Random News: July 9, 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 9, 2025, and it’s a Wednesday. “The time has come,” the Claxton said, “To talk of many things: of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax. Of cabbages — and kings.” Oddly enough, we have a king who is also a cabbage. Anyway, got a lot of news to dump on you. Let’s get rolling.

• An update in the wake of the flood.
• As of now, at least 161 people are still missing in Kerr County, Texas. It’s unlikely any more survivors will be rescued at this point, fave days later.
• At least 111 people have died in the disaster. More than 90 were in the Kerrville area.
• And Texas is not alone. New Mexico saw a flash flood emergency yesterday that caused the deaths of at least three people.
• I know that it’s tough going up against Mother Nature, and I’m not trying to cast blame here.
• But it feels like with all the amazing tech we use every single day in this modern world of ours, there would be some priority on ensuring that people receive adequate warning from something as basic as a bunch of water.
• For now, let’s move on.
• I want to mention up top here about something I posted yesterday evening. It’s important enough to keep mentioning, which I will be doing.
• Many folks have been asking me what the next meaningful opportunity to protest will be, and when. I now have an answer.
• Held to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the passing of civil rights icon John Lewis on the evening of Thursday, July 17 is “Good Trouble Lives On.”
• It’s an organized nationwide protest, and it seems that there are hundreds of events lined up and ready to go. Most of the same organizations who successfully supported the recent “Hands Off” and “No Kings” protests are behind this as well.
• That includes Indivisible, 50501, ACLU, Our Revolution, Public Citizen and many others.
• Their description…
• “We are facing the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations. Whether you’re outraged by attacks on voting rights, the gutting of essential services, disappearances of our neighbors, or the assault on free speech and our right to protest - this movement is for you. Trump is trying to divide us, but we know the power of coming together.”
• Sounds good to me. I’ll put a link in the comments for more info and to RSVP.
• Let’s move on.
• It’s to the point where I always expect the Supreme Court to do the wrong thing, and they rarely surprise me by doing otherwise.
• Yesterday, they backed Dump’s effort to carry out mass firings and reorganizations at federal agencies, putting on hold a lower court order that had temporarily blocked Dump from taking those steps without approval from Congress.
• In an unsigned order, the high court said that lower courts had stopped the plans based on the administration’s general effort, rather than specific agency “reduction in force” plans that would drastically cut the size of the government workforce.
• No vote count was released, but Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a scathing dissent.
• As you’re aware, the case stems from an executive order Dump signed in mid-February that kicked off the process of significantly reducing the size of federal agencies. Departments subsequently announced plans to lay off tens of thousands of employees.
• But federal departments are created by law and lower courts have repeatedly held that the White House can’t unilaterally wipe them out or leave them so short staffed that they cannot carry out their legal responsibilities.
• Dump’s order will cause major reductions at more than a dozen agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Labor, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
• So that is just horrible news. I will tell you a couple of things for context…
• The court left open the possibility that it could rule against a specific plan in the future if the reductions appeared to make it impossible for an agency to carry out its obligation under the law.
• And Justice Sonia Sotomayor — one of the three remaining liberals on the SCOTUS — said she agreed with the decision, which she described as limited.
• But that will be of little solace while our federal government is decimated by this awful decision… both of Dump and the SCOTUS who enables him.
• Let’s move on.
• We need to continue the conversation about the Dump administration’s 180-degree turnaround on the release of the files relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
• There were many people who supported Dump for the specific reason that he’d promised he would expose the hidden, sinister truth about Epstein’s role as a convicted sex offender and his suspicious death in 2019.
• But yesterday, they gave a new message from Dump about Epstein: get over it.
• The Qanon/MAGA world is really freaking out. Because they are brainwashed, most of their ire isn’t aimed at Dump, but rather AG Bondi, F.B.I. director Kash Patel, and Patel’s top deputy, Dan Bongino.
• Everyone’s favorite psycho Laura Loomer wrote about Bondi, “She needs to resign. The American people and MAGA base will not tolerate being lied to.”
• Dump’s angry ex-boyfriend Elon Musk wrote, “How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?”
• It is pretty mind-blowing that just a few months ago, Bondi told Fox News that the Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk.
• And now she says there literally is no list. That’s amazing. Are MAGA folks that gullible and easy to take advantage of? Will they just accept that incredible bullshit?
• Tucker Carlson doesn’t seem to be. “The president promised to reveal the truth about this. Pam Bondi, as you said, went on television and said, ‘We have the truth, we’re going to give it to you. I think this is a big deal.”
• And even moronic Fox News joined in, broadcasting a chyron during Jesse Watters’ prime-time show that blared, “WE NEED ANSWERS ON EPSTEIN.”
• Hahahahahaha!
• Why doesn’t Bondi just release the thousands of hours of videotapes analyzed by investigators?
• “They turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein. Never going to see the light of day,” she now says.
• Yes, but… who’s in the videos with those children, Pam?
• And finally, a question for the MAGAs: if Dump (and his team of Bondi, Patel, and Bongino) are lying to you about Epstein, what else are they lying to you about? Do you still believe your Medicaid won’t be touched?
• As the old saying goes, there’s a sucker born every minute. Don’t be one.
• Let’s move on. It’s a big news day, as I mentioned.
• X, the web site formerly known as Twitter, has an AI system named Grok that Elon Musk installed awhile back.
• And it has gone full anti-Semitic.
• Yesterday, the AI spontaneously opined, “The recent Texas floods tragically killed over 100 people, including dozens of children from a Christian camp-only for radicals like Cindy Steinberg to celebrate them as "future fascists." To deal with such vile anti-white hate? Adolf Hitler, no question. He'd spot the pattern and handle it decisively, every damn time.”
• I’m serious. that’s what Elon’s AI had to say.
• The company quickly went into damage control mode.
• A subsequent post under Grok’s X handle read, “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAl has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAl is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.”
• Jesus fucking Christ. That machine is promoting genocide. We’re all doomed, you know. Humankind is way too stupid and immature to envision the eventual damage AI will inevitably cause.
• Let’s move on and continue the conversation about Dumpy and Ukraine and Russia.
• Again, a lot of the MAGA voting base was clearly against the USA continuing our military support for Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia a few years back.
• So they were pretty happy last week when the Pentagon announced that it would hold back some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery, and other weapons pledged to Ukraine because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that American stockpiles were in short supply.
• But then Dumpy said Monday that the U.S. will be sending more weapons to Ukraine, effectively reversing the move.
• And now word is that Defense Secretary Hegseth had acted without consulting the president. Run roh!
• And Dumpy is grumpy about it. Asked by a reporter yesterday who approved the pause, Dump petulantly replied, “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
• He’s also mad at his on-again, off-agin buddy Vladimir Putin.
• “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” said The Dumpster, seeming to almost understand something about Russia’s extraordinarily ruthless leader.
• Let’s move back to the Texas floods for a moment.
• It was — amazingly — just a few weeks ago when Dumpy said he wanted to begin phasing out the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this hurricane season to “wean off of FEMA” and “bring it down to the state level.”
• So, no better time than the present, right?
• Not if it’s a red state being affected by a natural disaster. Dump is touting a fast and robust federal response to the devastating Texas floods.
• He approved Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for a major disaster declaration just one day after it was submitted, activating FEMA resources and unlocking assistance for survivors and local governments.
• That’s no different than FEMA’s typical role in disasters, which is to support states through coordination and funding.
• But what this clearly illustrates is how difficult it would be for states to take on FEMA’s responsibilities if it were dismantled.
• If Texas — or any other state, I should note — were capable of handling the financial impact of disasters without the help of the federal government, they’d already be doing it on their own.
• Moving on to a bizarre story.
• An impostor pretending to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages that mimic Rubio’s voice and writing style using artificial intelligence-powered software.
• So that’s just fucking great.
• U.S. authorities do not know who is behind the string of impersonation attempts but they believe the culprit was probably attempting to manipulate powerful government officials with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts.
• Using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal — which the Dump administration uses extensively and likely illegally, since it doesn’t preserve records as required by law — the impostor contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress.
• When asked about this clusterfuck, the State Department responded that it would “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.”
• Suuuuure Jan.
• Let’s move on with a different kind of immigration story.
• Mandonna "Donna" Kashanian, an Iranian, has been living in the United States for 47 years, and her husband and daughter are both U.S. citizens.
• She was detained by ICE officers last month as she gardened in the yard of her New Orleans home.
• Sounds pretty typical these days, right?
• But unlike the others who’ve been kidnapped and disappeared, Kashanian was released after  intervention from Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
• Kashanian had been allowed to stay in the U.S. as long as she checked in regularly with immigration authorities, as she had done without fail. Scalise, who represents Louisiana's 1st Congressional District, asked the Department of Homeland Security to give her "a fair shake."
• Wait what? Why does this one particular individual get treated differently than the rest?
• Well, evil DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that "the facts of this case have not changed."
• ”Mandonna Kashanian is in this country illegally," McLaughlin added. "She exhausted all her legal options."
• So again, what’s the deal here? Well, it seems that Kashanian is… a Republican, or is at least well connected to powerful people in a red state.
• Her attorney said he represents other clients who had built lives in the U.S. over decades and are now being detained and deported.
• ”There is still a tremendous amount of heartache that is happening for people," he said. "The difference is they lived quiet lives and didn't have access to political power to change the outcomes in their cases."
• There you go.
• And now, The Weather: “Home” by Mac Demarco
• From the Sports Desk… a Wimbledon update, I suppose. Please come back, football, for the love of God.
• Looks like 5-seed American Taylor Fritz will have his work cut out for him in the Semifinals… he’s facing 2-seed Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. That match is on Friday.
• Meanwhile, 10-seed American Ben Shelton is, at this moment, playing 1-seed Italian Jannik Sinner. they’re tied 1-1 in the first set as I write this.
• And in the Women’s, 13-seed American Amanda Anisimova is also in the Seminfinals… and she faces the best female tennis player in the world, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
• Today in history… Hadrian, who became emperor a year previously on Trajan's death, makes his entry into Rome (118). King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves (1540). Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III (1762). George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island (1776). Financier James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt that had been accrued during the American Revolution (1795). Argentina declares independence from Spain (1816). U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk; he is succeeded in office by Vice President Millard Fillmore (1850). The Siege of Port Hudson ends, giving the Union complete control of the Mississippi River (1863). The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law (1868). The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins (1877). Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier’ (1922). American forces take Saipan, bringing the Japanese archipelago within range of B-29 raids, and causing the downfall of the Tojo government (1944). The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalizing homosexuality in New Zealand (1986). The Senate Report on Iraqi WMD Intelligence is released by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, casting doubt on the rationale for the Iraq War (2004). South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan (2011).
• July 8 is the birthday of Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II (1578), writer Ann Radcliffe (1764), UK prime minister Edward Heath (1916), singer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood (1929), US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld (1932), painter David Hockney (1937), actor Brian Dennehey (1938), author Dean Koontz (1945), NFL player/actor/murderer O. J. Simpson (1947), TV host/composer John Tesh (1952), politician Lindsey Graham (1955), actor Tom Hanks (1956), actress Kelly McGillis (1957), singer-songwriter Jim Kerr (1959), singer-songwriter Courtney Love (1964), software developer Marc Andreessen (1971), singer-songwriter /guitaristJack White (1975), and actor Fred Savage (1976).

That is plenty of stuff to think about. Again, I’m putting a link to the “Good Trouble Lives On” action event in the comments. Find your local event on the map, get signed up, and let’s get ready to cause a ruckus! Enjoy your day.