Random News: September 16, 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 16, 2024, and it’s a Monday. I’m up and about, bright and early as usual, to be your digital newsboy. I got my coffee and a speedy internet connection; let’s see what’s happening.

• I suppose we should lead with yesterday’s alleged assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the second in two months.
• From what I can discern, gunshots were fired “in his vicinity” yesterday at his golf course in Florida. He is fine. In fact, he was sending fundraising emails about it literally within minutes of the event.
• And those shots fired were from the Secret Service at the armed man. It would seem his alleged assassin never fired a shot.
• The alleged assassin, whom we’ll discuss below, was spotted on the edge of the course by the Secret Service two holes ahead from where Trump was golfing, pointing the rifle at the golf course.
• That’s good work by the Secret Service.
• The guy with a gun fled the scene, jumping into a vehicle and driving off after he was engaged by Secret Service agents with multiple gunshots. He left behind the weapon, a GoPro camera, and two backpacks.
• Side note: despite anything you’ve heard to the contrary, it is not legal in Florida to openly carry a firearm… but in 2023, Florida eliminated its law that required a person to get a permit, background check, and safety training before carrying a hidden, loaded firearm in public. The state is now “permitless carry.”
• Continuing on…
• The SUV he was in was stopped, and the guy was taken into custody. A semi-automatic rifle (initially identified as an AK-47 style weapon and later said to be an AR-15) and scope were recovered at the scene by the golf course.
• Later in the day, the suspect was identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old white man seemingly with some pretty severe mental issues and a long rap sheet. Routh is registered in North Carolina as unaffiliated with any political party.
• He lived in NC most of his life before relocating to Hawaii in 2018.
• He was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction — a fully automatic machine gun. In that instance, he was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police.
• Politically, Routh is all over the map. He supported and voted for Dump in 2016, but his support fell off in 2020. He didn’t like Biden at all, and this year was supporting Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley.
• Routh was very pro-Ukraine, but also immersed in anti-vaccination misinformation and a spreader of COVID conspiracies. No motive has been provided for whatever he was planning yesterday.
• He does seem to be a crazy-ass idiot.
• And to be clear, no one at all was injured or hit by any gunfire.
• President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the incident. The WHite House issued a statement, saying, "The President and Vice President have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team."
• And while I shouldn’t find this next thing shocking anymore, it still amazes me to see out in the open on a public media platform.
• Hours after the incident, Elon Musk tweeted to his 200,000,000 followers (and later deleted), “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”
• Around the same time, the official Twitter account of the Libertarian Party NH tweeted (and later deleted), “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero."
• So… let me say again, as I said last time: violence has no place in politics. I condemn any violent action against any candidate or elected official. It always just leads to more violence. It’s not good for anyone, no matter the intended target or the result.
• On a bigger picture, violence has no place in any aspect of any civilized society, but let’s at least keep it out of politics.
• I hope hope that the FBI plans on getting in context with both Musk and the New Hampshire Libertarians. I’d consider both of their statements implied threats against senior US politicians. That is a felony.
• Musk, both as an immigrant and a government contractor, should be especially careful in this regard.
• With the same kind of weapon used in both attempts, maybe we consider enacting commonsense gun laws so that semiautomatic rifles like AK-47’s and AR-15's aren’t as readily available as they’ve been for the past 20 since the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004.
• And if Republicans are upset by their candidate being threatened with a gun, I promise, we’re all in agreement. A person should be able to golf on a peaceful Sunday afternoon without being endangered by some violent nut with a gun.
• Americans should be able to go to the mall, watch a movie, worship in their churches, go to school, and enjoy their day without being subject to violent nuts with guns.
• And we’re ready to do something about it. Are you?
• I’ll also mention — just my opinion — the last fucking thing we want is that Orange Twatwaffle being assassinated. Especially now, when his party might be able to put up a viable candidate before November 5. We want him to keep around and destroying that party from within. 
• I hope he lives forever and runs for POTUS every four years until he turns to dust.
• Moving on for now.
• As we mentioned yesterday, in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, VP candidate JD Vance admitted that he and Donald Trump made up a baseless and racist story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, OH.
• “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually has to pay attention to the suffering of American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” said Vance, a U.S. Senator who invented this story about his own constituents in the state of Ohio.
• Vance’s little story has sparked racist attacks on Haitians, marches in the town by the white-nationalist Proud Boys, bomb and shooting threats, closed schools, and Dumpy’s insistence that he’ll visit the town and eventually save it with mass deportations of people legally in the USA, if re-elected.
• There are now calls for Vance to immediately resign his position as Senator.
• “In the wake of JD Vance admitting he ‘created’ the pet-eating story, and as a result of the very real threats the communities and people he has targeted are now under … I am calling on him to RESIGN as our Senator,” posted Ohio state representative Casey Weinstein.
• Hundreds of other similar demands were made on social media.
• Let’s move on.
• Home Depot will pay nearly $2 million to settle a civil enforcement claim from California district attorneys that the home improvement company was engaging in false advertising and unfair competition.
• The complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court said that when people at Home Depot brought an item to checkout, they would be charged more money than was written on the shelf tag or on the item itself.
• While the company admitted no wrongdoing, it must pay $1.7 million in civil penalties, as well as $277,251 to cover investigation costs as well as to “support future enforcement of consumer protection laws.”
• Assholes.
• In other news…
• I’d talk about last night’s Emmy Awards, and apparently some cool stuff happened…
• But I don’t watch TV, and I haven’t seen one second of any of the shows that are being discussed. I do understand that the big winner Shōgun, the historical drama that swept the top categories, is very good.
• I remember the original miniseries when I was a kid. That was good too.
• And now, The Weather: “Summit Hill” by Lutalo
• Rest in peace to Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the beloved pop group the Jackson 5. He died yesterday at age 70.
• Tito was the third of nine Jackson children, which include global superstars Michael and sister Janet.
• The Jackson 5, which included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. They produced several classic No. 1 hits in the 1970s including “ABC,” “I Want You Back,” and “I’ll Be There.”
• From the Sports Desk… there’s an old saying: “That’s why they play the games.” You never know what’s actually going to happen despite the predictions of the pundits or the betting market.
• Well, this Sunday’s round of NFL games soundly proved that adage. Of the 15 games played so far in Week 2 of the season, seven were upsets. The biggest ones? The Las Vegas Raiders were a -9.5 underdog to the Baltimore Ravens and won by 3 instead. Other upsets included the Bills over the Dolphins, Saints over the Cowboy, Bucs over the Lions, Packers over the Colts, and the Browns over the Jags.
• Tonight’s Monday Night Football game features the Philadelphia Eagles at the Atlanta Falcons. Eagles are favored by -6.5, but after yesterday, I’m done making any predictions.
• Today in history… 35 religious dissenters called Pilgrims set sail for Virginia from Plymouth, England in the Mayflower (1620). The Franco-American Siege of Savannah begins in the Revolutionary War (1779). Settlers make a land run for prime land in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma (1893). General Motors Corporation is founded (1908). A bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J. P. Morgan building on Wall Street in New York City killing 38 and injuring 400 (1920). The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced (1959). Typhoon Nancy, with possibly the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Osaka, Japan (1961). The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City (1966). The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion (1987). Manuel Noriega gets a 40-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering (1992). 
• September 16 is the birthday of king Henry V of England (1386), banker Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777), UK prime minister Bonar Law (1858), businessmanr James Cash Penny (1875), TV producer Allen Funt (1914), actress Lauren Bacall (1924), singer-songwriter/guitarist B.B. King (1925), actor Peter Falk (1927), NBA player Elgin Baylor (1934), drummer Kenney Jones (1948), actor/activist Ed Begley Jr. (1949), historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950), actor Mickey Rourke (1952), guitarist/composer Earl Klugh (1954), MLB player Robin Yount (1955), magician David Copperfield (1956), MLB player Orel Hershiser (1958), actress Jennifer Tilly (1958), singer-songwriter/guitarist Bilinda Butcher (1961), singer-songwriter Richard Marx (1963), actress Molly Shannon (1964), actress Amy Poehler (1971), rapper Flo Rida (1979), singer-songwriter Nick Jonas (1992), and NFL player Sam Howell (2000).

That’s all I’ve got for now. Enjoy your day.