Random News: February 22, 2025

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s February 22, 2025, and it’s a Saturday. We need to start with some serious shit, which is the last thing I want to do while enjoying a relaxing Saturday morning in my bathrobe and my big cup of Peet’s Cafe Domingo. But we don’t always have the option of staying relaxed.

• So let’s start at the “Things that Should Alarm You” Desk…
• Last night was a moment that will end up in history books. Living through historical events is usually not a good thing.
• Dumples the Dictator Clown abruptly fired Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The sudden dismissal of this history-making fighter pilot and respected officer is part of Dump’s campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.
• And to get rid of anyone who will honor the Constitution over Dump.
• Dump will be replacing him with — I kid you not — Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine to be the next chairman.
• At the same time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force James Slife were also being fired. 
• I think you can see what’s going on here. Dump is using an old-school fascism maneuver, dismissing anyone who has the authority to stand up to him and replacing them with minions who will do his bidding, even when it’s illegal.
• Hitler did it, Stalin did it, and it’s been part of the playbook of Mussolini, Kim, Franco, and the rest of the assholes as well.
• For the moment, let’s move on. I actually have a bunch of good news for you, but that was too important to shove downward. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this internal coup, of course.
• Starting with…
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court stiffed Dumpy in his administration’s first high court appeal by punting on a request to greenlight the firing of the head of a whistleblower protection office. 
• The Dumpster filed an emergency application asking the justices to wipe a lower court’s temporary reinstatement of U.S. special counsel Hampton Dellinger, whose office is tasked with protecting whistleblowers and prosecuting misconduct in the federal workforce. 
• The court “held in abeyance” the application until the lower court’s order expires Wednesday, effectively punting on whether the firing was legal and keeping Dellinger in his post for at least another few days.
• Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to outright deny the administration’s request to greenlight the firing.
• And equally unsurprisingly, Alito and Gorsuch said they would’ve wiped the ruling reinstating Dellinger and disagreed with their colleagues that the ruling’s temporary nature meant it had not “ripened into an appealable order.”
• So that’s still in flux, but it’s a good sign that they didn’t immediately side with Dumpy.
• Moving on with another blow to Dumpy.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson blocked sweeping executive orders from Dump that seek to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Abelson, based in Baltimore, granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts they consider equity-related. He found that the orders likely carry constitutional violations, including against free-speech rights.
• The plaintiffs — including the city of Baltimore and higher education groups — sued the Dump administration earlier this month, arguing the executive orders are unconstitutional and a blatant overreach of presidential authority. They also allege the directives have a chilling effect on free speech.
• They’re right.
• How about some more actions against the piece of shit who calls himself the president?
• Yesterday, the Associated Press sued the Dump administration for barring it from major presidential events over its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
• Dumpy’s executive order renaming the Gulf affects usage by the federal government, but holds no force outside the U.S.
• The AP serves audiences and news organizations across the globe. The news agency says its guidance recommends that its journalists and the news organizations that rely on it reflect the Gulf's historic name. In its lawsuit, the AP said that the White House's retaliation was a threat to freedom.
• ”The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government," reads the AP's lawsuit. "The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American's freedom."
• Hell yes. America!
• The AP says its journalists remained blocked from major events at the Oval Office, Air Force One, Trump's private estate in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, and other spots where journalists with White House press credentials are routinely welcomed.
• Let’s move on.
• Dickhead Donnie sparred with Maine Gov. Janet Mills at a White House event yesterday over the state's opposition to an executive order that would bar transgender student athletes from playing on girls' sports teams.
• During remarks at a governors' event, Dump asked Mills if the state was going to comply with the order. Mills replied that she would comply with "state and federal law."
• ”Well, we are the federal law," Trump said. "You better do it, because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't."
• Mills then replied, "See you in court."
• After the exchange, Mills released a statement saying, "If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides. The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President's threats."
• THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT.
• When a bully threatens you, there’s only one thing that’s effective… hit him in the fucking face.
• I know many of you are peaceful people who abhor violence. Typically, I am as well. But I also know that there’s no other solution for a guy like Dumpy.
• Retaliate hard at the first sign of his illegal and unconstitutional bullshit.
• Let’s keep going.
• Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that the Dump administration violated a court order to temporarily unfreeze foreign aid.
• U.S. District Judge Amir Ali said the administration — namely the State Department, Office of Management and Budget and corresponding officials — “have not complied” with the court’s order to lift the sweeping freeze. He directed the government to abide by his previous order. 
• Next step — assuming they continue to ignore the law — is to hold them in contempt.
• Want more? I got you.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas issued an order prohibiting Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service from gaining access to the Treasury Department’s systems and databases that contain sensitive financial information on Americans, leaving in place a temporary block that has been in effect since February 8.
• She said in her ruling that there’s a public interest in protecting the security of personal information and banking information housed at the agency’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, where systems are generally only used by a small number of civil servants whose jobs require it.
• Vargas gave the Trump administration a chance to alleviate her concerns by providing evidence of efforts to safeguard that data. In the meantime, DOGE is prevented from getting into payment systems and other sensitive parts of the agency’s operations.
• Good. Fuck them.
• Moving on.
• Some news of a familiar asshole…
• Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys, was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police yesterday following a press conference with other Proud Boys members and Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes.
• He was arrested for simple assault, after a counter-protester held a cell phone near him and he struck her phone and arm in response.
• Prick. I’m glad she’s pressing charges. Always press charges against these assholes at every opportunity.
• Let’s move on.
• Dumpy is already firing the people he hired to start his new administration.
• One month into his tenure, Caleb Vitello — the top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is out.
• See, Dumpy has ordered ICE to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history, but the agency’s budget and staffing remain largely unchanged, leaving officers scrambling to ramp up arrests in U.S. cities and communities.
• ICE officers have struggled to meet their quotas because immigrants are refusing to open their doors when they knock.
• Important note: ICE enforcement teams do not possess criminal arrest warrants that would allow them to force their way into their targets’ homes. ICE officials say they can’t afford to leave teams of officers waiting around for targeted immigrants to exit their homes.
• Hahahahahahaha.
• Okay, moving on to something that should be pissing off even the wealthiest of MAGA assholes.
• U.S. stocks tanked yesterday after reports showed that worries among consumers and businesses about Dump’s policies are hitting the U.S. economy.
• The S&P 500 sank 1.7% for its worst day in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 748 points, or 1.7%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.2%.
• It’s looking more and more — as we predicted for a second Dump term — that U.S. business activity is close to stalling, with growth slowing to a 17-month low.
• And it’s all Dumpty’s fault.
• “Companies report widespread concerns about the impact of federal government policies, ranging from spending cuts to tariffs and geopolitical developments,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Sales are reportedly being hit by the uncertainty caused by the changing political landscape, and prices are rising amid tariff-related price hikes from suppliers.”
• Yup! Who could have predicted that? Oh, anyone with a brain.
• So what happens next? Well, your own investment accounts sink in value, and your boss’s accounts do too, which then results in lack of raises, bonuses, layoffs, and downsizing.
• The MAGA world has no idea how bad things are about to be for themselves and their families… and they have to own it.
• And now, The Weather: “Live Again” by Ford Chastain
• From the Sports Desk… one of the most ridiculous rules in sports is about to change after nearly 50 years.
• Yankees can have beards.
• Yup. If you were a New York Yankee from 1976 on, you were not allowed to have facial hair beyond a mustache. If my boss told me to shave — assuming my job didn’t require me to do things like wear gas masks or anything else where a beard could impact my life — I’d tell them to fuck all the way off.
• But the announcement by the Yankees yesterday morning that players would be allowed to grow a "well-groomed beard" sent shockwaves through the world of sports.
• Why’d they relent now? Because their new closer, Devin Williams, felt weird without a beard and seemed to insinuate that being smooth-faced could affect his game.
• And the team had legitimate concerns that players might pass up opportunities to play for the Yankees because of an attachment to their beards. 
• My opinion: people in all walks of life should be able to look how they want.
• Today in history… Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty (1371). British customs officer Ebenezer Richardson fires blindly into a crowd during a protest in North End, Boston, fatally wounding 11-year-old Christopher Seider who became the first American fatality of the American Revolution (1770). Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars (1819). The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh, PA (1856). The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee (1872). In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores (1879). President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states (1889). Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500 (1959). In Lake Placid, NY, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3 in a game known as the Miracle on Ice (1980). In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned (1997). 
• February 22 is the birthday of Hungary king Ladislaus the Posthumous (1440), US president George Washington (1732), philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788), general/Scout Association founder Robert Baden-Powell (1857), actress Marguerite Clark (1883), poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892), actor Robert Young (1907), radio/TV announcer Don Pardo (1918), tallest human Robert Wadlow (1918), actor Paul Dooley (1928), politician Ted Kennedy (1932), MLB player/manager Sparky Anderson (1934), film director Jonathan Demme (1944), drummer Harvey Mason (1947), NBA player Julius Erving (1950), actor Kyle MacLachlan (1959), zoologist Steve Irwin (1962), actress Jeri Ryan (1968), actress Drew Barrymore (1975), NBA player Rajon Rondo (1986), and NFL player Khalil Mack (1991).

Alrighty then. Lots going on. But I’m starting to feel like the fight against Dumpy and Dumpism in general is starting to take shape. the world around you might become unrecognizable when you look back on this time in a few months or a coupe of years. Just remember: if you don’t fight, you can’t win. Fucking stand up and fight. Become unmanageable. They are scared of you. Make sure they know it’s a good idea to remain so. Enjoy your day.