Random News: July 5, 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 5, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I’m up and about at my usual time, showered and dressed and with a fresh cup of coffee. It’s kind of a weird Friday in ways that will be apparent below.

• Am I taking the day off work? All my clients are closed today.
• So yes and no. It’s sort of Schrödinger’s work day.  I’m doing some half-assed work stuff, but nothing major. 
• It will definitely be a more chill Friday than usual, which in a typical week seems to be the day that people remember the thing they forgot to tell me earlier in the week and is due by end of day.
• So that’s cool. Let’s look at the news.
• Starting with the UK election results. With almost all the results in, Labour had won 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons… and the Conservatives only got 118.
• The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is Keir Starmer, who is the first Labour prime minister since 2010.
• This is a seismic switch in government. To put it in a perspective Americans would understand, it’s sort of like if Bernie Sanders had replaced Trump in 2020.
• Starmer says he will lead a “government of service” on a mission of national renewal in his first official remarks today after his landslide victory. He also acknowledged in his first speech outside 10 Downing St. that many people are disillusioned and cynical about politics, but said his government would try to restore faith in government.
• Another trend in the UK is a departure from the two-party system.
• In addition to the 410 seats now held by Labour and the 118 by Conservatives, there will be 71 Liberal Democrats (up from 15), and four Green members rather than one.
• And yes, there will also be four members of the right-wing anti-immigration Reform U.K., including its leader and self-professed political agitator, Nigel Farage.
• But overall, I am very, very encouraged about a key US ally swinging the pendulum in the same direction as I’d hope for in our country. Well done, UK voters. Bravo!
• Let’s do some more news on the international front.
• Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds the far-right leader received from Saudi Arabia during his time in office.
• See, in other countries they don’t just accept corrupt bullshit. 
• Brazil’s Supreme Court has yet to receive the police report with the indictment. Once it does, the country’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze the document and decide whether to file charges and force Bolsonaro to stand trial.
• This is Bolsonaro’s second indictment since leaving office, following another in May for falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination certificate. But this indictment dramatically raises the legal threats facing the divisive ex-leader.
• Fuck that guy.
• Moving on.
• Back in the USA, tonight at 8PM, ABC News will air an interview between George Stephanopoulos and President Joe Biden.
• It’s Biden’s first interview since last week’s horrible debate performance that has his campaign in peril.
• I’ve already told you my outlook. My support remains with Joe, a good man who’s done a great job for the past four years.
• The media is all aflutter with steamy click-bait headlines about Biden’s age and mental/physical condition, and tons of speculation about him stepping aside for another candidate.
• And frankly, Biden’s admission that he’s been feeling fatigued, and needed to get more sleep so was planning fewer engagements after 8PM seems very normal for an 81-year-old man, but is concerning for a US President from whom people expect high vigor.
• Side note: I’m 26 years younger than Biden and I don’t do much after 8PM either. Just saying.
• On another front, keep in mind, this is also the guy who has for decades, having nothing to do with his age, been the king of verbal gaffes. In a radio interview this week, he said, "By the way, I'm proud to be, as I said, the first vice-president, first black woman to serve with a black president.”
• Sigh. C’mon Joe.
• But then yesterday, Biden once again issued another defiant warning that he has no intention of stepping down. “I’m not going anywhere,” he told military families gathered to watch July Fourth fireworks at the White House.
• So I’m not gonna sugarcoat things: this interview tonight is critical to Biden’s electability. 
• If Joe Biden himself puts his support behind a different person, then I will gladly shift my support to him or her. Until then, I’m all in for Joe.
• Or, more appropriately and truthfully, I’m all in for the ideals of the Democratic Party… and doing everything I can to prevent the nightmare of a second Dump term and what horrors that he’s promised will ensue.
• Perhaps this weekend, after the interview tonight, I can actually tell you about what some of the hypothetical possibilities are should Joe decide to call it a wrap and ask the DNC to nominate a different person (though frankly, I don’t think that will happen).
• Let’s move on for now.
• It was a week ago today that the Supreme Court made their landmark ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which jettisoned a doctrine known as the “Chevron deference” which generally required courts to defer to the expertise of federal experts when regulations faced scrutiny.
• That doctrine stood for 40 years. Now it’s gone. What are some of the things that might now happen?
• First, you can pretty much forget about student loan forgiveness. Obviously, if Dump wins, it’s out regardless. But some of those programs are the subject of ongoing Republican lawsuits that allege government overreach.
• Next? Protections for transgender students. A Biden administration regulation protecting transgender students and laying out how schools must respond to accusations of sexual assault and harassment was already being challenged by Republicans, and the new ruling gives opponents further ammunition to stop it.
• What else? How about worker’s rights? Expanded overtime pay eligibility, new requirements for employers to accommodate pregnancy, guidelines on workplace harassment and standards holding franchised brands responsible for labor law violations are all in jeopardy.
• How about the climate? Publicly traded companies are soon supposed to start sharing key details about their carbon footprints and how much of a threat climate changes poses to their bottom lines. But the Supreme Court’s decision will kill that requirement before it even takes effect.
• There’s much more, but you can count on a general downturn in your rights as a citizen in favor of more profits for big corporations and the extremely wealthy.
• That’s what it’s all about.
• And now, The Weather: “Sea (Fade Away)” by Retail Drugs
• Let’s do a chart. It’s the first week of July 1966 and here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles.
• I am just about negative three years old at the time. Pop music, though, is going through a rapid change. It’s just on the verge of the influence of Dylan, weed, and the Vietnam War that will change Western culture and everything in it forever.
• 1. Strangers In The Night (Frank Sinatra). 2. Paperback Writer (The Beatles). 3. Red Rubber Ball (The Cyrkle). 4. Paint It, Black (The Rolling Stones). 5. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (Dusty Springfield). 6. Hanky Panky (Tommy James And The Shondells). 7. Cool Jerk (The Capitols). 8. I Am A Rock (Simon & Garfunkel). 9. Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind? (The Lovin' Spoonful). 10. Barefootin' (Robert Parker). 11. Little Girl (Syndicate Of Sound). 12. Don't Bring Me Down (The Animals). 13. Sweet Talkin' Guy (The Chiffons). 14. Oh How Happy (Shades Of Blue). 15. Ain't Too Proud To Beg (The Temptations). 16. Dirty Water (The Standells). 17. Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) (Swingin' Medallions). 18. Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me) (The 4 Seasons Featuring the "Sound of Frankie Valli”). 19. Along Comes Mary (The Association). 20. He (The Righteous Brothers).
• From the Sports Desk… the WBC has expelled boxing star Ryan Garcia from any activity with the organization after he repeatedly used racial slurs against Black people and disparaged Muslims in comments livestreamed on social media.
• Little fucking prick.
• Garcia, 25, is already serving a one-year suspension from the New York State Athletic Commission after a positive test for the performance-enhancing drug ostarine.
• That punk-ass bitch was also arrested on felony vandalism charges last month after a Beverly Hills hotel accused him of causing an estimated $15,000 in damage.
• Today in history… John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colonists for Newfoundland (1610). Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687). Frederick Douglass delivers his "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" speech in Rochester, NY (1852). The United States Secret Service begins operation (1865). The police open fire on striking longshoremen in San Francisco (1934). Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation (1937). Micheline Bernardini models the first modern bikini at a swimming pool in Paris (1946). National Health Service Acts create the national public health system in the United Kingdom (1948). The BBC broadcasts its first daily television news bulletin (1954). Elvis Presley records his first single, "That's All Right", at Sun Records in Memphis, TN (1954). The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon (1971). Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title (1975). Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins his fifth Wimbledon final and becomes the first male tennis player to win the championships five times in a row (1980). Jeff Bezos founds Amazon (1994). The Juno space probe arrives at Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet (2016). 
• July 5 is the birthday of doge of Venice Carlo Contarini (1580), Connecticut colony founder Thomas Hooker (1586), businessman/politician Thomas Pitt (1653), admiral David Farragut (1801), businessman P. T. Barnum (1810), novelist/poet Jean Cocteau (1889), chemist John Howard Northrop (1891), politician Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902), actress Katherine Helmond (1929), singer-songwriter/guitarist Robbie Robertson (1943), singer-songwriter Huey Lewis (1950), cartoonist Bill Watterson (1958), singer-songwriter Marc Cohn (1959), actress Edie Falco (1963), rapper RZA (1969), soccer player Megan Rapinoe (1985), and MLB player Shohei Ohtani (1994).

Okay. Back to doing various things that may occasionally involve work. I have a couple of big topics to discuss with you over the coming weekend. Just so you know. Stuff is coming. Enjoy your day.