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.
Good morning. It’s April 8, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. My name is Zak, information you lack, so here’s my daily news attack.
- The Supreme Court has weighed in on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father of three whom the Dump administration had mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
- Chief Justice John Roberts has temporarily placed on hold a judge’s order to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
- That’s right. At least for now, they’re just going to leave him there.
- Yesterday’s decision by Roberts will give the court more time to review the case. He ordered lawyers in the case to respond by 5pm today.
- A reminder: federal immigration agents arrested Abrego Garcia, 29, on March 12 after pulling him over in an Ikea parking lot. he was deported despite not having had a day in court nor any evidence of criminal wrongdoing having been presented.
- He was expelled from the United States and sent to a notoriously violent prison in El Salvador, even though he had a protective order barring his removal from the U.S.
- And yes, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that his deportation was a mistake, which it blamed it on an “administrative error.”
- Outside the White House yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters that the Justice Department believes the mistakenly deported Maryland man “should stay where he is.”
- But where exactly is that?
- It seems strange to me that something that would seem so easy to rectify is being fought so bitterly. And many people are starting to ask the unthinkable question…
- Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia still alive? Or was he murdered in El Salvador due to this admitted error by the Dump team, leaving his kids without a father?
- I suppose we’ll find out eventually.
- A short while after the Abrego Garcia ruling, the SCOTUS completely gave into the fascist direction of the country, allowing Dump to enforce the Alien Enemies Act that lets immigration officials rely on a sweeping wartime authority to rapidly deport alleged gang members.
- The unsigned decision in the case allows Dumpy to go ahead with the 1798 law to speed removals while litigation over the act’s use plays out in lower courts.
- Not that it matters, but the Court’s three liberal justices dissented from the decision, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a member of the court’s conservative wing, partially dissented.
- By granting the president’s request, the Supreme Court has tossed out the orders of US District Judge James Boasberg.
- So to be perfectly clear, now anyone can be arrested and/or deported with no trial and no evidence of wrongdoing presented.
- The court did make clear in its spineless, unsigned order that officials must give migrants subject to Dump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation adequate notice that they are being removed pursuant to the wartime authority so that they have time to bring habeas complaints.
- But I doubt that will change anything in terms of Dump’s Gestapo-like actions. He doesn’t respect the rule of law that’s guided our country for nearly 250 years.
- Let’s move on.
- Even though our economy is crashing and our country is being overtaken by a fascist regime, Dumpy Wumpy wants to have a big, fun party for himself.
- So he’s planning a June 14 military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., to mark his 79th birthday.
- I’m serious. I don’t make this shit up.
- Donnie birthday parade will stretch almost 4 miles from the Pentagon in Arlington, VA to the White House.
- He had wanted to do this during his first term until the news got out that it would cost $92 million. It will probably cost a good deal more this time around.
- So instead of helping hard-working Americans with that cash from your taxes, he wants to spend it on himself.
- Can you imagine being a MAGA voter who, after voting for Dump multiple times in hopes to fix the economy and is now struggling and barely able to feed themselves and their family, only to hear that news? I’d lose my mind.
- Seriously. I’d lose my fucking mind.
- For now, let’s move on.
- I want to touch on a court filing submitted Friday by more than 500 law firms.
- They say that Dump’s executive orders targeting the legal community pose a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself.
- I agree. But I think that of probably 90% of Dump’s orders.
- Some of the targeted firms have sued to halt enforcement of the orders, while the most spineless of them have struck deals with the White House either to avert an order or to have it rescinded.
- The “deals” being paying off Dump personally to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. You like having a country run that way?
- I don’t.
- In other news…
- Up until yesterday, U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was the only woman on NATO’s military committee.
- And now there are none.
- Chatfield was fired by the Trump administration due to comments she has made that supported diversity in the force.
- She is the third top female officer to be fired since Dump took office. Dump and his defense secretary Pete Hegseth have clearly stated that they don’t believe women are good enough to have leadership rules in our country’s military.
- In addition to Chatfield, Hegseth and Dump have fired chief of naval operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti. Dump also fired Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan just a day after he was sworn in.
- Just keep in mind: these guys feel like the only use for women is to provide sex to men and to be reproductive chambers for children.
- That’s it. End of story. They do not want women voting, and they definitely don’t want them running businesses or larger organizations, or to be able to have lives independent of men.
- That’s what you all voted for, right?
- Time for a note from the Health Desk.
- You know those anti-vaccine RFK Jr. fans who celebrated that weirdo’s appointment to the position of Dumpy’s Health and Human Services Secretary?
- Yeah, they are super mad at him now.
- An endorsement of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has provoked an angry outcry from anti-vaccine activists.
- What did Kennedy say?
- "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” He made the post following meetings on Sunday in Gaines County, TX with the families of two unvaccinated children who have died of measles during a recent outbreak in the state.
- He also said he had instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to "supply pharmacies and Texas run clinics with needed MMR vaccines," along with other medical supplies.
- Oh man. The anti-vax psychos are screaming.
- "I'm sorry, but there is no defense for this poorly worded statement," wrote Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a prominent anti-vaccine activist who once claimed during a legislative hearing in Ohio that the COVID vaccine could cause patients to become magnetized, allowing them to stick spoons and forks all over their bodies.
- Or then there’s Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a Texas-based physician who is currently fighting a complaint from Texas's medical board. She says the complaint is related to her prescribing her human patients ivermectin, a medicine for deworming horses.
- ”We voted for challenging the medical establishment, not endorsing it," said Bowden. She says that Kennedy's decision to endorse the MMR vaccine to control the outbreak reminds her of the heavy-handed response to COVID.
- Of course, Kennedy's new statement also contradicts years of his own vaccine skepticism. He formerly chaired an anti-vaccine non-profit called Children's Health Defense that tried to sue New York over the state's school vaccine requirement, and lost.
- Moving on.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson reached a deal with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) amid her push to allow new parents to vote remotely.
- Luna announced that she and Johnson had a deal to use vote pairing — an agreement between an absent member and a member who is physically present and plans to vote on the opposite side of the question, effectively canceling out the vote.
- That seems weird and fucked up and legally dubious to me, but that’s typical in the crazy world of MAGA.
- According to Luna, "It will be open for the entire conference to use when unable to vote (e.g., new parents, bereaved, emergencies, etc.),"
- Last Tuesday, Johnson suffered an embarrassing loss to kill the effort to allow new parents to vote remotely around the birth of their child. He considers proxy voting to be unconstitutional.
- But this isn’t?
- Fucking weirdo freaks.
- Let’s move on.
- Some good news coming out of North Carolina, where the state’s Supreme Court blocking a lower court decision that could invalidate over 60,000 ballots.
- Yesterday, the NC Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on a North Carolina Court of Appeals order that said the contested ballots needed to be reverified or thrown out.
- Just last Friday, a state appeals court panel had ruled 2-1 along party lines to favor of Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin against incumbent Allison Riggs in last year’s election.
- Griffin — who seems like a sore loser and an asshole — has been contesting the validity of around 60,000 North Carolina ballots cast during the November elections.
- Friday’s decision would have requires affected voters to verify their identity and registration or have their ballots thrown out.
- After two recounts, Justice Riggs holds a 734-vote lead over Griffin. Interestingly, the NC State Supreme Court currently has a 5-2 Republican majority, and they still overturned this pointless bullshit.
- A note from the Space Desk.
- Uranus just got precisely measured and it rotates more slowly than we thought.
- Scientists reported yesterday that observations by the Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed it takes Uranus 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 52 seconds to complete a full turn.
- That’s 28 seconds longer than estimates by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which studied Uranus in the 1980s. A year on Uranus still takes 84 Earth years.
- Yes, I included this item just to write the word Uranus multiple times. I know you love when I mention Uranus, you cheeky monkeys.
- And now, The Weather: “Chokehold” by effe
- A rest in peace going out to Clem Burke, the longtime drummer for Blondie, who died of cancer at the age of 70.
- Burke was highly respected among the musician community. His hard-hitting style helped define the entire new wave music genre.
- In addition to his great work with Blondie, Burke performed with artists and bands including Pete Townshend, Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Joan Jett, the Romantics, and — for two days, famously — the Ramones, among others.
- From the Sports Desk… here’s what’s likely my final college sports news item until March 2026.
- Congrats to the Florida Gators, the NCAA Men’s basketball champions. It was a hard-fought back-and-forth game against the Houston Cougars, but Florida hung on to take it 65-63.
- Glad that shit is done.
- Today in history… The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty (1232). Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated (1730). The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos (1820). Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School (1908). Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity (1911). The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law (1913). President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities (1943). Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager (1975). Windows XP reaches its standard End Of Life and is no longer supported (2014). Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee (2020). A total solar eclipse takes place at the Moon's ascending node, visible across North America (2024).
- April 8 is the birthday of actress Mary Pickford (1892), first lady Betty Ford (1918), comedian Shecky Greene (1926), journalist Seymour Hersh (1937), NBA player John Havlicek (1940), fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (1941), MLB player Catfish Hunter (1946), guitarist/composer Steve Howe (1947), singer-songwriter Brenda Russell (1949), MLB player Gary Carter (1954), guitarist Izzy Stradlin (1962), singer-songwriter Julian Lennon (1963), singer-songwriter Donita Sparks (1963), rapper/actor Biz Markie (1964), actress Robin Wright (1966), actress Patricia Arquette (1968), singer-songwriter/guitarist Alexi Laiho (1979), MLB player Carlos Santana (1986), and NFL player CeeDee Lamb (1999).
Woo-wee, that was a lot of news. But sometimes it be that way. There’s… probably a lot more news coming up in the next few weeks. Since I try not to speculate or pass along rumor and hearsay in this report, I actually leave off a lot of potentially important shit. I’m here to inform, not to cause panic or increase negativity. But I would say… be ready to fight for the things that you hold important in your lives. That’s always true… but soon it might be more true than ever. Enjoy your day.
