Random News: July 3, 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 3, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. Being that it’s a holiday tomorrow in the USA, it kinda has a Friday morning vibe, with the exception that I have two days’ worth of work to do today. Gahhhhhh.

• Despite everything else going on, I want to start today with a quote from White House advisor and close friend to Dumpy, Laura Loomer.
• She’ve very excited about the concentration camp being built in Florida, the one that the GOP is referring to as “Alligator Alcatraz” but would more appropriately be called “Alligator Auschwitz”.
• The Republicans have been giddily sharing messaging about how immigrants will be facing a torturous existence there, or if they attempt escape, they’ll face an environment filled with alligators and snakes.
• Loomer’s quote from yesterday reads, “The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.”
• Where did that number come from?
• It’s not a random choice by Loomer. That’s the total number of Latino people in the USA. In 2023, the Hispanic or Latino population in the United States was estimated to be 65.2 million, representing approximately 19.5% of the total U.S. population.
• Note that I didn’t say immigrants, or undocumented people, or someone who committed any kind of crime. Just people whose ethnic background is from Latin countries, many of them being multi-generational American citizens.
• One thing I’ve repeated over and over about the MAGA cult: when they say something, believe them.
• So when a trusted advisor and confidante of Dumpy says the goal is to kill 65,000,000 people, she didn’t come up with that on her own. this is something that they’ve been planning for a good while.
• Take heed.
• Let’s do some news.
• As you’re aware, Dumpy’s Big Bullshit Bill passed the Senate on Tuesday, and yesterday the House spent the day squabbling over it.
• Dumpy — for no reason — wants it done and signed into law by July 4.
• Always remember: every Democrat in both the Senate and House is opposed to this horrible piece of legislation that gives tax breaks to billionaires and removes essential services from the rest of us. Remember that when its effects hit you.
• The funny thing: after a full day of wheeling and dealing yesterday, a large number of House Republicans — conservatives and moderates — were still in opposition to the BBB, but for drastically different reasons.
• The hardline conservatives are apoplectically angry about the impact the bill will have on the deficit, while the few GOP centrists are worried about the impact Medicaid cuts and the rollback of green-energy tax credits will have in their districts.
• As of last night, here are the Republicans who were still a “No” on Dumpy’s bill: Chip Roy (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Andy Harris (R-MD), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Keith Self (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Scott Perry (R-PA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), and Tim Burchett (R-TN).
• And the moderates that claimed they’d vote “No”: David Valadao (R-CA), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Young Kim (R-CA), Don Bacon (R-NE), and Nick LaLota (R-NY).
• How many “no’s” can they accept and still pass this shitty bill? Three.
• Regardless, in the middle of the night, there were a bunch of backroom deals and secret handshakes, and it seems like most of the holdouts will capitulate to their master and vote yes.
• While I write this, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has commandeered the chamber floor for about five hours, doing everything he can to stall the Big Bullshit Bill’s inevitable passage.
• Dump’s bill is almost 900 pages long, and Jeffries bashed House GOP leaders for allotting only one hour of debate on its contents before the final vote, split into 30-minute segments between the two main committees of jurisdiction.
• The Democratic leader said he wanted to compensate for what he considers a dearth of discussion, warning Republicans at the outset that he was going to “take my sweet time.”
• Well done. It won’t matter in the end, but I love that he’s not making it easy for them.
• And a side note: I have all along 100% believed that this horrible Big Bullshit Bill WILL pass. All I ask is that you remember that your Senator and Congressional Rep didn’t have to support it… but they did, and you will pay the price.
• Remember that next time you vote. Remember this moment.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss barred the Dump administration from expelling asylum seekers from the United States, dealing a blow to the administration’s efforts to curtail crossings at the U.S. southern border.
• In a 128-page decision, Moss invalidated a proclamation that Dumples the Racist Clown signed on his first day in office that declared an “invasion” on the border and invoked emergency presidential powers to deport migrants without allowing them to apply for asylum. 
• Migrants and advocacy groups sued in February, saying federal law allows people to apply for the humanitarian protection no matter how they entered the United States.
• Dumpy will, of course, appeal. And you may be thinking about last week’s Supreme Court ruling that curtailed judges’ authority to issue the type of sweeping nationwide injunctions that have paused several administration policies while they were under legal review.
• But Moss brilliantly certified all asylum seekers “currently present in the United States” as a legal class, making his ruling applicable to most people who would be affected by Dump’s policy.
• Class-action lawsuits were one avenue the Supreme Court justices suggested in their birthright citizenship ruling that lower courts could still provide broad relief to many people in the same situation.
• Ha ha, you piece of shit. Suck it.
• Moving on, but still in immigration news…
• Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups came together to announce a lawsuit against the federal government related to recent immigration raids.
• The ACLU, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, and others appeared at Bubble Bath Hand Car Wash in Torrance, CA, the site of a contentious immigration raid last month.
• Supporters hope their suit can be granted class-action status to fight the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies that are unlawfully detaining people.
• And we all know the truth: these people are being targeted due to the color of their skin.
• History will not look kindly on those who didn’t step up to fight against this disgusting genocidal effort of Dumpy and his evil gang.
• Let’s move on.
• A thought that occurred to me, somewhat belatedly, after last week’s Supreme Court ruling that says parents can pull their kids out of instruction that references gay people.
• Does that mean I can pull my children out of instruction that references straight people, if I find that distasteful? I mean — for example — Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet” is about a 15-year-old boy having sex with a 13-year-old girl. 
• Why should my kids be forced in a public school to be exposed to pedophile trash like that? Maybe we should all sue and eliminate all education that offends any one of us. That seems to be the MAGA philosophy, anyway.
• Let’s move on.
• In more immediately news from the shitty SCOTUS, they agreed yesterday to hear a case over state restrictions on which school sports teams transgender students can join.
• Wait, what?
• Yes, just two weeks after upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the justices said they will review lower court rulings in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia.
• More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions.
• So now we’re picking and choosing which sports trans women can play? Once again, I’d like you to note that trans men are not barred from any competition at any level.
• Why? Because the right wing thinks that because they were born with female genes, they are weak and uncompetitive, because that’s what they think about all women, so they don’t care.
• In other news…
• As we covered yesterday, Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted of the most serious charges in his federal sex-trafficking trial.
• And his his conviction on two counts of prostitution-related charges, for transporting former girlfriends and male escorts across state lines, means he is likely to spend at most a few years in jail.
• However, Judge Arun Subramanian refused Combs’s request to leave jail on $1 million bail while he awaits sentencing.
• Good. I hope he stays until his sentencing, which is currently set for October 3.
• Even so, Dumpy said he would consider pardoning Combs during a White House news conference in May. Dumpy wants all of the very worst people out of jail and on the streets, as long as they can write him a big enough check.
• It’s true. That’s the USA as it stands today.
• Moving on with some news form the Business Desk.
• As of this morning, Nvidia is on track to become the most valuable company in history, with the chipmaker's market capitalization reaching $3.92 trillion as Wall Street doubled down on optimism about AI.
• Shares of the leading designer of high-end AI chips were up 2.2% at $160.6 in morning trading, giving the company a higher market capitalization than Apple’s record closing value of $3.915 trillion on December 26 of last year.
• Microsoft is currently the second-most valuable company on Wall Street, with a market capitalization of $3.7 trillion. Apple, with a current value of $3.19 trillion, is in third place.
• If you had any doubts that AI was going to take over the Earth at a point in the near future, put those aside. Our robot overlords are now inevitable.
• We have met the enemy, and it is us.
• And now, The Weather: “ONE HUNDREDS BATS” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
• From the Sports Desk… congrats to MLB pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who joined a very exclusive group yesterday when the Dodgers played the White Sox.
• Kershaw became just the 20th member of the 3,000-strikeout club. He’s just the fourth lefty to reach 3,000 strikeouts, joining Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, and CC Sabathia.
• And he’s one of just five to accumulate that many with a single team.
• The only other active pitchers who’ve reached 3,000 strikeouts are, along with Kershaw, the greatest pitchers of this era — Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
• Today in history… William the Conqueror becomes Duke of Normandy (1035). Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain (1608). George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, MA (1775). Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average (1884). Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state (1890). Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors (1913). The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress (1952). U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul (1979). President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is overthrown by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for Morsi's resignation (2013).
• July 3 is the birthday of French king Louis XI (1423), poet William Henry Davies (1871), author Franz Kafka (1883), composer Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901), actor Ken Russell (1927), guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1930), lawyer/activist Gloria Allred (1941), actor Kurtwood Smith (1943), journalist Dave Barry (1947), singer-songwriter Laura Branigan (1952), bass player Andy Fraser (1952), talk show host Montel Williams (1956), musician Poly Styrene (1957), singer-songwriter Stephen Pearcy (1959), singer-songwriter/musician/producer Vince Clarke (1960), actor Tom Cruise (1962), actress Yeardley Smith (1964), NHL player Teemu Selänne (1970), activist Julian Assange (1971), actor Benedict Wong (1971), and actress Olivia Munn (1980).

Okay, that will have to be enough for now. Look, they will pass this shitty bill. There will come a time when you’ll need to ask yourself what you’re going to do to fight against this insanity, whether you like it or not. Might as well start thinking about it now, instead of being unprepared later. Just a thought. Enjoy your day.