Random News: October 9, 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 9, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. I’m your news dude. Your info guy. Your data mate. Your story boy. Let’s get into it.

• Obviously starting with Hurricane Milton.
• The Tampa Bay region, home to more than 3.3 million people, hasn’t seen a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century, since 1921.
• Milton fluctuated between categories 4 and 5 as it approached, but regardless of the distinction in wind speeds, it will be a major and extremely dangerous storm when its center makes landfall late tonight or early Thursday.
• The storm is expected to retain hurricane strength as it crosses central Florida tomorrow, heading all the way across the state toward the Atlantic Ocean. The precise track remained uncertain.
• One more note for now…
• There has been a mandatory evacuation order across 11 Florida counties with a combined population of about 5.9 million people. 
• If you choose to ride it out, officials warn that you are truly on your own. First responders are not expected to risk their lives attempting rescues at the height of the storm.
• However, there are many people like Amanda Moss, who said in a series of TikTok videos that she doesn’t have enough money to evacuate herself, her husband, her six children, her four French bulldogs, and her mother-in-law from the Fort Myers area
• “We don’t have the money to evacuate, and where am I evacuating to?” she asked.
• It’s a valid question. Before you castigate those who are staying, keep in mind that many of them don’t feel they have a choice. 
• In any case, here’s hoping my Florida friends are currently somewhere safe, or well underway to getting there, or are lucky in their attempts to stay put.
• Let’s move on.
• A couple of tidbits from Bob Woodward’s new book. Side note: if something is important and newsworthy, why do these assholes keep it secret for months or years while writing their book? Oh wait, it’s to sell books.
• Woodward wrote that Dumpy was in touch with Putin multiple times after leaving office in 2021.
• Worse, in 2020 while still in office, Dumples the Clown sent Putin COVID test machines. 
• Those testing apparatus were in extreme short supply in the USA at the time, and Dump was sending them to Russia. Piece of shit.
• Dumpy immediately denied that he’d sent the tests to Putin… and moments later, the Kremlin confirmed that he had.
• Woodward had some stuff to say about Joe Biden as well.
• Biden called Benjamin Netanyahu, “That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad fucking guy!”
• I agree with Joe. Woodward also described the evolving relationship between Biden and the Israeli prime minister, revealing this telling conversation… 
• “What’s your strategy, man?” Biden asked Netanyahu. “We have to go into Rafah,” Netanyahu replied. “Bibi, you’ve got no strategy,” Biden said.
• Again, seems about right.
• Let’s move on to another look back.
• Remember in September 2018, when allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett M. Kavanaugh threatened his confirmation to the Supreme Court?
• A new report finds that messages to the FBI tip line regarding Kavanaugh were forwarded directly to the White House and never probed.
• Also, despite an alleged open-door policy, the FBI had no written protocols for the supplemental background investigation ordered by the White House.
• So there was no actual investigation into the many claims against Kavanaugh, which resulted in a major triumph for the conservative movement and locked in a right-leaning majority that would later overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
• Which Donnie Dump takes full credit for.
• Please vote for Harris/Walz and put an end to this continual ongoing humiliation and degradation of our country’s women. Thank you.
• Moving on.
• Last night, Kamala Harris cracked open a beer on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ sipping a Miller High Life with the late-night host as she discussed Dump’s politicization of federal hurricane relief efforts, her plans for the economy, the prospects for peace in the Middle East, and her opponent’s admiration for strongman dictators like Vladimir Putin.
• Earlier in the day, Harris appeared on the Howard Stern show, calling Dumpy a sore loser and earning an endorsement from the popular radio host.
• During the show, Harris blasted Dump for his comment that he would be a “dictator on day one.” “Understand what dictators do,” said Harris. “They jail journalists, they put people who are protesting in the street in jail.”
• Dump has criticized Stern, saying that the host “went woke”. Stern shrugged off the charge, telling listeners that he takes “woke” as a compliment and that “the opposite of being woke is being asleep.”
• Correct.
• Stern also asked if she thought there were Americans who would refuse to vote for a woman.
• Her response: “Listen, I’ve been the first woman in almost every position I’ve had. I believe that men and women support women in leadership. And that’s been my life experience and that’s why I’m running for president.”
• I think she’s right.
• Let’s move on.
• You know how Dumpy is always ranting about how China steals American jobs and engages in unfair trade practices? I mean, that’s not entirely wrong.
• So why is it that Dump’s “God Bless the USA” Bible were printed in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou?
• The printing company in China shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States between early February and late March.
• But wait… there’s more.
• The value of the three separate shipments was listed at $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible. But the minimum price for the Dump-backed Bible is $59.99.
• WHY DO YOU WANT THIS GUY TO KEEP FUCKING YOU?
• The only conclusion I can draw is that MAGA is the party that enjoys being a victim of ass rape.
• Let’s just move on.
• As if the current situations (gestures vaguely) in various parts of the USA didn’t make it difficult enough to vote, yesterday the Justice Department announced the arrest of an Afghan national living in Oklahoma, and accused him of plotting to kill Americans on Election Day on behalf of the terror group ISIS.
• Nasir Tawhedi, 27, is alleged to have sought to purchase semiautomatic firearms and ammunition to further his alleged plans to carry out the attack, and even went so far as to liquidate his family's assets and resettling family members overseas in preparation.
• The charging documents additionally reference at least one co-conspirator, who is identified as a citizen of Afghanistan with legal permanent resident status who also resides in Oklahoma but is a juvenile.
• Fuck that guy and anyone else trying to impede the democratic process. Whether you vote early or wait until November 5, don’t let a goddamn thing — storms, terrorists, MAGAs, wild boars, long lines, floods, plagues of frogs, whatever — dissuade you from doing your patriotic duty.
• In other news…
• More than a dozen states have sued TikTok, accusing the social media platform of helping to drive a mental health crisis among teenagers.
• A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country allege that the company uses addictive features to hook children to the app, and that it has intentionally misled the public about the safety of prolonged use.
• TikTok is already battling a law passed by Congress in April that would ban it from the US, unless Chinese parent company Bytedance agreed to a sale.
• Guess we’ll see how that goes. I’ll note, as I’ve done before, that many of the same features being labelled as addictive in regard to TikTok are also offered on Facebook and YouTube, such as the infinite scroll through suggested videos, shorts, and reels.
• Sigh.
• On the lighter side of news, Qantas Airways is apologizing to customers after inadvertently running an R-rated film on every screen during a flight.
• Apparently there were tech issues a trip from Sydney to Haneda last week that didn’t allow for individual movie selection. So the the crew chose one movie to play across all screens “based on the request from a number of passengers.”
• The film was “Daddio,” which follows a woman (Dakota Johnson) who takes a cab from JFK airport and strikes up an extended conversation with her driver (Sean Penn) on her way back home to Manhattan.
• Doesn’t sound too racy to me, but it carries an R rating for “language throughout, sexual material and brief graphic nudity.” Whoops.
• I’m sure there were some parents not too thrilled that their kids were watching it.
• A snarky Air New Zealand social media post after the incident read, "We let you choose your movies.” Snort.
• And now, The Weather: “Midnight Oil” by yunè pinku
• Rest in peace to Red Sox pitching legend Luis Tiant. He died yesterday at 83. 
• Tiant spent 19 years in the majors, eight with the Red Sox. He was a three-time All Star, but never made the Hall of Fame despite being on the ballot for 15 years. Probably a mistake.
• From the Sports Desk… more games yesterday in the NLDS. The 6-seed Mets beat the 2-seed Phillies 7-3, taking a perilous 2-1 lead in the 5-game series. Likewise, the 4-seed Padres hung on to win in a 6-5 victory over the 1-seed Dodgers. San Diego is now also one win away from the NLCS.
• C’mon, you stupid Dodgers.
• Today in history… Carloman I and Charlemagne — my 39th great-grandfather — are crowned kings of the Franks (768). Kepler’s Supernova is the most recent supernova to be observed within the Milky Way (1604). The Collegiate School of Connecticut — later renamed Yale University — is chartered in Old Saybrook (1701). In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia (1812). The siege of Sevastopol begins in the Crimean War (1854). Union cavalrymen defeat Confederate forces at Toms Brook, Virginia (1864). Boulder Dam — later called Hoover Dam — begins to generate electricity and transmit it to Los Angeles (1936). The National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the "Chicago Eight” (1969). ‘Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends’ premieres (1984). Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) launches as the "fourth" US television network (1984). North Korea conducts its first nuclear test (2006). The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its all-time high of 14,164 points before rapidly declining due to the 2007-2008 financial crises (2007). Pakistani Taliban attempt to assassinate outspoken schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai (2012). 
• October 9 is the birthday of composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835), physicist Karl Schwarzschild (1873), pharmacist/businessman Charles Rudolph Walgreen (1873), actor Alastair Sim (1900), activist Alice Lee Jemison (1901), CIA officer E. Howard Hunt (1918), actor Fyvush Finkel (1922), singer-songwriter/guitarist John Lennon (1940), cartoonist Mike Peters (1943), bass player/songwriter John Entwistle (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jackson Browne (1948), keyboardist/songwriter Rod Temperton (1949), TV host Sharon Osbourne (1952), actor Tony Shaloub (1953), actor Scott Bakula (1954), singer Ini Kamoze (1957), singer-songwriter/producer Al Jourgensen (1958), NFL player Mike Singletary (1958), film director/producer Guillermo del Toro (1964), UK prime minister David Cameron (1966), singer-songwriter PJ Harvey (1969), singer-songwriter/guitarist Sean Lennon (1975), author Marie Kondo (1984), NFL player George Kittle (1993).

Well, that turned out to be more news than I thought I’d get to when I started an hour ago. But sometimes life is like that; you end up with more than you bargained for. Enjoy your day.