Random News: July 8, 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 8, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. This morning's coffee is a light roast — Peet’s Costa Rica Aurora. It’s quite delicious. I have a busy day ahead of me and there’s a lot going on in the world, so let’s get into it.

• Search and rescue crews are still hard at work in their fifth day in central Texas Hill Country, but they’re racing against time, and things look pretty bleak.
• The death tool from the devastating floods there has topped 100, and that number continues to rise. It’s fucking awful.
• And perhaps this will be an impetus to make sure that our federal government’s weather and emergency response organizations are well staffed and funded.
• Because there’s no question that we will have more weather-based disasters in coming months, and it would be good to know that we’re at least somewhat capable of preventing needless death and destruction.
• A short side note: where was Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) while his state was once again being devastated by a natural disaster?
• On vacation, of course. Maybe someone needs to investigate whether Cruz’s vacations are the cause of these disasters.
• He was enjoying time in Greece well after the flood happened, hanging out at the Parthenon on Saturday despite a claim that he was returning from his European vacation “as fast as humanly possible.”
• It was just Tuesday of last week that Cruz signed off on the Big Bullshit Bill that slashed funding for weather forecasting. He did manage to finally make it back to Texas yesterday.
• Moving on.
• If it’s been awhile since you’d thought about the illegal military deployment here in the Los Angeles area, allow me to give you a stark reminder.
• Yesterday, heavily armed federal border agents and U.S. troops descended upon MacArthur Park in downtown Los Angeles as part of an immigration raid that appeared to turn up mostly empty.
• The operation, which included 90 armed troops and 17 military Humvees, displaced a summer day camp. There were little kids running around and trying to play while Dump’s military and ICE/CBP gestapo did their best to fill them with terror.
• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, "To me, this is another example of the administration ratcheting up chaos by deploying what looked like a military operation in an American city.”
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom stated, “What a disgrace, what's happening in MacArthur Park. What theater. On the six-month anniversary, after all, of these fires — that's the message from the polluted heart of the President of the United States, the polluted heart of Stephen Miller.”
• It was not immediately clear who or what was targeted. Bass posted a video of agents, some on horseback, moving in what she called a "skirmish line" across the mostly empty park.
• Mayor Bass continued, “I think the goal is to spread fear. I think that's what it is. It's to terrorize Angelenos. It's to say to immigrants that are in our city of immigrants that they need to stay home, they shouldn't go to work, they shouldn't go to school, because we're coming after you."
• All of the troops involved in the operation were activated members of the California National Guard. The operation included some 17 Humvees, four military cargo trucks, and two military ambulances.
• Fucking disgusting. Is that the America in which you wanted to live and raise children?
• Let’s move on.
• It also may have been awhile since you wondered how Kilmar Abrego Garcia was doing.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis denied the Justice Department's motions to dismiss Abrego Garcia's lawsuit over his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, calling one of the government's motions "meritless."
• Xinis is the same judge who had ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. after he was sent to El Salvador in March. She questioned the DOJ about whether the U.S. had indicted him in order to facilitate his return.
• Xinis also denied a second motion to dismiss by the Justice Department, which argued that the lawsuit is now moot, since Abrego Garcia is now in the U.S.
• She knows that if Abrego Garcia were released from custody, he would be immediately removed again.
• Keeping an eye on that, and moving on.
• Let’s look at some good news, even if it may be temporary.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani temporarily barred the Dump administration from revoking Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, partially freezing a provision of the Big Bullshit Bill Act just days after Dumpy signed it into law.
• The restraining order lasts 14 days and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to "take all steps necessary to ensure that Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed" to Planned Parenthood.
• An important note so you understand the context here: federal Medicaid dollars already cannot be used to cover abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or risk to a mother's life.
• So that’s not the issue. But Planned Parenthood argues this new provision would make it harder for patients to access the non-abortion services offered by the group's local members, like screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections.
• Why would Dump want women to suffer and die?
• More than hall of Planned Parenthood’s patients use Medicaid, so a funding cutoff would have devastating effects on the group and its local affiliates, forcing some local health centers to close.
• ”Many Planned Parenthood Members will be required to lay off staff and curtail services, with serious adverse consequences for the many patients served at those centers even if they do not use Medicaid to access services. Worse still, Members may be forced to shutter a substantial number of their health centers nationwide, many of which are in rural or underserved areas without alternative providers," the lawsuit read.
• This is the only way to save our country and ourselves from Dumpy and the people behind his evil cruelty. Keep fighting every day… in the courts, on the streets, and over the entire fucking Internet so he can’t hide what he’s doing.
• Let’s move on.
• A large percentage of MAGA voters were obsessed on two items that Dump promoted in the 2024 election: releasing information on the Jeffrey Epstein client list, and ending our support of Ukraine in their effort to not be taken over by Russia.
• Yesterday, we learned that Dump’s people are denying there are any documents about Epstein after talking about said documents for months.
• And today — in an abrupt u-turn that is shocking both the Pentagon and conservatives alike — Dump will be announcing the shipment of new weapons to Ukraine.
• Yesterday, Dumpy said, “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to — they have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons. Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard.”
• Yes, that sounds like a fourth grader talking, but I agree with that fourth grader on this matter.
• Wasn’t it last week that the Dump administration said it was pausing some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense missiles?
• And didn’t Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sign off on this pause after an alleged review of military spending and American support to foreign countries?
• Something must have changed Dumpy’s mind, I suppose.
• In other news, another change of plans…
• Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs has dropped plans to lay off tens of thousands of personnel in August. But this is still only a temporary reprieve.
• The VA announced it's currently on pace to reduce its staff by about 30,000 employees by the end of this fiscal year in September, thereby "eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force," or RIF.
• I mean, ask any veteran who’s attempted to get treatment or service from the VA. As bad as it already is, it’s about to get worse.
• MAGA folks always claim to be all about “supporting the troops” until they have to actually support the troops.
• In other news…
• Yesterday, conservative pundit Ann Coulter responded to a post featuring Indigenous college professor Melanie Yazzie by writing, “We didn’t kill enough Indians.”
• The post garnered 10.7 million views before being partially censored for violating the platform’s rules against violent speech.
• Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. had something to say about that.
• “The cruelty of Coulter’s comments are, of course, self-evident to decent human beings from all quarters. We have made much progress in the United States as it relates to federal Indian policy. Conservatives, liberals, Republicans and Democrats have had a hand in advancing this cause, which is so special to me as Chief of the nation’s largest tribe, particularly over the last half century. What Ann Coulter said is heartless, vicious and should be repudiated by people of good faith regardless of political philosophy or party. Some things are simply wrong and we cannot validate it through our silence.”
• Agreed.
• Did you know that an anagram for the name of Ann Coulter is “a loner cunt?” Now you do.
• Let’s move on to some hopeful news.
• Minnesota state senator John Hoffman is out of a hospital intensive care unit. He and wife wife Yvette were the first victims in a political assassination attempt in June that took the life of fellow lawmaker Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and the family dog.
• Hoffman had been shot nine times by MAGA murderer Vance Boelter after Hoffman lunged at the gunman who was claiming to be a police officer.
• Glad to hear that Hoffman is going to recover.
• And now, The Weather: “Rice Crispies” by Sungaze
• Let’s do a chart.
• We’re heading back 32 years to July 1993. What was I doing? Getting married to my eventual ex-wife. I was 24 years old and working as a marketing assistant at a music/audio company, and learning about what the fuck marketing was.
• Here was the top of the Billboard Hot 100 at the time.
• 1. Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-A-Lot). 2. I'll Be There (Mariah Carey). 3. Under The Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers). 4. Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus). 5. Baby-Baby-Baby (TLC). 6. Tennessee (Arrested Development). 7. This Used To Be My Playground (Madonna). 8. If You Asked Me To (Celine Dion). 9. Wishing On A Star (The Cover Girls). 10. Just Another Day (Jon Secada). 11. Life Is A Highway (Tom Cochrane). 12. Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover (Sophie B. Hawkins). 13. Too Funky (George Michael). 14. The Best Things In Life Are Free (Luther Vandross And Janet Jackson With BBD And Ralph Tresvant). 15. Jump (Kris Kross). 16. Warm It Up (Kris Kross). 17. November Rain (Guns N' Roses). 18. Come & Talk To Me (Jodeci). 19. Friday I'm In Love (The Cure). 20. My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) (En Vogue).
• From the Sports Desk… both Americans in the Men’s Singles at Wimbledon have made it to the quarterfinals.
• 5-seed Taylor Fritz took on Russian Karen Khachanov today, winning 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 and moving on to the Semis. Tomorrow, 10-seed Ben Shelton will have his work cut out for him against the world’s 1-seed, Italian Jannik Sinner.
• Also lurking in the quarterfinals: Alcaraz and Djokovic.
• One of the American women also made it into the quarterfinals, with 13-seed Amanda Anisimova taking on Russian Nastia Pavlyuchenkova today.
• It will be tough for anyone to get past top-seed Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
• Today in history… Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India (1497). Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island (1663). The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America (1775). John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States (1776). St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892 (1892). The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22 (1932). Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, NM in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident (1947). Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union (1960). Kim Jong Il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il Sung (1994). Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program (2011). Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers (2014).
• July 8 is the birthday of surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey (1766), chemist/pharmacist John Pemberton (1831), chemist/businessman Eli Lilly (1838), soldier/businessman Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838), businessman/philanthropist John D. Rockefeller (1839),fashion designer Hugo Boss (1885), politician George W. Romney (1907), businessman/US vice-president Nelson Rockefeller (1908), singer Jerry Vale (1930), actor Marty Feldman (1934), drummer Jaimoe (1944), actor Jeffrey Tambor (1944), activist Ruby Sales (1948), chef Wolfgang Puck (1949), author Marianne Williamson (1952), actor Kevin Bacon (1958), singer-songwriter Toby Keith (1961), singer-songwriter Joan Osborne (1962), actor Billy Crudup (1968), singer-songwriter/musician Beck (1970), actor Milo Ventimiglia (1977), and actor Jaden Smith (1998).

I’m out of time, so that’ll have to do. Enjoy your day.