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.
- Of the many things Donnie Dump has been doing in recent weeks to distract from his role in the Epstein pedophile ring, I was not expecting a fascist takeover of our nation’s capital to be one of them.
- And yet, here we are.
- About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being tasked with deploying throughout the nation’s capital. The tally includes more than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives DEA, ICE, and Marshals Service are also involved.
- Dumpy is actually holding a press conference right now on the topic, so I suppose we’ll get more details soon. It was also suggested that the National Guard would be deployed in D.C..
- In perhaps the most insensitive statement ever made us a U.S. president, Dump screamed over the weekend that, "The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY.”
- As you’re aware, Dump’s sudden interest in Washington D.C. rose after his 19-year-old buddy named Big Balls got his ass kicked by some teenage girls.
- Just to put this plan into context, FBI agents with expertise in counterintelligence, public corruption, and other divisions have minimal training in public police work like traffic stops.
- Also, like most cities, Washington has its own very capable police force. Meanwhile, the federal officers are being diverted via this needless performative action from their typical jobs at the bureau.
- I’ll pause this story for the time being. I’m sure there will be much more to report.
- But in related news, Judge Charles Breyer will consider evidence and hear arguments on whether the Dump administration violated federal law when it deployed National Guard soldiers and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles following protests over immigration raids this summer.
- As you’re aware, Dump federalized California National Guard members and sent them here to the second largest U.S. city over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom and city leaders, after protests erupted June 7 when Dump’s ICE gestapo arrested people at multiple locations.
- The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force. The case could set precedent for how Dump can deploy the guard in the future in California or other states.
- California is asking the judge to order Dumpy to return control of the remaining troops to the state and to stop the federal government from using military troops in California “to execute or assist in the execution of federal law or any civilian law enforcement functions by any federal agent or officer.”
- Moving over to the International Desk…
- Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended a new military offensive in Gaza that’s more sweeping than previously announced.
- Now Gaza City is not enough. Israel will now be attacking central camps that now shelter well over a half-million displaced people, according to the U.N.
- It’s becoming more and more undeniable that a compete genocide of the Palestinian people is Netanyahu’s goal.
- And Netanyahu continues to deny the evidence we — and the entire international community — have seen with our own eyes. He said yesterday, “There is no hunger. There was no hunger. There was a shortage, and there was certainly no policy of starvation.”
- At least 31 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday alone. Israeli forces had fired at crowds trying to reach food distributions or waiting for convoys.
- And there are reports that Israel is targeting and killing journalists, claiming that they are secretly Hamas cell leaders.
- Anas Al Sharif was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City.
- ”Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world," Al Jazeera said.
- Let’s move on.
- This morning, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in a written ruling that transcripts of the secret grand jury testimony that led to the sex trafficking indictment of Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell won’t be released.
- He said that Dump’s government had suggested the materials could be released publicly “casually or promiscuously,” which would risk “unraveling the foundations of secrecy upon which the grand jury is premised” and eroding confidence by persons called to testify before future grand juries.
- “And it is no answer to argue that releasing the grand jury materials, because they are redundant of the evidence at Maxwell’s trial, would be innocuous. The same could be said for almost any grand jury testimony, by summary witnesses or others, given in support of charges that later proceeded to trial,” he added.
- Sigh.
- Before you get annoyed at this, be aware that Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented nearly two dozen Epstein accusers, said: “We do not disagree with the Court’s ruling. Our only concern was that if materials were released, then maximum protection for the victims was essential. The grand jury materials contain very little in the way of evidentiary value anyway.”
- Agreed.
- And now, The Weather: “How to Dress” by Alicia Clara
- RIP to pianist/keyboardist Bobby Whitlock. He died yesterday at 77.
- Bobby was an integral part of the circle of musicians who worked with Delaney & Bonnie, Joe Cocker, George Harrison, and perhaps most famously as the co-founder of Eric Clapton’s short-lived project Derek & The Dominoes, with whom he recorded the classic “Layla.”
- That’s Bobby on backing vocals, among other instruments.
- Let’s do a chart.
- It’s August 1994, and I’m 25 and married and working in the industry that still supports me today. I have a similar job as I have now — but in the pre-widespread Internet era, that job was incredibly different in terms of its strategy and execution.
- Few web sites, no social media. Email is barely a thing. Trust me, while its goals remain the same — to get you to buy shit — marketing has come a long way in the subsequent 30+ years.
- 1. The Lion King (Soundtrack). 2. Forrest Gump (Soundtrack). 3. The Sign (Ace Of Base). 4. Regulate… G Funk Era (Warren G). 5. Purple (Stone Temple Pilots). 6. August And Everything After (Counting Crows). 7. Voodoo Lounge (The Rolling Stones). 8. Superunknown (Soundgarden). 9. Candlebox (Candlebox). 10. Not A Moment Too Soon (Tim McGraw). 11. Smash (The Offspring). 12. All-4-One (All-4-One). 13. Dookie (Green Day). 14. It Takes A Thief (Coolio). 15. We Come Strapped (MC Eiht Featuring CMW). 16. Reality Bites (Soundtrack). 17. Who I Am (Alan Jackson). 18. Chant (The Benedictine Monks Of Santo Domingo De Silos). 19. She (Harry Connick, Jr.). 20. Funkdafied (Da Brat).
- From the Sports Desk… why I detest NFL preseason reason #732.
- On Saturday, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Rondale Moore was in his first game back after returning from a major injury last season to his right knee. He’d been out all last year.
- And on the first play of the game, Moore significantly injured his other knee. No specific diagnosis yet — they doing an MRI today — but it’s likely that Moore is back on the injured reserve list.
- Moving over to SoFi Stadium where, during Saturday’s preseason game between the Cowboys and Rams, star Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb wasn’t playing the game but still took one of the bigger hits.
- Lamb was celebrating a play in the white paint of the sideline reserved for the officials during the action, and he got fucking trucked by side judge Anthony Jeffries, who was running at full speed down the sideline while chasing the play.
- The Cowboys were flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Both Lamb and the ref — neither in pads, obviously — were okay.
- Today in history… The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar begins (3114 BC). Claudius Silvaneous proclaims himself Roman Emperor despite being accused of treason (355). The Great Famine of Europe becomes so dire that even the king of England has difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage (1315). Babe Ruth hits his 500th home run (1929). Actress Hedy Lamarr gets a patent for a frequency-hopping communication system that’s the basis for all wireless phones and Wi-Fi (1942). Chad declares independence from France (1960). Cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity (1962). The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles (1965). The last US ground combat troops leave Vietnam (1972). The Mall of America opens in Minnesota (1992).
- August 11 is the birthday of physician and contagious disease scholar Richard Mead (1673), sprinter Charley Paddock (1900), talk show host Mike Douglas (1920), historian and author Alex Haley (1921), televangelist Jerry Falwell (1933), journalist Marilyn vos Savant (1946), singer-songwriter Eric Carmen (1949), computer scientist Steve Wozniak (1950), musician/composer Bob Mothersbaugh (1952), wrestler/actor Hulk Hogan (1953), singer-songwriter/pianist Joe Jackson (1954), podcasterJoe Rogan (1967), actress Anna Gunn (1968), singer-songwriter/guitarist Ben Gibbard (1976), actor Chris Hemsworth (1983), political commentator Tomi Lahren (1992), and NFL player Marvin Harrison Jr. (2002).
That’s enough for now, and I have to jump into my Monday routine anyway. Enjoy your day.