowing I have a busy dat ahead but still feeling pretty energized after getting involved in some political action last night. Let’s start with that, and find out about some other news that impacts our lives.

• There’s no way I can do a full recap of last night’s “White Dudes for Harris” online rally.
• It was like 3-1/2 hours and every single speaker was superb in their own way.
• To understand the context of this event, you need to rewind the clock a short while.
• This trend began a week again Sunday… the same night after Joe Biden passed the torch for the 2024 election to Kamala Harris. The political networking group “Win With Black Women” held a Zoom meeting that very evening, thinking they’d get a thousand people to attend.
• Instead, the number of participants swelled to more than 44,000, and featured celebratory speeches from activists, business leaders, members of Congress, and staff from the vice president's office.
• As the week progressed, there was a “Win With Black Men” virtual fundraising event that attracted more than 53,000 attendees. On Thursday, there was a “White Women for Harris” event that attracted more than 164,000 participants.
• So who had yet to step up to the plate to show support for Harris? That’s right, the white dudes.
• Organized by activists Ross Morales Rocketto (who emceed the event) and Brad Bauman, one of the first things that was pointed out was that gatherings of white men has, historically, not been for benevolent reasons.
• “Throughout American history, when white men organized, it was often with pointy hats on,” said Rocketto. It felt inspiring to take part in something that flew against this perception.
• ”There's a silent majority of white men who aren't MAGA Republicans, and we haven't done anything to try to capture those votes,” added Rocketto. Well, we have now, thanks to him and the other organizers of this event.
• There were dozens and dozens of speakers. I won’t (and can’t) rehash everything that was said. I will mention a few highlights.
• A totally unexpected surprise toward the start was the appearance of actor Jeff Bridges, who got an email about it earlier yesterday and was excited when he heard about the gathering of his fellow white dudes.
• “I qualify, man! I’m white, I’m a dude, and I’m for Harris,” Bridges said. “A woman president, man, how exciting!”
• A good number of the white dude speakers are people who might end up being Harris’s vice presidential running mate, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who announced he was withdrawing from consideration moments before the call began. 
• All were great. Buttigieg was, as always, a great communicator. I have to say, though, Tim Walz is fucking fantastic. I love that guy.
• “Make that bastard wake up afterwards and know that a Black woman kicked his ass and sent him on the road and you know that’s something that guy’s going to have to live with the rest of his life,” Walz said. 
• There were plenty of white dude singers (Josh Groban, Lance Bass) and white dude actors (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Hamill, Josh Gad, Paul Scheer). Sean Astin made a particularly poignant and emotional talk.
• Perhaps the biggest laugh of the night came from actor Bradley Whitford, who said, “What a variety of whiteness we have here. It’s like a rainbow of beige.”
• There were also plenty of white dudes from the world of Democratic politics, like White House infrastructure czar Mitch Landrieu, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, former Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, and Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
• And here’s why this whole thing was important and necessary, and perhaps helps you really get the context of it. Representation matters in this world. If everyone assume that white guys are Dump/MAGA supporters, there’s no one to impart the reality, which is that the majority of us are not.
• And this number was quoted several times by political experts: if just 1-3% of white guys shifted away from the MAGA world, they could never win an election again. In recent years, Republicans have completely relied on the support of white working-class men.
• Again for clarity… if just one percent of white male voters chose not to align themselves with the party of hate and prejudice, it was have a massive impact.
• And then there’s the other point, which is fundraising. We white dudes brought our wallets with us.
• Over 150,000 folks signed up to join White Dudes for Harris. Over 193,000 people attended the kickoff call. And they raised $4.2 million dollars last night for Harris for President.
• You can still make donations to this cause. I’ll include the link in the comments.
• Of note: none of these Zoom calls have been organized by Harris' team, but her campaign absolutely welcomes the assist — and the millions of dollars in fundraising.
• If you wonder if the white dudes call was effective, note that it became such a huge topic taking over the Twitter (aka X) platform — the one owned by Elon Musk — that Musk got scared, freaked out, and banned the “White Dudes for Harris” account from the platform.
• Musk did it during the event. Yes, I’m serious. What a fucking weird douchebag that guy is.
• The automated message when the account was suspended read: "X suspends accounts which violate the X rules."
• A Democratic commentator said: "The 'free speech absolutist' has now suspended White @dudes4harris. Presumably for raising $4M in a few hours. The fascists are terrified. Good."
• There are now 98 days until we elect a women president. We’re not going back.
• Let’s move on with a fact.
• 30 percent of American households have step-children, and 1 in 6 Americans 55 and over are childless. Those are the people who are being called worthless by the Republican Party.
• Let’s do another fact.
• Previous to the advent of the pertussis vaccine, that disease was the number one killer of children worldwide.
• But old Donnie Dump says he’s going to cut all federal funds to any school that insists we vaccinate against pertussis, diphtheria, mumps, measles, and polio.
• The result will be a purposeful mass murder of children across our country.
• We’re not going back to the hellscape of a Dump-led world.
• Are all Republicans the enemy? No, not at all. In fact, one of the themes last night was that we should be engaging those people and trying to help them understand that all we want is a better world for everyone.
• An example of a Republican with the right mindset? How about John Giles, the Republican Mayor of Mesa, AZ, who wrote an op-ed yesterday for the Arizona Republic stating the reasons why he is endorsing Kamala Harris for President.
• Mesa is the third largest city in Arizona, and the Arizona Republic is the largest newspaper by circulation in the crucial battleground state. 
• Giles’ reason that he can’t support Dump include that he refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election and continues to do so, that he continues to trash the American legal system to delegitimize it, that he orchestrated the "fake elector" scheme in Arizona, that he blocked the bipartisan border bill negotiated in the Senate, that he’s a convicted felon and threat to the nation, and much more.
• The Republican’s reasons for endorsing Harris? It’s her excellent work in the Biden administration that helped Arizona by delivering on their promise with infrastructure funding for the Phoenix-Mesa Airport, creating thousands of new jobs with the CHIPS Act, and Harris’ strong stand against gun violence and for women's rights.
• I know there are a lot more people like him out there.
• Moving on.
• Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, is testifying today before two Senate committees about the security lapses that led to the alleged assassination attempt against Dumpy.
• Rowe became acting director of the agency last week after Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of a House hearing in which she was berated by lawmakers and failed to answer specific questions about the communication failures preceding the July 13 shooting.
• The FBI’s No. 2 official is also testifying. Senate lawmakers are grilling the officials about law enforcement lapses in the hours before the attempted assassination.
• In other news…
• Yesterday, Wayne LaPierre, the former head of the National Rifle Association, was banned for 10 years from holding a paid position with the organization. The NRA will not be required to have an independent monitor, though.
• The split decision from Judge Joel Cohen came on the final day of arguments in the second stage of a civil trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
• The first phase of the trial, decided in February by a Manhattan jury, found LaPierre and another deputy liable for misspending millions of dollars on lavish trips and other personal expenses.
• Fucking assholes. Never send the NRA a fucking dime unless you’re an idiot.
• Moving on.
• You know how Dump, over the weekend, told a group of people that they won’t get to ever vote again if he gets elected in November?
• Surprisingly, it was Fox News host Laura Ingraham who repeatedly prodded Dumples the Dictator Clown yesterday over his comments at the conservative Christian summit.
• And Dump wouldn’t deny the meaning of his statement.
• “That statement is very simple. I said, ‘Vote for me, you’re not going to have to do it ever again.’ It’s true, because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group,” said the Tangerine Twat.
• What?
• And now, The Weather: “The Bed” by Lutalo
• Let’s do a chart. Here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles from mid-October 1964… the week that Kamala Harris was born!
• Having “Oh, Pretty Woman” be number one is appropriate.
• 1. Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison And The Candy Men). 2. Do Wah Diddy Diddy (Manfred Mann). 3. Dancing In The Street (Martha & The Vandellas). 4. Bread And Butter (The Newbeats). 5. Remember (Walkin' in the Sand) (The Shangri-Las). 6. We'll Sing In The Sunshine (Gale Garnett). 7. It Hurts To Be In Love (Gene Pitney). 8. G.T.O. (Ronny And The Daytonas). 9. Last Kiss (J. Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers). 10. A Summer Song (Chad & Jeremy). 11. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) (The Beach Boys). 12. Baby I Need Your Loving (Four Tops). 13. Funny (How Time Slips Away) (Joe Hinton). 14. Let It Be Me (Betty Everett & Jerry Butler). 15. I'm On The Outside (Looking In) (Little Anthony And The Imperials). 16. Haunted House (Jumpin' Gene Simmons). 17. You Must Believe Me (The Impressions). 18. Matchbox (The Beatles). 19. House Of The Rising Sun (The Animals). 20. Save It For Me (The 4 Seasons Featuring the "Sound of Frankie Valli”).
• From the Sports Desk… the medal count for Team USA at the Paris Olympics is now up to 20.
• We picked up two more silver medals via Jagger Eaton in Men's Street skateboarding, and Katie Grimes in the Women's 400m Individual Medley in swimming.
• And then a whole bunch of bronze medals that include Nyjah Huston in Men's Street skateboarding, Asher Hong/Paul Juda/Brody Malone/Stephen Nedoroscik/Frederick Richard in Artistic Men's Team gymnastics, Emma Weyant in Women's 400m Individual Medley swimming, Luke Hobson in Men's 200m Freestyle swimming, Ryan Murphy in Men's 100m Backstroke swimming, and Nick Itkin in Men's Individual Foil fencing.
• USA! USA!
• Today in history… Baghdad is founded (762). The Virginia General Assembly convenes for the first time (1619). Founding of Baltimore, MD (1729). Uruguay wins its first FIFA World Cup (1930). Congress decides that “In God We Trust” is the new national motto (1956). Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act, establishing Medicare and Medicaid (1965). Apollo 15 lands on the moon with the first lunar rover (1971). Jimmy Hoffa disappears and is never seen again (1975). 50,000 people demonstrate in Communist Poland (1981). NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral (2020).
• July 30 is the birthday of Ming emperor Hongzhi (1470), pianist Maria Anna Mozart (1751), novelist Emily Brontë (1818), engineer/businessman Henry Ford (1863), MLB player Casey Stengel (1890), banker Henry W. Bloch (1922), puppeteer Sid Kroft (1929), guitarist Buddy Guy (1936), director Peter Bogdanovich (1939), singer-songwriter Paul Anka (1941), saxophonist/composer David Sanborn (1945), actor/politician Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947), drummer Rat Scabies (1955), actress Delta Burke (1956), lawyer Anita Hill (1956), NBA player Bill Cartwright (1957), singer-songwriter Kate Bush (1958), actor Lawrence Fishburne (1961), actress Lisa Kudrow (1963), NBA player Chris Mullin (1963), actress Vivica A. Fox (1964), director Christopher Nolan (1970), actress Hilary Swank (1974), and soccer player Hope Solo (1981).

As usual, there’s plenty more news, but I’m a regular person who has things to do. Enjoy your day.

Random News: July 29, 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 July 29, 2024, and it’s a Monday. The past week or so still feels like I’ve been swept up in a tornado but somehow am still surviving, though it’s hard to tell when and where I’ll land. Either way, there’s plenty of excitement in the air. Maybe we’ll all land somewhere better, soon enough.

• Little update for those men out there planning to attend tonight’s “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom call.
• They hit their goal of 50,000 registrants by yesterday afternoon, then passed 60,000 by the evening. I think a lot more will be there by tonight. And this was an event that got put together on Friday. Yes, this past Friday.
• And now, the speaker list includes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Congressman Adam Schiff, author Scott Galloway, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Ben Wikler, actors Misha Collins, Josh Gad, Rory O’Malley, and Michael Kelly, singer Josh Groban, activist George Goehl, and others.
• Actors Bradley Cooper and Mark Hamill both said they’ll be in attendance. I’m sure plenty more will as well.
• If you’re attending, don’t be surprised if you hear some stuff that puts you on the defensive. They’re doing this to have some tough but fair conversations with the hope that as a group, we are more successful at engaging a higher percentage of white dudes to move their support to Harris.
• I can deal with that. I’ll once again put the link in the comments. Join us tonight!
• And while I’m being all involved and shit, I also signed up for another event.
• On Tuesday night, I’ll be joining Vice President Harris herself along with thousands of supporters across the country for a National Organizing Call after Harris’s huge campaign event in Georgia.
• We will hear directly from the future President about what’s at stake, the freedoms we’re fighting for, and how you can help her win.
• Everyone is welcome. I’ll put a link to that event in the comments as well. It’s tomorrow (Tuesday July 30) from 7:15 – 8PM ET (4:15-5PM PT).
• Moving on.
• We’re now 99 days from the election, which is a perfect time for me to start badgering you to please do one of two things.
• If you’re not registered to vote where you live, it’s easy to do and you can do it right now in just a few minutes. The info you need is at Vote.org.
• If you have some fear about registering to vote and you want to talk about it, hit me up in my messages and I promise I can help you.
• If you are registered to vote, please also make a quick stop at Vote.org and confirm your registration status. These crooks like to purge the voter rolls without informing anyone, and then you try to vote on election day and find out you can’t.
• Check your status even if you think you are certain you’re good.
• Me? I live in California, the best state for voters in the nation. I’ve already received both written (snail mailed) and emailed correspondence from Los Angeles County to tell me that my ballot will be arriving before October 7.
• And our ballots are tracked so you get text or email (your choice) confirmation when you fill out and submit them and they’re received, for those of you who like to vote early like I do.
• I love my state.
• Let’s do the news.
• Today, President Biden endorsed sweeping changes to the Supreme Court. He called for 18-year term limits for the justices and a binding, enforceable ethics code for the high court.
• He is also pushing for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit blanket immunity for presidents, a rebuke of the Supreme Court after it ruled this month that former president Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts.
• Over the course of Biden's presidency, the Supreme Court has veered sharply to the right — overturning Roe v. Wade, ending affirmative action in college admissions, weakening federal agencies’ power by overturning a 40-year decision, and striking down Biden’s student-loan forgiveness program.
• Time to make some changes. Joe’s the guy to get it done.
• Moving on.
• Today is the day that Iowa's cruel abortion law goes into effect. It immediately prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
• Iowa’s Republican leaders have been seeking the law for years, and it was made possible by Donald Trump’s Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. The Iowa Supreme Court also issued a ruling that year saying there was no constitutional right to abortion in the state.
• Across the country, four states ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, and 14 states have near-total bans at all stages of pregnancy.
• Kamala Harris, the next president of the United States, made a statement on this.
• “If extremist so-called leaders have their way, no woman in our nation will be safe from the government telling her what to do with her own body. More than 1 in 3 women of reproductive age in America now live in a state with a Trump abortion ban. When I am President of the United States, I will sign a law restoring and protecting reproductive freedom in every state.”
• She’s right. I think the issue of women’s reproductive rights alone will be enough of a factor to propel her to victory.
• Her support continues to surge. 88% of Democrats now hold favorable views of Harris.
• And an ABC News/Ipsos survey of 1,200 adults released yesterday showed that Harris' national favorability rating stands at 43 percent, 8 points up from the 35 percent favorability rating she recorded in a previous poll conducted before Biden ended his 2024 campaign.
• How’s weird old Dumpy doing? Not so good.
• Dump's favorability rating has fallen 4 points between the two surveys from 40 percent to 36.
• In international news…
• The USA isn’t the only country trying to get rid of an autocrat once and for all.
• Tensions were high in voting centers across Venezuela yesterday as citizens cast ballots in an election that could bring an end to the authoritarian government of Nicolás Maduro.
• The country’s opposition, suffocated by the autocratic government, saw its best chance in more than a decade to unseat the strongman, whom many here blame for this oil-rich country’s economic collapse and the exodus of millions of migrants, hundreds of thousands of them having headed to the United States.
• But as of this morning, both Maduro and his political opponent claimed victory in an election that was marked by accusations of fraud and counting irregularities.
• And with 80% of votes counted, Maduro allegedly secured about 51% of the vote, beating the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) candidate Edmundo González Urrutia with his more than 44% of the vote.
• But exit polling had showed that the opposition candidate should have won in a landslide.
• The United States and multiple global leaders voiced skepticism about the supposedly official results that handed victory to the strongman leader.
• And this is what happens when you elect a dictator. You never get a free and fair election again. In some cases, you don’t get the right to vote at all in future elections. It’s something we have to avoid at all costs in the USA.
• Continuing on the international front…
• The U.S. said yesterday that it has been in continuous discussions with Israel and Lebanon after Israel and the U.S. blamed Hezbollah for a rocket attack on Saturday at a Golan Heights soccer field that killed at least 12 children and teens, sparking fears of a broader conflict in the region. 
• Hezbollah has denied responsibility. Israel's military confirmed it had launched airstrikes against Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanese territory.
• Sigh.
• Back in the USA, the more disgusting aspects of modern politics are already being aimed at Kamala Harris… and they’re being promoted by Elon Musk.
• A manipulated video that mimics the voice of Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of artificial intelligence to mislead with Election Day about three months away.
• It was Elon Musk who shared it on his social media platform X on Friday evening without noting it was originally released as parody.
• The video uses many of the same visuals as a real ad that Harris released last week launching her campaign. But the video swaps out the voice-over audio with another voice that convincingly impersonates Harris.
• The fake voiceover says that she is a “diversity hire” as a woman and a person of color. It also states that “Joe Biden finally exposed his senility” and that she doesn’t know “the first thing about running the country.”
• The original user who posted the video, a YouTuber known as Mr Reagan, has disclosed both on YouTube and on X that the manipulated video is a parody.
• But Musk’s post, which has been viewed more than 123 million times, according to the platform, only includes the caption “This is amazing” with a laughing emoji.
• I think this is a crime, and that the use of generative AI deepfakes — showing fake nude bodies on young girls, or adding realistic fake voices to make statements that were never said to influence voters with misinformation — falls outside the realm of the First Amendment.
• And I’m sure it’s something we’ll be looking at closely during the first Harris administration.
• Another thing we can count on under President Harris will be the continuation of Joe Biden’s environmental policies. You ay not know this but it’s true: Biden did more for clean energy than any other US president before him
• From shifting federal policy in support of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to pushing through the Inflation Reduction Act — which directs what could add up to more than $1 trillion in federal tax credits and tens of billions of dollars to manufacture and deploy everything from solar and wind power to industrial decarbonization technologies — Biden will be in the history books for all time.
• One of the main reasons to support a Kamala Harris presidency, among many, is that Dumples the Clown has already promised to undo the historic climate successes of the Biden administration.
• You know, one thing you can say about both Dump and his VP pick.
• They’re just fucking weird. They’re both just weird people. I mean, look at J. D. Vance and his crusade against people who don’t have biological children. It’s like his main point against Harris.
• You know who else was a pretty damn fine President and didn’t have any biological children and, exactly like Kamala Harris, had two stepchildren?
• How about GEORGE WASHINGTON? Was he a pretty good President? Most say yes.
• And now, The Weather: “Train” by Niall Summerton
• The Park Fire in northern California now stands as the state's sixth-largest on record after burning for less than a week.
• Ugh. It stood at 368,256 acres at 12% containment as of this morning, and was still getting worse.
• Let’s do a chart. This is the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart for this week in July 1983, when Kamala Harris would have been starting at Howard University. I will bet any amount of money she had some of these albums. Or maybe a lot of them.
• I was between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I had them too.
• 1. Thriller (Michael Jackson). 2. Synchronicity (The Police). 3. Flashdance (Soundtrack). 4. Pyromania (Def Leppard). 5. Let's Dance (David Bowie). 6. Cargo (Men At Work). 7. The Wild Heart (Stevie Nicks). 8. Keep It Up (Loverboy). 9. 1999 (Prince). 10. Killer On The Rampage (Eddy Grant). 11. Frontiers (Journey). 12. Cuts Like A Knife (Bryan Adams). 13. H2O (Daryl Hall John Oates). 14. Kilroy Was Here (Styx). 15. State Of Confusion (The Kinks). 16. Listen (A Flock Of Seagulls). 17. Piece Of Mind (Iron Maiden). 18. Living In Oz (Rick Springfield). 19. Eliminator (ZZ Top). 20. Return Of The Jedi (Soundtrack).
• From the Sports Desk… the Team USA medal count is now up to 12.
• Two more gold medals were achieved. Torri Huske got gold in the Women's 100m Butterfly swimming competition, while Lee Kiefer took the top honors in Women's Individual Foil fencing. 
• Three more silver medals were awarded to Team USA with Gretchen Walsh getting it in the Women's 100m Butterfly, Nic Fink in Men's 100m Breaststroke, and Lauren Scruggs in Women's Individual Foil for fencing.
• Another bronze medal was added to the collection with Carson Foster taking third in the Men's 400m Individual Medley swimming competition.
• USA! USA!
• Today in history… The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple (587 BC). The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade (1148). Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart (1565). The US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps is founded when General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army  (1775). The Arc de Triomphe is inaugurated in Paris (1836). United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty (1858). Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested (1864). Land lottery begins in Oklahoma (1901). Robert Baden-Powell hosts the first Scout camp (1907). Adolf Hitler is named head of the Nazi Party (1921). After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the Summer Olympics open in London (1948). The International Atomic Energy Agency is established (1957). The Tonight Show with Jack Paar begins, starting the modern dat talk show (1957). Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space act, founding NASA (1958). David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz kills his first victim (1976). 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles and Diana (1981). British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (1987). Astronomer discover the dwarf planet Eris (2005). The International Space Station temporarily spins out of control (2021).
• July 29 is the birthday of organist/composer Johann Theile (1646), historian/philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville (1805), novelist Booth Tarkington (1869), fascist politician Benito Mussolini (1883), gynecologist Bernhard Zondek (1891), businessman J.R.D. Tata (1904), actress Clara Bow (1905), guitarist Charlie Christian (1916), businessman Jim Marshall (1923), wrestler Lou Albano (1933), politician Elizabeth Dole (1936), journalist Peter Jennings (1938), actor David Warner (1941), actor Tony Sirico (1942), keyboardist/songwriter Neal Doughty (1946), filmmaker Ken Burns (1953), singer-songwriter/musician Geddy Lee (1953), singer-songwriter Martina McBride (1966), actor Will Wheaton (1972), and NFL player Dak Prescott (1993).

Again, if you white guys could join us tonight on the Zoom call, that would be cool. I think it might give you some useful perspective and open your minds in ways you might not be considering at the moment. Try and stop by, to that and the Harris event tomorrow night as well. Links in the comments. Enjoy your day.

Random News: July 28, 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 July 28, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. It seems 100% impossible that it was just one week ago today, I was writing these bullets for you early on Sunday morning, oblivious to the fact that in just a few hours, Joe Biden would be removing himself from the 2024 election and passing the torch to Kamala Harris. And yet, here we are. Life is funny sometimes.

• I should note that — as I’d mentioned — I wasn’t entirely shocked by the news. My feeling was that if it was going to happen, that was the day it would, and it did.
• Since then, so many things have happened. I’m certainly not going to do a recap of them all.
• I will note that per an announcement this morning, the Harris campaign has pulled in over $200 million in her first week as a presidential candidate.
• It’s a staggering figure that’s evidence of the intensity and enthusiasm surrounding her bid for President with exactly 100 days to go before Election Day as of today.
• It’s even more astounding when you become aware that the bulk of the donations — 66% — came from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle.
• Also, how about this… in under a week, over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts.
• I’ll tell you…
• I’ve been a registered Democrat since I was old enough to vote (which, in case you were wondering, was in 1987). I can genuinely say that I have never experienced this level of intense excitement behind any candidate, and that includes Barack Obama in 2008.
• Harris is not only attracting a supportive base that’s comprised of typical liberal voters. I’ve seen evidence of people spanning many political ideologies — left, right, and center — who believe that Harris is the best choice for the USA at this moment.
• Even those who were previously Trump supporters.
• Yesterday in The Villages — a large age-restricted area in Florida that had famously been a bastion of right-wing Trump fans — hundreds of golf carts showed up to support Harris.
• One older woman named Diane Ruggiero, a registered Republican, stated, “It’s nice to see her bring such energy to young people, but Kamala is not just for the young. She gives us all hope.”
• And why would a Republican vote for Harris?
• “She is someone to be positive about. I’m tired of all the negativity — who we don’t want and who we don’t like. Now we have someone to like and be happy and excited about. I’m trying to be less negative and it’s great to be for something instead of against so many things.”
• But aren’t older folks in a retirement community more likely to be prejudiced toward a woman of color?
• Not according to Villages resident Jim Guy, who said, “That’s not a problem. What matters is she is a high-quality, experienced individual, and she cares about working people.”
• The top officials of the Republican Party have correctly determined that attacks on Harris’s race and gender will backfire spectacularly, and they’re trying to contain that strategy… unsuccessfully.
• Right after Harris announced her candidacy, Republican members of Congress including Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) described her as a “DEI hire” in public comments.
• A guest on Fox Business repeated that idea and then implied without evidence that Harris had somehow used sexual relationships with powerful men to advance her career.
• The problem is that in doing so, they are tell all voters who are women or people of color that they are unworthy of success on their own merits. If you’re a woman, you must have slept your way to the top.
• It’s an old and tired message, and people not only sick of it, but will go out of their way to not support candidates who spread it.
• Younger voters are all the more likely to be completely disgusted and turned off by that kind of bigoted and racist messaging.
• As a result of that and more, this week Harris opened up a 20 point advantage among voters 18- to 34-years-old in a head-to-head against Trump (60 percent to 40 percent).
• Biden had only had a narrow five-point advantage for that same voter bloc.
• The bigger aspect of all this is the unification of the Democratic voters as a whole behind Harris. Nearly 80% of Democrats polled this week say they support Harris’s bid for election, and that number will grow even higher as more and more Americans get to better know her and her excellent record of success.
• There was a time that I cynically believed that a Black person couldn’t be elected President. Then Obama came along in 2008.
• There was a time — especially after Hillary Clinton’s shocking loss in 2016 — that I felt the American public was too misogynistic as a whole to get behind a woman candidate.
• And now I am realizing that I was wrong about that too. Kamala is — in my opinion — a better candidate than Hillary. More likable, more relatable, more experienced, and with none of the baggage of having a former President as a husband.
• I think we can elect a woman President, and I think we will on November 5.
• I want to once again mention that tomorrow night (Monday July 29) at 8PM ET/5PM PT, I’m attending the “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom call. Over 42,000 people have sent RSVPs for this online event.
• Pete Buttigieg and a bunch of other speakers will be there to plan our strategy and organize to help get Harris elected.
• I’ll once again put a link in the comments. Please come!
• In other Harris news…
• There are states in play that just a few weeks ago were considered solidly for Dump. Georgia, for example, was expected to swing back to being a red state after choosing Biden in 2020, but the trajectory of recent polls, especially with Harris’s popularity among youth voters and people of color, have seen her even the odds.
• Senator Jon Osoff (D-GA) says, “I think that this is a true toss up race in Georgia. I expect her to win Georgia, it’s going to take a mighty effort the kind of effort that we summoned here in Georgia to deliver the state for President Biden in November of 2020, and to win those two historic Senate runoff victories in 2021.”
• The same effect might be what helps keep Arizona a blue state this fall.
• And it’s reinforced by millions of voters who are demanding a return of the rights removed when Roe v. Wade was reversed by the Trump-appointed Supreme Court in 2022.
• Speaking of the devil, how are things going over in Dump Land?
• Not so good.
• The fallout from Dumples the Dictator’s little speech — the one where he told a group of Christian voters that they “won’t have to vote anymore” if they elect him — hit the front of every major media outlet in the world yesterday.
• It was a top headline on CBS, CNN, NPR, Politico, The Hill, The Atlantic, Newsweek, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, and many more, including international publications and media.
• You would think that someone would have mentioned to the old guy that nearly all Americans love freedom, enjoy having choices, and prefer democracy over autocracy.
• Meanwhile, many House Republicans are privately bashing Dump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) as his running mate, warning that the pick will not help — and could hurt — the party’s chances of winning in November.
• It does have a feel of Sarah Palin all over again.
• The Republicans are raising concerns about Vance’s foreign policy positions, lack of experience, and inability to expand the Republican coalition beyond Dump’s base.
• Vance’s outings and appearances to rally for Dump thus far have been embarrassingly bad.
• Speaking anonymously as to not offend their lord and his minions, one said, “He was the worst choice of all the options. It was so bad I didn’t even think it was possible. Anti-Ukraine, more of a populist. He adds nothing to the Trump ticket. He energizes the same people that love Trump.”
• Another said, “I think if you were to ask many people around this building, 9 out of 10 on our side would say he’s the wrong pick. He’s the only person who can do serious damage.”
• Vance’s biggest fuckup of all might be his open disdain for a group of voters he calls “childless cat ladies,” a term he’s also incorrectly applied to Harris. Vance also think that your texes should be higher if you haven’t biologically created children, I should note.
• But you know who else is a childless cat lady? Taylor Swift.
• Do you really want to feel the wrath of millions upon millions of Taylor Swift fans? Is that what’s going to best help the Trump/Vance ticket?
• But to quote GOP policy back to them, they made the choice, so now they have to carry Vance to term.
• Moving on, sorta.
• Still tons of speculation going on about Harris’s VP pick. I have come to a conclusion on the topic.
• And that is simply this: all of the top candidates that have been mentioned could be excellent choices, from Senator Mark Kelly to Governors Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz to Secretary Buttigieg.
• So at this point, I trust Kamala Harris to make the right choice, and whoever she picks will be fine by me.
• In a speech in Massachusetts yesterday — her first fundraiser since becoming her party’s candidate for president — Harris called herself the underdog, but predicted that she and the Democrats would win in November.
• I agree.
• And one thing that we’ll discuss at a later date is how the entire psy-op system of bot farms and AI messengers — mostly in Russia, China, and Southeast Asia — were caught off guard and were unprepared for Harris to enter the race.
• They’ll catch up eventually, but that’s the reason that the messaging against her has been so scattered thus far.
• They were not ready for her.
• Another side point we’ll be discussing: Kamala’s entry into the race will almost certainly have a big impact on down ballot races, where the voters she pulls in will also be selecting Senators and House reps.
• Okay, let’s move on for real now.
• No Sunday Gunday today. I’ve been doing that feature every weekend for about a year. Suffice it to say that if it was a weekend in the USA, dozens of people were shot and/or killed via incidents of gun violence.
• But frankly, my positivity and optimism about the USA via the Harris campaign doesn’t need to be brought down by acknowledging the current reality of the number-one cause of children’s deaths in our country… which is gun violence.
• I think future President Harris can help that.
• Moving on.
• I want to briefly mention — for reasons that will be apparent — the public tensions between billionaire weirdo Elon Musk and his estranged transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson.
• Musk actually wrote that his daughter was “dead — killed by the woke mind virus.”
• He wrote that his child was born “gay and slightly autistic” and claimed these traits “contribute to gender dysphoria.”
• But his daughter shot back, dismissing her father’s characterization about her childhood and criticized him for peddling harmful stereotypes about trans and queer people in “an attempt to garner sympathy points.”
• “He doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn’t there,” she wrote. And when her father was present, Wilson said, he “relentlessly harassed” her for her “femininity and queerness.”
• What a fucking asshole.
• Side note: Vivian is one of six children that Elmo had with Justine Wilson, a writer. He also has three children with Grimes, a musician, and three children with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk’s Neuralink company.
• Let’s move on.
• I saw that a number of you went yesterday to the opening weekend of “Deadpool & Wolverine.” You weren’t alone.
• Marvel’s latest comic-book blockbuster made a staggering $205 million in its first weekend in North American theaters. It shattered the opening record for R-rated films previously held by the first “Deadpool” ($132 million) and notched a spot in the top 10 openings of all time.
• Including international showings, where it’s racked up an addition $233.3 million from 52 markets, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is looking at a global opening of over $438.3 million from Friday and Saturday.
• I’d find some reason to be cynical about this, but Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman both seem like genuinely good dudes.
• And now, The Weather: “Sandy's Dead” by Luke Temple
• From the Sports Desk… Team USA’s medal count is now up to six. Since my last report…
• We took the gold in the Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (swimming) with the team of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel.
• Our Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay grabbed silver medals via the team of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske, and Simone Manuel. A silver medal also went to Haley Batten, getting hers in the Women's Cross Country Mountain Bike final.
• And we picked up another bronze in Women's 400m Freestyle via the great Katie Ledecky.
• USA! USA!
• Today in history… Henry VIII marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard (1540). Maximilien Robespierre is executed by guillotine in Paris (1794). Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, GA at the Battle of Ezra Church (1864). The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law (1868). The city of Miami, FL is incorporated (1896). The US occupies Haiti and stays for 19 years (1915). Lyndon B. Johnson increases US troops in Vietnam from 75,000 to. 125,000 (1965). 600,000 people go see bands rock at Watkins Glen Summer Jam (1973).  The Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles, CA (1984). 
• July 28 is the birthday of pianist/businessman Ignaz Bösendorfer (1796), writer/illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866), activist Lucy Burns (1879), painter/sculptor Marcel Duchamp (1887), actor/singer Rudy Vallée (1901), inventor/businessman Earl Tupper (1907), composer/conductor Carmen Dragon (1914), US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929), singer/guitarist Junior Kimbrough (1930), guitarist Mike Bloomfield (1943), keyboardist Richard Wright (1943), cartoonist Jim Davis (1945), actress Sally Struthers (1947), guitarist/composer Gerald Casale (1948), Venezuela president Hugo Chávez (1954), guitarist/composer Steve Morse (1954), runner/activist Terry Fox (1958), NHL player Garth Snow (1969), NBA player Manu Ginóbili (1977), and rapper Soulja Boy (1990).

That’s more than enough for now. I’m going to recommend that you take a look at Kamala Harris’s web site if you’re looking for ways you can personally assist her in her quest to be our next President. It’s more than just sending money, I promise. I’ll throw in a link to that in the comments too. Enjoy your day.

Random News: July 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 July 27, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. Something is in the air. The winds of change are blowing. The negative vibes are dissipating. There’s a shift in the energy, a new flow through the global chakras, powerful vortices exchanging the bad for good. I’ll stop with this hippie shit momentarily. Let’s see what’s going on.

• To get started today, I”ll ask you: what kind of man says this?
• “Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.”
• I’ve said the following phrase many times but it can’t be said enough: when they tell you what they’re going to do, BELIEVE THEM.
• So when Dumples the Clown says that this will be the last election where people get to vote — because he’s going to be installed as a dictator and end the democratic process that our founding fathers put in place 248 years ago — that’s exactly what he means.
• I do realize that at 78 years old, Donald Trump may not always be completely aware of what he’s saying or doing. He is, of course, the oldest presidential nominee in history. And he seems to be going downhill fast.
• But I believe it’s not symbolic or some kind of speech gaffe or sign of senility. He’s not making a joke. It’s not “just the way Trump talks.” He means exactly what he says.
• On November 5 — or, if you’re a person in a state where you can vote before the election, much earlier — you may be using your very last chance to preserve the version of the USA that you and your ancestors took for granted.
• It can be taken away from you forever in a single election. Believe what he says. If Trump wins this one, our country is gone. I’m not exaggerating or being dramatic.
• There are 101 days until the election.
• Let’s move back to the world of positivity. I like it better there.
• Got a little update regarding those white women.
• Turns out that as a result of the largest-ever room call in history on Thursday night, they raised over $8.5 million during the call and over the subsequent day to support our next President of the USA, Kamala Harris.
• I, myself, am planning on attending a “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom call rally on Monday evening at 8PM ET/5PM PT. I’ll throw a link in the comments if you, too, are pretty fly for a white guy.
• Those of us who registered got advance notice that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be on the call. I’m sure there will also be other leaders from the political, entertainment, and sports world, if it’s anything like the call for the ladies the other night.
• I received a notification this morning that 20,000 white dudes have registered for the event thus far. I’m hoping we end up getting enough to break Zoom like the ladies did.
• But more importantly, this is historical fucking shit here, fellas. These calls are going to be part of the history books after Harris becomes the first woman President.
• And if you can — during the event — chip in whatever makes sense for you, whether it’s five bucks or $50 bucks or $500 or whatever the fuck, it will make a difference.
• But just being there and present will be the biggest contribution. Again, link in comments.
• Moving on.
• How’s the excitement of youth voters for Kamala Harris?
• 17 leading youth groups just fully endorsed her. Reminder: Gen Z kicked ass in voter turnout in 2020, and were crucial in the election of President Joe Biden.
• But wait. Some more huge news…
• Vote.org says that as of yesterday, more than 100,000 people have registered to vote since Harris’s campaign started on Sunday. That’s an extraordinary number over a five-day period.
• Among them, 84% are younger voters. 18% are 18-year-old voters.
• And the top states in new voter registration include Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. I keep telling you… big fucking things are happening.
• Want another cool endorsement for Harris? How about more than 40 former Justice Department officials — who have served under presidents of both parties. The illustrious group who signed onto a letter endorsing Harris includes former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former deputy attorneys general Sally Yates, David Ogden, and Jamie Gorelick.
• Let’s keep up the good vibes…
• I don’t trust polls. I haven’t for about 12 years. probably more, but definitely the past three election cycles. They’ve been astonishingly wrong.
• But I’m going to mention a couple of current spicy ones anyway.
• Michigan is a swing state. Black residents make up 14% of that state’s population. Easily enough to sway a close election.
• In a July 22-24 WDIV/Detroit News poll, among the Black voters surveyed, 82.1% supported Harris, 11.5% backed independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and none supported Dump.
• None. Zero. 600 Black voters polled. Not one supported Dump.
• How about another swing state poll? Here’s the news from 626 likely voters on July 25 in the great state of Minnesota…
• Harris 50%, Trump 40%.
• Want some new swing state polling via our friends at Fox News? Sure.
• Michigan: Harris 49%, Trump 49%. Minnesota: Harris 52%, Trump 46%. Pennsylvania: Harris 49%, Trump 49%. Wisconsin: Trump 50%, Harris 49%.
• Every one of those state’s numbers are up for Harris versus Dump compared to where they were for Joe Biden a week ago. And it’s still been just six days since Kamala joined the race.
• How about polling data from a staunch conservative group? This is via Liberty4pa, a GOP-aligned in-state firm, polling 800 registered voters in Pennsylvania from July 23-25.
• POTUS: Harris 47%, Trump 46%. PA Senate: Casey 51%, McCormick 40%. Generic Ballot: DEM: 49%, GOP 48%.
• In related news…
• Not long ago in late June, I talked to you about the phenomenon of “double haters,” who in 2024 are a larger-than-usual segment of voters who couldn’t stand either presumed nominee.
• Right up until last week, an unprecedented share of Americans held unfavorable views of both President Biden and Dump. It was a full 25% — the highest share of "double haters" at this stage in any of the last 10 elections.
• That factor — a week later — is fucking GONE.
• Nearly nine-in-ten voters — including Republicans and Independents — think Biden made the right call. Joe’s approval rating jumped from 36% to 43% after his withdrawal. Meanwhile, Harris' rose to 46%.
• So now, this is starting to look like a more typical matchup, with both Republicans and Democrats stating they are mostly happy with their candidate and disapproving of their opponent.
• Before we keep thinking about the future both near and distant, let’s take a quick look back and see what the team of Biden and Harris accomplished since they went into office in January 2021.
• The USA now has the strongest economy in the world. Not China. The USA.
• The Biden/Harris admin created nearly 16 million new jobs. The wealth gap between races is the lowest in 20 years.
• They made historic infrastructure investments. They lowered prescription drug costs. They have record health insurance coverage. 
• They put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. They gave help to a million veterans who were exposed to deadly toxins. The violent crime rate is at a 50-year low… literally the lowest since I was a small child. And border crossings, while still high, are lower than they were when Dump left office.
• There is not a single metric you can look at that doesn’t show that the Biden/Harris team has been better for America than Dumpy was.
• Let’s chat about the delicious possibility of debates between the convicted felon and the accomplished prosecutor.
• Per news reports, ABC News is continuing preparations for the presidential debate scheduled for September 10, despite Li’l Dump saying he won’t consider participating.
• “I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden,” said Dump, probably with his voice quivering while hiding under his blanky. Dump had previously boasted that he’d gladly debate Harris.
• Harris told reporters she had agreed to the September 10 debate and accused Trump of backpedaling. “What happened to ‘any time, any place?’” she posted on social media yesterday.
• I want to do at least one news story that isn’t specifically about the upcoming battle to save our country. Oh wait, never mind… it’s also exactly about that.
• And it’s good.
• Yesterday, Maricopa County, AZ Superior Court Judge Christopher Whitten rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters would use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state.
• He said the wording the state legislative council suggested is “packed with emotion and partisan meaning” and asked for what he called more “neutral” language. The forced-birth team in Arizona freaked out and their House Speaker, an asshole named Ben Toma, said he’ll appeal the court’s decision to the state Supreme Court.
• Arizona’s measure will be on the ballot in November. It aims to expand abortion access from 15 weeks to 24 weeks, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb.
• It would also allow exemptions to save the woman’s life or to protect her physical or mental health. Plus, it would prevent the state from adopting or enforcing laws that would forbid access to the women’s reproductive health care.
• Fuck yes.
• Okay, one more note.
• Joe Biden is still President through January 20, 2025… and he does have goals to finish before he drives his ‘Vette into the sunset. The biggest one is Supreme Court reform.
• Biden has two proposals in mind: to establish an enforceable ethics code for the justices, and to subject them to term limits.
• Is it possible to do? Yes. Is it easy? No, seriously not at all. Each idea presents constitutional issues. It’s such a massive change that we don’t even know it it can be changed through ordinary legislation, or if it would require constitutional amendment.
• Also, any effort by Congress to impose a binding ethics code on the SCOTUS could violate the separation of powers.
• But the good news is that a majority of Americans agree with both concepts. So, maybe Joe has a chance of this being his last hurrah, and I’ve learned not to underestimate Joe Biden.
• And now, The Weather: “Behave” by Snoozer
• We have our first really major fire of the year here in California. Note: it’s in Northern California, which from me in the LA area is the same distance as it is from Charlotte, NC to New York, NY.
• Regardless, the Park Fire is the largest blaze so far this year in California. Thousands are threatened as evacuations were ordered in four counties: Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Shasta.
• Best of luck to my NorCal friends.
• From the Sports Desk… yesterday was the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
• I know most of you who watched did so for the extraordinary event production and excellent entertainment. I did as well, but I also had to for work. Long story short, my client had a musical artist performing at the event, and I had to document the occasion.
• But it was still absolutely amazing. Hats off to the French for taking a ballsy approach to the entire presentation. The headless Marie Antoinette with references to the French Revolution, the imagery of the Last Supper, a great metal band doing a heavy version of “Ah! Ça Ira.”
• I loved it. It also filled me with glee to see how butthurt some folks are today, calling the opening ceremony blatantly Satanic. I would have enjoyed that too, but that’s not what it was.
• The French — in addition to making direct references to their own history and culture — were also honoring the origins of the Olympics by celebrating Greek mythological references. It’s no surprise that the fundamentalist Christian assumed that it was aimed at them to undermine and disrespect their beliefs.
• It’s not always about you, assholes.
• In actual Olympic sports news, Team USA has won its first two medals on the first day of competition.
• Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook took the silver medal in the Women's Synchronized 3m Springboard diving event.
• Chloe Dygert grabbed the bronze medal in Women's Individual Road Cycling.
• Let’s go ladies! Let’s go USA! USA! USA!
• Today in history… Siward invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth north of the Firth of Forth (1054). England requires all goods bound for American colonies must be sent on English ships from English ports (1663). The Second Continental Congress passes legislation establishing "an hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men,” establishing the U.S. Army Medical Department (1775). The USA establishes its first federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, later renamed the Department of State (1789). Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution” (1794). The first transatlantic telegraph cable is completed, running from Ireland to Newfoundland (1866). Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later (1890). The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period (1919). Researchers at the University of Toronto prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar (1921). A cartoon called ‘A Wild Hare’ is released starring a new character named Bugs Bunny (1940). The US, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement ending the Korean War (1953). 5,000 more US military advisors are sent to Vietnam bringing the total to 21,000 (1964). The House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 to impeach Richard Nixon for obstruction of justice (1974). Belarus declares independence from the Soviet Union (1990). A pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta (1996).
• July 27 is the birthday of Shingon Buddhism founder Kūkai (774), Earl of Sandwich Edward Montagu (1625), pilot/engineer Geoffrey de Havilland (1882), actor Keenan Wynn (1916), writer/producer Norman Lear (1922), game designer Gary Gygax (1938), singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry (1944), figure skater Peggy Fleming (1948), singer Maureen McGovern (1949), drummer Bobby Rondinelli (1955), singer-songwriter Julianna Hatfield (1967), wrestler Triple H (1969), actress Maya Rudolph (1972), singer-songwriter/guitarist Pete Yorn (1974), MLB player Alex Rodriguez (1975), MLB player Max Scherzer (1984), NFL player Ryan Tannehill (1988), and golfer Jordan Spieth (1993).

That’s plenty for now. I’m going to have more coffee, eventually take a shower, and at some point I might do something productive today. No promises though. I deserve a fucking break too. Enjoy your day.

Random News: July 26, 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 July 26, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! This entire month of July 2024 had been more jam-packed with history-making news, it’s amazing that I’ve found time to do anything other than to write this silly column, and yet I jam it into a frenzied hour of research and typing between 7-8AM each day. If things seem a little rushed, that would be why. But I guess it still serves its purpose, which is to help make folks aware of stuff and — big picture — make the world a better place in which to live. Okay, let’s dive in.

• My standard disclaimer… I hate polls, they are mostly useless, blah blah blah.
• In early July, not long after the Biden/Trump debate debacle, things were starting to seem bleak (though I still think Biden would have squeaked out the win in November).
• The New York Times-Siena national poll back then had likely voters at Trump 49%, Biden 43%, and registered voters at Trump 49%, Biden 41%.
• But the same group just came out with a new poll, and the Kamala bounce is real. Likely voters: Trump 47%, Harris 46%; registered voters: Trump 48%, Harris 46%.
• And when a third party is factored in…  Harris 44%, Trump 43%, Kennedy 5%.
• This race can and will be won by Kamala Harris… and I have suspicions that a lot of the people who aren’t being polled are the younger voters who support Harris by huge margins over Dump.
• One tangible item of note: when the announcement was made on Sunday that Kamala was our candidate, the fundraising heat map via ActBlue showed massive numbers of people donating from areas like Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and Tampa, Florida… places we’ve long been told were Republican strongholds.
• I looked at one scenario where Harris beats Trump 406-132 in the electoral vote… and it wasn’t crazily far-fetched. The reality is that it will likely be much closer, but we really don’t know.
• And there are still over 100 days until the election.
• Some breaking news in that regard: former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama endorsed Harris for president this morning. They are the final key leaders in the Democratic Party to unite behind Harris after President Biden passed the torch to Kamala for the coming term.
• A video of the Obamas calling Harris was published.
• “We called to say, Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” said Barack. Michelle added, “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.”
• In a statement, the Obamas pledged to “do everything we can” to elect Harris and called on their legions of supporters to join the effort.
• Fuck yes. Let’s go.
• The last time I checked, at least 3,334 pledged delegates have now endorsed Vice President Harris. She’s far past the number required to be nominated, and will soon be approaching the total number of delegates who committed to Joe Biden.
• The official delegate roll call where Kamala Harris will get the nomination is on August 7.
• Let’s talk about what white women were doing last night.
• 164,000 of them joined the largest Zoom call in history. Dubbed "White Women: Answer the Call," the event — supporting Kamala Harris for President — quickly set a world record, crashing the platform but continuing on, and raising over $2 million in the process.
• Organized by prominent activist Shannon Watts, the event called on women across the nation to join the livestream and invite others to support Harris. The call featured notable speakers from across a wide swatch of politicians, athletes, and entertainers.
• They’re planning for another call on Sunday evening, rallying American women of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities to come together for Kamala. Pretty exciting stuff!
• The call definitely had its effect on prominent Republicans, who took to social media last night telling men to not allow their wives to vote for Kamala Harris.
• Hahahahaha. Good luck with that, dudes.
• Fun Fact: Kamala Harris will not be the shortest US president in history. She’s still a quarter inch taller than James Madison, who was 5’ 4”. And anyway, per Kamala’s own claim, she is 5’ 7-1/2” in heels.
• Why this matters to anyone is far beyond my ability to understand people, but I thought I’d mention it before the MAGA world tries to come up with some imaginary height requirement law.
• Random Note: This week, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings donated $7 million to a super PAC that supports Kamala Harris' campaign.
• Apparently this led to a meltdown on MAGA social media sites like Elon Musk’s X, with people saying they’d never watch anything on Netflix again.
• Snort. I give them three minutes after the new season of their favorite show drops to come running back.
• In other news of support for Harris, the gun safety group Giffords is rolling out a $15 million campaign to help her defeat Republican rival Dumples the Clown, as well as help House candidates in battleground districts who favor tougher gun laws.
• Fuck yes. Let’s go.
• In other news…
• Donnie Dump is scared to death of Kamala. He’s now trying to back out of the debates that had been previously scheduled.
• Vice President Harris says, “I'm ready to debate Donald Trump. I have agreed to the previously agreed upon September 10 debate. He agreed to that previously. Now it appears he's backpedaling. But I'm ready. And I think the voters deserve to see the split-screen that exists in this race on a debate stage. And so I'm ready. Let's go.”
• Trump’s confidence seems completely shot at the prospect of facing Harris in the general election.
• Meanwhile, he has other things to worry about.
• Prosecutors sad in a court filing yesterday that El Dumpo’s conviction for falsifying business records should not be reversed because of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity for reasons including a wealth of incriminating evidence.
• Dumpy’s lawyers had tried to claim that because the witness testimony included events that happened in 2017 during Dump’s first year in office, they were part of his official duties and he was therefore immune.
• But it would be insane to think that any court would find that his conviction on 34 felony counts for illegally trying to conceal the nature of a hush money payment for sex with a porn star before the 2016 election were “Presidential duties.”
• Moving on to another tidbit of the Orange Twatwaffle.
• The FBI is examining numerous metal fragments found near the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, PA to determine what actually caused the scratch of Dump’s ear after the assassination attempt on July 13.
• They’re trying to see if it was indeed a bullet or perhaps debris that caused the injury.
• Dump won’t allow the release of official medical records related to the incident.
• Let’s move on.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House yesterday to discuss the war in Gaza — and the possibility of securing a cease-fire deal — with President Joe Biden and future President Kamala Harris.
• The visit comes at a time of growing pressure in Israel and the U.S. to find an endgame to the nine-month war that’s left more than 39,000 dead in Gaza and some 1,200 dead in Israel. 
• After the meeting, Harris said, “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”
• Dumples the Clown claimed this week that Harris “is totally against the Jewish people.” This is probably a good place to note that Harris is married to a Jewish man, Doug Emhoff, who has played an outspoken role in the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism.
• Moving on.
• In all of the recent excitement about Kamala Harris, we haven’t spoken enough about the horrors of the Republican Project 2025.
• Why, here’s a good one now, on pages 477-478…
• Adoptions will only be allowed by a family unit consisting of a “married mother and father.”
• So obviously, their plan is to make adoptions by single women or men, or by married same-sex couples, impossible or even illegal.
• Having government involvement in your most intimate and personal decisions is what Donald Trump and his Project 2025 is all about.
• And now, The Weather: “Airplane” by Color Temperature
• From the Sports Desk… first, some actual news.
• Just hours before the Summer Olympic Games torch relay concludes and the opening ceremony begins in Paris today, France’s high-speed train lines were targeted by malicious acts, including arson, in what has been described as “coordinated sabotage” to disrupt travel.
• The ceremony will go ahead as planned, despite the attacks. Rain is also threatening to disrupt festivities, but no changes have been made to the ceremony plans.
• So with opening ceremonies kicking off shortly in Paris, a quick Olympic tidbit.
• When the games were held in 1900, over 98% of the participating athletes were male. Even in 1964, more than 86% of the Olympians were men.
• Even as recently as the 1992 Olympics in Atlanta, women athletes made up only 29%. But for 2024, for the first time, exactly 50% of the Olympic athletes are female. Cool.
• Let’s talk about medals. The USA leads all other countries in medal count by far with 2,975 total. They are followed by the Soviet Union (1,204 medals) and Germany (1,058 medals).
• Gold medals? Yeah, still us. The US has a total of 1,179, then the Soviet Union with 473, and then Germany (342).
• It’s worth noting that Great Britain, France, Italy, China, Sweden, and Norway have all won more than 200 gold medals apiece.
• The most successful Olympic athlete of any gender and nationality is American swimmer Michael Phelps, with 23 gold medals, three silver and two bronze won across five games. 
• Among women, former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina is the most successful female Olympian. Nine of her 18 Olympic medals were gold, along with five silvers and four bronze between 1956-1964.
• The Opening Ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games starts today at 1:30PM EDT/10:30AM PDT.
• Today in history… Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at the Battle of Valdejunquera (920). Francis Drake, the English explorer, discovers a major bay on the coast of California, now known as San Francisco (1579). The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress, and Benjamin Franklin takes office as Postmaster General (1775). New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States (1788). Liberia declares its independence from the United States (1847). George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run (1861). Premiere of Richard Wagner's opera ‘Parsifal’ (1882). France annexes Tahiti (1891). United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner, later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1908). In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments (1941). The USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with components and enriched uranium for the Little Boy nuclear bomb (1945). Aloha Airlines begins service from Honolulu (1946). U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council… holy shit (1947). Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the military of the United States (1948). Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution (1953). A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1989). The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush (1990). Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster (2005). Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for President of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (2016). 
• July 26 is the birthday of US vice president George Clinton (1739), playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856), psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875), novelist Aldous Huxley (1894), actress/comedian Gracie Allen (1895), actress Vivian Vance (1909), director Blake Edwards (1922), actor Jason Robards (1922), writer/illustrator Jan Berenstain (1923), director Stanley Kubrick (1928), singer-songwriter Dobie Gray (1940), singer Darlene Love (1941), singer-songwriter Mick Jagger (1943), actress Helen Mirren (1945), singer-songwriter/drummer Roger Taylor (1949), figure skater Dorothy Hamill (1956), actress Nana Visitor (1957), actor Kevin Spacey (1959), actress Sandra Bullock (1964), actor Jeremy Piven (1965), actress Kate Beckinsale (1973), singer-songwriter Iron & Wine (1974), UK prime minister Liz Truss (1975), and NBA player Delonte West (1983).

There’s always more news than I have time to offer, but this is a pretty good batch of stuff. Hey. I’m proud of you people. We have a good ways to go, but our trajectory is looking great, and I think things are going to continue on a path of optimism and energy. In upcoming weeks we’ll be expanding our discussions about the important things to focus on between now and November 5. Enjoy your day.