Radom News: October 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 October 16, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. I slept so hard that I’m having trouble discerning reality from the magical world of dreamland, so this cup of Peet’s coffee is especially useful at the moment. Let’s do some news. there’s quite a lot of it.

• Some excellent news out of Georgia yesterday during the state’s first day of early voting.
• A record number of early votes were cast there yesterday as residents headed to the polls in a critical battleground state that is grappling with the fallout from Hurricane Helene and controversial election administration changes that have spurred a flurry of lawsuits.
• Roughly 328,000 ballots have been cast Tuesday, per the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
• The previous first day record? 136,000 in 2020.
• I’m not going to report any information without having solid sources, but in Georgia and other states where early voting has opened, it’s looks like a large margin of those people enthusiastically turning in ballots are Democrats.
• As you know, Georgia is a swing state that will be of the most closely watched this election. Dump lost the state in 2020 to Biden by a small margin.
• Despite the massive turnout on Tuesday, the process appeared to go smoother this year for some Atlanta-area voters.
• A couple of Democrats in line at an Atlanta-area precinct were clear about the reasons for their enthusiasm.
• “It is essential that we vote today simply because we want to prevent as much chaos as possible because Donald Trump has proved to be the most vicious, uneducated, racist individual that we have encountered,” said Fay Ainsworth.
• “Well, we’ve got a crazy person running to be president and a very competent young woman opposing him,” said Joseph Henry King Jr., 77.
• I like that guy.
• But wait. We have some more news out of the Peach State.
• Soon after Georgia voters began flocking to the polls, a judge halted election officials from moving forward with a controversial new rule that would require the hand counting of ballots when polls close on November 5. 
• Judge Robert McBurney called the rule "too much, too late."
• He expressed concern that the hand count rule would lessen public confidence in the election results. Thousands of poll workers would be handling and counting ballots "in a manner unknown and untested in the era of ballot scanning devices," without time for uniform training, McBurney wrote. 
• McBurney added, ”This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one's view of that date's fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public.”
• Thank you!
• Let’s move on.
• Kamala Harris spent an hour yesterday doing a wide-ranging interview in Detroit with radio host Charlamagne Tha God. 
• One of her statements regarding er opponent, Dumples the Clown: “He prefers to run on a problem instead of fix a problem. And we got to call it out and see it for what it is.”
• Indeed.
• Speaking of that guy…
• The media is finally giving some acknowledgement to the fact that Donnie Dump is acting more and more erratic and is exhibiting symptoms common to age-related dementia.
• “Trump's age is a bigger problem than ever” - MSNBC
• “Trump’s speeches, Increasingly angry and rambling, reignite the question of age” - The New York Times
• “Trump mixes up words, swerves among subjects in off-topic speech” - The Washington Post
• “Donald Trump is deteriorating” - New York Magazine
• “How Trump’s speeches are a red flag for mental decline: experts” - The Daily Beast
• Look, they ran headline after headline about Joe Biden’s age in the spring and summer. Most of them have been remarkably quiet about the many instances of Dump showing clear signs of rapidly-worsening senility in recent months.
• Let’s move over to some international news.
• The Biden administration has a message for Israel: increase the amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza within the next 30 days, or risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned their Israeli counterparts that the changes must occur. The message was sent amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza, and an Israeli airstrike on a hospital tent site in central Gaza that killed at least four people and burned others.
• For Israel to continue qualifying for foreign military financing, the level of aid getting into Gaza must increase to at least 350 trucks a day.
• Israel must also institute additional humanitarian pauses and provide increased security for humanitarian sites. Blinked and Austin said Israel had 30 days to respond to the requirements.
• Good.
• But that being said, Israel seems poised to point its attacks elsewhere: Iran.
• Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have assured the US that the counterstrike on Iran would be limited to military targets rather than oil or nuclear facilities
• Israel is opposed to a unilateral ceasefire in its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, per Bibi Netanyahu. Hezbollah has called on Israelis to accept a ceasefire or face “pain,” suggesting it would ramp up attacks further south in Israel.
• Sigh.
• In sort of related news…
• Note to Jews: do NOT fly Lufthansa. Never ever.
• The German airline has agreed to pay a record $4 million penalty for discriminating against Jewish passengers, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced yesterday.
• The charges stem from an incident in May 2022, in which 131 passengers planned to fly from New York City to Budapest — with a connection in Frankfurt — for an annual memorial event for an Orthodox rabbi. Most wore the distinctive black hats and jackets typically favored by Orthodox Jewish men.
• Despite the 131 passengers having a common destination, the passengers did not know each other and did not book their flights as a single group.
• But Lufthansa treated the Jewish passengers as one entity, and barred all of them from boarding their connecting flight due to the alleged misconduct of a few who weren’t wearing masks during the time of COVID protocol.
• Video from the incident showed Lufthansa staff telling passengers that “everyone has to pay” for the mistakes of a few. The staff said “everyone” meant “Jewish coming from JFK.”
• Fuck you, Lufthansa. I promise to never fly your shitty Nazi airline.
• Let’s move on.
• Lest you think we’ve moved on too quickly from the storm disasters that struck the Southeast, I want to note that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said yesterday that 81 people remain missing in the western part of the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
• Cooper also said that 77,000 individuals have applied for relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that FEMA has paid $99 million and is paying for temporary housing for 1,900 people.
• He also addressed the continued misinformation campaigns and recent domestic threats against recovery efforts.
• ”If you're participating in spreading misinformation, stop it. Whatever your aim is, the people you are really hurting is the people in Western North Carolina who need help."
• Correct.
• Of note: it is likely to still be weeks or months before taps in this part of Appalachia begin flowing with clean, potable water.
• The hurricane demolished key components of a system that serves about 160,000 households in and around Asheville.
• In other news…
• Do you use payment apps like Venmo, CashApp, PayPal, Zelle and the like? I do. They’re convenient and simple.
• If my son needs some money — like for college tuition or the like — why would I write him a check that he has to then deposit, and then wait until the funds clear? I can literally transfer dough directly to the same account and he can get to it immediately.
• Plus, writing a check feels like it’s something that was maybe cool in 1952.
• 85% of consumers ages 18 to 29 say they’ve used a service such as PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Zelle.
• But as use of payment apps has grown in recent years, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau has issued guidance on best practices to avoid pitfalls. For example, funds stored on Venmo or CashApp typically lack the deposit insurance you’d get from a bank.
• They also don’t offer the interest you’re missing inn high-yield savings accounts.
• My basic message here is that while using these apps to transfer funds is fine, don’t use them to store your money.
• FDIC-insured banks protect depositors against the loss of their insured deposits up to at least $250,000 if a bank fails, and a similar framework protects credit unions.
• While funds stored on payment apps resemble funds stored on deposit accounts, those funds are not typically covered until they have been transferred back to an FDIC-insured bank or insured credit union.
• Be aware.
• And now, The Weather: “Everything Is Romantic (feat. Caroline Polachek)” by Charli XCX
• Let’s do a chart.
• In February 1998, San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Kamala Harris as an assistant district attorney.
• She became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases — particularly three-strikes cases.
• Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart for that date. I was 29 years old; Kamala was 34.
• 1. Titanic (Soundtrack). 2. Let's Talk About Love (Celine Dion). 3. Spiceworld (Soundtrack) (Spice Girls). 4. My Way (Usher). 5. Yourself Or Someone Like You (matchbox 20). 6. Backstreet Boys (Backstreet Boys). 7. Savage Garden (Savage Garden). 8. Tubthumper (Chumbawamba). 9. Harlem World (Mase). 10. Spice (Spice Girls). 11. No Way Out (Puff Daddy & The Family). 12. Come On Over (Shania Twain). 13. Soul Food (Soundtrack). 14. Big Willie Style (Will Smith). 15. You Light Up My Life -- Inspirational Songs (LeAnn Rimes). 16. All I Have In This World, Are... My Balls And My Word (Young Bleed). 17. Butterfly (Mariah Carey). 18. Sevens (Garth Brooks). 19. Money, Power & Respect (The Lox). 20. Anytime (Brian McKnight).
• From the Sports Desk… the Yankees opened up a 2-0 lead in the ALCS yesterday, beating the Guardians 6-3. Their Game 3 is tomorrow.
• Today, the NLCS continues with the Dodgers visiting the Mets. That series is currently tied up at 1-1.
• These are best-of-seven series, so the first one to get to four wins goes to the World Series, which begins Friday October 25.
• Today in history… Empress Wu Zetian proclaims herself ruler of the Chinese Empire (690). Prince Gesualdo of Venosa murders his wife and her lover (1590). Queen Marie Antoinette is executed (1793). Simón Bolívar sentences Manuel Piar to death for challenging the racial-caste in Venezuela (1817). William T. G. Morton administers ether anesthesia during a surgical operation (1846). The novel ‘Jane Eyre’ is published (1847). Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah (1875). Margaret Sanger opens the first family planning clinic in the United States (1916). The Walt Disney Company is founded (1923). Ten Nazi defendants found guilty by the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trials are executed by hanging (1946). The Cuban Missile Crisis begins (1962). Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party (1964). Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute (1968). Pope John Paul II becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523 (1978). 
• October 16 is the birthday of lexicographer Noah Webster (1758), activist Lucy Stanton (1831), playwright Oscar Wilde (1854), playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888), politician Michael Collins (1890), singer-songwriter Big Joe Williams (1903), actress Angela Lansbury (1925), singer Nico (1938), actress Suzanna Somers (1946), singer-songwriter/guitarist Bob Weir (1947), actor Tim Robbins (1958), singer-songwriter/guitarist Bob Mould (1960), bass player/composer Flea (1962), NBA player Manute Bol (1962), NFL player Kordell Stewart (1972), singer-songwriter/guitarist John Mayer (1977), WNBA player Sue Bird (1980), and tennis player Naomi Osaka (1997).

Per the top story above, I highly recommend that if you have the opportunity to vote early in your state, just do it. I did. Felt great. Enjoy your day.