Random News: February 25, 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 25, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. We have a ton of stuff to talk about today, so maybe get yourself a fresh cup of coffee before diving in. Ready? Okay, let’s do this.

• As I promised yesterday, here’s some more info and background on the upcoming economic blackout on this Friday, February 28.
• A reminder: on that day, you will not make any purchases from national retail chains and brands.
• Why?
• First, as many people have noted… when you have the choice of doing something versus doing nothing, something always wins.
• It doesn’t take you a lot of effort to not buy from major brands for one fucking day. I believe in you.
• But what does it even matter?
• That’s simple. The only power we have that matters to the corporate overlords is our choice to spend… or not. And if they’re going to be supportive toward Donnie Dump’s policies— from abandoning DEI programs through direct contributions and more — they can live with the consequences.
• Those who doth fucketh around, findeth out.
• Think of it this way: if we can do it for one day, it tells them that we could do it more… more often and for longer durations.
• And we can do more than a simple economic blackout. We could do a general strike.
• There are many steps to take before all-out violence in the streets and civil war is inevitable.
• So when I ask that you simply not spend with national brands and retail chains (local small businesses are fine), it’s not a big ask. But it matters, and the more people you make aware of this and encourage to participate, the bigger the impact.
• These companies will only support MAGA, project 2025, Elon, and Dumpy when their coffers are full. The idea that their giant company could be gone (and they could lose their top management jobs for their decisions) will beat out any political ideology they may have.
• So be a hero — just for one day — and don’t buy shit on Friday.
• Thank you.
• Moving on.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson will attempt to pass a Republican budget tonight. It’s Dumpy’s plan that gives $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to wealthy people and cuts $2 trillion in spending from the rest of us.
• Every Republican rep who votes for this is directly screwing their own constituents. They will pay a hefty price in the 2026 election as such.
• And I certainly hope that not even one Democrat lends their support to this bullshit.
• No one know what the outcome will be when they vote. With almost no votes to spare in Johnson’s bare-bones GOP majority, the speaker is fighting on all fronts — against Democrats, uneasy rank-and-file Republicans and skeptical GOP senators — as he works to keep the package on track.
• We’ll be reporting on that vote, obviously.
• Let’s move on.
• As we reported over the weekend, President Musk threatened to fire the entire federal workforce if they didn’t respond to a demand for them to document five things they accomplished over the past week.
• Except… no, he was just kidding, or something.
• Yesterday, Musk revised his command so that individual agencies can decide how to respond. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) held a call with the heads of human capital at federal agencies and said it's up to each entity to determine how they want to handle the directive employees received Saturday.
• Musk had previously stated that employees' failure to respond would be taken as a resignation, and the email set a deadline of 11:59pm Monday to respond. And yes, Dumpy publicly backed the effort at the White House earlier in the day.
• But of course, the directive sparked confusion and several agencies told workers to ignore the request, including the Justice Department, the FBI, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
• That had to sting Elon’s fragile ego a bit.
• During yesterday’s call with agencies, OPM was asked what would be done with any information already provided from employees who responded to the email. OPM said there were no plans to do anything with the information. 
• Uh huh.
• Off of that clusterfuck and on to some news about the resistance to Dumpy and his fascist plans.
• Yesterday, a federal judge in Maryland blocked the Dump administration from carrying out immigration enforcement actions at certain places of worship for Quakers, Cooperative Baptists, and Sikhs, who filed a lawsuit challenging Dump's unwinding of a Biden-era memo that barred immigration arrests at certain protected locations.
• U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang granted a request for a narrow preliminary injunction sought by the religious groups as they pursue their challenge to Dumpy's directive allowing federal immigration authorities to conduct enforcement actions at places of worship.
• Note that Chuang’s order does not block the administration's policy nationwide, and only applies to houses of worship owned or used by the challengers — the Quakers, Cooperative Baptists and Sikhs.
• And that makes sense from a legal standpoint; the more specific and narrow the ruling, the easier it is to remain enforced. Other groups may sue to challenge Dumpy’s order based on this precedent.
• The groups had argued that the new policy allowing immigration arrests at places that were previously considered protected violates their First Amendment rights and burdens the free exercise of religion under federal law.
• Chuang found that the threat of enforcement action at houses of worship attended by the three religious communities has caused reductions in attendance by not only immigrants who are in the country illegally, but also by those with legal status who fear they may be mistaken for unauthorized immigrants.
• Well done.
• Moving on with something to consider…
• President Musk and his little lapdog Donnie are firing hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
• And suddenly, people who gave their lives to government and military service — many of whom had security clearances — are now out of a job and angry about it. And they have sensitive and unique knowledge.
• They’re facing economic hardship, loss of healthcare, retirement in question, lack of savings, and feeling betrayed by the country that they swore to serve.
• So let’s say you’re a foreign intelligence agent. Who would be a better choice to approach and recruit than an extremely disgruntled ex-employee? Those guys dream about this scenario.
• Dumpy has never been able to see the big picture. And Musk just doesn’t have a clue about nearly anything. No wonder they’re so inept… and that’s a good thing.
• Moving on.
• I know you’ve been waiting for this story from the Comedy Desk. Let’s do it.
• An AI video showing Dumpy making out with Elon Musk’s feet played on television screens in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) building yesterday.
• I’m serious. That actually happened.
• The words “Long live the real king” were displayed over the top of the computer-generated video, a reference to Dump’s ridiculous social post last week in which he wrote, “Long Live the King!”
• The prank coincided with many federal employees returning to their offices this week, as Dumpy has sought to roll back the option to work from home. It also follows mass layoffs across the federal government, including at HUD, where some managers have been told to expect a 50% reduction in the number of agency employees. 
• Reports say that everyone at HUD was talking and laughing about it. No news as to who posted the video that ran on all TVs at the government agency.
• But hats off to them!
• And a side note to anyone who thinks that President Musk is doing great work in saving the country money…
• Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that Elon claims to have canceled in his cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money.
• The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Musk, published an updated list yesterday of nearly 2,300 contracts that agencies terminated in recent weeks across the federal government.
• Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 794 in all, are expected to yield no savings.
• Why? Because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.
• Slow clap.
• A note from the Health Desk…
• A listeria outbreak linked to recalled frozen supplemental nutrition shakes has infected 38 people, killing 12, according to an update yesterday from federal and state health officials.
• The infections, which ranged across 21 states, have been traced to recalled products manufactured by Prairie Farms Dairy at a facility in Fort Wayne, IN.
• If you live in the following states, probably avoid those shakes: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia. 
• Maybe just avoid them regardless of where you live.
• And in somewhat related but much more disturbing news…
• A young woman decided to post some really juicy content to get plenty of social engagement. So she peed all over food in a grocery store, and posted the videos.
• Keene Police Department in New Hampshire received an anonymous tip regarding a woman — later identified as 23-year-old Kelli Tedford — who had “posted disturbing videos to an internet site” of her “contaminating items in a local business with her urine.”
• Monadnock Food Co-Op subsequently issued a voluntary recall for red quinoa, white quinoa, tri-color quinoa, cornmeal, polenta, coconut shreds and raw walnuts.
• I’m sure there are some online places where they could have charged extra for that. Oh, and I should mention… videos she’s posted of herself pissing on food go back a good four years.
• Anyway, Tedford was arrested and charged with criminal mischief as a class B felony. She's scheduled for arraignment on April 7.
• Gross.
• And now a note form the Business Desk…
• Goodbye Joann.
• The over 80-year-old fabric and crafts store is going out of business, and they’re closing all of its stores nationwide after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time.
• Earlier this month, Joann said it would close 500 of its stores, while keeping roughly 300 stores open. But after failing to find a buyer that would keep its stores open, all Joann locations will close.
• That’s too bad.
• From the “Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me” Desk.. who’s lining up to buy tix for Fyre Festival 2?
• That’s right kids. A second iteration of the infamous Fyre Festival in 2017 is being planned after its controversial founder, Billy McFarland, spent time behind bars for fraud related to the original event.
• A resale ticketing platform announced yesterday that it has started selling tickets to Fyre Festival 2, which is scheduled take place in May on Isla Mujeres in Quintana Roo, Mexico. 
• Tickets range in price from $1,400 to $1.1 million.
• Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaaaaa jesus lord help me god.
• McFarland says, “After years of reflection and now thoughtful, the new team and I have amazing plans for Fyre 2. The adventure seekers who trust the vision and take the leap will help make history."
• This gets funnier: no musical artists have committed to performing at the three-day event. Instead, so-called "Fyre Experiences" will be released in a number of drops leading up to the festival," its website says.
• My take: anyone who buys tickets to this thing deserves whatever transpires as a result.
• And now, The Weather: “hear a whisper (feat. Winter)” by terraplana
• Two minutes after I finished my news yesterday, I saw the sad notification that legendary pop/R&B vocalist Roberta Flack had passed away at 88. Rest in peace to her.
• Flack was launched to stardom in the early ’70s by the Grammy-winning hits “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
• What you might not know: Flack was a classically trained pianist who got famous somewhat belatedly after Clint Eastwood used her two-year-old version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 directorial debut “Play Misty for Me.”
• From the Sports Desk… it is yet unclear whether the Philadelphia Eagles will celebrate their Super Bowl victory with Dumpy at the White House.
• Conflicting reports have said that both the Eagles have snubbed Dump’s invitation — team owner Jeffrey Lurie is a well-known Democratic donor — as well as that the team is happy to accept the invitation should Dumpy choose to offer it, which apparently he has not.
• Of note: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently went against Dumpy and announced that the league will continue to support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
• Plus, Dumpy was hoping the Chiefs would win the game, and they got their asses handed to them and Dump, who’d attended in person at great taxpayer expense, left around halftime.
• Guess we’ll see.
• In actual sports news, congrats to Mikaela Shiffrin, the American skier who made history this past weekend by becoming the first athlete in Alpine skiing to win 100 World Cup races.
• She passed the milestone just three months after a bruising crash that resulted in a punctured abdomen and left her traumatized. The accomplishment was especially poignant given that Shiffrin's first attempt at her 100th World Cup title ended in the serious fall last November.
• She endured a deep puncture wound in her abdomen, severe muscle trauma, and mental and psychological stress in the aftermath.
• Glad she got back in her boots and bindings and onto the slopes.
• Today in history… George Frideric Handel's opera ‘Nero’ premiered in Hamburg (1705). Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for his revolver firearm (1836). Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress (1870). In his speech ‘On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences,’ Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, denounces Stalin (1956). President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule and Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first female president (1986).
• February 25 is the birthday of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841), tenor Enrico Caruso (1873), diplomat/politician John Foster Dulles (1888), spiritual leader Meher Baba 1894), comedian Zeppo Marx (1901), NHL player King Clancy (1903), actor Jim Backus (1913), author Anthony Burgess (1917), singer Ralph Stanley (1927), singer-songwriter/guitarist George Harrison (1943), wrestler Ric Flair (1949), NBA player/coach Kurt Rambis (1958), comedian Carrot Top (1965), actress Téa Leoni (1966), actor Sean Astin (1971), comedian Chelsea Handler (1975), actress Rashida Jones (1976), NFL player/politician Napoleon Harris (1979), NBA player Joakim Noah (1985), NBA player Jimmer Fredette (1989), and NFL player Bo Nix (2000).

I know that was a lot of stuff, but when important shit — or weird shit, or funny shit, or whatever shit — happens, I want you all to be aware. Enjoy your day.