Random News: July 17, 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 17, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I feel like I slept better last night than the night before. I’m really a pretty good sleeper. By the time I get to bed — which is earlier than most of you, usually no later than 10:30 — I usually am asleep within minutes every night. I know I”m lucky in that regard.

• Hey, I wonder if president Dump is still upset about the Jeffrey Epstein files? Let’s see…
• Ah.
• Yesterday, Dumpy said the ongoing controversy over his administration's handling of information related to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is a "Hoax" and "bullshit," criticizing members of his own party who are calling for more transparency as "weaklings." 
• He seems upset.
• In a social post, Sad Dumpy wrote. "Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker."
• He continued: "I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country's history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!"
• So to be clear: Dump says that Jeffrey Epstein’s conviction for sex trafficking is a hoax, there are no pedophiles in the world, and he does NOT want your support. If you support him, you are going against his wishes.
• Don’t go against the wishes of your lord and savior, MAGAs.
• We have some more important Epstein news for today.
• Yesterday, Dumpy fired Maurene Comey, the veteran federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
• She also happens to be the prosecutor against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
• There was no specific reason given for her firing. She is a veteran lawyer in the Southern District of New York, long considered the most elite of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices.
• I’m not going out on a limb here to say that the timing of her firings seems mighty suspicious.
• And also yesterday… former Vice President Mike Pence called on Dump to release all records related to Jeffrey Epstein's prosecution and alleged co-conspirators.
• Pence said, “I think the time has come for the administration to release all of the files regarding Jeffrey Epstein's investigation and prosecution. It’s important that we protect the names of the victims. They should be excluded from any disclosure."
• I agree with Pence.
• He also pointed out, "Jeffrey Epstein's prosecution began during the Bush administration, continued through the Obama years. I know of no reason why this administration, once the victims' names are protected, should not release all the files on Jeffrey Epstein."
• Again, agreed. Release that shit and whoever goes down as a result, so be it.
• Moving on.
• Tonight is the night! It’s time to hit the streets for “Good Trouble Lives On,” an action event where you can tell the world that you do not lie down accept the actions of Dump’s ICE gestapo.
• Be brave, put on your big boy/girl/nonbinary pants, and head out to your local event. There are 1,600 of them across the country. You can visit goodtroubleliveson.org and find your local event on a map.
• Then just go. You don’t need an invite. You don’t need to RSVP. You don’t need a sign (though you can bring one if you want). You don’t need to do anything. Stand there. Be there. See what nonviolent, peaceful activism is all about.
• I will be at my most local event, in front of city hall in Torrance, CA.
• Funny side note: my second-closest GTLO event is at Trump National Golf Course in Palos Verdes, CA. That asshole built a golf course right below the neighborhood in which I grew up.
• Every time I drive by — even when I’m by myself — I give his stupid-ass golf course the finger.
• But the one in Torrance tonight is closer and more convenient. 
• This event protests the policies of Dumpy while honoring the life of civil rights leader John Lewis, who was first was elected to Congress in 1986. He died five years ago in July 2020 at the age of 80.
• Lewis was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1965, a 25-year-old Lewis led some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL.
• And at that protest event, Lewis was beaten by police, suffering a skull fracture.
• As a result of his bravery, more marches that ensued, and President Lyndon Johnson pressed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act that later became law.
• Lewis famously said in 2020, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”
• The least you could do is spend a couple of peaceful hours tonight making sure his efforts ween’t in vain. See you in the streets tonight.
• Let’s move on.
• We have to talk about the fact that the president of the USA is suffering from dementia that worsens each passing day.
• Yesterday, Dumpy had some words to say about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Dumpy has been contemptuous toward Powell as of late, and apparently is going to try — possibly unsuccessfully — to fire him.
• So Dump said, “I was surprised he was appointed. I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him.”
• You want to know what surprises me? It’s that anyone is allowing Dumples to speak to the press. Why?
• Because Dump himself is the one who chose Federal Reserve Chair Powell and had him appointed for the position in 2017. Not Biden. Dump.
• Go look it up.
• A day earlier, Demented Don told a detailed story about a conversation he had with his uncle John about having taught Ted Kaczynski — better known as “The Unabomber” — while John Trump was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Small problem…
• That conversation couldn’t have happened — in part because John Trump died more than a decade before Kaczynski was caught and identified, and in part because Kaczynski was never a student at MIT.
• You can look that up too, if you want.
• So Dumpy — a man who holds the launch codes for the nuclear armaments of this country — is cuckoo. Loony. Bats in the belfry. Many fries short of a Happy Meal. The man is not all there.
• I don’t know who will be elected in 2028, but I’m pretty sure our next president will be Jedediah Dipshit Vance. Know what I’m saying?
• In other news…
• The Republican-controlled Senate has once again bowed down to the will of Dumples the America-Destroying Clown, approving the DOGE cuts recommended by Elon Musk.
• Last night they passed his $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television — a major step toward winding down nearly six decades of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
• CPB — which is a conduit for federal money that funds PBS and NPR — stands to lose $1.1 billion dollars meant to fund it through the next two years, while the bill also cuts $7.9 billion in other programs.
• The Senate voted to approve the package 51-48. It also includes cuts to foreign food and health programs. One senator, Minnesota's Tina Smith, was not present at the vote due to hospitalization. It wouldn’t have mattered.
• All Democrats voted against the bill. All but two Republicans — Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski — supported it.
• Who will the hurt the worst and the fastest? Public TV and radio stations in rural areas and smaller communities, who tend to rely more heavily on the federal subsidy.
• Stations in larger markets typically have a wider variety of other funding sources, like viewer donations and foundation support.
• Nearly 3-in-4 Americans say they rely on their public radio stations for alerts and news for their public safety. This is just another in a long list of ways that Dump and the MAGA/GOP cabal is trying to kill Americans.
• Let’s move on.
• Twenty Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant program that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters.
• The lawsuit contends that Dump acted illegally when he ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. FEMA canceled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress.
• Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell said, “In the wake of devastating flooding in Texas and other states, it’s clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters. By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC program, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents and, in the event of disaster, save lives.”
• She probably doesn’t understand — or want to admit — that the last thing Dump and his Death Eaters want to do is save ives.
• Moving on.
• Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults say that Dump’s policies have helped them since he took office, according to a new poll that finds underwhelming marks for him on key issues including the economy, immigration, government spending, and health care.
• In fact, Dump has failed to earn majority approval on any of the issues included in the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. He’s even slipped slightly since earlier this year on immigration, which has consistently been a strength for him in his second term.
• And that poll includes people who consider themselves conservatives. Dump is fucking everyone. He never cared about you whether you supported him or not.
• Overall, the new poll finds that only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Dump’s job performance, a figure that’s historically weak compared with recent presidents.
• Moving on.
• Some news from the Immigration Desk…
• A group of current or former Louisiana police chiefs and the operator of a Subway sandwich shop are accused of colluding in a decade-long scheme to falsify police reports to help foreign nationals get visas meant for crime victims or witnesses.
• What a bunch of assholes.
• Yesterday, a federal grand jury returned a 62-count indictment charging two police chiefs, a former police chief, a marshal, and the restaurant operator on charges including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and immigration fraud.
• The scheme focused on getting U visas, which allow foreign nationals without any official status in the US to stay in the country in certain circumstances when they’re victims of or witnesses to crimes.
• U visas are important in helping law enforcement solve cases, but the US limits the number of U visas that can be issued, and fraudulent applications can prevent legitimate crime victims or witnesses from getting a visa.
• Chandrakant “Lala” Patel — the asshole who ran a Subway — paid $5,000 to officers to create false police reports claiming dozens of people were the victims of crimes..
• If convicted, the defendants each face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, up to 10 years on the visa fraud charges, and up to 20 years on the mail fraud charge. If convicted of bribery, Patel faces up to 10 years in prison.
• Plus, they could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. Get their asses.
• Some completely shitty news…
• U.S. District Court Judge Sean Jordan has blocked a rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January that would have removed unpaid medical debt from the credit reports of about 15 million consumers.
• After the CFPB issued the rule in January, the Cornerstone Credit Union League and the Consumer Data Industry Association, a trade group for the credit reporting industry, had filed a lawsuit to halt it.
• So now, the roughly 15 million Americans who carry a total of about $49 billion in medical debt on their credit reports are fucked.
• Just because they got sick at some point, now they’re unable to get a mortgage or a car loan.
• It’s a proven fact that medical debt is a poor predictor of whether a consumer will make good on other types of loans. 
• The CFPB's rule had been hailed by consumer advocates for helping to protect consumers who can get tangled up in complicated issues around medical debt, such as problems with insurance reimbursements, denials, and other snafus.
• That’s fucked up.
• From the International Desk…
• Yesterday, Israel’s Shas ultra-Orthodox party said it was quitting the government, leaving Benjamin Netanyahu with a minority in parliament.
• A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue.
• And leading a minority government will make governing a challenge for Netanyahu. However, in as much as that would seem like good news on the surface, the Israeli leader will now be more susceptible to the demands of his far-right coalition partners, who oppose ending the 21-month war while Hamas remains intact.
• Jesus, people just fucking suck, you know?
• A couple of items from the Entertainment Desk, which has been busier than usual as of late…
• First, in the “how it started/how it’s going” folder, Dave Navarro is now suing former Jane’s Addiction bandmate Perry Farrell for assault and battery after their on-stage altercation in September 2024. 
• And band members Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins have also joined the lawsuit, citing emotional distress, negligence, and breach of contract over the tour’s cancellation. The trio is seeking a minimum of $10 million in damages.
• That band is, was, and always has been a fucking mess.
• Second, I was going to write some snarky story about Emma Watson — the actress who played Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter” film franchise.
• Yesterday, Watson was banned from driving in the UK for six months after she was caught speeding last year.
• And I’m thinking, wow… she must have had the pedal to the metal. Here in the USA, for them to remove your license over a driving infraction, it would usually be something very serious like DUI or hit-and-run or reckless driving or street racing.
• But Watson? She was doing 38 miles per hour in a 30-mph zone in southeastern Banbury last July in her Audi A3.
• Fucking hell. Remind me not to ever drive in the UK.
• And now, The Weather: “Apple Patch” by Goon
• RIP to Connie Francis, the first female singer to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. She died yesterday at 87.
• Born Concetta Franconero in Newark, NJ, she Americanized her name at age 13. Her big breakthrough came in 1957, when she covered an old 1923 tune called "Who's Sorry Now?"
• She was kind of the Taylor Swift of her era, selling over 40 million records before she was 25. Sixteen of them went gold. Her number one hit, "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," came out in 1960. 
• And a cautionary note: in 1967, she underwent a cosmetic procedure commonly called a “nose job,” and it destroyed her singing voice.
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s mid-July 1966. I will be born in just under three years. Where am I?
• Notable: both Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis had hits with the same song at the same time. Can you imagine that happening today? See, the record industry was run much differently at that point than it is today.
• Also note that while you consider this era the time when the Beatles and Rolling Stones dominated, Herb fucking Alpert had three albums in the top 20 at once. Holy shit.
• This is the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. What Now My Love (Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass). 2. Strangers In Night (Frank Sinatra). 3. Whipped Cream & Other Delights (Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass). 4. If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears (The Mamas & The Papas). 5. Lou Rawls Live (Lou Rawls). 6. Doctor Zhivago (Soundtrack). 7.!!Going Places!! (Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass). 8. Wonderfulness (Bill Cosby). 9. The Sound Of Music (Soundtrack). 10. Midnight Ride (Paul Revere & The Raiders). 11. The Shadow Of Your Smile (Andy Williams). 12. Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (The Rolling Stones). 13. Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys). 14. The Shadow Of Your Smile (Johnny Mathis). 15. Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits (Mrs. Miller). 16. The Young Rascals (The Rascals). 17. The Best Of The Animals (The Animals). 18. Yesterday And Today (The Beatles). 19. Aftermath (The Rolling Stones). 20. South Of The Border (Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass).
• From the Horrifying Sports Desk… RIP to Audun Groenvold, a Norwegian skier and Olympic medalist, who died this week after he was struck by lightning. He was 49.
• Groenvold was a pioneer in Norwegian freestyle and ski cross, and won a bronze medal in men’s ski cross at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
• I was about to advise that you try not to get struck by lightning, but sometimes that just happens.
• From the Actual Sports Desk… let’s see where we’re at in MLB standings, at the exact midway point of the season.
• American League: Detroit Tigers (59-38), Houston Astros (56-40), Toronto Blue Jays (55-41), New York Yankees (53-43), Boston Red Sox (53-45).
• National League: Los Angeles Dodgers (58-39), Chicago Cubs (57-39), Milwaukee Brewers (56-40), Philadelphia Phillies (55-41), New York Mets (55-42).
• Today in history… Damasus II is elected pope and dies 23 days later (1048). King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered (1717). The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States (1821). Harvard School of Dental Medicine, the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university, is established in Boston, MA (1867). Willis Carrier creates the first air conditioner in Buffalo, NY (1902). Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are executed by Bolsheviks (1918). The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany (1945). Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, CA (1955). An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations (1975). The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal (1976). The national drinking age in the United States was changed from 18 to 21 (1984). First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber (1989). 
• July 17 is the birthday of US vice president Elbridge Gerry (1744), businessman/philanthropist John Jacob Astor (1763), actor James Cagney (1899), TV/radio host Art Linkletter (1912), actress/comedian Phyllis Diller (1917), physicist Gordon Gould (1920), guitarist Mary Osborne (1921), pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi (1928), actress/singer Diahann Carroll (1935), actor Donald Sutherland (1935), singer-songwriter/guitarist Spencer Davis (1939), NFL player Daryle Lamonica (1941), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Zoot Money (1942), UK queen Camilla (1947), guitarist/composer Ron Asheton (1948), bass player/composer Geezer Butler (1949), singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow (1950), actor David Hasselhoff (1952), singer-songwriter Nicolette Larson (1952), German chancellor Angela Merkel (1954), actor Alex Winter (1965), singer-songwriter/musician Lou Barlow (1966), author/activist Cory Doctorow (1971), DJ/producer Darude (1975), and NHL player Connor Bedard (2005).

Once again, I’ll remind you that as opposed to sitting at home worrying about the future, you could be taking control and being an active participant in making the world a better place by hitting the streets tonight for the Good Trouble Lives On protest. Look, I’d like to chill and smoke weed and watch YouTube and relax tonight too. I work my ass off all day. But I won’t sit on the sidelines while my friends are under attack. Maybe you can help too. Link in the comments. Enjoy your day.