Random News: June 25, 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 25, 2025, and it’s a Wednesday. I'm awakening to typical beachfront gloomy June weather, but the clouds will burn off by late morning and I’ll be looking forward to clear blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way.

• A Pride Note…
• You know what’s gay? Heavy metal music.
• Wait, what?
• Let me tell you a story. Back in the day — call it the late ‘60s and early ‘70s — hard rock music didn’t have a specific look or vibe. It was just an extension of rock in general.
• The look of those bands was just a continuation of the hippie vibe. Long hair, flowing garments, the same look as most of the acts at Woodstock.
• Then along came a band called Judas Priest. Formed in Birmingham, UK in 1969, Priest are the pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. In 1973, they added a new lead singer, vocalist Rob Halford.
• Without Priest, you don’t get any of the subsequent metal subgenres, including speed metal, thrash metal, and power metal, or the hard rock/glam metal scene of the 1980s.
• So how did metal change its vibe because of Judas Priest? The look became tougher, with guys wearing leather jackets, spiked wristbands, studded vests and so on. it’s a look in the world of metal that persists even today, 50 years later.
• And where did that look come from? Their lead singer. Rob Halford is gay, and the look was influenced by the gay leather subculture.
• Funny side note: Halford himself stated that he had no interest in S&M, BDSM, or the whole queer subculture of leather and chains… because he is a self-described vanilla gay man.
• And obviously, Halford understood that fans of the era also did not associate the look with gay culture, nor would they have continued as fans if they knew back then that their macho-voiced hero was a gay man.
• But to this day, when you see metal bands with that look, it’s a result of the influence of gay subcultures. Now you know.
• Moving on.
• Before we get to the news, a little observation.
• Statistically, the grand majority of the people reading this news are younger than Donnie Dump. He’s now 79. Current U.S. life expectancy for males is 77.43 years.
• At some point, Dumpy won’t be around anymore. But you — and the pics of you in your red MAGA cap, your social posts promoting his agenda, and the actions you took (or didn’t take) while he was president in either term — those will be around for long after he’s gone.
• And there will come a time when you will be judged based purely on how you supported him and his evil. Is that fair? Maybe, maybe not.
• Perhaps you’ll have a genuine epiphany once he’s gone, and state that you’d been mistaken the whole time. That’s been known to happen when cult leaders go away.
• But the rest of us will have a hard time accepting your regret, no matter how sincere it is. Your support of him was what enabled his actions, pure and simple. And there’s a thorough record of what you did and said.
• What I’m saying is, whether you like it or not, you’ve made a lifelong commitment to the world of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and the attempted destruction of what actually made the USA a great country.
• And that is now your legacy… which will go on long after the Orange Guy is gone.
• Okay, now the news.
• As you likely heard over the weekend, Dumples the War Clown called the U.S. bombing strikes against Iran a "spectacular military success."
• Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," he said.
• We hear otherwise.
• Early intelligence assessments by the Defense Intelligence Agency say that the massive U.S. air campaign against three Iran nuclear sites on Saturday night merely set back Iran's nuclear enrichment program by a few months.
• Poor Confused Dumpy doubled down, though.
• "They're not going to have enrichment and they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. And I'll tell you, the last thing on their minds is nuclear weapons. They don't even want to think about nuclear."
• Let’s ask Iran about that…
• Yesterday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf  — the country’s Speaker of Parliament — said that Iran would "completely disregard" Israel's demands to stop enriching uranium. He said Iran will continue to proceed in their own self interests.
• The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency also confirmed that, saying they had prepared in advance for Saturday night's attacks, and that Iran’s plan is to not allow any interruption in the uranium production and service process.
• And multiple independent experts say that Iran's nuclear enterprise is far from destroyed.
• So now Dump will be faced with the decision of continuing a sustained military attack to continue the effort to disabled Iran’s alleged nuclear program, or to say “fuck it” and walk away, having accomplished nothing at all.
• I could bet equal money on either scenario.
• Let’s move on.
• Some huge news out of New York City where former governor Andrew Cuomo has conceded the city's Democratic mayoral primary to Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year old member of the state Assembly and a Democratic Socialist endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and me (nothing-nowhere).
• Cuomo’s concession came as the race’s outcome will be decided by a ranked choice count after neither Democrat got a clear majority in the vote, but Mamdani had a significant lead and much higher voter enthusiasm.
• I’m predicting right now: Mamdami is going to win this thing in the Fall election. Should that happen, he’ll be the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor if elected.
• What about the current guy? Eric Adams, who was under federal investigation and skipped the primary, is running as an independent.
• I don’t know anyone who actually likes Adams.
• And in other NYC election news, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who successfully prosecuted Donnie Dump for 33 felony counts of falsifying business records last year, won his primary for reelection.
• Anyway, I see Mamdani’s surprise (to some) success as a sign that the backlash to Dumpy and Republican conservative ideology as a whole will be severe come the next election cycles.
• So get ready for the biggest blue wave in history. It’s going to be glorious.
• One more election note.
• Yesterday, Democrats elected Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) as their leader on the House Oversight Committee, installing a fresh, young face in one of the party’s key roles to take on Dumples the Diminishing Clown.
• Garcia — who is absolutely great — is only in his second term in Congress. Some lawmakers have served decades on Capitol Hill and never become a committee chairman or ranking member.
• And now he’s in line to chair the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee after Democrats win control of the House in next year's midterm elections.
• Moving on.
• Let’s go the Immigration Desk.
• ICE is now holding around 59,000 detainees in facilities across the country, which is likely a record high for the USA, or perhaps anywhere, ever.
• That means that ICE's detention level was at over 140% capacity, given that Congress last allocated 41,500 detainee beds for the agency. Can you imagine being in a detention facility that’s 140% overpopulated?
• At least these are all evil criminals, right?
• Right?
• The federal statistics show nearly half — 47% — of those currently detained by ICE lack a criminal record. They’re just people trying to make a living and reside in a safe place for their families.
• And fewer than 30% have actually been been convicted of any crimes.
• Keep in mind: they plan on this situation getting far worse.
• In June thus far, ICE has averaged around 1,200 arrests per day. While that’s nearly double the 660 daily arrest average during the first 100 days of Dump’s second term, it's still far below the quota of 3,000 arrests that Dump and his ghouls want daily.
• Most of this increase is based on Dump having lifted a pause on immigration roundups at worksites, which is why you now see so many workers in factories, at warehouses, in fields, in restaurant kitchens, and so on, getting their heads bashed in by ICE goons.
• Dump is also planning to massively expand these detention centers — or concentration camps, if you want to call them by their actual name.
• His Big Bullshit Bill asks Congress for billions of dollars in extra funds for ICE, including to expand detention levels by tens of thousands of beds.
• Who’s paying for all this shit? You are, and I am.
• Let’s move on.
• You know that Dump is planning on selling thousands of square miles of land that we — the people — own, right?
• Well, at least for the moment, that plan to sell more than 3,200 square miles of federal lands as part of Dumpy’s Bill Bullshit Bill is shut down.
• How? The Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman — and complete asshole — Mike Lee (R-UT) would violate the chamber’s rules.
• Ha ha, you piece of shit.
• The proposal comes as just this week, the Dump administration said it will move to rescind a 2001 rule that blocked logging on national forest lands.
• Democrats and environmental groups roundly oppose both plans as giveaways to private interests that will threaten clean water and wildlife and block recreation on public lands.
• Oregon Senator Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said, “Democrats will not stand idly by while Republicans attempt to circumvent the rules of budget reconciliation in order to sell off public lands to fund tax breaks for billionaires.”
• Yes!
• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said her constituents want to be able to hike and hunt on public lands, as they have for generations all over the West. “They don’t want these lands to be luxury resorts or golf courses,’' she said yesterday.
• Preach!
• This threat is far from over. Even in the immediate sense; while the parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory, they are rarely, if ever, ignored, the MAGA world has on multiple occasions violated laws and ignored procedures that have helped this country thrive for hundreds of years.
• Let’s keep moving on.
• With our weather forecasting systems decimated by Dumpy and FEMA also on the chopping block, being aware of coming weather events is all the more important.
• So here’s your notice that Tropical Storm Andrea, the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, has formed.
• Andrea was located 1,205 miles west of the Azores, and the cyclone is traveling east-northeast.
• While this tropical storm is expected to be short-lived, forecasters are expecting yet another unusually busy hurricane season for the Atlantic.
• They are hoping that it won’t be as chaotic as 2024, the third-costliest season on record as it spawned killer storms Beryl, Helene, and Milton.
• Fingers crossed.
• From the Justice Desk…
• Some news out of Atlanta, GA yesterday, where three men and a juvenile will likely face hate crimes charges after they pulled down LGBTQ+ pride flags and cut them up.
• Cops got called at 1:40am yesterday morning that six males were causing a disturbance near the corner of Piedmont Avenue and 10th Street, an intersection in the city’s Midtown neighborhood that is painted with rainbow crosswalks to honor its importance in Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ community.
• This wasn’t an impromptu attack by idiots. Instead, these particular idiots planned and coordinated their action of hatred, coming into Atlanta from their locations northwest of the city.
• These bigoted young fools pulled down flags outside Blake’s on the Park, a bar near the intersection, cutting them up with a knife and taking videos of what they were doing.
• Two 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old were taken into custody, in addition to a 16-year-old. The 16-year-old’s father was cited for failing to supervise his son.
• Ha ha. Good.
• Georgia’s hate crime law, passed in 2020, allows a court to impose additional prison time or fines when a judge or jury finds that a crime was motivated by the victim’s race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or other characteristics.
• Way to ruin your lives, little dumbasses.
• And more justice news…
• I’m certainly not saying that every person involved in organized religion is a sexual abuser. But I am saying that a whole lot of abusers seem to be involved in organized religion.
• David McKeown, a 6th-grade teacher at Florida-based United Brethren in Christ Academy, has been arrested for having child sexual abuse material of his students made using artificial intelligence.
• McKeown, 47, was arrested on June 20 for possessing child pornography and sexual activities involving animals. This brainiac pervert not only downloaded porn and and communicated with other Discord users… he did it during school hours while connected to the school’s Wi-Fi network.
• Interestingly — and I did not know this was a thing until just now — Florida law enforcement searched McKeown’s home with K9 Ruby, who specializes in locating electronic storage devices and successfully got this scum’s hidden hard drives. Good doggy!
• Detectives also obtained a search warrant for McKeown’s social media account and recovered multiple images depicting child sexual abuse and sexual activities involving animals. This piece of shit is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail with no bond.
• A little more justice news…
• We have not been giving any coverage to the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, nor do I plan to until there’s a verdict.
• We need to talk about things that actually matter here.
• But I did want to note that yesterday, after over six weeks of presenting evidence against Puff Daddy, the prosecution rested. And later in the afternoon, the defense rested without calling any witnesses.
• And Combs himself confirmed he would not be testifying… probably a good idea under the circumstances.
• As happens at every major criminal trial, Puffy’s lawyers asked to throw out the charges. pretty doubtful that’ll work.
• Closing arguments are set for Thursday.
• And now, The Weather: “Situations” by Subsonic Eye
• From the Sports Desk… who’s hitting dingers this year? Who’s going yard? Who’s jacking long balls? Here’s everyone in MLB with 20 or more home runs as of now.
• Cal Raleigh (SEA) - 32, Aaron Judge (NYY) - 28, Shohei Ohtani (LAD) - 27, Eugenio Suarez (ARI) - 25, Kyle Schwarber (PHI) - 24, James Wood (WSH) - 22, Seiya Suzuki (CHC) - 21, Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) - 21, Corbin Carroll (ARI) - 20.
• Today in history… Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua (1678). Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution (1788). The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for "immoral purposes"; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come (1910). Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer (1910). Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis (1943). Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is published (1947). The United States Congress passes the Displaced Persons Act to allow World War II refugees to immigrate to the United States above quota restrictions (1948). The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea (1950). The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade (1978). The breakup of Yugoslavia begins when Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence from Yugoslavia (1991). Kim Campbell is sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Canada (1993). 
• June 25 is the birthday of cartoonist Rose O’Neill (1874), novelist George Orwell (1903), director Sidney Lumet (1924), actress June Lockhart (1925), illustrator Peyo (1928), NBA player Willis Reed (1942), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1943), actor Jimmie Walker (1947), singer-songwriter Tim Finn (1952), keyboardist/composer David Paich (1954), SCOTUS justice Sonia Sotomayor (1954), chef/author Anthony Bourdain (1956), actor/comedian Ricky Gervais (1961), singer-songwriter George Michael (1963), NBA player Dell Curry (1964), singer-songwriter John McCrea (1964), NBA player Dikembe Mutombo (1966), and actress Angela Kinsey (1971).

Alright. You know, it’s so easy to feel sad and helpless. But it’s so much better to feel confident and powerful. There are things that happen every day that should make you feel good… including our successes in fighting the evil pieces of shit who try and take over our world. Keep fighting. Keep winning. Enjoy your day.