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.
Good morning. It’s December 17, 2024, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m so insanely busy right now with work stuff that writing this little collection of news is the most relaxing portion my day. Not complaining, though. Being this busy as a self-employed person is never bad thing, assuming that you like money and stuff.
- A quick heads-up for those of you who missed it: on Sunday, I published my annual best-of list for new indie music that came out in 2024.
- I’ll throw a link in the comments. If you think you don’t like new music, or don’t understand that what gets put in the spotlight by the media isn’t the best of what’s out there, you might enjoy discovering some new sounds.
- Okay, let’s get serious with the news now, unfortunately.
- Yesterday, a teacher and student were killed in a school shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, WI. Two other students are in critical condition.
- An additional three other students and another teacher sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
- The suspect, who is also dead, is Natalie Rupnow, age 15, who was a student at the school. She was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the shooting. A motive has not been named yet.
- Rupnow did not have any previous brushes with the law.
- Abundant Life Christian School is a private academy that serves about 420 students from kindergarten to high school.
- I’m going to use this opportunity to remind you that in the USA, the most likely way your child will be killed is via gun violence. Not accidents, not disease.
- President Biden, who’s long championed common sense gun control measures, said, "From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don't receive attention — it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence. We cannot continue to accept it as normal. Every child deserves to feel safe in their class room. Students across our country should be learning how to read and write – not having to learn how to duck and cover."
- However, it would seem that most Americans feel like our children’s untimely deaths are a worthwhile trade-off for… I don’t know. Whatever they think is more important than our kids, I guess.
- Let’s move on.
- Yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan wrote that Donnie Dump’s hush money conviction should not be dismissed because of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, ruling that the evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorney’s office was not related to Trump’s official actions as president.
- Thank you!
- However, like I told you from day one, Dump will never face any repercussions for this or his many other crimes. Stop setting yourself up for disappointment.
- Merchan did not rule on a motion from Dump’s attorneys to dismiss the conviction because Trump has now been elected president. His 41-page decision focused on the question of presidential immunity.
- He wrote that the evidence contested by Dump’s lawyers related “entirely to unofficial conduct” and should receive no immunity protections, and he’s 100% right.
- Moving on to some breaking news from this morning.
- Congressional leaders have struck a bipartisan deal to push the government funding deadline all the way back to March 14, and deliver more than $100 billion in emergency aid for disaster relief.
- The year-end package, which will be the last major legislation Congress clears this year, is expected to include a bill to restrict U.S. investment in China, an extension of expiring health programs, a one-year extension of the farm bill and $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers.
- Speaker Mike Johnson said text of the bill could be released today, and he is not promising to allow lawmakers a full 72 hours to review the measure ahead of passage.
- If the House passes the package this week, it will land in the Senate just ahead of the Friday night government shutdown deadline. On that side of the Capitol, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said negotiations are still ongoing.
- I guess that’s good?
- Let’s move to the International Desk for a moment.
- For all the people who think the challenges faced by the USA are unique to us, let me tell you: sometimes the whole-ass world goes crazy before he pendulum swings back.
- Reports are circulating that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may consider resigning, following the departure of a top cabinet member and ongoing trade tensions with Dump.
- Yesterday, sources were saying that the Canadian prime minister was considering either resignation or prorogation—the suspension of parliament—in response to the surprise resignation of his finance minister and deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland.
- Following Freeland's announcement, Canadian MPs began reiterating calls, made earlier by the opposition and backbench members of Trudeau's own Liberal Party, for him to step down from the position he has held since his 2015 election victory.
- Jesus. Well that sucks.
- Moving over to Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for early elections in February.
- This situation is a bit different. Scholz called yesterday’s vote and had expected to lose it. He calculated that triggering an early election was his best chance of reviving his party's political fortunes.
- It comes about two months after the collapse of Scholz's three-party coalition government, which left the embattled chancellor leading a minority administration.
- Losing Monday's no-confidence vote was the outcome Scholz had wanted. Thanks to the loss, elections can now happen in February, rather than in September as originally scheduled.
- Moving on.
- Quick Not-Fun Fact: Black student enrollment at Harvard Law has dropped by more than half since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action.
- Sigh. This will have repercussions that will last for generations.
- In other news…
- In our continual tales of the supposed demise of TikTok, yesterday the company asked the Supreme Court to block a law that could potentially ban the video-based social media app, which has millions of American users.
- A bipartisan measure passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden will go into effect on January 19, the day before Dumpy takes office, unless the justices intervene.
- The law would require TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the platform to an American company or face a ban. TikTok has challenged the law, saying it violates the free speech rights of the company under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.
- And now, The Weather: “Nervous Breakdown” by Slark Moan
- Time for a word count.
- I started these daily news bullets on May 17, 2022. I have only missed a few days since, and that was only due to my being on business travel and not able to research and write/post my news as per usual.
- Our current word count since then is at 1,460,252.
- That’s a lot. ‘Les Miserables’ by Victor Hugo is 568,751 words. ‘War and Peace’ by Leo Tolstoy is 567,246 words. ‘David Copperfield’ by Charles Dickens, which is read while still in elementary school, is 360,231 words.
- How about some franchises?
- The word count of J. R. R. Tolkien’s four-volume ‘Lord of the Rings’ series (including ‘The Hobbit”) is 576,459 words. The total word count of J.K. Rowling’s seven-book ‘Harry Potter’ series is 1,084,625.
- By halfway through this coming year, I’ll surpass the word count of the five books in George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series at 1,770,000.
- Trust me, these words are a lot easier than those words.
- Many of the greatest pieces in literary history are rather concise. ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J. D. Salinger is just 74,144 words… my average every six weeks. ‘The Jungle Book’ by Rudyard Kipling is 54,178, which is about my average each moth for these bullets.
- One of my favorite and most highly influential pieces of writing all-time is ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, which, at just 17,121 words, is what I write here every ten days.
- And I only write my news between 7-8am each day.
- Not too shabby.
- From the Sports Desk… there were two games last night on Monday Night Football. Neither were surprising in the least.
- The Minnesota Vikings (12-2) beat the Chicago Bears (4-10) 30-12. The Atlanta Falcons (7-7) beat the Las Vegas Raiders (2-12) 15-9.
- Today in history… Assassination of William I of Normandy, my 33rd great-grandfather (942). Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England (1538). France formally recognizes the United States (1777). General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky (1862). First issue of Vogue is published (1892). The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (1903). The first NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears, with the Bears winning 23–21 (1933). Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy (1938). All Chinese are again permitted to become citizens of the United States upon the repeal of the Act of 1882 and the introduction of the Magnuson Act (1943). Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years (1989). ‘The Simpsons’ premieres on television (1989). Sex work rights activists establish December 17 as International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (2003). The United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 1961 (2014).
- December 17 is the birthday of chemist/physicist Humphry Davy (1778), mathematician Mary Cartwright (1900), chemist Willard Libby (1908), journalist William Safire (1929), publisher Bob Guccione (1930), singer/keyboardist Art Neville (1937), singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks (1939), singer/harmonica player Paul Butterfield (1942), actor Bernard Hill (1944), actor Eugene Levy (1946), singer-songwriter Paul Rodgers (1949), bass player/songwriter Mike Mills (1958), actor Giovanni Ribisi (1974), actress Milla Jovovich (1975), boxer/politician Manny Pacquiao (1978), MLB player Chase Utley (1978), and soldier/criminal/activist Chelsea Manning (1987).
That’s plenty of news. There are definitely other things going on — there always are — but I’ll hold off on talking about them until there worth talking about. Enjoy your day
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