Random News: September 8, 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 8, 2025, and it’s a Monday. And damn, it sure feels like a Monday. I’m trying to make my brain work but it’s currently like a dilapidated chain saw that you have to yank the starter cord a bunch of times before it catches.

• A reminder that the USA is not the only country in the world, nor the only one dealing with shitty problems.
• Early yesterday, Russia unleashed its largest-ever air assault on Ukraine, sending more than 800 drones and 13 missiles into the country in an hours-long attack that set the main government building in Kyiv ablaze for the first time during the war.
• But didn’t Dumpy go and meet with Vladimir Putin awhile back and claim that he should get a Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped that war and like six others?
• Anyway, a Russian drone also struck a residential building in the capital, killing at least three people, including a mother and her infant son. At least 20 other people were wounded in Kyiv.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted, “It has been said more than once in Washington that sanctions will follow for refusing to talk. We must implement everything that was agreed upon in Paris.”
• His comments are obviously aimed at Dumpy, who has seemed scared to follow through on his threat against Russia. However, when asked yesterday whether he was ready to impose more sanctions on Russia, Trump replied, “Yes. I am.”
• But I don’t believe him. Nor should anyone. Relying on Dump’s word is a “fool me twice” situation.
• Let’s move on to another big international news story.
• Yesterday, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced he will step down following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election.
• See, that’s how it works in many other countries.
• Ishiba, who took office last year, had resisted demands from mostly right-wing opponents within his own party for more than a month, saying such a step would cause a political vacuum when Japan faces key challenges in and outside the country.
• His resignation came one day before his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was to decide whether to hold a no-confidence motion against him.
• Ishiba says he’ll start a process to hold a party leadership vote to choose his replacement.
• Lacking a majority in both houses, the next LDP leader will have to work with the main opposition parties to get bills passed, or else face constant risks of no-confidence motions. However, Japan’s opposition parties are too splintered to form a big coalition to topple the government.
• The world is a weird place right now. I wish it weren’t, but it is.
• Moving on.
• Florida’s plan to drop school vaccine requirements won’t take effect for 90 days, and would include only chickenpox and a few other illnesses unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases, like polio and measles.
• RIP Florida.
• I’ll remind you that decades of public policy and research that has shown vaccines to be safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of communicable diseases, especially among children.
• Despite that evidence, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed deep skepticism about vaccines based on stuff he’s heard from conspiracy theorists.
• Florida’s plan will remove mandates on school vaccines for hepatitis B, chickenpox, Hib influenza and pneumococcal diseases, such as meningitis, the health department said.
• At the moment, all other vaccinations required under Florida law to attend school “remain in place, unless updated through legislation,” including vaccines for measles, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, mumps and tetanus.
• So that’s good, I guess. But it’s probably only a matter of time before DeSantis and RFK Jr. remove those requirements as well. Can you imagine being the parent of a school-aged child in that state right now?
• When sending your own child to a public school as required by law could be a death sentence, I can’t imagine staying in a state that allows such things.
• I’d move the fuck out immediately.
• Fortunately, there are plenty of places in the USA — in the Northeast and West Coast in particular — who are sticking with common-sense vaccine policies.
• The World Health Organization reported in 2024 that vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives globally over the past 50 years. The majority of those were infants and children.
• Let’s move on.
• Some breaking news: just now, a federal appeals court rejected Dump’s bid to overturn a jury verdict ordering him to pay $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
• Good. Fuck that rapist asshole.
• The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld that verdict, which Dump argued was both excessive and invalid following a Supreme Court decision that expanded his presidential immunity.
• How about, fuck you and your bullshit immunity? Does that work?
• The appellate judges held that Dump “has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity.”
• They also ruled that a lower federal court “did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable.”
• Correct. Pay that woman, you ass.
• A quick note from the Immigration Desk.
• A recent Gallup poll asked a simple question: is immigration a good thing for the USA?
• 79% of the respondents said “yes.” This is the highest ever measure of support of immigration in the USA.
• Conversely, only 17% said “no,” which is the lowest ever.
• I find it fascinating that perhaps due to Dump’s cruel actions, the USA is recognizing the importance of our immigrant population more than at any previous time in our country’s history.
• Remember: everything that Dump does is wrong, and everything he touches dies. And what will inevitably happen is always the reverse of what he claims to support.
• Moving on.
• What’s going to happen if the Supreme Court upholds a ruling that Dumpy’s “reciprocal” tariffs were an overstep of power?
• The Treasury Department says they will have to issue rebates.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday, “We would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs, which would be terrible for the Treasury.” He added that, “If the court says it, we’d have to do it.”
• That’s right, bitch.
• The Dump administration last week asked the Supreme Court for an “expedited ruling” to overturn an appeals court decision that found most of his tariffs on imports from other countries are illegal.
• Under normal circumstances, the Supreme Court could take as long as early next summer to issue a decision on the legality of Dump’s tariff taxes.
• But the prospect of the government having to refund tariffs of that magnitude could mean an unprecedented windfall to the U.S. businesses and entities that paid them.
• Dumpy has requested that the Supreme Court hear arguments on his appeal in early November and issue a final decision on the legality of the disputed tariffs soon thereafter,
• So that’s gonna be interesting… especially if you work for a company that’s been hit so hard by these unnecessary huge taxes.
• Let’s keep moving on.
• Gotten a letter or package from overseas lately? Probably not.
• Postal traffic to the U.S. has fallen significantly after Dump suspended a trade exemption rule in late August.
• The U.N.'s Universal Postal Union (UPU) said postal traffic enroute to the U.S. "come to a near halt" after August 29, 2025, when the "de minimis" trade exemption that allowed small packages worth less than $800 to be exempt from tariffs ended.
• Postal traffic to the USA dropped 81% on August 29 compared to a week earlier.
• Dumpy has defended the move as a way to crack down on criminal activity, such as counterfeit products and fentanyl, from entering the country.
• Ever notice that when Dumpy does something moronic, he just screams “FENTANYL,” as if it can be linked to every sort of activity in the world?
• Moving on.
• I’ll tell you one thing I find absolutely brilliant about California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s takedown of Dumpy.
• The right wing has trouble denigrating it, since all of it is a satirical mirror of Dumpy’s own easily imitable but recognizable style.
• And the left wing is smart enough to see it for what it is, so few are bothered by it.
• Newsom has seized attention like no other Democrat in Dump’s second term as he works to position himself as a de facto head of the resistance in a leaderless party.
• Influencers on both the left and the right have discussed Newsom more than any other potential 2028 presidential contender since Dump’s inauguration. The attention has been driven by Newsom’s response to immigration raids in Los Angeles, his efforts to counter a Republican redistricting push and, most recently, those mocking impersonations of Dump’s social media style.
• One thing for sure: the relationship between the evil wanna-be dictator and the governor of the most populous state in the country reached a low point last week.
• Like a middle-school kid with his feelings hurt, Dump posted multiple doctored videos of Newsom on social media, while the governor responded by suggesting Dump has dementia, and pinning an unflattering photo of the Orange Twatwaffle atop his official press account.
• Hee hee.
• How much is Gavin living rent-free in Dump’s demented head?
• Dump has used Newsom’s name 41 times in social media posts and emails since his inauguration — more than the 33 times he has mentioned Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the 29 times he’s mentioned his former opponent, Kamala Harris, and the nine times he’s mentioned Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
• By the way, it’s much worse than it seems — the analysis above does not include Dump’s use of nicknames, and he often disparages Newsom as “Newscum.” So Gavin is all Donnie can think about or focus on (when he’s not thinking about raping kids like he could in the good old days, of course).
• And now, The Weather: “intuitive trouble” by glass egg
• A sad RIP going out to Rick Davies, one of the two co-founders, frontmen, and chief songwriters of Supertramp. He was 81.
• Rick was the keyboardist and “other” singer of Supertramp who actually sang lead on most of my favorite songs by that band, including “Goodbye Stranger” and “Bloody Well Right.”
• From the Not-Sports/Sports Desk…
• Broadcasters were asked to censor the crowd booing at Dumpy when he attended the Men’s tennis final of the U.S. Open in Queens, NY and was shown on the videoboard yesterday.
• But boo they did. Gloriously.
• The match's start was delayed by about a half-hour because thousands of fans were still outside in line, trying to get through the extra security measures in place because of the presence of The Dumpster.
• And then things got super awkward when Dump saw that Bruce Springsteen was seated just feet away.
• The Boss has been on tour in the UK and Europe, denouncing the “corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous” Dump administration.
• In response, Dump threatened to block his re-entry into the country, and called for an investigation into Springsteen and other musicians who supported Kamala Harris.
• In the Finals match, 2-seed Carlos Alcaraz beat 1-seed Jannik Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. This was the third Grand Slam tournament in a row where these elite, young rivals met to decide the champion. It’s the 22-year-old’s second U.S. Open title and sixth overall major.
• Also from the Sports Desk… let’s be clear right now: this column will not be talking about and/or analyzing every fucking game of the NFL season. Seriously, go read/watch the recaps on ESPN and YouTube if you need to.
• There were a number of upsets in Week 1, like the Chargers over the Chiefs and the Raiders over the Patriots. There were also many extremely close games that shouldn’t have been.
• One game of note was last night’s amazing match between the Ravens and Bills. Buffalo was down 15 points with four minutes to go, and still managed to grab victory, winning 41-40. Amazing.
• Perhaps this season will be… interesting.
• Today in history… Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in Florence (1504).  Marriage of King George III of the United Kingdom to Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1761). The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board, arriving six months later at the mouth of the Columbia River and establishing the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon (1810). The Northern Pacific Railway was completed in a ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana (1883). To prove women were capable military dispatch riders, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren arrive in Los Angeles, completing a 60-day, 5,500 mile cross-country trip on motorcycles (1916). 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape (1930). The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation makes its first televised broadcast (1952). The landmark American science fiction television series Star Trek premieres with its first-aired episode, "The Man Trap” (1966). In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated (1971). Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office (1974). US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "I Am A Homosexual” (1975). NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-106 to resupply the International Space Station (2000). Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years (2022).
• September 8 is the birthday of king Richard I of England (1157), mathematician Marin Mersenne (1588), composer Antonín Dvořák (1841), mandolin player/composer Seth Weeks (1868), politician Claude Pepper (1900), actor Sid Caesar (1922), activist Jacqueline Ceballos (1925), actor Peter Sellers (1925), singer-songwriter Patsy Cline (1932), politician Bernie Sanders (1941), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Ron Pigpen McKernan (1945), NHL player Rogie Vachon (1945), singer-songwriter/bass player Benjamin Orr (1947), bass player Will Lee (1952), actress/activist Heather Thomas (1957), singer-songwriter/guitarist Aimee Mann (1960), singer-songwriter/guitarist Neko Case (1970), actor David Arquette (1971), actor Martin Freeman (1971), singer-songwriter Pink (1979), rapper Wiz Khalifa (1987), DJ/remixer Avicii (1989), and MLB player Gerrit Cole (1990).

That’s enough for now, and I’m out of time regardless. My brain seems more prepared to handle a Monday, though, so that’s good. Enjoy your day.