Random News: February 27, 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 27, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I already know I have a busy day ahead based on my meeting schedule and the projects that I — for reasons unknown at the moment — committed to finish before the weekend. But that’s okay; I, somehow, some way, keep comin' up with funky-ass shit, like, every single day.

• I’m going to give you yet another reminder that tomorrow — Friday, February 28 — is the economic blackout.
• The billionaires in charge of your life think of you as mindless automatons, numbers on a spreadsheet who exist only to fill their coffers.
• If you can go literally one fucking day without handing over your money to massive retail conglomerates and global brands, it sends a message that the power is, in fact, in our hands.
• Not theirs.
• And perhaps they’ll be a little more hesitant to dictate policies that ruin lives and allow greed to drive prices so high that no one will be able to survive.
• So that’s tomorrow. Plan accordingly.
• Let’s do the news.
• You should not be shocked or surprised that the heavily conservative Supreme Court is already siding with the Dumpster. Conversely, I’ll be shocked any time they don’t.
• Yesterday, Chief Justice John Roberts paused a court-imposed midnight deadline that would have required the Dump administration to release $2 billion in frozen foreign aid, a goal that the government has claimed it is unable to meet.
• The emergency appeal marks the first time Dumpy’s efforts to drastically remake the federal government — including deep cuts across government agencies — have reached the nation’s highest court.
• And yes, the case appears likely to put the justices on a collision course with Dump’s sweeping efforts to take away power from the people and the democracy we’ve enjoyed for 248 years, and instead consolidate power within the executive branch.
• Roberts’ order does not resolve the underlying questions raised by the case. Instead, it imposes an administrative stay to give the court a few days to review written arguments in the case.
• I wouldn’t count on this SCOTUS for any help. They seem ready and willing to hand Dumpy a dictatorship that will result in the loss of our freedoms.
• Let’s move on.
• At least we have the free press on our side, right?
• Um, no.
• Yesterday, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos — who also owns the Washington Post — said that the newspaper’s opinions section would now be focused on “personal liberties and free markets” and won’t publish anything that opposes those ideas.
• Allow me to translate that for you: WaPo is now a mouthpiece for Donnie Dump, and it is no longer trustworthy as an impartial source of news and information.
• Bezos said he offered David Shipley, the paper’s opinion editor, the opportunity to stay at the helm under this new editorial direction, but he declined. 
• “I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t ‘hell yes’ then it had to be ‘no.’ After careful consideration, David decided to step away. This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision. We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction,” Bezos said.
• Are they going to at least marginally cover other views, even just for appearances’s sake?
• No.
• “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others,” said Bezos.
• Moving on.
• As evidenced up top, we’re going to be doing a lot of Supreme Court news over the next four months or so. Might as well start now.
• Yesterday, it seems likely that the Supreme Court will side with an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination from her employer because she is straight.
• Oh, how hard it is to be a white heterosexual person in this world. Sigh.
• The outcome of the case could remove an additional requirement that some courts apply when members of a majority group sue for discrimination under federal law.
• The case comes via Marlean Ames, who has worked for the Ohio Department of Youth Services for more than 20 years. She claims was passed over for a promotion and then demoted because she is heterosexual. Both the job she sought and the one she had held were given to LGBTQ people.
• A trial court and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ames.
• I mean, I should maybe bring up the possibility that she just sucks at her fucking job.
• Who is pushing this case to the top courts in the land? That’d be America First Legal, founded by Trump aide Stephen Miller.
• “Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, whether you are gay or straight, is prohibited. The rules are the same whichever way it goes,” said Brett Kavanaugh. I mean, he’s not wrong.
• But considering that the people being accusing of giving preferential treatment to gays didn’t know Ames’s sexual orientation, the whole thing feels pretty fucking weird to me.
• Let’s move on.
• A story we really hadn’t covered here — simply because it’s so fucked up that I was too angry to describe it rationally — has a good update.
• As most of you know, a week ago on February 22, Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl was with a group of people protesting Medicaid cuts and other Republican policies at the Coeur d’Alene, ID town hall.
• When she spoke out of turn to ask about the nature of the event, Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris threatened to arrest her, and then summoned three unnamed and unmarked private security guards to carry her out of the premises.
• Many of you saw a viral video of the altercation, where Dr. Borrenpohl can be seen asking multiple times who the men are, with them refusing to answer.
• The three black-clad men — who were not employed by any law enforcement agency — then pushed her to the floor and forcibly dragged her out of the room. 
• And now the good part… the three workers for LEAR Asset Management, a private security firm, caused their company to have their business licences revoked for violating Coeur d'Alene City ordinances regarding security agencies and agents.
• Also, Borrenpohl — who was briefly hospitalized after the incident — has now raised over $250,000 for her legal fees. Coeur d'Alene police chief Lee White said the actions of LEAR Asset Management violated Dr. Borrenpohl's First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
• I think Kootenai County better start doing some planning on how they’re going to compensate Dr. Borrenpohl… because they’re definitely going to be doing that.
• Let’s move on.
• It’s been brought up recently that a lot of people might not even be aware that their healthcare benefits are handled by Medicaid.
• If they knew, they’d probably be a lot more scared and outraged than they seem to be.
• Why don’t they know? Because Medicaid is often renamed by the states. Here is California, it’s called Medi-Cal. In Indiana, it has a bunch of names like Hoosier Healthwise. In Illinois it’s Medical Assistance Program. In Missouri, it’s MO HealthNet.
• And so on and so forth. I only see about 10 states that just straight-up call it Medicaid. All the rest use a different name.
• So much like the people who loved the Affordable Care Act (ACA) but hate ObamaCare (which is the same thing with a different name), I have to think that a bunch of people are going to be taken by shock when they see their health benefits will be abruptly and severely curtailed very soon.
• Because they don’t even know they’re on Medicaid. But they soon will.
• I’ll remind you that 217 Republicans in the House voted to slash your Medicare benefits this week. Zero Democrats did.
• And in related news, the reason that so many Republicans are enabling Dumpy might be more simple than you think.
• They’re in fear for their lives.
• Like all despots and dictators, Dump is using the threat of physical force against these reps and their families.
• Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said his Republican colleagues were “terrified” of crossing Dumpy not only because of the negative impact on their political careers, but also from anxiety that it might provoke physical retaliation that could cause personal upheaval and require them to hire round-the-clock security as protection.
• Former congresswoman Liz Cheney says that some of her Republican colleagues had voted against impeaching Dump because “they were afraid for their own security — afraid, in some instances, for their lives.”
• And former Republican senator and presidential candidate Mitt Romney had intended to vote for Dump’s conviction at his Senate trial only to change course when a colleague told him: “Think of your personal safety. Think of your children.”
• So sometimes it’s less nuanced than it seems. Sometimes it’s just a page out of the book by Joseph Stalin, where you support the leader or disappear forever.
• Again, none of you should be shocked by this. Dump has been heading that direction from the start.
• And now, The Weather: “Angie” by spill tab
• Very sad to wake up and learn about the death of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, who was 95.
• He, his wife, and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home yesterday after a welfare check. Authorities did not disclose how they died.
• Hackman, who retired from acting about 20 years ago, was a hugely respected performer best known for his roles in films as “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers,” “Unforgiven,” “The Firm,” and many more.
• Rest in peace to him.
• And a shocking RIP going out to Michelle Trachtenberg, the actor best known for film and TV roles including “Gossip Girl” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” She died yesterday at 39.
• She was found in her New York City apartment, and her cause of death has not yet been announced.
• Let’s cheer up with a chart.
• It’s exactly 50 years ago today, and here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for later February 1975.
• 1. Fire (Ohio Players). 2. You're No Good (Linda Ronstadt). 3. Boogie On Reggae Woman (Stevie Wonder). 4. Pick Up The Pieces (AWB). 5. Best Of My Love (Eagles). 6. Some Kind Of Wonderful (Grand Funk). 7. Black Water (The Doobie Brothers). 8. Laughter In The Rain (Neil Sedaka). 9. Lonely People (America). 10. Get Dancin' (Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes Featuring Sir Monti Rock III). 11. Doctor's Orders (Carol Douglas). 12. My Eyes Adored You (Frankie Valli). 13. #9 Dream (John Lennon). 14. Look In My Eyes Pretty Woman (Tony Orlando & Dawn). 15. Please Mr. Postman (Carpenters). 16. Mandy (Barry Manilow). 17. Sweet Surrender (John Denver). 18. Morning Side Of The Mountain (Donny & Marie Osmond). 19. Nightingale (Carole King). 20. Never Can Say Goodbye (Gloria Gaynor).
• From the Sports Desk… this Saturday is March 1, which means we’re soon going to be forced to talk about the NCAA basketball tournament, also known as March Madness.
• I don’t know jack shit about college sports, basketball or otherwise. Maybe if I fill out a bracket, I can convince myself to pay attention.
• According to ESPN, the top men’s teams are (in order) Auburn, Duke, Florida, Houston, and Tennessee.
• And the women’s teams are Texas, UCLA, Notre Dame, USC, and UConn,
• There. You know as much as I do now.
• Today in history… Henry IV is crowned King of France (1594). The House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America (1782). The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti (1844). The British Labour Party is founded (1900). A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett (1922). Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14 (1940). In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest (1943). The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified (1951). The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government (1973). U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated” in the Gulf War (1991). Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow while out walking with his girlfriend (2015).
• February 27 is the birthday of Roman emperor Constantine the Great (272), poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807), sociologist/philosopher George Herbert Mead (1863), SCOTUS justice Hugo Black (1886), physiologist Charles Herbert Best (1899), author John Steinbeck (1902), actress Joanne Woodward (1930), actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932), activist/politician Ralph Nader (1934), actor Howard Hesseman (1940), political strategist Lee Atwater (1951), guitarist Neal Schon (1954), politician Maggie Hassan (1958), NBA player James Worthy (1961), industrial designer Jony Ive (1967), NFL player Tony Gonzalez (1976), journalist/academic Chelsea Clinton (1980), singer-songwriter Josh Groban (1981), NBA player Devin Harris (1983), and NFL player Chandler Jones (1990).

As has been typical lately, that’s definitely not all the news… just the stuff I have time to tell you now. I advise that you try and keep up with things above and beyond what I mention here. And remember… don’t buy shit tomorrow unless it’s from a small local business. Enjoy your day.