Random News: July 13, 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 13, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. I’m here in my bathrobe, sipping Peet’s Sumatra, after a somewhat rough night that taught me how having a giant plate of chile relleno and beans right before bed is a really bad idea. Live and learn. Let’s do some news.

• Starting with President Joe Biden, who returned to the form we know and love yesterday at a Detroit campaign stop yesterday.
• The dude was on fire, delivering his most forceful defense yet of his candidacy in a loud and boisterous event where he gave a list of factors that he said rendered Trump unfit to serve as president again.
• The thousands of supporters there also delivered their own message, chanting, “Don’t you quit!” while Joe turned up the heat on that piece of shit who held the job previously.
• “Mr. Trump raped her,” said Biden, emphasizing the word “raped” as he read from a judge’s ruling in a case in which Trump was found civilly liable of defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of assaulting her.
• Joe also came in hot on his insistence that he would remain in the presidential race, reiterating that Democratic primary voters had chosen him and complaining that “elites” were trying to undo their will.
• He said, “You’ve probably noticed there’s been a lot of speculation lately: ‘What’s Joe Biden going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? He’s going to drop out.,’ Here’s my answer: I am running, and we’re going to win.”
• I’m with him.
• Another strong point from the president: “I’m the only Democrat or Republican who has beaten Donald Trump ever. And I’m going to beat him again,” Biden said. “I know him. Donald Trump is a loser.”
• Fuck yes he is.
• Anyway, while I can’t say that one event will solve all the issues any more than one event caused all the issues, it was definitely a positive moment, along with the previous night’s press conference.
• And I’ll reiterate: I’ll happy support and vote for Joe Biden in November, and if circumstances change and I have to vote for another worthy Democrat, that’s what I’ll do.
• We’re going to band together to defeat Dumples the Clown and his Project 2025 plan for America. Simple as that.
• One more thing… Dump’s imminent announcement of a running mate and the start of the Republican National Convention next week will be shifting some of the focus to the GOP’s own vulnerabilities, including Trump’s own lies and weird, rambling speeches.
• And finally, a message from the one and only Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). He wrote it this morning in an op-ed in the New York Times.
• “I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected. Why? Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar."
• Literally the most effective president in the modern history of our country. C’mon people! Put your fucking fears and doubts aside. Pull up your big boy and girl pants and get ready to kick ass.
• Moving on.
• Dumpy’s pal Rudy is, in a word, fucked.
• Rudy Giuliani is no longer entitled to bankruptcy protection, a judge decided yesterday, making it possible for creditors to immediately pursue his assets within days.
• And it’s all Rudy’s fault. See, most people who get the privilege of bankruptcy protection then follow a clearly defined set of rules.
• But Rudy hasn’t provided any insight whatsoever into the books of companies he solely owns. He’s taken in thousands of dollars in wire transfers in recent weeks. He hasn’t been transparent with his creditors, being secretive about an upcoming book contract and keeping his personal earnings from a radio show and podcast.
• So now, that protection is gone. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, as well as other creditors, can immediately start collecting on the more than $150 million Giuliani owes.
• Giuliani says he is now worth about $10.6 million, with nearly all of that wealth in the value of two apartments he owns, in New York City and in Palm Beach, Florida.
• We’ll see about that.
• Moving on with some very good news.
• American consumers were celebrating this week after the DOW Jones topped 40,000, hitting 40,601.90 — an all-time intraday high.
• And that news came one day after the Biden economy saw inflation fall for the first time since May 2020. The economy saw consumer prices fall in June for the first time since the early months of the pandemic, decreasing by 0.1% on a monthly basis.
• The Biden admin is working to keep the American economy strong in multiple ways, including a $2 billion investment to retrofit and reopen 11 auto factories that have closed, or are at-risk of closing.
• This plants will be transformed for use in EV manufacturing, including making parts for electric SUVs, electric motorcycles and school buses, hybrid powertrains, and heavy-duty commercial truck batteries.
• These retrofits will enable production of over 1 million electrified light-duty vehicles and 40,000 electrified trucks and buses per year, nearly doubling the annual production of electric vehicles in the United States.
• They’ll also employ thousands of workers, saving 15,000 jobs and creating nearly 3,000 more. And a majority of these jobs are union jobs, and unions openly acknowledge that Biden is the most pro-union President in American history.
• Back to the side of the losers with some schadenfreude news for everyone.
• An eviction summons has been sent to MyPillow after the company failed to pay rent for the past two months on a Shakopee, MN property. 
• A complaint for eviction states MyPillow is supposed to pay $272,505.94 per month. When this was not paid in June, a notice was given to them. Now that MyPillow has allegedly not paid rent for July, the landlord is seeking to evict.
• In case you forgot, MyPillow was a previously successful company that’s being destroyed by Mike Lindell, a allegedly reformed drug addict, prominent election denier and promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the 2020 presidential election.
• Play fucked up games, win fucked up prizes, Mike.
• Let’s head on up to Milwaukee, WI, the site of next week’s Republican National Convention.
• The city is a Democratic stronghold. It’s as deep blue as places like San Francisco and Seattle. It’s also a place that Dumpy called “horrible” just a month before the convention that begins Monday.
• Owners of local restaurants, bars and venues in Milwaukee say the number of reservations that were promised during the RNC aren’t materializing. Protesters are complaining that the city is trying to keep them too far away from the convention site to have an impact.
• Milwaukee voted 79% for Biden in 2020. After his loss that year, Dumpy fought unsuccessfully to disqualify thousands of voters in Milwaukee, falsely portraying late-arriving returns driven by heavy absentee turnout as fraud.
• Fucking prick. I hope they let Dump know exactly how they feel about him there.
• Let’s do some not-unexpected shitty news out of Texas.
• Two conservative federal judges in the state have blocked President Biden’s administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students, preventing the rule from taking effect in the Republican-led state and a school district represented by a Christian legal rights group.
• The rulings this week by U.S. District Judges Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo and Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth followed decisions by three other Republican-appointed judges in Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana blocking the regulation in 14 other states.
• I have to wonder, what kind of judge goes to of their way to stop anti-discrimination laws from being enacted? Well, the two judges were respectively appointed by Dump and Bush, so… there you go.
• So Texan kids are now open season for discrimination, bullying, and worse, with no means to punish those who target them.
• Sigh. Let’s move on.
• I want to mention that I really don’t give a fuck about Dump’s choice of VP, but much like the same situation with Biden with both candidates being elderly, that VP might end up as President when Dump inevitably dies.
• All the more reason to make sure he doesn’t get re-elected. His list of VPs is entirely comprised of awful people who will absolutely take Dump’s Project 2025 and continue to run with it after Dump is dead and buried.
• And now, The Weather: “Believe” by HOMESHAKE
• A big RIP going out to a very small person.
• Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became an icon through her frank talk about bedroom topics, has died. She was 96.
• Westheimer‘s recurring theme was there was nothing to be ashamed of. I thought she was fucking great. And I would opine that she knew more about sex than any other 4-foot-7 person who ever existed.
• From the Sports Desk… we’re almost at a point that the Sports Desk can stop forcing itself to cover sports it doesn’t really know much or care about. Yay!
• But for now, we do have a big story in tennis: Barbora Krejcikova is the 2024 Wimbledon Women’s champion. It’s the Czech’s second Grand Slam title.
• Her victory came via a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Jasmine Paolini in the final today. Congrats to her!
• The Sports Desk notes that it is, in actuality, looking forward to covering its first Olympic Games, starting in less than two weeks.
• Today in history… Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem ends after the destruction of Solomon’s Temple (587 BC). William I of Scotland is captured by forces loyal to Henry II of England — my 26th great-gradfather (1174).The Congress of the Confederation enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory, establishes procedures for the admission of new states, and limits the expansion of slavery (1787). The New York City Draft Riots, some of the worst civil unrest in US history, begin (1863). The inaugural FIFA World Cup begins in Uruguay (1930). The Dartmouth workshop is the first conference on artificial intelligence (1956). Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of a secret Oval Office taping system to investigators for the Senate Watergate Committee (1973). Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil, New York City experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting (1977). The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Moscow and Sydney (1985). Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron resigns, and is succeeded by Theresa May (2016).
• July 13 is the birthday of Pope Clement X (1590), Ku Klux Klan racist piece of shit Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821), businessman John Jacob Astor IV (1864), author/illustrator Marcia Brown (1918), actor Bob Crane (1928), NFL player/politician Jack Kemp (1935), chef Paul Prudhomme (1940), actor Patrick Stewart (1940), actor Harrison Ford (1942), singer-songwriter/guitarist Roger McGuinn (1942), actor/comedian Cheech Marin (1946), NBA player David Thompson (1953), film director Cameron Crowe (1957), voice actor Tom Kenny (1962), singer-songwriter Gerald Levert (1966), actor/comedian/physician Ken Jeong (1969), and MLB player Cody Bellinger (1995).

I know things may seem crazy and uncertain right now, but I’ll tell you: in reality, things are always crazy and uncertain. You’re just not as deeply aware of it. Point being… we’re floating around in a chaotic universe, and the most important thing you can do is to accept that and enjoy whatever things make you happy and make those around you happy. That’s all. It’s not that hard. Enjoy your day.