Random News: November 12, 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 12, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. I awoke feeling better today than I have in the past week. I slept more soundly. Hard to say why; some of it is personal, having cleared some hurdles with work-related stuff. But some of it is gaining some perspective on what’s more likely to happen during the incoming Trump regime.

• Let’s open with a little good news: I can now confirm that Ruben Gallego has beaten Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race. It had been looking that was for awhile, but the official call by AP happened late last night.
• It’s a key win over a very bad person. It also wraps up the incoming Senate tally at 52 Republican, 48 Democrat… which is better than what had been anticipated.
• I also enjoy the fact that despite Trump winning in that state, Kari Lake was so drastically unpopular that she couldn’t even get Trump voters to get behind her. That’s a good sign for humanity as a whole.
• And speaking of people voting…I’m pretty sure I understand why the Democrats didn’t turn out to vote in the 2024 election at nearly the same numbers as they did in 2020.
• I think to some degree, it’s more simple than most people are making it.
• In 2020, we were getting rid of Trump. There was an immediate and tangible need to vote. Here’s an analogy that works…
• If you have some vile moldy cheese in a drawer in your fridge, you want to get it out of there as soon as possible. But when your fridge is basically clean, you might not devote any energy to keeping it clean until some other disgusting, smelly item pops up again.
• So I think that — as is typical in human behavior — for some of us, our short-term memory didn’t allow us to recall how bad things were under the first Trump regime.
• And Biden kept the fridge clean, so we didn’t feel as much of a sense of urgency to do something. I predict that will be a very different situation in 2028, assuming we all live that long under Big Smelly Dump, because the stink will reek to high heaven all throughout his next term.
• And obviously that wasn’t the only reason for his victory. At the same time, you had influencers — both evil and stupid — who helped change the focus of a section of the voting populace.
• Some of them were paid to directly repeat Russian propaganda points, like podcaster Tim Pool and his ilk.
• And then you had idiots like Joe Rogan.
• But I want to tell you something else, and this is by way of someone who seemingly could not be less like Dumpy: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY).
• After the election, she noted that there were thousands of people in her district who voted for both her and Trump. She wanted to know why and asked them.
• The responses were similar. “You’re both outsiders,” they said.
• And I think that’s a huge factor. No offense to AOC or Dump for that matter, but people like a more dumbed-down message, with communication styles that are more like what they use among their own friends and families.
• And more to the point, there is a wide swath of people who feel like experienced politicians are more interested in keeping the political machine running smoothly than helping them. I can’t deny that while I fully disagree, I understand why they feel that way.
• Anyway, it’s a moot point now. I won’t be doing much, if any, analysis about what happened in the 2024 election. The past is gone, and the future is my focus.
• Let’s do some news.
• Yesterday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris observed Veterans Day together by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
• The pair then went to the cemetery’s memorial amphitheater, where Biden honored the service and sacrifice of America’s military veterans — including those who paid the ultimate price, and their families — during what was his final time speaking there as commander in chief of the U.S. military.
• He said, “It’s been the greatest honor of my life, to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us, generation after generation after generation. You are the greatest fighting force, and this is not hyperbole, the finest fighting force in the history of the world.”
• Biden also announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding the types of cancers covered under the PACT Act, legislation he signed to expand health care services for veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from “burn pits” that incinerated garbage and other waste.
• It would be safe to assume that Trump will rescind any veterans’ benefit enacted by the Biden administration.
• Moving on.
• It’s not fully official yet, but it does seem that Republicans have won the House. The current tally is GOP 219, Democrats 210. It takes 218 to control the chamber.
• However, there were some flips of congressional districts in several states from red to blue. I think the final count will be somewhere around 221-214… basically about the same as it is now.
• In other news…
• I’d said yesterday that I wasn’t going to bother much with coverage of Dump’s incoming cabinet, but I’ll make exceptions here and there as it seems fit.
• Dumpy’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said yesterday that Dump’s administration will crank up workplace raids as part of its broader immigration crackdown.
• Homan was a big proponent of the “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 4,000 children from their parents in the first Trump administration.
• While he claims to be focusing on victims of sex trafficking and forced labor trafficking, advocates say that approach is unlikely to help combat trafficking — since he’s going after the people being trafficked rather than the traffickers.
• So you should expect to see a lot more of that. Homan ran Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an acting capacity in 2017 and 2018 before announcing his retirement. More recently, he’d worked for Fox News as a contributor.
• He is also a co-author of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.”
• Shrug. That’s who you MAGAs voted for, so you must want this to happen. We’ll see how it goes when they raid your companies.
• Dump reportedly also named Lee Zelin as the head of the EPA, Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, and Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
• Shrug.
• Imagine being someone who didn’t vote for Harris due the USA’s support of Israel in the current Middle East conflict… and instead, you’ve helped install Trump and Rubio, who will make life in Gaza far, far worse.
• Rubio has already said he’d bomb hospitals in Palestine if he thought they were hiding places for Hamas.
• Look, we tried to tell you. We really did. Hope your protest vote was worth it.
• In other news…
• I find it pretty funny that the very first thing that was announced after Trump won was that on Thursday, he’d called Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
• It was said that during the call, which Trump took from his golf motel in Florida, he advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe.
• Sounds pretty good, huh? Except Putin says it didn’t happen.
• The Kremlin denied all media reports that the call ever took place. Their spokesperson said the reports were "pure fiction.”
• So the funny thing is… both Trump and Russia tend to lie about everything, so you have no way of knowing which side is lying at this stage. Good times.
• It is very likely that after Trump removes the military and financial support of Ukraine as he has promised to do during his candidacy, the entire nation will fall to Russia.
• After Ukraine is subdued, Russia will advance more into Europe. Countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are likely the next zones of attack.
• The Biden administration had done a superb job of preventing this catastrophe. I have zero faith that Dump has the balls to continue defending against Russian world dominance.
• Guess we’ll see.
• Got some breaking news that I had predicted a few days ago…
• Judge Juan Merchan has delayed the decision on whether Dump’s felony convictions can withstand the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
• He agreed to freeze the case until November 19, enabling prosecutors to respond to Dumpy’s demand the case be dismissed entirely now that he is president-elect. 
• However, for the time being, Dumples the Clown’s sentencing, which would be the first of any former president, is still scheduled for November 26. Don’t hold your breath.
• Let’s move on.
• In today’s edition of “Hey, You Have Rights!”, let’s take a look at the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That’s the one that makes it clear who has the right to vote based on age.
• It reads…
• “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
• It was proposed by Congress on March 28, 1971, and it was quickly ratified by three-quarters of the states — enough for passage — by July 1, 1971.
• It passed faster than any other constitutional amendment because otherwise, they’d have faced an urgent situation where they might not have a legal standing to force these kids to do their fighting for them in a the-current military conflict.
• Before the 26th Amendment, states had the authority to set their own minimum voting ages, which was typically 21 as the national standard.
• But in 1971, in the midst of the Vietnam War, the average age of the foot soldier was 19. So here we were, sending these kids to their death, dismemberment, and many other horrors of war… and they couldn’t even vote to have a say in the matter.
• As I said, it was quickly ratified by three-quarters of the states… but tellingly, a number of states never did sign off on it.
• To this day, no action has been taken on the 26th amendment by the states of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah.
• To be clear, many on the far-right don’t want young people voting, because young people are more likely to be caring and empathetic toward their fellow citizens.
• Back to the news.
• Yesterday, Wisconsin’s highest court heard oral arguments for a case set to shape the future of reproductive rights in the state, hinging on a question: Does a law inked before the Civil War ban abortion today?
• Chances are solid for abortion rights advocates, given the bench’s 4-to-3 liberal majority. A decision is expected in early 2025.
• Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski (R) has said that he would enforce the abortion prohibition from 1849, and penalize doctors who violate it.
• So you have a perspective on this case, here’s all you need to know…
• “Just to be clear, a 12-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by her father and as a result became pregnant, she would be forced to carry her pregnancy to term, correct?” asked Justice Jill Karofsky.
• “That would be correct,” responded attorney Matthew Thome defending a state law from 1849.
• “There would not be an exception for incest, correct?” Karofsky asked.
• “Correct,” Thome replied.
• “Or the health of the mother, correct?” the justice continued.
• “Correct,” Thome said.
• There’s your Republican party, folks. That’s who you elected last week. And now you live with it.
• Moving on.
• While we’re talking about court cases, let’s mention the happy news that this morning, the Supreme Court declined to let Mark Meadows move his Georgia election subversion case to federal court.
• Ha ha.
• The ruling bars the former chief of staff during Dump’s first term from claiming immunity from those charges.
• Meadows was indicted last year in Fulton County, GA on racketeering and other charges tied to phone calls and meetings in which Dump leaned on state officials to change the outcome of the 2020 election in the state.
• That’s encouraging to see. Perhaps there will remain some measure of accountability for Dump’s pals who, over and over again, broke laws of the United States in their effort to overturn the 2020 election.
• Probably not Dumpy himself, though. I would never set you up for disappointment by predicting any accountability for him, ever.
• And now, The Weather: “Shame” by Chat Pile
• Let’s do a chart. We’re going back 45 years from today to November 1979.
• What was I doing? I’d just started middle school a couple of months before. I was figuring shit out in 6th grade.
• It was definitely a time of change for me. I definitely wanted a girlfriend, and was a little idiot in that regard, asking a few girls to “go with” me (and getting turned down, which was a good lesson). Where? To the park to play on the swings?
• I was already very much into learning and playing guitar. I had just moved from acoustic to electric for the first time, and was taking weekly lessons. I can say that I was good for a 10-year-old. Here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at the time.
• 1. Still (Commodores). 2. Dim All The Lights (Donna Summer). 3. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer). 4. Babe (Styx). 5. Heartache Tonight (Eagles). 6. Rise (Herb Alpert). 7. You Decorated My Life (Kenny Rogers). 8. Tusk (Fleetwood Mac). 9. Please Don't Go (KC And The Sunshine Band). 10. Pop Muzik (M). 11. Good Girls Don't (The Knack). 12. Ships (Barry Manilow). 13. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson). 14. Send One Your Love (Stevie Wonder). 15. Come To Me (France Joli). 16. Broken Hearted Me (Anne Murray). 17. Take The Long Way Home (Supertramp). 18. You're Only Lonely (J.D. Souther). 19. This Night Won't Last Forever (Michael Johnson). 20. If You Remember Me (Chris Thompson & Night).
• From the Not-Sports Desk, good riddance to Jack Del Rio, the senior adviser to Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, who will resign after he was arrested early Friday for operating a vehicle while intoxicated following a crash in Madison, Wisconsin.
• He was arrested shortly after midnight Friday after a vehicle he was driving hit a street sign, broke a fence, and came to a rest in a yard.
• Del Rio played linebacker with four NFL teams, and was the former head coach of the Jaguars and Raiders. He’s also a big fucking MAGA, having gotten fined by the league in 2021 for minimizing the January 6 insurrection in social posts while villainizing the BLM movement of the previous year.
• From the actual Sports Desk… the Dolphins (3-6) beat the Rams (4-5) on Monday Night Football last night. I’m not sure anyone cared.
• Another Sports Desk note… the World Series happened and we had like, 10 seconds to be happy before the election ruined everyone’s day/week/life.
• But one thing I never had the chance to mention: one of the greatest things about baseball is that it’s so fucking old. Case in point…
• Here’s a list of the Dodgers’ National League pennants… 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2024.
• So that’s three before any of my grandparents were born, six before either of my parents were born, 16 before I was born, and 21 before my son was born.
• And he was born last century. There have been four more after that.
• Today in history… Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, playing for the Allegheny Athletic Association (1892). Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union (1927). In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic (1936). Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy (1938). Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins and ends three days later with an American victory (1942). In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran (1979). The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings (1980). Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev (1982). Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web (1990). The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ends the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears (2021).
• November 12 is the birthday of entomologist Thaddeus William Harris (1795), activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815), sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840), SCOTUS justice Harry Blackmun (1908), bassist/composer Sam Jones (1924), actress/princess Grace Kelly (1929), cult leader Charles Manson (1934), actor Wallace Shawn (1943), keyboardist/composer Booker T. Jones (1944), sportscaster Al Michaels (1944), singer-songwriter/guitarist Neil Young (1945), singer-songwriter/guitarist Buck Dharma (1947), actress Megan Mullally (1958), MLB player Sammy Sosa (1968), figure skater/criminal Tonya Harding (1970), NBA player Corey Maggette (1979), actor Ryan Gosling (1980), actress Anne Hathaway (1982), and NBA player Russell Westbrook (1988).

That was way more news than I was planning to cover today, but it’s a newsy time. And I want to tell you: terrible things are going to happen to many people while the next administration is in place, but you do have options. I don’t give up without a fight, and neither should you. And we’re in this fight together, and there will be plenty of good moments along with the bad ones. Let’s fucking go. Enjoy your day.