Random News: November 30, 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 November 30, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. I’m in my robe and have a cup of Peet’s Brazil, and it’s delicious. Let’s see what’s going on around this crazy-ass world.

• Li’l Donnie Dump had dinner with an actual leader last night… Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
• As you know, Dumpy has promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada starting on the first day of his administration, specifically calling for a 25% tariff on all products sent to the US.
• And now he’s looking for a way out without losing face.
• Dump is going to look like the world’s biggest idiot once prices skyrocket and people start losing jobs as a result. His own biggest supporters — well, at least some of them — won’t stand for being jobless and poverty-stricken.
• Trudeau is playing it perfectly.
• He said, “One of the things that is really important to understand is that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it. Our responsibility is to point out that in this way he would be actually not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States; he’d actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and businesses.”
• Correct.
• The subtext, if you have trouble comprehending politicalese, is that Dumpy is not serious, has no intention of acting on this campaign promise, and wants to seem like he gets a win when there’s none to be had.
• Either way, if these tariffs go into effect as Dump has promised, you can count on severe hardships for you and your family starting very soon.
• Let’s move on.
• How are things going to Dump’s key cabinet picks? Not so great.
• Take, for example, Dumpy’s pick to be the secretary of defense, Fox News weekend host Pete Hegseth.
• His own mother, Penelope Hegseth, accused her son of routinely mistreating women and displaying a lack of character.
• In an email that got published by the New York Times yesterday, Pete’s mom wrote, “You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego.”
• She continued, “You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
• Apparently Mrs. Hegseth had written the email while angry about Pete’s acrimonious divorce from his second wife, Samantha, the mother of three of his children.
• Still, moms are pretty good judges of character. Something to keep in mind.
• Hegseth is already facing questions over payments he made to a woman who accused him of sexual assault — an encounter that he insists was consensual and she says was rape.
• What does this stuff matter in regard to him leading the entire US military? Well, a lot.
• “I’m straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles,” Pete Hegseth said on a podcast this month. “It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”
• But that’s far different from how women who have filled such roles see their achievement.
• With thousands of women in combat units past and present, Hegseth’s “notions” — as one Army veteran recently labeled them — could affect many futures.
• Women are currently members of the country’s most elite forces. While acknowledging that conversations about military readiness are always important, decorated female veterans called Hegseth’s views on what women in uniform contribute outdated, uninformed, and inaccurate.
• And I agree.
• Moving on.
• Let’s head to the International Desk for a moment.
• Today, thousands of Syrian insurgents fanned out inside Aleppo in vehicles with improvised armor and pickups, deploying to landmarks such as the old citadel, a day after they entered Syria’s largest city facing little resistance from government troops.
• Two airstrikes on the city’s edge late yesterday targeted insurgent reinforcements and hit near residential areas. A war monitor said 20 fighters were killed.
• The surprise takeover is a huge embarrassment for Syrian President Bashar Assad, who managed to regain total control of the city in 2016, after expelling insurgents and thousands of civilians from its eastern neighborhoods following a grueling military campaign in which his forces were backed by Russia, Iran, and its allied groups.
• If you’re wondering who are the good guys and who are the bad guys here… join the club. In some aspects, this feels like one terrorist group attacking another.
• And really, violence of this nature is never good and ends up mostly harming the people who happen to live in the area under attack.
• Let’s move on.
• I want to once again mention what will likely happen with Dumpy’s pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he’s confirmed as the next secretary of Health and Human Services.
• But don’t listen to me. Listen to Scott Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration during the first Dump administration. Yesterday he issued a stark warning.
• “You’re going to see measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates go down,” he said. The nation is approaching a “tipping point,” Gottlieb said, where a continued decline in childhood vaccines could soon lead to measles outbreaks and deaths of children.
• “We’re going to start seeing epidemics of diseases that have long been vanquished, and, God forbid, we see polio reemerge in this country,” he said.
• Gottlieb said he had been warning senators against confirming Kennedy to run the federal health department. He added that Kennedy, who founded one of the country’s most prominent antivaccine groups, had people around him who could take immediate steps to affect Americans’ access to vaccines, such as changing federal vaccine recommendations.
• All I will say is this: while the government may lessen requirements to get vaccines, you — as a person and possibly as a parent — can make up your own mind.
• No one wants to see their children suffering from these very preventable diseases just because some fucking politician is a wackjob.
• Moving on.
• Here’s a concept for all the guys who call themselves “alpha males” while threatening and belittling women: it used to be that an actual man was one who protected the rights and dignity of women.
• But immediately after the election, there’s been a huge spike in misogynistic rhetoric,  including some extremely violent misogyny.
• The phrase “Your body, my choice” has been largely attributed to a social post from Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and far-right internet personality who dined at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
• Fuentes’ post had 35 million views on X within 24 hours.
• Misogynistic attacks have been part of the social media landscape for years. But disinformation said language glorifying violence against women or celebrating the possibility of their rights being stripped away has spiked sky-high since the election.
• Online declarations for women to “Get back in the kitchen” or to “Repeal the 19th,” a reference to the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote, have spread rapidly.
• The top 10 posts on X calling for repeal of the 19th Amendment received more than 4 million views collectively.
• Anonymous rape threats have been left on the TikTok videos of women denouncing the election results.
• And those are in the best-known public spaces on the web. In places like 4chan forums, the men are calling for “rape squads” and the adoption of policies in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a dystopian book and TV series depicting the dehumanization and brutalization of women.
• I’ll be offering some advice in future installments of Random News in terms of how to ensure your safety against such “men.”
• And now, The Weather: “Alien” by Gaspard Eden
• It’s been awhile, so let’s do a chart, going back 40 years from today.
• It’s late November 1984. I’m in my junior year of high school, and here’s the top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart. I remember this time well… pretty much fucking up in school, playing in a rock cover band, and smoking way too much weed.
• 1. Purple Rain (Soundtrack) (Prince And The Revolution). 2. Born In The U.S.A. (Bruce Springsteen). 3. Private Dancer (Tina Turner). 4. The Woman In Red (Soundtrack) (Stevie Wonder). 5. Volume One (The Honeydrippers). 6. Big Bam Boom (Daryl Hall John Oates). 7. Sports (Huey Lewis & The News). 8. Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie). 9. Suddenly (Billy Ocean). 10. She's So Unusual (Cyndi Lauper). 11. Tonight (David Bowie). 12. The Unforgettable Fire (U2). 13. Break Out (The Pointer Sisters). 14. Chicago 17 (Chicago). 15. 1100 Bel Air Place (Julio Iglesias). 16. I Feel For You (Chaka Khan). 17. Heartbeat City (The Cars). 18. Eddie & The Cruisers (Soundtrack) (John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band). 19. Emotion (Barbra Streisand). 20. Animalize (KISS).
• From the Sports Desk… who’s hot in the NBA?
• Eastern Conference: Cavaliers (17-3), Celtics (16-3), Magic (14-7), Knicks (11-8), Heat (9-8).
• Western Conference: Thunder (15-4), Rockets (14-6), Warriors (12-6), Grizzlies (13-7), Nuggets (10-7).
• Today in history… In Paris, representatives from the United States and Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (1782). The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate begins an impeachment trial of Federalist Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase (1804). The Confederate Army of Tennessee suffers heavy losses in an attack on the Union Army of the Ohio in the Battle of Franklin (1864). The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England (1872). A German engineer patents front-wheel drive for automobiles (1900). The Soviet Red Army crosses the Finnish border in several places and bomb Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the Winter War (1939). The SS-Einsatzgruppen round up 11,000 Jews from the Riga Ghetto and kill them in the Rumbula massacre (1941). In Sylacauga, AL, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap (1954). Michael Jackson's sixth solo studio album, ‘Thriller’, is released worldwide, ultimately becoming the best-selling record album in history (1982). Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company (1999). In Seattle, WA, demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies (1999). NASA launches STS-97, the 101st Space Shuttle mission (2000). The AI chatbot ChatGPT is launched by OpenAI (2022).
• November 30 is the birthday of admiral Andrea Doria (1486), satirist Jonathan Swift (1667), novelist Mark Twain (1835), physician/activist Martha Ripley (1843), singer/guitarist Brownie McGhee (1915), actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (1918), police officer/activist Elliott Blackstone (1924), activist/politician Shirley Chisholm (1924), actor Richard Crenna (1926), actor Robert Guillaume (1927), TV host/producer Dick Clark (1929), lawyer/criminal G. Gordon Liddy (1930), NFL coach Bill Walsh (1931), actor/director Woody Allen (1935), activist Abbie Hoffman (1936), film director Ridley Scott (1937), bass player/songwriter Roger Glover (1945), playwright/director David Mamet (1947), actor Mandy Patinkin (1952), singer-songwriter Billy Idol (1955), singer-songwriter Stacey Q (1958), singer-songwriter Cherie Currie (1959), NFL/MLB player Bo Jackson (1962), actor Ben Stiller (1965), DJ/music producer Steve Aoki (1977), singer Clay Aiken (1978), and model Chrissy Teigen (1985).

Time to shower and get dressed and do things. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 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 November 29, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I know that many Americans have the day off work, here on the day after Thanksgiving. As a self-employed person for the past 21 years, I don’t get days off work, though I do take them now and then. Today, therefore, is a half-assed work day where I have some things to do, and will get them done without being interrupted by calls or meetings, at least in theory.

• I am just excited as hell at the fact that sometime soon, I’ll be having a turkey sandwich. The best turkey sandwich of the year, in fact.
• Everyone has their own idea of the perfect post-Thanksgiving sandwich. I’ve tried them all, from open-faced with gravy to smothered in cranberry sauce… it’s a personal choice with no wrong answer.
• Mine is fairly simple… turkey and stuffing on a good white bread with mayo and lettuce, and some red onion if I’m feeling it.
• Let’s do some news.
• Today is Black Friday, an annual big day for consumerism.
• Why is it called Black Friday? The term started in the 1960s, but became more commonplace in the ‘80s. It refers to the pivotal point int he year where retailers shifted from loss ("in the red") to profit ("in the black"). 
• That’s total bullshit, by the way… the idea that a store can operate at a loss for eleven full months before finally becoming profitable only in the final month of the year.
• But that’s the concept.
• I normally eschew making purchases today unless it’s something that I truly need, and there happens to be a great deal on it that I can’t get any other time (which is also usually not true).
• However, this year, with the prospect of Dumpy’s tariffs driving up prices massively after he gets into office, there may be a couple of items that you’d be better off buying now than later.
• Of note: if we take Dump’s tariff threats at face value, then it means come January 20, we will see prices rise immediately. And yes, US companies will feel it first (potentially leading to cutbacks and layoffs), but there will be an immediate trickle-down effect passed down to US consumers.
• Some things you can’t buy and stockpile, despite knowing how much more expensive they’ll be int he upcoming Dumpy years. Those are things like fruits and vegetables, and a slew of other perishable foods.
• But it goes beyond that. For instance, Canada supplied the US with $40.1 billion in agricultural products last year, primarily meat and vegetable oil.
• But some of the highest prices hikes due to Dumples the Clown’s tariffs will be in product categories across a wide variety of things people buy all the time. Like cars.
• Nearly one-quarter of all new vehicles sold in the US in 2023 came from either Mexico or Canada. In many cases, vehicles move across borders several times before they are finally sold in the US.
• Some of the companies likely to be most severely affected include Stellantis and General Motors, which import 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of all vehicles sold in the US from Canada and Mexico.
• Those companies’ brands in the US include Chevrolet, GMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram Trucks.
• But Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Kia — all of which have factories in Mexico — would also be affected.
• How about gas for those cars and trucks? Canada is a major source of US energy, providing 60 percent of all crude oil imports in 2023.
• That translates to four million barrels of crude oil a day, worth more than $124 billion. So gas prices will be heading up.
• What about other common consumer goods?
• Electronics of all sorts will have higher prices under Dumpy. Walmart and Best Buy have already stated that they’ll have to raise prices if Dump makes good on his threats to China.
• He said during his campaign that he would impose tariffs of 60 percent or more for what he says are unfair trade practices.
• So anything made in China — video game consoles, computers, televisions, and smartphones — are getting more expensive due to Dumpy not understanding economics.
• And that’s assuming you can get these things at all. Tariffs could also trigger supply chain disruptions, potentially leading to delays, shortages, and further costs.
• So just be aware… unlike my usual advice, it might be a good idea to buy the things you really need now.
• Let’s move on.
• I want to talk about people who make threats toward politicians and public figures.
• I don’t care who you are or who the objects of your hate are. If you want to live in a civilized world, it’s not fucking acceptable. Never.
• This week, a number of Dumpy’s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees reported that they had received such threats, as well as swatting attacks, in which perpetrators initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a victim under false pretenses.
• And then yesterday, on Thanksgiving, at least six Democratic members of Congress from Connecticut were targeted by bomb threats on their homes.
• Sen. Chris Murphy and all five House members — Reps. Jim Himes, Joe Courtney, John Larson, Jahana Hayes, and Rosa DeLauro — reported being the subject of such threats. Police who responded said they found no evidence of explosives on the lawmakers’ properties.
• Is that how you want to live life? Where our actions are dictated by fear of violence all the time?
• Stop that shit immediately. I don’t give a fuck how mad you are or how you feel political actions will impact your life. Turning to violence is the last resort of the weak. It also gives others excuses to make life worse for the rest of us.
• You’re better than that. Find another way.
• In other news… don’t eat cucumbers.
• Cucumbers shipped to 13 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces have been recalled because of potential salmonella contamination.
• SunFed Produce, based in Arizona, recalled the cucumbers sold between October 12 and November 26. No illnesses were immediately reported.
• People who bought cucumbers during the window should check with the store where they purchased them to see if the produce is part of the recall. Wash items and surfaces that may have been in contact with the produce using hot, soapy water.
• But let me ask you… who the fuck has a cucumber they bought six weeks ago?
• Moving on.
• There’s a fashion trend that’s returned from the ‘80s… for killer whales.
• Orcas, the alpha predator of the world’s oceans, have been spotted wearing dead fish on their heads — a look they were seen sporting nearly 40 years ago by researchers. 
• Images have surfaced of orcas across Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest wearing dead salmon on their heads in recent weeks. I’m not kidding.
• In 1987, one female orca began carrying the dead fish on her nose. Within the next five to six weeks, the entirety of her pod — and two others — were following suit.
• And then, it went out of style and no killer whales would be seen with a dead fish hat for the next 37 years. Until now.
• Orcas are incredibly intelligent, which, combined with their physical attributes makes them the most bad-ass creatures of the sea. And, according to Naomi Rose of the Animal Welfare Institute, it’s in the orcas’ nature to follow trends, especially for the younger ones.
• So now you know that.
• And now, The Weather: “Scrooge” by Daneshevskaya
• From the Sports Desk… there’s an NFL game today, and it might end up being the worst one of the year. The worst team in the league — the Las Vegas Raiders (2-9) — is visiting one of the best… the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs (10-1).
• KC is favored by 13.5 points. It would be absolutely hilarious if the Raiders actually are problematic today.
• Today in history… San Jose, CA is founded as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe and is the first civilian settlement, or pueblo, in Alta California (1777). The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 54 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance (1781). Union forces under Ambrose Burnside successfully defend Knoxville, TN from Confederate forces under James Longstreet (1863). Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time (1877). FC Barcelona is founded by Catalan, Spanish and Englishmen (1899). Richard E. Byrd leads the first expedition to fly over the South Pole (1929). The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared (1945). Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1963). "I Want to Hold Your Hand", recorded on October 17, 1963, is released by the Beatles in the United Kingdom (1963). Atari releases Pong, the first commercially successful video game (1972). Michael Jackson releases ‘Thriller,’ the best-selling music album of all time (1982).
• November 29 is the birthday of evangelist the Public Universal Friend (1752), physicist Christian Doppler (1803), novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832), physicist John Ambrose Fleming (1849), director/choreographer Busby Berkeley (1895), novelist C. S. Lewis (1898), singer-songwriter/guitarist Merle Travis (1917), author Madeleine L’Engle (1918), sportscaster Vin Scully (1927), singer-songwriter/guitarist John Mayall (1933), actress Diane Ladd (1935), musician/producer Meco (1939), horn player/composer Chuck Mangione (1940), singer-songwriter/pianist Felix Cavaliere (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Ronnie Montrose (1947), comedian Garry Shandling (1949), guitarist Barry Goudreau (1951), writer/director Joel Coen (1954), comedian/TV host Howie Mandel (1955), politician Janet Napolitano (1957), politician Rahm Emanuel (1959), actor Tom Sizemore (1961), actor Andrew McCarthy (1962), actor Don Cheadle (1964), actor Brian Baumgartner (1972), actor Chadwick Boseman (1976), actress Anna Faris (1976), politician Andy Beshear (1977), NFL player Russell Wilson (1988), and NFL player Stefon Diggs (1993).

Alrighty. That’s enough for now. I’m going to go half-work, half-whatever. And it’s almost an acceptable time for a sandwich. Yes, it’s 9am. I’ve waited long enough. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 28, 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 November 28, 2024, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. It’s also Thanksgiving here in the USA. Like many Americans, I will be spending a good chunk of the day preparing an insane feast with far too much food compared to the number of people here to consume it.

• Here’s my annual guide on how to make a turkey.
• First, get a turkey. Don’t get a frozen turkey. You’re way too late. You couldn’t make a frozen turkey ready for dinner tonight with anything less powerful than a hydrogen bomb. A frozen turkey would laugh at a typical flamethrower.
• The only way a frozen turkey will work is if you also get a time machine and set it for this past Monday to start defrosting.
• So get a fresh turkey. Take it home.
• Preheat your oven to 350º F. Some say 325º. I say my oven runs a bit cool and I don’t have all fucking day. Adjust accordingly.
• The turkey will be wrapped in some kind of plastic.
• Be careful about where you open said plastic. There will be various liquids inside that you don’t want to spray around willy-nilly in your kitchen.
• I’m assuming you’re in your kitchen. Don’t prepare food in your bedroom or bathroom. That’s… gross.
• So anyway, you’ve got this turkey in front of you. You will notice something right away.
• The turkey will have a hole where its neck used to be, and a hole in the general vicinity of its ass.
• But don’t worry. This is normal. Here’s where it gets weird.
• You’re gonna remove the neck from the ass, and the body parts, aka giblets, from the neck. Do not freak out. They are in little plastic bags.
• You are not compelled to do anything with these spare parts. Now, if you’re a cool-ass motherfucker, you might want to make your own giblet gravy from scratch.
• I will not be telling you how. I’m just your turkey guy. Go find a giblet guy elsewhere.
• Controversial moment: to rinse the bird or not.
• There’s an actual USDA has a statement on this. It says…
• “Many consumers think that washing their turkey will remove bacteria and make it safer. However, it's virtually impossible to wash bacteria off the bird. Instead, juices that splash during washing can transfer bacteria onto the surfaces of your kitchen, other foods and utensils.”
• So, ew, fucking gross, there’s so much bacteria on the fucking animal carcass that it’s pointless to wash and you should just give up. That’s what they’re saying.
• I carefully rinse my turkey in my sink with nothing else in it. I do NOT splash turkey juice all over the fucking place. I am careful. I am calm. I am at one with this dead bird.
• After I give it a rinse, I pat it down with some paper towels. Then I put the turkey on some more paper towels.
• Important note: everything the turkey touches in this raw state must be SUPER cleaned immediately after. I’m talking hot water, soap, disinfectant, and so on. Hands, countertop, sink, the car in which you drove the turkey home, and all points in between.
• I mean, don’t freak out. But do clean.
• Let’s talk about stuffing.
• I fucking love stuffing. You could serve me literally everything else in a giant Thanksgiving feast and without stuffing, it would be entirely meaningless to me.
• Stuffing is easy to make. I won’t tell you how. You can easily find that info elsewhere. But I will say this.
• Hopefully you started on your stuffing hours earlier.
• If you’re going to put in in the bird, it needs to be made and then cooled. Let’s assume you did this, and it’s been in your fridge with some plastic wrap on it to keep it moist.
• Moist, I said, Moist.
• Your other option, and many prefer this anyway, is to cook the stuffing apart from the bird.
• Why do I bring all this up? Two reasons.
• First, the cooking time is longer with the bird stuff versus not.
• Second, I’m gonna tell you some shit about how to stuff.
• Put your bird into the roaster pan. Don’t stuff the turkey until right before that fucker is going in the oven. 
• Do not overstuff the bird. That’s a terrible idea. Just put the stuffing in the cavities until it is loosely full.
• Side note: I make twice as much stuffing as I need for the bird because a) I heat up the non-stuffed stuffing as its own side dish and b) I require stuffing for my sandwiches the next day.
• So you have your stuffed bird, and your oven is well heated to the proper temp.
• One more thing.
• Take a lot of butter and put it all over that turkey.
• How much butter? Like, way more than you think. Every millimeter of the surface area of that turkey should be buttered. Heavily buttered. Apply the butter any way you want. Melt it and pour, or just squish it all over at room temp. Smear it into the crevices.
• I hope you have a meat thermometer. If not, you’ll probably be fine. If so, stab it into the beast in the lower part of the thigh next to the body, not touching the bone.
• Put the bird in the oven. Try putting it in at an angle where you can actually see your thermometer. That’s helpful.
• So, that’s basically it. Oh wait, you probably want to know how long to cook that sucker.
• Roast your bird at 325-350º for about 15 minutes per pound, if it’s stuffed. For my typical 12-13 pound turkey, that’s usually right around four hours.
• This is a good time to scrub the crap out of everything per above. Especially yourself.
• But wait. There’s one more thing.
• When it’s about 2/3 done and the skin is a lovely shade of golden brown, make a little tent with some aluminum foil and put it over your bird.
• The turkey is fully cooked when the thigh’s internal temperature is 180 degrees. If you’re super fancy, the thickest part of the breast should read 170 degrees and the center of the stuffing should be 165 degrees.
• Take it out of the oven. Don’t leave your oven on unless you’re cooking other shit as I do.
• This next part is important.
• You may be hungry but you’re gonna wait a bit. Let the turkey stand for 15 to 20 minutes before carving. There are reasons for this that involve your turkey being delightfully juicy rather than bone-ass dry.
• Also, if you’re me, you’re finishing up 17 other dishes at that moment and need the time regardless.
• That’s all. Super easy.
• The only hard part is timing all of your other dishes to be ready when the turkey gets carved. What I do (and I assume most people do) is simple…
• Pick the time you intend to serve dinner, and back everything else off from that time.
• Personal observation: the turkey is probably my least favorite part of the meal. Don’t get me wrong… it’s great for sandwiches the next day, and the day after that.
• But at the feast, I’m more of a yam man. I also love that stuffing. The mashed taters and gravy are another favorite. Shit, even my green bean casserole is tasty as fuck.
• The turkey? As moist and flavorful as it is when prepared well, it’s just boring bird meat.
• Waking up tomorrow and eating sandwiches for breakfast is actually my favorite part of the holiday.
• Let’s do a little bit of news before I get started.
• Remember that election that happened 75,000,000 years ago? It’s still going on.
• Democrat Derek Tran has won election to the US House of Representatives in California’s 45th congressional district, beating incumbent Michelle Steel.
• That’s a flip. The AP called the race for Tran after a weeks-long count. Republicans already control the US House, as well as the Senate, but picking up the seat is a big win for Democrats, who lost it to Steel in 2020.
• Although Steel initially had a commanding lead, the race became neck and neck as election workers tallied more ballots.
• Gotta count them all.
• And in another California congressional district, it looks like another flip is possible. Democrat Adam Gray is ahead of incumbent John Duarte in the 13th district.
• The tally at the moment is 104,991 to 104,801, with a razor-thin advantage for Gray.
• If he wins, the makeup of the next House looks like 220-215, but several of the GOP reps have been pulled to serve in various roles in the Dump admin.
• So once again, to pass any legislation, the GOP will be reliant on participation forms he Democrats.
• Good times.
• Let’s move on.
• As we said would happen…
• Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the United States should Dumpy follow through on his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products.
• Dump said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.
• A Canadian government official said Canada is preparing for every eventuality and has started thinking about what items to target with tariffs in retaliation.
• And Mexico’s president and economy minister have given the clearest picture yet of how their government will respond to Dump’s proposed tariffs on the country.
• Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the Mexican response would be swift if Trump followed through on the plans.
• “If there are US tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs,” Sheinbaum said.
• Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard also warned against Trump starting a regional trade war, calling the cost to US workers “huge”.
• He estimates that around 400,000 jobs will be lost in the US, pointing to a study based on figures from US carmakers that manufacture in Mexico.
• Way to go, Dumpy. And sorry for you autoworkers who will be unemployed early next year. We did try and tell you.
• Moving on.
• Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill yesterday banning transgender students from using school restrooms that align with their gender identities. The Republican-majority state Senate pushed forward SB 104, also known as the “Protect All Students Act,” in a 24-7 party-line vote.
• “No school shall permit a member of the female biological sex to use a student restroom, locker room, changing room, or shower room that has been designated by the school for the exclusive use of the male biological sex,” and vice versa, the bill reads.
• SB 104 applies to Ohio’s public K-12 schools, as well as colleges and universities. Other states have passed laws that seek to regulate which restrooms trans people can use, as well, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. 
• Just to prove that the bill is being done for purposes of cruelty, it also mandates that Ohio schools cannot have restrooms or locker rooms that are open to all genders.
• One reason I document this stuff is that down the road, when these people have to justify their actions, they won’t be able to claim their intent was misunderstood.
• In other news…
• Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in jail after a judge rejected his latest attempt for release while the rapper and music producer awaits trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
• Good. Fuck Diddy.
• Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ team’s motion for release yesterday. “The Court finds that the government has shown by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community,” the judge wrote in a five-page order.
• And now, The Weather: “Make 'em Laugh” by Benét + Faye Webster
• From the Sports Desk… as has become a traditional part of the American Thanksgiving experience, there are three NFL games on today.
• The Bears (4-7) play the Lions (10-1) stating in about a half hour. In the afternoon, it’s Giants (2-9) at Cowboys (4-7)… yawn. This evening, the Dolphins (5-6) take on the Packers (8-3).
• Today in history… Ferdinand Magellan completes the first passage through the Strait of Magellan and enters the Pacific Ocean (1520). In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a £40 bond — equivalent to £12,500 today — for their marriage license (1582). Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, premieres at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig (1811). Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin as a political party with the main aim of establishing a dual monarchy in Ireland (1905). The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, as the ‘WSM Barn Dance’ (1925). First successful flight of SM-65 Atlas; the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (1958). NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars (1964). The first pulsar is discovered by two astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish (1967). British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by John Major (1990). Over seven hundred civilians are massacred by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Eritrean Army in Aksum, Ethiopia (2020).
• November 28 is the birthday of poet/painter William Blake (1757), philosopher Friedrich Engels (1820), Venezuela president Ramón José Velásquez (1916), songwriter/producer Berry Gordy, Jr. (1929), singer-songwriter/composer/pianist Randy Newman (1943), keyboardist/bandleader Paul Shaffer (1949), actor Ed Harris (1950), actress S. Epatha Merkerson (1952), drummer/songwriter Matt Cameron (1962), comedian/TV host Jon Stewart (1962), model/actress Anna Nicole Smith (1967), singer-songwriter/guitarist Sigurd Wongraven (1975), rapper Chamillionaire (1979), NBA player Andrew Bogut (1984), actress Karen Gillan (1987), and NFL player Jarvis Landry (1992).

Time for me to put on my chef’s hat, starting with some delicious deviled eggs. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 27, 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 November 27, 2024, and it’s a Wednesday. It’s also the day before Thanksgiving here in the USA, and while I have a whole bunch of work to knock out, I should be (knock on wood) mostly left alone without meetings or other interruptions.

• I thought you’d like to know my planned menu for tomorrow.
• It’s probably the same as nearly all of yours.
• Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, bread rolls, an pumpkin pie
• Tomorrow, you can expect my annual turkey cooking guide.
• Let’s do the news.
• Yesterday, President Biden announced that the U.S. helped secure a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, which would end fighting between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
• His announcement came as Israel's Cabinet approved the ceasefire after urging from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The war between Israel and the Iran-backed group has killed almost 3,800 people in Lebanon over the last year and left about 16,000 others wounded.
• Under the deal reached, the ceasefire became effective as of 4am this morning local time. As Biden noted, the ceasefire does not apply to the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas. 
• Joe said, “This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities. What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed, I emphasize, will not be allowed, to threaten the security of Israel ever again.”
• The sounds of warplanes, missiles and artillery were replaced with dancing and singing in parts of Lebanon as news of the ceasefire was announced.
• Despite the truce, it is not clear when people in Lebanon and Israel will be able to return home. But it’s still pretty great news regardless.
• Let’s move on.
• Today is one of — if not the — busiest travel days of the year. I once again urge you to take care while getting where you need to go.
• There’s a cold front in the Midwest and South. The winter storms that hit California and Nevada's Sierra Nevada moved to Colorado and Utah today, where up to 36 inches of snow is expected to fall in parts of the mountains.
• Snowfall on Thursday and into Friday is possible in northern New York and Vermont, and rain and high-elevation snow could be seen on Thanksgiving in northwestern Connecticut, western Massachusetts and eastern New York.
• And a surge of cold this weekend will send freezing weather to the Great Lakes Midwest and Northeast with high temperatures in the 20s expected in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere in the region.
• Anyway… stay warm and dry and safe, please.
• Moving on.
• Businesses in the USA are scrambling to get ahead of the massive tariffs threatened by Donnie Dump. And here’s the thing: even if it’s just bullshit, like so much of what comes out of Dump’s mouth, the effect is the same: higher prices across the country.
• We’re not talking about small brands here. Tool and hardware maker Stanley Black & Decker said it had initiated conversations with its customers about price hikes tied to the tariffs. Executives at retail giants such as Walmart have discussed similar plans.
• The National Retail Federation (NRF) has warned that tariffs along the lines of Dump's campaign proposals would cost US consumers between $46 billion and $78 billion more annually for apparel, toys, furniture, household appliances, footwear, and travel goods.
• Wait until you see what will happen happen to grocery bills.
• Anyway, I just want you to know that we told you this would happen. No acting surprised after it does.
• In other news…
• Rudy Giuliani completely freaked out in court yesterday, screaming at the judge presiding over the collection proceeding for the $146 million defamation judgment against him — and complained he's having a hard time making ends meet.
• After U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman said Rudy had not been complying with court orders to surrender his assets, Giuliani lost his shit, ranting, “The implications you are making against me are wrong. I have no car, no credit card, no cash, everything I have is tied up. They have put stop orders on my business accounts, and I can’t pay my bills.”
• The judge said Giuliani did not appear to be indigent and warned him against any further outbursts.
• Womp womp… so sad, too bad. But Rudy is truly being the asshole we know him to be here.
• Example: Rudy turned over a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL 500, but while he had surrendered the car, he didn’t include the title. The judge said the title must be turned over. “A car without a title is meaningless,” Liman said, questioning why Giuliani hadn't been able to get a new one.
• ”Your client is a competent person. He was the U.S. attorney in the district. The notion that he can't apply for a title certificate ... " the judge told Cammarata before Giuliani cut him off and started screaming and waving and losing his mind.
• "I did apply for it! What am I supposed to do, make it up myself? Your implication that I have not been diligent about it is totally incorrect," he continued, before complaining about his financial woes.
• Hahahahahaha! Fuck that guy.
• Moving on.
• I mention this next news item about our incoming President purely for comedy reasons.
• Dumpy has announced that John Phelan as his choice to lead the Department of the Navy. Who is he?
• Phelan is a GOP megadonor with no military experience. He’s an art collector, and is the co-founder of MSD Capital and the head of private investment firm Rugger Management. 
• How is he qualified to run the US Navy? “John holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and is a truly brilliant guy! His incredible knowledge and experience will elevate the lives of the brave Americans who serve our Nation,” said Dementia Don.
• I mean… what can I say about that? It speaks for itself.
• Let’s move on.
• Republican members of Congress are already getting things lined up to enact the sick measures outlined in Dump’s Project 2025.
• Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced a bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. He’s calling it the “Returning Education to Our States Act.”
• His bill has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
• How will this affect the Senator’s home state? In fiscal year 2022, 40.9% of the state’s education budget came from federal funds.
• All totaled, the DOE supports South Dakota to the tune of more than $540 million annually. It’s hundreds of millions of dollars that South Dakota could miss out on if the DOE was fully cut.
• Good luck to us all under the incoming fascist regime.
• And now, The Weather: “Buried Alive” by Snowy
• From the Sports Desk… the Dodgers are already making moves to defend their title, signing free agent left-handed pitcher Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract.
• Snell gives the World Series champions a frontline starter for their title defense next season after they survived October by depending heavily on their bullpen with just three healthy starters. Snell is a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
• Today in history… James Pratt and John Smith are hanged in London; they are the last two to be executed for sodomy in England (1835). Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads an attack on Cheyenne living on reservation land (1868). Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss is first performed (1896). In New York City, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held (1924). CARE is founded to send CARE Packages of food relief to Europe after World War II (1945). The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module. It malfunctions and crashes, but it is the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars (1971). The United States Senate votes 92–3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (1973). In San Francisco, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White (1978). A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet (2001). 
• November 27 is the birthday of Aragon King Ferdinand I (1380), physicist Anders Celsius (1701), actress/playwright/abolitionist Fanny Kemble (1809), painter Frank Dicksee (1853), environmental activist Katherine Sleeper Walden (1862), Israel president Chaim Weizmann (1874), novelist/critic James Agee (1909), sportscaster Chick Hearn (1916), car dealer Cal Worthington (1920), drummer Al Jackson, Jr. (1934), actor/martial artist Bruce Lee (1940), singer-songwriter Eddie Rabbit (1941), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jimi Hendrix (1942), trumpeter Randy Brecker (1945), human glob of goo Steve Bannon (1953), keyboardist/composer Lyle Mays (1953), engineer/educator Bill Nye (1955), lawyer/diplomat Caroline Kennedy (1957), MLB player/manager Mike Scioscia (1958), actress Robin Givens (1964), and actor Jaleel White (1976).

Time to get to work. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 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 November 26, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. Although it’s just two days from Thanksgiving, I’m still in super busy mode. I figure if I make it past today’s round of meetings and deadlines and obligations, things should start to chill out a little. I’m looking forward to that.

• Getting started today, there’s something I want to make clear… this false narrative that Dumpy won the election by some huge margin is complete bullshit.
• Let’s take a look at the real popular vote tally as it stands this very moment.
• Donald J. Trump: 77,034,011 (49.86%)
• Kamala D. Harris: 74,563,603 (48.26%)
• That’s one of the closest margins of popular vote victory in presidential election history. It’s literally a 1.60% margin of victory. It was one of the closest races in the past 100 years.
• So don’t let anyone tell you about some kind of “mandate,” or pretend it was a landslide.
• While Dump handily won the electoral vote overall (which is the one that actually matters), it was actually only by small margins in a set of swing states.
• More than half the country is not supportive of Dump as president, and that fact will become more and more clear as Dump’s policies begin to take shape after he takes office.
• As the old curse goes, may you live in interesting times.
• Moving on.
• In news that hopefully doesn’t surprise or sadden you, special counsel Jack Smith said yesterday that he is dropping his election subversion case against Dumpy, seeking the case’s dismissal in a court filing with the judge.
• Dump had long said he would fire Smith once he retook the office, shattering previous norms around special counsel investigations.
• But as Smith wrote in a six-page filing, “The Justice Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated. This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.”
• A few hours later, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith's request. 
• They are both following along the direction of the Constitution, requiring sitting Presidents to not face prosecution.
• Even so, this was the only time in U.S. history that a former occupant of the White House faced federal criminal charges.
• Though the election subversion case culminated in a landmark Supreme Court ruling this summer that said Dump enjoyed some presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, that was never truly tested.
• Dump’s strategy of delay in the case ensured that a trial never got underway before the election. And now, of course, it’s too late.
• If you were brought up to believe that no one is above the law, that adage has been thoroughly disproven now. It’s pretty obvious that anyone with enough money or power can do whatever they want, and laws are for the rest of us.
• Let’s move on.
• Dumpy once again made threats to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China as soon as he takes office.
• Dump’s tariffs — if he actually follows through, which is always a question mark with all the shit that guy talks — would dramatically raise prices on everything from gas to automobiles. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China, and Canada its top three suppliers.
• Dumples the Clown made the threats in a pair of social posts last night, in which he railed against an influx of illegal migrants, even though southern border crossings have been hovering at a four-year low.
• He wrote, “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.”
• The other aspect of tariffs that are inevitable… when countries impose them, they get imposed.
• Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said today that they could retaliate with tariffs of its own.
• “One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.
• If I were you, I would start planning today on an economy where American consumers can no longer afford much beyond necessities.
• And yes, once again, we told you what tariffs were before you voted for the guy. So now you get to pay the price, literally.
• Moving on.
• Following up from yesterday (and my previous reports at the time the crime happened), Susan Lorincz, 60, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting her neighbor, a Black mother of four.
• Judge Robert Hodges said Lorincz had ample time to call law enforcement and that there was no real risk that Owens was trying to break into her home. he said, “The shooting was based, I find, more in anger than in fear.”
• Yup.
• As you shouldn’t find shocking — in Florida, anyway — the authorities and prosecutors involved came under scrutiny in the wake of Owens's killing.
• Why? Due to the choice to charge Lorincz with manslaughter instead of second-degree murder, as well as the fact that Lorincz was not immediately taken into custody after the shooting occurred. 
• Typical. Well, enjoy the rest of your life behind bars, lady.
• Wait… we have another news item from the Crime Desk about another woman in Florida? Say it ain’t so!
• A 22-year-old social media influencer on TikTok with nearly 300,000 followers has been arrested after using fake barcodes to steal from Target and filming herself getting ready before the theft.
• What. A. Dumbass.
• She was caught on video at a Target in Cape Coral, FL, scanning false barcodes with cheaper prices. 16 items of miscellaneous household goods and clothing were stolen with a total retail value of $500.32.
• An anonymous tipster led cops to check out Marlena Velez’s TikTok account, where she (drum roll please)… documents herself picking out items inside the store and placing them in her car after exiting the store.
• It’s like, I can’t even respect these people for their nefarious deeds, because they’re so fucking stupid. Posting videos of yourself committing crimes is not the work of a criminal mastermind.
• Velez was arrested and taken to the Lee County Jail and charged with petit theft of less than $750.
• Let’s move on to the bittersweet tale of President Joe Biden having kicked off his final holiday season at the White House yesterday.
• He issued the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota.
• Biden welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he cracked jokes about the fates of “Peach” and “Blossom” and sounded wistful tones about the last weeks of his presidency after a half-century in Washington power circles.
• “It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said, taking note of his impending departure on January 20, 2025.
• In the giant book of “What If…?”, it’s impossible to say what might have happened had Biden either chosen not to run in 2024, or dropped out a good deal earlier than he did, giving Kamala Harris more time to for an extended campaign.
• But I’m not mad at Joe. We had our chance to avoid a fascist dictatorship, and the people have spoken.
• And now, The Weather: “Nobody Loves You More” by Kim Deal
• From the Sports Desk… the Ravens (8-4) beat the Chargers (7-4) 30-23 on Monday Night Football last night. Powerhouse running back Derrick Henry carried the Ravens literally, with 24 carries for 140 yards.
• Baltimore is coached by John Harbaugh; LA is coached by his little brother Jim Harbaugh. The elder bro is now 3-0 against his younger sibling.
• Today in history… Vlad the Impaler becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time (1476). In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui (1778). A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as proclaimed by President George Washington at the request of Congress (1789). United States President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November (1863). The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams (1917). Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years (1922). ‘Casablanca’ premieres in New York City (1942). George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida's electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote (2000). The World Health Organization identifies the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (2021). 
• November 26 is the birthday of organist/composer Johannes Bach (1604), minister/philanthropist John Harvard (1607), physicist Rudolph Koenig (1832), policeman/journalist Bat Masterson (1853), inventor Willis Carrier (1876), AA founder/activist Bill W. (1895), cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922), actor Robert Goulet (1933), bass player Bob Babbitt (1937), comedian Rich Little (1938), singer-songwriter Tina Turner (1939), bass player John McVie (1945), producer Michael Omartian (1945), NFL player Art Shell (1946), NFL player Harry Carson (1953), NBA player Shawn Kemp (1969), NHL player Chris Osgood (1972), rapper DJ Khaled (1975), and NBA player Malik Beasley (1996).

That seems like enough news and stuff for now. Time for me to do various things. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 25, 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 November 25, 2024, and it’s a Monday. It’s also that weird week of Thanksgiving, where despite Thursday being the official holiday, people take extra time off for travel beforehand, and most places don’t bother opening on Friday. Anyway, point being, I haven idea how this week will go work-wise, so I’m just gonna be flexible and do what I can with whomever happens to be around.

• I’m having trouble giving a shit about what Dumpy is doing during this transition time. Obviously it does matter, but with little ability to control his poor decision making, I don’t have a lot to say about it.
• He’s done making his cabinet picks now after a flurry of announcements on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. 
• Now comes the conformation process for those cabinet positions as mandated by law.
• And, while I don’t believe for a second that most GOP lawmakers have the balls to stand up to the Dumpster in the long term, some of them are indeed pushing back against Dump’s attempt to control Congress,
• This includes his apparent attempt to go around Congress' constitutionally guaranteed power to control federal spending and, in the Senate, confirm presidential nominees.
• To that end, his final picks include hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to be Treasury secretary. Of note: if confirmed, Bessent would be the first openly gay person to hold this position.
• Brooke Rollins was tapped to be Agriculture secretary. The pick came as a surprise to some who  witnessed infighting over the role between Trump advisers, family members, and agriculture groups.
• Hmm.
• Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) was chosen as Labor secretary. She lost her Oregon House seat this year to Democratic Janelle Bynum, and is seen as another surprising choice. She’s seen as a staunchly pro-union voice in an administration expected by many to favor business interests over those of organized labor.
• Former NFL player Scott Turner was picked by Dump to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. If confirmed, he is expected to attempt to cut HUD funding and reverse Biden’s fair housing policies.
• So, there you go. It is what it is.
• Back to the idea that not all GOP leaders are lining to to kiss Dumpy’s ass…
• Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) firmly stated his stance against both tariffs and the potential of the military being involved in mass deportations.
• He went as far as to call Dump’s proposal to involve the military illegal and a terrible image.
• I mean, he called it that because it is.
• He said, “You don’t do it with the army because it’s illegal. We’ve had a distrust of putting the army into our streets because the police have a difficult job, but the police understand the Fourth Amendment. They have go to judges, they have to get warrants, it has to be specific. So I am for removing these people but I would do it through the normal process of domestic policing.”
• He also said, “I don’t like tariffs, but then again I don’t like the president promoting tariffs. I think tariffs are a tax on the consumer. I will be vocal in saying that I think tariffs are bad and that international trade actually saves every consumer about $7,000 a year. So everybody in our country is $7,000 richer because of international trade.”
• That is all… correct. Great, now I’m on the side of Rand fucking Paul.
• Moving on.
• I’ve worked in the business world for a long time and I thought I’d seen most things pop up a few times. But I’ve never seen a person hide $154 million of expenses.
• Macy’s, the department store chain which also operates Bloomingdale’s and other brands in addition to its namesakes stores, reported weaker-than-expected sales for the third quarter and said it’s delaying the release of its full quarterly results after it discovered what happened.
• An independent investigation and forensic analysis found that a single employee with responsibility for small package delivery expense accounting intentionally made erroneous accounting accrual entries to hide somewhere between $132 million to $154 million of expenses from the fourth quarter of 2021 through the fiscal quarter ended November 2.
• Wow. That’s… did they think it was just going to go away? People trip me out, man. I’ve been off on a spreadsheet by a few bucks here and there.
• Never $154 million.
• Let’s move back to some politics for a moment…
• You’re heard about the unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency” being led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. How much will these two geeks actually control Dumpy and the government despite not having been elected to do so, and being under no control of our laws?
• Right now they are interviewing job candidates and seeking advice from experts in Washington and Silicon Valley to find drastic cuts to the federal government.
• Both of those weirdos lobbied for Project 2025 writer Russell Vought, Dump’s pick to run the White House budget office.
• Who else are they talking to for their plans on destroying our government? There’s Palantir co-founder and investor Joe Lonsdale, who funds a libertarian-leaning nonprofit dedicated to government efficiency; investor Marc Andreessen; hedge fund manager Bill Ackman; and former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick.
• Despite the flurry of activity, the effort is regarded as far-fetched by many budget and legal experts who for decades have seen similar efforts fail.
• In an op-ed they wrote last week, Musk and Ramaswamy said they plan to have Trump rescind “thousands” of government regulations, gut the federal workforce, and slash hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending, with or without congressional consent.
• And yes, it remains unclear how much the DOGE panel will cost or what its source of funding will be.
• Guess we’ll see!
• From the Crime Desk, a white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous children faces sentencing today for her manslaughter conviction.
• Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023. Lorincz faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in state prison because a firearm was used.
• What was the beef about? The shooting was the culmination of a long-running argument between the two neighbors over Owens’ children playing in a grassy area at both of their houses in Ocala, FL.
• Fuck that lady. I hope the sentence is appropriate — while doubting it will be.
• Back in politics for one more story.
• Dumples the Demented Clown is planning to reintroduce his ban on transgender people serving in the US military “on day one”.
• That could mean as many as 15,000 people being discharged immediately after Dump takes office on January 20, 2025, and being labelled “unfit” for their roles.
• Dumpy’s first transgender military ban was imposed in 2019 before being overturned by President Joe Biden in 2021. It prevented transgender people serving in the military, a policy which was described as “harmful” and “backwards”.
• Retired British army major-general Jonathan Shaw, who commanded NATO troops in Kosovo and British army personnel in Iraq, has responded to the impending new ban, saying, “It’s very simple, there’s only one test that makes sense and that’s whether they are good at their job: are they good at combat efficiency? If you are in a foxhole, you want the person next to you to be good at their job. If they are good at their job, that’s good enough for me.”
• Same here.
• And now, The Weather: “Feel Better” by Adrianne Lenker
• From the Sports Desk… the NFL season is 11 weeks in. What if the playoffs were being held today? Here would be the seeding…
• AFC: Chiefs (1), Bills (2), Steelers (3), Texans (4), Chargers (5), Ravens (6).
• NFC: Lions (1), Eagles (2), Seahawks (3), Falcons (4), Vikings (5), Packers (6).
• Today in history… The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783). Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg (1863). A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City (1864). Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences (1915). The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios (1947). Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands (1975). Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia (1984). U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua (1986). A five-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast (1999). 
• November 25 is the birthday of violin maker Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri (1666), author/activist Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck (1778), businessman/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835), engineer/businessman Karl Benz (1844), engineer/businesswoman/philanthropist Kate Gleason (1865), MLB player Joe DiMaggio (1914), singer Percy Sledge (1940), NFL coach Joe Gibbs (1940), actor John Larroquette (1947), businessman/convicted felon Jeffrey Skilling (1953), singer songwriter Amy Grant (1960), lawyer John F. Kennedy Jr. (1960), singer-songwriter Mark Lanegan (1964), singer-songwriter/guitarist Tim Armstrong (1965), actress Christina Applegate (1971), NFL player Donovan McNabb (1976), and activist Barbara Pierce Bush (1981).

That’s all I’ve got for now. Time to go to work. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 24, 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 November 24, 2024, and it’s a Sunday. Much more of a normal weekend day today than yesterday; instead of rushing out the door, I’m relaxing in a blue bathrobe and drinking coffee. It’s something you appreciate even more when it’s not an option.

• Throughout a good portion of the election cycle, I (and many others) talked about something called Project 2025, which is a blueprint for a authoritarian government run by Christian Nationalist ideologies.
• It’s a 900+ page document created by members of the far-right Heritage Foundation.
• And yes, Donnie Dump disavowed any connection to the plan, and claimed at multiple points that he didn’t know anyone who was behind it or what it was all about.
• And — very predictably — as soon as the election was done, Dumpy began stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he pretended to shun.
• Some of them include Russell Vought, who’s been tapped as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy.
• John Ratcliffe, Dump’s pick to lead the CIA, is a Project 2025 contributor. Brendan Carr, who Dump wants to chair the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025’s FCC chapter.
• And so on. All of Dump’s appointees either worked directly on Project 2025 itself or wholeheartedly supported it, and will now be implementing its policies that will drastically change America and the world.
• You can boil down their plans to a couple of simple concepts: a big concentration of power in the executive branch (taking away power from the people of the country), and a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society.
• And as I’ve said before, the ones who be affected the most harshly and the fastest will be the ones who voted for Dump a few weeks ago.
• Anyway, good luck to all of us.
• Let’s move on.
• A lot of the people being appointed by the Dumpster have terrible events in their backgrounds that would ordinarily not allow them to pass a background check for most jobs, let alone a high-level government position.
• To that end, Dump wants to remove the process that would root out information on these people, taking away the job of conducting background checks for high-level nominees away from the FBI and giving it to private investigators that he would control.
• Even Senate Republicans — usually lining up to kiss Dump’s fat ass — are rejecting that proposal. GOP senators say the FBI should retain its leading role in conducting background checks. They argue its agents have access to criminal information that private investigators simply can’t match.
• Fact check: true.
• The FBI also leads the nation’s domestic counterespionage efforts, serving as the lead agency for investigating and preventing foreign intelligence gathering activities in the United States. Republican senators think that role puts it in a good position to vet nominees who would have access to the nation’s most sensitive secrets.
• “The FBI should do the background checks, in my judgement,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who serves as the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and as a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
• Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued that the FBI has access to information gathered by law enforcement on the federal, state and local levels that private firms don’t.
• “If you wanted to supplement it with a private firm, I’d say OK. But the FBI does have access to information that probably a private firm wouldn’t have, even a really good savvy one,” he said.
• There are already a number of situations where an FBI background check would eliminate some of Dump’s picks from contention. We already know about Matt Gaetz, who dropped out of the running for Attorney General after testimony that he paid underage girls for sex.
• Pete Hegseth, whom Dump picked as secretary of Defense, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, sold cocaine when he was a  student at Harvard.
• These people couldn’t get hired at Walmart with their backgrounds. Why should they be allowed to lead our government?
• Let’s move on.
• How about something more immediate: plans for Thanksgiving?
• As soon as I finish this news (and yes, take a shower and dress myself), I’m heading over to the store for round one of my shopping for the event. I pick up nearly everything but the bird, which I will get on Tuesday.
• I prefer a fresh — as in, not frozen — turkey.
• So while I’m cooking our feast here, and therefore not going anywhere for the holiday, may of you are… and you should be aware that weather may well complicate travel leading up to turkey time.
• My fellow West Coast people — especially in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest — have been dealing with the effects of a bomb cyclone. Many are just now getting power restored after days without.
• There’s a winter storm warning for California’s Sierra Nevada mountains through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 55 mph. Total snowfall of roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations expected tomorrow and Tuesday.
• The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow tomorrow, and the East Coast will be the most impacted on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
• Anyway, plan on giving yourself extra time to get wherever you’re going, and be extra careful on long drives through affected areas.
• Moving on.
• Let’s briefly talk about the resistance to Dump’s attempts at dictatorship. Doesn’t seem very noisy yet, huh?
• Yeah, that’s on purpose.
• Granted, there are still a lot of people stunned and grieving over the sweep of governmental control by the far right. But that’s to be expected.
• And now, coming into a few weeks after the election, there are signs of a renewed interest in progressive activism. Since Election Day, thousands of Americans have newly joined the loose coalition of online and in-person groups aimed at challenging Dump's policies in court and in Congress.
• I’m one of them.
• The good news: we built this infrastructure back in 2016/2017. We already have these groups organized to continue the fight when our members are ready to re-engage.
• Strategy calls have attendance levels that rival what we saw in 2017, and volunteers are rushing to offer to run for office or back expected lawsuits. People are taking action to push back on Drump's second-term agenda, such as mass deportations of people in the country illegally or abolishing the Department of Education.
• 11,000 people showed up to an election result debriefing call that resistance group Indivisible held the day after the election. More than 40,000 were on a call announcing a new version of the Indivisible Guide a week later.
• I’ve already been taking part in actions such as these, and there will be many more.
• And I think people will take this holiday season to regather their energy and get past their sorrows, and then come out swinging in January.
• And that’s fine. There are many things going on behind the scenes and under the radar in the meantime, and that is purposeful.
• Stay strong. We’re going to need everyone’s help when the time comes.
• And now, The Weather: “Deeper Understanding (feat. Bill Callahan)” by Hand Habits
• From the Sports Desk… as should be clear, I lost a ton of respect for NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers over the past 4-5 years.
• And now, with Jets sources leaking news that owner Woody Johnson suggested benching Rodgers, and that the Jets don’t want Rodgers back next year, a report yesterday said that the feeling is mutual; Rodgers wants to play in 2025, but he doesn’t want to play for the Jets.
• Rumors say that Rodgers, who turns 41 in about a week, is more injured than anyone realizes. As to whether or not he can return to his old form, at his age, is highly doubtful.
• Today is Sunday, and there are a lot of mismatches in today’s NFL games…
• Cowboys at Commanders (-11). Chiefs (-10.5) at Panthers. Titans at Texans (-8). 
• That’s some ugly football there. Guess we’ll see how it goes.
• Today in history… Genghis Khan defeats the renegade Khwarazmian prince Jalal al-Din at the Battle of the Indus, completing the Mongol conquest of Central Asia (1221). Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land, later renamed Tasmania (1642). The Texas Provincial Government authorizes the creation of a horse-mounted police force called the Texas Rangers (1835). Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species (1859). Anna Sewell's animal welfare novel ‘Black Beauty’ is published (1877). In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory officially opens (1932). Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is killed by Jack Ruby (1963). Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1974). Iran signs an interim agreement with the P5+1 countries, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions (2013). 
• November 24 is the birthday of composer Charles Theodore Pachelbel (1690), missionary Junípero Serra (1713), US president Zachary Taylor (1784), painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864), pianist/composer Scott Joplin (1868), educator Dale Carnegie (1888), mob boss Lucky Luciano (1897), author/publisher William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925), politician George Moscone (1929), NBA player Oscar Robertson (1938), NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue (1940), drummer Pete Best (1941), bass player Donald “Duck” Dunn (1941), comedian Billy Connolly (1942), keyboardist/composer Richard Tee (1943), serial killer Ted Bundy (1946), actor Dwight Schultz (1947), NBA player/coach Rudy Tomjanovich (1948), drummer Clem Burke (1954), musician/producer Terry Lewis (1956), actress Denise Crosby (1957), actor/writer Stephen Merchant (1974), and actor Colin Hanks (1977). 

Time to get my ass moving. I’ll write elsewhere about the video shoot I did yesterday… it was actually really cool and I’m glad to have been part of it, despite having to work on an alleged day off. Enjoy your day.

Random News: November 23, 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 November 23, 2024, and it’s a Saturday. I’m running out the door to do a little rock star work, and I don’t have time for a full Random News report, so here are a couple of items to tide you over until tomorrow.

• What am I doing today? I’m heading into Los Angeles for a video shoot for Takamine Guitars, where, along with a couple of other guys, I’m performing on a batch of different acoustic guitars and talking about what kind of music might be better on one versus another.
• I know that sounds fun to some folks, and I obviously enjoy being a pro musician from time to time, but it is indeed work, and it’s on a Saturday.
• And I’m still getting over this shitty cold. Thankfully there’s no singing involved… my voice is still shot from the sickness. I’d rather be relaxing here at home today, frankly.
• But you gotta do what you gotta do. And any time I complain about getting paid to play guitar and talk about playing guitar, you should remind me that some other person is getting up early today to dig ditches, tar a roof, feed pigs, drive an ambulance, change a transmission, and so on.
• Complaining over. Let’s do a short look at a little news before I head out.
• You shouldn’t be surprised that New York Judge Juan Merchan has indefinitely adjourned Dumpy's sentencing in his hush money criminal case.
• The filing to indefinitely adjourn next week's sentencing date comes several days after both lawyers agreed that a stay would help sort out unprecedented legal questions.
• Dump's lawyers have long prepared to dismiss the case, arguing that evidence used in the case should not have been introduced and the incoming president cannot be prosecuted. 
• Prosecutors have also prepared to fight the dismissal.
• Moving on.
• In the “Far Too Many Men Are Pieces of Fucking Shit” folder, mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor had to pay a woman $257,000 after he brutally raped and battered her in a Dublin hotel penthouse.
• The woman said the December 9, 2018, assault after a night of partying left her heavily bruised and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• McGregor testified that he never forced the woman to do anything against her will and said she fabricated the allegations after the two had consensual sex.
• I have to tell you… the very idea of forcing myself on a person after they expressed reluctance makes me feel ill. I can’t even imagine a situation where that would be appealing to literally anyone.
• In other news…
• Dumpy is adding yet another billionaire election denier to his cabinet.
• He’s offering Kelly Loeffler the job of secretary of the Department of Agriculture. Loeffler briefly represented Georgia in the Senate before losing to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a special election on January 5, 2021.
• Yes, the day before That Day.
• Moving on.
• I adored the response of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) regarding the appointment of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as the subcommittee chair of their “DOGE” thing.
• It’s not a government agency. It’s an unofficial, um, advisory thing of some kind.
• Anyway, AOC’s comment was perfect: “This is good, actually. She barely shows up and doesn't do the reading. To borrow a phrase I saw elsewhere, it's like giving someone an unplugged controller.”
• Yas queen.
• Let’s move on with some tech news that makes me smile.
• British phone company Virgin Media O2 has created an AI grandma with the sole purpose of talking to scammers all day so real people don't have to.
• “Daisy” has already had more than 1,000 conversations with scammers in the past week, the longest lasting around 40 minutes, frustrating them with her tech-illiteracy and wasting their time by telling irrelevant stories about her grandchildren.
• The AI was trained by actual scam artists, and Virgin Media O2 used a tactic called number seeding to get Daisy's phone number added to a list of online lists used by scammers targeting U.K. consumers.
• The more time they spend with her, the less they have to prey on real grandmas.
• And now, The Weather: “Occasional Stoner” by Eyedress
• From the Sports Desk… I got nothing.
• Today in history… Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character on stage (534 BC). John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship (1644). King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to succeed him (1890). Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times (1924). The BBC broadcasts ‘An Unearthly Child’, the first episode of the first story from the first series of ‘Doctor Who’, which is now the world's longest running science fiction drama (1963). Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17, giving the CIA the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua (1981). Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury announces in a statement that he is HIV-positive and dies the following day (1991). The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada (1992). Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country (2005). After 11 months of protests in Yemen, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity (2011). 
• November 23 is the birthday of Holy Roman emperor Otto I (912), US president Franklin Pierce (1804), actor Boris Karloff (1887), comedian/musician Harpo Marx (1888), baseball player Josephine D’Angelo (1924), composer Johnny Mandel (1925), singer-songwriter/guitarist R. L. Burnside (1926), activist/politician Bobby Rush (1946), politician Chuck Schumer (1950), singer-songwriter/pianist Bruce Hornsby (1954), reality TV personality Snooki (1987), and singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus (1992).

Alright, gotta roll. Enjoy your day.