Random News: December 20, 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 20, 2022, and it’s a Tuesday. Got a batch of various things lined up in my mind, and now I have to wiggle my fingers and send them to your brain through your eyes…

• There was a large earthquake last night in Northern California. A 6.4 struck the Eureka area, and it definitely caused some serious damage to homes and roads. Thousands are without power.
• A little reminder: California is very big. So no, I didn’t feel it. I am roughly 700 miles south of there.
• But having been through the 1994 Northridge quake which was a 6.7, I know how scary and dangerous a big quake can be. Sending positive vibes to my friends up there.
• The final session of the House select committee investigating the January 6 failed coup attempt wrapped up yesterday.
• The committee has recommended that the Department of Justice investigate Donald John Trump a) for inciting an insurrection, b) conspiracy to defraud the United States, c) conspiracy to make a false statement, and d) obstruction of an official proceeding.
• As I’ve mentioned here roughly 742,000 times before, this is meaningless on its own. The DOJ is not required to look into referrals from congressional committees.
• And, of course, the DOJ is conducting its own investigation into the Capitol riot that was recently put under the purview of an independent special counsel named Jack Fucking Smith.
• Perhaps more tangible was the recommendation of a formal ethics inquiry into House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Scott Perry (R-PA) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) for their refusal to cooperate with the probe.
• All four of them had been requested to first appear voluntarily, and then subpoenaed for their testimony. None obeyed either directive.
• Will anything ever happen? Will any politician who helped inspire and/or orchestrate the January 6 insurrection be punished in any way? I’ll go, optimistically, with “probably yes”.
• Moving on.
• Meet George Santos, a newly-elected Republican congressional rep from New York.
• During his campaign, George’s biography said that he had received degrees in finance and economics from Baruch College and New York University.
• However, neither school has anyone listed by his name as having ever attended.
• Santos’ campaign biography also included mention of experience at financial firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Neither firm has any record of his employment.
• There’s more, but long story short, everything he claimed to be… he’s not, and never was. This guy just straight-up lied his way into Congress and will likely get away with it.
• Fuck you, George.
• Epic Games, maker of Fortnite among many other popular games (and owner of the Bandcamp music distribution platform), has agreed to pay a total of $520 million to settle US government allegations that it misled millions of players, including children and teens, into making unintended purchases.
• Within that amount, Epic will pay $275 million to the US government to resolve claims it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by gathering the personal information of kids under the age of 13 without first receiving their parents’ verifiable consent.
• It is the largest fine the FTC has ever imposed. Good. Fuck them.
• Speaking of kids, guns are now the number one killer of children in the U.S., surpassing car crashes and being miles ahead of cancer, suffocation and drug overdoses.
• Gun death rates for children have been rising for years, and in 2020 guns became the leading cause of death for those ages 1 to 18 and have remained so since (and continues to rise).
• You cannot love children and love guns. It is mutually exclusive. Pick one or the other and live with your decision.
• And now, The Weather: “Anything” by Sharon Van Etten
• In the “things that make grown men cry” folder, NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which has been on the red planet working hard since November 26, 2018, tweeted the following message yesterday…
• “My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me.”
• InSight’s planned mission duration was for 728 days. It went far beyond our expectations, allowing us to greatly enhance our understanding of Mars, for four years and 23 days.
• Salute, you noble robot.
• In the area of humans passing, sending my sincere RIP to Terry Hall of The Specials and Fun Boy Three, who died at age 63. His music brought an entire genre into the spotlight, and “Ghost Town” was one of my personal favorites from my early high school days.
• Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, currently serving a 23-year sentence for rape, was found guilty of more rape yesterday in a separate trial. Per the jury ruling yesterday, Weinstein was again convicted of rape as well as sexual penetration by foreign object and forcible oral copulation.
• Hopefully he spends the rest of his life in prison. He’s 70, so ideally that’s the case.
• I know I keep talking about dangerous holiday weather and travel conditions. Maybe that’s annoying to you. Good. I’d rather you be annoyed than freezing to death on the side of a road somewhere.
• Also, do me another favor: keep your seatbelt on in a plane. There were two instances of severe turbulence in the past few days that left people hospitalized. See, the seatbelt stops you from bouncing off the ceiling of the plane and getting all squished and fucked up. That’s how it works.
• From the Sports Desk… a little reminder that most of the games this weekend are being played on Saturday, with Sunday being Christmas of course. There are a few Christmas Day games, though: Packers at Dolphins, Broncos at Rams, and Bucs at Cardinals.
• Finally, in idiot news, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene are fighting over Kevin McCarthy’s bid for Speaker of the House. They’re not physically fighting, unfortunately. Sporky would kill Bobo. There would be no real winner for the rest of us.
• Today in history… Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade (1192). The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans (1803). South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States (1860). Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India (1942). The EBR-1 in Arco, ID becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity by powering four light bulbs (1953). Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom (1955). The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega (1989). Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days (2007). The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947 (2019). 
• December 20 is the birthday of physician/diplomat Arthur Lee (1740), composer Pietro Raimondi (1786), businessman Harvey Samuel Firestone (1868), physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff (1901), actor John Hillerman (1932), drummer Peter Criss (1945), director/screenwriter Dick Wolf (1946), musician/producer Alan Parsons (1948), singer Anita Ward (1956), singer-songwriter Billy Bragg (1957), singer-songwriter Mike Watt (1957), NFL player Rich Gannon (1965), singer-songwriter Chris Robinson (1966), and actor Jonah Hill (1983).

Welp… no rest for the weird. I have multiple meetings this morning, and a grocery store run that also includes my Christmas feast fixings. So this day is going to be a) busy and b) expensive. But, as they say, Christmas comes but once per year, and might as well make the most of it. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 19, 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 19, 2022, and it’s a Monday. Let’s see what sort of shenanigans have occurred, as well as whatever thoughts pass through my brain while writing this stuff…

• Happy Hanukkah. The Jewish holiday started last night and runs through December 26.
• If you want to be super cool in a Hebrew way, say chag sameach (pronounced khag sah–MAY-ahkh). But just saying Happy Hanukkah is fine too. 
• I’m an atheist, but my genetics say I’m Jewish, which is confusing for people because the same name refers to both the religion and the ethnicity, which are two different things entirely.
• But I celebrate Christmas and have my whole life. Yes. I’m an atheist Jew Christmas guy.
• If you want to pretend you’re celebrating Hanukkah but actually want an excuse to be a glutton, just get yourself a sufganiyah. It’s a round jelly doughnut topped with powdered sugar. Delicious.
• Apart from being a decent person who recognizes that the world has many customs and religions, the main reason I bring up my Jewish ethnicity now is the rise of blatant anti-Semitism in recent times.
• Try discriminating against me or my family for our ethnic background, and I promise I’ll put my Jewish foot up your ass. And I’ll shove a sufganiyah up there while I'm at it.
• Again, Happy Hanukkah!
• In “of course this happened” news, people who bought the FPOTUS’s digital trading cards have noted that he stole the original pre-Photoshop images from various stock photos.
• Stuff like that is expected for a notorious skinflint, but they did such a poor job that people have found stock art watermarks on the NFTs that the artists didn’t bother and/or forgot to remove. A good number of the images were taken off Amazon.
• Slow clap.
• Here’s a reminder that the House January 6 Committee will be voting today at their final meeting. You can watch it starting at 1PM EST on many news channels, YouTube, and so on.
• As I’ve mentioned, they are expected to make criminal referrals to the DOJ.
• A sympathy note to our neighbors to the north. At least six people were killed in a rare mass shooting in Canada. Someone apparently shot up their condo board meeting in Vaughan, a suburb of Toronto, ON.
• It happens so rarely in Canada compared to the USA that it’s shocking. If that happened in any US city, I wouldn’t have even mentioned it.
• Why? Because it happens daily here and I don’t want this news list just to be a constant reminder of how sick we are.
• There were literally dozens of shootings in the US yesterday alone.
• Moving on.
• The other prick who runs that social net with the bird made another genius decision over the weekend.
• You can read it for yourself in this TOS update…
• “We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.”
• They then went on to say they will remove accounts with “content that contains links or usernames” specifically to Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post.
• They also noted that Twitter users can’t even use link aggregators that might mention the competing social nets, such as Linktree.
• What. A. Pussy.
• And a hypocrite. Here’s what Elmo wrote on June 5: “The acid test for any two competing socioeconomic systems is which side needs to build a wall to keep people from escaping? That’s the bad one!”
• Congrats Twitter. You are now the bad one.
• But wait. I have an update to this update.
• Last night, after realizing the many legal implications of what can happen with the new “no competing mentions” policy, Elmo reversed course yet again, repealing the policy and pulling it from Twitter’s TOS within 12 hours.
• Another stable genius!
• And then finally, Elmo put up a poll asking if he should step down as CEO of Twitter, saying he’d abide by the results, and the results were firmly on the “yes” side.
• No prediction as to what he’ll actually do, but now I definitely understand why my friends who’ve worked for Tesla and SpaceX say it was the worst job they ever had in their lives.
• And now, The Weather: “Greatest Hits” by Jockstrap
• Here’s my continual warning about pre-holiday travel in severe winter conditions. I’m not saying “don’t go”. I’m saying plan ahead for whatever may happen that disrupts your safe travel plans.
• Be prepared. The Boy Scout motto. Do it.
• From the Sports Desk… the New England Patriots took on the Las Vegas Raiders last night in an NFL game that had what many are calling the craziest end to a football game ever. The Raiders, as usual, had squandered a big lead and were down 24-17 with 37 seconds left. Then they scored rather improbably to tie it up. All New England had to do was… nothing. Take a knee and see what happens in overtime.
• Instead, with no time left on the clock, they tried one final crazy play for no reason at all, and it ended with Jakobi Meyers heaving a lateral across the field into the arms of Raiders DE Chandler Jones, who mushed the Pats QB to the ground and then trotted in for a TD. Game over.
• Today in history… Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey (1154). The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, VI, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States (1606). John Amery, British Fascist, is executed at the age of 33 by the British Government for treason (1945). The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth (1972). The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1983). President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached (1998). Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea (2012). 
• December 19 is the birthday of astronomer John Winthrop (1714), activist Mary Livermore (1820), physicist Albert Abraham Michelson (1852), historian Carter G. Woodson (1875), sportswriter/MLB commissioner Ford Frick (1894), actor Ralph Richardson (1902), politician Leonid Brezhnev (1906), singer Édith Piaf (1915), producer/talk show host David Susskind (1920), actress Cicely Tyson (1924), MLB player Al Kaline (1934), singer-songwriter Phil Ochs (1940), singer-songwriter Maurice White (1941), actor Tim Reid (1944), actor Robert Urich (1946), NBA player/coach Kevin McHale (1957), actress Jennifer Beals (1963), and NFL player Warren Sapp (1971).

It’s that week before Christmas and it’s the start of Hanukkah, and that means it’s impossible to know who’s around, who’s on vacation, who’s still gung-ho trying to wrap up work projects before the end of the year, and so on. Basically a time of total uncertainty. I’m going to assume that I’m expected to get stuff done as I usually do, and just take care of business stuff. It’s a basic assumption, though, that as the week goes on, more and more people will be pretty checked out. That’s fine. I don’t mind being flexible. I’m sure everything will be fine regardless. It usually is. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 18, 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 18, 2022, and it’s a Sunday. We usually have things to talk about, so today will be no exception…

• Let’s get the saddest of news out of the way. As I mentioned yesterday, P-22, the famed mountain lion who’d called the Santa Monica mountains of Los Angeles his home for over a decade, has died.
• He was about 13, which is on the older side for mountain lions in the wild.
• P-22 had been monitored since 2012 and was given veterinary treatment on multiple occasions. In recent months, he hadn’t been well, and was exhibiting behavior that was outside his usual patterns.
• When captured, it was clear he’d been in some kind of accident (hit by a car, most likely) and was underweight and thoroughly unwell. Despite being treated by experts, it was determined that humane euthanasia was the right thing to do.
• A memorial service for P-22 is scheduled for some time after Christmas.
• Here’s something I think you know but you might not know: P-22 was a cougar, a cat with many names in this country including puma, mountain lion, catamount, and panther. All the same thing.
• Here in LA, P-22 had lots of love. He had a dedicated exhibit at the Natural History Museum, was on murals all over town, and was the inspiration for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing under construction over the 101 freeway.
• P-22 was absolutely a celebrity. Sightings of P-22 were always exciting for LA residents. Most people around here would definitely be more thrilled to see P-22 than any mere actor or music star. He was an inspiration to many. Rest in peace, King of Griffith Park. 
• Moving on.
• The House January 6 select committee has its final meeting tomorrow (Monday December 19), and it plans to refer Donald Trump and his top advisers to the justice department for criminal conduct connected to the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
• At tomorrow’s final session, expected at 1PM EST, they plan to outlining their investigative findings and legislative recommendations, then vote to formally adopt the report, and then vote to issue criminal and civil referrals.
• Is this a big deal? Probably not, sorry to say. Congress doesn’t prosecute criminals, which is why they are providing their evidence to the people who do: the DOJ.
• Maybe it will add to Jack Smith’s continuing investigation. I find that likely.
• And now, The Weather: “Billions” by Caroline Polachek
• I will once again remind you to be extremely careful in pre-holiday travel. In many parts of the US, severe weather and extreme cold are making it particularly dangerous. Plan ahead.
• From the Sports Desk… congrats to Argentina for their victory in the FIFA World Cup. And congrats to me for getting another four years without thinking about soccer.
• The Sports Desk also notes that yesterday, he expressed amazement that the Colts were beating the highly-favored Vikings 33-0 at halftime. The Vikings ended up achieving the largest comeback in NFL history and won that game 39-36.
• Wacky!
• Had an unexpected blast of musical activity yesterday in the form of a band meeting with They Stole My Crayon.
• It happened when I was looking for a file and totally by happenstance stumbled over dozens of songs we’ve put together here and there over the years.
• It turns out we have more than enough strong stuff for a full new album. So that’s exciting and we’re putting together plans for what we need to do to wrap it up and get it out.
• Today in history… Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China (1271). New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution (1787). US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA (1865). Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia (1892). A meteor exploded over the Bering Sea with a force over 10 times greater than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 (2018). The United States House of Representatives impeaches Donald Trump for the first time (2019).
• December 18 is the birthday of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863), politician Joseph Stalin (1878), painter Paul Klee (1979), MLB player Ty Cobb (1886), actress Betty Grable (1916), actor Ossie Davis (1917), music publisher Allen B. Klein (1931), bass player/manager Chas Chandler (1938), saxophone player Bobby Keys (1943), musician Keith Richards (1943), activist Steve Biko (1946), director/producer Steven Spielberg (1946), guitarist Elliot Easton (1953), actor Ray Liotta (1954), NBA player Charles Oakley (1963), actor Brad Pitt (1963), rapper DMX (1970), actress Katie Holmes (1978), singer Christina Aguilera (1980), and singer Billie Eilish (2001).

Well, I have some stuff to do today to get ready for Christmas, which is probably what a lot of people are doing today. I need to get some wrapping paper and associated supplies. I was going to go to the Dollar Tree but Kat wants to be all fancy and go to Rite-Aid. What am I, a billionaire? So at some point we might go somewhere and contribute to the strength of the economy. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 17, 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 17, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. I’m a random guy in a robe, so heed my words…

• The father of the young man who committed the mass shooting murder at the Highland Park, IL, Fourth of July parade was taken into custody yesterday and is being charged with seven counts of felony reckless conduct.
• Good.
• The dad, Robert Crimo, Jr., was “criminally reckless” when he signed his son’s application for an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification card nearly three years before the massacre. The son wouldn’t have otherwise been able to get the card since he was under 21.
• Got some more good news.
• Yesterday, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down the state’s 2018 voter ID law.
• They agreed with the lower court that it had been passed with the intent of targeting Black voters who were unlikely to vote for Republicans.
• Better luck next time, racists.
• The most hardcore right wing of the House is still adamantly refusing to vote for Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. The vote happens January 3.
• With their tiny majority in the House, as few as five MAGA reps can end (or at least delay) McCarthy’s bid for Speaker. It will be interesting watching these dumbasses screw themselves.
• Meet supergenius Edward Kelley of Tennessee.
• He was already facing charges in connection with the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt.
• Now, along with his pal Austin Carter, he’s also been arrested for allegedly planning to assassinate 37 law enforcement members, including the FBI agents who’d been investigating him. 
• They’ve been charged with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate threats and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Kelley and Carter will remain detained pending further hearings.
• Speaking of Jan 6, the asshole who chased US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up flights of stairs near the Senate has been sentenced to five years behind bars.
• Douglas Jensen, one of the first 10 insurrectionists to enter the Capitol during the attack, was convicted by a jury in September of each of the seven charges he faced, including obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting a police officer.
• Fuck him.
• And now, The Weather: “Friday Night” by Beth Orton
• Speaking of the weather, you’re probably bundled up right now, or you should be. Temps are cold pretty much everywhere in the USA right now and will keep getting colder through Christmas.
• Also…
• We’re facing a problem in the West that’s going to become very urgent, very soon.
• The Colorado River's largest reservoirs stand nearly three-quarters empty, and federal officials now say there is a real danger the reservoirs could drop so low that water would no longer flow past Hoover Dam in two years.
• That dire scenario would cut off water supplies to California, Arizona and Mexico.
• We’re in the midst of a 23-year megadrought that’s been supercharged by global climate change. If the coming year is extremely dry, it may be too late.
• More on that definitely coming in subsequent reports.
• Also in California news, the University of California has reached a tentative deal with the thousands of striking grad student workers. Raises of some sort will be implemented after the teachers and researchers complained they couldn't afford rent.
• These people were being paid like double below the state’s poverty line. Ridiculous in the richest state in the nation. Pay those people.
• Little note that just came to mind: if AZ voters are looking for a great Democrat candidate to replace Kyrsten Sinema for Senate in 2024, I’ve already got your dude. His name is Ruben Gallego. Look him up.
• New York has banned the sale of cats, dogs and rabbits in pet stores in an attempt to target commercial breeding operations decried by critics as "puppy mills."
• The new law takes effect in 2024. It will also ban breeders from selling more than nine animals a year.
• Good. If you want a great pet, the animal shelters are always overflowing with wonderful dogs and cats who need homes and loving families.
• From the Sports Desk… just checked the score of the NFL game being played right now. The 4-8-1 Colts are beating the 10-3 Vikings 30-0, and it’s not even halftime. Wow.
• Today in history… 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). 
• 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), musician 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), boxer/politician Manny Pacquiao (1978), MLB player Chase Utley (1978), and soldier/criminal/activist Chelsea Manning (1987).

So, I’ve had a relaxing morning since starting these bullets, involving a shower, listening to some music I’m working on, and eating a giant breakfast burrito (not at the same time). Now upward and onward. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 16, 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 16, 2022, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Here’s whatever I saw that seemed momentarily interesting…

• Three of the assholes who plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were given prison sentences yesterday.
• Pete Musico, Joseph Morrison and Paul Bellar were convicted in October of providing material support for a terrorist act, the most serious charge, as well as firearms charges and membership in a gang.
• Musico, 44, was given at least 12 years. Musico's son-in-law Morrison, 28, was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. Bellar, 23, received at least seven years in prison.
• Fuck around… find out.
• Harvard University has been around for over 400 years, and yet has never had a person of color serve as their president. Claudine Gay has taught there and been a dean for 16 years. She will step into the new role on July 1, 2023.
• Whoever the next Speaker of the House is, they obviously have some mighty big shoes to fill with Nancy Pelosi entering the history books as the best person in that role this country has ever had.
• The in-party unpopularity of presumed speaker Kevin McCarthy is causing some big problems.
• Yesterday, he took the unusual step of punting conferencewide races for committee leadership slots until after his speaker election on January 3. It’s a fear-based maneuver that’s trying to force the party to align to elect him.
• However, that delay will also mean days, if not weeks, of uncertainty for GOP committees as they begin their stint in the majority. Some of the most important panels, including those charged with tax-writing and border security, won’t be able to prepare bills, tee up hearings, or even hire staff.
• Way to go, GOP-led House. Way to get things rolling.
• And now, The Weather: “butterfly (so free)” by daste.
• As much as possible, I’ve avoided talking about Elmo Muck and what’s happened with the social media company he purchased and has attempted to ruin ever since.
• Narcissists want you to be thinking about them all the time, and I tend not to give them what they desire.
• However, yesterday Elmo started banning journalists from the platform. Among the dozen or so accounts permanently suspended were CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, progressive independent journalist Aaron Rupar.
• Later the same evening, when Elmo heard people discussing the banning on Twitter’s “Spaces” feature, he then had Twitter staff remove the entire “Spaces” chat feature from the app.
• Why is this particularly egregious? Elmo has said over and over that he is, and I quote, a “free speech absolutist”, and paid $44 billion for Twitter to encourage more free speech.
• It might be the most hypocritical thing that’s ever happened. The one real rule of Twitter in December 2022 is “don’t hurt Elmo’s delicate feelings”. That’s it.
• Anyway…
• Between July 2018 and August 2022, Adair, IA chief of police Bradley Wendt sought to purchase about 90 machine guns for the Adair Police Department, which serves a town of fewer than 800 people.
• He acquired 10 of them. He later resold several of those machine guns at a significant profit.
• Wendt also acquired 13 machine guns for his Denison-based gun store, BW Outfitters, through false statements to the ATF that the machine guns were being demonstrated for future potential purchase by the Police Department, according to court documents.
• He was indicted yesterday.
• In comedy news, on Wednesday, the FPOTUS pre-announced on his social media that on Thursday, there would be a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT. He used the all caps. This seemed serious.
• It was speculated that the aforementioned major announcement would be some kind of game-changing moment in the political landscape of the USA. Perhaps he’d even announce that he was going to depart from the GOP and make his 2024 run as an Independent (which would make me extremely happy).
• But no, it wasn’t that, nor the announcement of a VP running mate, nor the far-fletched idea that he was open to being the speaker of the house.
• As most of us know by now, instead it was an ad for his own line of digital collectibles, aka NFTs. Little digital images with ridiculous artistic poses of The Yam God in various settings.
• You’ll note that apart from interesting or funny stuff here and there, like most of the country I am moving on from the former president.
• I’ll tell you right now, I do NOT think he’ll be the GOP candidate for President in 2024, and my focus of concern will be shifting to more likely candidates as they become more apparent.
• Governor Chris Sununu (R-NH) on Trump: "He’s done his time. He’s done his service. We’re moving on.”
• Far right troll and convicted January 6 insurrectionist Baked Alaska, whose real name is Anthime Gionet, tweeted, "i can't believe i'm going to jail for an nft salesman.”
• Today is the 350th day of 2022. Just thought you might want to know.
• Oh. One more thing.
• In weird news, Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), a sitting member of Congress who makes about $200,000 a year from her job (and probably a lot more from grift), has a Facebook Marketplace page where she sells her used clothing and biking gear.
•  I checked. It’s true. If you want one of Sinema’s sports bras, there are four purple ones available right now. Thirty bucks.
• Today in history… Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris (1431). Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act (1773). Virginia becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation (1777). The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest (1944). The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day (1971).
• December 16 is the birthday of Spanish princess/Queen consort of England Catherine of Aragon (1485), poet/scholar Elizabeth Carter (1717), composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770), novelist Jane Austen (1775), philosopher/novelist George Santayana (1863), painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866), playwright Noël Coward (1899), anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901), writer Arthur C. Clarke (1917), author Philip K. Dick (1928), sportswriter Frank Deford (1938), journalist Lesley Stahl (1941), writer/producer Steven Bochco (1943), singer-songwriter Benny Andersson (1946), singer-songwriter Billy Gibbons (1949), guitarist Robben Ford (1951), and comedian Bill Hicks (1961).

We live in the most bizarre timeline. Seriously. It’s not always shitty and it’s definitely not always great. But it is undeniably fucking weird. I’m going to get through today and then… I have no idea. At least I’m enjoying the humor of this insane era. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 15, 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 15, 2022, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Here’s a random smattering of various informational items…

• You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not be an election-denying insurrectionist, I’m telling you why…
• Jack Smith is coming to town. His team has now sent subpoenas to local and state officials in all seven of the key states – Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – targeted by the FPOTUS and his allies as part of their bid to upend Joe Biden’s legitimate victory.
• Last night, the House passed a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of this week. The bill must now go to the Senate to be approved before it can go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The Senate could vote as soon as today.
• It only extends the government for a week while they figure their shit out on a broader, full-year government funding deal.
• Following up from a previous note in these here bullets, the DOJ filed a lawsuit yesterday against Arizona in regard to Doug Ducey’s ridiculous border wall of shipping containers, accusing the state of trespassing on federal land.
• “Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States," the complaint reads.
• Don’t damage the United States, Arizona.
• Speaking of Arizona, this sounds kinda crazy.
• Yesterday morning at an Amazon Flex facility in Chandler, AZ, a gunman allegedly opened fire in the parking lot, wounding a contract worker, and then another contract worker pulled out his gun and killed the shooter.
• I’m glad I don’t work somewhere that I feel compelled to carry a gun.
• Not all the time, anyway.
• Moving on.
• My band They Stole My Crayon recorded parts of our debut album at a studio in Hesperia, CA.
• That city and its sheriff’s department was ordered to issue a $1 million settlement yesterday over allegations they illegally discriminated against Black and Latino renters.
• According to DOJ’s court filings, the 2015 ordinance instructed landlords to evict tenants accused of criminal conduct, even if the offense was minor or if it didn't result in formal charges, an arrest, or conviction.
• That’s straight-up illegal bullshit, obviously.
• Under the program, Black renters were almost four times more likely to be evicted than White renters and Latino renters were 29% more likely to be evicted.
• Assistant AG Kristen Clarke, who leads the DOJ Civil Rights division, said that some 2,000 jurisdictions across 48 states have enacted similar policies, and that this Hesperia settlement sends a signal to other communities that they’d be held accountable if they violate anti-discrimination law.
• Good.
• And now, The Weather: “怠 け 者” by pause
• In today’s asshole files, meet Florida pastor Evan Edwards and his son, Josh. 
• They were arrested yesterday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal COVID relief funds and attempting to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World. 
• What complete assholes. 
• Some good news: the number of U.S. deaths dropped this year (assuming a bunch of you don’t die in the next couple of weeks).
• Some bad news: the death rate is still a good amount higher than it was before COVID, as you’d probably expect since it’s still very much a thing.
• In “names you hadn’t heard in awhile” news: an Indiana law firm is suing outgoing GOP congressman Madison Cawthorn for over $193,000 in unpaid legal fees. Dumbass.
• Also in the “not paying bills” file: Elmo Muck and his company Twitter.
• Per media reports, Twitter has stopped paying the rent on some of its office leases and hasn't paid numerous other vendors since Elmo acquired the company in late October.
• Bill Reynolds, a Colorado landlord who leased Twitter around 40,000 square feet in Boulder, CO says, “If you don't pay, you don't stay. They aren't paying, so they aren't staying.”
• Irony: media tried to give Twitter a chance to respond to or comment on this, but they fired their entire communications team so there’s no one to contact.
• From the Sports Desk… the FIFA World Cup is finally drawing to a close. The battle for third place will be between Croatia vs. Morocco on Saturday, while the championship final game is Sunday with Argentina vs. France. 
• Go best team!
• In non-soccer news, pitcher Noah Syndergaard is headed to the Dodgers in a one-year deal. He’ll join a rotation that includes All-Stars Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, and Tony Gonsolin.
• Let’s Go Blue!
• The imbecile who was once president has promised a major announcement today. Will it be a) he wants to be speaker for the house, b) Kari Lake is his 2024 running mate, or c) he’s transitioning to become a very unattractive woman? Anything can happen, you know.
• Today in history… British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia (1778). The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly (1791). The U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burns to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models (1836). The Battle of Nashville begins at Nashville, Tennessee, and ends the following day with the destruction of the Confederate Army of Tennessee as a fighting force by the Union Army of the Cumberland (1864). Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890). The "New World Symphony" by Antonín Dvořák premieres in a public afternoon rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in New York City (1893). Gone with the Wind — the highest inflation adjusted grossing film — receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia (1939). German troops murder over 15,000 Jews at Drobytsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine (1941). Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida and achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7 (1965). Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus, the first successful soft landing on another planet (1970). The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1973). 
• December 15 is the birthday of Roman emperor Nero (37), architect/engineer Gustave Eiffel (1832), businessman/art collector J. Paul Getty (1892), author Betty Smith (1896), sprinter Harold Abrahams (1899), architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907), librarian Eliza Atkins Gleason (1909), pianist Stan Kenton (1911), farmer Max Yasgur (1919), radio DJ Alan Freed (1921), comedian Tim Conway (1933), MLB player/manager Jim Leyland (1944), drummer Carmine Appice (1946), actor Don Johnson (1949), bass player Paul Simonon (1955), MLB player Mo Vaughn (1967), and actor Garrett Wang (1968). 

My day is looking pretty normal. Got work, got meetings, got a couple of deadlines. Nothing I can’t handle. I will tell you, funnily enough, one of my things to do (probably in the later evening) is to add to my ongoing playlist of music I use for the daily weather reports here. Unlike aggravating these bullets, that actually takes time, and i’ve been slacking on it. So I’ll see if I can grab a couple of weeks’ worth of tunes to take us out through the rest of 2022. Enjoy your day.

Random News: December 14, 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 14, 2022, and it’s a Wednesday. No time to dilly-dally; let’s go…

• History was made yesterday with the announcement of a new nuclear fusion technique that produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy they used to power the experiment.
• Don’t get mad, but I’m going to explain what this is because I don’t automatically assume that everyone knows what this means. 
• What you think of as “nuclear energy” is based on fission; that is, the energy released when an atom is split up. It’s how both nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants work.
• Fusion is a whole different thing. It’s what the sun and every star in the universe uses to generate power. Nuclear fusion happens when two or more atoms are fused into one larger one, a process that generates a massive amount of energy as heat.
• The sun does this by fusing hydrogen atoms into helium.
• The heat by-product can then be used like any other power generator, which is to heat water and make steam which turns turbines, which subsequently generates electricity.
• In theory, fusion is clean, limitless energy.
• This experiment was done by a team of scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in California on December 5.
• The experiment put in 2.05 megajoules of energy to the target and resulted in 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy output – generating more than 50% more energy than was put in.
• That’s amazing. When can start using fusion energy to toast our bread and power our cars? Not for a good long while. Decades, likely. But it was only 15 years from when nuclear fission was discovered to when they built the first nuclear power plants in the USA.
• Pretty neat. I hope I’m alive when feasible, sustainable fusion energy happens.
• Let’s talk about TikTok. Its days might be coming to an end in the USA.
• A group of lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation yesterday that would ban the app in this country, following warnings from the FBI director and cybersecurity experts who have said China could use the social media platform for spying.
• It’s a bi-partisan bill sponsored by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), with a companion measure introduced in the House by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).
• The lawmakers said the bill aims to protect Americans from foreign adversaries who might use certain social media to surveil Americans, learn sensitive data about them, and spread influence campaigns or propaganda.
• I have mixed feelings. Obviously if these warnings are accurate, we don’t want our people — especially the youth crowd with whom TikTok is popular — to become victims of foreign misinformation and propaganda, or to be spied on.
• And yet, it seems to me that all forms of social media are frightening to US lawmakers who want to control the spread of their own misinformation and propaganda and spying, and remove routes of direct communication between groups of people.
• I mean, look at what’s happening to Twitter.
• Sigh.
• COVID is blowing the fuck up in China once again. Beijing in particular is pretty devastated.
• Everyone wants it both ways. Free to go everywhere and interact with everyone, and then get mad at someone else when they get sick.
• It seems like we’re going to avoid a government shutdown as well as a bunch of messy stopgap budget measures.
• Last night Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), who lead the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who chairs the House panel, announced the framework for a bipartisan omnibus spending bill.
• It’s not a done deal yet. There are shenanigans with the House Republicans, who want to hold the budget hostage until January when they gain leverage.
• Hopefully it goes through. Honestly, we should have the right to fire our entire-ass government if they can’t accomplish the one thing we hire them to do, which is to allocate our money appropriately. It’s that way in other countries.
• And now, The Weather: “7 of Cups” by Wombo
• With their functional 51st seat, the Senate Democrats now have subpoena power, and apparently they intend to use it.
• Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had this to say… “We’re talking about incredible greed in the pharmaceutical industry, very high prices. We’re paying the highest prices in the world for healthcare, we’re talking about union busting. I think those are issues the American people want us to look at,” he said.
• Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the chair of the Finance Committee, and outgoing House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) are asking for records related to Trump-son-in-law Jared Kushner’s family business.
• Good luck to the greed heads. They’re gonna need it.
• Oregon governor Kate Brown has commuted the sentences of all 17 death row inmates in her state, changing their punishment to life in prison.
• I do not believe the state is morally authorized to take the lives of people. I find it barbaric, and I find the possibility of even one innocent person being put to death by mistake is worth 1000 guilty people of receiving leniency.
• Life in prison is punishment enough.
• I have some sad news about our local celebrity mountain lion, P-22. He was captured after some incidents involving attacks on pets. It seems that he’d suffered an injury, possibly having been hit by a car at some point.
• He’s receiving top care but will not be returned to the wild. He is underweight and in poor shape overall. I’m very sad to hear this. He is elderly and if he is suffering, will likely be euthanized.
• In better news, US inflation has slowed drastically. Even though consumer prices on things like groceries remain unacceptably high due to corporate greed, November was down from 7.7 percent in October and a recent peak of 9.1 percent in June. It was the fifth straight slowdown.
• In shitty news, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the well-liked DJ for “Ellen DeGeneres Show”, has died at age 40. No cause of death was provided but rumor has that it was suicide.
• Remember: you don’t always know what’s going on with people who are close to you. Talk to your friends and loved ones, and let them know you care.
• In other memorial news, a salute to Angelo Badalamenti, the composer behind several beloved soundtracks, including many of David Lynch’s films and TV shows like ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘Fire Walk With Me’, ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘Mulholland Drive’ and more. He died at age 85.
• Great composer. His sound was integral to the spooky vibe of Lynch’s work. Rest in peace.
• Got some good news on a personal front. Remember that package that they said had been delivered late Friday evening but wasn’t on my doorstep and I assumed got ripped off by porch pirates?
• I was just starting that annoying process of trying to get credited and redelivered in time for Christmas when the missing items just randomly showed up last night. USPS… when you have to make sure something just might get there at some point when they feel like it.
• Anyway, I’m good now. Just need a ton of wrapping paper.
• Today in history… Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled (835). Founding Father Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York (1780). The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia (1812). Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state (1819). Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law, quantum theory, at the Physic Society in Berlin (1900). The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu (1902). Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole (1911). The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were permitted to vote (1918). Plutonium (specifically Pu-238) is first isolated at Berkeley, California (1940). Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann are granted a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game (1948). NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus (1962). In Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, the Supreme Court rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination (1964). Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extravehicular activity of the Apollo 17 mission (1972). Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (2012). The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox movie studio, for $52.4 billion (2017). 
• December 14 is the birthday of astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546), composer/pianist Maria Szymanowska (1789), businessman/politician Erastus Corning (1794), lawyer/activist Louis Marshall (1856), UK king George VI (1895), pilot/general Jimmy Doolittle (1896), singer/bandleader Spike Jones (1911), novelist Shirley Jackson (1916), trumpet player Clark Terry (1920), singer-songwriter Charlie Rich (1932), actress Lee Remick (1935), actress Patty Duke (1946), talent agent Michael Ovitz (1946), guitarist Christopher Parkening (1947), journalist Lester Bangs (1947), MLB player Bill Buckner (1949), NHL player Bill Ranford (1966), singer-songwriter Beth Orton (1970), and NFL player DK Metcalf (1997).

Okay, well… that was more stuff than I’d planned on writing, but it happens that way sometimes. Things are busy over here, trying to wrap up a bunch of work stuff and also planning ahead for 2023. Again, that’s fine. I’d prefer to complain about being busy than about not having enough to do. Enjoy your day.