Random News: October 26, 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 26, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. It feels damn good just to be relaxing and sipping coffee in my robe at home right now.

• As I mentioned far too often, I was on vacation last weekend and then had a hellacious work week afterwards.
• And I am one of those people who’s learned to appreciate normalcy and calm. I have nothing right now. Lucky me.
• Let’s do some news.
• In perhaps her most highly visible event yet, Kamala Harris enlisted Beyoncé to help ignite a Houston rally with a double-barreled argument against Dumpy last night.
• There wasn’t a single empty seat at the 20,000+ seat Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, TX, the site of Harris’s rally with Beyonce. Why rally in reliably-Republican Texas?
• Because Harris and Beyoncé were there to help stop the erosion of women’s rights, highlighting the growing medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban. It’s a message that resonates to all 50 states for the election that happens in 10 days.
• As horrible as it’s been, the fall of Roe v. Wade as commanded by Donald J. Trump remains one of the key issue that will spur voters to turn out to support Harris’s quest for the presidency.
• Large screens at the event were flashing messages that say “Reproductive Freedom,” “Vote,” “Trust Women,” “Freedom,” and “Vote for Reproductive Freedom.”

• Before the rally, Harris addressed Dump's comment that America has become a "garbage can" and "dumping ground" for migrants from around the world.
• ”You know, it's just another example of how he really belittles our country," Harris said. "This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it, to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is trash."
• She added, ”And I think, again, the president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are and invest in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are.”
• I agree. Let’s fucking go.
• What was Dumpy doing at the same moment? Well, after appearing on Joe Rogan’s show, the fat orange-hued dictator wannabe’s plane did not leave Austin until not long before his scheduled rally in Michigan was set to start.
• As is typical for this uncaring piece of shit, he left his little MAGA fans standing around waiting for hours and hours in the cold. Many left before Dumpy finally arrived over three hours late.
• What’s on Harris’s schedule today?
• The Veep is in Kalamazoo, MI, hanging with Michelle Obama for a “Get Out the Vote” rally.
• Tim Walz is out west. He’s in Window Rock, AZ, delivering remarks at a Native Americans for Harris-Walz rally. Then Tim will travel to Phoenix for a general campaign rally.
• Let’s move on to some international news.
• Israel carried out a series of overnight air attacks against Iran in retaliation for Tehran's barrage of missile strikes against Israel earlier this month.
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said aircraft struck military sites including air defense batteries and missile manufacturing facilities, adding that it considers its response completed.
• This is highly concerning, obviously. It’s in no one’s best interest for a widespread open war to be kicking off in the Middle East.
• I will say, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it has a responsibility to defend itself, but added that the country "recognizes its responsibilities towards regional peace and security.” That is hopefully a good sign.
• Back in the USA, a statistic for you.
• As of 4:30pm ET yesterday, more than 35 million Americans had voted early, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
• Of the votes cast, 16,080,81 were in-person early votes and 18,959,123 were mail-in ballots.
• This means that more than 20 million people have voted this week alone.
• That’s very good. I’m not even talking about who these people are voting for. The fact that we’re seeing engagement and enthusiasm with the populace being active in our election process is always a good sign.
• To that end…
• A federal judge ruled yesterday that a voter removal program in Virginia illegally purged registered voters from the state’s rolls too close to this fall’s election.
• Various states — all Republican governed, I should add — keep trying this shit, and keep failing.
• U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered the state to put removed voters back on the state’s registration list, and blocked Virginia from “continuing any systematic program intended to remove the names of ineligible voters” through Election Day.
• It’s the second time this month a federal court has blocked voter purging efforts by a Republican-led state for violating the National Voter Registration Act.
• That act, passed in 1993, bans most states from systematically removing registered voters within the 90 days before a federal election.
• Of course, Virginia is mad that they can’t stop you from voting.
• “Virginia will immediately petition the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court, for an emergency stay of the injunction,” said Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
• And Dumpy was bigly mad too, calling the ruling, “a totally unacceptable travesty.”
• Finally, one more note in voting fuckery news.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday seeking an order that forces Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to remove his name from the ballot.
• The Michigan Supreme Court said RFK Jr. could not remove himself.
• A response from the state is due Monday at 4pm.
• RFK Jr., aka, “the brain worm guy,” wants to be off the ballot in red states and swing states where he would siphon votes away from Dump. He also has taken legal action to try and remain on the ballot in solidly blue states, hoping it will impact Harris’s tally.
• I think we need some laws to address this scam in future elections.
• And I actually have another early-voting story for you.
• You know how I tell you not to wear campaign apparel or swag to polling locations?
• Some fucking douchebag in Texas named Jesse Lutzenberger punched a poll worker at an early voting site after he was asked to remove his fucking MAGA cap.
• Lutzenberger, 63, was arrested Thursday and charged with injury to an elderly person. He initially complied when asked by the 69-year-old early voting clerk to remove his cap while at the early voting site in Bexar County.
• But after putting the cap back on, the elderly clerk moved to escort Lutzenberger out, which is when Lutzenberger started punching the old man in the face. He was booked into the Bexar County jail on injury to an elderly person, a third-degree felony.
• Anyway, don’t wear campaign shit to vote, everyone.
• Moving on.
• Following the terrible lead of The Los Angeles Times earlier this week, The Washington Post announced yesterday would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year’s election… or in the future.
• What the actual fuck? WaPo’s tagline is literally “Democracy Dies In Darkness.” And then they chose darkness as their position in this crucial election year.
• Who owns that paper? Oh yeah, billionaire Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon. Bezos has so far declined to comment on the situation, even as his own paper’s journalists reported that it was him who ultimately spiked the planned endorsement.
• Sources say that an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris had been drafted before it was squashed. In the last 24 hours, at least one editor has resigned, and high-profile Post staffers have publicly expressed their dismay as many in the paper’s Opinion section are furious over how the situation was handled.
• Fucking self-serving cowards, both Bezos and the other billionaire asshole who owns the LA Times.
• Let’s move on.
• I know a lot of you want to look at and talk about polls.
• We will not do that here. On a general overall basis, yes… every single poll out there in places that will impact the election seem to show a dead heat. Even tie. Straight down the middle.
• And to all that, I say… just vote. Vote like it’s the only thing that matters. Listen to your inner voice and vote for the better person and better leader. That’s it. That’s all you have to do.
• No one knows what I’ll be writing here two weeks from today. No one. So do your part, vote, and let’s imagine that report of my Random News will be a very happy one that day.
• And now, The Weather: “Sky Baby” by hemlock
• A huge and personal rest in peace going out to Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. He died yesterday at age 84.
• Phil had been the oldest and one of the longest surviving members of the band that came to define the psychedelic, funky, acid rock sound emanating from San Francisco in the 1960s.
• I started going to Dead shows in the early 80s and continued up until the point of Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. Phil Lesh was massively influential to me as a musician and composer. Plus, he was a funny and articulate guy who was a huge part of that band’s sound.
• Another RIP going out to television scriptwriter and producer Jeri Taylor, who died at 86.
• Taylor wrote many episodes of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ and was the show runner and main writer for ‘Star Trek: Voyager’. She was 86.\
• She joined The Next Generation staff at the beginning of the fourth season. After two years, Taylor became co-executive producer.
• From the Sports Desk… last night’s Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was a classic for the ages.
• After a brutal pitching battle that had the Yankees up by a run in extra innings, in the bottom of the 10th, Freddie Freeman steps up with two outs, bases loaded… and dings the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
• Mind blown. My LA-area neighborhood was in pandemonium in the moments following. Final score: Dodgers 6, Yankees 3.
• The Dodgers actually do walk-offs well in big games. It was the third walk-off homer in the World Series in franchise history, along with Max Muncy (Game 3 in 2018) and famously Kirk Gibson (Game 1 in 1988).
• There were huge similarities, by the way, between Gibson’s and Freeman’s walk-offs. Both guys had been fighting injuries, both were in Game 1 at home, both happened at 8:37pm local time, and the broadcast call for both — purposeful or otherwise — was almost identical.
• But still, a grand slam in the 10th in the World Series? Holy fuck. That’s the scenario you pretend when you’re a kid swinging a bat in the backyard. That’s the stuff of legends.
• Today in history… The First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia (1774). Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday participate in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona (1881). The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation (1936). The Battle of Leyte Gulf in WWII ends with an overwhelming American victory (1944). Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris (1958). The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aboriginals (1985). The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law (2001). 
• October 26 is the birthday of composer Hans Buchner (1483), composer Domenico Scarlatti (1685), businessman C. W. Post (1854), businessman Benjamin Guggenheim (1865), philanthropist/MoMA founder Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874), politician François Mitterrand (1916), actor Bob Hoskins (1942), politician Hillary Clinton (1947), singer-songwriter/bass player Bootsy Collins (1951), singer-songwriter/producer David Was (1952), guitarist/songwriter Keith Strickland (1953), actress Rita Wilson (1956), actor Dylan McDermott (1961), actor Cary Elwes (1962), singer-songwriter/pianist Natalie Merchant (1963), actor/producer Seth MacFarlane (1973), wrestler CM Punk (1978), actor Sam Brown (1981), and figure skater Greg Zuerlein (1988).

That’s all for now, folks. Enjoy your day.