Random News: September 1, 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 September 1, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. It’s also the start of a fresh new month, and going into Labor Day tomorrow, it’s the false end of summer. That’s fine; fall is generally my favorite season, even though it’s still weeks away from scientifically being autumn. But for now…

• Rabbit rabbit rabbit.
• Okay, good, we’ve saved the word from a hideous fate with our superstitious ritual. God knows what would happen should we neglect to mention the triplet of lagomorphs on the first day that our random calendar flips to a new title.
• Let’s move on.
• Getting into the month of September marks the beginning of a whole new stretch of the presidential campaign race each election cycle. We’re about to hit the point of presidential candidate debates and the first swing state ballots hitting mailboxes shortly after the Labor Day holiday weekend.
• Due to our completely fucked up electoral vote system, both campaigns are focusing on on key battleground states, with Harris eyeing an expanded map and Dumpy digging in across the Upper Midwestern states that delivered him the presidency in 2016 and ousted him from office in 2020.
• Meanwhile, if you can believe it, actual voting will begin this week. The first ballots of the 2024 election will go out Friday in North Carolina, one of a handful of potentially critical Sun Belt states. Then, two weeks later, early in-person voting starts in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia.
• I received notice here in California — the opposite of a swing state — that our ballots will start arriving on October 7. We have a ways to go.
• Harris’ campaign is pouring money into advertising in the Savannah media market as it seeks to broaden its appeal outside Atlanta. Her campaign has spent a total of about $1.7 million in advertising there over the last three weeks.
• As we’ve noted many times, Harris remains the clear underdog in the race. If anyone gets complacent, Dump and his Project 2025 plan to reshape the USA into a dictatorship will be. nightmare that becomes real in about nine weeks.
• Polls — that we neither trust nor should listen to in any way and yet are our only gauge of measuring the possibilities — show a tight race nationwide and in critical swing states.
• A Wall Street Journal survey released Thursday found no clear leader, with Harris at 48% to Trump’s 47% among registered voters. A Quinnipiac University poll out the same day similarly found Harris at 49% and Trump at 47% among likely voters.
• But even if Harris handily wins the popular vote nationwide, Dump could still very much win the Presidency based on the division of about 50,000 votes in seven states to reach the 270 electoral votes that actually deliver the presidency.
• That’s what happened in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, and before that in 2000 when Al Gore did the same.
• So if you make any assumptions about what might happen on November 5, you’re potentially setting yourself up for disappointment and despair. It’s up to you to make it happen.
• And once again, I’ll extend an open hand to you folks who have generally voted Republican in previous elections to instead vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz this time around.
• You don’t need to tell people, you don’t need to change your idealogical outlook or your political party affiliation. But you do need to do what’s best for yourself and your family. And for the future of the USA.
• Let’s move on.
• Here in my state, California lawmakers approved a host of proposals this week aiming to regulate the artificial intelligence industry, combat deepfakes, and protect workers from exploitation by the rapidly evolving technology.
• The California Legislature, which is thankfully controlled by Democrats, is voting on hundreds of bills during its final week of the session to send to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Their deadline is this coming Saturday.
• Newsom has until September 30 to sign the proposals, veto them, or let them become law without his signature. Newsom signaled in July he will sign a proposal to crack down on election deepfakes but has not weighed in other legislation.
• He’s actually in a conundrum here in some cases. Newsom warned earlier this summer that overregulation of AI could hurt the homegrown industry. In recent years, he often has cited the state’s budget troubles when rejecting legislation that he would otherwise support.
• Specifically, California Assembly Bill 2602 would regulate the use of generative AI for performers — not only those on-screen in films and TV/streaming series but also those who use their voices and body movements in other media, such as audiobooks and video games. 
• The measure would require informed consent and union or legal representation “where performers are asked to give up the right to their digital self,” according to the bill.
• In addition to AB 2602, the performer’s union is backing California bill AB 1836 to protect deceased performers’ intellectual property from digital replicas. Makes sense to me.
• I understand that with the money involved in the world of movies, TV, video games, and other entertainment media, this is important.
• But I’d really like it if the laws that pertain to deepfake AI were also prioritized to protect regular citizens.
• We’ve already seen the use of AI to create false images and videos in important sociopolitical events. And we’ve seen it used to create nudity and porn featuring people who never consented as such… including children.
• I’m not saying AI is something that can or should be made illegal in all circumstances. Like any technology, it can be used for both good and bad purposes. But the care that we take now in establishing what’s acceptable in AI will reverberate far into the future.
• Moving on, or actually back to a story I missed last week.
• A federal judge in Kansas has tossed out a machine gun possession charge and questioned if bans on the weapons violate the Second Amendment.
• That’s just fucking great.
• If upheld on appeal, the ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes in Wichita could have a sweeping impact on the regulation of machine guns, including homemade automatic weapons that many police and prosecutors blame for fueling gun violence.
• Broomes, who was appointed by Dumples the Clown, dismissed two machine gun possession counts against Tamori Morgan, who was indicted last year. Morgan was accused of possessing a model AM-15 .300-caliber machine gun and a machine gun conversion device known as a “Glock switch” that can make a semi-automatic weapon fire like a machine gun.
• Is this a big deal? Well yes. It’s the first time in American history that a machine gun ban has been found unconstitutional in its application.
• What is a machine gun, and how is it different from other popular forms of firearms, like semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15? Simple.
• With a semi-automatic weapon, you can fire it as quickly as your finger can pull a trigger, with no need to pause and reload util your ammunition magazine is empty.
• But a machine gun fires over and over at high rates by holding down the trigger. A typical modern machine gun like the Heckler & Koch MP-5 can fire 800 rounds per minute, or about 13 rounds per second.
• Do you know why machine guns have managed to thus far evade the protections under the Second Amendment?
• It harkens back nearly 100 years to the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, when rival mafia factions used two Thompson submachine guns to mow down seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang in seconds.
• The carnage was so horrifying that in 1934, Congress passed the National Firearms Act (NFA), the first major federal gun control legislation in the USA.
• The act defines and regulates specific firearms and accessories including machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and suppressors (aka silencers).
• So hopefully this asshole judge’s unilateral decision to put machine guns back into the hands of criminals is short lived.
• Let’s do some international news. No, it’s not good.
• Israelis reacted with shock and fury after the bodies of six more hostages were recovered by the military from Gaza, with Israeli authorities saying they were killed in recent days by their captors.
• Tens of thousands of protesters were expected to take part in nationwide protests tonight, and Israel’s largest labor union called for a general strike Monday — threatening to shut down the country until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a deal with Hamas to return the remaining captives.
• Among those recovered yesterday from Gaza by the Israeli military was Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, whose parents have become globally known ambassadors for the hostage family movement and who spoke last month at the Democratic National Convention.
• Hamas is still holding 97 hostages, including two children under the age of 5. Of those, 33 have already been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
• Hostage families have accused Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over a deal that would bring their loved ones home, and today they demanded he address the nation.
• The international negotiators say that it is Netanyahu himself who has been the main barrier to a deal. He has insisted, among other things, on maintaining an Israeli presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, a strategic buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt.
• In other news…
• The city where I grew up — moving there at age six in 1975 and staying until I graduated high school in 1986 — has been in national news lately.
• Rancho Palos Verdes, CA has, for many decades, been subject to a progressing landslide that in certain areas has continually shifted roads and homes. It was that way when I was a kid, and remains so now.
• But the land movement have grown much worse in the past year or so. And now, a month after having their gas shut off, residents began scrambling yesterday when SoCal Edison announced they would shut off electricity indefinitely for the 135 homes continuously shifting in the area.
• And they’re shutting it off with just 24 hours notice. It went into effect at midnight. To make matters worse, the city’s sewage system runs on electricity. Water sewage cannot be ejected from some homes safely and properly, becoming a sanitation and health issue.
• Ugh. Look, RPV is only a short distance from where I still live today in Redondo Beach. That slide area is a very pretty 10-minute drive south of here. But I no longer have any familiar connections to Palos Verdes, and have little reason to head to or even through there.
• Still, it’s sad to think of those neighborhoods that I knew well in my youth being torn asunder and made unlivable. All critiques aside, it’s a beautiful area of the world.
• And now, The Weather: “Long Island Iced Tea” by Fake Fruit
• From the Sports Desk… I’d love to cover just… sports… here.
• But I can’t. More shitty non-sports news here at the Desk. 49ers rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest yesterday afternoon in downtown San Francisco during an attempted robbery.
• The Niners selected Pearsall with the 31st pick in April's NFL draft out of the University of Florida. He’s 23 years old.
• Pearsall is in serious but stable condition. His assailant, a 17-year old male from Tracy, CA, has been arrested. Pearsall got shot at the corner of Geary and Grant streets, a block away from the city’s well-known Union Square landmark.
• Let the Sports Desk give you some advice. If someone wants to take your shit and you have any reason to think that said person has a gun or knife or other weapon, or could otherwise fuck you up in ways that would be very unpleasant, just give them what they want.
• You can replace things. You can’t replace you.
• And secondly, just a reminder that when you walk around showing obvious signs of wealth, you’re all the more a target for someone to rip your ass off.
• Today in history… A 9.4 earthquake nails Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunamis in Chile as well as Hawaii and Japan (1420). Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England (1532). Louis XV becomes king of France at age 5 (1715). The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California (1772). The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America (1897). The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people (1923). Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II (1939). Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic murder of mentally ill and disabled people (1939). A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power (1969). The SR-71 Blackbird sets the still-current record for flying from New York to London in the time of one hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 mph (1974). The United States Air Force Space Command is founded (1982). 
• September 1 is the birthday of Liao Dynasty emperor Jing Zong (948), organist/composer Johann Pachelbel (1653), MLB player Jim O’Rourke (1850), author Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875), writer/activist Liz Carpenter (1920), boxer Rocky Marciano (1923), saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Art Pepper (1925), politician Ann Richards (1933), singer-songwriter Conway Twitter (1933), lawyer Alan Dershowitz (1938), actress Lily Tomlin (1939), singer-songwriter Archie Bell (1944), singer-songwriter Barry Gibb (1946), politician Al Green (1947), drummer Russ Kunkel (1948), singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan (1957), NBA player Tim Hardaway (1966), NFL player Zach Thomas (1973), NFL player Clinton Portis (1981), NBA player Miles Plumlee (1988), and actress Zendaya (1996).

So, side note from yesterday: we did get a mattress, and it gets delivered today. I’ll write a whole other-ass thing about that, but we’re pretty happy with how things turned out thus far. More later. Enjoy your day.