Random News: March 23, 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 23, 2025, and it’s a Sunday. I was sort of hoping to sleep in some more on this weekend morning, but various biological processes determined that getting out of bed was a necessity, and then I just found myself in the kitchen making coffee, so that was that and here we are.

• You’ve probably seen a lot of the horrible examples of the removal of military heroes and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages after it purged online content that promoted women or minorities.
• This was all part of Dump’s “anti woke, anti-DEI” orders that attempted to erase the contributions to U.S. history of anyone other than white males.
• Every day over the past few weeks, the reports of erasure of women and minorities poured in, and the Pentagon has faced questions from angry lawmakers, local leaders, and citizens as a result.
• In response, the department has scrambled to restore a handful of those posts as their removals have come to light. While the pages of some well-known veterans, like baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson, are now back up on Pentagon websites, officials warn that many posts tagged for removal in error may be gone forever.
• Because they fucking suck. And that info never should have been removed in the first place, and was done clumsily and without any thought given to ever restoring them.
• The restoration process has been so hit or miss that even groups that the administration has said are protected, like the Tuskegee Airmen — the first Black military pilots who served in a segregated World War II unit — still have deleted pages that have not been restored.
• This past week chief, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video that mistaken removals will be quickly rectified. “History is not DEI,” he said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.
• But they can’t even agree on what to remove, what to keep, and how to obey the Pentagon directive to delete online content that promotes DEI.
• Officials from across the military services said they have asked for additional guidance from the Pentagon on what should be restored, but have yet to receive any.
• They can’t even get guidance on what should be easy cases to restore, like the first female Army Reserve graduate of Ranger School — Maj. Lisa Jaster — or the first female fighter pilot, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt,
• Both had their stories deleted because they are women and Dump does not want any respect given toward women outside the roles of childbearing and homemaking.
• In any case, officials said their understanding was it did not matter whether it was a historic first. If the first was based on what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth found to be a disqualifying characteristic, such as being a woman or not white, it had to go.
• That’s what you people voted for when you choose Dumpy. A country where if you’re not white or male, you’re a second class citizen with less rights and less respect, even for those who honorably served our nation.
• Let’s move on.
• One thing I can genuinely say about the Dump administration… just when you think it can’t be trashier and more low-class, they do seem to exceed even my lowest expectations.
• Case in point: the White House is now soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll, which is prompting major concerns from ethics experts and shock from former White House officials from both parties.
• I’m not kidding. The sponsorship offers range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the promise of logo and branding opportunities.
• Let’s back up a little. The Egg Roll, which began during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration in 1878, has long been privately funded without taxpayer dollars. The American Egg Board provides tens of thousands of eggs for the occasion.
• But now, under Dumples the Egg-Shaped Clown, the solicitation for sponsorships marks an unprecedented offering of corporate branding opportunities on White House grounds running counter to long-established regulations prohibiting the use of public office for private gain.
• Our fucking White House. Covered in logos for Walmart, Pepsi, Budweiser, Chevron. What the fucking fuck?
• “Sponsors of the White House Easter Egg Roll provide financial support, activities, and giveaways to enhance the event while gaining valuable brand visibility and national recognition,” reads the promotional sales document.
• Another offer brands can purchase is “mentions in official event communications and social media posts,” though it’s unclear what social media channels would be used and whether they would be sent from official White House accounts.
• “The United States of America… brought to you by ExxonMobil, Clorox,  and Amazon!”
• Disgusting.
• Let’s move on.
• In normal times, personal tax information — even an individual’s name and address — is considered confidential and closely guarded within the IRS. Unlawfully disclosing tax data carries civil and criminal penalties.
• Now? The Internal Revenue Service is nearing an agreement to allow immigration officials to use tax data to confirm the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally.
• Under this shady agreement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement could submit names and addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants to the IRS to cross-reference with confidential taxpayer databases.
• Wow. If they thought people were reluctant to file before, imagine how it will be moving ahead?
• Also, may I add… if they can open this door for alleged reasons of immigration enforcement, what’s stopping them from doing it for other reasons?
• The funny (not ha-ha funny) thing is that these privacy-invasive concepts were what typical conservative and MAGA-like folks were 100% against if they’d happened under any other president.
• Moving on.
• I genuinely try not to reference Fox News often here, if at all.
• But I will make an exception to mention the nation’s reaction to Dumples the Ignorant Clown’s order to shut down the Department of Education.
• Hours after Dump signed the agency’s death certificate, even Fox News was sharing polls indicating that the vast majority of the country is unlikely to support the president’s sweeping move.
• Fox also aired a full-screen of their own poll which revealed 65 percent of respondents opposed the agency’s end. That number included 92 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of independent voters, and 33 percent of Republicans.
• The same poll suggested that nearly seven in 10 Americans are concerned that Trump’s executive actions “may permanently alter the country’s system of checks and balances.”
• Well yes. That’s the idea. It’s not the side effect; it’s the intended result.
• In other news…
• People are dumping Tesla. Not just the stock; the cars.
• The number of Tesla owners trading in their cars surged to a record high in March, compounding the troubles of an automaker that has been embroiled in controversy since CEO Elon Musk became the shadow president of the USA and a central figure of Dump’s administration.
• Of all vehicles traded in at dealerships for new or used cars through March 16, 1.4 percent were Tesla cars from model year 2017 or newer — the highest share on record.
• A year ago, that number was 0.4 percent. The figure rose to 0.8 percent in January and 1.2 percent in February.
• The rise in trade-ins is for obvious reasons that have little to do with the cars themselves. Few people want to be associated with the brand after seeing what Musk has done to the federal government.
• Searches for used Teslas in February fell 16 percent from the previous month and 7 percent from the previous year, signaling that consumers are considering other electric vehicles.
• Protesters have vandalized cars and storefronts at Tesla facilities across the country and set Tesla charging stations ablaze, among other violent and destructive acts.
• People are angry. I’m angry. And it’s not going away, and the blame will be directed at the most obvious targets.
• On Friday, Dumpy the Car Salesman threatened vandals of Tesla cars (just Tesla, no other brands) with 20-year sentences in El Salvador’s infamous mega-prison.
• Interesting that he didn’t say anything about people who shoot children in elementary schools, or pharmaceutical and health insurance execs who cause the deaths of thousands. Just people who paint swastikas on certain electric cars. Huh.
• From the Health Desk… there’s a fungus among us.
• New cases of a dangerous, drug-resistant fungus have been identified in at least two states’ hospital systems.
• Candida auris was first identified in the U.S. in 2016. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year, jumping substantially in 2023 (the last year of data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
• Recently, cases have proliferated in Georgia as well as in Miami, where cases of the fungus have rapidly increased.
• The CDC has called Candida auris an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat because it’s resistant to anti-fungal drugs, making it hard to treat an infection once it occurs.
• Candida auris mainly spreads in health care settings, where people are sick and vulnerable. People with catheters, breathing tubes, feeding tubes and PICC lines are at the highest risk because the pathogen can enter the body through these types of devices.
• But now that RFK Jr. is making America healthy again, I’m sure he’ll come up with a cure. Perhaps direct sunlight on your taint, or eating lots of mint, or UV anal probes, or a crystal that you wave in figure-8 patterns over the affected fungal area.
• And now, The Weather: “Gethsemane” by Car Seat Headrest
• I fully blanked yesterday on sending a rest in peace note to legendary boxer George Foreman, who died Friday at 76.
• Foreman was a two-time world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist who is regarded as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. In his prime, that man was scary as fuck.
• Perhaps his most famous fight was one he lost to Muhammad Ali in the aptly-named "Rumble in the Jungle" that took place in 1974 in Zaire.
• But even more amazing was his unlikely comeback, when he became the oldest-ever heavyweight champion in history at age 45.
• Some of you only know him as the friendly pitchman for his George Foreman Grill, which sold millions since it hit the market in 1994. But he was a serious man in the ring.
• Let’s do a chart. We’re winding the clock back to this week in March 1970. I am going on 10 months old.
• I had pretty good music compared to most babies. I might be biased. Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel). 2. Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin). 3. Hey Jude (The Beatles). 4. Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe (The Doors). 5. Willy And The Poor Boys (Creedence Clearwater Revival). 6. Abbey Road (The Beatles). 7. Santana (Santana). 8. Chicago II (Chicago). 9. Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas (Tom Jones). 10. Hello, I'm Johnny Cash (Johnny Cash). 11. Grand Funk (Grand Funk Railroad). 12. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (B.J. Thomas). 13. Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (The Jackson 5). 14. Try A Little Kindness (Glen Campbell). 15. Engelbert Humperdinck (Engelbert Humperdinck). 16. Easy Rider (Soundtrack). 17. Was Captured Live At The Forum (Three Dog Night). 18. The Plastic Ono Band - Live Peace In Toronto 1969 (John Lennon). 19. Frijid Pink (Frijid Pink). 20. Let It Bleed (The Rolling Stones).
• From the Sports Desk… is March Madness done yet? No? Shit. Guess I’ll post some notes from yesterday.
• Houston beat Gonzaga. BYU beat Wisconsin. Auburn beat Creighton. Arkansas beat St. John’s. Texas Tech beat Drake. Michigan beat Texas A&M. Tennessee beat UCLA. Purdue beat McNeese.
• I’ve never even heard of like, three of these schools. The remaining second round matchups happen today.
• Today in history… Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty, or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA (1775). After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home (1806). Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City (1857). The University of California is founded in Oakland, CA (1868). In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time (1888). In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement (1919). The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany (1933). NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight, crewed by Gus Grissom and John Young (1965). Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt (1982). The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States (2010). Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19 (2020). A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days (2021).
• March 23 is the birthday of writer/assassin Lorenzino de' Medici (1514), mathematician/astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749). US vice president Schuyler Colfax (1823), mathematician Susan Jane Cunningham (1842), outlaw Nathaniel Reed (1862), psychologist/sociologist Erich Fromm (1900), film director Akira Kurosawa (1910), physicist Wernher von Braun (1912), runner Roger Bannister (1929), race care driver Craig Breedlove (1937), singer-songwriter/producer Ric Ocasek (1944), mandolin player David Grisman (1945), NFL player Ron Jaworski (1951), singer-songwriter Chaka Khan (1953), fashion designer Kenneth Cole (1954), NBA player Moses Malone (1955), actress Amanda Plummer (1957), singer-songwriter Damon Albarn (1968), NBA player/coach Jason Kidd (1973), blogger Perez Hilton (1978), runner Mo Farah (1983), NFL player Maurice Jones-Drew (1985), and NBA player Kyrie Irving (1992).

That seems like enough for now. I’m going to get out of this bathrobe, into the shower, into some clothes, and then… I have no idea. Probably something involving housework. Enjoy your day.