Random News: September 7, 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 7, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. We started our first real heat wave of the year here in the LA area, and it’s bad enough that even here at the beach, things are sorta miserable; very few of the residences here have AC, with it being unnecessary 95% of the year. So it will be sweltering for a few more days. Lucky me.

• Enough complaining, let’s do some news.
• Some huge news for the Harris campaign yesterday as more than 90 renowned business leaders publicly announced they are backing Kamala for president, saying the vice president would "continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability and a sound business environment." 
• The list is crazy long, but some highlights of the signees include… 
• Jeff Bewkes (former CEO of Time Warner); W. Michael Blumenthal (former CEO of both Bendix and Unisys); Rosalind "Roz" Brewer (former CEO of Sam's Club, former COO of Starbucks); Robert Crandall (former President and Chairman of American Airlines); Mark Cuban (Co-founder of costplusdrugs.com); Barry Diller (Chairman & Senior Executive of IAC and Senior Executive of Expedia, former Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Fox, Inc.); Anne Finucane (former Vice Chair of Bank of America); Lynn Forester de Rothschild (Chief Executive of E.L. Rothschild); Ken Frazier (former Executive Chairman, President & CEO of Merck).
• Takes breath…
• Chad Gifford (former Chairman of Bank of America); Logan Green (Chairman and former CEO of Lyft); Reid Hoffman (Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of LinkedIn); Blake Irving (former CEO of GoDaddy); Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Chairman and CEO, Magic Johnson Enterprises); Jeffrey Katzenberg (Founder & Managing Partner of WndrCo); Michael Lynton (Chairman of Snap, Inc., former CEO of Sony Entertainment); Dustin Moskovitz (Co-founder and CEO of Asana); Alan Mulally (former CEO of Ford).
• How long is this fucking list? Holy shit.
• Anne Mulcahy (former Chairman and CEO of Xerox); James Murdoch (former CEO of 21st Century Fox); Indra Nooyi (former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo); Charles Phillips (former President of Oracle and former CEO of Infor); Dan Schulman (former President & CEO of PayPal); Jim Sinegal (Co-Founder and Former CEO of Costco); Dan Springer (former CEO of Docusign); Tom Steyer (Founder of Farallon Capital); Jeremy Stoppelman (CEO of Yelp); Hamdi Ulukaya (Founder & CEO of Chobani).
• That’s not even half of them. Here’s their full statement.
• “We endorse Kamala Harris's election as President of the United States.
• “Her election is the best way to support the continued strength, security, and reliability of our democracy and economy. With Kamala Harris in the White House, the business community can be confident that it will have a President who wants American industries to thrive. As a partner to President Biden, Vice President Harris has a strong record of advancing actions to spur business investment in the United States and ensure American businesses can compete and win in the global market. She will continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment, and she will strive to give every American the opportunity to pursue the American dream.”
• Why would wealthy business leaders support Harris over Trump, other than a strong sense of patriotism? Because she’s going to be far, far better for America’s business interests. These people don’t want uncertainty and strife.
• Anyway, well said, successful people. I wonder if any other surprise endorsements came in yesterday for Kamala Harris?
• Oh wait, here’s one. It’s Republican vice-president Dick Cheney.
• "In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.
• “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” said the conservative former VP.
• And I once again extend an invitation to those of you who may have previously voted Republican out of habit or a misguided sense of loyalty to turn your support to Harris as well.
• Trump stole your party from you. You don’t need to keep allowing it to happen. Be strong and fight back and take back the GOP from these assholes.
• Moving on.
• A lot of people heard the following news story yesterday and despaired… but I was not one of them.
• Justice Juan Merchan issued an order yesterday delaying sentencing in the 34 felony criminal charges against El Dumpo for a second time. Dump had been scheduled to be sentenced in the case on September 18.
• Dump’s attorneys asked on August 14 for his sentencing to be pushed back until after the presidential election, arguing that a delay is necessary to resolve ongoing legal challenges to his conviction.
• Merchan essentially agreed, writing that he made the decision "to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate." 
• Now let me tell you why I’m fine with it, and in fact glad about it.
• Dumpy would have used this as another springboard to propel his faltering campaign. He would be rallying his MAGA cult by framing this as some political persecution.
• And most of all, as I mentioned many times… despite having been convicted of 34 felonies (so far), I find it extremely unlikely that he’ll face anywhere near the legal punishment the you or I or nearly anyone else would under the same circumstances.
• That being said, a number of former federal prosecutors including Duncan Levin and Kristy Greenberg offers their opinions that Merchan put the date after the election because he intends for the sentence to include "confinement, either at home or in jail, and he did not want such a dramatic sentence to influence the election.
• So fine. Let him lose the election and then face the consequences, whatever they may be. I consider this to be good news.
• Let’s move on.
• Next Tuesday (September 10) is the first debate between Kamala Harris and Dumples the Clown. Reports say that they are preparing for it in drastically different ways.
• Harris is in downtown Pittsburgh, focusing on honing crisp two-minute answers, per the debate’s rules. Meanwhile, being in Pennsylvania, she also has the option of mingling with those key swing-state voters.
• But Dumpy doesn’t believe in preparation. He’s just doing various campaign-related events, assuming that he’ll do fine once he steps on the debate stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
• I’ll tell you, though; Dump seems to be having a lot of trouble articulating answers in low-pressure interviews. It seems to be getting worse at a rapid rate.
• So we’ll see how well he can wing it next Tuesday.
• Let’s move on.
• We don’t talk about polls here for reasons that you all understand by now. I want to mention something not as a builder of confidence, but as a call to action for people in a couple of states who may assume it’s not worth making the effort to vigorously campaign for Harris.
• Florida and Texas are now within the margin of error in the upcoming presidential race, per a poll released yesterday.
• The survey from Emerson College Polling/The Hill showed Dump leading Harris in Florida by 5 points (50 percent to 45 percent) and in Texas by 4 points (50 percent to 46 percent).
• So let’s be clear here: winning either Florida, which Democrats had carried in 2008 and 2012 before the state voted for Trump twice in a row, or Texas, which Democrats have held increasing hopes about flipping blue in recent years, would be an uphill battle for Harris.
• The current forecast model gives Dump an 83 percent chance of winning Texas and a 75 percent chance of winning Florida.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, the poll also found a significant gender gap, with Dump leading among Texas men by 18 points, and among Florida men by 12 points. But Harris leads among Texas women by 8 points, up from 3 points, and among Florida women by 2 points.
• All things considered, Harris winning one or both states is unlikely, but not outside the realm of possibilities. What I’m saying is, if you live in either of those states, find the energy to go out and engage other voters and let them know… there’s a chance.
• Moving on.
• I don’t have much more to say about the indictment of right-wing media group Tenet Media, who were paid nearly $10 million by Russia to spread misinformation via contracting with popular podcasters/YouTuber like Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Lauren Southern, and others.
• Those “influencers” now describe themselves as victims who had no idea where the source of the wealth was coming from, and from what I can tell, each and every one of them seem to be stupid and gullible enough that they may be telling the truth.
• As Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) whined to Sean Hannity. “These people that they say that were being funded by the secret donor that was hiding their true identity, they already had these opinions, they already believed in these things.”
• Well, alrighty then. Case closed. 
• But something to consider.
• If the Russians were paying a nobody like Tim Pool $400,000 per month for making his little YouTube videos, imagine how much they’ve been paying Marjorie Taylor Greene or Clarence Thomas.
• Enough on that for now.
• Moving on to some shitty news about the people trying to stop women’s reproductive rights, in a state where I suppose we shouldn’t find it surprising.
• Yesterday, a Missouri judge ruled that an abortion-rights campaign did not meet legal requirements to qualify for the November ballot, potentially thwarting a yearslong effort to undo the state’s near-total abortion ban.
• However, Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh stopped short of removing the measure from the ballot. Instead, he gave the abortion-rights campaign a chance to file a last-minute appeal before Tuesday’s deadline to make changes to the Missouri ballot.
• Missourians for Constitutional Freedom will appeal the decision and hopes for “a swift resolution so that Missourians can vote on November 5 to protect reproductive freedom, including access to abortion, birth control and miscarriage care,” per campaign manager Rachel Sweet.
• I doubt they will be successful, despite the fact that 380,000 Missourians signed their petition demanding a voice on this critical issue.
• Here’s hoping, though.
• And now, The Weather: “You Don't Know The Shape I'm In” by MJ Lenderman
• I mention some weather stuff up top. To be clear, this shit is really bad — much worse in other parts of LA than at my home by the ocean, and it’s bad here.
• Yesterday had record temperatures to several Los Angeles County communities, including 114 degrees in Burbank, which tied its daily, monthly and all-time record highs.
• In southern LA County, LAX (a 10-minute drive from my house) and Long Beach broke their all-time records by five degrees, 102 and 109, respectively.
• I will also say that like clockwork, the second week of September is nearly always our hottest time of year. All we can hope for is that it doesn’t last long, or that we don’t get another heat blast in October (which happens some years as well).
• RIP to Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian singer, composer, bandleader, and keyboardist who became an international sensation after moving to the United States in the 1960s. Like many people, Mendes had been dealing with the effects of long term COVID. He was 83.
• His landmark Portuguese-language single “Mas Que Nada” gave Mendes and his band Brasil ’66 its U.S. breakthrough.
• From the Sports Desk… last night had the second NFL game of the year, a tough battle between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles… but the game was played in São Paulo, Brazil as part of the NFL’s efforts at international expansion.
• The game was tight the whole time and ended with the Eagles winning 34-29, but perhaps the worse news for the Packers was the apparent lower left leg injury to quarterback Jordan Love with six seconds left in the mathup.
• Ugh.
• Like I said about the season opener the day before, neither team looked very sharp, including the performances of both Love and Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.
• Today in history… A Roman army under Titus occupies and plunders Jerusalem (70). Thomas Howard is arrested for his role in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots (1571). The city of Boston, MA is founded (1630). Dom Pedro I declares Brazil independent from Portugal in São Paulo (1822). Mormon settlers slaughter most members of a peaceful emigrant wagon train (1857). Atlanta is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman (1864). Eugène Lefebvre crashes a biplane during a test flight, becoming the first aviator to lose his life in a powered heavier-than-air craft (1909). US federal employees win the right to Workers' compensation by Federal Employers Liability Act (1916). INTERPOL is formed (1923). The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Farnsworth (1927). The German Luftwaffe begins the Blitz, bombing London and other British cities for over 50 consecutive nights (1940). Japanese forces on Wake Island surrender to U.S. Marines (1945). Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953). The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members (1963). The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for $1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy (1979). Tupac Shakur is fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, NV succumbing to his injuries six days later (1996). The United States government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (2008). Bitcoin becomes legal tender in El Salvador (2021).
• September 7 is the birthday of Japan emperor Suzaku (923), queen Elizabeth I of England (1533), painter Grandma Moses (1860), banker/philanthropist J. P. Morgan Jr. (1867), director Elia Kazan (1909), engineer/businessman David Packard (1912), actor Peter Lawford (1923), golfer/LPGA co-founder Louise Suggs (1923), politician Daniel Inouye (1924), voice actor Don Messick (1926), singer-songwriter/guitarist Buddy Holly (1936), singer-songwriter Gloria Gaynor (1947), actress Julie Kavner (1950), singer-songwriter/guitarist Chrissie Hynde (1951), composer Mark Isham (1951), organist Benmont Tench (1953), actor Corbin Bernsen (1954), singer-songwriter Diane Warren (1956), rapper Eazy-E (1963), comedian/actress Leslie Jones (1967), actress Evan Rachel Wood (1987), and NBA player Kevin Love (1988).

That’s enough for now. I am planning to not overexert myself in the heat today, which is a nice way of saying I’m going to stay lazy as fuck as much as I can. Enjoy your day.