Random News: April 21, 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 April 21, 2025, and it’s a Monday. I"m trying to get my brain to work and so far this morning, it’s on strike. I’m not sure what its demands are to get back to functionality, but I am serving it coffee and it seems to be slowly improving.

• We usually leave our “RIP” notes down toward the bottom, but this one is the top headline around the world.
• Rest in peace to Pope Francis, who died today at age 88. He was history’s first Latin American pontiff, but more importantly he was a man who charmed the world with his humble style and his focus on the poor and the downtrodden.
• I’m neither a Catholic nor any kind of defender of the Catholic Church, but in my personal opinion, Francis was the best pope of my lifetime.
• His views on the evils of extreme capitalism and keeping climate change in the spotlight made me a fan as well.
• Conservatives didn’t like this pope, who had progressive views on things like making efforts to do outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics. he also took major strides to eliminate corruption in the scandal-plagued church.
• Francis had suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man. He’d recently been through a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days in the hospital before seeming to improve in recent days.
• His final public appearance happened yesterday on Easter Sunday, blessing thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, drawing wild cheers and applause. Earlier in the day, he met U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
• Hmm.
• He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, and was introduced on March 13, 2013, as the 266th pope after his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI abruptly resigned.
• Hopefully the Catholic Church continues his direction. Humility and kindness beat hubris and secrecy every time.
• In other news…
• Who’s ready for Signalgate Round 2?
• Defense secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of an upcoming military strike against the Houthi group in Yemen in a second Signal chat, which included his own wife and brother.
• Details, including flight schedules for the warplanes involved, were shared in the group chat on March 15.
• And, of course, this new claim follows shock revelations last month that the upcoming strike was discussed by senior administration figures, including Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Signal, a commercial messaging up, instead of using the high-security communications systems available to them.
• And they accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to the chat.
• Hegseth’s wife Jennifer (a former Fox News producer) was included on a second Signal group chat about the Yemen attack, along with his brother Phil, who was hired to work at the defense department.
• Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, was also included in the group chat. The information included schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets and essentially the same details that Goldberg claimed he shared in the group, which included him.
• With the Pentagon reportedly now in total chaos, it’s looking more and more likely that Hegseth is unlikely to remain in his role.
• His former top spokesperson John Ullyot painted a scene of dysfunction, backstabbing, and continuous missteps at the highest levels of the department.
• And what’s really becoming a problem? “The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president,” says Ullyot.
• He also stated that the three top officials who were fired last week actually hadn’t leaked sensitive information to the media.
• And Hegseth remains under investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general for his earlier use of Signal to disclose sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen. 
• Fuck him. Let his white supremacist ass go back to being a Fox & Friends Weekend host like he was before.
• Oh, and speaking of national security…
• Records show that government officials at the General Services Administration inadvertently shared a Google Drive folder containing the sensitive documents with the entire GSA staff, which totals more than 11,200 people.
• The Drive folder included sensitive documents such as potentially classified floor plans of the White House.
• What else? All kinds of shit. The details of a proposed blast door for the White House visitor center. Bank account information for a vendor who assisted with a Trump administration news conference. At least 10 of the shared files allowed GSA employees not only to view but also edit the content, the records show.
• Fucking hell.
• Moving on.
• Four House Democrats have landed in El Salvador this morning to demand the release and return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father of three who was deported to a prison in El Salvador due to what the Dump administration an "administrative error."
• The group — Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), and Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) — said they hope to pressure the White House to abide by the Supreme Court order requiring Abrego Garcia’s return.
• ”While Donald Trump continues to defy the Supreme Court, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported. That is why we're here — to remind the American people that kidnapping immigrants and deporting them without due process is not how we do things in America,” said Rep. Garcia.
• Most of the politicians who’ve visited El Salvador seem to do so in order to take selfies with the imprisoned and tortured men in the notorious CECOT prison.
• Those include Republican Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV).
• Let’s move on.
• It seems as though we’ve found the one thing that is going to stop Dumpy from enacting his vile agenda, and it’s not judges, political action, or public resistance.
• It’s money.
• Republican leaders are rapidly running out of ways to pay for Dump’s agenda as GOP lawmakers shoot down various proposals to cut spending or increase revenues.
• Without finding some new ideas, the GOP risks adding trillions of dollars to future deficits by passing Dump’s agenda, something many conservatives are loath to do.
• The most ambitious plan floated so far — to reduce Medicaid spending by hundreds of billions of dollars — now appears all but dead after a dozen House Republicans informed their leadership this week that they would not support a bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage to vulnerable populations.
• As I mentioned recently, asking these Republican reps and senators to throw themselves on the sword by screwing their own voters was never going to happen. 
• They claim to love Dump, but it’s never going to be at the expense of their own well being.
• Moving on.
• Classes will resume today at Florida State University, just four days after a deadly shooting on campus that left two people dead and six others injured.
• Seems a little fast, no?
• Apparently students and instructors will have the option of holding classes remotely or in person, depending on the class. The school at least waived all mandatory attendance policies that could affect grades, so students won’t be punished if they choose not to go to class in person.
• As we reported last week, the shooter is 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State student and the son of a sheriff’s deputy who used her personal service weapon to carry out his spree of murder and mayhem.
• The two victims who died were Robert Morales, a university dining coordinator, and Tiru Chabba, an executive for food service vendor Aramark.
• Ikner is a Dump/MAGA fan, a 2020 election denier, and often shared hateful comments about minorities. 
• Let’s move on.
• Check out this sketchy shit.
• Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has proposed a prisoner swap with Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.
• Bukele suggested he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the United States his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela.
• El Salvador is already under sharp international scrutiny for accepting Venezuelans and Salvadorans deported by the Dump administration, which accused them of being alleged gang members with little or no evidence.
• I guess we’ll keep monitoring that horrible shit.
• In other news…
• The Supreme Court this week will hear a case testing whether families have a right to pull their kids from public school lessons featuring LGBTQ+-themed books that are at odds with their religious beliefs.
• And in related cases, the court will consider whether states can directly fund religious schools, in a closely watched case involving a proposed Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. 
• The justices are also set to decide whether Wisconsin must extend a tax exemption to the social services arm of the Catholic Church — a decision that could have implications for other large, religiously affiliated employers such as hospitals.
• My prediction? This court — at least six of the nine, anyway — seems to have zero respect for the separation of church and state that has defined this country for almost 250 years.
• However, the court has not previously recognized a broad right to pick and choose aspects of a public school’s curriculum based on religious objections, which is the issue they will consider tomorrow.
• Guess we’ll see.
• Moving on with another Supreme Court case.
• Current and former Seattle police officers who were part of the January 6, 2021 coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol are asking the nation’s highest court to keep their identities anonymous in public court records.
• Lemme think. How about, “Fuck all the way off.” That seems like the right response.
• Using “John Doe” pseudonyms, they sued over whether the investigation into their activities should be made public. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in February that they can be identified and that they haven’t shown that public release of their names violates their right to privacy.
• The cops claim that revealing their names would violate their privacy. I say, tough shit, and you should have thought about that before attacking the USA.
• An investigation already found that married officers Caitlin and Alexander Everett crossed barriers set up by the Capitol police and fired the pair.
• Mooooving on.
• Ever use DHL for international shipments?
• Now you won’t.
• DHL Express said it would suspend global business-to-consumer shipments worth over $800 to individuals in the United States starting today.
• DHL blamed the halt on new US customs rules which require formal entry processing on all shipments worth over $800. The minimum had been $2,500 until a change on April 5. The move is a temporary measure, the company said in a statement.
• I hope that the current phase the USA is going through is also a temporary measure. We’ll see.
• And now, The Weather: “The Mauves” by Bistro Plate
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s April 1990, which is horrifyingly 35 years ago today. I am at Cal State Dominguez Hills, learning things. I’m also working at a Sunglass Hut. This is what’s on top of the Billboard 200 albums chart.
• 1. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got  (Sinead O’Connor). 2. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (Janet Jackson). 3. Soul Provider (Michael Bolton). 4. Nick Of Time (Bonnie Raitt). 5. Forever Your Girl (Paula Abdul). 6. Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (M.C. Hammer). 7. Alannah Myles (Alannah Myles). 8. Violator (Depeche Mode). 9. Pump (Aerosmith). 10. ...But Seriously (Phil Collins). 11.  Affection (Lisa Stansfield). 12. Pump Up The Jam - The Album (Technotronic). 13. Manic Nirvana (Robert Plant). 14. Brigade (Heart). 15. Cosmic Thing (The B-52s). 16. Poison  (Bell Biv DeVoe). 17. Tender Lover (Babyface). 18. The End Of The Innocence (Don Henley). 19. Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind (Linda Ronstadt Featuring Aaron Neville).  20. Pretty Woman (Soundtrack). 
• From the Sports Desk… yesterday’s playoff games happened.
• In the NBA, the Celtics crushed the Magic 103-86, the Thunder pounded the Grizzlies 131-80, the Cavs beat the Heat 121-100, and the Dubs shocked the Rockets 93-85.
• In the NHL, the Hurricanes beat the Devils 4-1, the Maple Leafs slapped the Senators 6-2, and the Golden Knights won against the Wild 4-2.
• More first-round playoff action in both sports continue today.
• Today in history… the traditional mythological date of Romulus founding Rome (753 BC). Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII (1509). The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1782). John Adams is sworn in as 1st US Vice President — nine days before George Washington (1789). Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna (1836). Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated (1960). The Seattle World's Fair opens, the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II (1962). A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds of radioactive plutonium in its power source is widely dispersed (1964). Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke fly Apollo 16's Apollo Lunar Module to the Moon's surface, the fifth NASA Apollo Program crewed lunar landing (1972). Annie opens on Broadway (1977). In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang (1989). The city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis (2014). 
• April 21 is the birthday of painter Ludovico Carracci (1555), novelist Charlotte Brontë (1816), environmentalist John Muir (1838), economist/sociologist Max Weber (1864), actor Anthony Quinn (1915), UK queen Elizabeth II (1926), actress/comedian Elaine May (1932), actor Charles Grodin (1935), singer-songwriter Iggy Pop (1947), actress/singer Patti LuPone (1949), actor Tony Danza (1951), actress Andie MacDowell (1958), singer-songwriter Robert Smith (1959), actor James McAvoy (1979), NFL player/announcer Tony Romo (1980), and MLB player Joc Pederson (1992).

Okay, that’s enough. RIP again to Francis. I seriously doubt that his successor, whomever it may be, will be nearly as good of a guy as he was. So it goes. Enjoy your day.