Random News: September 11, 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 11, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. We have a lot to talk about today, but let’s get started in a somber and respectful way, as per today’s date.

• It’s 9/11. We all have a 9/11 story. Where we were that day, what we were doing. Many of them are probably similar (with the exception of those of you who were actually in Manhattan that day, whose stories are much, much worse).
• You don’t need a recap to remember. 23 years ago, four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States.
• 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners. They crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and aimed the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington, D.C.
• The third team crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania following a passenger revolt.
• The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, injured thousands more, and instigated the multi-decade global war on terror, and was probably a major turning point in many Americans’ lives.
• Hate crimes skyrocketed after 9/11. Anti-terrorism policies of the US government impacted the privacy and freedom of our own citizens. Entire communities of 9/11 conspiracy theorists were born, and many still are thriving today.
• Iraq and Afghanistan were scapegoated and invaded, while places like Saudi Arabia, the home of the actual 9/11 terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden, were left alone.
• 9/11 was a terrible event and will live forever in infamy… but at least it wasn’t our own citizens attacking our country and its free and fair election system and our very democracy, as happened on January 6, 2021.
• Back in the present day…
• Let’s talk about last night’s debate.
• A presidential debate isn’t a football game with a score at the end. All there is in retrospect are people’s opinions. So a lot of stuff I’m about to say are based on the opinions of myself and a bunch of other people.
• And that opinion is that it was the most lopsided presidential debate in US history, with Kamala Harris absolutely annihilating Donald Trump.
• Harris controlled every moment of the event, from the moment she made her power move and strode across the podium to shake Dump’s hand and introduce herself to him… and yes, it was the first time they’d ever met.
• We’re not going to recap every moment of a 90+ minute event. You have plenty of news analysts who’ve already cranked out thousands of words on what was said by each candidate.
• I will say this: Harris not only controlled the conversation in general but set Dump off with well-chosen phrases designed to trigger him in specific ways.
• And each time, he took the bait.
• As such, he spent nearly the entire debate on the defensive, like an old boxer who finds himself on the ropes and getting pummeled with no way out.
• Trump’s performance, frankly, was embarrassing, ti himself and what’s left of his supporters. Much more so than that of Joe Biden in the previous debate that culminated with Biden stepping down from his candidacy.
• Harris spoke fluidly and eloquently, clearly stating her policy plans. She also went on the offensive in the most effective ways, addressing how Dump’s tariffs are actually a sales tax on the middle class.
• She accused Dump to his face of presiding over the worst attack on American democracy since the Civil War — the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
• She lambasted him for telling women what they could do with their bodies.
• She purposefully spoke about the dwindling size of his rallies and how attendees leave halfway through due to his old, tired rhetoric. That really upset him.
• It was such a pummeling, he got flustered within the first 10 minutes and never recovered. He couldn’t even look at her throughout the event. And he looked old and defeated.
• Post-debate fact-check analysis showed that Dump made at least 33 false claims. Harris was found to have made one.
• And registered voters who watched the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump say, 63% to 37%, that Harris turned in a better performance, per a flash poll directly afterwards.
• Prior to the debate, the same voters were evenly split on which candidate would perform more strongly, with 50% saying Harris would do so and 50% that Trump would.
• One huge sign that the debate went Harris’s way: within moments after the end, Harris challenged Dump to a second debate.
• Dump declined. He’s terrified of her. It was embarrassing and humiliating for him. He can’t go through it again. End of story.
• So if that was all that had happened last night, it would have been a huge success for Kamala Harris.
• But that’s not all.
• “Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,” began an Instagram post by influential American pop music icon Taylor Swift.
• She continued, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”
• As of the time of my writing this, that post has 8,362,632 likes.
• So, let’s move on, but first I have a very important reminder for you.
• You have one job.
• Kamala has done her job thus far at a level that’s above and beyond any possible expectations. The entire campaign has been running as well as any I’ve ever seen in my years of being engaged in American politics.
• And you’re up next. Your one job is to vote. that’s it. If you can help encourage others to vote, all the better.
• But your vote carries as much weight as any other adult person in this entire country. Make no assumptions… red state, blue state, swing state, any state.
• Vote. Vote by mail, vote by ballot drop-off, vote at the polls on election day. However you vote, do it.
• And if things go as I hope, the USA will have its first women President-elect in five weeks, who will be sworn in on January 20, 2025.
• Let’s move on.
• Some extraordinary news out of the state of Missouri, where an amendment to restore abortion rights in the state will be on the ballot in November after all, the state’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
• If it passes, the proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution is expected to widely undo the state’s 2022 near-total abortion ban. Judges ruled hours before the Tuesday deadline for changes to be made to the ballot.
• Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had removed it from the ballot on Monday despite the fact that 380,000 Missourians signed their petition demanding a voice on this critical issue.
• But their state Supreme Court judges ordered Ashcroft to put the measure back on the ballot. The order also directs Ashcroft, an abortion opponent, to “take all steps necessary to ensure that it is on said ballot.”
• Try as they might, Republicans cannot silence the will of the people. We’re going to win, if not immediately in all cases, then eventually.
• Voters in all seven states that have had abortion questions on their ballots since Roe was overturned have sided with abortion-rights supporters.
• Eight other states will consider constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, and South Dakota. 
• Some good news for workers as Bank of America is closing in on its objective of paying its U.S. employees a minimum of $25 an hour by 2025.
• They are increasing their minimum wage at the company to $24/hour starting in October. 
• The step follows an increase from a $23 hourly rate set last September. The $1 hourly boost, which will apply to all full- and part-time hourly jobs in the U.S., brings a full-time annualized salary to roughly $50,000. 
• In case you’re wondering, the poverty threshold for a family of four per the most recent figures is $30,900. 
• I’m sure that might work in some places. My annual rent alone, before I get to eating food or having things like electricity, is over $41,000 per year.
• More than 30 U.S. states now require employers to offer minimum wage in excess of the federal base, Department of Labor data shows. This is good.
• In international news, 26-year-old American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot and killed last week by Israeli forces, resulting in US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken calling for “fundamental changes” to the way Israeli forces operate in the occupied West Bank.
• At a news conference in London yesterday, Blinken said Eygi’s killing was “unprovoked and unjustified.”
• Eygi’s family said they were “deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional,” reiterating calls to US leaders for an independent investigation into her death. She was a recent graduate of the University of Washington.
• Moving on.
• We don’t do celebrity gossip shit here at Zak’s Random News.
• But I did want to give you a hot take on the breathless headlines on Dave Grohl’s announcement yesterday about the child he recently fathered outside of his marriage.
• He wrote on social media yesterday, “I've recently become the father of a new baby daughter, born outside my marriage. I plan to be a loving and supportive parent to her. I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness. We’re grateful for your consideration toward all the children involved, as we move forward together.”
• So here’s why I bring this up.
• First, what’s obvious to me as a PR guy, he made the announcement to get ahead of a story that would have broken elsewhere, and that’s smart. As opposed to being on the defensive, he’s already made his perspective on the story clear.
• But the second thing I want to address is this whole hero worship that a lot of people do. I’m gonna tell you something, and I’m sorry if this is distressing: there are no perfect people.
• None. Zero. Not you, definitely not me, and certainly not Dave Grohl. And most people are way far away from perfect.
• And here’s the thing: it’s up to you whether you can allow yourself to enjoy someone’s art or other contributions to society, while still being aware that the person is human and therefore flawed to a greater or lesser degree.
• I can’t stand JK Rowling’s despicable views on gender, but I can still respect the storytelling of the Harry Potter franchise. I can be aware that a good majority of NFL and other major sports players are likely Dump supporters, but still be a fan of the game and admire the skill at which it’s played. I mean, Ted Nugent is a good guitar player despite being a horrible human.
• So am I shocked and appalled about Dave Grohl, the human being and rock star, doing things that people do? No, not really. Is it bad behavior and probably unfair and uncool to his family? Yes, of course.
• But I try to separate the people from the things they do. Trust me, a lot of heroes are assholes. And a lot of assholes do really great work.
• Enough on that.
• And now, The Weather: “Malibu Beach House” by Cold Gawd
• From the Sports Desk… I wasn’t the only person excited for the return of NFL football.
• The NFL averaged 21.0 million viewers per game during the league's opening week, making it the most-watched Week 1 on record.
• The league and Nielsen said this morning that the per-game average on TV and digital platforms was a 12% increase over last year. All told, 123 million people saw at least part of one game, its highest total for an opening week since 2019.
• Today in history… The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hundred years (9). Henry Hudson arrives on Manhattan Island and meets the indigenous people living there (1609). Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury (1789). United States Marine Corps invades Honduras (1919). Construction begins on The Pentagon (1941). Charles Lindbergh's Des Moines speech accusing the British, Jews and FDR's administration of conspiring for war with Germany (1941). Hurricane Edna hits New England (1954). Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast (1961). San Francisco’s BART begins passenger service (1972). General Augusto Pinochet leads a coup in Chile and topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende (1973). Hurricane Iniki devastates the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai and Oahu (1992). The September 11 terrorist attacks kill 2,996 people using four aircraft hijacked by 19 members of al-Qaeda (2001). The U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya is attacked, resulting in four deaths (2012).
• September 11 is the birthday of organist William Boyce (1711), lens maker Carl Zeiss (1816), astronomer Mary Watson Whitney (1847), writer O. Henry (1862), writer D. H. Lawrence (1885), football coach Bear Bryant (1913), film producer Ed Sabol (1916), politician Ferdinand Marcos (1917), NFL coach Tom Landry (1924), film director Brian De Palma (1940), percussionist/composer Mickey Hart (1943), guitarist/composer Leo Kotke (1945), singer-songwriter/guitarist Tommy Shaw (1953), actress Roxann Dawson (1958), actress Virginia Madsen (1961), songwriter/composer/DJ Moby (1965), singer-songwriter/pianist Harry Connick Jr. (1967), rapper Ludacris (1977), NFL player Ed Reed (1978), and MLB player Mike Moustakas (1988).

I said it above but I’ll say it again: nothing matters except your vote. Make your plan TODAY on how you’ll be voting in the 2024 election. Visit vote.org to confirm your voter registration status.  And do your part to make the world a better place in which to live… for yourself, your children, your friends, and future generations. Thank you. Enjoy your day.