Random News: August 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 August 30, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! And it’s the Friday before a three-day weekend here in the USA, where we’ll be celebrating Labor Day on Monday. We will at some point be discussing that holiday and the meaning behind it, but for now we have a ton of news and info that’s pertinent today. Let’s talk about that stuff.

• Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, along with the running mate Tim Walz, did an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash yesterday.
• First side note: doing interviews with your VP choice is a long-standing tradition. It’s been done by Donald Trump and Mike Pence, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Biden and Harris themselves, and many other executive teams.
• Some basic takeaways: the Associated Press said that the interview was notable for its… normalcy. Yep, in a world where weird MAGA people spout bonkers gibberish for hours on end, it is indeed nice to see a couple of normal people sit and thoughtfully answer questions in complete sentences.
• Bash did try to call out Harris on how her positions on issues including fracking and border security have evolved since she first ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but Harris calmly offered reasonable responses.
• Continuing her efforts to try and unit the nation, when asked if she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet, Harris said, “Yes, I would.”
• There is, actually, recent precedent for Cabinet selections that cross party lines. Former President Barack Obama appointed several Republicans to high-ranking positions — including former Illinois Rep. Ray LaHood as transportation secretary and former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary.
• “I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion,” Harris said. “I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”
• There was one topic that Harris would not entertain… Dumpy’s disgusting statements about her racial and gender identity. When Bash brought up Dump’s opinion that Harris “happened to turn Black” for political purposes, Harris’s response was, “Next question, please.”
• “That’s it?” Bash asked, and Harris replied, “That’s it,” with a smile.
• Well done! 
• The discussion encompassed topics like Biden’s decision to step aide, putting back in place the border security bill that Dump forced the Republicans to tank, and some points on Tim Walz’s background and military service.
• They both seemed kind, dignified, trustworthy… everything you want in a Presidential team.
• No word as to when Dump and Couch Boy are going to do their tandem team interview.
• After the interview, Harris and Walz held a jam-packed rally in Savannah, GA. It’s the first time a presidential nominee has visited the city since the 1990s, because most candidates assume that it’s a safe Republican stronghold.
• Not anymore.
• What’s next for the Harris/Walz team? Starting Tuesday, the campaign is launching a bus tour in Palm Beach, FL to promote access to reproductive rights.
• The “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour includes second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, among others.
• The tour will make at least 50 stops in red, blue, and battleground states in the next couple of months. They will focus on talking to voters about Harris and Walz’s plans to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the Supreme Court at the direction of Donald Trump in 2022.
• Let’s move on.
• This is a good time to make a point about how important events like presidential elections are covered by the media today, and what that means.
• A great example is that Kamala Harris invited two hundred content creators to the Democratic Convention, and the more traditional media was asking why they were invited.
• Well, those two hundred creators generated over 400 million online impressions. That’s why.
• We still need those trusted news sources that reach a big segment of the populace who otherwise wouldn’t be as informed as they are.
• But today’s world has changed drastically from that of the previous few generations. There are entire huge-ass voting blocs that would never consider turning on CNN or Fox or NBC or any other mainstream news source.
• You have to reach those people — be it on TikTok or Twitch or YouTube or other modern media — or they’ll have no idea who you are.
• Moving on to a point about abortion that men maybe have yet to consider.
• Let’s say you’re some guy who doesn’t give a shit about the battle for women’s reproductive rights. Why would you care, oh alpha male? You don’t carry children. Sucks to be a woman, huh?
• Except now would be a good time to inform you that child support payments start at a quarter of your annual income.
• That’s the lowest level, if you’re very lucky. So if you make $80,000/year, you’re going to be writing a check for about $1700/month for the next 18 years.
• Or if you’re an asshole who can’t be responsible and pay up on their own, they just take it right out of your paycheck.
• Again, that’s the lowest level. It can be much more. Maybe you should care a little more about the legal right for women to choose to get an abortion, even if it’s only for selfish reasons of a man-child asshole.
• But here’s some good news, courtesy of our friends at Fox News.
• Their recent poll in regard to the abortion rights ballot initiatives in states where it’s on the ballot this fall are reflecting the predominant national opinion that women should have autonomy over their own bodies.
• In Arizona, 73% will vote to protect abortion rights, while 23% will vote against protections.
• In Nevada, 75% will vote to protect abortion rights, and just 21% will vote against protections.
• Kamala Harris has promised that she will sign legislation that enshrines a woman’s right to reproductive freedom nationwide as soon as it crosses her desk. Count on it.
• And while we’re on this topic, Donnie Dump is still riding that fence so hard that his hemorrhoids must be hurting.
• Yesterday he enraged evangelicals and other hard-line anti-abortion groups by stating he was now not in favor of Florida’s strict abortion law, saying that the six week ban was “too short.”
• He know how immensely unpopular his decision to kill Roe v. Wade was, and will say anything to try and get those votes back. Too late, Donnie Boy… way too late.
• And immediately after, his campaign negated his statement, with Dump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, "President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”
• Snorrrrrrrrt. What an asshole.
• Let’s move on.
• Jack White noticed a social post by Dumpy’s aide Margo Martin, featuring a White Stripes song that he composed. He replied…
• ”Oh....Don't even think about using my music you fascists. Law suit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others.) Have a great day at work today Margo Martin. And as long as I'm here, a double fuck you DonOLD for insulting our nation's veterans at Arlington you scum. You should lose every military family's vote immediately from that if ANYTHING makes sense anymore."
• Get his ass, Jack.
• Speaking of which, the fallout from Dumples the Clown’s happy smiley photo op on the graves of soldiers and Marines at Arlington National Cemetery will not fade away, nor should it.
• The family of Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, a Green Beret who died by suicide after serving eight combat tours and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, expressed concern that Dumpy’s campaign had filmed his grave site without permission.
• A reminder that campaign photography is expressly forbidden in the heavily restricted section of the cemetery known as Section 60 where Dump shot his campaign video.
• And this whole thing is far from over. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who sits on the Senate Armed Services panel, added yesterday that he wants to see the Army’s report on the confrontation between Dumpy’s team and the Army staff at Arlington.
• Meanwhile, the effort to cover this up is also blowing up on them.
• Elmo Muck’s social platform X flagged the original story from NPR that outlined the fallout of the clash between Dump and the U.S. Army at Arlington National Cemetery as potentially “unsafe.”
• Users who attempted to view the story through a link on X yesterday were redirected by the platform to a warning page that reads “this may be unsafe.”
• The link was to National Public Radio’s web site. It’s particularly funny how Elmo claims to be a “free speech absolutist” and then immediately censors any story that makes his pal Dumpy look like the asshole he truly is.
• Moving on before I get annoyed.
• And now, The Weather: “Totally Confused” by Barney Cortez
• From the Sports Desk… Tom Brady has always seemed to me to be a guy who wants everything. And, like most successful people, he’s taken action to ensure he gets what he wants.
• But it turns out that indeed, you can’t always get what you want.
• Brady’s approval as a partial owner of the Las Vegas Raiders is still pending, but he’s also trying to get a job as a Fox Sports broadcaster.
• And yesterday, the NFL ruled that he can’t do both, at least not fully. Brady is not permitted to be in another team's facility, is not permitted to witness practice, and is not permitted to attend broadcast production meetings, either in person or virtually.
• Obviously, that makes sense. It could definitely be viewed as a conflict of interest. Tom Terrific is likely going to have to pick a lane and stay in it.
• In other sports/business news, Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry has agreed to a one-year, $62.6 million extension.
• The agreement keeps Curry under contract with Golden State through the 2026-27 season, and he will become the third NBA player, along with LeBron James and Kevin Durant, to pass $500 million in career earnings.
• Half a billion to bounce a ball around. I love sports and I greatly respect Steph, but imagine a world where teachers and nurses and firefighters were paid at a rate that’s commensurate with the importance of their jobs.
• And finally from the Sports Desk, if you have yet to watch the video of Shohei Ohtani’s dog Decoy throwing out the first pitch at Wednesday's Dodgers game, just go over to YouTube and watch it now. You’ll be smiling for a good while.
• Today in history… Guru Ram Das becomes the Fourth Sikh Guru/Master (1574). HMS Pandora sinks after having run aground on the Great Barrier Reef (1791). Melbourne, Victoria, Australia is founded (1835). The city of Houston,TX is founded (1836). Germans defeat the Russians in the WWI Battle of Tannenberg (1914). The Queen Mary wins the Blue Riband with the fastest transatlantic crossing (1936). The Moscow–Washington hotline between the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union goes into operation (1963). Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1967). President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing (1981). Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage (1984). The 11-day Ruby Ridge standoff ends with Randy Weaver surrendering to federal authorities (1992). The last remaining American troops leave Afghanistan, ending U.S. involvement in the war (2021).
• August 30 is the birthday of novelist Mary Shelley (1797), physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871), politician Huey Long (1893), actress Shirley Booth (1898), actor Fred McMurray (1908), MLB player Ted Williams (1918), singer-songwriter/guitarist Kitty Wells (1919), actor Bill Daily (1927), businessman/philanthropist Warren Buffett (1930), singer-songwriter/guitarist John Phillips (1935), race car driver/designer Bruce McLaren (1937), radio host John Peel (1939), illustrator Robert Crumb (1943), model/actress Peggy Lipton (1946), comedian Lewis Black (1948), NBA player Robert Parish (1953), singer-songwriter/bass player Dave Brockie (1963), singer-songwriter/guitarist Lars Frederiksen (1971), model/actress Cameron Diaz (1972), tennis player Andy Roddick (1982), and NFL player Drake Maye (2002).

I have some plans for this three-day weekend, but I can tell you about those during said weekend. Enough for now. Enjoy your day.