Random News: January 13, 2025

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 January 13, 2025, and it’s a Monday. It’s going to be a super busy day for me, but I think I have my ducks in a row. Wait, those aren’t ducks. They’re cats. And they’re running all over the place. Help!

• Hopefully soon here, we won’t feel compelled to start each day’s report with an update on the Los Angeles fires.
• Firefighters made some great progress over the weekend battling the blazes, with an assist from Mother Nature in the form of lighter winds and more humidity.
• However, they’re preparing for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames today and moving through this week.
• The death toll is now up to at least 24 people. That number is likely to continue rising. In all, four fires in the Los Angeles area have consumed more than 62 square miles, an area larger than the entire city of San Francisco.
• As of this morning, the Palisades Fire was 11% contained. Containment on the Eaton Fire reached 27%.
• The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts in the mountains reaching 70 mph. The most dangerous day in that regard will be Tuesday.
• About 150,000 people are still under evacuation orders, with more than 700 taking refuge in nine shelters. That’s unlikely to change before the red flag warnings of expected high winds expire Wednesday evening.
• The number of people across Southern California without power has dropped to 50,000 as of this morning, with more than half of them in Los Angeles County.
• Something else I want you to consider…
• According to the latest estimates, the Palisades and Eaton fires have destroyed at least 7,000 structures.
• Thankfully, we have great leadership in our state to help get the long rebuilding process moving at high speed once the fires are over.
• Governor Gavin Newsom announced an executive order yesterday that will allow wildfire victims rebuild their homes and business quickly, unencumbered by red tape.
• The order will suspend CEQA review and California Coastal Act permitting for those looking to reconstruct homes and businesses damaged or destroyed by the wildfires. According to the order, qualifying properties must be in the same location as the burnt structure and can’t exceed 110% of the footprint of the structure it’s replacing.
• The order also extends protections against price gouging on “building materials, storage services, construction, and other essential goods and services,” according to the governor’s office, until January 7, 2026.
• Once the flames are extinguished and the long process of rebuilding has been started, do you know who’s going to be most vital in bringing back these beloved parts of Los Angeles?
• Immigrants.
• After one the the most destructive wildfires in history, rebuilding will be a monumental task. Even taking into account Governor Newsom’s executive order, building (or rebuilding) in Los Angeles is notoriously difficult because of complicated permitting and regulations. 
• A significant proportion of the region’s construction workforce consists of immigrants. In fact, 43 percent of construction workers in California are immigrants.
• Among these, a majority are of Mexican origin, reflecting a long history of Mexican labor contributing to the city’s development.
• And immigrant labor has already been vital in the recovery of other U.S. cities devastated by natural disasters. After Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017, more than half of the construction workers involved in rebuilding efforts were immigrants.
• Thousands of undocumented immigrants worked long hours under grueling conditions, often without proper safety protections, and some were even exploited through wage theft.
• Despite those challenges, immigrants alleviated a labor shortage in Houston, allowing it to recover more rapidly than anticipated.
• And Los Angeles will be turning to our hard-working Mexican brothers and sisters to bring the burn areas back to their former glory.
• The saddest part is that while these folks are helping us rebuild, they’ll be under constant threat of Donnie Dump’s punitive immigration policies.
• And while they’re cleaning up mountains of debris, erecting wooden beams, installing drywall, and wiring electrical systems — they will be doing so under threat of family separation.
• Something to keep in mind while you scream for “Mass deportations.”
• Let’s move on.
• Sort of.
• California Democrats have reached a $50 million agreement to shore up state and local legal defenses against the incoming Dump administration just a week ahead of the Tangerine Twat’s inauguration.
• Half the money would go to fending off any mass deportation plan the new president might enact early in his administration.
• The deal includes $25 million Newsom had proposed for the state Department of Justice to fight the federal government in court shortly after Trump’s reelection in November — plus $25 million more proposed by state Senate leaders to defend immigrants against deportation, detention and wage theft.
• Floor votes on the package could come as soon as this week. That would give Newsom time to sign the deal before Dump’s inauguration on January 20.
• Let’s keep moving.
• Sorta.
• The reason for this urgency? Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) said yesterday that he believes Dump will issue a “blizzard of executive orders” once he is inaugurated.
• “When President Trump takes office next Monday, there is going to be shock and awe with executive orders, a blizzard of executive orders, on the economy, as well as on the border,” he said.
• Per Dumpy, the first things he’ll do is carry out a mass deportation effort and pardon all January 6, 2021 defendants who stormed the Capitol four years ago.
• While we’re mentioning the assholes of the world, let’s move on with an updated report from the MAGA civil war.
• Gelatinous cube Steve Bannon, Dump’s former close advisor who helped steer conservative media into the arms of the xenophobic far-right, has vowed to get Dump’s new best friend booted from the White House orbit before next week’s inauguration.
• “I will get Elon Musk kicked out by the time he’s inaugurated. He won’t have a blue pass with full access to the White House. He’ll be like everyone else,” said Bannon this weekend.
• Bannon has clashed with Musk in recent weeks as part of a bitter feud over H1-B visas for skilled immigrants.
• Speaking on Musk, Bannon added, “He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it; I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.”
• Critics have argued the tech industry exploits the H1-B program to hire cheaper foreign labor. MAGA hardliners like Bannon have called for an end to the program.
• Musk recently agreed with a social post that claimed Americans were too “retarded” to perform skilled jobs.
• So, considering Dump is now acting as an agent of Musk and doing everything Musk wants him to, that’s what the incoming president thinks about you. 
• In other news…
• There is now just a week until the ever more likely ban on TikTok comes into effect in the USA. 170 million American users of the app — half our country’s population — are asking what happens next.
• After last week’s Supreme Court arguments, and despite Donnie Dump wanting to seem like one of the cool kids after instigating the ban in the first place, it’s looking more and more likely that their request for a stay will be denied.
• Should the ban happen, all 170 million users should delete the app on their iPhones and Androids, with the threat of serious consequences if they do not.
• What exactly happens when the ban starts is still unclear. We know that Apple and Google will remove the app from the Play Store and App Store immediately to stop new users getting it.
• Unlike ISP blocks in other countries that have banned TikTok and other social media apps, it’s doubtful that traffic will be blocked (which would just mean that some users would mask their locations through VPNs as we have seen with states restricting porn access).
• So while TikTok users and content creators would will likely be able to continue using the app even after the ban, as soon as there’s an OS update to phones and computers, the app would quickly become unusable.
• And to have 170 million phones running an app that can’t be updated is a huge security risk. Every hacker and other evildoer will jump on that opportunity to exploit those 170 million American TikTok users who will immediately be extremely vulnerable to attacks.
• Guess we’ll see how that goes.
• And now, The Weather: “Mudcrawlers” by Mekons
• From the Sports Desk… three more Wild Card NFL playoff games yesterday.
• As expected, the highly-favored Buffalo Bills crushed the Denver Broncos 31-7… and it didn’t seem that close. The 2-seed Bills will face the 3-seed Raven in what should be an outstanding game this coming weekend’s Divisional round.
• I should also note that the defending champ 1-seed Chiefs will be taking on the spunky 4-seed Texans in the Divisional round as well.
• The NFC playoffs got started yesterday with the Eagles beating the Packers 22-10. Green Bay QB Jordan Love, who was playing hurt, threw three picks, and the team was plagued by fumbles — including one on the opening kickoff. Can’t win playoff games like that.
• Later in the day, in a very tight back-and-forth game, the Commanders edged the Buccaneers 23-20 with a last-second field goal. Congrats to Washington on their first playoff win in 7,000 days.
• But now they will face a tough Detroit team in the Divisional round.
• Tonight’s playoff game with the Vikings visiting the Rams is being played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It was moved there due to the Los Angeles wildfires. Good idea safety-wise, though it won’t help the Rams with any home field advantage.
• Today in history… Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, is lynched by a mob in Rome (1793). United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority (1833). The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California (1847). The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. (1888). The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (1910). The Black Friday bushfires burn 7,700 square miles of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people (1939). Henry Ford patents a soybean car, which is 30% lighter than a regular car (1942). An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership (1953). Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, in response to anti-Hindu riots in East Pakistan (1964). Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1966). Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison (1968). Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor (1990). Space Shuttle Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center (1993). A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii causes widespread panic in the state (2018). The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China (2020). Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior (2021).
• January 13 is the birthday of painter Jan van Goyen (1596), SCOTUS chief justice Salmon P. Chase (1808), suffragist/abolitionist Ernestine Rose (1810), novelist Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832), hockey player Art Ross (1886), singer/actress Sophie Tucker (1886), actor Robert Stack (1919), guitarist/composer Joe Pass (1929), actor Rip Taylor (1931), actor Charles Nelson Reilly (1931), actor Richard Moll (1943), singer-songwriter/guitarist Trevor Rabin (1954), actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1961), entrepreneur/politician Andrew Yang (1975), actor Orlando Bloom (1977), statistician Nate Silver (1978), NFL player Nick Mangold (1984), and actor Liam Hemsworth (1990).

That’s plenty of think about for now. Again, my day is super busy, but as long as I stay focused and get shit done, my stress level will stay at an ever-present but reasonable level. Enjoy your day.