Random News: September 29, 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 29, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. It’s nice and quiet here as I lounge about in my bathrobe, and I just this moment poured a big cup of Peet’s Brazil to get my day started.

• Speaking of which, it’s National Coffee Day.
• This is not a real thing. It’s like most pseudo events that were dreamt up by a trade consortium in order to sell products. I call those “marketing holidays.”
• Nevertheless, I am a coffee aficionado, drinking the magical elixir each morning and afternoon for the past 40+ years.
• In the early 1600s, English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon wrote, “They have in Turkey a drink called coffa, made of a berry of the same name, as black as soot, and of a strong scent, but not aromatical; which they take, beaten into powder, in water, as hot as they can drink it: and they take it, and sit at it in their coffa-houses, which are like our taverns.”
• I consume coffee in relative moderation; I don’t drink it all day long or in ridiculous amounts. But I’d be absolutely lying if I said I wasn’t addicted to it, physically and mentally and every other way.
• There are many worse vices. I mean, I do some of those too, but we’re not here to talk about me.
• Let’s do some news.
• We’re not nearly done with the rescue and recovery from the devastating Hurricane Helene. I am personally still not able to contact several friends in places like Asheville, NC who were directly impacted.
• The hurricane/storm slammed people in five states in the Southeast, and took out power to people in ten states. At least 63 people are dead and thousands more have been injured or otherwise impacted.
• There are still about three million without power as of this morning, which also means no hot water, no internet, no AC, and no way to enjoy life. People who want to get out can’t even get gas for their cars, with the pumps that run on electricity. It fucking sucks.
• The extent of damage in some places is just being revealed as of today, where hundreds of roads were washed away, entire houses picked up and destroyed, and cars floating away like bathtub toys.
• I am thinking the best for all of you.
• And thankfully, as Americans, there will be federal funds to help your states. There is federally backed flood insurance. And there’s an NOAA and a National Weather Service to help you plan and prepare for inevitable future devastating storms.
• And every one of those things will be eliminated under Donald Trump’s Project 2025.
• Moving on.
• We have yet to cover Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
• I can’t support political assassinations. But I also can’t be very sad over the death of Nasrallah, who led the terrorist group for 32 years.
• Hezbollah’s announcement of his death Friday triggered tears and celebrations across the Arab world, pointing to the widespread reach and influence of a divisive man who has been at the forefront of Middle Eastern politics for decades.
• It remains to be seen whether his death will be a trigger for an all-out war between the two sides that could potentially drag in Iran and the United States.
• Interestingly, I suppose, Nasrallah took over Hezbollah from Abbas Mousawi, who was also assassinated by Israle, killed by an helicopter attack in 1992.
• But Hezbollah today is very different from the ragtag organization it was in the ’90s. It’s become an organized army-like group estimated to have tens of thousands of fighters and a sophisticated arsenal capable of reaching anywhere inside Israel.
• Stay tuned on this. Let’s move on.
• An unlikely but welcome endorsement for Kamala Harris came this morning from former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who announced today that he’ll be voting for Harris in the upcoming election.
• The Republican, who stepped down earlier this month from being the Turkish ambassador, said in a lengthy statement he supports Harris because she understands political opponents are fellow citizens, “not the enemy.”
• He said, ”Republicans believe in the rule of law in particular, and it's difficult to support a candidate who, having lost an election, tries to use the powers of the presidency to overturn that election."
• I agree. And I welcome any Republican who hasn’t been utterly and irreversibly brainwashed by the MAGA cult to join us in doing the right thing and electing Harris for President on November 5.
• I should note that while November 5 is election day, plenty of folks have already cast their votes. My ballot here in Los Angeles County, California, will be arriving in just about a week.
• And I promise you, the voters in my household will be filling ours out and turning them in at an authorized drop box location as soon as possible.
• I am really looking forward to that action of being part of a great democracy.
• In related news…
• Vice President Harris is set to rally in Las Vegas tonight, looking to gain momentum in the swing state as Election Day nears.
• The rally is part of Harris’s latest West Coast swing, which a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. On Friday, she walked alongside a towering, rust-colored border wall fitted with barbed wire in Douglas, AZ, and met with federal authorities.
• A quick note about immigration: if you can’t stop complaining about immigrants because you believe they’re criminals, but you’re willing to vote for a man who is a convicted criminal, you don’t have a problem with crime.
• You have a problem with people who don’t speak like you or look like you. And there’s a word for that.
• Last night Harris attended a San Francisco fundraiser, and is doing an event here in LA before heading to Nevada, returning to Washington tomorrow night, but not for long; Harris plans to be back in Las Vegas on October 10 for a town hall with Hispanic voters.
• Nevada’s Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, has endorsed Harris.
• This woman is out there kicking ass every single day.
• I’ll remind you that Tuesday night of this week is the Vice Presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. In most elections, few people give a shit about the VP debate.
• But not this one!
• It used to be in campaigns that the role of the VP held the role of political attack dog, laying into opponents so that their running mate can appear above the political fray.
• But Dumpy never understood that he wasn’t supposed to be rolling in the slime, and in fact took to that role naturally. So the job of the VP in a campaign has changed somewhat.
• You have to understand that the absolute number-one primary job of the Vice President of the USA is to be ready if the President should die or otherwise become incapacitated. 
• It is almost certain that Donald Trump will not live four more years, so your perception of JD Vance should be judged as a tryout for the guy who will be the President when Dump passes away.
• Conversely, Tim Walz is a far more experienced member of the government, having served in the House of Representatives for twelve years (and being the ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee), and then the governor of Minnesota.
• Walz is unquestionably more ready than Vance, a lawyer who worked for venture capital investment firms until becoming a Senator in 2023.
• Do you trust Vance? Last night at a. rally, he said, “Trump got insulin down to $35 a vial. Thank Donald Trump for that!”
• Fact check: This is a blatant lie. Trump did not cap insulin costs. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did it for seniors through the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump’s Project 2025 wants to repeal it, which will raise insulin costs for over a million Americans.
• In the interest of fair reporting, I also wanted to be sure to mention a quote form Dumples the Clown at his rally yesterday.
• “All the stupid people said I fell into her trap. They said I fell into her trap. She can’t set a mental trap. I didn’t fall into her trap. There is no trap. I didn’t fall into her trap.”
• Another Dump quote? Sure.
• “Most people don't have any idea what the hell a phone app is.”
• Let’s move on.
• I want to remind you that while everyone always seems 100% focused on the presidential race, it’s probably the least important to your day to day lives compared to the Senate, House, and other down-ballot races.
• States like Florida and Texas have a real opportunity to finally rid themselves of the horrible leadership of Senators like Rick Scott and Ted Cruz.
• States like Montana and Ohio can continue on with the positive directions they’ve set under leaders like Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown.
• If you have a defeatist attitude or believe the bullshit that passes for polls, no one would bother voting at all. It’s all up to you — yes, you — to make the USA and the world a better place in which to live.
• You can do it!
• And now, The Weather: “La Vendetta” by Dude Low
• From the Sports Desk… believe it or not, there are still three National League MLB teams vying for a Wild Card spot in the playoffs as of this morning: New York Mets (87-72), Arizona Diamondbacks (88-73), and Atlanta Braves (88-71).
• May the best team win.
• Also, Week 4 in the NFL rolls through its Sunday games starting in a few minutes. Biggest mismatches? The Niners are -10 point favorites over the Patriots, the Jets are -8.5 point favorites over the Broncos, and the Chiefs are -7 point favorites over the Chargers.
• Per how this season is going thus far, at least one (if not more) of those games will still be upsets.
• Today in history… Danes capture Canterbury after a siege, taking Ælfheah, archbishop of Canterbury, as a prisoner (1011). Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades (1227). Protestant coup officials in Nîmes massacre Catholic priests in an event now known as the Michelade (1567). The United States Department of War first establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men (1789). Germany's Supreme Army Command tells Kaiser Wilhelm II and Imperial Chancellor Georg Michaelis to open negotiations for an armistice in WWI (1918). The First American Track and Field championships for women are held (1923). The Kyshtym disaster is the third-worst nuclear accident ever recorded (1957). NASA launches STS-26, the first Space Shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster (1988). John Roberts is confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States (2005). The stock market crashes after the first United States House of Representatives vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act fails (2008). Over 42 people are killed by members of Boko Haram at the College of Agriculture in Nigeria (2013). 
• September 29 is the birthday of Roman general/politician Pompey (106 BC), polymath Michael Servetus (1511), novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547), English admiral Horatio Nelson (1758), physicist Enrico Fermi (1901), fashion journalist Diana Vreeland (1903), singer/actor Gene Autry (1907), director Stanley Kramer (1913), football coach Bum Phillips (1923), model/actress Anita Ekberg (1931), singer-songwriter/pianist Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), actor Larry Linville (1939), actress Madeline Khan (1942), violinist/composer Jean-Luc Ponty (1942), composer Mike Post (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Mark Farner (1948), TV host Bryant Gumbel (1948), animator Gábor Csupó (1952), journalist Gwen Ifill (1955), singer-songwriter/bass player Les Claypool (1963), actor Mackenzie Crook (1971), NFL player Calvin Johnson (1985), NBA player Kevin Durant (1988), and singer Halsey (1994).

That’s good enough for a Sunday. Have some coffee! Enjoy your day.