Random News: August 19, 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 August 19, 2024, and it’s a Monday. This oversized cup of coffee is doing me right this morning. Also, I’ve noticed in recent days that when I get up at 6am, it’s still quite dark. Summer may still hav a month left on the calendar, but there’s a hint of fall in the air. I look forward to it. Let’s do some news.

• Kamala Harris and her campaign are doing the hard work needed to see it through to the finish line.
• Yesterday, she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, along with their spouses joined up for a bus tour across a crucial part of Pennsylvania in a political show of force and call to action before Democrats kick off their national convention today in Chicago.
• They stopped at a Democratic office in Rochester, PA, where they met with volunteers and joined in on a phone banking session before delivering remarks to supporters that aimed to rally volunteers for the journey ahead.
• Sunday’s multi-city tour is the first such swing for Harris. She and Walz have often appeared together at rallies, but the bus tour also includes second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz.
• The campaign buses stopped in Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh and a large cache of Democratic voters, and then rolled into Beaver County, a more Republican-leaning area that Dumpy carried in 2020.
• Both candidates see Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes as crucial in most paths to victory.
• Polls have shown a competitive race, with Harris improving on Biden’s numbers but not fully pulling away from Trump.
• A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday shows Harris with a narrow lead over Trump. But as The Post noted, given the margin of error for the poll, which measured only national support, Harris’s lead among registered voters is not considered statistically significant.
• You have to understand, the way things are set up, Democrats don’t just need to squeak by in a narrow victory. They have to crush Dump in both the general election and the electoral vote in order to win.
• Nationally, the latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll has Harris with a narrow lead over Dump. It’s not enough.
• Harris stands at 49 percent to Dumpy’s 45 percent among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup. When third-party candidates are included in the survey, Harris is at 47 percent and Dump at 44 percent, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 5 percent. 
• But given the margin of error in this poll, which tests only national support, Harris’s lead among registered voters is not considered statistically significant.
• At this point in 2020 in the same poll, Joe Biden had a 4.5-point popular vote margin. Harris’s three-percentage-point advantage in a race that includes third-party candidates is still not enough to count on a victory.
• There’s no question that Harris is polling significantly better than Biden was before he exited the race. But we also must accept that the election will almost certainly be determined once again by seven swing states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.
• And frankly, no offense to those fine states, but that fucking sucks. There are 43 other states in this country where I believe Democrats can kick some ass in every one of them, and that voters in every state are smart enough to understand what’s at stake.
• Every moment between now and November 5, you should consider the Harris/Walz ticket an underdog whose only chance of winning depends on your vote.
• Moving on.
• Let’s talk about one thing you can expect with 100% certainty tonight at the DNC: Joe Biden is going to get a hero’s welcome.
• When he walks onstage tonight at United Center, the roars will be deafening. One thing that I think is true in nearly all cases: a huge majority of Democrats are thankful for Joe Biden’s service to the country over his long career… especially for the past four years as President.
• And obviously, the situation we found ourselves in just one month ago was beyond complex. In some alternate universe where Biden was maybe four years younger — similar to the man we overwhelmingly voted into office in 2020 — he’d be on that stage this week accepting his nomination for a second term.
• And yet, here we are, and no one in their right mind — Democrat or Republican or anything in between — can deny that the effect of Biden stepping down form the election and allowing Kamala Harris to run as a higher-percentage winning candidate was the right move.
• It’s tangible. It’s provable. If you think the same level of excitement and enthusiasm for Joe at this moment would be greater than that currently enjoyed by Kamala, I don’t know what to tell you.
• Actually, I do. You’re wrong. That’s what I’d tell you.
• I think Joe’s legacy as a great President stays great as a result of him stepping aside, rather than potentially having lost to Dump and the country suffering as a result.
• It took a big man to do that. I have nothing but respect for him, and history will view his presidency with high praise.
• Joe will be reminding you of that tonight. The many accomplishments he made in office, including guiding the country through healing from the early part of the pandemic to restoring relationships abroad to curbing unauthorized border crossings and crime at home, while executing on a sweeping economic agenda.
• You can also expect Biden to deliver a stark warning about the dangers of another Dump term to make a forceful case for his vice president. Harris is expected to be in attendance for Biden’s speech.
• Looking forward to it.
• That’s not the only thing going on there at the DNC, of course.
• Pro-Palestine demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention began gathering last night in Chicago, as expected. They held a rally near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker.
• Fine. Peaceful protest is part of the legal protections of this country.
• Let’s make sure it stays peaceful, he said, with strong suspicions it won’t.
• What do they want? An immediate cease-fire in Gaza (very good idea) and to immediately end all U.S. aid to Israel (very, very, incredibly not good idea).
• Today’s protest will begin at noon in Union Park.
• Moving on.
• The fallout and backlash from both sides of the aisle regarding Donald Trump’s statements denigrating U.S. armed forces has not dissipated.
• Republican governor Chris Sununu (NH) rebuked Dump yesterday, saying, "I don't think they are the first asinine comments former president Trump has ever made. I don't think they will be a game changer in terms of the election. When you are talking about what it takes for someone to stand up and protect this country, it is incomparable. It stands alone in its own lane in terms of the honor, especially when you are talking about the congressional medal of honor."
• Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who lost both her legs fighting in the Iraq War, called Dump despicable for his vile comments. She said, “Donald Trump is despicable. He doesn’t deserve to be commander in chief. And certainly those remarks are consistent with where he’s always been. He thinks that we’re suckers and losers.”
• In other Dumpy news, last night he may have committed the biggest unforced error I’ve ever seen a political candidate do.
• Dump shared screenshots of posts by a pair of right-wing X accounts showing multiple AI-generated photos of women wearing shirts with the slogan “Swifties For Trump.”
• And then he added an AI-generated poster of Swift in an Uncle Sam outfit urging her fans to vote for Trump, to which he added, “I accept!”
• Can you imagine being so stupid as to purposefully enrage Taylor Swift and her legions of fans? It’s indescribable dumb.
• I cannot wait for the fucking backlash from this. I’m particularly interested in what Swift herself, a billionaire with a penchant to use legal recourse to crush those who attack her, will do. I don’t think it will take long.
• To be clear, Swift endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and has never voiced any support for Dump. My belief is that there are provable damages via Dump trying to trick people into believing that Swift is offering her support.
• Any association with Dump could cost her multiple millions in ticket sales, merch sales, and music sales. I think Dump should have to preemptively and immediately pay for those damages.
• Now. Today. Pay up, Dumpy.
• In other news…
• Things aren’t going well for Vladimir Putin in his invasive war on Ukraine.
• Yesterday, Ukrainian forces blew up a second bridge in the Russian territory of Kursk, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine is “getting stronger.”
• The Kursk offensive has left Russia struggling to shore up its own territory. Kyiv seems to have multiple goals with the assault, from boosting morale after a torrid few months to stretching Russia’s resources.
• Slava Ukraini!
• And now, The Weather: “Cheesed” by Cool Band
• Rest in peace to pioneering talk show host Phil Donahue, who died last night following a long illness. He was 88.
• “The Phil Donahue Show” went national in 1969, was redubbed “Donahue” in 1974, eventually reached more than 200 stations across the country, and ran until 1996.
• He was hugely influential on all daytime talk shows that followed, forging a path that was followed by people like Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera and many others.
• From the Sports Desk… the Las Vegas Raiders have chosen their starting quarterback, and it’s the man with the porn ‘stache… Gardner Minshew II.
• It just makes sense. Aidan O’Connell is a great young talent, and will continue to grow into the role. Minshew has the experience and proven track record, and if you can recall last season (which seems like a thousand years ago), he nearly led a mediocre Colts team to the playoffs.
• In other news from the Sports Desk, you can add yet another milestone to WNBA player Caitlin Clark's record-breaking season, her latest coming yesterday in the Indiana Fever's 92-75 win over the Seattle Storm as she broke the WNBA single-season rookie mark for assists.
• Clark, who leads the WNBA in assists at 8.3 per game, had 9 in yesterday’s game to reach 232, passing Ticha Penicheiro's previous rookie record of 224 set in 1998.
• Today in history… Octavian compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul (43 BC). In Salem, MA, one woman and four men are executed for practicing witchcraft (1692). The last major battle of the Revolutionary War happens at the Battle of Blue Licks in present-day Kentucky (1782). The New York Herald breaks the news of the California Gold Rush to the East Coast (1848). US Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and are massacred in return (1854). The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens (1909). Germany approves Adolf Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Führer (1934). Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam (1945). Severe flooding in the northeast caused by Hurricane Diane claims 200 lives (1955). The Soviet Union moves toward dissolution when Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on vacation in Ukraine (1991). Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević (1999). Google has its IPO on Nasdaq (2004). 
• August 19 is the birthday of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus (232), engineer Orville Wright (1871), fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883), poet Ogden Nash (1902), inventor Philo Farnsworth (1906), writer Ring Lardner, Jr. (1915), publisher/politician Malcolm Forbes (1919), screenwriter/producer Gene Roddenberry (1921), jockey Bill Shoemaker (1931), actress Diana Muldaur (1938), drummer Ginger Baker (1939), singer Ian Gillan (1945), US president Bill Clinton (1946), songwriter/bass player John Deacon (1951), actor/director Jonathan Frakes (1952), NFL player Anthony Muñoz (1958), NFL player Morten Andersen (1960), actor John Stamos (1963), actress Kyra Sedgwick (1965), singer/rapper Nate Dogg (1969), actor Matthew Perry (1969), and NFL player Kirk Cousins (1988).

I will not be reporting live from the Democratic National Convention because why the fuck would I? I do enjoy providing information about the aspects of politics that affect our respective lives; that doesn’t mean I’d ever want to actually be around a bunch of politicians. Gross. But obviously, I’ll be following the events there closely and we’ll discuss them each day this week. Enjoy your day.