Random News: February 6, 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 6, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I’m up and about, and the sun has just risen on an overcast morning in Southern California. We should probably see what’s going on.

• I genuinely think a bunch of people — future historians, our great grandchildren, and even us ourselves (at least those who survive) will look back on this period and wished we’d done more to put a quick stop to the fascist takeover of the USA.
• I sure hear from a lot of people wondering what they can do, and many seem to feel helpless.
• However, I am also aware that there’s an active resistance of legal firms, civil rights fighters, community activists, and even a few remaining liberal politicians who have balls, who are indeed fighting Dumpy and his gang with the most powerful weapon at our disposal…
• The Constitution of the United States of America.
• I mean, if that doesn’t work, we’re taking it up a notch. But so far, the right people are using the right tools to fight this fucking inept idiot.
• And I’ll tell you once again: thank whatever deity you believe in that Dump may be greedy and evil, he is truly not a smart person. If all this was happening with an actual smart person in charge, we’d be truly fucked forever. 
• And by “we,” I mean humanity. This is absolutely an end-of-the-species scenario going on right now.
• Hopefully we win. The other choice is… the end of everything.
• Let’s do some news.
• A movement to oppose Dump organized under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, sparked nationwide protests yesterday.
• Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, waving signs in opposition of Dump and Musk while chanting, “Stop the coup,” “Deport Elon” and “No hate, no fea0r, immigrants are welcome here!”
• Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside of the California Capitol building in Sacramento, yelling chants and holding signs that decried Dump as a threat to democracy, diversity, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ Americans.
• “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! His tyranny has got to go,” protesters chanted at one point. One person held a sign that read: “Mexicans aren’t going anywhere.” Many waved American flags.
• And in Minnesota, over 2,000 protesters bundled up and braved wind chills at around 5 degrees F on the steps of the Capitol in St. Paul, including several hundred who marched from a nearby college.
• The crowd far exceeded the 200 people originally estimated by organizers before word spread on social media.
• Like in other cities, those protesting expressed their anger not just at Dump but also side villains like Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Some signs read “Impeach Trump,” “Impeach President Musk and the Other One,” and “Nobody Elected Elon.”
• And there were many other protests in other cities. If you think we’re going to quiet down and play nice, you’re fucking wrong.
• We’re just getting started.
• Moving on.
• A federal judge seems likely to order that allies of Elon Musk should not have further access to Treasury Department payment systems beyond two new Musk-aligned special government employees who already have access.
• U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is weighing a lawsuit from federal workers’ unions trying to prevent Musk’s bullshit Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal payment systems, which the plaintiffs call a massive privacy invasion.
• What else is Musk sipping into? The systems and technology at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• The agency spends more than $1 trillion providing health insurance for roughly half the country. They are looking to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid, leaving those people with no access to medical treatment.
• I hate to say that we told you so… but we did. Over and over.
• And there’s more, of course. These piece of shit DOGE fuckers also invaded the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and demanded sensitive data from the Labor Department.
• I have a recommendation for you.
• Never, ever log into to Twitter (or X, if you want to call it that). Never buy a Tesla. Never watch a SpaceX launch. Don’t use any service attached to the Starlink system. Do nothing that further enriches this fucking douchebag.
• Let’s move on.
• The federal government is the single largest employer in the USA.
• More than 2 million workers — analysts, nurses, scientists, accountants, food inspectors, loan processors, and many more — face a deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST tonight to decide if they should leave their jobs.
• The deferred resignation program is part of Dump’s plan to remake the federal government. Administration officials said they can save taxpayer money by presenting employees with “a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to stop working while still collecting a paycheck until September 30.
• Yesterday, the administration ramped up its pressure on employees to leave, sending a reminder that layoffs or furloughs could come next.
• The email said anyone who remains will be expected to be “loyal” and “will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward.”
• I don’t have to tell you what that means.
• One thing I know about Dump: he doesn’t keep promises or pay his bills. Why would these workers assume that he’s going to give them what he’s said he would?
• Democrats said workers shouldn’t accept the deferred resignation program because it wasn’t authorized by Congress, raising the risk they won’t get paid.
• Unions have sued to stop Dump’s plans, and a judge will consider whether to block the financial offer at a hearing this afternoon in Boston.
• Moving on.
• A federal judge has blocked Dump's attempt to end birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
• ”Today, virtually every baby born on US soil is a US citizen upon birth," Maryland district Judge Deborah Boardman ruled. "That is the law and tradition of our country."
• The ruling extends the existing pause on Dump's executive order until the legal process plays out, which could take months or even years.
• It comes two weeks after a federal judge in Seattle called Dump's order "blatantly unconstitutional" and issued a 14-day restraining order. The judge will hold another hearing when that ruling expires today.
• Dump can appeal against the ruling and is expected to do so. Why? Because he’s a fucking asshole.
• Moving on.
• Just a side note for all the ass-backwards racists fucks out there: they’re not going to stop at brown and Black people.
• Anyone who’s not a white Christian male should plan on having their rights forcibly removed. And unless you’re a giant fucking pussy who’s going to just capitulate and accept it, I suggest you start fighting back now.
• There’s evidence of this happening all the time.
• Example…
• The U.S. Military Academy has disbanded a dozen West Point cadet clubs centered on ethnicity, gender, race, and sexuality in response to Dump’s push to eliminate diversity programs throughout government.
• The famed military academy in New York issued a memo yesterday shutting down groups including the Asian-Pacific Forum Club, Latin Cultural Club, National Society of Black Engineers Club, and Society of Women Engineers Club in order to adhere to recent guidance from the Army and Defense Department.
• It also shut down the Corbin Forum, a decades-old leadership club for female cadets, and Spectrum, a gay-straight alliance.
• The message is very clear. Women are no longer thought of as valuable as men in our government, much less non-white people or gay people.
• And in a year or two, when women aren’t allowed to have credit cards or their own bank accounts, and aren’t allowed to divorce abusive husbands, and eventually aren’t allowed to have employment without men’s permission or allowed to vote, don’t say I didn’t tell you.
• I did, and I am, and I’ll keep doing it.
• And now, The Weather: “Drowning In My Room” by JVLY
• From the Sports Desk… the Jimmy Butler saga with the Miami Heat ended last night when he was traded to the Golden State Warriors as part of a multiteam megadeal.
• The Warriors closed the deal for Butler after negotiations to acquire Kevin Durant ended when the Phoenix Suns star informed the team that he did not want to return to Golden State.
• Shrug. Butler had better step the fuck up at the Dubs and stop being a complainy little turd.
• Today in history… James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II (1685). New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation (1778). Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution (1788). Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry (1862). British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament (1918). The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, WA, walk off the job (1919). Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI (1952). Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit (1959). In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka (1976). Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo (1988).
• February 6 is the birthday of mathematician/astronomer Mario Bettinus (1582), British queen Anne (1665), mathematician/theorist Nicolaus II Bernoulli (1695), US vice president Aaron Burr (1756), physicist/cryptographer Charles Wheatstone (1802), French prime minister Alexandre Ribot (1842), MLB player Babe Ruth (1895), screenwriter Michael Maltese (1908), actor/US president Ronald Reagan (1911), Hitler’s wife Eva Braun (1912), anthropologist Mary Leakey (1913), voice actor/singer Thurl Ravenscroft (1914), actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917), actor Rip Torn (1931), actor Mike Farrell (1939), journalist Tom Brokaw (1940), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Willie Tee (1944), singer-songwriter Bob Marley (1945), singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle (1946), singer-songwriter Natalie Cole (1950), actress Kathy Najimy (1957), drummer Simon Phillips (1957), singer-songwriter Axl Rose (1962), singer-songwriter Gordon Downie (1964), singer-songwriter Rick Astley (1966), and actress Alice Eve (1982).

That’s plenty to think about for now. I'll remind you again: what they want is your obedience and despair. What they’re gonna get is a hard punch in the fucking nose. Stand the fuck up and fight. I believe in you. Enjoy your day.