Random News: June 19, 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 June 19, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. It’s a federal holiday today, which we’ll discuss in a moment, but as a small business owner, I take very few days off regardless of any other factors. So I’m up, drinking a huge cup of Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend, and doing my usual weekday routine.

• A Pride Note…
• Let’s see if you’ve heard this one: “Of course he’s not gay! He’s married!”
• Yikes.
• I can name dozens of people — both celebrities and otherwise — who married someone of the opposite sex for a variety of reasons, but were as gay (or at least bi) as the day is long.
• Playwright Oscar Wilde. Musician/songwriters Elton John and Little Richard. Actors Rock Hudson and Anthony Perkins. Composer Cole Porter. They all were married to women.
• Why? There’s no single answer that fits all. The reasons can include that they’d gained fame and wanted to dispel rumors about their sexuality. Or that they were genuinely romantically in love with the woman while also having sexual attraction to men.
• There are also cases where people discovered their sexuality later in life. Actress Meredith Baxter married three different men before acquiescing that the reason the relationships didn’t work out was that she preferred women, and has been happily married to one since 2013.
• But don’t fall into the trap that just because someone is married to a person of the opposite sex means they’re not part of the LGBTQIA spectrum.
• It just means that it’s a choice they’ve made for whatever reason they have — personal or professional or otherwise.
• I’m not sure if it’s quite the same for women, but ask any gay guy how often they’re propositioned by “straight” married men.
• Moving on.
• Before we get to the news, I want to mention that today is Juneteenth, a federal holiday in the USA celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.
• Many people are under the mistaken impression that slavery ended immediately after President Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
• No, not even close. The Civil War was still in its bloodiest phase, and there remained legally enslaved people even in states that never seceded from the Union.
• The ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution that officially ended slavery happened on December 6, 1865.
• It was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.
• Early celebrations of Juneteenth date back to 1866  in Texas, then spread across the South amongst newly freed African American slaves and their descendants.
• It would take another 100 years — and then some — before Black Americans even began getting fair treatment and opportunities. Jim Crow laws, civil rights atrocities, and multiple forms of discrimination existed throughout the 20th century, and remain prevalent today.
• Juneteenth was enshrined as a federal holiday four years ago in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
• Let’s do some news.
• It’s the time of year for Supreme Court decisions. I’d say to anticipate that most of them will be bad, with the occasional good one to stop the country from immediately going up in flames.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that restricts access to gender-affirming care for minors experiencing gender dysphoria, a decision that is likely to have broad implications for access to medical treatments for transgender youth in half of the country.
• This is very, very bad.
• In the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, the high court ruled 6-3 to reject the challenge brought by the Biden administration, three families, and a physician who had argued that Tennessee's law violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
• The court concluded that the state's measure, which is known as SB1 and was enacted in 2023, does not run afoul of the 14th Amendment.
• Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that, "Our role is not 'to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic' of the law before us, but only to ensure that it does not violate the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process.”
• Pussy ass bitch.
• The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — were in dissent. Sotomayor read her scathing dissent from the bench.
• Tennessee's law prohibits medical treatments like puberty blockers or hormone therapy for transgender adolescents under the age of 18. The state is one of 25 with laws that seek to restrict access to gender-affirming care for young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
• U.S. v. Skrmetti marks the first case in which the Supreme Court stepped into the politically charged debate over health care for transgender youth. In addition to the state prohibitions, Dumples the Asshole Clown has issued executive orders that address what he calls "gender ideology."
• So that is terrible news for the people of half the USA and their children. I’d give you the opinion that doing business with any company based in those 25 states is effectively supporting those laws.
• Spend your money wisely.
• Moving on to another SCOTUS decision, this one a little better.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge brought by Texas and a group of landowners to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of a private company's plan to temporarily store thousands of metric tons of nuclear waste at a facility in the state.
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a decision for a 6-3 court in the case of NRC v. Texas that neither Texas nor a land developer were parties to the commission's licensing proceeding, and therefore are not entitled to obtain judicial review.
• Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, because they are fucking pricks who hate the Earth. No other reason.
• The court reversed a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that allowed the case to move forward and ordered the lower court to deny or dismiss the petitions for review filed by Texas and the landowners.
• It did not address a second matter raised in the dispute regarding whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the authority to license private companies to store nuclear waste offsite.
• Which is a pretty big question on its own.
• In 1982, Congress enacted a law requiring the federal government to establish a permanent facility to store spent nuclear fuel. Yucca Mountain in Nevada was later supposed to house this repository.
• But after all these years, the site still hasn't yet been established amid pushback from the state, and the project was halted during the Obama administration. It's unclear whether the Dump administration will seek to restart the Yucca Mountain project. 
• As a result, more than 90,000 metric tons of nuclear waste from commercial power plants are currently privately stored, both at or away from nuclear reactor sites. Spent fuel from a nuclear reactor remain radioactive and pose health risks for thousands of years.
• Let’s move on.
• Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of blistering Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage” to them.
• Khamenei said, “Wise individuals who know Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation with the language of threats, because the Iranian nation is not one to surrender.”
• Seems pretty accurate, historically speaking.
• And once again, Dump’s best friend Vladimir Putin offered yesterday to help mediate an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, suggesting Moscow could help negotiate a settlement that could allow Tehran to pursue a peaceful atomic program while assuaging Israeli security concerns.
• Hahahahahaha… sweet Jesus.
• So what’s the deal? Are we prepping for all-out war in the Middle East?
• Military sources are specifically saying yes. The U.S. is sending resources including the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and putting refueling tankers in Spain and Greece, and the U.S. has fighter jets and B-52 bombers at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.
• Also, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is leaving from the East Coast, and the U.S. Navy already has the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
• Meanwhile, a government plane evacuated a number of U.S. diplomats and family members who had asked to leave Israel yesterday.
• That took place right before U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced that the embassy was making plans for evacuation flights and ships for private American citizens.
• I’d imagine Israel itself is pretty busy defending itself from Iranian attacks.
• Oh wait, no. They’re still attacking Palestine.
• Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis killed 22 people, including two children, and injured 90 others since dawn yesterday.
• Eight were killed sheltering in tents, and five others killed while trying to get aid.
• And then early this morning, an Iranian missile slammed into the main hospital in southern Israel, leaving dozens of people with minor injuries, causing significant damage, and drawing a swift vow from Israeli leaders of intensified attacks on Iran's military and "government targets." 
• It’s really hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys these days… especially when we seem to often be on the side of the bad guys. Maybe there are no good guys. Including us.
• Moving on.
• We should give you an update on what’s happening with Dumpy’s Big Bullshit Bill.
• Senate Republicans are preparing to slice deeper into Medicaid to finance Dump’s tax cuts for the extreme wealthy and to pay for immigrant concentration camps. They are proposing legislation that will deal a greater financial blow to hospitals and result in millions more uninsured Americans.
• You already know that last month, House Republicans passed massive tax-and-spending legislation projected to result in 7.8 million fewer Medicaid enrollees. But that wasn’t enough for the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee.
• Their revisions to the bill will prompt even steeper coverage losses, sharply reining in a Medicaid financing maneuver that hospital groups say would slash payments to their facilities.
• Chip Kahn, CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, said yesterday that “The Senate just made a bad bill worse. Rural communities would take the hardest hit, with struggling hospitals compelled to face difficult decisions about what services to cut.”
• As I’ve told you about a thousand times, rural areas — primarily in red states — disproportionately rely on Medicaid, and their hospitals are often the first backstop for patients without health coverage.
• So what’s on the chopping block as a result?
• They’ll have to reduce pediatric, maternity, and behavioral health services; end telehealth programs; close rural facilities; or enact layoffs if the Medicaid cuts become law.
• And the way things are, with that populace being as uninformed and cult-brainwashed as it is, most of those people won’t know about any of this until they have an emergency and those services are simply gone. Their kids will die in front of them.
• And it will the fault of Dump and his Big Bullshit Bill that allows his friends to buy a new yacht. I’m not kidding or even exaggerating here.
• Is it too late? Can you do anything?
• Hell yes you can. Senate Republicans can lose only three GOP votes and still pass their bill. It’s YOUR job to pester the fuck out of all Republican Senators and make sure they know that this can’t be accepted in your state.
• Call them. Write them. Email them. Tag them on social posts.
• Let’s move on.
• One spending item in Dump’s bill continues to route millions and millions in government subsidies to Elon Musk to play with his little rockets. 
• But last night, SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded spectacularly on its test stand, sending a massive fireball into the South Texas sky and dealing another major setback to Elmo’s company.
• It was the fourth time the company has lost a Starship spacecraft this year. In three previous test flights, the vehicle came apart or detonated during its flight.
• One good result about the immature squabbling between Dump and Elon: the USA has reached out to several of SpaceX’s competitors, urging them to expedite their efforts so that the government would not have to heavily rely on one company.
• A good idea no matter what.
• Let’s move on.
• I’ve spoken to many people who are excited and energized after Saturday’s “No Kings” demonstrations. Upwards of 13+ million people took part in person, with millions more cheering us on from home. It was, as I mentioned, one of the largest mass demonstrations in history.
• On Monday night, I attended a recap call with the organizers. There are indeed plans in the works for the next steps.
• Those next steps include a new national protest, dubbed “Good Trouble Lives On.” That protest is scheduled for July 17, and honors the anniversary of the 2020 passing of Civil Rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, who called on Americans fighting for justice to create “good trouble” in the name of redeeming the soul of America.
• The rallying cry for the march is “March in Peace. Act in Power.” The protest already has dozens of planned demonstrations. 
Another action announced on the call is called “1 Million Rising.” Organized by Indivisible, the initiative seeks to harness the energy of protesters to build long-term political power. One Million Rising describes itself as a national effort to train one million people to become pro-democracy movement leaders.
• And the consumer boycotts against Elon Musk and Tesla are also snowballing. The call featured the announcement of a Musk Must Fall protest, organized by Tesla Takedown activists on June 28 — Elmo’s birthday.
• Obviously, I will update you as these things solidify further.
• Let’s move on to a local (to me) news story on immigration.
• It’s human nature to assume that the bad things happen to other people, someplace far away from you. I can assure you… that is NOT the case with Dump’s ICE gestapo. No matter where you live in the USA, they will eventually come for you or people you care about.
• Here in my area — the South Bay region of greater Los Angeles — a nine-month pregnant U.S. citizen was roughed up and arrested by ICE.
• Cary López Alvarado has now given birth, less than a week after ICE agents grabbed her and shoved her up against a car and cuffed her for having brown skin.
• Agents arrived outside a building in Hawthorne, CA on June 8, where Alvarado was with her boyfriend and cousin. All three were detained by the agents, and Alvarado was accused of obstructing agents from accessing a car containing “two Guatemalan illegal aliens” inside.
• But the South Bay woman and her cousin are both U.S. citizens. “They had my boyfriend on the ground already, and they had tackled my cousin down… that’s when I was inside the car just banging on the door,” Alvarado told local news station KTLA in a tearful interview.
• Four days later, she gave birth. Her boyfriend, meanwhile, remains in custody out of state.
• This is what happens when you put up a quota for alleged crimes. The people tasked with meeting that quota will “find” the supposed crimes — whether they’re legit or not.
• Moving on.
• A note from the Health Desk.
• People tend to obsess on things that will kill them. You can’t blame them. Will your demise be a result of a shark attack? A terrorism event? A deadly contagion?
• It’s way more likely that you’ll… fall down. Probably in or near your own home.
• More older adults in the United States are dying from unintentional falls, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yesterday, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics data brief showed that the death rate for falls in adults 65 and older increased with increasing age for both men and women. 
• From 2003 to 2023, the rate increased more than 70% for adults ages 65 to 74, and more than 75% for those aged 75 to 84. It more than doubled for seniors 85 and older.
• In 2023 alone, more than 41,000 retirement-age Americans died of falls — with more than half of those deaths among people 85 and older.
• Why the increase? It’s hard to say, but there are some things you can do to minimize your risk of dying in this boring way.
• First, remain physically active: As we age, our muscles lose mass and strength, which can contribute to falls. To counteract this, improving strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility will definitely reduce your risk.
• I work out daily, and a good portion of my exercise involves balance — yoga is particularly good for this.
• Other tips: remove unnecessary hazards — like electrical cords in walkways or loose rugs in your home. Add helpful tools — like nonslip mats in showers.
• Don’t be embarrassed to use an assistive device like a cane or a walker if you’re not confident in your balance. And wear shoes with nonskid soles, like my sweet-ass Nike Air Force 1’s.
• Finally, changes in sight and hearing are linked to an increased risk for falls, and certain medications can make you dizzy or sleepy. Be mindful of all that.
• And now, The Weather: “Latitude” by Coral Grief
• In real weather news, temperatures are forecast to exceed 90 degrees for around 220 million people across the USA. Temps may reach or exceed 100 degrees for an additional 35 million people next week, including those living in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
• Stay cool and stay safe, my friends.
• RIP going out to chef and Food Network star Anne Burrell, who died on Tuesday. She was just 55 — born a few months after me.
• Her cause of death isn’t officially confirmed, but authorities who arrived at her home were responding to a 911 call about a reported cardiac arrest.
• As I often say… no matter who you are or what you do to try and lead a healthy existence, there are no guarantees about your longevity.
• That thing you want to do? Maybe do it now. You aren’t promised a tomorrow.
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s June 1972, and I have just turned three years old. I have a baby sister named Danielle who is four months old.
• I believe we’re living in Detroit, Michigan. And I actually have my very first memory right around this exact moment. We took a trip to Canada — which, in Detroit, is like a 15-minute drive away.
• I got an orange sherbet and my dad carried my on his shoulders across a bridge. that’s the memory.
• Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time. Mildly-interesting note: the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young all had their own albums in the top 10 this week.
• Note two: Carole King’s album ‘Tapestry’ was so big that it was on the charts a full year earlier in June 1971.
• 1. Exile On Main St. (The Rolling Stones). 2. Thick As A Brick (Jethro Tull). 3. First Take (Roberta Flack). 4. Manassas (Stephen Stills). 5. Joplin In Concert (Janis Joplin). 6. A Lonely Man (The Chi-lites). 7. History Of Eric Clapton (Eric Clapton). 8. Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (Roberta Flack). 9. Harvest (Neil Young). 10. Graham Nash/David Crosby (David Crosby/Graham Nash). 11. Eat A Peach (The Allman Brothers Band). 12. Procol Harum Live In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Procol Harum). 13. America (America). 14. Let's Stay Together (Al Green). 15. Portrait Of Donny (Donny Osmond). 16. All Day Music (War). 17. Mark, Don & Mel 1969-71 (Grand Funk Railroad). 18. Tapestry (Carole King). 19. Smokin' (Humble Pie). 20. Baby I'm-A Want You (Bread).
• From the Sports Desk… Game 6 of the NBA Finals is tonight. The OKC Thunder can take the championship with a win, or the Indiana Pacers can force a Game 7. We’ll be watching to see.
• Meanwhile, since we’ll need to focus a bit more on baseball — at least until the start of the NFL season in a couple of months — let’s look at the current top teams in MLB standings.
• American League: Tigers (47-27), Astros (43-31), Yankees (42-31), Rays (41-33), and Blue Jays (40-33).
• National League: Cubs (45-28), Dodgers (46-29), Mets (45-29), Phillies (44-30), and Giants (41-33).
• And from the Sports Business Desk…
• The Lakers are being sold.
• The Buss family is entering into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion.
• It’s the highest price ever set for a U.S. professional sports franchise. It was guaranteed as part of the agreement that Jeannie Buss would remain in charge of the team for the foreseeable future.
• Today in history… English colonists leave Roanoke Island, after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in North America. (1586). The first officially recorded organized baseball game is played, with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23–1 (1846). The U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford (1862). Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, TX are officially informed of their freedom (1865). The first Father’s Day is celebrated in Spokane, WA (1910). The Communications Act of 1934 establishes the United States' Federal Communications Commission, the FCC (1934). The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL merge for one season due to player shortages caused by World War II (1943). The first NASCAR race was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1960). The Civil Rights Act survives an 83-day filibuster in the Senate and passes 73–27 (1964). Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication (1978). WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requested asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents (2012). 
• June 19 is the birthday of mathematician/physicist Blaise Pascal (1623), comedian Moe Howard (1897), bandleader Guy Lombardo (1902), MLB player Lou Gehrig (1903), SCOTUS justice Abe Fortas (1910), journalist/politician Alan Cranston (1914), singer-songwriter/musician Lester Flatt (1914), actress Nancy Marchand (1928), actress Gena Rowlands (1930), novelist Salman Rushdie (1947), singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948), actress Phylicia Rashad (1948), singer-songwriter Ann Wilson (1950), actress Kathleen Turner (1954), singer/dancer Paula Abdul (1962), TV host Laura Ingraham (1963), UK prime minister Boris Johnson (1964), guitarist Brian “Head” Welch (1970), NBA player Dirk Nowitzki (1978), actress Zoe Saldana (1978), rapper Macklemore (1983), MLB player Jacob deGrom (1988), and NBA player Jordan Poole (1999).

Wow, that was a lot of news. But lots of things happen every day. Some big, some small. I just try and relate the things that might be helpful for you to know, or help you grow as a person, or make you think a little more about something that merits your thoughts. That’s all. Enjoy your day.