Random News: July 1, 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 July 1, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. And here we are at the start of a new month. 2025 is sorta flying by. Maybe it’s just me. Not flying. I can do many things, but flying is not one of them. I can’t fly.

• Rabbit rabbit rabbit.
• Today’s news is going to be weird in the aspect that huge things are in the process of happening, but since they are in some vague purgatory or limbo or whatever you want to call it, it’s difficult to report on it.
• So I’ll give you an update on the Senate voting for Dumpy’s Big Bullshit Bill, but who knows what will transpire while I’m writing this shit?
• Being a journalist is annoying. You talk about something that’s happening, and it changes while you’re reporting.
• Okay, let’s see here…
• At the moment, Senate Republicans are struggling to pass this hideous legislation that no one likes. As you know, the Big Bullshit Bill is a huge tax break for the wealthiest tiny percentage of people in the USA, with the money going to raise our national debt by trillions while spending it on cruel, racist immigration policies and taking away essential government services.
• At the moment, GOP leaders still scrambling to secure 50 votes after a marathon overnight voting session that, at least as of this moment, appeared to bring the bill no closer to final passage.
• This Big Bullshit Bill is Dump’s top priority. He’s demanded that Congress get it to his desk by July 4, but that deadline seemed to be slipping from reach as of today. Even if the Senate passes the $3.3 trillion bill, House Republicans would still need to overcome their divisions and pass it again before Dump can sign it.
• The bill would raise the debt limit, which Congress must do in the coming weeks to avoid default. It would also extend tax cuts from Trump’s first term, cut more than $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and other health-care programs, and infuse billions of dollars into immigration enforcement and defense.
• There are so many details to cover and backroom deals going on constantly. It seems silly to mention them.
• I will say that Senators have been crossing party lines on votes ranging from areas such as Medicaid, food assistance, and hospital funding as they consider a litany of potential amendments.
• Democrats, who have lined up in opposition to the bill, have offered a series of amendments and proposed changes throughout the voting session. While none have yet been adopted, some of the Democratic efforts have still managed to peel off GOP support. 
• Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a key moderate who has not yet announced how she plans to vote on the plan, has broken with her party on several votes for Democratic-backed measures. 
• That includes efforts seeking to “eliminate any provisions that would lead to any nursing home closures” and those that “change state provider taxes,” as well as another to block provisions that would “result in increased likelihood of rural hospitals being forced to close.”
• Have Democrats been willing to makes deals too? Absolutely. One amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) targeted states that use their own money to offer health care to migrants without legal status.
• States that continue to cover migrants without legal status would get their Medicaid cut from 90 to 80 percent. Four Democrats joined Republicans in backing the effort: Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
• And an amendment put forth by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) — the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee — to strike a provision from the GOP’s megabill that would bar Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving Medicaid funding for services provided to low-income women across the country was supported by Sens. Collins and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). 
• And more of that. I could write 20 pages of that back-and-forth shit. Let’s just not.
• But I will tell you something hilarious. As you know, if you watched Schoolhouse Rock, after a bill goes through the Senate, it has to go back to the House for approval.
• But moderate Republicans and hard-line conservatives in the House are expressing increasing opposition to the Senate’s version of the Big Bullshit Bill.
• One House Republican said, “On the text chains, on the phone calls, everyone is complaining. There’s a few little provisions people will say something positive about, but no one is happy with the Senate version. It’s amazing to a lot of us — how did it get so much fucking worse?”
• Hahahahaha. That’s the question everyone in the world should be asking about the USA as a whole.
• At least six moderate House Republicans are planning to vote “no” on the Senate bill in its current form, as they air concerns about changes to Medicaid and the rollback of green energy tax credits, among other provisions.
• Okay. Enough on that.
• Let’s talk about the richest man in the world and how he’s feeling about it.
• Elon Musk is furious about the Big Bullshit Bill, to the point that he’s now going to support primary challenges against Republicans who vote for the Trump-backed bill.
• Hahahahahahahaha!
• He’s serious. "Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."
• Oh man.
• Mad Elmo has also promised to launch a new political party
• “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country — the PORKY PIG PARTY!! Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”
• Hahahahahaha!
• Honestly, all of this shit is terrible… but also extraordinarily funny, in a dark way.
• How is Dumpy taking this latest blast from Elmo? Not too well.
• “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
• HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH oh lordy Jesus.
• And after Dumpy wrote that — and also implied that Elmo might be deported — shares of Tesla took a nosedive this morning. 
• Tesla’s stock was down 4% in early trading.
• Anyway, to wrap this all up for now: the Senate debated on this shit all night. They’ve gone more rounds of pre-voting than for any other budget bill in history, and they’re not closer than they were over the weekend.
• And yes, the Republicans can only lose three votes and still pass this giant piece of shit bill.
• Moving on.
• Let’s do some shitty news from the shitty Supreme Court.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court tossed aside a handful of lower court rulings that sided with transgender Americans, requiring that judges in those cases revisit their decisions in the wake of US v. Skrmetti, a blockbuster ruling that upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.
• The justices have now upended rulings that blocked state policies excluding coverage for gender-affirming care in state-sponsored health insurance plans.
• The high court also tossed out an appeals court ruling that went against Oklahoma in a challenge to the state’s effort to ban transgender residents from changing the sex designation on their birth certificates.
• Fucking pricks. To be clear, these were all major court victories for transgender Americans, and those have now been taken away by the SCOTUS, and those decisions will now have to be reviewed again.
• This is a horrible time in the USA. It truly is. History will look at this time as an embarrassment on the same level as Nazi Germany or other low points in the annals of humanity.
• Moving on.
• Here’s a weird story.
• A government cybersecurity contractor is being held in jail in Washington, D.C., for off-roaded his Jeep onto the grass of the National Mall near hundreds of people, some of whom had to dive out of the way.
• What the actual fuck?
• Curtis Lear drove erratically and did doughnuts, forcing people to run in every direction in terror. He faces multiple federal charges, including destruction of government property, since he caused approximately $10,000 in damage to the Mall.
• No one knows why he did this.
• And now, The Weather: “Cant You Tell” by Baby Keke
• From the Sports Desk… who has the most wins at Wimbledon in history?
• That would be Martina Navratilova, who has won the most singles titles with nine. Helen Wills Moody has eight. Steffi Graf has seven.
• In the men’s singles, it’s Roger Federer with eight, followed by Pete Sampras and Novak Djokovic with seven.
• Today in history… Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés fight their way out of Tenochtitlan after nightfall (1520). Lexell's Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 astronomical units (1770). Joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society of London (1858). The Battle of Gettysburg begins (1863). The United States Department of Justice formally comes into existence (1870). The world's first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States (1881). Canada and Bermuda are linked by telegraph cable (1890). SOS is adopted as the international distress signal (1908). On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded (1916). The Parliament of Canada suspends all Chinese immigration (1923). United Airlines begins service as Boeing Transport (1931). Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed (1932). ZIP codes are introduced for United States mail (1963). The first Gay Pride march in England takes place (1972). Sony introduces the Walkman (1979). "O Canada" officially becomes the national anthem of Canada (1980). The PG-13 rating is introduced by the MPAA (1984). The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression (2002). Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces (2007). The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement replaces NAFTA (2020).
• July 1 is the birthday of author George Sand (1804), politician/educator Thomas Green Clemson (1807), author/educator William Strunk Jr. (1869), businesswoman Estée Lauder (1906), singer-songwriter Willie Dixon (1915), pimp Scotty Bowers (1923), actor Jamie Farr (1934), actor/director Sydney Pollack (1934), actor David Prowse (1935), entrepreneur Wally Amos (1936), singer-songwriter/guitarist Delaney Bramlett (1939), dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp (1941), singer-songwriter Debbie Harry (1945), white supremacist David Duke (1950), singer-songwriter Fred Schneider (1951), actor Dan Ackroyd (1952), NHL player Steve Shutt (1952), track and field athlete Carl Lewis (1961), UK princess Diana (1961), actor Andre Braugher (1962), actress Pamela Anderson (1967), rapper Missy Elliott (1971), singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens (1975), and actress Liv Tyler (1977).

As I said up top, there’s no way to know what’s going to actually happen with the Big Bullshit Bill. The only thing I can tell you is that it’s going to screw over a bunch of people, and no one will be happy about it. I can tell you that with 100% confidence. Enjoy your day.