Random News: May 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.

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Good morning. It’s May 27, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. It’s also one of those notorious days after a holiday, where you know you’ll be doing all the work of both today and the Monday you didn’t work. At least that’s how it goes for me.

• Hey, remember that COVID-19 disease? That sucked. It’s a good thing we beat that and it went away.
• Oh wait. That’s the exact opposite of truth. Sorry about that.
• Cases of the new COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1 which has surged China have been detected in multiple locations across the United States.
• It’s like most other variants — commonly reported symptoms include respiratory issues such as cough and sore throat, as well as systemic effects like fever and fatigue. 
• However, data indicates that NB.1.8.1 appears to have a growth advantage, suggesting it may spread more easily. It is more transmissible.
• Have I mentioned in recent months/years that when I’m in crowded public places, I still wear a mask? Oh, I do, I do.
• And as I’ve mentioned recently, the Dump administration is limiting COVID booster vaccine access. 
• In addition to last week’s announcement by the FDA about curtailing vaccine updates so they’re only for seniors and those with an underlying medical condition, they are also requiring vaccine makers to conduct major new clinical trials before approving them for wider use.
• Between these two factors, many Americans will not have access to updated shots this fall.
• Let’s do some news.
• Today, National Public Radio and three local stations filed a lawsuit against Donnie Dump, arguing that an executive order aimed at cutting federal funding for the organization is illegal.
• Fuck yes.
• The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington by NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KUTE, Inc. argues that Dump’s executive order to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR violates the First Amendment.
• Dump had issued the order after baselessly alleging — with no evidence — there is “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.
• NPR’s lawsuit against Dump says, “The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR’s and the Local Member Stations’ freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion.”
• Every entity that Dump tries to destroy should be doing the same. Keep this illegal and immoral shit locked up in court for months or years.
• Moving on. Did Dumpy do anything interesting over the holiday?
• Why yes. Dump issued a pardon to former Culpeper County, VA Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who had been found guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes.
• He took this money in exchange for naming several businessmen as law enforcement officers without them receiving any training.
• The men who bribed Jenkins paid for auxiliary deputy sheriff positions so they could avoid traffic tickets and carry concealed firearms without a permit.
• Needless to say, this is a massive breach of public trust. Giving our badges and guns to anyone who can pay for them could turn an entire region into a nightmare for normal law-abiding citizens.
• Jenkins — a huge MAGA guy — was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison. He was set to report to jail today. But due to Dump's pardon, he will not spend a single day behind bars.
• It’s fucking disgusting.
• And in somewhat related news, Grant Hardin — a former small-town police chief in Arkansas — escaped from prison on Sunday. He was serving decades-long prison sentences for murder and rape, and is still on the loose.
• Hardin, 56, escaped by imitating law enforcement. he’d has been serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder, as well as two 25-year sentences for two counts of rape.
• It’s stories like these two that should give you a clue as to why a whole lot of people can’t place trust in law enforcement. And as usual, any actual good cops pay the price by association with these kinds of men.
• Let’s move on.
• Rest in peace to former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. The Harlem-based Democrat spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill, and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He died yesterday at age 94.
• Rangel had been a hero of the Korean War, and launched his political career in 1970. In 2007, he became the first Black person to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
• In more politics news… want to know why Republicans are scared to death?
• Here’s an example. Last week there was a special election in New York for a state Senate seat.
• Dump won that district by a mile in the 2025 election, beating Kamala Harris by 55 (!) points.
• And in last week’s election? Democrat Sam Sutton grabbed 69.91% of the vote, while his Republican opponent Nachman Caller got 29.15%.
• That’s a Democratic win by more than two-to-one margins in a conservative district. And that same thing is going to happen over and over again from now through the 2026 Midterm elections and beyond.
• Let’’s do a horrible story from the International Desk.
• Yesterday, a 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city’s Premier League championship, injuring more than 65 people as shouts of joy turned into shrieks of terror.
• The crash is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, though the exact details are still being sorted out.
• As the parade was wrapping up, a gray minivan turned onto the parade route and plowed into the sea of fans wrapped in their red Liverpool gear.
• Police identified the suspect as white. Normally they wouldn’t include that detail, but England is as notorious as the USA for spreading racist misinformation over social media.
• Moving on to some immigration news in the USA. These horror stories seem to come in daily.
• A 31-year-old man from Denmark with no criminal record who has been living in the U.S. legally for more than 10 years was detained by ICE officials during a routine appointment to finalize his citizenship.
• It’s becoming a repeating pattern. People who are doing their best to become full citizens of the USA getting grabbed while they’re in the official process of it.
• And I can tell you why: because the Dump administration fucking sucks, so what could be easier than kidnapping people from a list they already have available?
• Kasper Eriksen is a green card holder who works as a welder in Sturgis, MS, where he lives with his wife and four children. He first moved to the States as an exchange student in 2009, then returned legally in 2013 after he and his wife married and he began the legal process of becoming an American citizen.
• He’s now been held more than a month, rotting in a Louisiana detention center with no kind of trial or other way to claim his innocence. He’s jammed in with dozens of other detainees, unsure about his future, where he might get sent, and without a date scheduled for a court to hear his case.
• His wife, who homeschoools their kids, has no income or other means of support, and has been relying on the community to feed and house them.
• In a GoFundMe campaign, Kasper is described a devoted father and husband, a proud landowner in the U.S. with a valid driver’s license and social security number, who has always paid his taxes.  
• And now, The Weather: “Patsy’s Twin” by Goon
• Let’s do a chart. We’re going back to… one year ago, in late May 2024.
• Why not? Well… I’ve been open about my personal distaste for newer pop music, which may seem odd to those of you who see me suggesting a brand new song every fucking day here in the “Weather” section. 
• But, heh heh, that stuff I like isn’t… pop. It’s sometimes indie pop. Or indie rock. Or dream pop. Or shoegaze. Or art rock. Or prog pop. Or experimental. Anyway, here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. The Tortured Poets Department (Taylor Swift). 2. Radical Optimism (Dua Lipa). 3. One Thing At A Time (Morgan Wallen). 4. We Don't Trust You (Future & Metro Boomin). 5. SEVENTEEN Best Album '17 Is Right Here’ (SEVENTEEN). 6. Vultures 1 (¥$: Ye & Ty Dolla $ign). 7. Dangerous: The Double Album (Morgan Wallen). 8. Cowboy Carter (Beyonce). 9. Stick Season (Noah Kahan). 10. SOS (SZA). 11. Fireworks & Rollerblades (Benson Boone). 12. Zach Bryan (Zach Bryan). 13. Eternal Sunshine (Ariana Grande). 14. We Still Don't Trust You (Future & Metro Boomin). 15. The Diamond Collection (Post Malone). 16. American Heartbreak (Zach Bryan). 17. Guts (Olivia Rodrigo). 18. DAMN. (Kendrick Lamar). 19. Lover (Taylor Swift). 20. For All The Dogs (Drake).
• From the Sports Desk… we inch closer and closer to the finals in both the NBA and NHL playoffs.
• In the NBA: the Thunder and Timberwolves played a super tight game, which still ended in OKC winning 128-126 and grabbing a 3-1 lead in the series. They’re a win away from the NBA finals.
• A side note: no matter who wins the NBA championship this year between Indiana, New York, OKC, or Minnesota, it’s going to be a team that has yet to win it in this decade.
• 2020: Lakers. 2021: Bucks. 2022: Warriors. 2023: Nuggets. 2024: Celtics.
• The age of the NBA dynasty seems to be gone, and perhaps that’s a good thing.
• In the NHL: the Hurricanes were on the verge of elimination, and instead shut out the Panthers 3-0. Florida still has a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. 
• Today in history… John is crowned King of England (1199). Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg (1703). First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson (1863). The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A (1927). The 1,046 feet Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public (1930). The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission (1933). The Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, CA (1937). U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency” to deal with WWII (1941). Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census (1967). Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire (1996). Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot that led to the Oklahoma City bombing (1998). The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo (1999).
• May 27 is the birthday of businessman/philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794), journalist/activist Amelia Bloomer (1818), businessman Jay Gould (1836), police officer Wild Bill Hickok (1837), novelist Dashiell Hammett (1894), biologist/environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907), US vice president Hubert Humphrey (1911), actor Vincent Price (1911), actor Christopher Lee (1922), politician Henry Kissinger (1923), businessman/philanthropist Sumner Redstone (1923), author/screenwriter Harlan Ellison (1934), pianist/composer Ramsey Lewis (1935), model/actress Lee Meriwether (1935), actor Louis Gossett Jr. (1936), singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (1945), bass player Pete Sears (1948), singer-songwriter Siouxsie Sioux (1957), singer-songwriter Neil Finn (1958), actress Peri Gilpin (1961), actor Adam Carolla (1964), MLB player Jeff Bagwell (1968), actor Paul Bettany (1971), rapper Lisa Lopes (1971), rapper André 3000 (1975), chef Jamie Oliver (1975), and NFL player Daniel Jones (1997).

Okay, time to jump into what will likely be some kind of work hell day. That’s okay. Might as well get the inevitable over with. Enjoy your day.