Random News: June 20, 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 20, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I am super grateful that it’s the end of a week, and that — completely contrasting last week at this time — I don’t have 10 million things to do over the alleged weekend.

• A Pride Note…
• Have you stopped to think about the word “pride,” and why it’s so tied to the gay rights movement?
• Pride is essentially the opposite of shame. A proud person doesn’t hide who they are; they put themselves on display to be admired.
• For much of human history in many cultures, gay people have had little choice about staying secretive about their orientation. They faced everything from open discrimination to imprisonment, torture, and death.
• It’s no wonder why it was the norm to “stay in the closet,” or for organizations to maintain a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
• Pride is the opposite of that. There’s nothing wrong with being who you are. And being open about it — while a very personal decision — is perhaps easier when you can see all around you, people being true to themselves and living their best life.
• And that’s why it’s called Pride.
• Let’s do some news.
• Starting with the “Definitely Not Sports” Desk…
• Yesterday, dozens of federal ICE agents arrived at Dodger Stadium, but were denied entry to the famed ballpark.
• Ha ha fuckers.
• The gestapo agents were seen dressed in tactical gear and gathered on the street that leads into the stadium.
• Afterwards, the official Los Angeles Dodgers social media account said that the agents were not allowed to enter the stadium grounds.
• ”This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled," said the team.
• Hilariously, the Department of Homeland Security responded, saying the officers' appearance at the stadium "had nothing to do with the Dodgers."
• ”CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement," claimed DHS.
• Then what the fuck were they doing there? Snacking on Dodgers Dogs? Hoping to get a Shohei Ohtani autograph while they were in town?
• A group of protesters also gathered near the stadium when word got out about ICE’s attempt. As you’re aware, demonstrations in the city — which began on June 6 — continue in varying levels.
• The latest round of demonstrations come after reports of a string of ICE raids in Los Angeles yesterday, including one outside of a nearby Home Depot on Sunset Boulevard.
• ICE has made over 66,000 arrests of random brown-skinned people in the first 100 days of Dump's second term, including a number of U.S. citizens and other legal residents.
• Assholes.
• Let’s move on to some good news for us (which is always bad news for Dump).
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge John McConnell blocked the Dump administration from requiring almost two dozen mostly Democratic states to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in order to receive billions in transportation funding.
• Back in April, Dump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made an idle threat that his department would cut off grants to any recipients that fail to "cooperate generally with Federal authorities in the enforcement of Federal law" — part of a wider gambit to push back against "sanctuary" jurisdictions. 
• But a group of 20 states sued, arguing the administration doesn't have the legal authority to tie transportation dollars — which states rely on for upkeep of roads, airports and other infrastructure — to immigration enforcement.
• They were correct. McConnell sided with the 20 plaintiff states, issuing a preliminary injunction that barred the government from enforcing the new immigration rules for "the States and their governmental subdivisions" while the lawsuit works its way through court.
• The judge noted that "Congress did not authorize or grant authority to the Secretary of Transportation to impose immigration enforcement conditions on federal dollars specifically appropriated for transportation purposes."
• Thank you. And suck my dick, Duffy.
• Moving on.
• In some news I was somewhat anticipating but still sucks, last night an appeals court allowed Dump to keep control of National Guard troops he deployed to Los Angeles following protests over immigration raids.
• The decision halts a ruling from a lower court judge who found Dump acted illegally when he activated the soldiers over opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
• As we stated, the deployment was the first by a president of a state National Guard without the governor’s permission since 1965.
• In its decision, a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously concluded it was likely Dump lawfully exercised his authority in federalizing control of the guard.
• Why? Well, here’s a situation for you: the court cited violent acts by protesters as the justification for Dump’s position. But a lot of people — like me — would say that the protestors only became violent after being confronted by federal agents in the first place.
• Here’s the bigger-picture concern: the court case will have wider implications on the president’s power to deploy soldiers throughout the United States after Dump directed immigration officials to prioritize deportations from other Democratic-run cities.
• Previous to the appeals court ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had found that Dump had overstepped his legal authority, which he said only allows presidents can take control during times of “rebellion or danger of a rebellion.”
• Which is obviously not the fucking situation here. If they want to see what actual rebellion looks like, we may have to show them that.
• In any case, the ruling means control of the California National Guard will stay in federal hands as the lawsuit continues to unfold.
• Let’s move on.
• During Dumples the Racist Clown’s first term, he issued some kind of statement each year to commemorate Juneteenth. He did that even before it was made a federal holiday by Joe Biden.
• But now that he’s fully open in his white supremacy, that ended this year.
• The loudmouth orange ass, who usually has something to say about everything, kept silent about a day important to Black Americans for marking the end of slavery in the country he leads again.
• He said nothing, wrote nothing, made no recognition even in a social post.
• Semi-interestingly, the White House had previously indicated that Dumpy was going to sign a Juneteenth proclamation, and he blew it off. Dumpy did find the energy to share statements about Iran, the TikTok app, and Fed chairman Jerome Powell on social media.
• Donnie Dump doesn’t have to pretend to care about Black people anymore, I suppose. What reason does he have to do so? If he can’t gain personally from something, it has zero value to him.
• And indeed, late in the day yesterday on Juneteenth, Dumpy wrote, "It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don't want it either! Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every … working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
• So you can pretty much count on him repealing Juneteenth as a holiday, a purposeful slap in the face to every Black person in this nation.
• How about former President Joe Biden?
• He went to Galveston, TX to join a Juneteenth Celebration Service at a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church.
• The site was the Reedy Chapel AME Church, one of the locations where the order announcing the end of slavery in Texas was read on June 19, 1865.
• Now that’s class. What a good guy Biden is. And what a contrast to the bloviating piece of racist shit the other guy is.
• In other news…
• Ever notice how everything with President TACO is always “two weeks” away?
• During his first term, he was going to release his tex returns in two weeks, which eventually became never. IN 2020, COVID was going to go away by itself in two weeks, which became… yes, also never.
• He was always just two weeks away from releasing a new health care plan that was allegedly better than the American Care Act, aka Obamacare. Remember his “concept of a plan”? That never happened either.
• So now, after Dumpy painted himself into a corner regarding the US’s involvement in the conflict with Iran via the proxy battle with Israel, he once again has turned to his two week formula.
• After his direct threats to Iran (including the assassination of their leader), he announced a negotiating window before deciding on striking the country directly. How long is that window?
• Yup. Two weeks.
• You have to understand, a sizable portion of his MAGA base wants the USA to have nothing to supporting Israel in this skirmish. They want an isolationist path where the US has zero involvement in any foreign war.
• Dumpy literally ran on that promise of avoiding foreign conflicts, including Israel, Ukraine, and other hot spots where US allies are involved.
• And per current polls, a majority of Americans — both liberal and conservative — don’t want the U.S. to get involved in the escalating war.
• 60% of polled Americans think the U.S. military should not get involved, per an Economist/YouGov poll released this week. Only 16% support U.S. military action, and 24% are unsure.
• That number includes 65% of Democrats, 61% of independents, and 53% of Republicans opposing U.S. military intervention in Iran.
• Dump is now hoping that Iran accepts the terms, which include completely abandoning its enrichment of uranium. But Iran seems have so far rejected all calls in that regard.
• And I don’t think they’ll change their minds in 14 days. But Dumpy is hoping you’re easily distracted and move on to other news after that two weeks is up. That’s what he does.
• Among US officials, there were not high expectations of success for today’s negotiations in Geneva between Iran and European representative. But whatever transpires, it could be a way for Dump to more easily chicken out instead of outright losing a big portion of his base support by bombing Iran as he’d previously threatened.
• Let’s do some more immigration news.
• This week, the U.S. State Department restarted the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas — but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review.
• An ironic note: the department said officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile to the United States, its government, culture, institutions, or founding principles.
• But I write critical shit about the USA every goddamn day. You’re soaking in it now. It’s my right to be critical of the country, given to me by our founding fathers via the First Amendment.
• And culture? So, if I hate Kid Rock, I get sent back to Lichtenstein or wherever?
• New applicants who refuse to set their social media accounts to “public” and allow them to be reviewed may be rejected.
• That seems… shitty. Side note: this Facebook account is indeed set to “public” because I have nothing to hide, nothing I do is against the law, and I will defend my rights vigorously.
• But that’s my choice. Everyone should make their own.
• More immigration news? Sure.
• We’ve mentioned Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier recently. He’s the fucking prick who got charged with contempt by continuing to enforce an immigration law that was legally blocked.
• Just a note to say that no matter how poor your opinion of him, Uthmeier is much worse than you realize.
• Yesterday, he called for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MiN) to be deported for criticizing last weekend’s military parade in Washington, D.C. 
• That piece of shit wrote “Denaturalize and Deport” in a social post featuring an interview with Omar from the outlet Democracy Now!
• What did she say that was worthy of his threat?
• “I grew up in a dictatorship, and I don’t even remember witnessing anything like that. To have a democracy, a beacon of hope for the world to now be turned into one of the worst countries where the military are in our streets without any regard for people’s constitutional rights.”
• To be clear, Uthmeier is calling for an American citizen to lose their rights and be sent to a foreign country. He’s comfortable saying that due to the color of Omar’s skin.
• He would never in a million years say that about a white person — especially a man — who’d immigrated here.
• Elon Musk, for example.
• Moving on.
• On the brink of a possible World War and In the midst of massive civil unrest in his own country,  Dumpy is focused on the important stuff.
• TikTok.
• Yesterday, the Creature from the Orange Lagoon once again delayed the enforcement of a bipartisan law that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. as a deal to separate the app from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, has remained elusive. 
• Dumpy announced that he signed an executive order pushing back the deadline for enforcing a law passed by Congress until mid-September — the third delay in the law's implementation since his inauguration in January.
• If you need a reminder… Dumpy was greatly in favor of banning TikTok, and as a result, Congress passed the law last year with bipartisan support giving ByteDance until January 19 to fully sever ties with TikTok or be cut off from U.S. app stores and web-hosting services. 
• But he doesn’t want to be the guy who actually followed through on this order. He’s hated enough as it is.
• That dumbfuck actually had a deal in place in early April, spinning TikTok's operations in the U.S. into a new company that was owned and operated by a majority of American investors.
• And then his tariffs became a sticking point where China would no longer approve the deal until issues over trade and tariffs were resolved. 
• Snort.
• In news from the Environmental Desk…
• Dump wants to make asbestos great again.
• The EPA is now reconsidering a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the U.S. — a mineral with proven ties cancer that’s been heavily regulated for decades.
• This move is one of several actions recently taken by the Dump administration that will harm the health of Americans, including the recent rollback of power plant pollution standards.
• Asbestos is still responsible for thousands of deaths in each year. Its removal from older buildings is often a costly process that requires protective gear.
• As I have many times before, I wish you and your friends and family the best of luck surviving the many horrors of the Dump regime.
• And now, The Weather: “Life Signs” by Water From Your Eyes
• Happy Summer Solstice. Summer — in the actual scientific astronomical sense — begins at 7:42pm PT tonight.
• Once again, in actual weather news, I’ll remind you that high heat can actually kill you. heat danger comes in many forms.
• Sun exposure can damage your skin. Sweating dehydrates you.
• Humidity prevents sweat from doing its job. And your body stops functioning properly when it gets too hot.
• If you’re forced to be away from an air conditioned environment, please take steps to minimize the many risks of high heat.
• From the Sports Desk… surprise, surprise, surprise! After many gurus predicted the Indiana Pacers would get swept in the Finals, we are now heading to a Game 7.
• The Pacers put a humiliating beatdown on the Thunder in Game 6 last night, winning 108-91 (though the game was a blowout from the start).
• Game 7 is Sunday night in OKC.
• Today in history… Flavius Aetius battles Attila the Hun, who retreats, and the Romans interpret it as a victory (451). A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta (1756). Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States’ (1787). Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne (1837). Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph (1840). West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state (1863). Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp (1942). The Mali Federation gains independence from France (1960). Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington, D.C. and Moscow (1963). An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex (1972). The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters” (1975). Wikipedia is founded (2003).
• June 20 is the birthday of cellist/composer Jacques Offenbach (1819), astronomer Mary R. Calvert (1884), actor Errol Flynn (1909), singer-songwriter/guitarist Chet Atkins (1924), soldier/actor Audie Murphy (1925), actor Martin Landau (1928), actress Olympia Dukakis (1931), actor Danny Aiello (1933), actor John Mahoney (1940), singer-songwriter/producer Brian Wilson (1942), singer-songwriter/producer Lionel Richie (1949), actor John Goodman (1952), bass player Michael Anthony (1954), bass player John Taylor (1960), actress Nicole Kidman (1967), bass player Jeordie White (1971), singer-songwriter Chino Moreno (1973), NFL player Darren Sproles (1983), and NFL player Matt Flynn (1985).

That’s plenty to think about. I’m going to keep doing the things I do. There’s always some way to make things better — even in a small way. In fact, I think in the long run, a big group of people doing small things is much more important than a small group doing big things. Keep it in mind. Enjoy your day.