Random News: December 27, 2022

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 December 27, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday. Back to work for this weird week before the new year where no one knows anything…

• I can’t even imagine what kind of hell people were going through trying to get back from wherever they spent the holidays. Southwest Airlines alone left thousands of people stranded across the country due to weather. They canceled 54,000 flights in 48 hours.
• What can you do? If planes start crashing in foreseeable bad weather, you want the airlines to be accountable (and they should be). But the flip side of being stuck in airports and away from home is shitty, though still the preferable option to plane crashes.
• A related note: this doesn’t just affect people in blizzard destinations. Southwest has canceled all flights out of Los Angeles through New Year’s.
• Representative-elect George Santos (R-NY) admitted lying about his entire employment and educational history, as well as his religious background and other statements about his entire life.
• He claims he is not a criminal, but isn’t this the textbook definition of fraud? He was elected under 100% false pretenses. I don’t care what party he represents; this guy can’t be allowed to compulsively lie his way through a Congressional career… or can he?
• Another big question about Santos: his actual job before running for Congress was as a call center employee, and he’d been falling behind on his rent. Then, out of the blue, he lent his campaign $705,000. Where did all that money come from? The congressional Ethics Committee needs to find out pronto.
• An Arizona court has been asked to sanction defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and her lawyers over her failed effort to overturn the state's election results with no tangible evidence for widespread voting irregularities.
• Maricopa county's deputy attorney Thomas P. Liddy wrote that Lake filed a "groundless" lawsuit for a "frivolous pursuit".
• The sanction will hopefully dissuade the next unscrupulous lawyer for bringing legal cases that waste the court’s time and energy.
• In a separate court filing, Governor-elect Katie Hobbs also asked the Superior Court to have Lake compensate her attorneys for fees and expenses accrued in defending against the ridiculous lawsuit to the tune of about $550,000.
• And now, The Weather: “Big Time” by Angel Olsen
• I love this story. On Friday, a group of 10 tourists from South Korea were going from Washington D.C. to Niagara Falls, and ran into the blizzard from hell. Their van got stuck in a ditch in the snowbank. Desperate and freezing, they knocked on a door to ask to borrow a shovel.
• They happen to find the house of Alex Campagna, a dentist, who knew letting the group back out in that storm would be a death sentence, so he and his wife welcomed all of them in, and ended up hosting all ten of them through Sunday when they could be picked up.
• They put the tourists up on couches and in spare bedrooms, then made Korean food and watched football for two days. That’s how America is supposed to be. Choi Yoseob, a member of the tour group that Campagna hosted, said it was "kind of like fate" that they'd ended up at the home of a hospitable family with a full pantry.
• ”We have enjoyed this so much," Choi said, describing the experience as unforgettable and a "unique blessing."
• Awesome.
• I saw that certain people this past week, both residents and visitors, were bragging about California’s warm weather and blue skies, which is kind of an asshole move.
• Well because you tempted fate, this week we’re getting a category 4 atmospheric river bringing floods and up to 60mph winds to the Bay Area, which then makes its way down to SoCal with three back-to-back storms that will absolutely result in flooding, dangerously high surf, and mudslides.
• Buckle up, fellow CA friends. The first of the storms should be arriving here this afternoon and continuing through New Year’s.
• “But you need rain in drought areas!” Yes, of course we do, but we don’t have any infrastructure that prevents flooding or saves the rain from merely draining into the ocean. The good news is that it does add to the snow pack in the Sierras, which is more important to fight drought long term.
• In music news… as I’d hoped, I was able to spend a chunk of yesterday putting together a private playlist of my band’s collection of demos that will eventually be a collection of songs on a new album.
• I’m really stoked! It’s going to be great once we finesse some of the original raw tracks and tweak various things. But overall, it’s a really impressive bunch of music.
• 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. It is 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), gynecologist William Masters (1915), guitarist Scotty Moore (1931), actor John Amos (1939), journalist Cokie Roberts (1943), guitarist Mick Jones (1944), guitarist Lenny Kaye (1946), actor Gérard Depardieu (1948), drummer Terry Bozzio (1950), journalist Savannah Guthrie (1971), NFL player Deuce McAllister (1978), and NFL player Carson Palmer (1979).

Alrighty. I’ve got a sorta-normal Tuesday ahead. Plenty of work to do, grocery shopping in the afternoon for normal non-holiday food, and various meetings. That’s fine; getting back on track after the holidays is kind of a relief. However, since the world doesn’t all operate at the same pace, like most people I’ll be dealing with not knowing who’s in, who’s out, who’s on vacation all week, and so on. That’s fine; I’m flexible. Gotta bend like the stem and not snap like the twig, or however the fuck that goes. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 26, 2022

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 December 26, 2022, and it’s a Monday. Since Christmas fell on Sunday, it’s also the observed holiday from work, so I’ll share some things while in a bathrobe and figuring out how to spend the day…

• I had a good Christmas. Lots of gifts given and received. A ridiculous amount of food cooked and consumed.
• I have to say that my two favorite presents, both from Kat, were a) a 19-string lyre harp that I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday tuning and teaching myself to play (pretty easy to learn, really hard to master like most instruments), and b) a t-shirt from the Four Seasons Landscaping Company, which is a gift that keeps giving.
• My thoughts are with the people in western New York. No strangers to cold and shitty weather, they are tough people, but humans weren’t designed to handle that kind of onslaught.
• 27 deaths in the Buffalo area alone, and 55 (so far) nationwide attributed to the nationwide blizzard.
• My outlook is simple: seeing your friends/family for a holiday or any event simply isn’t worth dying for. Cancel your plans and stay home when you know this shit is a possibility.
• In other news, it looks like there was another coordinated attack on power substations, leaving thousands without power in the cold. This time, it was four locations in the Tacoma area of Washington State. It is known that these attacks were purposeful; it is not yet known who did it or what their motives were.
• It is domestic terrorism, and it’s something that’s been discussed on right-wing internet zones for years. I’ll reserve judgement for sometime after someone has been apprehended. But it will keep happening.
• Speaking of deplorable behavior, three busloads of recent migrant families were dropped off in Washington, D.C. in record-setting cold late on Christmas Eve. 
• They were sent by authorities in Texas, allegedly Governor Greg Abbott himself. The people on board included young children with no warm clothing.
• These folks who forced migrants onto buses in deadly weather to get stranded in the cold call themselves Christians. See how I could never get on board with that religion? I would never associate myself with that kind of cruelty.
• And now, The Weather: “This is Why” by Paramore
• As I think I mentioned last weekend, my band They Stole My Crayon has determined that we’ve accumulated enough solidly good (or at least interesting) songs over the past few years of writing and recording that we can start the process of putting together a new album.
• I’m going to spend a little time today doing some critical listening and making notes on what I think might need to be done — parts to rearrange, vocals and instruments to re-record, lyrics that need tweaks and so on — to actually wrap it up.
• That will also take time, as will mixing, mastering, creating art and promo materials, and more. I’d say sometime in late spring/early summer might be possible for release. We’ll see how it goes.
• From the Sports Desk… the NFL playoff picture still isn’t super clear, though it’s solidifying somewhat. Here are the eight teams who have locked in a playoff spot so far: Bills, Bengals, Ravens, Chiefs, Eagles, Cowboys, Vikings, and Niners.
• Here are the eight teams who are eliminated from the playoffs: Browns, Colts, Texans, Broncos, Bears, Falcons, Rams, and Cardinals.
• That leaves the following 16 teams who still have varying degrees of chances to make one of the remaining six playoff slots: Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Steelers, Jaguars, Titans, Chargers, Raiders, Giants, Commanders, Lions, Packers, Bucs, Panthers, Saints, and Seahawks.
• So the remaining games over the two remaining weeks do matter.
• Today in history… The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice (1709). Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium (1898). Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee (1919). Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States (1941). The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States (1963). The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach (1966). The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War (1991). 
• December 26 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Mary Somerville (1780), politician Mao Zedong (1893), actor Richard Widmark (1914), radio/TV host Steve Allen (1921), producer Phil Spector (1939), MLB player Carlton Fisk (1947), MLB player Ozzie Smith (1954), drummer Lars Ulrich (1963), singer-songwriter Jay Farrar (1966), and actor Jared Leto (1971).

Okay… time for more coffee and a shower and stuff. Later on I’ll be cleaning up this post-holiday trash pit that I call home, but it feels nice to be taking it slow on a quiet Monday. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 25, 2022

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 December 25, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. It’s Christmas Day. I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can.

• Merry Christmas.
• What is Christmas?
• Well, it’s a day commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. He was a first century Jewish preacher and religious leader. His actual name was probably Yeshua.
• He probably wasn’t born on December 25, but that day works as well as any.
• I find it very likely that Jesus existed. There is a lot of historical evidence that mostly confirms this. He seems like he was a good dude and had some good ideas, so the authorities killed him, which also seems very believable.
• As to whether or not you consider yourself a Christian — the world’s largest religion, I should mention — Christmas is both a religious and cultural celebration. Elements of what we consider traditional Christmas celebrations draw from a wide mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and completely secular themes and origins.
• Many of the elements that are nearly universal about Christmas in America and elsewhere, such as gift giving and Santa Claus and putting a tree inside your home, have little or nothing at all to do with the religious observance of the holiday.
• But that’s fine.
• Perhaps the best aspect of Christmas, or so I believe, does come straight from Christianity, which is a phrase from the Bible (Luke 2:14)… 
• “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
• I am all about peace and goodwill. Definitely yes.
• One reason that Christmas never seems to lose popularity is that it’s one of the huge driving forces of the economy in many countries.
• Not to be cynical or anything, but a lot of holidays come and go. This one has major corporate support and the bash registers are ringing over most of the planet. It’s not going anywhere!
• So, you certainly don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy Christmas. I like almost everything about it, from the gift giving to the food to the music to the decorations to the overall vibe of peace.
• And now, The Weather: “Amberlit Morning” by Joan Shelley feat. Bill Callahan
• Today in history… First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome (336). The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome (800). William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London (1066). The Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch (1492). Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage (1758). George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day (1776). The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance (1815). United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans (1868). A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front of WWI to celebrate Christmas (1914). Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat (1977). Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union and the union itself is dissolved the next day (1991). The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005 (2004). An explosion in Nashville, Tennessee occurs, leaving three civilians in the hospital (2020). The James Webb Space Telescope is launched (2021).
• December 25 is the birthday of physicist/mathematician Isaac Newton (1642), diarist/poet Dorothy Wordsworth (1771), nurse/humanitarian Clara Barton (1821), busiensswoman/philanthropist Helena Rubinstein (1872), race car driver/businessman Louis Chevrolet (1878), businessman Conrad Hilton (1887), actor Humphrey Bogart (1899), singer/bandleader Cab Calloway (1907), screenwriter/producer Rod Serling (1924), anthropologist/author Carlos Castaneda (1925), singer-songwriter O'Kelly Isley Jr. (1937), keyboardist Bob James (1939), NFL player Ken Stabler (1945), singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett (1946), NFL player Larry Csonka (1946), singer Merry Clayton (1948), actress Sissy Spacek (1949), singer-songwriter Annie Lennox (1954), singer Alannah Myles (1958), singer-songwriter Dido (1971), and Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau (1971).

Merry Christmas. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 24, 2022

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 December 24, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. It’s the morning of Christmas Eve, which is weird because we don’t say tonight that’s it’s the evening of Christmas morn, so let’s just go about our business before I have to start wrapping things…

• The House passed the omnibus spending bill, it was signed by President Biden, and so our federal government is funded to do things through September. That’s good.
• Over a million people were without power last night as the bomb cyclone fucked up their shit. I wish them well and hope the heat and lights are on for everyone ASAP, and certainly before Christmas morning tomorrow.
• Thousands and thousands of flights were canceled yesterday and today. Many roads were closed or became otherwise unnavigable. I know people make plans and want to be with families and loved ones over the holidays. Frankly, it might have been a better idea to phone this one in. 
• There was a shooting last night at Mall of America in Minnesota. One dead, another grazed. It would be nice to live somewhere that doesn’t have people killing each other at our supposed most peaceful time of year. I know that’s not realistic. You may say I’m a dreamer. 
• But I’m not the only one.
• And now, The Weather: “Shotgun” by Soccer Mommy
• I’m checking out NORAD’s Santa Tracker. I’m sure you know the story.
• It actually goes back to December 24, 1948. The United States Air Force issued a communique claiming that an "early warning radar net to the north" had detected "one unidentified sleigh, powered by eight reindeer, at 14,000 feet, heading 180 degrees."
• In 1955, as the story goes, a Sears department store in Colorado Springs ran an ad which told children they could place a call to Santa Claus and included the number ME 2-6681. That number was off by one digit, and instead went to the Continental Air Defense Command Center.
• It’s more likely that some kid just misdialed. Anyway, it got answered by the crew commander on duty, Colonel Harry Shoup.
• Shoup recognized it as a good PR opportunity, and told public affairs officer Colonel Barney Oldfield to inform the press that CONAD was tracking Santa's sleigh.
• In his release to the press, Oldfield added that "CONAD, Army, Navy, and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh.”
• The following year in 1956, Oldfield informed him that the Associated Press and United Press International were awaiting reports that CONAD again was claiming to be tracking Santa Claus. Shoup agreed that Oldfield should announce it again, and the annual tradition was born.
• In 1981, CONAD was renamed NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), and published a hotline number for the general public to call to get updates on Santa Claus’ progress.
• And obviously, the tradition continued in the online age. Starting in 1997, people could track Santa using a website set up for this purpose.
• If you want a less military-based Santa and a more corporate-based Santa, Google has its own Santa Tracker.
• In case you’re wondering, NORAD has Santa over the southern Indian Ocean at this moment, heading toward Madagascar.
• From the Sports Desk… the Tennessee Titans have delayed their scheduled noon CT game by an hour due to rolling blackouts in the region, stemming from the winter storm and brutal cold.
• All the NFL games being played right now — most of them crucial to various teams’ playoff hopes — are close. 3-0. 7-6. 0-7, 0-0, 7-7 and so on after the first quarter.
• Today in history… Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di (759). Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook (1777). The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria (1818). The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt (1871). Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast, consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech (1906). U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Operation Overlord (1943). The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so (1968).
• December 24 is the birthday of astronomer Jean-Louis Pons (1761), frontiersman/general Kit Carson (1809), brewer/physicist James Prescott Joule (1818), engineer/pilot/businessman Howard Hughes (1905), actress Ava Gardner (1922), general George Patton IV (1923), producer/businessman/politician Mike Curb (1944), trumpeter Woody Shaw (1944), singer-songwriter Lemmy (1945), guitarist Jan Akkerman (1946), actor Diedrich Bader (1966), author Stephenie Meyer (1973), radio/TV host Ryan Seacrest (1974), and NFL player Davante Adams (1992). 

Well, I’ll be doing mellow holiday stuff today, and then wrapping presents soon. I could wrap them earlier, but we have four cats and there’s no way they’d resist opening the presents early. Cats have no sense of tradition or ceremony. Anyway, doing that and eating and stuff is all I have on my list. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 23, 2022

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 December 23, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here’s are some things I’ve seen or thought on Christmas Eve Eve…

• Well, the Senate finally passed a $1.7 trillion government funding bill yesterday in a 68-29 vote, sending the package to the House for approval today.
• Nancy Pelosi got the voting started in the House last night. It should pass before the midnight deadline. They all want to get out of there before Christmas.
• The bill provides $858 billion for defense, $787 billion for non-defense domestic programs, and nearly $45 billion for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
• Sounds good. Get it done, House.
• The House Select Committee on the January 6 failed coup attempt is now public. It’s 845 pages long. I’ll put a link in the comments.
• If you don’t want to read it, I’ll give you the TLDR version: Trump should be barred from ever holding office again and should be prosecuted for multiple crimes in regard to the insurrection.
• Now over to Jack Smith to do the prosecution work.
• In other House news, at least for the moment, it seems as if Kevin McCarthy does not have the requisite 218 votes to become Speaker of the House.
• I think he’ll get there eventually, but right now he’s got about 20 Republicans who’ve sworn not to support him. This could get fun.
• Basically every other news story is about it being cold.
• Our winters will be colder, our summers hotter, and our storms more severe every year for the rest of our lives. And this is being greatly accelerated due to mankind’s impact on the climate.
• We can slow it down, but we cannot stop it at this point. We could have 40, 50, 60 years ago. But nope. All we can do is try and minimize our impact for future generations.
• Anyway, it’s cold, and I hope you are doing okay in staying safe and warm under the circumstances.
• As long as I’m on the topic, though… airlines canceled more than 2,400 US flights by late yesterday and had proactively canceled more than 2,200 flights for today.
• Point being, if you were going anywhere, I hope you’re already there.
• And now, The Weather: “Atopos” by Björk
• Here’s something cool: yesterday, House Democrats voted to make Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) the top Democrat on the powerful Oversight and Reform Committee in the next Congress.
• The Oversight panel, with subpoena authority and a broad mandate to probe federal affairs, is among the most powerful panels in Congress. And with Republicans set to take control of the House next year, the position of ranking member will assume even greater importance. 
• Republicans have promised that the Oversight panel will be focused on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
• Shrug.
• As long as we’ve been talking about voting, the Senate passed a bill that guarantees workers reasonable break time to pump breast milk by a vote of 92-5. The five anti-women, anti-baby Senators are John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Rand Paul (R-KY).
• Average American life expectancy fell from 77 to 76.4 years last year, bringing U.S. figures back 25 years to where they were in 1996.
• Causes of death remained largely the same between 2020 and 2021, led by heart disease, cancer and COVID-19.
• What factors increase longevity in other wealthy countries that we don’t seem to prioritize in the USA?
• Quality education, affordable housing, access to healthy food, reduced income inequality and greater regulation of industries that pollute or provide potentially dangerous products such as cars or guns.
• Welp.
• In food news, rest in peace to Ali Ahmed Aslam, who died at age 77. This Pakistani-Scottish chef was credited (at least by himself) with inventing Chicken Tikka Masala.
• From the Sports Desk… it’s the time of year when the NFL becomes like a calculus equation. Making the playoffs for about a third of the teams is some factor of their winning and multiple other teams losing, and so on. After this weekend, the playoff picture should be a lot more clear, although frankly it will likely be another two weeks when the regular season ends that we really who who’s in and who’s out.
• Good luck to your team, unless their success impacts my team.
• Today in history… King James II of England flees to Paris after being deposed in favor of his son-in-law and nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary (1688). George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, MD (1783). The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published (1815). The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System (1913). Sex Disqualification Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom (1919). The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories (1947). First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray (1954). The North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, NY is topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world (1970). The Immaculate Reception is caught by Franco Harris to win the Pittsburgh Steelers their first ever playoff victory (1972). 
• December 23 is the birthday of painter/sculptor/architect Giovanni Battista Crespi (1573), businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker (1867), trumpeter/singer Chet Baker (1929), NFL player Paul Hornung (1935), computer scientist Bob Kahn (1938), singer-songwriter Jorma Kaukonen (1940), singer-songwriter Tim Hardin (1941), actor Harry Shearer (1943), guitarist Adrian Belew (1949), journalist William Kristol (1952), NFL player Jim Harbaugh (1963), singer-songwriter Eddie Vedder (1964), and actor Corey Haim (1971).

As you may note, I’m up at my usual early hour to bring you this news and then to get my ass to work, but frankly, I’m not expecting to get a lot done today. Ideally, I’ll spend more of the day listening to Handel’s Messiah, watching the 1970 Scrooge musical with Albert Finney, and just chilling. Now that I’ve said that, some emergency will come up and I’ll be working all day, but no matter. I’ll take it as it comes. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 22, 2022

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 December 22, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. We shall now delve into small chunks of information, arranged in easily-digestible tidbits…

• It’s that lovely time of year when our government is at its own nadir of effectiveness… the passing of a budget to keep itself running.
• The Senate would like to close shop and go celebrate the holidays and do whatever wealthy people do on their time off, but they’ve got this little $1.7 trillion government funding package to try and push through before the break.
• Also, like many others, they’re looking to get the fuck out of Dodge before this apocalyptic snowy hellscape shuts everything down.
• However, as of yesterday afternoon, they still weren’t close to an agreement that can be sent to the House before federal cash expires on Friday at midnight.
• Specifically, there is major GOP infighting over the spending bill, with Mitch McConnell supporting it and Kevin McCarthy opposing.
• They had to take a break from arguing and voting late yesterday, though.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a rousing and historic 32-minute address to U.S. lawmakers at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. last night.
• He got a number of standing ovations, one after the following quote: “Against all odds and doom and gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn’t fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking.”
• Another one…
• “We’ll celebrate Christmas, and even if there is no electricity, the light of our faith in ourselves will not be put out. If Russian missiles attack us, we’ll do our best to protect ourselves. If they attack us with Iranian drones and our people have to go to bomb shelters on Christmas Eve, Ukrainians will still sit down at the holiday table and cheer up each other.”
• Now that’s a great leader. Slava Ukraini!
• And now, The Weather: “happy accident” by Tomberlin
• While we’re at the weather, I will state, as I have for many days in a row… 
• This quickly-approaching winter storm and cold blast will impact nearly every state. The National Weather Service is calling it a “once in a generation type event” that will cripple travel on some of the busiest travel days of the year.
• Even for those not traveling, the cold temps and wind chills will absolutely be life-threatening for millions of people. More than 100 million people across 37 states are under winter weather alerts, primarily throughout the MIdwest and as far south as the Texas/Mexico border.
• So… do anything you can right now so that you’re prepared for the worst (i.e., loss of power/heat, high risk of serious road accidents, cancelled flights/layovers, pipes freezing, etc.). Thank you.
• Here? No. I live at the beach. It will be lovely though somewhat cloudy and slightly brisk with temps in the mid-60s. But you be careful.
• Moving on.
• A follow-up from a previous item… Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey agreed in court documents yesterday to dismantle a barrier made of double-high shipping containers and razor wire he had ordered constructed along parts of his state's border with Mexico.
• I’d personally like to force him to do it by himself.
• Ducey was sued because the barrier was illegally built on federal land and was causing damage to vegetation and seasonal streams in the Coronado National Forest.
• What a prick. And speaking of Arizona…
• Kari Lake, the person Donald Trump would be minus his small penis and about 300 pounds, took her loss in the Arizona governor’s race last month to court yesterday.
• She has claimed the election was stolen and promised bombshells showing she was the rightful winner as soon as she had her day in court.
• The trial started yesterday. Zero bombshells. The only things her lawyers brought up were small-bore problems that didn’t appear to show the widespread, intentional misconduct she would need to prove.
• Yawn.
• Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who is hearing the case, had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims Lake raised in her lawsuit.
• Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs takes office on January 2.
• Here’s a weird one.
• Kelly Conlon is a lawyer, and her firm is suing a restaurant owned by MSG Entertainment. MSG is also the parent of New York’s famous Radio City Music Hall.
• She was going to see the Rockettes there with her daughter and their Girl Scout troop.
• However, she was identified by facial recognition software while entering with thousands of others, was pulled aside by security, and told to leave. The daughter and the rest of the Scouts were able to see the performance.
• Point being: there is no such thing as pubic anonymity anymore. Frankly, there’s really not online anonymity either. Basically, no matter where you go or what you do, physically or virtually, someone knows a lot more about you than you realize.
• Just saying.
• Jennifer McClellan is on track to become the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
• She won the Democratic primary to fill the seat of Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin, who died last month from cancer.
• McClellan still has to beat her Republican challenger but the district is heavily Democratic and she’s highly favored to win. Good stuff.
• Remember the other day when I told you about George Santos, the GOP representative-elect who lied about his education and employment?
• Turns out he also said his grandparents fled the Holocaust (they didn’t) and also said that he’s been openly gay for a decade… except he divorced a woman in 2019.
• Seriously, this guy is amazing. He may have lied about every single aspect of his life. Well, welcome to Congress, I guess.
• Today in history… Three weeks after the death of King Henry I of England, Stephen of Blois claims the throne and is privately crowned King of England, beginning the English Anarchy (1135). The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson (1807). Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy (1808). Savannah, GA, falls to the Union's Army of the Tennessee (1864). Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography (1891). The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City (1937). German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: “Nuts!" (1944). The first test flight of the SR-71 Blackbird takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA (1964). Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis (1975). Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany (1989). Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63 (2001). The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama (2010). The 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, the longest shutdown of the U.S. federal government in history, begins (2018).
• December 22 is the birthday of playwright Jean Racine (1639), composer Carl Friedrich Abel (1723), politician Frank B. Kellogg (1856), composer Giacomo Puccini (1858), composer Edgard Varèse (1883), chemist St. Elmo Brady (1894), first lady Lady Bird Johnson (1912), actress Barbara Billingsley (1915), actor Héctor Elizondo (1936), journalist Diane Sawyer (1945), MLB player Steve Garvey (1948), guitarist Rick Nielsen (1948), singer Maurice Gibb (1949), singer Robin Gibb (1949), NFL player Ray Guy (1949), guitarist Frank Gambale (1958), actor Ralph Fiennes (1962), rapper DaBaby (1991), and singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (1993).

I have a kinda normal day planned. It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen around this time, when people are taking off for travel and vacations and all that. I do know I have to pick up a couple of final gifts at some point, but it’s minor stuff and won’t be a big effort. I’m hoping to slow down a bit (this week has been packed with deadlines), and maybe have a chance to do some holiday stuff and try and get into the spirit of the season. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 21, 2022

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 December 21, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. Not sure what’s next, so let’s find out together…

• Today is the first day of winter, and the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The solstice occurs at 9:48PM UTC, which is 1:48PM here in PST and 4:48 in EST.
• Happy solstice, you pagans. Go dance naked… somewhere in your warm house, preferably. It’s fucking chilly out.
• The House Ways and Means Committee voted 24 to 16 yesterday to release former president Donald Trump’s tax returns.
• Remember going back to 2016 during his run for president, Trump claimed he couldn’t do what every presidential candidate before him had, which was to make his taxes public?
• He said it was because his taxes were under audit.
• They were never under audit. In fact, the first entity who’s going to face trouble is the IRS, who did not perform the mandatory audits during the first two years of his presidency.
• I’m not sure how much you pay in federal income taxes, but Trump paid $750 in 2017 and $0 in 2020.
• Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) of the Ways and Means Committee, said that the returns showed there were “tens of millions of dollars in these returns that were claimed without adequate substantiation.”
• FPOTUS’s full tax returns may be released as soon as Thursday, pending the committee’s work to remove personal information, such as Social Security numbers. 
• Moving on.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington today. It’s his first trip outside his homeland since it was invaded 300 days ago.
• He’ll meet with President Biden in the Oval Office and then address Congress tonight.
• A day after the House sent criminal referrals to the DOJ in regard to the FPOTUS’s role in the January 6 insurrection, the Senate unveiled a $1.7 trillion omnibus government funding package that includes the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA).
• It’s an update to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, and it’s a big deal.
• It raises the threshold for objections to Electoral College votes from one member in each chamber to one-fifth of members in both chambers. It will prevent future Trump-like leaders from trying to subvert elections like Trump did on January 6, 2021.
• In short, it protects the popular vote from being negated by any legal loopholes.
• Good.
• And now, The Weather: “Bull Believer” by Wednesday
• Once again, speaking of the weather… travel is going to be very dangerous over the next few days and a lot of you are planning to pile in the car and head to Grandma’s for the holiday.
• Travel conditions due to snow and cold are indeed life-threatening. This is the case from the West Coast to the Mountain states to the Midwest to the Northeast. Be careful and be prepared.
• From the Sports Desk… rest in peace to Franco Harris. The Hall of Fame running back for the Steelers has died at age 72.
• Ironically, this weekend is the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most iconic play in NFL history: the "Immaculate Reception”, where Harris caught (?) a deflected ball on 4th down and scored a game-winning touchdown over the Raiders with 22 seconds left in the game.
• And Saturday is the 50th anniversary of that game, and… the Steelers are playing the Raiders.
• RIP Franco. He was indeed great in every sense of the word.
• Today in history… The city of Ryazan is sacked by the Mongol army of Batu Khan (1237). William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, MA (1620). Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln (1861). The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile (1907). American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia (1919). ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre (1937). Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans (1968). First flight of F-14 multi-role combat aircraft (1970). A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270 (1988). The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control (1995). A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees, the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623 (2020).
• December 21 is the birthday of painter Masaccio (1401), hunter/dog breeder Jack Russell (1795), UK prime minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804), chemist/engineer George W. Fuller (1868), baseball player Josh Gibson (1911), singer Werner von Trapp (1915), talk show host Phil Donahue (1935), actress/activist Jane Fonda (1937), singer-songwriter Frank Zappa (1940), guitarist Albert Lee (1943), guitarist Paco de Lucía )1947), actor Samuel L. Jackson (1948), producer Jeffrey Katzenberg (1950), actress Jane Kaczmarek (1955), sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner (1959), actor Andy Dick (1965), actor Kiefer Sutherland (1066), and French president Emmanuel Macron (1977).

So, I don’t keep heat on here overnight, because I’m cheap and our electric heat sucks anyway. So now I have to change into sweats and go downstairs and workout, and it’s like 45 degrees both outside and inside my home. This… sucks. Enjoy your day.