Random News: May 13, 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 May 13, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. Lots going on — which, I should acknowledge, there always is — so let’s talk about some of it right now.

•  I’m heartened to see that Congress might not just lay down and accept Dumpy getting a $400 million personal gift from Qatar.
• Senate Democrats are trying to force a vote in response to reports that Dump is being handed a luxury jet from Qatar that will be retrofitted as the next Air Force One.
• Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Chris Coons (D-DE) are pushing a measure that would target the gift, which is valued at $400 million, over questions about foreign influence and national security.
• “The Constitution is clear: elected officials, like the president, cannot accept large gifts from foreign governments without consent from Congress. Air Force One is more than just a plane — it’s a symbol of the presidency and of the United States itself,” they said yesterday in a statement.
• They continued, “No one — not even the president — is above the law. This week, we will ask the Senate to vote to reiterate a basic principle: no one should use public service for personal gain through foreign gifts.”
• Even far-right freaks like Ben Shapiro are openly condemning this act of pure greed. "Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest, that's not America First," he said.
• By the way, as usual, there’s more to this story.
• Dump is — at this very moment — in the Middle East, making stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where he is set to announce arms deals.
• How will Shapiro and Loomer and the rest of the Islamophobe MAGA world feel about the sale of over $1.4 billion in weapons to the United Arab Emirates?
• Chris Murphy also is expected to try to force votes on that matter as well. He said, “Congress should have a full debate over selling weapons to countries that are participating in the corruption of our government.”
• Yesterday, Dumples the Correct Clown defended accepting the gift. 
• “I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was — I thought it was a great gesture.”
• It’s against the fucking law, you bloated greedy piece of shit. No plane for you. And maybe Congress wants to also look into the Abu Dhabi-backed investment firm that is shoveling $2 billion into Dump’s crypto scam.
• I’m 100% serious. Google that shit.
• Let’s move on.
• You all remember hearing a lot about Project 2025, a far right-wing blueprint for the current Dump administration.
• Among many other topics, one of the project’s espoused goals was to permanently criminalize all pornography. Last week, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced a bill that would do just that.
• Lee’s Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA) criminalizes all pornography nationwide by legally redefining what it means to be obscene.
• He wants to drastically expand this legal definition to encompass virtually all visual representations of sex.
• The bill’s text says that, “a picture, image, graphic image file, film, videotape, or other visual depiction” of any media that “appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion” would be considered criminal.
• Lee’s definition of obscenity is so ridiculously broad that it would effectively criminalize mainstream entertainment like ‘Game of Thrones.’
• I’m not here to promote or condone or defend porn. I will say that for a political party that is supposed to be about small government and limited taxes, the Republicans sure seem really fucking interested in what consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes.
• Here’s a funny side note: Project 2025 argues in regard to porn that the “people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned” and that “telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.”
• Do you know where there’s just tons of easily accessible free porn, along with sexual services being pimped (literally)? X, the web platform owned by Elon Musk and formerly known as Twitter.
• That makes Elon a major distributor of porn. Arrest him immediately!
• Moving on.
• We have yet to cover the details of Dumpy’s idiotically-named “big, beautiful bill,” mostly because those details are still being unveiled.
• But House Republicans have unveiled the cost-saving centerpiece of the legislation: it’s at least $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid to help cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthy.
• We told you. Maybe you should have believed us. Shrug.
• Millions of Americans will lose coverage. A preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over the decade.
• Will one of them be you, or your parents, or other people you care about?
• I guess we’ll see soon enough.
• Let’s move on.
• Some fascinating revelations have just come out about Dump’s effort to destroy the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the nonprofit organization that’s in charge of PBS and NPR.
• Less than a day after Dumpy attempted to fire three Corporation for Public Broadcasting board members last month, DOGE staffers also attempted to assign a team to review its operations.
• CPB leaders denied that request, citing federal law that establishes the independent nonprofit outside of the control of the federal government.
• I love to see these entities standing up to Dump and Musk and the rest of them… and pointing out that their actions are illegal, and taking action to stop them.
• The Dump administration contends the Constitution gives the president "the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority," which is the excuse used by White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers to NPR.
• Except the law says otherwise. Federal law is explicit about CPB's structure and independence.
• In a section of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 subtitled "Federal interference or control," the statute does not allow "any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over public telecommunications, or over the Corporation or any of its grantees or contractors."
• So go fuck yourselves, fascist pricks.
• Let’s move on and talk a bit about how some of Dumpy’s recent actions leave the GOP in a super difficult position trying to justify them — or support them at all.
• Example: his executive order to make deep cuts to prescription drug costs.
• Sounds good, right? Except GOP lawmakers have always opposed government-directed price controls of any kind, and especially for prescription drugs.
• Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), have warned in the past that directing the federal government to set drug prices will slow innovation and limit patients’ access to lifesaving therapies.
• And it will take money out of the pockets of some of the richest people who give it to them, but that’s a whole other story. To be fair, the pharmaceutical industry contributes extraordinary amounts of money to members of both parties.
• They spent $387 billion on lobbying in 2024. Yes, billion.
• In other news…
• Things don’t seem to be going well for Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA).
• A recent report states that the first-term Pennsylvania senator is behaving erratically and in a way that may pose a danger to himself or others.
• Two Democratic senators said they are talking with colleagues about how to best help Fetterman, who they fear is struggling to cope with the emotional rigors of serving in Congress, a stressful job even for the fittest individuals, who often find themselves the targets of political attacks.
• The senator cited a recent report in New York Magazine that Fetterman’s former chief of staff alerted the senator’s doctor at Walter Reed that he was “on a bad trajectory” and might not “be with us for much longer” unless something changes.
• Yikes.
• His former aide has spoken about Fetterman’s reckless driving and the purchase of a firearm. He stated that Fetterman’s driving had become so erratic that staff refused to get in a car with him.
• And so far this year, he’s missed more votes than any other senator — 174 of 920 roll call votes, or about 19 percent.
• Not good. I hope he gets some help.
• From the Health Desk… a current story of a personal friend.
• This gentleman is a business colleague who is the same age as me, both of us in our mid fifties. I’ve known him for about 30 years. He is a well respected former editor of a music publication.
• He went into the hospital last week for a heart valve procedure. Not that open heart surgery is ever truly routine, but it’s come a long way in recent times. I was expecting that he’d be fine.
• He isn’t. While the surgery itself went as planned, he apparently had a blood clot after the procedure that caused him to have a stroke while in recovery.
• And here’s the thing: like most people in the music realm, he isn’t wealthy. He’s not poverty stricken, but of course his care and aftercare is going to cost astronomical amounts of money.
• And so, his wonderful wife has no choice other than to launch a crowdsourcing effort to get funds to help him.
• It’s ironic that this friend of mine is from and continues to live in Vermont, the state with a Senator named Bernie Sanders. One of Bernie’s major platforms is healthcare for all.
• No one should have to be saddled with medical debt in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars under any circumstance. No one’s spouse should have to — in addition to the horrible stress of seeing a loved one in physical distress — spend time asking people for donations.
• Here’s hoping the best for Steve, a gruff guy with a sharp mind and a good soul. I’ll throw his GoFundMe link in the comments.
• In other Health Desk news, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went swimming in raw sewage over the weekend.
• It’s true. I’m not even going to comment. Just leaving that there for you to think about.
• And now, The Weather: “TWIN FLAME” by MOTO BANDIT
• From the Sports Desk… playoffs.
• In the NBA: the Knicks beat the Celtics 121-113, and are now just one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Timberwolves beat the Warriors 117-110, and likewise are just a win from the Western Conference finals.
• In the NHL: the Hurricanes beat the Capitals 5-2, and now lead the series 3-1. The Oilers shut out the Golden Knights 3-0, and lead that series 3-1.
• Today in history… Amerigo Vespucci sets sail for western lands under a Portuguese flag (1501). Sword duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro on the shores of Ganryū Island; Kojiro is slain (1612). Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia (1830). The United States declares war on the Federal Republic of Mexico following a dispute over the American annexation of the Republic of Texas and a Mexican military incursion (1846). Southern slave Robert Smalls commandeers the USS Planter, and is later officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship (1862). Ben Carlin becomes the only person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle during a ten-year journey (1958). Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (1960). Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents (1985). Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas (1995). 
• May 13 is the birthday of Count of Champagne Theobald III (1179), physician/historian Ole Worm (1588), Great Britain prime minister Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730), painter/sculptor Georges Braque (1882), pianist/composer Gil Evans (1912), boxer Joe Louis (1914), actress Bea Arthur (1922), cult leader/mass murderer Jim Jones (1931), actor Harvey Keitel (1939), singer-songwriter Ritchie Valens (1941), singer-songwriter Mary Wells (1943), harmonica player Magic Dick (1945), singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Stevie Wonder (1950), NBA player Dennis Rodman (1961), comedian/TV host Stephen Colbert (1964), singer-songwriter Darius Rucker (1966), singer-songwriter Chuck Schuldiner (1967), Australia prime minister Scott Morrison (1968), guitarist Buckethead (1969), rapper Pusha T (1977), NBA player Mike Bibby (1978), actor Robert Pattinson (1986), and NHL player P. K. Subban (1989).

Okay. I guess that’s all. Enjoy your day.