Random News: March 17, 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 March 17, 2025, and it’s a Monday. In the interest of fairness to the universe, I will mention that there was already a noticeable difference in the time the sun began to rise this morning, and by the time I poured coffee and sat down to write this shit, it was nearly light outside. So this is the official end to my complaining about Daylight Savings for a good while.

• A thought to kick things off today.
• The finding out portion for the MAGA folks who helped get Donnie Dump into office is growing more widespread and public.
• Most of us have seen the social posts by now… upset that they’ve lost their federal government jobs, or storming Republican congressional town halls to blast their representatives for allowing the president and his henchmen to cut programs and funding that red states rely upon.
• But I’d say the worst is definitely yet to come. Unless Dump folds in his trade wars, his tariffs will have a boomerang effect as other countries retaliate, hitting Dump voters the hardest.
• Think about it.
• China has targeted corn farmers and carmakers. Canada has put tariffs on poultry plants and air-conditioning manufacturers, while Europe will hit American steel mills and slaughter houses.
• All of those retaliatory tariffs have been carefully designed to hit about eight million Americans who work in industries targeted by the levies and the majority are Dump voters.
• Let’s look at some news.
• Starting with the big question: is Dumpy and his gang of evil going to respect the rule of law with court decisions that oppose his scheme to become a dictator for life?
• Based on their statements, I’m not confident that they will.
• Dump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, posted last week: “Judges have no authority to administer the executive branch. Or to nullify the results of a national election.”
• And Dump’s supporters in Congress have raised the specter of impeaching judges who have ruled against the administration. Elon Musk, the man who actually controls Dump, has regularly called for removing judges on his social media.
• And yesterday, Republican Chuck Grassley — the 137-year-old chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — reacted furiously to a Washington judge’s order briefly halting Dump’s illegal deportations under an 18th century wartime law.
• He wrote, “If the Supreme Court or Congress doesn’t fix, we’re headed towards a constitutional crisis.”
• Well yes Chuck, you old fucking bag of shit, but the crisis is a dictator who is acting against the law of the land. That’s the fucking crisis.
• Up until yesterday, the Dump administration had not directly or openly defied a court order, and the dozens of cases filed against its actions have followed a regular legal course.
• And it’s a matter of uncertainty as to whether the court order stopping the deportation of a bunch of Venezuelans to El Salvador over the weekend was a bit too late.
• But as of yet — and I say this while firmly knocking on wood — Dump’s administration has made no moves to seek removal of justices or push judicial reforms through the Republican-controlled Congress.
• What they’re weighing is how hard the people are going to fight back against heavy-handed authoritarianism. A lot of other countries would already have guillotines set up and ready.
• I guess what’s between the current point and that point is how the Supreme Court will either reign him in, or let him loose despite the Constitution clearly guiding the limits of the executive branch.
• Moving on.
• Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a doctor and professor at Brown Medicine, was deported after she returned from a trip to Lebanon despite having a valid U.S. visa.
• Dr. Alawieh held an H-1B visa when she traveled to her home country to visit her family.
• Upon returning to the United States at the end of last week, she was held at Boston Logan International Airport for 36 hours before she was sent back to Lebanon this weekend in violation of a federal judge’s order to halt her deportation.
• She was not accused of any crime, was detained without any justification, and was unable to access legal counsel.
• You’ve been told (and expected to believe) that people being deported are hardened violent criminals.
• Dr. Alawieh obtained her medical degree from the American University of Beirut in 2015 and completed her residency in 2018 at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.
• She went on to complete programs at Ohio State University, the University of Washington, and the Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Program before she started her assistant professorship at Brown.
• If they can deport her, they’ll deport anyone.
• Let’s move on.
• Many people saw the “60 Minutes” story that aired last night about the United States Marine Band, but I felt it was worthy of a brief recap here.
• Last year, the Marines judged a contest for teenage musicians. The winners — among the best of the best in our country — would perform with the band. Thirty students were chosen. The concert was scheduled. But, last month, it was cancelled.
• Because the students weren’t white.
• Dumpy’s executive order against diversity programs wouldn’t allow the Marines to showcase the talents of these young musicians, who were Black, Hispanic, Indian, and Asian.
• It’s just a horrifying story and one that will be held up as an example as the USA sinks deeper and deeper into a white nationalist state.
• There is some happiness at the end of this tragedy. A week ago, 22 of the students who’d lost their chance to play were flown in and joined a band made up of other military veterans who were all professional-caliber players.
• And instead of the gig being heard by a couple hundred people in a hall somewhere, those kids were seen and heard by millions and millions of TV viewers.
• As the “60 Minutes” story stated plainly, “But that executive order is just the beginning. All across the government, President Trump is rolling back 60 years of discrimination protections for women, older Americans, the disabled and people of color.”
• And by rescinding President Johnson's 1965 ban on employment bias, closing the Social Security Office of Civil Rights, and firing leaders of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC — which investigates bias in the workplace — Dump is setting up a return to a country where open discrimination is 100% legal.
• We are going to fight this piece of shit and EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO SUPPORTS HIS ACTIONS all the way. And I mean all the way, by whatever means necessary.
• This will not stand.
• Moving on to another story that I only mention because it involves a piece of shit MAGA getting screwed over.
• Over the weekend, Dumpy essentially dismantled Voice of America. Are you familiar with it?
• VOA is an international broadcasting state media network funded by the federal government of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S. international broadcasters, producing digital, TV, and radio content in 63 languages for affiliate stations around the world.
• And its audience is non-Americans outside the US borders, especially those living in countries without press freedom or independent journalism. Its reporting reaches over 400 million people per week across all platforms.
• Wait, didn’t Dump tap someone to lead VOA recently? Oh yeah.
• It was perennial loser Kari Lake, the onetime candidate for Arizona governor (who lost) and U.S. Senate (who lost).
• Now VOA is toast due to Dump’s campaign to dismantle the federal bureaucracy and control U.S.-backed news content across the globe. It’s gone dark for the first time since it launched during World War II.
• So now Kari Lake again has no job, left flapping in the wind by her savior Donnie Doo Doo.
• Moving on.
• Tell me what this sounds like to you…
• Negotiators working to end the Russia-Ukraine war have already discussed “dividing up certain assets,” Dictator Dump said yesterday as he announced he planned to speak to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
• What’s he going to talk to that other asshole about?
• “We’ll be talking about land. A lot of land is a lot different than it was before the war, as you know. We’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much, by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about that – dividing up certain assets.”
• Fucking pricks. Slava Ukraini, bitches.
• Today is St. Patrick’s Day.
• Remember when you were a kid and were told that St. Patrick’s Day was to celebrate when some guy “drove the snakes out of Ireland?”
• There have never been snakes in Ireland.
• Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary, and the “snakes” were an allegory for pagans and their practices. There were no actual fucking snakes. Just people who didn’t want to be Christians and got driven from their homes as a result.
• Why do people drink on this somber and religious holiday? Historically, the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, and let’s face it, a lot of people will use any excuse to get drunk.
• Fun Fact: Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. Shrug. You’re probably still hungover from that disgusting cheap-ass green beer you had yesterday.
• Fun Fact 2: I don’t drink alcohol, so I feel as bright and cheery as I do on any given Monday.
• And now, The Weather: “Skullcrusher” by yeule
• It’s never a good thing when I have to mention actual weather news. It’s never about being sunny and nice.
• At least 40 people were killed amid more than 970 severe storm reports across more than two dozen states over the weekend. A 3-day tornado outbreak tore through at least nine states. Twelve people were killed in tornadoes in Missouri alone.
• Stay safe, my friends.
• From the Sports Desk… ant to know the 1-seeds in the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament? Sure, here you go.
• South: Auburn.
• East: Duke.
• West: Florida.
• Midwest: Houston.
• Today in history… Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius (180). The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city (1776). The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed (1861). Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO (1948). The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite, which is also the first satellite to achieve a long-term orbit (1958). Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel (1969). A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2% (1992). 
• March 17 is the birthday of Scotland king James IV (1473), SCOTUS chief justice Roger B. Taney (1777), engineer/businessman Gottlieb Daimler (1834), social reformer Martha P. Falconer (1862), composer Alfred Newman (1900), NFL player Sammy Baugh (1914), singer Nat King Cole (1919), singer-songwriter/guitarist Paul Kantner (1941), serial killer John Wayne Gacy (1942), singer-songwriter John Sebastian (1944), author William Gibson (1948), actor Kurt Russell (1951), actor Gary Sinise (1955), politician/activist Cynthia McKinney (1955), NBA/MLB player Danny Ainge (1959), actor Rob Lowe (1964), singer-songwriter Billy Corgan (1967), fashion designer Alexander McQueen (1969), bass player Melissa Auf der Maur (1972), soccer player Mia Hamm (1972), singer-songwriter Justin Hawkins (1975), porn actress Stormy Daniels (1979), singer-songwriter Grimes (1988), singer-songwriter Hozier (1990), actor John Boyega (1992), swimmer Katie Ledecky (1997), and NFL player Brandon Aiyuk (1998).

That’s all I’ve got for now. I know a lot of the news is shitty. Do not get discouraged. Use your power and punch back against bully pieces of shit. I know you can do it. Enjoy your day.