Random News: September 12, 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 September 12, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! And really, after this week, thank God it’s Friday. I don’t think I could do another day of insanity before a weekend.

• I suppose it’s understandable that the murder of far-right conservative Charlie Kirk has continued to dominate the news cycle. I have no intention of having it be my top story for long, but a couple of things need mentioning before we move on.
• As of a little while ago this morning, say they’ve caught Kirk’s killer. The suspect is 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson. One of Robinson's family members turned him in to police after seeing the images.
• According to Dumpy, who made the announcement on “Fox & Friends” this morning, it was Robinson’s own father who turned him in. I’m trying to imagine some circumstance in which I’d rat out my own son and I can’t, but let’s not go there.
• And in fact, Dump may be wrong (wouldn’t be the first time). Other reports indicate it was Robinson’s pastor who made the call. Either way, Dump is calling for the death penalty against the lad before he’s had a trial.
• It appears that Robinson's last voter registration date was on July 13, 2021, and his political party is “none declared” based on public records.
• It also seems that Robinson is white, cisgender, heterosexual, and a Mormon. I’m not going to make any speculative comments about him until more actual info is released.
• He’s believed to have acted alone.
• Obviously there will be many more details forthcoming on why Robinson — if he’s the killer — shot Kirk. For the time being, the much bigger concern is what the MAGA world is doing in response.
• Let’s start with the official response of the U.S. Department of State, which issued a warning for foreign visa applicants and holders that it will "undertake appropriate action" against foreigners in the U.S. who are “praising, rationalizing, or making light of” the death of Kirk.
• But wait. It’s not only foreigners who are being watched.
• Yesterday, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) vowed to “use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
• Higgins added that any social media accounts from people who “ran their mouths with their smartass hatred, celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man” must come down. He demanded that any users who posted those “belittling” posts be “banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER.”
• Is that all? Nope.
• “I’m also going after their business licenses and permitting, their businesses will be blacklisted aggressively, they should be kicked from every school, and their drivers licenses should be revoked. I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” he wrote.
• Can you imagine if the same threat had been made by a liberal politician when the MAGA world celebrated en masse the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi? Or every time they loudly blamed a school shooting on various scapegoats with zero evidence?
• They’d all be screaming — rightfully, I should add — about their freedom of speech being under attack.
• I’ll once again be clear on my opinion, regardless of threats from government officials: Kirk spewed some of the most vile and disgusting and abhorrent ideas possible. If you take my outlook and turn it 180 degrees opposite, you get Kirk.
• I can only think of one statement Kirk ever made in his entire life that I’d agree with, and it’s that all of the information regarding the Epstein scandal should be made public.
• And yet, I do not believe in violence as a solution and he should not have been murdered. Killing another human being over their opinions is never okay. And it’s fine to feel both ways — that you detest Kirk and condemn his murder.
• Most smart people do feel that way.
• A distinction I want to make clear: threats of government-based punishment for free speech is quite a bit different than repercussions in the private sector.
• Example…
• On Wednesday, the Carolina Panthers NFL team fired football communications coordinator Charlie Rock for making insensitive posts regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk. 
• What did Rock do? He shared a picture of Kirk on his personal Instagram story and wrote: “Why are y’all sad? Your man said it was worth it…”
• For the millionth time, let me explain how the First Amendment works.
• It protects you from being arrested by the government for things you say or write.
• It does not mean that there are no repercussions for the things you say or write. Is it legal for a private company to fire you for making a post on your own personal social media that conflicts with the company’s values?
• Yes! You can try taking civil action against them for a wrongful termination, but you almost certainly will not win. Somewhere in your employee info is some verbiage telling you that they can and will discipline you under such circumstances.
• In this case, the Panthers stated, “The views expressed by our employees are their own and do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers. We do not condone violence of any kind. We are taking this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with the individual.”
• Is it legal for someone to punch you in the fucking face when you say or do or write something they don’t like?
• No, of course not. But maybe you also want to avoid getting punched in the face, which is among the many possible results when you express a viewpoint in an insensitive way.
• After 30+ years of people saying whatever the fuck they want behind the safety of a computer keyboard or phone, sometimes folks forget that other people have different feelings, and some may not respond with polite discourse.
• Rock’s firing from the Panthers was one of many actions of discipline toward people who made insensitive remarks about Kirk’s murder over the past two days.
• Keep it in mind.
• Moving on to a related story.
• Yesterday, multiple historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were on lockdown after receiving potential threats, including Alabama State University, Virginia State University, Hampton University in Virginia, Southern University in Louisiana, and Clark Atlanta University in Georgia.
• The threats were in relation to the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
• So someone explain to me how a white guy kills a white guy, and it’s the fault of Black people?
• Never mind. In the world of Charlie Kirk and MAGA, it makes perfect sense. Most far-right conservatives villainize anyone who is not white, heterosexual, and Christian. The fact that death threats were made to Black people over this white-on-white crime is really very much in line with their other actions and messaging.
• Civil right activist Rev. Al Sharpton said that he "condemned the shooting of Donald Trump last year, the murder of Charlie Kirk yesterday, and the threats to HBCUs today."
• How is that hard to understand?
• Okay, moving on.
• The same day that Kirk was shot — in the same hour, actually — 16-year-old Desmond Holly opened fire with a handgun at a high school near Denver, CO, wounding two students before fatally shooting himself.
• One of the two student victims who was shot remains in critical condition at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.
• Why do people get shot all the time… in a country where there are literally more guns than people?
• Don’t answer that. Just note that it only happens in the USA.
• Let’s move on.
• Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro — known as the “Trump of the Tropics” — has been found guilty of attempting to overturn the country’s 2022 election with a plot that included plans to assassinate the president-elect in a bid to cling to power.
• The Brazilian Supreme Court voted to convict Bolsonaro on all five counts in the landmark case, and sentenced him to 27 years and three months in prison.
• Bolsonaro has been convicted of plotting a coup d’état, taking part in an armed criminal organization, attempting to abolish Brazil’s democratic order by force, committing violent acts against state institutions, and damaging protected public property during the storming of government buildings by his supporters on January 8, 2023.
• This is all what should have happened here after the January 6, 2021 failed coup attempt led by Dumpy. Instead, you re-elected him.
• Slow clap. Idiots.
• Bolsonaro is 70, so perhaps he’ll have learned his lesson by the time he gets out of jail before his 100th birthday.
• In other news…
• Yesterday, Nadine Menendez, the wife of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, was sentenced to more than four years in prison in her federal bribery case. 
• She was convicted in April of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars in exchange for political favors. Other alleged bribes included a Mercedes-Benz, and money for a mortgage payment and for a low-to-no-show job. 
• What a world of assholes we live in.
• Her husband resigned from the U.S. Senate weeks after being found guilty for his role in the bribery scheme, and he is currently serving an 11-year sentence.
• Let’s just move on.
• Of the many bizarre things Dump has done — so, so many things — here’s a particularly weird one.
• The Kennedy Center has fired Kevin Struthers, the administrator overseeing its jazz offerings. Struthers had worked at the center for 30 years, since 1995. He was responsible for the artistic programming and day-to-day direction of the jazz program as well as a variety of special concerts, and was highly respected among jazz musicians around the world.
• In case you forgot, not long ago, Dump named himself the chairman of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees. So why in the world would Dump fire this particular guy?
• Perhaps the answer can be found via other recent changes to the programming staff at the Kennedy Center. Last month, the center laid off its dance programming team and appointed Stephen Nakagawa as the new director of the department.
• Nakagawa had previously complained about “radical leftist ideologies in ballet” and “woke culture.” I find it likely that Struthers didn’t exhibit enough hatred to be accepted by Dump in his position.
• Jazz musicians as a whole do include a lot of people who aren’t white and aren’t heterosexual. I can see why this would be an issue for Dump.
• The Kennedy Center’s jazz programming includes regular live music performances, the annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, and Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead — an international two-week jazz residency for emerging artists.
• And now, The Weather: “Townhouse” by Wiffeney
• As opposed to a chart today, we’re going to look at an entire year of music. The year — for no particular reason — is 1972.
• I was 2/3 years old in 1972. Hence, I don’t have many — if any — direct memories from the time period.
• We were living in Detroit, and I believe we moved to Evanston, IL toward the end of the year. We moved a lot.
• I do have one very fuzzy recollection of my mom picking me up from my grandma’s house after giving birth to my sister Danielle that February.
• What follows is a list, rather than a chart. It’s every No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart that year, in order of time (beginning that January and continuing through December).
• 1. Brand New Key (Melanie). 2. American Pie (Don McLean). 3. Let's Stay Together (Al Green). 4. Without You (Nilsson). 5. Heart of Gold (Neil Young). 6. A Horse with No Name (America). 7. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack). 8. Oh Girl (The Chi-Lites). 9. I'll Take You There (The Staple Singers). 10. The Candy Man (Sammy Davis Jr.). 11. Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond). 12. Lean on Me (Bill Withers). 13. Alone Again (Naturally) (Gilbert O’Sullivan). 14. Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) (Looking Glass). 15. Black and White (Three Dog Night). 16. Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me (Mac Davis). 17. Ben (Michael Jackson). 18. My Ding-a-Ling (Chuck Berry). 19. I Can See Clearly Now (Johnny Nash). 20. Papa Was a Rollin' Stone (The Temptations). 21. I Am Woman (Helen Reddy). 22. Me and Mrs. Jones (Billy Paul).
• From the Sports Desk… the Green Bay Packers are good. Their game last night against the Washington Commanders should have been tight, with the Packers only favored by -3.5.
• Instead, Green Bay dominated the entire game, winning 27-18 and blowing Washington out for most of the game.
• Today in history…  Premiere performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Munich with a chorus of 852 singers and an orchestra of 171 players (1910). Leó Szilárd conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction (1933). Cave paintings are discovered in Lascaux, France (1940). The People's Republic of Korea is proclaimed, bringing an end to Japanese rule over Korea (1945). U.S. Senator and future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1953). Jack Kilby demonstrates the first working integrated circuit at Texas Instruments (1958). ‘Bonanza’ premieres, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color (1959). South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in police custody (1977). Dwight Gooden sets the baseball record for strikeouts in a season by a rookie with 276 (1984). Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica then fucks up Mexico (1988). Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-47 has Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, onboard (1992). NASA confirms that its Voyager 1 probe has become the first manmade object to enter interstellar space (2013).
• September 12 is the birthday of activist Samuel Joseph May (1797), inventor Richard Jordan Gatling (1818), UK prime minister H. H. Asquith (1852), journalist H. L. Mencken (1880), actor Maurice Chevalier (1888), publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. (1892), athlete Jesse Owens (1913), actor Ian Holm (1931), singer-songwriter George Jones (1931), singer-songwriter Maria Muldaur (1943), activist Leonard Peltier (1943), singer-songwriter Barry White (1944), drummer/composer/lyricist Neil Peart (1952), composer Hans Zimmer (1957), singer-songwriter/pianist Ben Folds (1966), actor/comedian Louis C.K. (1967), actor Paul Walker (1973), singer/actress Jennifer Hudson (1981), MLB player Freddie Freeman (1989), and NFL player Andrew Luck (1989).

I’ll tell you… due to this Charlie Kirk shit, I’ve been forced to neglect on talking about a lot of other important shit going on in the world. I can promise you, we’ll be taking up those topics once again very soon. But that’s it for now. Enjoy your day.