Random News: August 9, 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 9, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! As has been the case daily — and will likely remain for a good while — we have a ton of news this morning. Let’s do it.

• Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz held an event at a Detroit-area union hall yesterday, with the Democratic nominee saying “we’re all in this together.”
• Harris has already received the endorsement of 38 labor unions, including the United Auto Workers. She and Walz spoke to about 100 UAW members at Local 900 Hall, which represents Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant.
• An important note from Michigan. On Wednesday, Harris won the backing of Assad I. Turfe, the deputy Wayne County executive, who is the highest-ranking Arab American official in Michigan’s largest county.
• “Kamala Harris embodies the America we deserve –- an America that stands for strength, inclusivity and unwavering commitment to justice. I wholeheartedly endorse Kamala Harris, as she represents the true spirit of our nation and the values we hold dear,” he said.
• It’s important for people to know that Harris is far more committed to the safety of the Palestinian people than her opponent, who outright supports the actions to bomb them and deport Muslim people from the USA.
• Today, Harris and Walz will hold a rally in Arizona, a state where every vote will be critical. In 2020, President Joe Biden bested Dump by fewer than 11,000 votes. Both parties are bracing for a similar photo finish this year.
• But as has been the case in nearly all states, polling numbers show a big swing toward support of Harris compared to that of Biden before he removed himself from the election.
• Harris is leading Dump in Arizona 44.4% to 41.6% in current polls. Side note: also in Arizona, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) holds a massive 11-point lead over his GOP opponent, former news anchor and embarrassing idiot Kari Lake, in the state’s Senate race.
• I suppose we have some things to say about the Screaming Orange…
• Assuming you believe he actually shows up, we now have a presidential debate agreed to by both parties.
• Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be facing off on Tuesday, September 10 on ABC. Details will be forthcoming.
• I’m trying to imagine how horribly that will go for L’il Dump. Lordy.
• Dumples made a public appearance yesterday, his first since Harris became the Democratic nominee.
• I grabbed some quotes from Dumpy Dumperton from this incredibly embarrassing “press conference” that some smart staffer should have begged him not to no. It was a disaster.
• I normally don’t reprint his babble, but the steep mental decline of this man must be documented for future study.
• He said that his infamous crowd on January 6, 2021 was bigger than that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s when he did his “I have a dream” speech in the March on Washington.
• Fact check: MLK’s March on Washington was the largest gathering for civil rights of its time. 250,000 people attended on August 28, 1963. Dumpy’s January 6 group of insurrectionists never topped 10,000. Dump is either lying or completely off his rocker. No other options.
• Dump said, “The people of January 6 were treated very unfairly.”
• Fact check: Everyone person arrested and indicted for their actions during the insurrection on January 6 were given fair trials and sentencing all within typical guidelines.
• He also said, “Nobody was killed on January 6th.”
• Fact check: Huge and sad lie. Four Trump supporters died in the January 6 attack. Two of heart attacks, one of acute amphetamine intoxication, and one — Ashli Babbitt — who was shot by a Capitol police officer. Guess Dump forgot about her.
• Additionally, five police officers died as tangential results of January 6, including USCP Officer Brian Sicknick who passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty during the insurrection, and four officers who committed suicide following the attack.
• Dump also said that Democrats support “abortions after birth.”
• Fact check: that is not a thing. It has never, ever happened. The closest thing to “abortion after birth” is when kids are shot and killed at schools, which has happened far too often.
• He said, “Everybody is going to be forced to buy an electric car.”
• Fact check:  maybe this is a statement based on his close relationship to electric car maker Elon Musk, and he’s saying he’ll force you to buy one. There is no current legislation that forces anyone to buy electric vehicles.
• He said that Democrats had violated the constitution by replacing President Biden on the ticket.
• Fact check: 100% untrue. Not only is there nothing in the Constitution that addresses this, but once President Biden withdrew from the race, the Democratic Party was lawfully compelled to enter a candidate to replace him.
• He attacked Jewish Americans who aren’t voting for him, saying they “should have their head examined.”
• Fact Check: he should 100% definitely have his own head examined.
• On the topic of America’s Dad, VP candidate Tim Walz: ”She picked a radical left man that is, he has positions that are not even possible to believe that they exist. He is going for things that nobody has even heard of. Heavy into the transgender world. Heavy into lots of different worlds."
• Fact check: I don’t know what this demented person is even saying here.
• He told some incredibly bizarre tale of nearly being in a helicopter crash with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.
• Fact check: Dump was never in a helicopter with Willie Brown. He was once in a helicopter with former CA Governor Jerry Brown, but there were no incidents on that flight.
• He also said, and I quote him directly here, “Abortion is not much of an issue. Everybody wanted me to get rid of Roe v. Wade.”
• Fact check: a record-high 69% of Americans currently say abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy.
• Only 13% of Americans want it illegal in all circumstances. Almost no one wanted him to “get rid of” Roe v. Wade. If you allow Dump to be elected, he’s going to make women’s choices in reproductive health care illegal in every state.
• When asked why he wasn’t campaigning, Dumpy wondered why he should bother since he’s so far ahead in the polls.
• Fact check: Kamala Harris is slightly ahead of Dump in averages of all national polls, and is currently even with him in an average of swing states.
• Dump also alarmingly stated that Kamala Harris lost to Joe Biden in the the primaries this year. Dump was confused, thinking it was the 2020 primary from four years ago. We know that Harris has been the Vice President since 2021. She was on this year’s primary ticket… along with President Biden, obviously.
• Dump meandered off topic, and couldn’t seem to remember a question he’d been asked just moments before. The guy clearly has cognitive issues.
• All the signs point to a man in steep decline, and he's terrified. It's almost sad to watch. I understand that he’s 78 and not as sharp as he once may have been, but this is way, way worse.
• Many of us have had a family member suffering the horrors of senility/dementia, and all of the signs with Trump are very clear. My only concern at this point is that he doesn't make it to Election Day so we can watch him lose again.
• I do want you to be aware, there’s likely a more nefarious reason that Dump isn’t campaigning.
• There are plenty of reports from legitimate sources saying that he’s saving the money to have the results overturned, rather than winning the fair way… especially now that he feels the heat of the Harris/Walz campaign momentum.
• Dumpy has repeatedly declined to say he will accept the results of the 2024 election and has complained of Democratic “interference,” saying he believes the only way he can lose is if the other side cheats.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, Special Counsel Jack Smith's office requested a delay in responding to a scheduling order from the judge overseeing El Dumpo's federal election subversion case, citing issues related to the Supreme Court's decision that granted presidents immunity from prosecution for certain acts taken while in office.
• In a joint status report filed last night, Smith's office said they continue "to assess the new precedent set forth last month" by the Supreme Court in tandem with "other Department of Justice components."
• ”Although those consultations are well underway, the Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision," Smith's office said. "The Government therefore respectfully requests additional time to provide the Court with an informed proposal regarding the schedule for pretrial proceedings moving forward."
• That makes sense, but it does show how there are big challenges in determining how to move forward with the January 6 case against Dump after the Supreme Court's horrible decision granting immunity for "official acts" taken by a president, while declining to grant immunity for so-called "unofficial acts."
• Let’s move on. It’s been far too long since we discussed the ongoing war from Russia having invaded Ukraine.
• Now the table have turned and Ukraine is on the offensive.
• Ukrainian forces staged an overnight ambush on a Russian convoy 25 miles inside the international border in Kursk province. The Kremlin declared a federal emergency and said it was transferring extra forces to try to snuff out a four day old incursion that has badly damaged its credibility.
• Video showed a destroyed convoy, with bodies just visible inside some trucks, on the E38 east-west highway at Oktyabrskoe, a location far deeper inside Russia than any previously confirmed fighting since Ukraine’s forces crossed the border on Tuesday.
• Get their asses.
• Some good news from the Health Desk. I didn’t know we had a Health Desk but it seems like a good idea.
• COVID-19 dropped down to being the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2023, per a report from the CDC yesterday, down from fourth place in 2022.
• Back in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, COVID-19 was the No. 3 cause of death in the U.S., exceeded only by heart disease and cancer. 
• COVID deaths have declined since then due to a majority of the surviving population being vaccinated.
• What are the leading causes of deaths for adults in the USA now? Heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries — a category of deaths that has surged in recent years mainly due to drug overdoses — remain the three leading causes of death. Stroke, which had ranked fifth before the pandemic, climbed to fourth.
• But if you’re a child, the leading cause of death in the USA is by being shot to death by people with guns.
• True story. Look it up.
• Moving on.
• In our continuing coverage of the un-American pieces of shit who tried and failed to enact a coup against the USA on January 6, 2021, let’s talk about Bradley Scott Nelson of Nevada.
• Nelson was arrested in March 2023 on misdemeanor charges, including disorderly conduct. Surveillance videos captured him in the mob of rioters who entered the Capitol on January 6.
• But Nelson is an extra-special kind of idiot.
• He’s been jailed after making threats directed at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other public officials.
• Last month, U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed to revoke Nelson's pretrial release and issued a warrant for his arrest. Last month he posted an image of Attorney General Merrick Garland with apparent crosshairs drawn on Garland's head.
• In June, Nelson threatened Barrett one hour after the Supreme Court issued a ruling limiting the application of a federal obstruction law used to charge hundreds of Capitol riot defendants as well as Dumpy. in February, he made similar threats against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
• I won’t repeat the disgusting ways he threatens to kill or maim government officials.
• There’s a hearing next week to determine if they let this dangerous psychopath out of jail before his jury trial, which is scheduled to start December 10. Hopefully not.
• And now, The Weather: “Kid Muscle” by Sex Week
• In actual weather news, my pals in the Northeast should batten down the hatches. Storm Debby is barreling in with huge rainfall, and possible flooding and even tornadoes.
• Be safe, my peoples.
• From the Sports Desk… the medal count for Team USA at the Paris Olympics keeps rising, now at 103.
• Adding to our gold medal count is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Women's 400m Hurdles), Tara Davis-Woodhall (Women's Long Jump) and Grant Holloway (Men's 110m Hurdles).
• More silver medals for Team USA include Kenneth Bednarek (Men's 200m), Anna Cockrell (Women's 400m Hurdles), and Daniel Roberts (Men's 110m Hurdles)
• And some more bronze medals coming in for Noah Lyles (Men’s 200m) and Jasmine Moore (Women's Long Jump).
• USA! USA!
• A quick story about Noah Lyles, who took bronze in the 200m and earlier got the gold in taking gold in an epic 100m race.
• He ran the 200m with COVID. He collapsed afterward and needed medical attention. Still came in third. Lyles was supposed to take part in today’s men’s 4x100m relay final, but that now seems out of the question.
• Today in history… Julius Caesar defeats Pompey, who flees to Egypt (48 BC). The Creek native Americans sign a treaty and give up huge sections of Alabama and Georgia (1814). Philosopher Henry David Thoreau publishes his memoir ‘Walden’ (1854). Thomas Edison receives a patent on a two-way telegraph (1892). Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1902). Jesse Owens wins his fourth medal at the Berlin Olympics (1936). The US Forestry Service releases posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time (1944). Nagasaki is devastated by the atomic bomb Fat Man, killing tens of thousands of people instantly and many more later (1945). Singapore becomes the only country ever to gain independence unwillingly, being expelled from Malaysia (1965). Followers of Charles Manson kill Sharon Tate and four others (1969). As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, and Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president (1974). Shannon Eastin becomes the first woman to officiate an NFL game (2012). Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American male in Ferguson, MO, is shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer, sparking protests and unrest in the city (2014).
• August 9 is the birthday of colonial settler John Webster (1590), psychologist Jean Piaget (1896), educator Willa Beatrice Player (1909), astrophysicist William Alfred Fowler (1911), actor Robert Shaw (1927), NBA player Bob Cousy (1928), tennis player Rod Laver (1938), boxer Ken Norton (1943), actor Sam Elliott (1944), drummer Pete Thomas (1954), actress Melanie Griffith (1957), actress Amanda Bearse (1958), rapper Kurtis Blow (1959), fashion designer Michael Kors (1959), singer-songwriter Whitney Houston (1963), NHL player Brett Hull (1964), journalist Hoda Kotb (1964), NFL/MLB player Deion Sanders (1967), actress Gillian Anderson (1968), NBA player Derek Fisher (1974), actor Dan Levy (1983), actress Anna Kendrick (1985), activist/politician Sarah McBride (1990), and singer-songwriter Arlo Parks (2000).

That is more than enough news for now. I’m super happy it’s Friday. I had a very productive week of work, but that means I’m all the more happy that I have a weekend coming to relax and enjoy life… after today, which will also be jam-packed with work. Such is life. Enjoy your day.