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 27, 2024, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I am very appreciative that it’s Friday; between work and holiday stuff, I am desperately looking forward to a little actual time off this coming weekend.
- Let’s jump right in.
- Starting with the brewing MAGA civil war. What’s it all about?
- It started over Christmas when a social media post turned into a steaming match between various assholes over race, immigration, and billionaires versus the working class.
- This was entirely predictable. The MAGA movement came to prominence via the white, less-educated, working class… but is now under the full control of billionaire tech bros and industrialists, many of whom are immigrants.
- This started last Sunday, when Dumpy named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on AI policy.
- That made the MAGA racists unhappy, with an anti-Indian backlash on social media. Krishnan has a history of advocacy for lifting caps on green cards.
- But it really blew up yesterday when Vivek Ramaswamy made a social post blaming an American culture that "venerated mediocrity over excellence" for the growth in foreign tech workers.
- Oh man. A guy named Ramaswamy attacking American culture? You can imagine how that went. So, his buddy and co-leader of DOGE (whatever that is) — who is also an immigrant — defended him.
- Elon Musk spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to defend and explain Ramaswamy’s argument, framing it as using immigration to supplement, rather than replace, American workers.
- But the MAGA crowd took that to mean that America needs more immigration to fill lucrative jobs in America.
- With psycho people like Laura Loomer screaming to close the borders, this was a huge slap in the face. She’s now calling for a MAGA boycott in the 2026 midterms.
- Snort.
- Anyway, I no longer use Twitter or whatever they call it now. But seeing some of the screencaps of the fighting was highly enjoyable.
- Let’s move on… sort of.
- A recent article focused on people who supported and voted for Dump for one main reason: they are low-income folks who thought Dumpy was going to bring down the cost of living.
- Lori Mosura receives $1,200 each month in food stamps and Social Security benefits but still has to decide whether to buy milk or toilet paper.
- She voted for Dump because, “He is more attuned to the needs of everyone instead of just the rich. I think he knows it’s the poor people that got him elected, so I think Trump is going to do more to help us.”
- Oh man. That is heartbreaking.
- Steve Tillia receives $1,600 a month in Social Security disability payments and $300 in food stamps to support himself and his son. Tillia is unable to work after suffering from mini strokes.
- He’s confident that Dump and GOP leaders will reduce spending by “cutting the fat” out of government — and not slashing benefits.
- Fifty percent of voters from families with an income of less than $50,000 a year cast their ballots for Dump. They now say they are counting on him to keep their benefits intact even while his Cabinet picks and Republican lawmakers call on him to reduce federal spending.
- But the aforementioned Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — whom Trump has chosen to lead a new nongovernmental advisory panel, the “Department of Government Efficiency” — have said they want to trim $2 trillion from the government’s annual budget.
- The only possible way to do that is to slash “entitlement programs” like Social Security, Medicare and food stamp programs.
- Beyond them, Dump’s pick for White House budget director was a key architect of Project 2025, a plan drawn up by conservatives to guide his second term that calls for steep cuts to programs such as food stamps.
- GOP leaders in Congress and Dump advisers are also considering significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal aid.
- These poor people voted for their own demise. It’s just awful.
- Let’s move on to some news.
- Finnish authorities detained a ship linked to neighboring Russia as they investigate whether it purposefully damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables.
- Yesterday, Finnish police and border guards boarded the vessel, the Eagle S, and took over the command bridge.
- The Eagle S is part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
- Yikes.
- Moving on.
- China is having trouble with angry people.
- Xi Jinping wants the recent spree of mass killings that shocked the country not to happen again. The attacks, where drivers mow down people on foot or knife-wielding assailants stab multiple victims, are not new in China. But the latest surge drew attention.
- People describe these attacks as “Revenge on Society Crimes.”
- In November alone, three took place.
- A man struck people at an elementary school in Hunan province, wounding 30, after suffering investment losses. A student who failed his examination stabbed and killed eight at a vocational school in the city of Yixing. The most victims, 35 people, resulted from a man mowing down a crowd in the southern city of Zhuhai, supposedly upset over his divorce.
- I’m telling you, there are far too many angry and crazy people on this planet.
- Let’s move on with a note from the Science Desk.
- On Christmas Eve, NASA's Parker Solar Probe — a car-sized spacecraft — came within 3.8 million miles of the sun's surface. It is humanity's closest approach ever to the star at the center of our solar system.
- The probe was about 10 times closer to the home star than the orbit of the innermost planet, Mercury.
- As it flew around the sun, Parker also set a record for the fastest human-made object, reaching an incredible speed of 430,000 mph. That’s not much compared to, say, the speed of light. But it’s fast enough to travel from New York to Tokyo in under a minute.
- We’re nonpositive it survived these insane conditions, but we’ll know today, when it's expected to send its first signal back to Earth since its fly-by.
- The goal of the mission is to better understand mysteries like why the sun's extended atmosphere is hotter than its surface. Scientists also hope it will help predict solar storms, which can trigger stunning, widespread auroras but also pose a threat to power grids and radio signals.
- Cool!
- And now, The Weather: “Always Looking Back” by Caroline Says
- From the Sports Desk… in the world’s most pathetic NFL game, the Seahawks beat the Bears last night 6-3. No touchdowns were scored.
- Seattle needed the win to remain in the playoff picture. They’d also need the Rams to lose to the Cardinals on Sunday, and to then beat the Rams in the final week of the regular season.
- Today in history… Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution (1831). Journalist John L. O'Sullivan argues in his newspaper New York Morning News that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country under “manifest destiny” (1845). Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway (1927). Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City (1932). The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations (1945). Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon (1968). Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship (1978). Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth, the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet (2004).
- December 27 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571), microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822), actress/singer Marlene Dietrich (1901), pianist Oscar Levant (1906), gynecologist William Masters (1915), guitarist/songwriter Scotty Moore (1931), actor John Amos (1939), journalist Cokie Roberts (1943), guitarist/songwriter Mick Jones (1944), guitarist/songwriter Lenny Kaye (1946), actor Gérard Depardieu (1948), drummer/songwriter Terry Bozzio (1950), singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff (1951), wrestler Chyna (1969), NFL player Lorenzo Neal (1970), journalist Savannah Guthrie (1971), NFL player Deuce McAllister (1978), NFL player Carson Palmer (1979), MLB player Cole Hamels (1983), singer/songwriter Hayley Williams (1988), actor Timothée Chalamet (1995), and NFL player Brock Purdy (1999).
That’s all I have time to talk about for now. Another busy work day ahead, but also… it’s Friday! Try and have some fun. Enjoy your day.
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