Random News: August 22, 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 22, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I’m definitely appreciative that there’s a weekend happening imminently; it’s been a super busy — and occasionally frustrating — week of work. The mere thought of being able to shut that off for a couple of days is filling me with glee, despite still having one more day to slog through.

• That fat orange asshole continues down the path toward full dictator mode.
• Funny how we all assumed it could never happen here. Remember when you were studying the origins of Nazi Germany and thought that the USA was somehow immune from a situation like that?
• Well, we’re not, and no place is really. The only thing in question now is how hard people are willing to fight to save the American way of life that we’ve cultivated for almost 250 years.
• Let’s look at a couple of news items.
• Yesterday, the State Department said that it’s reviewing the records of more than 55 million people who hold valid U.S. visas for potential revocation or deportable violations of immigration rules.
• We only have 340 million people in this entire country. So to be clear, they’re reviewing nearly 20 percent of the legal residents of this country to lock them up and/or send them away.
• They said that if there’s any indication a visa holder could be ineligible for the document, the visa will be revoked and, if the visa holder is in the United States, he or she would be subject to deportation.
• Some of the things that would make them ineligible? One is “providing support to a terrorist organization,” which of course does sound bad.
• But it means that anyone the USA doesn’t like — say, the people of Palestine — could be designated as such, and anyone who’s legally attended a demonstration in that regard could be subject to arrest.
• Dump’s fascist actions also fall into the old playbook of weaponizing our justice mechanisms to go after people with whom he has personal grudges.
• To that end, this morning, the FBI raided the home of Dump’s former national security adviser John Bolton. They allegedly were looking into whether he disclosed classified information in his 2020 book.
• Per reports, the FBI had also planned to search Bolton’s office.
• Dump’s vendetta against Bolton — a longtime conservative who had previously served in the Reagan and both Bush administrations — began during his first term, when he threatened to jail Bolton after he published a book in 2020 in which he claimed Dump was woefully under-informed on matters of foreign policy and obsessed with shaping his media legacy.
• Bolton’s book also reported that Dump asked the leaders of Ukraine and China to help him win the 2020 election.
• Didn’t work.
• Also things that won’t work: all of these little maneuvers to try and get people to stop talking about Dump having raped 13-year-old girls with his pal Jeffrey Epstein, and the fact that his own Justice Department is sitting on the proof.
• To that end, the House Oversight Committee is expecting to get hundreds of documents today related to the Justice Department's investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case.
• The release will mark the first wave of files to be sent to the committee in response to a congressional subpoena issued earlier this month calling on the DOJ to provide records from its probe of the convicted sex-offender and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
• Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has said at least some of those files will eventually be made public.
• Surrrrrrrre James.
• As you already understand, the handling of the Epstein case represents a delicate dance for congressional Republicans. On the one hand, they're navigating pressure for more transparency from their base. On the other hand, the release risks exposing potentially embarrassing details about Dump's own past ties to the disgraced financier.
• And, you know, the raping of children that Dump enjoys so much.
• Let’s move on with some good (for now) news.
• Late yesterday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave the state of Florida 60 days to clear out the immigrant detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz, handing environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians a win after they clashed with Gov. Ron DeSantis over the environmental impacts the makeshift site was having in the federally protected Everglades.
• Williams’s ruling also forbids state officials from moving any other migrants there. This is a huge and embarrassing blow to what had become a marquee symbol of Dump’s immigration policy.
• And as one would expect, DeSantis quickly appealed the ruling to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Keeping an eye on that.
• Some more good news? Sure!
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann ruled that Dump’s former lawyer, Alina Habba, has been unlawfully serving as the the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.
• Ha ha!
• The court held that Habba’s term as the interim U.S. attorney ended on July 26, and that Dump’s maneuvers to effectively keep her in the role without getting confirmation from the U.S. Senate didn’t follow procedures required by federal law.
• Brann wrote, “I conclude that she is not statutorily eligible to perform the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney and has therefore unlawfully held the role since July 24, 2025,” 
• And of course, his order is being appealed, which is standard practice. Brann’s decision comes in response to a filing on behalf of New Jersey defendants challenging Habba’s tenure and the charges she was prosecuting against them.
• Moving on.
• If you were disappointed by yesterday’s ruling by a panel of justices on a New York appellate court who threw out the half-billion-dollar penalty in the civil fraud case against Dump and others, you’re not alone.
• But none of that stuff is unexpected in a fascist dictatorship. Stop thinking that the USA’s descent into fascism is something that’s going to happen; it’s already happened, and you’re living in it right now.
• The judges ruled that the fine was "excessive" while saying they were divided on the merits of the case.
• One of the justices on the Appellate Division wrote that the penalty against Dump, two of his sons, and other executives and their company was "an excessive fine barred by the Eighth Amendment."
• New York Attorney General Letitia James can appeal yesterday’s decision to the state's highest court. I hope she does, though I can’t say the appeal will likely be successful.
• Let’s get back to some good news. It’s Friday, after all.
• As you may have heard, the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando — which commemorated the 49 victims killed at the LGBTQ nightclub in 2016 — was painted over Wednesday by the state of Florida.
• Yesterday, Mayor Buddy Dyer wrote, "We are devastated to learn that overnight the state painted over the Pulse Memorial crosswalk on Orange Avenue. But we know that while this crosswalk has been removed, Orlando's commitment to honoring the 49 can never be erased.”
• Dyer added that the crosswalk, created in 2017, adheres to safety standards, and was installed by the state. And Florida State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith called painting over the crosswalk "a disgusting act of betrayal.”
• He’s right. But on a brighter part of this story, residents in the area immediately colored in the crosswalk with chalk to bring back its rainbow motif. And I have a feeling that one way or another, it will continue to be upkeep and serve as a memorial to those victims.
• At the end of the day, the strong people of the world will take it upon themselves to fight back against political oppression.
• Moving in to news form the International Desk…
• A few days ago, Dumpy told the world that he had begun arrangements for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sit down together to discuss their three-year war.
• Dump claims he’s ending the war and wants a Nobel Peace Prize. It was on Monday that Dump wrote he’d spoken to Putin and arranged for a summit, and that Dumpy himself would join them for a trilateral meeting afterward.
• But today, Russia’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said there are no such plans. Dump just imagined all that shit.
• In other news, this time from the Entertainment Desk…
• Lil Nas X doesn’t seem to be doing well. The rapper/singer has been hospitalized for a possible overdose following a bizarre incident in which he charged at police officers while only wearing underwear and cowboy boots.
• Oh, and he also had an orange traffic cone on his head. The incident happened yesterday morning on Ventura Boulevard in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.
• Hopefully he gets good treatment and bounces back.
• And now, The Weather: “Jersey Shore” by Bleary Eyed
• RIP going out to a person who crossed between my work life and my own appreciation as a music fan. Brent Hinds, a founding member of the American metal group Mastodon, died on Wednesday in a motorcycle accident. He was just 51.
• One of my clients had been working for a number of years on the development of a new signature model guitar for Brent, but in addition to that not working out, he was removed from the band last March, and now he’s dead.
• As has been the case so many times, amazing talent, but troubled person. I’d have liked him to live longer and get some redemption, instead of going out on a low note.
• On a related topic…
• I was talking with a friend the other day, and they were mentioning how it seems like so many people have been dying in recent times.
• I replied by noting that as we get older — many of my friends are somewhere in that plus/minus 10 years of my own age, somewhere between 46-66 — that we’ve had more time to become acquainted with more people than when we were younger. And those people grow older and no one lives forever.
• But it also made me stop to think about how many of our influential people — actors, musicians, political leaders and so on — are very much alive, and how fortunate we are that they’re still around and in many cases still active in what they do.
• I mean, the musicians alone, to name a few…
• Roger Daltrey (81), Ray Davies (81), Neil Diamond (84), Bob Dylan (84), John Fogerty (80), David Gilmour (79), Mick Jagger (82), Elton John (78), Carole King (83), Paul McCartney (82), Joni Mitchell (81), Van Morrison (79), Graham Nash (83), Jimmy Page (81), Dolly Parton (79), Robert Plant (77), Keith Richards (81), Diana Ross (81), Carlos Santana (78), Carly Simon (82), Paul Simon (83), Ringo Starr (85), Rod Stewart (80), Stephen Stills (80), Pete Townshend (80), Roger Waters (81), Bob Weir (77), Neil Young (79).
• All things considered, it’s really quite amazing that so many these iconic musical legends — most of whom were well known even before I was born in the late 1960s — are still among the living.
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s late August 1961, and I and about negative eight years old. Where am I? If you think that I wasn’t anywhere before I was live, how is it that I’ll be somewhere after I’m dead?
• Here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at the time. I am barely familiar with any of these tunes or even many of the artists.
• 1. Wooden Heart (Joe Dowell). 2. Tossin' And Turnin' (Bobby Lewis). 3. Michael (The Highwaymen). 4. Last Night (Mar-Keys). 5. You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It) (Ral Donner). 6. I Like It Like That, Part 1 (Chris Kenner). 7. School Is Out (Gary U.S. Bonds). 8. Pretty Little Angel Eyes (Curtis Lee). 9. Don't Bet Money Honey (Linda Scott). 10. Hurt (Timi Yuro). 11. As If I Didn't Know (Adam Wade). 12. I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door (Eddie Hodges). 13. My True Story (The Jive Five With Joe Rene And Orchestra). 14. I Fall To Pieces (Patsy Cline). 15. Let The Four Winds Blow (Fats Domino). 16. Let's Twist Again (Chubby Checker). 17. Dum Dum (Brenda Lee). 18. Together (Connie Francis). 19. Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night) (Lonnie Donegan And His Skiffle Group). 20. I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven (Tex Ritter). 
• From the Sports Desk… gotta give some props to WNBA rookie sensation Paige Bueckers.
• On Wednesday night, Bueckers put together not just one of the best shooting performances by a WNBA rookie, but one of the best performances ever by any player.
• This year’s #1 draft pick scored 44 points in the Dallas Wings’ 81-80 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, the most points by a rookie in WNBA history and the most points in a game by any player this season.
• She went 17/21, including 4 of 4 from three-point range and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line to become the first player in league history with 40-plus points on 80% shooting from the floor. She also had four rebounds and three assists. She literally scored Dallas’ final 13 points in the game by herself.
• Bueckers’s single-game 44 points puts her at No 10 on the all-time list. Well done.
• Today in history… King Richard III dies at the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). Jews are expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire (1614). The English civil War begins (1642). The first America’s Cup is won by a yacht called ‘America’ (1851). 12 nations sign the first Geneva Convention (1864). Cadillac Motor Company is founded (1902). Michael Collins of the Irish Free State army is shot dead in an ambush (1922). German troops begin the siege of Leningrad (1941). Nolan Ryan becomes first to get 5,000 strikeouts (1989). Roy Moore is suspended for refusing to remove a 10 Commandments rock in the Alabama Supreme Court building (2003). 
• August 22 is the birthday of physicist Denis Papin (1647), pianist/composer Claude Debussy (1862), writer/satirist Dorothy Parker (1893), filmmaker/;propagandist Leni Riefenstahl (1902), singer-songwriter/guitarist John Lee Hooker (1917), writer Ray Bradbury (1920), US general Norman Schwarzkopf (1934), writer Annie Proulx (1935), actress Valerie Harper (1939), MLB player Carl Yastrzemski (1939), writer/director David Chase (1945), singer Donna Jean Godchaux (1947), actress Cindy Williams (1947), guitarist/songwriter Vernon Reid (1958), singer-songwriter Roland Orzabal (1961), singer-songwriter/pianist Tori Amos (1963), rapper GZA (1966), singer-songwriter Layne Staley (1967), actress Kristen Wiig (1973), TV host James Corden (1978), NFL player Randall Cobb (1990), singer-songwriter Dua Lipa (1995), NFL player Maxx Crosby (1997), and NBA player LaMelo Ball (2001).

That’s all I’ve got for now. Perhaps over the weekend, we can delve deeper into a couple of ongoing stories — like the gerrymander battle that is reaping the country’s congressional districts. It’s important shit. I just don’t have time to talk about the intricate aspects of it every day. Remember: only you can save the USA from fascism, but you’re going to have help. Enjoy your day.