Random News: January 3, 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 3, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! While I have some legit reasons to be stressed this morning, I am very much looking forward to a more typical Friday today (in contrast to the previous Friday where I spent the day worrying about Kat at the hospital). Lots of news happening, so for now, let’s focus on that.

• We’re still figuring out the many what-the-fucks involved in the spate of terrorism actions that happened on New Year’s Eve.
• First of all, yesterday the FBI backtracked their initial report about Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the U.S. Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans.
• Initial they postulated that he likely worked with others while carrying out the deadly attack. Now they say he acted alone.
• Shrug.
• The 42-year-old U.S. citizen was seemingly under a variety of pressures. He finalized a third divorce in 2022, saying in filings he couldn’t pay his mortgage and his consulting business was losing money.
• It’s hard to say what made this guy snap. He’d posted five videos to his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he aligned himself with IS. Authorities also found an Islamic State flag on the truck used in the attack early Wednesday.
• His friends and family are also shocked, saying his demeanor had always been calm and well-mannered. It was online recent months that he began isolating himself.
• President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will head to New Orleans on Monday to meet with the families and community members impacted by the devastating truck attack.
• Authorities also say there’s no evidence of a link between that attack and the Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
• Um, guess that’s all, then?
• There is some more detailed info coming out about Matthew Livelsberger, the highly decorated Army soldier who was inside that Cybertruck which was packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters.
• Authorities say that the 37-year-old Green Beret shot himself in the head just before detonation. Ugh.
• Damage from the blast was mostly limited to the interior of the truck because the explosion vented out and up, and didn’t hit the Trump hotel doors just a few feet away.
• Authorities are still working to determine a motive. Livelsberger had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died in this bizarre way.
• It’s interesting to me that no one is falsely claiming that Livelsberger is an immigrant, unlike what they assume about Texas-born Jabbar.
• Oh wait, Livelsberger is white. Never mind.
• And making things even more weird about Livelsberger is something his uncle summed up in an interview yesterday…
• “He used to have all patriotic stuff on Facebook, he was 100 percent loving the country. He loved Trump, and he was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American.”
• So why did he want to blow up Dump’s shitty hotel using Elon’s shitty car?
• Let’s move on.
• Today is the day that the Republicans in the House may fuck themselves once again by attempting to fire House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
• And their moderate mainstream wing is warning Johnson not to repeat his predecessor's mistake of giving away the store to his right-wing detractors to retain his gavel.
• At latest check, Johnson is facing roughly a dozen right-wing holdouts before today’s speaker election. Only a few GOP defections are needed toxic him off the Speaker podium.
• But the moderate Republicans are warning Johnson not to do what Kevin McCarthy did, which is making promises to the far-right that he can’t (or won’t) deliver.
• You may recall that back in 2023, McCarthy took 15 rounds of voting to become Speaker. He finally did so by cutting a deal with his right-wing rebels — including rules changes, plum committee assignments, and votes on certain bills — that came back to haunt him.
• One of those changes — lowering the motion-to-vacate threshold — led to his own ouster last year.
• The other notable aspect of today’s Speaker vote: Johnson has the full endorsement of Dump, so any far-right GOP member going against him is also going against Dumpy.
• Interesting. I’m sure Dumpy will have feelings about that as well.
• Guess we’ll see what happens today.
• Let’s move on with a look back at one of the major unsolved mysteries of the failed coup attempt on January 6, 2021 (with the four year anniversary of the horrible event coming up on Monday).
• The FBI is releasing new details about the person who planted pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., on the night before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
• They are still trying to identify the individual who placed the devices — which did not detonate — near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee on the evening of January 5, 2021.
• Despite conducting 1,000 interviews, reviewing 39,000 video files, and sifting through some 600 tips, the bomber remains elusive despite a $500,000 reward for information leading to the capture and the conviction of a suspect.
• What have they come up with? Well, they say the person is 5’7”, and wore a pair of black and light gray Nike Air Max sneakers with a yellow logo.
• About 25,000 pairs of those shoes had been sold at the time of the insurrection at the Capitol in early 2021. Side note: I’m 5’11” and wear Nike Air Force 1’s. It wasn’t me.
• That’s it.
• Moving on to some ongoing and weird international news…
• South Korean investigators have suspended efforts to enforce an arrest warrant for embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol today, hours into a standoff in which authorities tried to detain the leader following his short-lived martial law declaration.
• Some 80 police and investigators had entered the presidential compound in Seoul in the early morning to take Yoon into custody for questioning.
• Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) approached within a couple hundred meters of Yoon’s residence, but were blocked by a “human wall” of around 200 soldiers and members of the presidential security detail. There were also several altercations of varying intensity.
• If he is eventually detained, Yoon, who was impeached by parliament last month, would become the first sitting president to be arrested.
• Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested over their roles in the martial law declaration.
• Pretty weird. I’m referring to (gestures vaguely) everything.
• In other news…
• Today, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new advisory warning Americans that alcohol consumption can increase their cancer risk, and called for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages.
• My personal feeling on the topic: alcohol is fucking awful. Yes, like many people, I used to binge drink in my teens and 20s. Fortunately, after a few really horrible experiences, by the time I hit my early 30s I pretty much eliminated drinking from my life.
• “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the US — yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” said Murthy.
• The link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk is well-established for at least seven types of cancer: breast, colorectum, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat, and voice box. And the risk remains regardless of what type of alcohol is consumed, and increases with greater consumption.
• Before anyone thinks I’m worthy of praise in some way, note that I still smoke weed, and I still smoke cigarettes. I can’t by any definition say that I am sober or that I avoid major cancer risks.
• My only impetus was that about 22 years ago, alcohol just started making me ill and depressed, quickly becoming not worth any upside. I don’t miss it.
• Let’s move on.
• In breaking news this morning, President Biden has rejected the nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel — affirming his earlier vow to block the acquisition of the USA’s most storied steel company.
• “We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests,” he said this morning.
• I agree.
• Biden’s decision comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month.
• The committee, chaired by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and made up of other Cabinet members, can recommend that the president block a transaction, and federal law gives the president that power.
• And now, The Weather: “siracusa” by orange flavored cigarettes
• Let’s do a chart. It’s the first week January 1979, and I am in 5th grade at Ladera Linda Elementary School in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. My teacher is Mr. Emde.
• And this is the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart.
• 1. Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits, Volume 2 (Barbra Streisand). 2. A Wild And Crazy Guy (Steve Martin). 3. 52nd Street (Billy Joel). 4. C'est Chic (Chic). 5. Grease (Soundtrack). 6. Jazz (Queen). 7. Briefcase Full of Blues (Soundtrack) (Blues Brothers). 8. The Best Of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. I (Earth, Wind & Fire). 9. Backless (Eric Clapton). 10. You Don't Bring Me Flowers (Neil Diamond). 11. Double Vision (Foreigner). 12. Greatest Hits (Barry Manilow). 13. Live And More (Donna Summer). 14. Live! Bootleg (Aerosmith). 15. Cruisin' (Village People). 16. Blondes Have More Fun (Rod Stewart). 17. Living In The U.S.A. (Linda Ronstadt). 18. Dog And Butterfly (Heart). 19. Toto (Toto). 20. Some Girls (The Rolling Stones).
• From the Sports Desk… let’s once again look at the current NFL playoff seeding.
• AFC: the 1-seed Chiefs will have a first-round bye. That leaves the following matchups… 7-seed Broncos at 2-seed Bills, 6-seed Chargers at 3-seed Ravens, and 5-seed Steelers at 4-seed Texans.
• NFC: the 1-seed Lions will sit out the Wild Card round. 7-seed Packers will visit 2-seed Eagles, 6-seed Commanders at 3-seed Rams, and 5-seed Vikings at 4-seed Buccaneers.
• Can that change? Yes indeed. The Dolphins and Bengals each still have a rather remote shot at getting in the AFC playoffs. In the NFC, the Falcons still have a chance at replacing the Bucs.
• The final games of the regular season, scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday, will resolve any final questions.
• Today in history… Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem (1521). American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton (1777). Delaware votes not to secede from the United States (1861). Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States (1933). Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time (1947). Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state (1959). Apple Computer is incorporated (1977). Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces (1990). Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons (2002). The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto (2009). Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover (2019).
• January 3 is the birthday of philosopher/politician Cicero (106 BC), soprano Henriette Sontag (1806), businessman Ichizō Kobayashi (1873), UK prime minister Clement Attlee (1883), writer J.R.R. Tolkien (1892), pianist/comedian Victor Borge (1909), NFL coach Hank Stram (1923), music producer George Martin (1926), director Sergio Leone (1929), actor Robert Loggia (1930), NHL player Bobby Hull (1939), singer-songwriter Van Dyke Parks (1943), singer-songwriter/guitarist Stephen Stills (1945), bass player/composer John Paul Jones (1946), actor/director Mel Gibson (1956), WBNA player Cheryl Miller (1964), racing driver Michael Schumacher (1969), singer-songwriter/guitarist Kurt Vile (1980), NFL player David Tyree (1980), NFL player Eli Manning (1981), murderer Kyle Rittenhouse (2003), and environmental activist Greta Thunberg (2003).

Time for me to jump into the busy portion of my day. If I get through it without any unforeseen emergencies, I’m calling it a victory. Enjoy your day.