Zak Claxton: Random News: June 10, 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 June 10, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. We’re in the typical “June Gloom” weather pattern here by the beach, with skies that look more like Seattle than what you’d associated with the Los Angeles area.

A Pride Note…
Let’s talk about stereotypes.
If you think all gay men look or act effeminate, I’d love you to shake hands with a member of the US Special Forces who is gay.
If you think that every lesbian is a big-shouldered bull dyke with a buzz cut, I’m happy to inform you that many are every bit as traditionally feminine as any heterosexual woman you’ve ever met. Many are more so.
Do you know one reason these stereotypes came into play? Because gay people needed some way of safely recognizing each other, and behavioral norms were one of those indicators that allowed for safer interactions.
But those stereotypes aren’t a necessity toward being gay or lesbian. Look, there are dozens and dozens of high-profile celebrities that are gay who you have no fucking idea about their orientation.
And that’s because you expect them to act a certain way, or look a certain way, and sorry… they don’t owe you anything.
But gay people are all around you, every day. If that thought makes you uncomfortable, you’ll find the problem looking back at you in the mirror.
Let’s do some news.
I promised yesterday — when I ran out of time to do it properly — that I’d explain a bit about the legality of using National Guard and, in a separate issue, active duty US military against residents of the USA on US soil.
Generally, federal military forces are not allowed to carry out civilian law enforcement duties against U.S. citizens except in times of emergency.
There are exceptions.
An 18th-century wartime law called the Insurrection Act is the main legal mechanism that a president can use to activate the military or National Guard during times of rebellion or unrest.
But that’s not what Dumpy did on Saturday, because as much as he’d like it to be this way, there’s no event happening that would provide legal justification for it.
Instead, he relied on a similar federal law that allows the president to federalize National Guard troops under certain circumstances.
That is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, atop the chain of command.
See, the National Guard is a hybrid entity that serves both state and federal interests. Often it operates under state command and control, using state funding. Sometimes National Guard troops will be assigned by their state to serve federal missions, remaining under state command but using federal funding.
For Dump to wrestle command of the California National Guard away from our governor Gavin Newsom, the law says that can be done under three circumstances.
1. When the U.S. is invaded or in danger of invasion.
2. When there is a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the authority of the U.S. government.
3. When the President is unable to “execute the laws of the United States,” with regular forces.
And we can all plainly see that none of those three situations are applicable here.
But making matters even more legally dubious for Dumpy, the law also says that orders for those purposes “shall be issued through the governors of the States.”
So it’s not immediately clear if the president can activate National Guard troops without the order of that state’s governor.
And that’s why Newsom is suing the Dump administration.
What about the use of active-duty troops?
Yesterday, it was announced that 700 active-duty Marines are being sent to Los Angeles, integrating with the National Guard troops who are already here. It’s unknown if they have actually deployed as of yet.
They could start arriving in the Los Angeles area as soon as today. The Marines are based in Twentynine Palms, in the desert a few hours east of Los Angeles.
By the way, even that conflicts with moron Pete Hegseth’s statement that they’d be coming in from Pendleton, but whatever.
LAPD Chief Jim McDowell said that his agency has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstration and can handle the protests. We know about protests in LA, I promise.
“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," he said.
If you think this is confined to LA… wake up.
On Sunday, Dump was asked if he plans to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles and he said, “We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”
So I’d expect more of Dump’s illegal deployment of armed forces in places like Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, San Antonio, and anywhere else there’s a large Hispanic population.
Let’s first mention what this is really about. Dump is aware of a big schism in his support base after the breakup with his boyfriend Elon Musk.
He needed a big distraction after the bruising his ego and image took… especially after Elon said he’d seen proof that Dump was in the Epstein files.
And secondly, Dump sees the amount of attention being given to the June 14 protests — the “No Kings” national day of defiance — that will detract from his big birthday parade on the same day.
There are now over 1,800 such events spread out over all 50 states. I will be at my local one in Torrance, CA.
And ironically, the exact opposite thing happened, with people flocking to learn more about “No Kings” day and planning to participate in Saturday’s events.
But there’s more than that.
According to legit sources, Dump's National Guard move in LA wasn't just revenge — it's part of a larger plan tied to those activism events.
And I’d highly advise that he keeps any and all troops far away from us here in the South Bay. We really like our freedom here.
That brings us to an 1878 law called the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally forbids the U.S. military — including the National Guard, but definitely branches like the Army, Navy, and Marines — from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
That, too, is being ignored by the most lawless president the USA has ever seen.
So to be clear…
There is no foreign invasion. There is no army from another country here to take over the USA.
Instead, there are hard-working people who are our friends and neighbors here in LA. Good people with families who make huge contributions to our society and our economy.
And if you want to be open about your feelings, just admit that you’re going after people who are not white. It has nothing to do with their legal status.
And that’s one (or many) legitimate reasons for the level of anger at ICE attacking these people in many neighborhoods in the LA region.
In related news…
Yesterday, my state sued the Dump administration after our National Guard was deployed to confront immigration protesters in Los Angeles at the direction of Dumpy.
Our governor, Gavin Newsom, wrote, “Donald Trump is putting fuel on this fire. Commandeering a state's National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral. California will be taking him to court."
A brief side note: I’ve criticized him at various points in the past, but I’ve been nothing but impressed at the gloves-off approach Newsom is taking in this situation.
In Newsom, Dumpy may have helped create the biggest Democratic challenge to the presidential race of 2028 via the process of his madness.
California AG Rob Bonta said that the federalization of the California National Guard deprives
the state of resources needed to protect citizens, particularly in the event of an emergency.
He also stated, “The authority that the president cites to only allow for the deployment of the National Guard by the president when there's an invasion by a foreign nation, which there's not, when there's a rebellion to overturn leadership of the United States of America, which there's not, or when the regular forces of the federal government cannot execute the law, which is also not present.”
Hey! That’s what I just said. Stop copying my homework, Bonta.
Dumpy, in his usual fashion, took it well… by voicing his support for "border czar" Tom Homan to arrest Newsom.
Oh, and Drama Don also said yesterday that Los Angeles would have been “completely obliterated” if he had not deployed the Guard.
I mean, literally, the Guard has stood around a federal building with almost no interaction with the protest at all. And all of the protests have been confined to very small, focused areas of a very large city. But you do you, Donnie.
I should note that Dumpy has doubled down on his bad idea, deploying another 2,000 National Guard troops yesterday for (checks notes) no reason at all.
In more related news…
David Huerta, the president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, was released from federal custody yesterday on a $50,000 bond.
He’s been charged with one charge of felony conspiracy to impede a federal officer, a felony that could result in up to six years in prison.
After he was released, Huerta told reporters he did not intend to get arrested, and said the only way to win change is through nonviolence. He’d been protesting Friday outside a business where ICE was rounding up workers.
Meanwhile, union members and immigrant advocates had led rallies in cities from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York to call for Huerta’s release.
SEIU is California’s largest labor union, with about two million members representing workers in healthcare, public sector, and property services.
One more note on all this.
You were told straight to your face that ICE would be deployed to go after the worst of the worst… violent gang members, human traffickers, rapists, and other blatant evildoers.
But because of the fact that Dump has put down quotas for arrests and deportations, ICE abandoned even the pretense of just going after people with criminal records.
Instead, they just started rounding up people who were 100% in compliance with their obligations — the low-hanging fruit.
And they kidnap them from places where they’re seeking work, getting education, and attending church. Hell, they even set them up for arrest at their actual appointments at government offices for immigration compliance follow-up.
Those people are people WE ALL NEED in the USA. They’re far less likely to be criminals than many of the other people around you.
So now, if you have brown skin and live in the USA, you are automatically a suspect. Gotta fill those quotas, right?
And that’s why they’ll grab you off the street, put you in cuffs, deport you, and maybe apologize later for their inevitable mistakes. Or maybe you — or your loved ones — will die, and they won’t have to pretend to be concerned anymore.
Okay, let’s move on…
Wait.
No, we’re staying on this.
I’ve told you a bunch of times this opposition to Dump’s immigration policies wouldn’t be confined to Los Angeles.
The anti-ICE protests are set to spread today across the country, as activists planned demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, and elsewhere.
May you live in interesting times.
Okay. Now we’ll move on.
Some absolutely horrifying news from the Health Desk…
Yesterday, secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a former heroin addict whose brain was partially eaten by a parasitic worm — got rid of all 17 members of a key advisory committee that helps craft vaccine policy and recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kennedy made the announcement yesterday afternoon. In his role as head of HHS, Kennedy has the legal authority to replace members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), but the decision to scrap the entire committee flies in the face of precedent and has alarmed the public health and medical establishment.
The American Medical Association said Kennedy's decision undermines "trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives."
Dr. Jonathan Temte, who served as chair from 2012 to 2015 and is a professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin, said, “I hate to say this, but we are heading in the direction of U.S. vaccine policy becoming the laughing stock of the globe.”
Sigh.
Let’s move on.
Some folks out there are still convinced that Elon Musk’s DOGE was doing good things, finding wasteful government spending, and putting a swift end to it.
Except that’s not at all what happened.
Sahil Lavingia, a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency, says that he found that the federal waste, fraud, and abuse that his agency was supposed to uncover were "relatively nonexistent" during his short time embedded within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was," he said. Imagine that.
Lavingia joined DOGE in March. He’d just wanted to make government websites easier for citizens to use, and didn't really care which presidential administration he was working for, despite protests from his friends and family.
He was asked to do an interview, and said that ”Elon was pretty clear about how he wanted DOGE to be maximally transparent. That’s something he said a lot in private. And publicly. And so I thought, OK, cool, I'll take him at his word. I will be transparent."
Moments after that interview was published online, Lavingia got an email saying he was done at DOGE, and his access had been revoked.
So to be clear: no wastefulness, and no transparency. Everything is the opposite of the picture painted by Dump and Elon.
Moving on.
A story from the Entertainment Desk…
Yesterday, Justin Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit against his "It Ends With Us" co-star Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was dismissed by a federal judge.
Baldoni — who seems like a real piece of shit — accused the couple of extortion and defamation after Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation in a complaint filed in December
Oh, and Baldoni had also sued The New York Times, which was first to report Lively's sexual harassment complaint. That lawsuit was also dismissed yesterday.
And now you get nothing, asshole.
From the Tech Desk…
Yesterday, Apple kicked off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference with an array of announcements on new features coming this fall via iOS 26.
Wait, what the fuck?
Yes, Apple has adopted a new nomenclature for identifying its operating systems to align with the year. So instead of iOS 19, Apple's next iPhone iOS will be called iOS 26.
They’re doing the same with their other operating systems — iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 261 are slated to be released as free updates in September 2025.
The big new feature? Something they call Liquid Glass, a new interface that makes apps, widgets and docs appear translucent, allowing users to see multiple layers of their screen at once.
The color of Liquid Glass also shifts depending on the content on your screen, and adapts between light and dark environments.
Sounds… confusing and weird. Maybe I’m old. Hello? Is anyone there? Someone fetch me my porridge and a warm quilt.
And now, The Weather: “My Plane Leaves Tomorrow (Au Revoir)” by Al Jardine w/Neil Young
Rest in peace going out to a true musical hero.
Sly Stone, the multitalented musician whose path-finding, psychedelia-laced funk influenced music in a way that reverberates even to today’s top hits, died yesterday at 82.
As songwriter, producer, arranger, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, he led his group Sly and the Family Stone to the top of the charts with a series of energetic singles and albums which fused soul and rock to create the sound of funk as we know it today.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. But Sly had gone through some rough times. In 2011, he was homeless and living in a van in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw district.
From the Sports Desk… in Game 3 of the NHL’s Stanley Cup finals, the Panthers put a beatdown on the Oilers, winning 6-1, and taking a 2-1 lead in the championship series.
Game 4 is Thursday night in Florida.
Today in history… Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft and Sorceries” (1692). The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on the Thames in London (1829). The United States Naval Academy graduates its first class of students (1854). In the Battle of Guantánamo Bay, U.S. Marines begin the American invasion of Spanish-held Cuba (1898). Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson (1935). In baseball, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds becomes the youngest player ever in a major-league game (1944). Saab produces its first automobile (1947). The Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex, was signed into law by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program (1963). The Spirit rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission (2003). Opportunity rover sends its last message back to Earth (2018).
June 10 is the birthday of Japan emperor Uda (867), ornithologist/herpetologist Hermann Schlegel (1804), actress Hattie McDaniel (1893), singer-songwriter Howlin’ Wolf (1910), novelist Saul Bellow (1915), actress/singer Judy Garland (1922), author/illustrator Maurice Sendak (1928), singer-songwriter/guitarist João Gilberto (1931), NFL player Dan Fouts (1951), actor Rich Hall (1954), musician Kim Deal (1961), musician Kelly Deal (1961), actress Gina Gershon (1962), model/actress Elizabeth Hurley (1965), guitarist Joey Santiago (1965), comedian/actor Bill Burr (1968), politician Bobby Jindal (1971), figure skater Tara Lipinski (1982), NBA player Jeff Teague (1988), and model/actress Kate Upton (1992).

So listen. This is a pivotal moment in the history of the USA and indeed, the world. Yes, it’s of a higher level of personal interest to me because it’s happening here in my home area. But it doesn’t end here. The old saying is, “As goes California, so goes the nation.” I promise that this will be spreading across the nation quickly. The very best thing that you can do — and I highly recommend you do — is make plans for this coming Saturday June 14, and directly participate in a local “No Kings” event. Don’t be scared; be strong, and defend our way of life not only for yourself, but for your friends, your family, and future generations. You will never regret trying to do the right thing; you would definitely regret sitting on the sidelines at a moment where you can be part of saving the world for today and tomorrow. We can do this, and we will… together. Enjoy your day.

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Random News: June 10, 2025

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