Random News: August 19, 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 August 19, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. There seems to be a lot of stuff going on this the world right now, but if you think about it… there always is. What gets covered as “news” is just someone else’s idea of what should be important to you. Keep it in mind.

• You didn’t think we forgot about the Epstein files, did you?
• We did not.
• Yesterday, the Justice Department has agreed to provide to Congress documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
• The records are to be turned over starting Friday to the House Oversight Committee, which earlier this month issued a broad subpoena for the files to the Justice Department.
• As you know, Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell weeks after his 2019 arrest — during the first Dump administration — in what investigators conveniently ruled a suicide. His girlfriend and pimp Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping lure children to be sexually abused by Epstein, and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
• The committee's subpoena sought all documents and communications from the case files of Epstein and Maxwell. It also demanded records about communications between the Biden administration and the Justice Department regarding Epstein, as well as documents related to an earlier federal investigation into Epstein in Florida that resulted in a non-prosecution agreement in 2007.
• It was not clear exactly which or how many documents might be produced or whether the cooperation with Congress reflected a broader change in posture since last month, when the FBI and Justice Department abruptly announced that they would not be releasing any additional records from the Epstein investigation.
• I’m not going to start speculating, but I will say this: if you think this DOJ would allow for incriminating evidence with Dump’s name on it to be released in any format ever, I’d like to sell you some fine swamp land in the Everglades.
• No records were made public from the private interview between Deputy Attorney General (and former Dump personal lawyer) Todd Blanche and Maxwell over two days last month.
• And Maxwell was already rewarded for her cooperation with Dump, getting moved from her former prison to a low-security camp (which is nearly unheard of for a violent criminal or major sex offender like her).
• In any case, some people are saying that “GOP” now stands for “Government of Pedophiles.”
• Let’s move on.
• Yesterday’s meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donnie Dump, and damn near every major leader in European allegedly went well. They hope that the next steps  could soon lead to three-party talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to his war on Ukraine.
• And that would, indeed, be great news. The only problem is that I don’t trust anything where Dump and/or Putin is involved.
• Dump stopped short of committing U.S. troops to a collective effort to bolster Ukraine’s security. He said instead that there would be a “NATO-like” security presence and that all those details would be hashed out with EU leaders.
• One interesting — in a horror-show way — moment happened when Dump was needling Zelenskyy over Ukraine delaying elections. They had been scheduled for last year but were delayed because of the ongoing Russian invasion. Ukrainian law does not allow presidential elections to be held when martial law is in effect.
• Dumpy mused that a similar circumstance wouldn’t play well in the U.S.
• “So let me just say three and a half years from now — so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections, oh, I wonder what the fake news would say,” Dump said.
• I can tell him right now: the USA doesn’t have the same law as Ukraine, and we’ve held elections during every election year whether or not we were at war or not.
• Thankfully, our fine soldiers abroad can vote using our mail-in ballot system. You know, the system Dump is trying to end via executive order.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, a bunch of old, white Republican men in Texas trapped a Black woman in a building and refused to let her leave without signing away her rights.
• Her name is state Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth). She spent the night on the Texas House floor after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.
• See, when Texas House Democrats returned to the Capitol in Austin on Monday, after having fled the state earlier this month in order to prevent a vote on a controversial Republican redistricting plan, House Speaker Dustin Burrows put constraints on their movements.
• Burrows announced that the Democrats could only leave the House floor if they received written permission and agreed to be under around-the-clock law enforcement escort until the chamber reconvenes on Wednesday morning.
• But Collier refused to enter into that agreement and has been confined to the House floor since returning. She can only leave the floor to return to her office under the watch of a law enforcement officer, an aide said, and cannot leave the state Capitol unless she agrees to outside supervision.
• She was not left there trapped by herself. State Reps. Gene Wu and Vince Perez, who signed the “permission slips” to leave with a police escort yesterday, stayed on the House floor with Collier through the night.
• Huge admiration for Collier for not willingly giving into fascism. 
• She said, “My constituents sent me to Austin to protect their voices and rights. I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts. My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents — I won’t just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination.”
• Hell fucking yes. People of Fort Worth should be damn proud to have her as their representative at the state capital.
• In other news…
• Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle one of the last outstanding defamation lawsuits against a news organization for airing false claims — spearheaded by Donnie Dump, the liar-in-chief —  that the 2020 election was rigged.
• Dominion Voting Systems — the same voting-technology company that had received a $787 million settlement from Fox News over its election coverage — brought the lawsuit against Newsmax. A trial was scheduled to begin in October.
• And Newsman definitely did NOT want to go to trial. Wonder why?
• Dominion had accused the cable news network of featuring former Dump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and supporter Mike Lindell of My Pillow, who helped spread false conspiracy theories about Dominion's alleged connections to international dictators and other falsehoods claiming that its equipment could be easily hacked to flip votes.
• Newsmax announced the settlement in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the document, the network paid $27 million of the settlement on that day; the rest will be paid by January 2027.
• Ha ha, you pieces of shit.
• From the Fascism Desk…
• Joining forces from three other Republican-led states, the Mississippi National Guard will deploy troops to Washington, D.C. as part of Dump’s ongoing federal policing and immigration overhaul in the nation’s capital.
• Yesterday, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement that he has approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers, stating “Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it.”
• So now military from Mississippi, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio are all coming in to the nation’s capital, in addition to the 800 National Guard troops that Dump deployed.
• Oh hey, Tate Reeves: how is violent crime in Charleston, MS (1,518), or in Lucedale, MS (1,040), or Cleveland, MS (1,039)? All worse than D.C.? When are you sending troops to your own state to fight crime, you cousin-fucking dipshit?
• Let’s move on.
• Yesterday, 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Justice Department for adding a new immigration enforcement rule to federal grants that assist victims of crime — arguing it's part of Dump’s crackdown against "sanctuary states."
• The lawsuit focuses on the Office for Victims of Crime, a 42-year-old division of the Justice Department that hands out more than $1 billion per year to all 50 states to compensate crime victims and fund programs like local crisis counseling centers, emergency shelters, domestic abuse hotlines, and victim advocacy services.
• Dump is now denying funding to any program that "violates (or promotes or facilitates the violation of) federal immigration law." That includes failing to "give access to Department of Homeland Security agents, or honor DHS requests."
• But the states that joined yesterday’s lawsuit argue that the rule is illegal, since the Reagan-era law that set up the federal government's crime victim grant programs doesn't say anything about immigration enforcement. 
• They are, of course, correct. And punishing all victims of crime to push forward your racist agenda is disgusting and vile.
• Once again, moving on.
• It’s looking more hopeful that someone will finally put Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) out to pasture.
• Today, Graham Platner, a 40-year-old Army and Marine veteran who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, launched his campaign for the Senate. He joins a growing Democratic primary field seeking to take on Collins.
• Platner, an oyster farmer who was born and raised in Sullivan, ME, will run on a platform of universal health care, housing affordability, and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars.
• A number of Democrats — sensing the opportunity to replace Collins in a state where Kamala Harris carried the last presidential election — will be in the primary. They include Platner as well as Jordan Wood (a former chief of staff to former Rep. Katie Porter) and David Costello, who challenged independent Sen. Angus King last year.
• Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has said she is also considering getting into the contest, Collins is the only Republican senator who represents a state won by Harris in 2024.
• And now, The Weather: “Deep Clay” by Pile
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s mid-August 1969, and I am about nine weeks old. Not sure what I was into. Probably breast milk, I’d guess.
• I was born at a time that is, in some ways, comparable to the present. American culture had been going through mass changes, there were major protests and demonstrations going on, and the president of the USA was a once-popular guy who turned out to be a criminal.
• Here was the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time. Fun note: nearly half of these chart toppers used the artist’s/band’s name in the album title.
• 1. Blood, Sweat & Tears (Blood, Sweat & Tears). 2. Hair (Original Cast Recording). 3. Romeo & Juliet (1969) (Soundtrack). 4. Johnny Cash At San Quentin (Johnny Cash). 5. This Is Tom Jones (Tom Jones). 6. Best Of Cream (Cream). 7. Crosby, Stills & Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash). 8. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (Iron Butterfly). 9. The Soft Parade (The Doors). 10. Nashville Skyline (Bob Dylan). 11. The Age Of Aquarius (The 5th Dimension). 12. Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin). 13. Best Of Bee Gees (Bee Gees). 14. Smash Hits (The Jimi Hendrix Experience). 15. Beck-Ola (Jeff Beck). 16. Tommy (The Who). 17. A Warm Shade Of Ivory (Henry Mancini). 18. Aretha's Gold (Aretha Franklin). 19. Suitable For Framing (Three Dog Night). 20. Bayou Country (Creedence Clearwater Revival).
• From the Sports Desk… old Joe still has an arm.
• The Cleveland Browns announced yesterday that 40-year-old Joe Flacco has emerged as the winner of the team’s four-way quarterback competition. Flacco will get the start when the Browns host AFC North rival Cincinnati in the September 7 season opener.
• Flacco beat out Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders for the starter job. Deshaun Watson is on the roster, but is expected to miss the season because of injuries (and because he’s a weirdo rape guy, but I’m not talking about that).
• Today in history… The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges (295 BC). Octavian compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul (43 BC). In Salem, MA, one woman and four men are executed for practicing witchcraft (1692). The last major battle of the Revolutionary War happens at the Battle of Blue Licks in present-day Kentucky (1782). The New York Herald breaks the news of the California Gold Rush to the East Coast (1848). US Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and are massacred in return (1854). The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens (1909). Germany approves Adolf Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Führer (1934). Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam (1945). Severe flooding in the northeast caused by Hurricane Diane claims 200 lives (1955). The Soviet Union moves toward dissolution when Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on vacation in Ukraine (1991). Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević (1999). Google has its IPO on Nasdaq (2004). Operation Iraqi Freedom ends (2010).
• August 19 is the birthday of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus (232), engineer Orville Wright (1871), fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883), poet Ogden Nash (1902), inventor Philo Farnsworth (1906), writer Ring Lardner, Jr. (1915), publisher/politician Malcolm Forbes (1919), screenwriter/producer Gene Roddenberry (1921), jockey Bill Shoemaker (1931), tennis player Renée Richards (1934), actress Diana Muldaur (1938), drummer Ginger Baker (1939), singer Ian Gillan (1945), US president Bill Clinton (1946), songwriter/bass player John Deacon (1951), actor/director Jonathan Frakes (1952), NFL player Anthony Muñoz (1958), MLB player Gary Gaetti (1958), NFL player Morten Andersen (1960), actor John Stamos (1963), actress Kyra Sedgwick (1965), singer/rapper Nate Dogg (1969), actor Matthew Perry (1969), and NFL player Kirk Cousins (1988).

There you have it. Things that may be important. Or not. But at least you know more now than you did a few minutes ago, perhaps. Or perhaps not. Enjoy your day.