Random News: July 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 July 25, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I had a night packed with dreams, to the point that I feel like I just attended an eight-hour movie marathon as opposed to a time of restful slumber. Ah well. I’m back here in the conscious world now, so we might as well see what’s really happening in reality.

• There was time not long ago that I swore nothing could ever again pull the people of the USA together as a nation.
• I was mistaken. The Epstein Files are, it would seem, the great uniter.
• The vast majority of Americans — including 89 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans — said the federal government should release all documents it possesses related to the Epstein case, per a new poll by the Economist/YouGov. 
• And whether the Republicans in Washington like it or not, Democratic politicians are united around one goal: forcing the GOP over and over again to confront the Epstein issue that’s divided the party.
• As you’re aware, this topic is so touchy in the Dump world that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) literally canceled the House’s final day of votes on all legislative matters affecting the USA, and instead sent the lawmakers home early for recess.
• Johnson did that after Democrats ground a key organizing committee to a halt with Epstein amendments. Members now head home to their districts for what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called “the Epstein recess.”
• What kinds of actions did Democrats drive home this week? A motion by Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) to compel the Justice Department to release files tied to Epstein was approved in a House Oversight subcommittee hearing.
• Lee’s motion attracted the votes of three Republicans, who joined with five Democrats to pass it.
• Other committees — led by Republicans — were less successful at addressing the Dump/Epstein crisis.
• Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tried to get the Treasury Department to turn over information related to Epstein’s financial transactions, but Chairman French Hill (R-AR) ruled that her amendment was not relevant to the legislation that the committee was dealing with, then shot down her appeal.
• Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) tried to introduce an Epstein-related amendment to a bill designed to enhance the detection of human trafficking, but Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) didn’t allow it.
• And of course, last week Democrats brought up Epstein-related votes in the Rules Committee, forcing Republicans  vote down multiple efforts to bring forward measures requiring the release of information related to the convicted sex offender.
• And now they’re all on record for having sided with a pedophile in their effort to protect Donnie Dump.
• Democrats were all set to force more votes in the Rules Committee this week, but the panel recessed without advancing any legislation in order to avoid more votes on Epstein documents.
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has repeatedly criticized Republicans over the issue.
• He asked, “Why haven’t Republicans released the Epstein files to the American people? It’s reasonable to conclude that Republicans are continuing to protect the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, even if that includes pedophiles.”
• And to that end, I do want to note that recent reporting on a book assembled for the 50th birthday of Epstein in 2003 shows that in addition to the weird letter from Dump, it also included a message from former President Bill Clinton.
• As we’ve said many times, if there are people involved in illegal actions tied to Epstein, we want ALL of them investigated. This isn’t a witch hunt for Dump. I don’t care if there are 50 Democratic leaders on that list.
• Arrest and charge every one of them.
• Yesterday, Dump’s former personal attorney — and current Deputy Attorney General — Todd Blanche spent six hours with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and he’s having a second meeting with her right now on Friday morning.
• Maxwell is currently appealing her 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking and other offenses in connection with Epstein.
• Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA) noted, "She probably wants a pardon from Donald Trump, and so her meeting with Trump's Department of Justice cannot be trusted, and anything she says must be corroborated with documents and records from the actual Epstein files.”
• And Maxwell is expected to testify next month in front of House Oversight officials, including Garcia, who is the top Democrat on the committee.
• We’ll continue following this story until it concludes, one way or another.
• Moving on.
• A very sad note from the International Desk.
• Babies and toddlers are dying of starvation, one after another, in Gaza City.
• In greater numbers than ever, children hollowed out by hunger are overwhelming the Patient’s Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza. To be clear, these are deaths in children who had no preexisting conditions.
• They are being starved to death by intentional shortages of food supplies caused by Israel’s blockade.
• More than two million Palestinians in Gaza have now passed a tipping point into accelerating death. The U.N.’s World Food Program says nearly 100,000 women and children urgently need treatment for malnutrition. Medical workers say they have run out of many key treatments and medicines.
• Despite that fact, Israel still refuses to allow aid to the region without severe restrictions. And that’s why the country will be blamed for what amounts to genocide.
• Here’s a note from a Jewish guy — namely me. You can condemn the actions of Israel without being anti-Semitic. You can also condemn the actions of a terrorist organization like Hamas without starving an entire race of people to death.
• How would you like to take the blame of every shitty thing a white person ever did? Give that some thought.
• In related news, yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron has said France will recognize a Palestinian state in an announcement to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
• He wrote, “The urgent need today is to end the war in Gaza and to rescue the civilian population. We must build the state of Palestine, ensure its viability, and ensure that by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, it contributes to the security of all in the Middle East. There is no alternative.”
• I agree.
• Let’s move on.
• In another note from the International Desk… are you even aware that Cambodia and Thailand are in a military clash?
• Well, they are. Yesterday, Thai and Cambodian soldiers battled in several areas along the countries' shared border in a major escalation of a conflict that has left at least 12 people dead in Thailand, all but one of them civilians.
• The two sides fired small arms, artillery and rockets, and Thailand also called in airstrikes. None of this bodes well. Thai villagers were fleeing their homes to seek shelter as the clashes began in the morning.
• Fighting was ongoing in at least six areas along the border. The trigger for the clashes was a mine explosion along the border on Wednesday that wounded five Thai soldiers and led Bangkok to withdraw its ambassador to Cambodia and expel Cambodia's.
• War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
• Again, moving on.
• Some news from the Immigration Desk…
• Yesterday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against New York City, challenging its sanctuary city laws. 
• Border czar Tom Homan expressed his irritation with sanctuary cities, especially New York, just hours before the Justice Department sued Mayor Eric Adams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and others for making it more difficult for immigration agents to arrest undocumented immigrants who allegedly commit crimes.
• His pal Pam Bondi — who’s not at all trying to distract from her assigned task of keeping the Epstein files hidden from the public — said, “New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies. If New York City won't stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will."
• Mayor Eric Adams — who, in my professional opinion, sucks — issued a wishy-washy statement through a rep, saying that while he supports the essence of the sanctuary laws, he feels they go too far when dealing with violent criminals.
• As you can tell if you can read between the lines, ICE and the DOJ are looking for any possible excuse to set up a fascist military presence in the largest and most Democrat-populated cities in the U.S.
• That’s why they started with Los Angeles and, soon, New York. Don’t worry folks… your city will get its turn soon enough. Don’t feel left out.
• Moving on.
• Here’s some skanky-ass sleazy shit.
• Yesterday, the FCC formally approved the $8 billion merger of CBS parent company Paramount and Skydance Media.
• The vote was 2-1, with Democratic-appointed commissioner Anna M. Gomez voting against the transaction.
• Meanwhile, FCC chairman Brendan Carr straight-up stated that they only approved the merger after Skydance committed to make significant changes at CBS.”
• Meaning that CBS News is going to be controlled by Dump and his gang.
• Skydance pledged to conduct a review of CBS’s content and to appoint an overseer to handle claims of bias. The network also agreed to refrain from diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
• And earlier this month, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed last year by Dumpy. The deal was a blatant down payment on approval of the merger.
• Paramount also canceled the successful and long-running “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” just days after Colbert described his parent company’s payment as a “big fat bribe.”
• We live in shit world. The good news: the fascist people aren’t as smart as the rest of us. It’s not 1973; you can’t control the entire media narrative by forcing a few broadcast networks and newspapers to do your bidding.
• Information is far too spread out — and accessible from beyond any one country — so the goal of total informational control is never going to happen.
• Moving on with some rare good news from the Supreme Court.
• Yesterday, the SCOTUS halted an appeals ruling that prevents private groups from challenging election maps under the Voting Rights Act in seven states. 
• Neither the majority nor the three public dissenters — supreme assholes Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch — explained their reasoning.
• The case arose from a lawsuit brought by two Native American tribes, who argue that North Dakota’s state legislative map denied them an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.
• The case entered the national spotlight after an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that the tribes and other private parties have no legal right to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 
• But now, the Supreme Court’s emergency ruling lifts the 8th Circuit’s ruling until any appeals are resolved. It does not reflect the court’s final decision on the matter. 
• Why this matters more than you realize: it comes as the justices prepare to rehear a major redistricting case in Louisiana next term, which legal observers have closely watched as several conservative justices signal a desire to make it more difficult to bring Voting Rights Act lawsuits.
• But it’s concerning that even these three Supreme Court justices said they’re perfectly fine with race discrimination in elections.
• Moving on to a rather hilarious moment that occurred yesterday when Dumpy visited the Federal Reserve to inspect an ongoing renovation of the central bank's Washington, D.C., buildings.
• At the event, Dump had a public clash with one of his many enemies, Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
• Dump waved a document, claimed the costs had now reached $3.1 billion. Powell visibly shook his head in disagreement.
• Dumpy mumbled, "So we're taking a look, and it looks like it's about 3.1 billion. Went up a little bit — or a lot."
• ”I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed," Powell responded, and then took a closer look at the random piece of paper Dump was holding.
• Powell then showed Dump that the additional costs the president was citing had been for a separate building whose construction was completed five years ago.
• Snort. What a buffoon.
• And now, The Weather: “Something New” by Worthitpurchase
• RIP, I suppose, to pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. He died yesterday at 71.
• Look, I won’t mince words: I didn’t like this fucking guy. He was a racist and an asshole (and a big Dump supporter, which goes hand-in-hand with the other two). But I can also acknowledge that he was the guy who launched the modern popularity of WWE-style wrestling, for whatever that’s worth.
• A much more genuine and well-deserving RIP goes out to jazz flugelhorn god Chuck Mangione, a native of Rochester, NY who died this week at 84.
• I don’t know about you, but in my house in 1978, the smooth sounds of “Feels So Good” was  part of the soundtrack of my life. I still love it to this day.
• How big was this breezy, disco-tinged jazz instrumental? Well, it reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June of that year — nearly unheard of for this style of music — and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year, losing out to Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are".
• Let’s do a chart.
• It is 50 years ago today that we visit the charts of late July 1975. I am six years old, and we’re just about to move from Marblehead, MA to the opposite end of the country in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. 
• That fall, I would start 2nd grade in Mrs. Hupp’s class at Ladera Linda Elementary. I’ve already been playing piano for a couple of years, and will take up guitar and violin in the next couple of years.
• Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. One Of These Nights (Eagles). 2. Venus And Mars (Wings). 3. Love Will Keep Us Together (Captain & Tennille). 4. Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (Elton John). 5. Cut The Cake (Average White Band). 6. Made In The Shade (The Rolling Stones). 7. The Heat Is On (The Isley Brothers). 8. That's The Way Of The World (Soundtrack) (Earth, Wind & Fire). 9. Gorilla (James Taylor). 10. Metamorphosis (The Rolling Stones). 11. Diamonds & Rust (Joan Baez). 12. Disco Baby (Van Mccoy). 13. Horizon (Carpenters). 14. Between The Lines (Janis Ian). 15. Tommy (Soundtrack). 16. Cat Stevens Greatest Hits (Cat Stevens). 17. The Original Soundtrack (10cc). 18. Adventures In Paradise (Minnie Riperton). 19. Why Can't We Be Friends? (War). 20. Chocolate Chip (Isaac Hayes).
• From the Not-Sports Desk… warning: sexual violence topics for the next set of bullets.
• Yesterday, a judge in Canada acquitted five former members of the country’s world junior hockey team in their sexual assault case, saying the complainant’s allegations lacked the credibility needed to justify the charges.
• Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said prosecutors could not meet the onus of proof for the charges against Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote.
• Their complainant testified that she was naked, drunk, and scared when four of the men showed up unexpectedly at her hotel room and felt the only safe option was to do what they wanted.
• But the defense attorneys did what they usually do in sexual assault cases, which was to blame the victim. Protesters had gathered outside the packed courthouse, holding signs that signaled support for the complainant, whose identity was not disclosed throughout the trial under Canadian law.
• I’m not passing judgement here. I wasn’t there and don’t know what actually transpired.
• But I am mentioning this for several reasons. First: most rapes go unreported. Second, most rapes that do get reported don’t result in an arrest. Third, the remaining cases that do result in arrest do not often end up with convictions or jail time.
• And finally, it’s general good advice for any person to be mindful and not put yourself in a situation where assault — sexual or otherwise — is more likely to occur.
• From the actual Sports Desk… ESPN has updated their power rankings for MLB teams. So here’s someone else’s opinion of who’s best in baseball.
• 1. Brewers. 2. Cubs. 3. Tigers. 4. Dodgers. 5. Blue Jays. 6. Phillies. 7. Astros. 8. Mets. 9. Yankees. 10. Mariners. 11. Padres. 12. Red Sox. 13. Rays. 14. Giants. 15. Rangers. 16. Reds. 17. Cardinals. 18. Diamondbacks. 19. Guardians. 20. Royals. 21. Twins. 22. Angels. 23. Braves. 24. Marlins. 25. Orioles. 26. Pirates. 27. Athletics. 28. Nationals. 29. White Sox. 30. Rockies.
• Today in history… Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor (306). Henry IV converts from Protestant to Catholic (1593). James VI and I and Anne of Denmark are crowned in Westminster Abbey (1603). The last action of the American Revolutionary War, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement (1783). Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (1788). An American attack on Canada in the War of 1812 is repulsed (1814). The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone (1837). The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army, and Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank (1866). The Wyoming Territory is established (1868). The American invasion of Spanish-held Puerto Rico begins, as United States Army troops under General Nelson A. Miles land and secure the port at Guánica (1898). Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it (1908). Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established (1925). In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO (1961). Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music (1965). Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilization, or IVF (1979). WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history (2010).
• July 25 is the birthday of poet/philosopher Ibn Arabi (1165), humanist Jakob Wimpfeling (1450), dramatist George Peele (1556), Japanese warlord Katō Kiyomasa (1562), abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman (1806), English prime minister Arthur Balfour (1848), actress Estelle Getty (1923), actor/director Jerry Paris (1925), trumpet player/composer Don Ellis (1934), actress Barbara Harris (1935), lynching victim Emmett Till (1941), drummer Jim McCarty (1943), singer Rita Marley (1946), bass player Verdine White (1951), NFL player Walter Payton (1954), model Iman (1955), singer-songwriter/guitarist Thurston Moore (1958), NHL player/coach Tony Granato (1964), actor Matt LeBlanc (1967), and NFL player Bryce Young (2001).

As always, there’s more news than what I choose to report here. But I do this with limited time and minimal effort. If you want a more thorough look at what’s going on in the world, there are about a million other places to get it. Me? I’m looking forward to a productive work day, and to my weekly Friday sushi lunch with Kat, and to an upcoming weekend. Enjoy your day.