Random News: June 2, 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 2, 2025, and it’s a Monday. The Monday following a three-day weekend seems super-extra Mondayish, so I’m very much appreciating my coffee at the moment.

• A Pride Note…
• One reason we acknowledge and celebrate Pride is that there’s a person out there right now who is deciding whether or not it’s better to be gay or dead.
• What if that person is your child? Your best friend?
• The very best version of a world is one where no people are forced to make — or are even tempted to consider — that choice.
• Pride isn’t a “gay parade.” It’s a chance to let people know that it’s okay for them to be true to themselves, and that the rest of us are happy for them.
• Let’s do some news.
• Yesterday, a man with a makeshift flamethrower yelled “Free Palestine” and threw an incendiary device into a group that had assembled at a Jewish community event in Boulder, CO to raise attention for Israeli hostages in Gaza. Six people were injured, some with burns.
• The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is an Egyptian national, and the White House claimed he was in the US without legal status.
• He’s been charged with multiple felonies in connection with the attack that the FBI was investigating as a terrorist act.
• The six victims who were wounded range in age from 67 to 88 and the injuries spanned from serious to minor
• Authorities did not disclose details about Soliman but said they believe that he acted alone and that no other suspect was being sought.
• The attack occurred barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside of a Jewish museum in Washington.
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said that he was closely monitoring the situation, adding that “hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable.”
• Agreed. No matter how passionately you feel about any issue, violence should never be the first response…. or even the last, if possible.
• And let me tell you something. If your goal is to help the people of Palestine — as should it be for all of us — then attacking Jews in the USA will have the exact opposite effect intended.
• What’s more likely is that actions such as these will make things worse for the people already suffering on the Gaza Strip. Keep it in mind.
• Let’s move on.
• Following up on a story we mentioned yesterday…
• The DHS removed a list of sanctuary states, cities, and counties from its website following sharp criticism from a sheriffs’ association that said a list of allegedly “noncompliant” sheriffs could severely damage the relationship between Dump and law enforcement.
• I mean, obviously. Who thought this was a good idea?
• After DHS published the error-filled list, it prompted a response from the National Sheriffs’ Association, which represents more than 3,000 elected sheriffs across the country and generally supports federal immigration enforcement.
• The association president, Sheriff Kieran Donahue, said that the DHS list was created without input from sheriffs and “violated the core principles of trust, cooperation, and partnership with fellow law enforcement.”
• Again, of course it does. When are you all going to realize that, red or blue, conservative or liberal, Dumpy doesn’t give a shit about you?
• In related news…
• Last week, federal agents with DHS handcuffed and detained a staff member of Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
• Video shows one of his aides being handcuffed by an agent while another agent tries to access an area inside the office.
• In the footage, a second staffer stands in front of the agent and asks if he has a warrant “You’re harboring rioters in the office,” the federal agent is heard telling her, before walking in anyway.
• The agents entered Nadler’s office because they were allegedly told that protesters were present and the agents “were concerned about the safety” of employees in the office.
• That’s excuse given by the DHS. Robert Gottheim, Nadler’s chief of staff, said yesterday that DHS’s version of events was a “total fabrication.”
• And Nadler himself was to-the-point.
• “President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are sowing chaos in our communities, using intimidation tactics against both citizens and non-citizens in a reckless and dangerous manner.”
• “If this can happen in a Member of Congress’s office, it can happen to anyone — and it is happening,” he added.
• Moving on.
• How are things going with Dumpy’s economic chaos?
• Not so good.
• I’d soon expect a return to high tariffs for China after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday that the country is withholding critical minerals it agreed to release in a trade deal they signed with the U.S. last month in Geneva.
• And the real reason I expect this is that Dumpy is super upset about being called president TACO — short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
• And Dumpy himself weighed in, posting, “China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
• So Mr. Topsy Turvy Wishy Washy is at it again. Someone needs to read him the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” when they tuck him in some night this week.
• And here’s another lesson for anyone who feels compelled to go along with the fat orange piece of shit who calls himself the president…
• Major companies in the U.S. have begun shifting legal work away from prominent law firms that struck deals with the Dump administration.
• The last thing any company wants is a law firm that gets scared and runs away form a fight.
• Not only are firms that struck deals losing clients, but those actively challenging Dump in court are attracting new corporate business.
• While four prominent firms — Jenner & Block, Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey — chose to challenge the orders in court, several other law firms targeted by Dump opted to cut deals to avoid disruption.
• These deals involved promising to do pro-bono (aka free) work for Dump, like defending crooked cops who are accused of wrongdoing.
• I would never in a million years want one of those weak-ass firms representing me or my business clients.
• Let’s move on.
• It’s June, meaning it’s the season for the Supreme Court to start handing down major rulings. This year is a little different, though.
• Dumpy’s second term has disrupted the court calendar, with the nine justices now spending as much time, if not more, juggling so-called emergency cases that need to be handled quickly as they do on the regular docket of cases that have gotten months of attention and deliberation.
• Nearly all the emergency cases are related to Dump’s fucked-up interpretations of federal law in executive orders that have regularly been blocked by federal judges.
• As June begins, the Supreme Court still has 33 cases to decide out of 62 on the docket. Those are the cases in which the justices heard arguments in the current nine-month term, which started in October, and would be expected to decide by issuing lengthy written decisions.
• The next scheduled ruling day is Thursday of this week.
• The far-right SCOTUS has already allowed Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military to go into effect, given a green light to the firing of independent agency members, and approved the administration’s removal of legal protections for thousands of Venezuelan immigrants.
• Last Friday, the court allowed the Trump administration to revoke legal protections for more than 500,000 immigrants.
• On the barely bright side, the justices have also put the brakes on an attempt by the administration to use a wartime law to deport Venezuelans it claims are gang members, and ordered Dump to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly sent to El Salvador.
• An order which he ignored.
• Moving on.
• In not good (but not unexpected) international news, right-wing candidate Karol Nawrocki has been elected Poland's new president.
• Nawrocki — a candidate backed by Dumpy — won 50.9% percent of the votes, giving him barely more votes than Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski with 49.1% percent.
• As Poland's new president, Nawrocki is likely to continue to use his presidential power of veto to block Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-EU program.
• He backs continued support for Ukraine, but has said he does not want to see the country joining NATO and the EU during Russia's ongoing aggression.
• So that sucks.
• Back in the USA…
• Yesterday marked the official return of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters are warning this year could once again bring an above-average number of storms.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting 13 to 19 named storms between June 1 and November 30, compared with an average of 14 storms per year from 1991-2020.
• Warmer ocean temperatures are contributing to more storms, NOAA said in its forecast, because more heat means more energy to fuel activity.
• And you don’t have to live near a beach to be concerned. Climate change means storms are dumping more water and bringing more rain and damage further away from the coast.
• Here’s the part you may need to pay attention to…
• Elon Musk and his little pal Dumpy targeted weather and climate research, and fired hundreds of NOAA employees, and also proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cuts at the agency for 2026, including gutting climate research and slashing funds for satellites that provide critical data for weather forecasts.
• And it’s already being stated that the cuts will undermine improvements in hurricane forecasting, even as storms are getting more dangerous.
• Point being: if I were over on that other coast, I’d be prepping for the next big storms now, and not waiting until it’s too late. You might not get as much info as you used to when we had a real, functioning government.
• And now, The Weather: “It's Getting Old” by Alicia Clara
• From the Sports Desk… ummm. See, the NBA finals and Stanley Cup finals don’t start for a couple of days. We’re kind of in sports limbo. Let’s see…
• MLB standings to the rescue!
• American League: 1. Tigers (39-21). 2. Yankees (35-22). 3. Mariners (32-26). 4. Guardians (32-26). 5. Astros (32-27).
• National League: 1. Mets (37-22). 2. Cubs (37-22). 3. Dodgers (36-22). 4. Phillies (36-23). 5. Padres (32-24).
• Today in history… Vandals enter Rome and plunder the city for two weeks (455). Virginia gets new charter, extending borders from "sea to sea” (1608). Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort (1763). The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided (1774). P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States (1835). Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph (1896). Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities (1919). U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States (1924). In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic, after which King Umberto II of Italy is exiled (1946). The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey (1953). During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history (1962). Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world (1966). Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died (1997). Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution (2012). The United Nations officially changes the name of the Republic of Turkey from "Turkey" to “Türkiye" (2022).
• June 2 is the birthday of U.S first lady Martha Washington (1731), philosopher/politician Marquis de Sade (1740), novelist/poet Thomas Hardy (1840), composer Edward Elgar (1857), swimmer/actor Johnny Weissmuller (1904), businessman Tex Schramm (1920), writer/architect Norton Juster (1929), actress Sally Kellerman (1937), actor Stacy Keach (1941), drummer Charlie Watts (1941), composer Marvin Hamlisch (1944), actor Jerry Mathers (1948), NHL player/coach Larry Robinson (1951), NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (1952), philosopher Cornel West (1953), actor Dana Carvey (1955), race car driver Kyle Petty (1960), activist Candace Gingrich (1966), TV host Andy Cohen (1968), rapper B Real (1970), actor Wayne Brady (1972), NBA player Earl Boykins (1976), actor Zachary Quinto (1977), drummer Fabrizio Moretti (1980), soccer player Abby Wambach (1980), and actress/rapper Awkwafina (1988).

Time for me to start Mondaying this Monday. Enjoy your day.