Random News: September 30, 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 30, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. I’m sipping my coffee and seeing what’s happened in the world that might impact you and me and the people we love. There’s a lot of those things. More every day, really.

• I don’t see any scenario in which the U.S. government doesn’t shut down at midnight tonight.
• Yesterday, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders left a White House meeting with Lord Dumplepants showing no sign of compromising from their entrenched positions in order to avoid a lapse in funding.
• As typically happens, if government funding legislation isn’t passed by Congress and signed by Dump tonight, many government offices across the nation will be temporarily shuttered and nonexempt federal employees will be furloughed, adding to the strain on workers and the nation’s economy.
• It’s a shame that Republicans hate health care so much, they — who control the House, Senate, and White House — are willing to let this happen.
• But, as Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he left the White House, “There are still large differences between us.”
• Dumpy has shown zero interest in entertaining Democrats’ demands on health care, even as he agreed to hold a sit-down meeting yesterday with Schumer, along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
• Of note: it was Dictator Dump’s first meeting with the “big four” leaders in Congress since retaking the White House for his second term.
• Long story short, Dump wants the government to shut down, perchance to fire a bunch of people in important services that Americans rely on. 
• So obviously, he’s not going to negotiate. Why would he?
• Democrats are pushing for an extension to Affordable Care Act tax credits that have subsidized health insurance for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The credits, which are designed to expand coverage for low- and middle-income people, are set to expire at the end of the year.
• That’s all. That’s why Republicans are shutting down the government.
• Any legislation to fund the government will need support from at least 60 senators in the 100-member Senate. That means that at least eight Democrats would have to vote for the short-term funding bill, because Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is expected to vote against it.
• Snort.
• There is a proposal for a one- or two-week stopgap if Republicans will work with Democrats on a health care fix. But you know they would never do it if it made Dumpy upset and have a little fit.
• On a related note, after the meeting, Dump shared an AI-generated racist video on social media depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero and a mustache and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking in a fake voice.
• Dump is like the rich bully kid in high school that everyone hates, secretly or openly.
• Shortly after Dump posted the video, Jeffries wrote, “Bigotry will get you nowhere. Cancel the Cuts. Lower the Cost. Save Healthcare. We are NOT backing down.”
• Schumer followed moments later, commenting, “If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.”
• Fact check: true.
• Let’s move on.
• Dump and his unqualified Fox News host-turned-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are having their little meeting in Quantico, VA with every general and admiral in our military branches as I write this.
• So far, what’s happened…
• Hegseth plugged his book.
• Hegseth told the highest-ranking officers in our Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines that physical fitness standards should be high.
• Hegseth said he is removing the ability for troops and defense personnel to anonymously file whistleblower complaints, report toxic leadership, or point out unequal treatment based on race, gender, sexuality or religion.
• And Hegseth also said the military would be redefining things like bullying and hazing in the military so that the young men and women could be tortured as such without fear of retribution.
• He’s a fucking piece of shit. No wonder they hate him.
• After that was Dumpy’s turn to address the audience. He was met by total silence as he began his address to the hundreds of senior U.S. military officers.
• He didn’t know what to do, nor did he understand that this was standard military decorum.
• “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” Dump said, appearing super uncomfortable in the quiet room. He continued: “If you want to applaud, you applaud.”
• They did not. It fucked Dumpy up. A guy like Dump only can draw energy off of instantaneous feedback. As a result, Dump’s remarks were delivered in a half-speed monotone.
• Ha ha.
• Dump was really unnerved. He said, "If you don't like what I'm saying you can leave the room, because there goes your rank, there goes your future.”
• Ya know, this fucking guy, right before the event, said that he'll fire generals "on the spot" if he dislikes them. I’m serious.
• No word on if he’s fired the entire military yet for not clapping and bowing.
• Let’s move on.
• You may have noted that there’s been very little follow-up in major media about the man who, on Sunday, attacked a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, killing four and injuring eight more.
• Compare it to the media coverage about the assassination of that one guy a few weeks ago.
• But it is coming out that Thomas “Jake” Sanford, 40, had served in the Marines and worked as a mechanic in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Sanford drove his huge truck around town with two giant American flags flying from the bed behind him… the same truck he used to ram into the church. He wore Dump t-shirts and had a Dump sign in his driveway.
• He was MAGA through and through.
• And he harbored open hatred for the LDS church. About a week before the attack, he met Kris Johns, a city council candidate. Sanford asked him two questions: “What are your thoughts on guns?” and “What are your thoughts on Mormons?”
• You know, one commonality of these violent and fatal attacks: they do seem to all be perpetrated by white American guys.
• I mean, it’s true. Shrug. But I don’t see “white American men” being singled out as a terrorist organization. Why not?
• Since we referenced the Charlie Kirk assassination…
• Yesterday, Tyler Robinson — the 22-year-old man charged with killing Kirk — appeared in court remotely. During the hearing, the suspect and his newly-appointed legal counsel decided they want a preliminary hearing where the judge will determine if there is enough evidence against him to go forward with a trial.
• There probably is.
• Prosecutors have charged Robinson with aggravated murder and plan to seek the death penalty. Robinson didn't enter a plea during yesterday’s hearing.
• Robinson is scheduled to appear in person for his next hearing on October 30.
• Let’s move on.
• Here in California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law yesterday that will force major AI companies to reveal their safety protocols — marking the end of a lobbying battle with big tech companies like ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Meta and setting the groundwork for a potential national standard.
• It is already being watched in Congress and other states as an example to follow as lawmakers seek to rein in an emerging technology that has been embraced by the Dump administration in the race against China, but which has also prompted concerns for its massive and obvious potential to create harms.
• Newsom said, “California has proven that we can establish regulations to protect our communities while also ensuring that the growing AI industry continues to thrive. This legislation strikes that balance.”
• The measure, SB 53, requires some AI developers to publicly disclose their safety and security protocols. It also creates a way for companies and the public to report major safety incidents to the state.
• The law includes whistleblower protections for AI workers and lays the groundwork for a state-run cloud computing cluster dubbed CalCompute.
• As I’ve said many times over many years, thank God I live in this state. I am beyond lucky to be a Californian.
• Moving on.
• From the Business Desk, some fuckery to keep an eye on. 
• Yesterday, the massive video game publisher Electronic Arts announced that it agreed to be taken private in a deal valued at roughly $55 billion by a group of investors that includes a firm managed by Dump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
• If completed, it would be the largest buyout of a publicly traded company in history. The investors would partly finance the deal with a $20 billion loan from JPMorgan Chase.
• The deal is led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which already owns about 10 percent of Electronic Arts, as well as the private equity firm Silver Lake and Kushner’s Affinity Partners.
• EA is a sports-gaming juggernaut, with EA Sports FC  for soccer and Madden for football. It’s also a conduit into the lives of millions of children and young adults who are the biggest market for these sports-based video games.
• And now they will be all the more influenced by the Saudi kingdom and by Dump.
• The Electronic Arts buyout would need the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a panel of government agencies that reviews international deals for security concerns. Some lawmakers have previously called for scrutiny of the Saudi fund’s investments in sports for national security reasons.
• “People don’t often think about video games and national security together, but these are platforms that reach millions of Americans and often collect a lot of personal data,” said Aaron Bartnick, a former official who worked on national security reviews of foreign investments and who is now a fellow at Columbia University.
• Let’s move on.
• I truly enjoyed the complete meltdown and crash out of the MAGA world after yesterday’s announcement of Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime headliner.
• Probably my favorites complaints were those MAGAs who made statements like, “Of course the NFL would announce a non-US citizen for the Super Bowl halftime show.”
• And of course, he’s right that the NFL has featured non-US citizens to perform at halftime! Those would include Rihanna, Shakira, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, U2, and others.
• But Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico, making him 100% a U.S. citizen. let’s face it: Bad Bunny isn’t white and performs in a. language other than English. That’s the problem.
• And now, The Weather: “Ecstatic Heads” by mark william lewis
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s literally the last day of September in 1990, 35 years ago today. I am slogging through my bachelor’s degree and I’m dating the woman who I’d marry, have a son with, and eventually divorce… so it goes.
• Everything ends up working out fine. Here was the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at the time. Pretty meh for the most part.
• 1. (Can't Live Without Your) Love And Affection (Nelson). 2. Close To You (Maxi Priest). 3. Release Me (Wilson Phillips). 4. Blaze Of Glory (From "Young Guns II") (Jon Bon Jovi). 5. Praying For Time (George Michael). 6. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (Phil Collins). 7. Do Me! (Bell Biv DeVoe). 8. Thieves In The Temple (Prince). 9. Oh Girl (Paul Young). 10. My, My, My (Johnny Gill). 11. I Don't Have The Heart (James Ingram). 12. Heart Of Stone (Taylor Dayne). 13. Romeo (Dino). 14. Can't Stop (After 7). 15. Everybody Everybody (Black Box). 16. Ice Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice). 17. Unskinny Bop (Poison). 18. Have You Seen Her (M.C. Hammer). 19. Unchained Melody (The Righteous Brothers). 20. Policy Of Truth (Depeche Mode).
• From the Sports Desk… in yesterday’s battle of winless teams, the Dolphins noted their first victory of the year over the hapless Jets… but at a cost.
• Star wide receiver Tyreek Hill dislocated his left knee and tore multiple ligaments during Monday night's 27-21 win over the Jets. He was hospitalized overnight, his season is over, and possibly his career.
• Sad.
• Today in history… Henry IV is proclaimed king of England (1399). Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance (1541). The first performance of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute takes place two months before his death (1791). Thomas Edison's first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation (1882). Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire (1915). The League of Nations unanimously outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations” (1938). NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game (1939). The 1947 World Series is the first to be televised and the first to include an African-American player (1947). The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time (1968). Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation (1980). Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in a Danish newspaper (2005). 
• September 30 is the birthday of astronomer Michael Maestlin (1550), activist Ann Jarvis (1832), businessman William Wrigley, Jr. (1861), physicist Hand Geiger (1882), sexologist Charlotte Wolff (1897), bassist/bandleader Thelma Terry (1901), drummer/bandleader Buddy Rich (1917), US Army captain Lewis Nixon (1918), novelist Truman Capote (1924), activist Elie Wiesel (1928), actress Angie Dickinson (1931), singer Cissy Houston (1933), singer Johnny Mathis (1935), drummer Dewey Martin (1940), music producer Gus Dudgeon (1942), singer Marilyn McCoo (1943), singer-songwriter/guitarist Marc Bolan (1947), actress Fran Drescher (1957), singer-songwriter/guitarist Marty Stuart (1958), actor Eric Stoltz (1961), singer-songwriter/guitarist Trey Anastasio (1964), actress Jenna Elfman (1971), actor Daniel Wu (1974), MLB player Jeremy Giambi (1974), tennis player Martina Hingis (1980), and rapper T-Pain (1984).

Well, as usual these days, that was a lot of stuff and we never have time to go as deep into these important stories as we should. I always recommend that you follow up on things you find interesting and get the rest of the story for yourself. Enjoy your day.