Random News: July 29, 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 29, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. Ever wake up feeling like someone randomly took a crowbar or perhaps a baseball bat, and beat you while you slept? It’s something they don’t explain to you when you’re young, and you wouldn’t believe them if they did. Anyway, there may be ibuprofen in my immediate future.

• Yesterday, Dumpy’s personal lawyers asked a judge to order Rupert Murdoch to sit for a deposition within 15 days for Dump’s $10 billion lawsuit.
• As you know, Dump is accusing the media mogul of defaming him in a Wall Street Journal article about a very strange birthday letter that Dump sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
• What’s the hurry? Well, Dumpy’s lawyers cited Murdoch’s advanced age to submit to questioning under oath as a chief argument in their motion to compel him to testify earlier than would be normal in such a lawsuit.
• Assholes. I mean, they all are, but I’m referring to Dump and his people this time.
• Judge Darrin Gayles, who is presiding over the case, filed an order directing Murdoch’s lawyers to respond to the motion by August 4.
• if you need reminder, Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal published an article saying that Dump sent the child sex trafficker Epstein a letter for his 50th birthday in 2003.
• The letter apparently contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. And it concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
• Fucking weirdos.
• Side note: libel suits have historically been as gravely dangerous for plaintiffs as they are to defendants. Libel lawsuits often serve only to magnify the allegedly defamatory statements.
• A public official suing for libel must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defamatory statements were published with actual knowledge of their falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth.
• And chances are high that the MSJ has proof that the course of the Epstein birthday card was genuine and reliable — and most likely from the files of the Justice Department.
• Also, Murdoch’s lawyers will be able to bring out just where the Journal obtained the birthday card, as well as all the torrid details of the 15-year relationship between Epstein and Trump.
• That could include such undisclosed gems as how the friendship began; how close was it; whether it involved under-age women; whether, and, if so, when Trump learned that Epstein was trafficking teenagers; when Trump learned that Epstein was engaged in criminal acts; and when there was a severance of the relationship and why.
• This suit against Murdoch might end up being Dump’s biggest mistake.
• In related news…
• A social post from the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee claims that “New reporting shows there’s a FILE at the Justice Department with *all mentions* of Donald Trump in the Epstein files. It’s just sitting in a Microsoft SharePoint collaborative file. Release it.”
• I agree. Redact the names of the victims only, and then release all that shit.
• Moving on with some excellent news.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding during their fighter survival over Dump’s efforts to defund the organization via his Big Bullshit Bill.
• The new order replaces a previous edict handed down by Talwani last week. She initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood members that didn’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.
• Her updated order says, “Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable. In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”
• Correct.
• A provision in Dump’s bullshit tax bill instructed the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that also offer medical services like contraception, pregnancy tests, and STD testing.
• What kind of evil pricks would want to purposefully remove access to health care for women? Especially low-income women who absolutely rely on Planned Parenthood and Medicaid?
• From the International Desk…
• Yesterday, two prominent Israeli rights groups said their country is committing genocide in Gaza, the first time that local Jewish-led organizations have made such accusations against Israel during nearly 22 months of war.
• The claims by B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel add to an explosive debate over whether Israel's military offensive in Gaza — launched in response to Hamas' deadly October 7, 2023, attack — amounts to genocide.
• The Palestinians, their supporters, and international human rights groups make that claim, and the International Court of Justice is hearing a genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel.
• You would think that of all countries, Israel would be the most opposed to any genocidal actions and the fastest to recognize it while it happens.
• But in Israel — a country founded in the wake of the Holocaust — even the government's strongest critics have largely refrained from making such accusations.
• And in fact, the mere mention of genocide to the Jewish-Israeli public often results in accusations of antisemitism or bias against Israel.
• But explain that to the mothers of starving children in Gaza.
• Let’s keep moving on.
• Having posted one yesterday, I forgot how much I enjoyed mentioning the asshole of the day.
• Today’s AOTD is Texas state GOP Rep. Giovanni Capriglione. He’s the MAGA guy credited with having rammed through the state’s draconian six‑week abortion ban. Side note: many women are not even aware they are pregnant at that point.
• Not only does this conservative Christian admit to having had a 17-year affair with a former exotic dancer — which is frankly no business of mine and I don’t give a shit — but, according to her, also paid for a multitude of abortions.
• Though Capriglione denies the abortion controversy, he admits to the affair (“it was years ago”), and announced that he was dropping his reelection bid after a conservative news site outed the details.
• So this hypocritical piece of shit is forcing the women of Texas to give birth, but is free to fuck strippers and impregnate them and pay for multiple abortions? That’s the hypocritical GOP for you. Do as they say, not as they do.
• Funnily, Capriglione still has another year and a half left in his seventh term representing his North Texas district. Some other GOP reps in the state are asking him to resign. We’ll see how that goes.
• Moving on.
• There’s something I’ve neglected to discuss this entire month, and it’s a shame, because it’s important.
• July is Disability Pride Month. It celebrates people with disabilities, their identities, their culture, and their contributions to society.
• Disabled people make up 15% of the world's population, and represent all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Why is it celebrated in July? Because is was in July 1990, 35 years ago, that the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed.
• And how did the ADA get passed? Via an act of civil disobedience. Many of you have probably forgotten what happened on March 12, 1990, when over 1,000 people marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress pass the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Upon arrival, about 60 activists physically demonstrated the inaccessibility of public spaces by getting out of their wheelchairs or setting aside their mobility aids and crawling up the Capitol steps.
• Police then arrested 104 activists for unlawful demonstration, many of whom were in their wheelchairs. It wasn’t a good visual when it hit the news.
• And on July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. 
• While we’re on the topic, I want to mention the concept of ableism.
• The meaning is simple: ableism is discrimination and social prejudice against physically or mentally disabled people. Any situation where disabled people are classified as being inferior to non-disabled people is ableism by definition.
• I probably don’t have to tell you the stereotypes that disabled people go through. Non-disabled people regularly make assumptions — like the ideas that all disabled people want to be cured, that wheelchair users also have an intellectual disability, or that blind people have some special form of insight.
• Ableism promotes the thought that disabled people have lives that are less worth living, or are even considered expendable.
• The worst of these ideas end up in the ideology of eugenics, a purposeful movement to remove “undesirable” genetic traits from a populace by killing and/or sterilizing those who don’t meet a certain standard.
• It’s among the most vile and heartless acts of humanity. In any case, I apologize for not having noted Disability Pride Month earlier in July.
• Better late than never.
• I will end this for now by saying that every fucking day that I wake up in the morning without some chronic disease, with the full use of my body for mobility and other purposes, without severe pain and discomfort, without knowing that my life will be foreshortened due to factors beyond my control… I am grateful and know how lucky I am.
• Moving on.
• I hadn’t planned on covering the mass shooting in midtown NYC that happened yesterday. I cover news here that affects wide swaths of people, and while gun violence affects nearly everyone in the USA at some point, I can’t fill this news with every isolated incident.
• However, I did want to discuss the aspect of this murder spree to bring up the connection to immigration.
• The lone gunman killed four people in Midtown before fatally shooting himself. It was the deadliest gun attack in New York City in 25 years.
• MAGA folks tend to assume that every violent crime is committed by an immigrant. That is not the case here. The now-dead shooter, Shane Tamura, is a 27-year-old American from Las Vegas who had documented mental health history.
• But one of his victims was Didarul Islam, an NYPD Officer assigned to a Bronx precinct. Islam was a father of two and his wife is currently pregnant with a third child.
• This heroic cop is an immigrant from Bangladesh. The 36-year-old was on the force for over three years.
• Zohran Mamdani, New York’s Democratic mayoral nominee, paid tribute to Islam, saying, “When he joined the police department, his mother asked him why he would pursue such a dangerous job. He told her it was to leave behind a legacy that his family could be proud of. He has done that, and more. I pray for him, his family, and honor the legacy of service and sacrifice he leaves behind.”
• Immigrants are part of many of the most important roles in American society, from doctors and lawyers to teachers, scientists, business leaders, and yes, cops.
• And all of them are being targeted by Dump’s cruel ICE gestapo with factors that include the color of their skin and their accented English. Is that what makes America great again?
• And now, The Weather: “Chameleon” by trauma ray
• Let’s do a chart.
• We’re heading back to the end of July 1983. I’m heading into my sophomore year of high school, and am spending damn near every day of the summer at the beach.
• I literally mean every day. Each morning, my friend John and I would connect at about 10am, and choose whether to head down to Portuguese Bend Club (a private beach near our home that we’d sneak into) or make the short trip up to Redondo Beach, hanging out near Avenue C not very far from where I live now.
• Neither of us had a car or a license just yet, and yet we somehow managed to get around town okay. Sometimes I’d surf; other times, we’d just lay around in the sun, checking out girls and so on.
• And a side note: that September, I’d go see The Police on their Synchronicity tour. They were the biggest band in the world at that moment. The show, at Hollywood Park racetrack, featured opening bands The Fixx, Berlin, and the Thompson Twins.
• That is a damn fine representation of good pop music in the early ‘80s. Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. Synchronicity (The Police). 2. Flashdance (Soundtrack). 3. Thriller (Michael Jackson). 4. Pyromania (Def Leppard). 5. The Wild Heart (Stevie Nicks). 6. Let's Dance (David Bowie). 7. Keep It Up (Loverboy). 8. Cargo (Men At Work). 9. 1999 (Prince). 10. Killer On The Rampage (Eddy Grant). 11. Frontiers (Journey). 12. H2O (Daryl Hall John Oates). 13. State Of Confusion (The Kinks). 14. Cuts Like A Knife (Bryan Adams). 15. Piece Of Mind (Iron Maiden). 16. Listen (A Flock Of Seagulls). 17. Kilroy Was Here (Styx). 18. Kissing To Be Clever (Culture Club). 19. Eliminator (ZZ Top). 20. Reach The Beach (The Fixx).
• From the Sports Desk… a sad RIP going out to Hall of Fame Chicago Cubs slugger and second baseman Ryne Sandberg, who died yesterday at 65 following a battle with prostate cancer.
• He was a 10-time All-Star and a winner of nine Gold Glove Awards and seven Silver Slugger Awards. Sandberg was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
• Great ball player. Let this be a reminder to men over 50 — including me — to get your prostate checked.
• Today in history… The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple (587 BC). The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade (1148). Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart (1565). The US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps is founded when General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army  (1775). The Arc de Triomphe is inaugurated in Paris (1836). United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty (1858). Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested (1864). Land lottery begins in Oklahoma (1901). Robert Baden-Powell hosts the first Scout camp (1907). Adolf Hitler is named head of the Nazi Party (1921). After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the Summer Olympics open in London (1948). The International Atomic Energy Agency is established (1957). The Tonight Show with Jack Paar begins, starting the modern dat talk show (1957). Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space act, founding NASA (1958). David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz kills his first victim (1976). 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles and Diana (1981). British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (1987). Astronomer discover the dwarf planet Eris (2005). The International Space Station temporarily spins out of control (2021).
• July 29 is the birthday of organist/composer Johann Theile (1646), historian/philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville (1805), novelist Booth Tarkington (1869), fascist politician Benito Mussolini (1883), gynecologist Bernhard Zondek (1891), businessman J.R.D. Tata (1904), actress Clara Bow (1905), guitarist Charlie Christian (1916), businessman Jim Marshall (1923), wrestler Lou Albano (1933), politician Elizabeth Dole (1936), journalist Peter Jennings (1938), actor David Warner (1941), actor Tony Sirico (1942), keyboardist/songwriter Neal Doughty (1946), filmmaker Ken Burns (1953), singer-songwriter/musician Geddy Lee (1953), singer-songwriter Martina McBride (1966), actor Will Wheaton (1972), and NFL player Dak Prescott (1993).

I genuinely don’t know why I woke up in a world of pain. How do you hurt yourself while peacefully sleeping? I really don’t mind most of the aspects of getting older — the thinning hair, the wrinkles, and so on — but this part is one I could do without just fine. Ah well. I’ll get over it. Enjoy your day.