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.
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