Random News: April 30, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s April 30, 2025, and it’s a Wednesday. Once again, the world being what it is right now, we have a whole lot of news to throw at you. Some of it is good, some of it is terrible, and some of it doesn’t seem to matter to you personally until it does. That’s kinda like life.

• I want to get rolling today with a reminder: on May 1-3, there are opportunities across the USA to take part in activism.
• Please visit maydaystrong.org and find an event near you. They are scheduled in all 50 states, with over 1,000 total over the May 1-3 time frame.
• I promise that you will feel energized and engaged, and know you’re making a difference, just by spending a couple of hours of your day in solidarity with people who feel just like you do.
• I will be doing my part on Saturday, May 3, not far from here in Torrance, CA. Hit me up if you have questions about where/why/how to get into social/political activism.
• Let’s do the news.
• Last Thursday, about 20 federal immigration agents raided the wrong home in Oklahoma City, OK.
• They forced a woman out of the house with her three daughters, all wearing only in their underwear in the rain. Then they seized their phones, laptops, and life savings.
• The family are all US citizens who just moved into the home two weeks ago. They’d relocated from Maryland.
• The agents — who identified themselves as U.S. marshals, ICE, and FBI agents, didn’t care as they ransacked the house and took all of the family’s belongings as “evidence.”
• They refused to identify themselves or leave a business card or other info. And they said it could take days or even months for the family’s stuff to be returned.
• Again, let me say it: THEY ARE US CITIZENS. If it can happen to them, it can happen to you. And if you don’t speak up about it, no one will bother speaking up for you when it’s your house and your family.
• Moving on to some economy news.
• Is it too late to save the world from what Dumples the Inept Clown is doing to the global economy? Billionaire investor Ray Dalio says it is.
• He says the economic fallout of Dump’s tariffs has caused the world economic order — with the US at the center — to break down.
• Who is Dalio? Well, he’s the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund by assets, who became famous on Wall Street for anticipating the 2008 financial crisis.
• You can’t blame him for his prediction of gloom and doom. Foreign investors have already retreated from US dollar-backed assets amid widespread concerns about the future stability of the world’s largest economy.
• Thanks Dumpy.
• Let’s move on to a note from the Climate Desk.
• The Dump administration has dismissed the scientists working on the country's flagship climate report.
• Dumpy and his gang want us to keep up our reliance on fossil fuels, so it’s natural that he’d take steps to curtail climate science and make information about global warming less available to the public.
• The National Climate Assessment is the most trustworthy and comprehensive source of information about how global warming affects the United States.
• The assessment is mandated by Congress, and its sixth edition was supposed to be released in late 2027. About 400 volunteer authors had already started work. They included top scientists as well as economists, tribal leaders, and climate experts from non-profit groups and corporations.
• Yesterday, the authors received an email releasing them from their roles, and saying "the scope of the [National Climate Assessment] is currently being reevaluated."
• So say goodbye to that.
• Moving on.
• 24 states filed a lawsuit yesterday over dramatic cuts to Americorps, saying the Dump administration is trying to dismantle the volunteer service organization as part of its sweeping federal cost-cutting campaign.
• Seems about right.
• Americorps has put 85% of its staff on administrative leave ahead of planned job cuts. The agency has also allegedly slashed its National Civilian Community Corps, which sends volunteers to work on conservation, natural disaster response, and other projects.
• The states argue — and I agree — that the cuts made by Dumpy, Musk, and DOGE violate federal law and constitutional separation of powers, since Congress created and funded Americorps.
• Yeah, Dump has never understood that he’s not a king and at best, operates a co-equal brand of government with two other branches.
• He doesn’t know this because he’s a fucking idiot. That is the reason.
• In other news, this item from the International Desk…
• You can skip this next set of bullets because it’s some horrible and traumatic shit, and I don’t want to ruin your day.
• Like the next 5-7 bullets.
• Last chance.
• Okay.
• In February, Russia returned the body of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity.
• The forensic examination revealed numerous signs of torture, and some of her organs had been removed.
• She was emaciated, had a broken rib, neck injuries, and electric shock marks on her feet.
• Roshchyna went missing in 2023 while in Russian-occupied territories in southeast Ukraine investigating alleged torture prisons. She was 27 years old at the time.
• Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still being held in Russian prisons or in occupied areas of Ukraine, and torture is prevalent.
• Most are being held without charges or access to legal counsel.
• And now see where Dumpy is getting his inspiration. If you give a shit about any person in the world other than yourself, get serious about not allowing the USA to become this way.
• Thank you. Now back to our regular bullshit.
• In other international news…
• Today, Pakistan said it had “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days.
• Soldiers have already exchanged gunfire along borders and Pakistanis heeded New Delhi’s orders to leave the country following last week’s deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
• This would be a good time to remind you that both India and Pakistan have nuclear arms.
• The world doesn’t need them actively fighting.
• Let’s move on.
• Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he's ending a program at the Defense Department that promoted the participation of women in peace building.
• In fact, Hegseth was quite clear on his feelings, calling the Women, Peace and Security program "yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops."
• Wow. Who put that woke program in place?
• Oh.
• It was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017. What far-left liberal people supported this woke legislation?
• Oh.
• That would be Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and national security adviser Mike Waltz. They all got behind it when they were in Congress, and it was championed by Dumpy's daughter Ivanka.
• And literally this very month, Rubio touted the bill, saying in remarks at the State Department that he was proud to support it. He referred to it as "the first law passed by any country anywhere in the world focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.”
• And now? Gone. Too woke for Hegseth, a man who has a whole-ass room at the Pentagon for him to put on his makeup.
• Moving on.
• I have one other note I want to point out regarding Monday’s federal election in Canada.
• If Donnie Dump’s immense unpopularity can cause a whole other country to flip its voting trend by 30+ points, imagine what might be possible in the USA come the 2026 midterm elections.
• With few exceptions in certain cult-driven areas of the US, every politician who’s aligned himself or herself with Dump will be paying the price.
• They will be the first to fall on the sword. So for every congressional representative and every member of the Senate, you’re running out of time to start defending our country against Dump and his fascist ways.
• And there are even worse things that can happen than losing your next political race if the people in your states and districts blame you for the hardships they’ll soon be experiencing.
• And you know very well that Dump will not save you. Keep it in mind. The time to “evolve your outlook” is today, not months from now.
• Moving back to an item I’d meant to talk about earlier.
• I’d wanted to mention the extraordinary thing that happened Sunday night on “60 Minutes.”
• In the final minutes of the show’s broadcast, longtime correspondent Scott Pelley informed viewers that Bill Owens, the show’s executive producer since 2019, resigned last week, citing editorial interference by CBS’s parent company, Paramount.
• It is not at all typical for a journalist to be so ballsy as to call out interference by the owners of the media companies for whom they work.
• Pelley was fearless.
• He said, “Stories we’ve pursued for 57 years are often controversial — lately, the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair — he was tough that way. But our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”
• Pelley wrapped up by saying, “No one here is happy about it. But in resigning, Bill proved one thing: He was the right person to lead ‘60 Minutes’ all along.”
• That’s how to do the job. I’m seriously impressed.
• A note from the History Desk…
• Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi Germany's Dachau concentration camp.
• The Dachau memorial site north of Munich dedicated a plaque in honor of the U.S. Army's 45th Infantry Division that first encountered more than 30,000 prisoners alive at the camp on April 29, 1945.
• At least 40,000 people were killed or died of hunger and illness there between 1933 and 1945. Dachau was the longest operating concentration camp in the Holocaust. It was one of thousands of camps and other sites the Nazis used in the mass murder of more than 6 million Jews.
• After World War II, the Dachau camp was used by the Allied powers to hold former SS soldiers awaiting trial for war crimes.
• That got me thinking about how perhaps the CECOT prison in El Salvador could be useful for holding the people who enabled Donnie Dump in his crimes against humanity while they await the due process we would grant them.
• Why? Because we’re not like them, and would give them the courtesy that our Constitution requires before meting out punishment.
• Let’s move on.
• There’s almost always a way to make lemonade out of MAGA-infected lemons.
• Take, for instance, the website called PublicSquare. It bills itself as “the anti-woke online marketplace,” and sure enough, the thousands of businesses listed there want people to know they align with MAGA views and oppose so-called “progressive priorities” like women’s reproductive rights and diversity initiatives.
• So what could possibly be good about that?
• Well, how about turning it into a database of places to never spend your money at?
• That’s what ended up happening. In various local spots across the country, people have been using the site as a handy reference guide of businesses to avoid or boycott entirely.
• As one user wrote, “After a local article was published, our community is using PublicSquare to see which businesses to avoid. It’s like you’re helping the trash take itself out.”
• Nice!
• And now, The Weather: “Four Hands ii” by Moontype
• From the Sports Desk… I suppose you’re expecting more playoff scores. Welp, I am here to give the people what they want.
• In the NBA: the Bucks took the Pacers to overtime, but couldn’t pull it out, losing 119-118 and getting knocked out of the playoffs… the series went 4-1 Indiana, who move on to the conference semifinals. Likewise, the Magic are out, losing to the Celtics 120-89 and getting eliminated in the series 4-1. The Pistons and the Knicks also had a nailbiter, with Detroit winning 106-103 and going up 3-2 in that series. And the Nuggets beat the Clippers 131-115, going up 3-2 in the series.
• In the NHL: the Senators blanked the Maple Leafs 4-0, avoiding elimination as Toronto now leads 3-2 in the series. The Hurricanes bested the Devils in thrilling double overtime game 5-4, winning their series 4-1. The Golden Knights beat the Wild 3-2 in overtime, taking a 3-2 lead in the series. And the Oilers beat the Kings 3-1, and now lead that series 3-2.
• Today in history… Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots (1598). On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first President of the United States (1789). The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation (1803). The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana (1812). J. J. Thomson announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton, at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London (1897). Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor (1900). Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for $146 million plus $50 million for charity (1925). NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address (1939). Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours (1945). In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam (1947). U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that White House Counsel John Dean has been fired and that other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, have resigned (1973). CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free (1993). U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison (2004). Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (2009). 
• April 30 is the birthday of noblewoman Anne of Glouster (1383), physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777), dentist Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel (1866), memoirist Alice B. Toklas (1877), actress Cloris Leachman (1926), author Larry Niven (1938), actor/painter Burt Young (1940), actress Jill Clayburgh (1944), singer-songwriter/activist Mimi Fariña (1945), guitarist/singer-songwriter Wayne Kramer (1948), NBA player Isiah Thomas (1961), singer-songwriter/pianist Amanda Palmer (1976), NBA player Luis Scola (1980), actress Gal Gadot (1985), and singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco (1990).

I think that’s enough news. I’ll once again remind you that it’s time to get into the streets and demand that the USA remains a democracy, while also shoring up concepts of equality. If you don’t fight for yourself and your family and friends, who will? No one. Don’t wait for someone else to save you. Save yourself. Enjoy your day.

Random News: April 29, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s April 29, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. I have so much. news for you today that I don’t know what I’m going to do. As opposed to thinking about that, I should just start writing really fast and see how much I can get it.

• We'll start today’s news north of the US border, where Canada had their federal elections yesterday.
• Congrats to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, who won handily and capped a stunning turnaround in fortunes, thanks entirely to the ineptitude of Donnie Dump.
• It was so bad that Carney’s rival, populist Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre — kind of a Canadian Dumpy — wasn’t only rejected as the next Prime Minister; he was voted out of his own seat in Parliament.
• After polls closed, the Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservative Party, though it wasn’t immediately clear if they would win an outright majority or would need to rely on one or more smaller parties to form a government and pass legislation.
• As of just a few months ago, that same Liberal party looked to be heading toward a crushing defeat, and were down in national polls by 27 points.
• Then Dumpy started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, insulting the country, and making serious statements that it should become the 51st state.
• And due 100% to Dumples the Demented Clown, infuriated Canadians had a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.
• On a relevant side note, Dumpy has said many times that the U.S doesn’t need Canada.
• Then why does a quarter of the oil America consumes per day comes from the country?
• About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum, and uranium to the U.S., and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.
• Nearly $2.7 billion USD worth of goods and services cross the border every fucking day of the year.
• And the grand majority of Americans view our friendship with our northern neighbors to be invaluable.
• Let’s move on.
• Dumpy is bigly mad — which he is daily, the man is a miserable motherfucker 24/7 — this time at Amazon.
• Why? Because the online retail giant is going to be displaying how much tariffs are increasing prices next to products.
• That’s actually a really good idea. As people are now discovering, prices on some items are now double or even triple what they would have been without Dumpy’s tariff taxes on the American people.
• White House Mouth of Sauron Karoline Leavitt said this morning, “I just got off the phone with the president about this, about Amazon’s announcement. This is a hostile and political act by Amazon.”
• Hahahahaha! I mean, I thought he was proud of the tariffs. Why wouldn’t he want people to know all about them?
• One reason: Americans’ confidence in the economy slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COIVD-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs take a heavy toll on consumer expectations for future growth.
• It was announced this morning that the consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points in April to 86, its lowest reading since May 2020.
• Even a good number of MAGA folks are being forced to acknowledge that prices are starting to rise because of Dumpy’s poorly-planned widespread tariffs. 
• Wait until they find out about the shocking lack of goods that are coming into the country, or the truckers who are refusing to transport items when there’s nothing to pick up on the other end.
• We have yet to feel the real effects of Dumpy’s evil plans to destroy America. And when we do, I hope that some of those folks aren’t so deeply brainwashed they even they can admit they made a huge mistake by supporting Dump.
• Moving on.
• Giving credit where credit is due, I commend the House for passing a bipartisan bill yesterday that makes it a federal crime to post real and fake sexually explicit imagery online of a person without their consent.
• The bill, known as the "Take It Down Act," cleared the lower chamber in a 409-2 vote. The only "no" votes came from Republican Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Eric Burilson (R-MO). The Senate had unanimously passed the measure in February. 
• The legislation requires social media companies and other websites to remove images and videos, including deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence, within 48 hours after a victim's request.
• And it truly was bipartisan; the measure was sponsored by Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the upper chamber, while Reps. Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Madeline Dean (D-PA) were the co-leads on the House version.
• As we’ve discussed here in depth before, in recent years there have been an alarming number of cases where victims have been extorted that have ended in suicide.
• Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram, and threads — as well as TikTok and Snapchat have all said they support the legislation.
• Elon Musk’s X has not stated that they support it. Figures.
• And — completely misunderstanding the point of it — Dumpy said, “And I’m going to use that bill for myself too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online, nobody.”
• You. Fucking. Dipshit.
• Moving on.
• Dumpy’s been signing those executive orders again.
• Yesterday, he signed one that requires English-language proficiency for commercial motor drivers, such as truckers.
• Seems like a pretty good idea. That’s why the requirement already exists. Dump said it “has not been enforced in years.” So to be clear, he’s still signing orders that are already laws in the USA.
• It would be like me walking into a restaurant and commanding you to eat while you’re chewing your food. Then taking credit for it.
• Another of Dumpy’s EO’s directs state and federal officials to publish lists of “sanctuary city” jurisdictions, or places where local authorities often don’t cooperate in enforcing federal immigration regulations.
• He actually tried that same thing during his first term — but the cities fought back, and were often able to defeat those efforts in court.
• Just last week, a federal judge blocked the administration's latest effort to withhold funding from 16 jurisdictions, including San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and New Haven.
• So this is, once again, all performative bullshit.
• This past weekend, The Dumpster also announced he was “bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.”
• Um, whether it should have or not, Columbus Day has never gone away. It’s a federal holiday.
• What Dumpy was trying to say is that he would not follow his predecessor’s practice of recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day in October.
• Which, again, is fine. He — like all Americans — can choose to celebrate whatever he wants. Here in California, we don’t recognize Columbus Day. We instead recognize and honor the people whose sovereign land we stole when we people of European lineage arrived on these shores in the 1600s.
• But since Dumpy brought up Columbus, it gives me the opportunity to reiterate a couple of things.
• One: Columbus never set foot on mainland North America, and never touched any territory that’s now part of the USA. He landed in the Caribbean. At no point did his journey take him to America. Never.
• Two: Columbus was a vile colonizer and slave trader. The one piece of good news I can tell you about him was that Spain ended up fucking him over for what he thought was his reward for exploration, and he died basically penniless at age 54
• What kind of man was this hero of Donnie Dump? Here’s part of a letter he wrote to a friend…
• ”While I was in the boat, I captured a very beautiful Carib woman... I then took a piece of rope and whipped her soundly, and she let forth such incredible screams that you would not have believed your ears. Eventually we came to such terms, I assure you, that you would have thought that she had been brought up in a school for whores."
• That’s 100% real and documented. Don’t believe me? Look it up.
• And Columbus congratulated his brother Bartolomeo on "defending the family" when the latter ordered a woman paraded naked through the streets and then had her tongue cut out for suggesting that Columbus was of lowly birth.
• These were among the worst people in history. I will not honor them and I will never celebrate their villainy, no matter what you call the holiday.
• Moving on.
• A note to anyone applauding the efforts of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE.
• The joke is on you.
• Elon and DOGE claimed to have saved $160 billion through its push to root out wasteful or fraudulent government spending.
• But that effort came at a cost for taxpayers, with a new estimate from a nonpartisan research and advocacy group estimating that DOGE's actions will cost $135 billion this fiscal year alone.
• The analysis tallied the costs associated with putting tens of thousands of federal employees on paid leave, re-hiring mistakenly fired workers, and lost productivity. 
• Plus, the $135 billion cost to taxpayers doesn't include the expense of defending multiple lawsuits challenging DOGE's actions, nor the impact of estimated lost tax collections due to staff cuts at the IRS. 
• Slow clap.
• In yet other news…
• Yesterday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) announced that he won't seek reelection in 2026 and plans to step back "soon" from his post as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. 
• Sadly, the long-serving Virginia Democrat said his cancer had returned. Connolly, 75, said he will "do everything possible to continue to represent" his constituents for the remainder of his term, adding that the "sun is setting on my time in public service."
• Salute to Connolly, a good man, and let’s keep his seat blue. It’s a relatively safe district, so hopefully it stays that way.
• And now, The Weather: “IMAGINE” by Boko Yout
• The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has its list of inductees. This year’s class includes first-time nominees Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, and Bad Company, as well as Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, the White Stripes, and Soundgarden.
• I’m cool with all of those.
• The Rock Hall’s Musical Influence Awards are going to Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon. And their Musical Excellence Award is going to the well-deserved trio of producer Thom Bell, pianist Nicky Hopkins, and bassist Carol Kaye.
• And in other music news, Jack Black has broken a Billboard record with “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” his song from ‘A Minecraft Movie,’ which has debuted on the Hot 100 this week.
• How is it notable? It has a runtime of 34 fucking seconds, making it the record for shortest song to ever crack the singles chart. It hit this week at No. 77.
• Jack Black is impossible not to like.
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s the end of April 1972. I’m going on three years old. I believe we lived in Detroit at the time.
• And this may well be the best collection of music I’ve ever included here. That’s obviously a subjective statement, but take a look at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time…
• 1. America (America). 2. Harvest (Neil Young). 3. First Take (Roberta Flack). 4. Fragile (Yes). 5. Eat A Peach (The Allman Brothers Band). 6. Nilsson Schmilsson (Nilsson). 7. Paul Simon (Paul Simon). 8. Let's Stay Together (Al Green). 9. Baby I'm-A Want You (Bread). 10. Tapestry (Carole King). 11. Young, Gifted And Black (Aretha Franklin). 12. Smokin' (Humble Pie). 13. FM & AM (George Carlin). 14. Hendrix In The West (Jimi Hendrix). 15. American Pie (Don McLean). 16. All I Ever Need Is You (Sonny & Cher). 17. Music (Carole King). 18. The Partridge Family Shopping Bag (The Partridge Family). 19. Malo (Malo). 20. The Concert For Bangla Desh (George Harrison).
• From the Sports Desk… more playoff scores? Sure.
• In the NBA: the Cavs became the first team to make it past the first round, beating the Heat by an embarrassing 138-83 and sweeping the series 4-0. The Warriors had a thriller against the Rockets, winning 109-106 at the buzzer and taking a 3-1 lead in the series.
• In the NHL, the Panthers beat the Lightning 4-2, and now lead that series 3-1. The Stars beat the Avalanche 6-2, grabbing a 3-1 lead there as well.
• Today in history… Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans (1429). James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names (1770). Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union (1861). The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public (1910). SOE agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo's most wanted person, parachutes back into France to be a liaison between London and the local maquis group (1944). Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker (1945). After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title (1967). The controversial musical ‘Hair’ opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway (1968). United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the Watergate scandal (1974). Riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King, and over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed (1992). The final Oldsmobile is built in Lansing, Michigan, ending 107 years of vehicle production (2004).
• April 29 is the birthday of physician/polymath John Arbuthnot (1667), mathematician/physicist Henri Poincaré (1854), publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863), immunologist Michael Heidelberger (1888), pianist/composer Duke Ellington (1899), Japan emperor Hirohito (1901), harmonica player Toots Thielemans (1922), singer-songwriter Lonnie Donegan (1931), singer-songwriter Willie Nelson (1933), singer-songwriter/guitarist Otis Rush (1935), felon Bernie Madoff (1938), politician Debbie Stabenow (1950), race car driver Dale Earnhardt (1951), comedian/actor Jerry Seinfeld (1954), actor Leslie Jordan (1955), actress Kate Mulgrew (1955), actor Daniel Day-Lewis (1957), actress Michelle Pfeiffer (1958), actress Eve Plumb (1958), actor Federico Castelluccio (1964), tennis player Andre Agassi (1970), actress Uma Thurman (1970), NBA player God Shammgod (1976), NFL player Jay Cutler (1983), and NHL player Jonathan Toews (1988).

That’s a lot of news. Sometimes a lot of things happen. I try to tell you the stuff that might be important to you, or to someone you love. I think we do a pretty good job of that here at Zak’s Random News. Enjoy your day.

Random News: April 28, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s April 28, 2025, and it’s a Monday. I'm up and about, ready to face another week of whatever happens. Bring it on.

• When I first heard about the mobilization of events on or near May Day, we were informed at the time that some 50 events had been planned nationwide.
• There are now over 800 events happening this week in the “May Day Strong” protest actions. All of them are on Thursday May 1 through Saturday May 3. I believe there are events in every state in the USA.
• I’m attending the most local one of these on Saturday… it’s May Day Strong: South Bay LA, just a couple of miles east of me at the Torrance, CA civic center.
• I think that being part of very local events helps your neighbors understand that they are not alone in resisting fascism and Trumpism and the oligarchical rule of the USA.
• Anyway, join us! Get out among people who share your beliefs, and let’s hit the streets! You can get info at maydaystrong.org or check the link to the event map in the comments.
• Moving on.
• As we reported over the weekend, poll numbers came out in conjunction with Dumpy’s first 100 days into his second term, and they were the worst of any president in 80s year.
• Donnie Dump fucking freaked out. He’s an old man who still lives or dies by his “ratings,” so in true Dumpy form, he’s now attacking (drum roll)… the polls.
• And in fact, this morning, he said that pollsters should be investigated for "election fraud."
• I’m serious. This fucking whiny baby man wrote this morning — not just citing one poll but many huge and legitimate surveys from The New York Times, ABC News/The Washington Post, and Fox News — all of whom agreed on Dump’s tremendous unpopularity.
• He said on social media, “They are negative criminals who apologize to their subscribers and readers after I win elections big, much bigger than their polls showed I would win, loose a lot of credibility, and then go on cheating and lying for the next cycle, only worse.”
• Yes, the misspellings are his. Dumpy wasn’t done being bigly mad and sad and feeling bad.
• “They suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, and there is nothing that anyone, or anything, can do about it. THEY ARE SICK, almost only write negative stories about me no matter how well I am doing (99.9% at the Border, BEST NUMBER EVER!), AND ARE TRULY THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! I wish them well, but will continue to fight to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
• Poor old orange fat boy. No one likes you. Go cry some more, ya big pussy.
• Let’s move on to something that matters.
• Don’t get distracted by anything while keeping an eye on your Social Security that Dump and his team are trying to take away.
• It’s starting by making it more and more difficult to access the money that you paid into over your working life. The elimination of 7,000 Social Security jobs — more than 12 percent of the workforce — and other cuts have led to long waits, dropped calls, and other widespread service issues. 
• More than 73 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, spanning all states and districts. It is the government’s marquee program for elderly and disabled people, so beneficiaries are concentrated among older Americans, who vote in high proportions.
• Voters 65 and up narrowly backed Trump 50 percent to 49 percent in November. And now that 1-percentage point of people is to blame for the inevitable hardships that are coming for themselves and all the rest.
• Elon Musk, who Dump tasked with tearing away Americans’ benefits, has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” saying the money coming in is not enough to meet its future obligations.
• So whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, or even someone who doesn’t give a shit about politics at all… this affects you and your loved ones and friends.
• Don’t let them screw you over without putting up a fight.
• Moving on.
• I can tell you one guy who’s never going to let Dumpy be his bully: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
• Yesterday, he sharply criticized fellow Democrats for not doing enough to oppose Dump, perhaps drawing a clear divide between himself and other high-profile Democrats seen as future presidential contenders.
• Without naming names, he called out Democrats “flocking to podcasts and cable news shows to admonish fellow Democrats for not caring enough about the struggles of working families.”
• Pritzker added, “Those same do-nothing Democrats want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants, instead of their own lack of guts and gumption.”
• He has a point.
• One thing about Pritzker: he’s far more rich than Dump. If the people who think of a person’s value as connected to their wealth — perhaps like MAGA weirdos — then they should have no problem supporting the billionaire Hyatt heir.
• Let’s move on.
• Elon Musk really, really, really wants deepfake videos to be a part of your life.
• He is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates, saying it violates First Amendment speech protections.
• He didn’t mention that it also allows scumbags to make fake porn videos of your children, but hey, he’s the guys MAGA loves.
• His company X Corp filed a federal lawsuit this week that also contends that the 2023 state law is preempted by a 1996 federal statute that shields social media from being held responsible for material posted on their platforms.
• Minnesota’s law imposes criminal penalties — including jail time — for disseminating a deepfake video, image, or audio if a person knows it’s fake, or acts with reckless disregard to its authenticity, either within 90 days before a party nominating convention, or after the start of early voting in a primary or general election.
• The law’s author, Democratic state Sen. Erin Maye Quade, says quite accurately, “Elon Musk funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2024 presidential election and tried to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. Of course he is upset that Minnesota law prevents him from spreading deepfakes that meant to harm candidates and influence elections.”
• X, formerly known as Twitter, said it’s the only social media platform challenging the Minnesota law.
• Figures.
• In other news…
• Starting at sunrise yesterday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) voiced their opposition to the Republican budget plan by holding a sit-in protest on the steps of the Capitol that lasted more than 12 hours.
• They started livestreaming their conversation at 6am, while Booker warned of a "moment of moral urgency" as Congress is set to return from a two-week recess today.
• Their protest had gotten approximately 6 million views online through various platforms as of yesterday evening.
• The Republican budget plan is a key step toward implementing Dumpy's cruel priorities on border security, defense, energy, and taxes… and includes potential cuts to Medicaid and other crucial services for the American public.
• Let’s move on.
• Early yesterday morning, at least 114 people who are allegedly in the United States unlawfully were arrested at a party in Colorado Springs.
• The DEA said the operation, with over 300 officers and agents from the FBI, ICE, ATF, IRS, USPS, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, and local law enforcement, also yielded the seizure of firearms and drugs.
• Fucking hell. That’s like, nearly every possible law enforcement you can use inside the USA. I guess DHS was busy or something.
• But now some weird shit…
• DEA officials went on to say that active duty U.S. military personnel were at the party, some working private security and others as patrons.
• Colorado Springs is a big military town, you see.
• Anyway, if you were wondering: Colorado state law does limit the scope of collaboration between local governments and federal immigration authorities, unless those federal agencies have a warrant signed by a federal judge or magistrate.
• Which this one certainly must have had.
• From the International Desk…
• In Iran over the weekend, a massive explosion and fire that rocked a port has killed at least 40 people and injured around 1,000 others.
• The explosion happened just as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.
• Hmm.
• While no one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had recently acknowledged that "our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response."
• "We have to find out why it happened," said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
• And now, The Weather: “Evangelic Girl is a Gun” by yeule
• From the Sports Desk… the playoffs continue. By the way, these keep going for more than another month in both sports. Why did I start posting daily scores? I’m an idiot.
• In the NBA: the Knicks beat the Pistons at the buzzer, 94-93, and take a 3-1 lead in that series. The Timberwolves beat the Lakers 116-113, and with a 3-1 lead in the series are just a win away from moving to Round 2. The Celtics beat the Magic 107-98, grabbing a 3-1 lead in the series. And the Pacers gave the Bucks a beatdown, winning 129-103 and going up 3-1 in the series.
• In the NHL: the Blues spanked the Jets 5-1, tying their series at 2-2. The Hurricanes beat the Devils 5-2, and lead the series 3-1. The Capitals beat the Canadiens 5-2, now up 3-1 in the series. And the Oilers took another one from the Kings, winning 4-3 in overtime and tying the series at 2-2.
• And a note about last week’s NFL Draft.
• For the literal first time in my life, the sports pundits are giving my football team, the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders, grades of A and even A+ in the 2025 NFL Draft. Per averages of draft analysts, the Raiders got the highest score of any team in the league.
• The Raiders have classically been one of the worst teams at drafting the right talent.
• But we now have a whole new management… new GM, new head coach. And it shows. The draft went super well for them, and I’m hoping it reflects on the upcoming season.
• Today in history… Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols (1294). Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution (1788). France invades the Austrian Netherlands — present day Belgium and Luxembourg — beginning the French Revolutionary Wars (1792). Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched (1869). Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium (1923). Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement (1945). Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet ‘Orpheus’ at the New York City Center (1948). Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license (1967). ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run (1973). High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident (1986). CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse (2004).
• April 28 is the birthday of English king Edward IV (1442), US president James Monroe (1758), actor Lionel Barrymore (1878), astronomer Jan Oort (1900), businessman Oskar Schindler (1908), businessman Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916), singer Blossom Dearie (1924), novelist Harper Lee (1926), astronomer Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928), Iraq president Saddam Hussein (1937), actress Ann-Margret (1941), author Terry Pratchett (1948), actor Bruno Kirby (1949), comedian/TV host Jay Leno (1950), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Chuck Leavell (1952), singer-songwriter/musician Kim Gordon (1953), golfer John Daly (1966), NHL player Nicklas Lidström (1970), actress Penélope Cruz (1974), actress Jessica Alba (1981), NFL player Blake Bortles (1992), NFL player Denzel Ward (1997), and MLB player Anthony Volpe (2001).

A reminder to make plans this week to find a local May Day protest in your area. Again, I’ll put a link to the event map in the comments. Enjoy your day.

Random News: April 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.

---

Good morning. It’s April 27, 2025, and it’s a Sunday. Feeling pretty good so far in the 15 minutes that I’ve been awake. I managed to make coffee (necessary) and now I’m trying to make my fingers work well enough to type (also necessary). So, here in my blue bathrobe on what looks to be a nice day outside, let’s see what’s going on in the world around us.

• The ratings on Donnie Dump’s first 100 days in his second term as president are in… and they are not good.
• How not good? Per multiple national polls, Dump has the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years.
• The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 4 in 10 Americans say Dump has been a “terrible” president in his second term, and about 1 in 10 say he has been “poor.”
• In contrast, about 3 in 10 say he has been “great or ”good,” while just under 2 in 10 say he has been “average.”
• Americans are nearly twice as likely to say Trump has been mostly focusing on the wrong priorities as to say he has been focusing on the right ones
• I’m actually glad to report that Americans are not shocked by Dump being so horrible in his first 100 days. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults say the first few months of Trump’s second term have been mostly what they expected.
• I’m one of them. Not only did I know all this shit was coming, but I’ve been very clear with you here on the many worse things that will happen should Dump continue his plan unchecked.
• Even Republicans are not overwhelmingly convinced that Dump’s attention has been in the right place.
• The share of Republicans who say he has been at least a “good” president has fallen about 10 percentage points since January.
• But don’t get it wrong; about 8 in 10 Republicans have a positive view of Dumpy, and about the same share approves of how he is handling the presidency.
• That’s how things are in a cult, when you are so deeply brainwashed that you ignore the evidence of your own senses.
• But some of the biggest hardship is still ahead of us. Despite that, many of the MAGA cult will still support Dumpy and find other points of blame for why their lives are falling apart.
• Let’s move on.
• Yesterday we mentioned how a U.S. citizen — a little two-year-old girl born in New Orleans — was deported to Honduras.
• Turns out she’s not the only one.
• Two more U.S. citizen children from a different family, aged 4 and 7 were also deported.
• In both cases, ICE held the families incommunicado, refusing or failing to respond to multiple attempts by attorneys and family members to contact them.
• In one instance, a mother was granted less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly terminated when her spouse tried to provide legal counsel’s phone number.
• One of the children — again, a native-born citizen of the USA — is suffering from a rare form of metastatic cancer. They were deported without medication or the ability to consult with their treating physicians–despite ICE being notified in advance of the child’s urgent medical needs.
• If you’re any kind of human being, you know that the cruelty and deliberate denial of legal and medical access are not only unlawful, but inhumane.
• And if you agree with any of this, you are never, ever allowed to call yourself a Christian again. You hereby no longer meet any standard to praise Jesus. You’re fucking out. Take off that cross. Leave the church. Never return.
• One more quick immigration note.
• The wife of an active-duty Coast Guardsman was arrested this week by federal immigration authorities inside the family residential section of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Key West, FL.
• The woman’s work visa expired around 2017. She and the Coast Guardsman were married early this year. The couple was moving into U.S. government housing at the nearby Naval Air Station when she was arrested and put into custody of ICE.
• The wife of a member of our military.
• Now seems like a good place to remind you that this coming week and next weekend, there are national protest events to try and stop Dump’s fascist takeover. Visit maydaystrong.org to find an event near you, and plan to participate.
• I’ll be doing so on Saturday May 3.
• Moving on.
• As the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures… and Dumples the Dictator Clown will be growing more and more desperate each passing day.
• So now, he’s going after the Democratic Party’s top fundraising platform, ActBlue.
• You read it right. Dump has ordered the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue using the tools of the government to go after his political opponents. He signed an executive order Thursday to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate alleged illegal campaign donations.
• In a statement, ActBlue said, “The Trump Administration’s and GOP’s targeting of ActBlue is part of their brazen attack on democracy in America. Today’s escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump’s latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral and ideological opposition.”
• Correct.
• If you’ve supported liberal candidates, you already know ActBlue. I’ve donated through them many times. Many Democratic fundraising emails and texts go through the platform.
• ActBlue has been around for two decades, and has helped power an outpouring of small-dollar donations to candidates and causes.
• That’s something that Republicans have largely failed to do, relying mostly on huge corporate donations and political action committees for their campaign funds.
• Which is why Dump is scared of ActBlue. Fucking pussy.
• Moving on with some news from the International Desk…
• Until a few months ago, Canada’s Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become the next prime minister.
• Then Dump happened, bringing along all his talk of taking over Canada and making it the “51st state,” as he’s said many times.
• But now, Prime Minister Mark Carney — the Liberal leader who was sworn in on March 14 following Justin Trudeau’s resignation — is leading n the polls heading into tomorrow’s election. 
• Just how badly did Dump fuck over Canada’s Conservatives?
• In mid-January’s polls, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. Holy shit.
• And as of last week? The Liberals led by 4 percentage points nationally and 6 points in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, which has 122 of the 343 seats in Parliament.
• Everything Dump touches dies.
• In other news…
• Back on topic of Dump’s increasing unpopularity and the MAGA folks who are still not understanding what’s happening around them.
• A woman — who has the unfortunate actual name of Karen — posted a rant yesterday on social media.
• “MIND BLOWN and Pissed OFF! My granddaughter found the perfect dress for her uncle's wedding on Temu. It was marked down to $19. I went ahead and ordered it and after I hit the purchase now button, I got a receipt for $54!! I couldn't figure out what I did wrong so I went to my receipt and look what happened. I was charged a $31.44 import fee!! The dress was only $19!! No more Temu for me.”
• Okay Karen. So… maybe you’ve heard me say that Dump’s tariffs are a tax on the American people. I know you want to blame Temu — and I’d truly advise that no one purchase from Temu for multiple reasons.
• But that fact that you paid almost three times the price of this item isn’t Temu’s fault.
• It’s Dump’s and only Dump’s. And you voted for him, and now you get to foot the bill, and many more bills are coming soon.
• Let’s move on.
• We’ve chatted quite a bit about defense secretary Pete Hegseth, the guy that Dumpy admires so much despite being a global punchline.
• You’re probably aware that even low-level government employees are forbidden from using personal communications devices — phone and tablets and they own computers — for work-related tasks.
• But it turns out that the same phone Hegseth used when he accidentally shared those covert military maneuvers over Signal is also his personal one.
• And embarrassingly, Hegseth’s personal number could easily be found online on a variety of public apps as recently as March, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Airbnb, and — we’re fucking serious here — a sports betting website.
• Mike Casey, who ran the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, says, "There's zero percent chance that someone hasn't tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on his phone. He is one of the top five, probably, most targeted people in the world for espionage."
• You leave a digital trail with anything you do that connects to the Internet. I’m sure you know that.
• Last summer, Hegseth used his phone number — the same one he uses to tell friends and family about classified military secrets — to join Sleeper, a fantasy football and sports betting site.
• What was his user name there?"PeteHegseth."
• He also used the same personal phone to leave a bunch of Google Maps reviews, praising a dentist office for its "amazing" staff and a plumber for "fast, honest, and quality work."
• I mean, that’s nice. I leave good reviews too when merited. 
• But I’m not in charge of the fucking U.S. military. Many people have gone to prison for many years for much less severe offenses.
• But people are who they show you there are. Hegseth used to show up for work at Fox News falling-down drunk. He’s been credibly accused of sexual assault. And he had no experience running a big organization, much less the world’s largest.
• So sure, he’s just being the guy who we knew he was. An idiot.
• Let’s keep moving on.
• What happens when cops make mistakes? They are, after all, human, and prone to error.
• The Supreme Court is about to issue a decision that will affect this question moving forward.
• FBI agents broke down the front door of Trina Martin’s Atlanta home, stormed into her bedroom, and pointed guns at her and her then-boyfriend as her 7-year-old son screamed for his mom from another room.
• Then the agents realized they had the wrong house. The agent who led the raid said his personal GPS led him to the wrong place… an excuse acceptable for when a delivery driver puts your food next door, but not to have your family terrorized.
• Martin had tried to sue the U.S. government, accusing the agents of assault and battery, false arrest, and other violations. But her case was dismissed by both a federal judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Not so fast.
• The key issue before the justices is under what circumstances people can sue the federal government in an effort to hold law enforcement accountable.
• Congress clearly allowed for those lawsuits in 1974, after a pair of law enforcement raids on wrong houses made headlines, and blocking them would leave little recourse for families like her.
• Important note: the agent leading the raid returned later to apologize and leave a business card with a supervisor’s name. But the family received no compensation from the government, not even for the damage to the house after breaking down the front door and ransacking the home.
• Moving. On.
• I had to read this next news item twice, because it seemed so deeply cringe-worthy that I thought it had to be some kind of satire or parody.
• Nope. It’s real.
• Attorneys for Mike Lindell — the former crackhead, MyPillow CEO, Donnie Dump’s close pal, and ardent election-denier — are facing possible discipline for filing an AI-generated brief with fabricated legal citations in order to defend their client.
• After facing accusations from a federal judge, Lindell and his legal team confessed to turning in a brief with nearly 30 defective citations.
• Including multiple citations to fake legal cases that never happened. Holy fucking shit.
• U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang has given Lindell’s attorneys Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster until May 5 to prove why they should not face disciplinary proceedings and lose their legal licenses.
• If Kachouroff’s name sounds vaguely familiar, he’s the lawyer who, last year, was busted during a Zoom court hearing in which he was representing another election denier — because he’d pulled down (or taken off) his pants during the proceeding.
• Not sure what else was going on there. Anyway, these Dump associates are all pretty much similar weird freaks.
• Why is Lindell in court? Because due to his association with Dumpy, he owes $70 million in debt with an income that’s plummeted to $1,000 a week.
• Fuck around, find out.
• And now, The Weather: “Invasive Species” by Paco Cathcart
• From the Sports Desk… more playoff scores from a very exciting time of the year for sports fans.
• In the NBA: the Cavs annihilated the Heat 124-87, going up 3-0 in their series. The Thunder completed their first-round sweep of the Grizzlies, winning 117-115 and wrapping the series at 4-0. The Nuggets beat the Clippers with a buzzer-beating dunk, winning 101-99 and tying their series at 2-2. And the Dubs surprised the Rockets with a 104-93 win, taking a 2-1 lead in that series.
• In the NHL: the Lightning beat the Panthers 5-1, though Florida still leads the series 2-1. The Golden Knights beat the Wild 4-3 in overtime, tying that series at 2-2. The Senators also took the Maple Leafs to overtime, staying alive after winning 4-3 with Toronto leading 3-1 in the series. And the Avalanche blanked the Stars 4-0, tying their series at 2-2.
• Oh. I should note that Shedeur Sanders finally got drafted into the NFL last night… on day three of the draft in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick.
• He’ll be playing for the Cleveland Browns, a team with the nickname, “Where quarterbacks go to die.” I’m not kidding.
• Today in history… Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapulapu (1521). John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers' Register (1667). American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus (1861). The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor (1936). Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier (1945). John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, AZ, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes (1978). Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse (1981). The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (1989). The first democratic general election in South Africa in which black citizens could vote (1994). Airbus A380 aircraft has its maiden test flight (2005).
• April 27 is the birthday of Mughal empress Mumtaz Mahal (1593), feminist philosopher/writer Mary Wollstonecraft (1759), inventor Samuel Morse (1791), US president Ulysses S. Grant (1822), pianist/composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891), MLB player Rogers Hornsby (1896), poet Cecil Day-Lewis (1904), track and field athlete John Kuck (1905), actor Jack Klugman (1922), activist Coretta Scott King (1927), radio host/voice actor Casey Kasem (1932), NFL coach Chuck Knox (1932), drummer Jim Keltner (1942), singer-songwriter/guitarist Pete Ham (1947), singer-songwriter Kate Pierson (1948), guitarist/songwriter Ace Frehley (1951), NBA player George Gervin (1952), singer-songwriter Sheena Easton (1959), politician Cory Booker (1969), singer Lizzo (1988), MLB player Corey Seager (1994), and NFL player Xavier Worthy (2003).

Feels like a good place to wrap up this edition of Random News. I’m going to shower and dress myself momentarily. Enjoy your day.

Random News: April 26, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s April 26, 2025, and it’s a Saturday. It’s quite lovely here, assuming you enjoy overcast skies with sporadic rain showers like I do. I’ve got a cup of Peet’s Brazil and I’m in a bathrobe.

• We have arrived at another crucial landmark on the road to fascism.
• Dump has begun arresting judges who disagree with him.
• Yesterday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit judge, accusing her of helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest.
• Judge Dugan is facing two felony charges for obstruction and concealing the individual from arrest. Dugan is in federal custody as she awaits an initial court appearance. The charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine.
• Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, the undocumented immigrant in question, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint earlier this week after he allegedly fled from Dugan’s courthouse when federal immigration authorities were planning to arrest him days earlier.
• Flores-Ruiz has not yet entered a plea and is being detained, according to his federal court record. This would be a separate case from the alleged charge for Dugan.
• So let’s be clear about this.
• Historically, when the head of state starts arresting judges, removing military leaders who oppose him, and ignoring high court orders, it has never meant anything but a dictatorial takeover.
• It was as true of Stalin and Hitler as it was under many smaller but equally evil dictatorships in Africa and Central/South America.
• And it’s always the first step of a much larger and more sinister plan. Dump is doing all of these things. Right now.
• Democratic lawmakers reacted with ferocity to the arrest of Judge Dugan.
• "It is remarkable that the Administration would dare to start arresting state court judges," said House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
• ”The Trump administration again is breaking norms in how it's dealing with immigration, the legal system, and normalcy. This is stuff I expect from Third World countries," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI).
• Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio): "They arrested a judge?! They can no longer claim to be a party of law and order. This will have to be a red line for congressional Republicans. Unbelievable."
• Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), a House Judiciary Committee member, said there should absolutely be a probe. "On the face of it, this is dangerous and outrageous and it is designed to intimidate our judiciary."
• We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Judge Dugan situation. Meanwhile, we have more evidence of our dystopian future arriving.
• The Dump administration deported a U.S. citizen to Honduras without due process, even as the child’s father was frantically petitioning the courts to keep her in the country.
• Again, for those in back: this two-year-old child is an AMERICAN. Her U.S. birth certificate was filed in court and shows she was born in New Orleans in 2023.
• U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Dump appointee, said the child — identified in court papers by the initials “V.M.L.” — appeared to have been released in Honduras yesterday, along with her Honduran-born mother and sister, who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week.
• Yesterday the judge scheduled a hearing for May 16, which he said was “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
• What was this child — whom MAGA people will likely say was a gang member — doing while getting arrested? She had been with her mother and sister during a regular immigration check-in at the New Orleans office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday.
• In other words, this family was doing their best to obey the laws of this country. Instead, officials there detained them and queued them up for deportation.
• Lawyers for the family filed an emergency petition in the Western District of Louisiana seeking V.M.L.’s immediate release from ICE custody and a declaration that the girl’s detention had been unlawful.
• Continuing on with another major sign that the USA is falling to fascism…
• The Justice Department just killed a policy that restricted prosecutors from seizing reporters' records in investigations.
• The move signals a broader effort by Dump-appointed leadership to more aggressively pursue leaks coming from within the administration, and — more to the point — directly target journalists for their reporting.
• In her memo rescinding the policy, Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed to recent alleged leaks of potentially classified information to The New York Times.
• And she added she has directed the DOJ's Office of Legal Policy to publish new language that reflects the department "will continue to employ procedural protections to limit the use of compulsory legal process to obtain information from or records of members of the news media, which include enhanced approval and advance-notice procedures."
• Let me translate: Dump wants to see news before its published and edit out anything he doesn’t like.
• End of fucking story.
• If Dump will arrest judges and deport American citizens and control the free press as he has shown this week alone, you and your family are not safe. I mean right now, this very moment.
• Be ready for the next steps.
• Moving on.
• A reminder that this coming week will have national action events on or near the May Day holiday.
• Please visit maydaystrong.org to find a local event and make plans on going. Mine is not far from my home, with a street protest in Torrance, CA a week form today on Saturday May 3.
• I find it very likely that there will soon come a day that you wish you had used your voice while you were still able to do so.
• If you care at all about a country run by its people — not a lawless king — get out and protest.
• If you care about values expressed by Judeo-Christian morals, like the treatment of immigrants and refugees, or justice for the poor and oppressed — get out and protest.
• If you care about the financial well-being of yourself and your family, and would like to live somewhere with good employment, income equality, stability in your savings, and a country not run by the wealthiest 1% of its citizens — get out and protest.
• If you believe that people of all races, nationalities, sexual and gender identities, religions, and socioeconomic status should be treated with respect and dignity, and with equal opportunities for success and happiness — get out and protest.
• Make plans today.
• Let’s move on.
• Yesterday, federal officials announced that the U.S. government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Dump administration’s crackdown.
• They didn’t have much of a choice.
• Judges across the U.S. had already issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.
• More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation. Most did not know why they were targeted. Some left the country while others have gone into hiding or stopped going to class.
• The problem, even when seeing seemingly good news like the above, is that Dump and his gang will do these things, then immediately reverse course, and then say they were misunderstood.
• I’d say it was all part of a strategy, but I think in reality it’s just a bunch of inept people with no idea how to do the jobs they were assigned, combined with a lot of backstabbing and infighting.
• That seems more likely.
• Moving on.
• A few words on interim D.C. U.S. attorney Ed Martin: this man is a piece of shit.
• Allow me to elaborate.
• Martin had to issue an apology this week for praising a pardoned Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection defendant who supported Nazi ideology and photographed himself posing as Adolf Hitler, saying he didn’t know about the man’s extremist statements.
• Oh really, Ed? In videos and podcasts, Martin has defended the man since at least 2023, calling him a friend who was “slurred and smeared” by antisemitism allegations.
• Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 35, was one of the first Capitol riot defendants charged and one of the first to enter the building through a smashed window.
• And court filings outlined his history of antisemitic statements, posts, and affinity for Hitler. At the time, Martin was a conservative activist and a Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” fundraiser and organizer. He defended riot defendants in court, on his podcasts, and through a nonprofit led by Hale-Cusanelli’s aunt, Cynthia Hughes.
• And Martin has hosted her on his podcast more than a dozen times since 2021.
• And yes, now he’s working as D.C.’s top prosecutor and is Dump’s pick to remain in that role.
• Second topic on this piece of shit: this week, he sent a letter to Wikipedia, accusing the organization of “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public.”
• That’s right. He’s going after the one informational entity that can’t be manipulated or controlled by his boss.
• The letter is part of a broader campaign by the Dump administration and its allies against institutions, media outlets and online platforms they have accused of pushing liberal agendas or political views.
• Wake the fuck up, all of you.
• Okay, we need some good news. And we have some.
• Rubs hands together in joyful glee.
• Yesterday, former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was sentenced to 87 months in prison — more than 7 years — after pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
• It was the maximum sentence possible. His attorneys had requested a two-year sentence. Um, no.
• I mean, of course Dump will end up pardoning him. But that’s beside the point.
• Santos had nearly two dozen federal criminal charges he was facing, including conspiracy, false statements, credit card fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.
• And that’s exactly the kind of people that are integral members of the Dump and MAGA ideology. They all get to own him.
• Moving on to a very suspicious story.
• Yesterday, Virginia Giuffre — one of the most outspoken accusers of Jeffrey Epstein — died by suicide, apparently.
• She was 41.
• Giuffre became a victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager. She alleged that Epstein sexually trafficked her to Britain's Prince Andrew and others. Prince Andrew has denied those claims.
• Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Andrew in 2021, alleging that she was sexually abused by him when she was 17. An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2022.
• And now she’s… been Epsteined? Rest in peace.
• And now, The Weather: “Target Offer” by The Convenience
• From the Sports Desk… ding dong! You’re listening to KZRN Sports Radio. Traffic heavy on the 10 west with a big rig blocking the left lane. Right now it’s 58 degrees and partly cloudy. And let’s give you an update with the playoff scores from yesterday!
• In the NBA: the Magic took one from the Celtics, winning 95-93 but still in a 2-1 deficit in the series. The Bucks beat the Pacers 117-101, but are still down 2-1 in the series. And the Timberwolves beat the Lakers 116-104, taking a 2-1 lead in that series.
• In the NHL: the Canadiens beat the Capitals 6-3 in a game that included a large brawl. Washington leads the series 2-1. The Devils beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in a double-overtime thriller; Caroline leads the series 2-1. And the Oilers beat the Kings 7-4, with LA retaining a 2-1 lead in that series. 
• In More Sports… the NFL Draft continued last night for rounds 2 and 3.
• The big story is not who was picked so far, but who wasn’t. And this topic somehow comes back to that blob of useless goo who calls himself the president.
• Shedeur Sanders is the son of NFL great Deion Sanders. Apparently, the younger Sanders thinks he’s pretty special. He refused to throw at the NFL scouting combine, but somehow felt he should be the top QB selected in this year’s draft.
• Um, he wasn’t. In the three rounds thus far, quarterbacks were chosen by the Titans, Giants, Saints, Seahawks, and Browns. And most of that was after Ol’ Dumpy weighed in.
• “What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID? Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be ‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!”
• Two more rounds then went by and Sanders remains undrafted. The remaining rounds 4-7 happen today.
• I find it likely that someone will eventually take Sanders, but always remember: everything Dump touches dies.
• Today in history… The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry (1607). Sybil Ludington, aged 16, rode 40 miles to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces (1777). Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist (1803). Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia (1865). Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games (1920). The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established by Hermann Göring (1933). Guernica, Spain, is bombed by German Luftwaffe (1937). The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, VA (1954). NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon (1962). The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force (1970). The Chernobyl disaster occurs in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1986). The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on mission STS-55 to conduct experiments aboard the Spacelab module (1993). South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (1994). American comedian Bill Cosby is convicted of sexual assault (2018). Marvel Studios' blockbuster film ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is released, becoming at the time the highest-grossing film of all time (2019). 
• April 26 is the birthday of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121), French queen Marie de' Medici (1575), French queen Maria Amalia (1782), ornithologist John James Audubon (1785), politician Charles Goodyear (1804), physicist Owen Willans Richardson (1879), singer-songwriter Ma Rainey (1886), philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889), seismologist Charles Francis Richter (1900), architect I. M. Pei (1917), actress Carol Burnett (1933), music producer Giorgio Moroder (1940), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Gary Wright (1943), actor Giancarlo Esposito (1958), drummer Roger Taylor (1960), martial artist/actor Jet Li (1963), actor/comedian Kevin James (1965), first lady Melania Trump (1970), singer-songwriter Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins (1970), drummer Joey Jordison (1975), actor Channing Tatum (1980), and MLB player Aaron Judge (1992).

I’m now going to appreciate this rainy weather some more. It’s pretty rare here. Enjoy your day.

Random News: April 25, 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.

---

Good morning. It’s April 25, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! We’ve somehow lived through another week — and I assume everyone reading this is alive. If any wraiths or other supernatural beings are among my readership, on offense intended.

• Let’s jump right in.
• A batch of losses for the Dump administration yesterday. That means it was a good day for America and the world. Probably the whole-ass universe.
• U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked Dumpy’s administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form.
• Dumples the Sad Clown had called for that and other sweeping changes to U.S. elections in an executive order signed in March, arguing the U.S. “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections” that exist in other countries.
• But Kollar-Kotelly sided with voting rights groups and Democrats to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while the lawsuit plays out.
• She also blocked part of Dumpy's executive order requiring public assistance enrollees to have their citizenship assessed before getting access to the federal voter registration form.
• In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll tell you that she denied other requests from a group of Democratic plaintiffs, including refusing to block Trump’s order to tighten mail ballot deadlines.
• She also denied the Democrats’ request to block Dump’s call for the DHS and DOGE to review state voter lists alongside immigration databases.
• So good news and bad news, but better than it could have been.
• Among others, it was the Democratic National Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the League of Women Voters Education Fund who had sued to block Dump’s unconstitutional bullshit order.
• It violates the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives states — not the president — the authority to determine how elections are run.
• Additionally, Dump does not have power over the independent U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which sets voluntary voting system guidelines and maintains the federal voter registration form.
• Moving on to more of that.
• Yesterday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Dump’s effort forbidding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in K-12 public schools.
• Fuck off with that shit.
• This was via a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused Dumpy Wumpy of violating teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights.
• The background: in February, the U.S. Education Department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or they would risk losing their federal funding.
• States were given until Thursday — as in yesterday — to submit certification of their schools’ compliance, but some have indicated they would not comply with the order.
• Now the whole thing is on pause.
• RESIST HIS ASS. EVERY FUCKING TIME.
• Moving on.
• Here’s a fucking nightmare immigrant story.
• Ricardo Prada Vásquez is a 32-year-old Venezuelan man, working hard in Detroit delivering food. In January, Vásquez took a wrong turn onto the Ambassador Bridge, inadvertently crossing into Canada.
• So when he turned around, ICE detained him and then and deported him to El Salvador.
• Christine Sauve, policy engagement and communications manager at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said, "We're concerned that, again, a wrong turn at the border really shouldn't mean that our neighbors are disappearing.”
• This has happened more than once. Last month, an undocumented mother from Guatemala was also detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers after she too accidentally turned onto the Ambassador Bridge.
• Yesterday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said, ”A wrong turn should not lead to a disappearance and an erosion of someone's due process or being treated with human rights.”
• I agree.
• Continuing on immigration for a moment…
• US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher has ordered the Dump administration to return a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker deported to El Salvador, ruling the removal violated a court settlement protecting some young migrants with pending asylum claims.
• The person deported was part of a class action case filed in 2019 on behalf of individuals who arrived in the US as unaccompanied minors and later sought asylum.
• Gallagher — who was appointed by Dumpy, hee hee — issued the order directing the government to work with Salvadoran authorities to return the man to the United States. She also barred the removal of other individuals covered by the settlement agreement, which was finalized in November 2024.
• The is, of course, the second order directed to Dump to secure the return of a man from El Salvador to the US. She cited the precedent of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the government admitted was wrongly deported.
• Let’s move on with a story from the “OMG What An Idiot” Desk…
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — who works in the world’s most secure building running the largest defense force ever assembled in world history — had them install an internet connection in his office that bypassed all the Pentagon’s security protocols.
• It was so he could use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer.
• The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
• I want to be clear here… we’re talking about a regular-ass Internet line going to some ISP. The kind you can click the wrong link on that naughty site and get nasty viruses.
• Known as a “dirty” internet line by the IT industry, Hegseth’s office in the Pentagon now connects directly to the public internet where the user’s information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon’s secured connections maintain.
• The reason they’ve been used by actual spies in the Pentagon? Only if there’s a need to monitor information or websites that would otherwise be blocked, or so that the user would not show up as one of the many IP addresses assigned to the Defense Department.
• But like your WiFi or Ethernet at home, it can also can expose users to hacking and surveillance. And it would likely lack the record-keeping compliance required by federal law.
• Like the situation where Dumpy screamed about Hillary Clinton and her emails.
• So when some shit falls apart and U.S. soldiers die because of Hegseth’s sloppiness in communications, remember this note…
• “I have 100% confidence in the secretary. I know the president does and, really, the entire team does.” - Vice President JD Vance this week.
• Moving on.
• Sort of.
• Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff, departed his post yesterday. That’s a pretty big thing.
• Per reports, Kasper leaves the role voluntarily and will become a part-time special government employee, though his exact role and title were not yet clear.
• Hegseth claims that Kasper is a “great American,” and was “certainly not fired.”
• Believe nothing from these people.
• Okay, now let’s keep on keeping on.
• A follow-up from a story we covered back in 2022. Yes, we’ve been doing Random News for nearly three years now.
• Yesterday, the convicted shooter in the 2022 Highland Park Fourth of July Parade, Robert Crimo III, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 
• Judge Victoria Rossetti gave the shooter seven consecutive life sentences for the murder convictions, plus 50 years for each of the 48 attempted murder charges.
• He’ll be eligible for parole in… never.
• Good.
• Speaking of sentencing, it’s been a good while since I mentioned the name of George Santos, the disgraced congressman (R-NY) who is being sentenced today in Long Island.
• How many years he will spend in prison is expected to come down to how remorseful he is. His attorneys asked for the two year minimum sentence, citing his guilty plea in August 2024 to felony wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
• A reminder: Santos admitted to filing false campaign finance reports, charging donors’ credit cards without authorization, and fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits, among other things. 
• But prosecutors have pointed out that despite Santos’ facade of repentance in the courtroom, he’s still out of social media even in recent weeks saying things like, “No matter how hard the DOJ comes for me, they are mad because they will NEVER break my spirit."
• So prosecutors requested a 87 month sentence. Ha ha.
• And now, The Weather: “The Wolf” by Witch Post
• Let’s do a chart. Why not?
• It’s April 1986, 39 years ago on this very day.
• I am just about six weeks from graduating from high school. Man, did I want out. Out of school, out of my house, out of my hometown. I was definitely skipping classes, abusing drugs and alcohol, and having unhealthy relationships. Good times.
• This is the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. 5150 (Van Halen). 2. Whitney Houston (Whitney Houston). 3. Falco 3 (Falco). 4. Heart (Heart). 5. Dirty Work (The Rolling Stones). 6. Parade: Music From The Motion Picture Under The Cherry Moon (Prince And The Revolution). 7. Pretty In Pink (Soundtrack). 8. Promise (Sade). 9. Like A Rock (Bob Seger). 10. The Ultimate Sin (Ozzy Osbourne). 11. Scarecrow (John Mellencamp). 12. Different Light (The Bangles). 13. Riptide (Robert Palmer). 14. Brothers In Arms (Dire Straits). 15. Welcome To The Real World (Mr. Mister). 16. Play Deep (The Outfield). 17. Turbo 30 (Judas Priest). 18. No Jacket Required (Phil Collins). 19. Control (Janet Jackson). 20. Listen Like Thieves (INXS).
• From the Sports Desk… welcome back to ZRN’s playoff central.
• In the NBA: the Knicks battled the Pistons to a 118-116 victory, taking a 2-1 lead in their series. The Thunder had to come back form a deficit to beat the Grizzlies 114-108, and now leads 3-0 in the series. The Clippers gave a beatdown to the Nuggets, winning 117-83 and going up 2-1 in their series.
• In the NHL: the Panthers shut out the Lightning 2-0, taking a 2-0 series lead. The Maple Leafs beat the Senators 3-2 in overtime, taking a 2-0 lead in the series. The Wild surprised the Golden Knights with a 5-2 victory, pulling ahead 2-1 in the series. And the Blues surprised the Jets with a 7-2 shellacking, with Winnipeg still leading the series 2-1
• And in more Sports, yesterday was the first round of the NFL Draft.
• You can go look that shit up elsewhere. I just wanted to say how stoked I am that my Las Vegas Raiders, with the sixth overall pick, somehow nabbed Ashton Jeanty — a kid who was considered one of the best players in the entire draft and has the potential to be a fucking stud running back. 
• LET’S FUCKING GO RAIDER NATION.
• Today in history… Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion (404 BC). The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar (1607). Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine (1792). Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War (1846). Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, LA (1862). New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates (1901). Nazi Germany issues the Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities limiting the number of Jewish students able to attend public schools (1933). The United Negro College Fund is incorporated (1944). Assaulting Chinese forces in the Korean War are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong (1951). Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA (1953). Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit (1961). President George W. Bush pledges U.S. military support in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan (2001). The March for Women's Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 pro-choice protesters to Washington D.C. (2004). The Flint water crisis begins when officials at Flint, Michigan switch the city's water supply to the Flint River, leading to lead and bacteria contamination (2014).
• April 25 is the birthday of king Louis IX (1214), king Edward II (1284), general/politician Oliver Cromwell (1599), astronomer James Ferguson (1710), inventor/businessman Guglielmo Marconi (1874), physicist Wolfgang Pauli (1900), journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908), singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917), singer-songwriter/guitarist Albert King (1923), actor/director Paul Mazursky (1930), basketball player/actor Meadowlark Lemon (1932), songwriter/music producer Jerry Leiber (1933), actor Al Pacino (1940), bass player Stu Cook (1945), drummer Steve Ferrone (1950), singer Paul Baloff (1960), actor Hank Azaria (1964), bass player Eric Avery (1965), sportscaster Joe Buck (1969), actress Renée Zellweger (1969), NBA player Tim Duncan (1976), and singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers (1994).

I guess that’s enough. Over the weekend (when I have the luxury of more time), we’ll chat some more about upcoming ways to take part in activism that will help defeat the fascist white nationalist oligarch bullshit that threatens our country. Enjoy your day.