Random News: February 9, 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 9, 2025, and it’s a Sunday. It’s also Super Bowl Sunday, the holiest of American events. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, while I lazily sip my coffee in my bathrobe on what looks to be a pretty morning, let’s talk about some real stuff.

• Not that sports isn’t real. I’m not so much of a conspiracy theorist to believe the game is some scripted event whose outcome is predestined by some powerful entity.
• But sports games come and go; the other stuff in my news affects the life and wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people in the USA and billions more around the globe.
• So now, some news.
• As I’ve mentioned, Dumpy’s goal with his “shock and awe” assertion of executive power was to consolidate as much power as possible before anyone could stop him.
• And it might have worked too… except for that meddling Constitution.
• The wall that Dumples the Clown has run headlong into is called the courts. And at least for now — and mostly on a temporary basis — it’s working, or at least slowing him down from his goal to being a dictator for life and ending democratic elections in the USA.
• To recap, at least nine federal judges — from Washington, D.C., to Washington state — have halted aspects of Dump’s early-term blitz, from his effort to rewrite the Constitution’s birthright citizenship guarantee to his sweeping effort to freeze federal spending to his plans to break and remake the federal workforce.
• Are Dump’s little asslickers mad? You betcha.
• A lot of it happened on Friday, when U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols — a Dump appointee — blocked a plan by Elon Musk and his slave boy Donnie to put 2,200 USAID employees on leave.
• Hours later, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, a federal judge in New York, blocked Musk and his allies from accessing sensitive Treasury records.
• Engelmayer’s ruling provoked a fury within Dump’s base, prompting a call by Musk to impeach the judge and anyone else who dares stand in Dump’s way. Dump’s allies in Congress also went insane with anger, with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) describing it as a “coup” and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) calling the judge an “outlaw.”
• All the rulings so far are temporary, and are meant to prevent the policies from taking effect while the courts consider the legal challenges more fully.
• While they’re a positive first step, keep in mind that many of those cases will end up before the Supreme Court, which has a six-justice conservative supermajority, including three of Dump’s own appointees.
• And that’s an eventuality we will have to deal with. I have zero faith the the nation’s highest court — ironical — will act on the side of the Constitution or the best interests of the American people.
• But we have to look at things day and day, and the current round of legal resistance to the Dumpster are slowing down Dump’s effort to project his administration as an unstoppable, invincible force able to steamroll any impediments to his assertion of power.
• Dozens of lawsuits challenging Dump’s early policies are rushing through several strategically chosen federal district courts around the country. These courts have emerged as the only institutions with the power and the will to check Dump’s onslaught.
• Be thankful that we still have these barriers that were designed — for this very reason — by the founding fathers of the USA to check and balance power in this country.
• Let’s move on.
• You already know that the tariffs that Dumpy threatened against our neighbors Canada and Mexico are currently paused while Dump tries to come ump with some way that he doesn’t look like a complete idiot.
• But the tariffs with China? Oh, those are still on.
• And China is striking back starting tomorrow. Their import taxes on some American goods are set to come into effect on Monday as the trade war between the world's two biggest economies escalates.
• Beijing announced the plan this past week, minutes after new US levies of 10% on all Chinese products came into effect.
• China will charge a 15% border tax on imports of US coal and liquefied natural gas products. 
• There is also a 10% tariff on American crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-engine cars. Chinese authorities also launched an anti-monopoly probe into technology giant Google, while PVH — the US owner of designer brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger — was added to Beijing's so-called "unreliable entity" list.
• And perhaps more worrisome, China has also imposed export controls on 25 rare metals, some of which are key components for many electrical products and military equipment.
• Anyway, Dump’s goal to fuck up not only the USA but the entire world is working pretty well for him. Let’s see what happens in the 2026 midterm elections. By then, a huge number of people will have been tangibly fucked by his policies.
• And we’re going to make sure they’re ready and willing and able to vote.
• Moving on.
• Let’s do a story from the FAFO File.
• Soybeans are Tennessee’s #1 cash crop, contributing billions to the state’s economy.
• But due to President Musk and his little pal Donnie, the state’s Soybean Innovation Lab will shutter its doors as of 4/15/25 because all USAID funding has ceased.
• As a result, U.S. soybean farmers lose one of their best tools to expand their markets and U.S. standards globally. Tennessee’s economy will be in shatters once the full impact of Musk and Dump’s plans come to fruition.
• And Donnie Dump won the state with over 64% of the popular vote. So this must be what Tennessee wanted.
• May the odds be ever in your favor, farmers. You shall indeed reap what you’ve sown.
• Let’s move on.
• The city of Springfield, OH filed a lawsuit this week against a neo-Nazi group that it alleges was at the heart of the threats last year toward Haitian immigrants.
• That’s the city where — according to Dumpy with zero evidence to back it up — they were “eating the dogs, eating the cats.”
• Springfield Mayor Rob Rue and several others sued the Blood Tribe, leaders Christopher Pohlhaus and Drake Berentz, and seven unnamed followers in U.S. District Court in Dayton.
• They accuse the group of “engaging in, and inciting, a campaign of harassment and intimidation, motivated by ethnic and racial hatred, against those who supported Springfield’s Haitian community in the face of Defendants’ racist attacks.”
• The plaintiffs are asking the court for a jury trial seeking to block the group from making further threats and to impose damages.
• And frankly, this is the best plan. Hit these pieces of shit where it matters to them… their wallets and bank accounts.
• And while they’re having their paychecks docked for the remainder of their miserable lives, maybe they’ll reflect on whether being afraid of Black people was worth it.
• But wait! How about another great story out of Ohio?
• Local residents confronted and drove off neo-Nazi demonstrators waving large swastika-emblazoned flags along a highway overpass on Friday between Lincoln Heights and Evendale, OH, home to a historically Black community that has endured a long history of racism.
• About a dozen neo-Nazis, wearing all black clothing and red face masks, were waving swastika flags. They had also pinned red swastika banners on the fence of the overpass and a sign reading “America for the White Man.”.
• As usual, though, the Nazis acted like pussy-ass bitches as soon as they were confronted. People started walking up to the demonstrators as police officers stood in between them.
• Moments later, the frightened little Nazi men quickly backed up, jumped into a U-Haul box truck and left the scene.
• Punk-ass Nazi pussies. Since the only thing they understand is violence, make sure they… understand.
• Understood?
• And now, The Weather: “Sweetest Heart” by Rachel Bobbitt
• In 1993, a media frenzy erupted over claims that Super Bowl Sunday was the biggest day of the year for domestic violence against women.
• The startling news was so immediately accepted that NBC, which aired the 1993 Super Bowl, ran a public service announcement about domestic violence before the game aired.
• Television networks and the Associated Press referred to Super Bowl Sunday as a “day of dread” for women. Reporters were citing a number of university studies claiming a link between football and domestic violence.
• One problem: it wasn’t true.
• The biggest day for domestic violence is New Year’s Eve, followed by St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. I think we all see that the commonality of those holidays is a lot of alcohol consumption.
• But before you write this off in some way, domestic violence is not acceptable on any day of the year.
• Many women live in fear of their spouses and partners every day, and it does not take the outcome of a football game to increase the likelihood of being beaten or demoralized.
• There is no situation where being physically or mentally abused is the fault of the victim.
• From the Sports Desk… yup, it’s that day.
• Hopefully the game is good (i.e., not a blowout for either side).
• Hopefully the ads are at least funny or interesting.
• There’s an unsubstantiated rumor that Elon Musk has purchased an ad, or even multiple ads, to spread lies of misinformation about government waste in support of his bullshit DOGE group. 
• I hope that’s not true. And I hope I don’t throw anything at my TV screen if I see his smug, ugly-ass face at any point.
• Speaking of ugly, it is also rumored that Donnie Dump is attending the game. I dunno man… seems like a big risk for a sitting president. Anything could happen.
• Who am I rooting for? Neither of these teams are “my” team, but under no circumstances as a Raiders fan can I wish well upon the Chiefs.
• So fly, Eagles, fly.
• Today in history… The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion (1775). Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation (1778). After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as sixth President of the United States in a contingent election (1825). Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, AL (1861). US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau (1870). Verdi’s last opera, ‘Falstaff’, premieres at La Scala, Milan (1893). William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball (1895). A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth (1913). Year-round Daylight saving time, aka War Time, is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources (1942). HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat (1945). US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists (1950). The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States (1964). Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame (1971). Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System (1986). Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union (1991). Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins (2021).
• February 9 is the birthday of US president William Henry Harrison (1773), politician Samuel J. Tilden (1814), pathologist Howard Taylor Ricketts (1871), poet Amy Lowell (1874), actor Ronald Colman (1891), actress Carmen Miranda (1909), biochemist Jacques Monod (1910), singer-songwriter Ernest Tubb (1914), illustrator Frank Frazetta (1928), songwriter/pianist Barry Mann (1939), singer-songwriter Carole King (1942), actor Joe Pesci (1943), novelist Alice Walker (1944), actress Mia Farrow (1945), actress Judith Light (1949), MLB player Mookie Wilson (1956), journalist/writer/TV producer David Simon (1960), MLB player John Kruk (1961), MLB player Vladimir Guerrero (1975), actor Tom Hiddleston (1981), actor Michael B. Jordan (1987), NFL player Jaire Alexander (1997), and NFL player Saquon Barkley (1997).

Yes, it’s Saquon Barkley’s actual-ass birthday today. I know what present he should get. I’m going to take care of a few things now so I can relax during the game this afternoon/evening. Enjoy your day.