Random News: May 6, 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 May 6, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. I am at the very start of a hell day, with meetings, deadlines, personal responsibilities, and a live music show to plan and then perform, all between now and when I am finally able to relax this evening. But that’s life. You’re not supposed to sit around being bored… though occasionally that seems like a nice alternative. Ah well.

• I want to start with a special note to every person in America who chose to protest last fall due to your support of Palestine by not voting for Kamala Harris.
• Yesterday, Israel approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time.
• So now, the people you thought you were defending literally have no home. The new plan calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to Gaza’s south. 
• Already facing a dire humanitarian crisis, this forced displacement will result in added misery and death for these people.
• Since you either voted for Dump (or sat out the election, or protested Harris during the election cycle), this must be what you wanted.
• A little background: Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory.
• Capturing and occupying the territory again for an indefinite period would not only further dash hopes for Palestinian statehood.
• It would also embed Israel inside a population that is deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory.
• I suppose they’re relying on Donnie Dump, who has plans to personally profit form the misery of the Palestinian people by building luxury hotels on top of their mass graves.
• Israel had already halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel, and water, resulting in one of the worst humanitarian crisis in history.
• And just think… none of that would have been possible had you not allowed Dumpy to become president. That suffering and needless death is on your hands.
• Let’s move on to some much brighter news.
• Yesterday, Richard E. Myers II — chief judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina — ordered North Carolina election officials to certify a November election and confirm the narrow victory of a Democratic justice on the state Supreme Court.
• This back-and-forth legal saga has gone on for six months. And the Republican who lost the case has seven days to appeal the decision, which could prolong the dispute.
• What was this all about? In November, Justice Allison Riggs won the November election by 734 votes, a slim margin that was confirmed by two recounts.
• But her opponent, Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, sued in state court, arguing tens of thousands of votes should be thrown out. Why?
• He claimed, without evidence, that more than 60,000 votes that were cast by people who did not have the last four digits of their Social Security numbers or other identifiers on file with election officials when they voted in November.
• Myers — who was appointed to the bench by Dumpy in 2019 — said that invalidating votes that had already been cast violated voters’ due process rights. “You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” he wrote.
• Correct.
• In other news…
• Yesterday, the Justice Department announced in a rather surprising move that it will defend Joe Biden’s abortion pill rules that allow abortion pills to be available online and by mail.
• But rather than defending the Food and Drug Administration’s rules for the pills on the merits, the DOJ argued in a filing with a Texas federal court that the three GOP-controlled states suing the agency lack standing and the case should be thrown out.
• They didn't directly weigh in on the underlying issue of access to the drug that's part of the nation's most common method of abortion.
• "The states are free to pursue their claims in a district where venue is proper, but the states' claims before this court must be dismissed or transferred pursuant to the venue statute's mandatory command," federal government attorneys wrote.
• Well, that’s good, I suppose.
• The lawsuit from Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri argues that the FDA should roll back access to mifepristone. They filed their complaint after the Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone last year.
• Nothing is stopping the states from filing the lawsuit someplace else, but the venue has to have some connection to the claims being made.
• So obviously, the far-right world will continue to make every effort to remove reproductive freedom from women across the country.
• And we’ll keep fighting them every step of the way.
• Let’s move on.
• All five of the living former National Weather Service leaders released an open letter to the American people with a stark warning about the impact of staffing and program cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• "Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life," their letter said. "We know that's a nightmare shared by those on the forecasting front lines — and by the people who depend on their efforts." 
• Since the beginning of the year, more than 550 employees have left the National Weather Service, leaving it well below its former staffing levels ahead of hurricane season and the busiest time of year.
• A reminder that weather is not a Democratic or Republican phenomenon. And without proper forecasting and continued research, people will die that could have easily otherwise been saved.
• Side note: since the hurricane season starts in a month, 2025’s storm names are out. At least you’ll know what to call them, even when you don’t get the information you need to be safe from them (nor any FEMA help after they destroy your area)…
• Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dexter, Erin, Fernand, Gabrielle, Humberto, Imelda, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Nestor, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastian, Tanya, Van, Wendy
• Moving on, but on a similar topic…
• The National Institutes of Health has laid off hundreds more staff, including at its cancer research institute.
• Around 200 employees began receiving layoff notices this past Friday evening. The move surprised NIH officials, since the department previously claimed no further cuts were planned at the agency.
• Among the cuts on Friday were around 50 employees at the NIH's National Cancer Institute, or NCI.
• So yesterday, over a dozen states sued the Dump administration for laying off thousands of Health and Human Services staffers.
• The lawsuit — filed in Rhode Island federal court by New York, California, 17 other states and Washington, D.C. — claims that Dumpy has sought to dismantle HHS through layoffs that disproportionately hit "disfavored work and programs," like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
• Yesterday’s lawsuit, which names Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other HHS leaders as defendants, argues these job cuts have "systematically deprived HHS of the resources necessary to do its job."
• Accurate.
• Let’s move over to immigration for a moment.
• Yesterday, Dump offered free airline tickets and a $1,000 incentive to unauthorized immigrants if they sign up for self-deportation and return to their home countries voluntarily. 
• Shrug. I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d take the tickets, pocket the grand, go visit some family and friends, and then come on back when I felt like it.
• I’m not suggesting that people do what I described above. I’m saying that’s what I’d do.
• In other news…
• You know that AI-generated image that Dumpy posted of himself dressed as the pope while Catholics are still mourning the death of Pope Francis?
• Dumples the Sacrilegious Clown got confronted with it yesterday. His whiny response was perfectly predictable.
• "I had nothing to do with it. Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope and they put it out on the internet. That's not me that did it, I have no idea where it came from, maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it, I just saw it last evening.”
• Uh huh. Well, if the things he posts are all jokes, maybe his entire presidency is a joke. That makes more sense than most explanations and excuses for him.
• Let’s just move on.
• And now a tale of “But I didn’t think the leopards would eat MY face…”
• Frank Davis, the mayor of Emmitsburg, MD, voted for Dumpy because he liked the idea of cutting government waste.
• But that waste turned out to be the biggest part of his town’s identity: the National Fire Academy.
• In March, the Dump administration suddenly cancelled in-person classes at the academy, which trains the country's firefighters. The academy also was a big factor in driving the local economy.
• Big spending cuts always sound nice until the thing that’s important to you is on the chopping block.
• Davis now says, ”It will change my outlook to say that they're not being fair,. They’re just going in to cut and not caring what they cut."
• Denis Onieal, who served for two decades as superintendent of the academy which trained 8,000 to 10,000 firefighters on campus each year, is also perplexed.
• If the courses aren't restored, Onieal says Americans will pay. He says, ”We're on a very long, slow path to self-destruction. Every day that this training is unavailable to the locals is one day closer to a disaster they can't handle or won't know how to handle."
• Why was this essential training cut? because it isn’t in FEMA’s budget that was slashed by Dump along with his boss, Elon Musk.
• Continuing on with a note from the History Desk…
• One of the most important documents of our country is, of course, the Declaration of Independence.
• It was, in part, a list of grievances aimed at King George III of Great Britain, justifying why the USA was severing ties with England.
• Take a look at the excerpts below and see if they sound familiar…
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: 
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: 
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
• It’s almost as if the Founding Fathers had specifically anticipated all of the actions of Donnie Dump, a man who understands noting about the history of our country and what made us great in the first place.
• Moving on.
• Goodbye to Skype.
• The pioneering online video calling service that has been around for more than two decades went offline for good yesterday.
• Microsoft, which owns Skype, had announced in February that the service would be available until May 5 and urged users to switch over to the free version of Microsoft Teams, its communication platform that features the ability to video call.
• Who still uses Skype? A lot of older folks who don’t want to learn to use another kind of tech platform.
• Skype was among the first video conferencing apps and exploded in popularity, at one point boasting more than 300 million users.
• But its user base has dwindled in recent years, as the app has faced growing competition from video calling and messaging alternatives such as Zoom, WhatsApp, Slack, Google Meet and others.
• And now, The Weather: “Made to Blush” by Lampland
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s 41 years ago today at the start of May 1984, and this is the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
• Me? I’m a sophomore in high school. And like most people of that particular age range — especially young soon-to-be men — I’m a complete idiot.
• 1. Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) (Phil Collins). 2. Hello (Lionel Richie). 3. Hold Me Now (Thompson Twins). 4. Footloose (Kenny Loggins). 5. Love Somebody (Rick Springfield). 6. To All The Girls I've Loved Before (Julio Iglesias And Willie Nelson). 7. You Might Think (The Cars). 8. They Don't Know (Tracey Ullman). 9. Let's Hear It For The Boy (Deniece Williams). 10. Miss Me Blind (Culture Club). 11. Oh, Sherrie (Steve Perry). 12. Head Over Heels (Go-Go’s). 13. Tonight (Kool & The Gang). 14. Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper). 15. Don't Answer Me (The Alan Parsons Project). 16. The Authority Song (John Cougar Mellencamp). 17. The Longest Time (Billy Joel). 18. Breakdance (Irene Cara). 19. Automatic (The Pointer Sisters). 20. Sister Christian  (Night Ranger).
• From the Not-Sports Desk…
• Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens released kicker Justin Tucker, parting ways with the NFL's most accurate kicker who is being investigated by the league for sexual misconduct.
• Back in February, I told you about how 16 massage therapists from eight different spas made allegations of inappropriate behavior by Tucker. So this wasn’t a one-time thing.
• Guys — and yes, it’s nearly always guys — some advice: no matter what your sexual proclivities are, make them consensual.
• Also from the Not-Sports Desk…
• Dumpy’s 2026 fiscal budget request to Congress eliminates major federal funding for traumatic brain injury (TBI) research and education, potentially undercutting efforts to address head injuries in sports, particularly at the high school and youth levels.
• Dump wants to eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention umbrella agency responsible for TBI research, including the $8.25 million marked for brain injury research and public education about the dangers of concussions.
• The budget cuts would "roll back decades of progress," said Dr. Owen Perlman, a brain injury specialist and board member of the Brain Injury Association of America.
• Fucking assholes.
• From the actual Sports Desk… continuing on with Round Two playoff scores in basketball and hockey.
• In the NBA: The Knicks stole game 1 of their series against the Celtics, winning 108-105 in overtime. And then in the second upset of the day, the Nuggets stunned the Thunder 121-119, going up 1-0 in that series.
• In the NHL: the Maple Leafs beat the Panthers 5-4, going up 1-0 in the series.
• And in other Sports Desk news, congrats going out to swimming superstar Katie Ledecky, who added to her long-list of extraordinary accomplishments this weekend when she broke her own world record in the 800-meter freestyle at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• The 28-year-old’s new mark of 8 minutes and 4.12 seconds, breaks the previous mark she set nearly nine years ago at the 2016 Rio Olympics by 0.67 seconds.
• How dominant is Ledecky? She now has all of the top 10 best performances for this event in history.
• And last summer in Paris, she became the most decorated female American Olympian of all-time with 14 medals — nine gold, four silver, and one bronze.
• Today in history… Spanish and German troops sack Rome, marking the end of the Renaissance (1527). The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish (1536). A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament (1659). Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles (1682). Arkansas secedes from the Union (1861). Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska (1877). The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris (1889). George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII (1910). Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run (1915). Thirty-six people are killed when the German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, NJ (1937). John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ (1940). Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes (1954). Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel (1994). Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac (1998). In just 36 minutes, the Dow-Jones average plunged nearly 1,000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash (2010). The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London (2023).
• May 6 is the birthday of politician Maximilien Robespierre (1758), neurologist/psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856), explorer Robert Peary (1856), activist/politician Motilal Nehru (1861), actor Rudolph Valentino (1895), NFL coach Weeb Ewbank (1907), actor/director Orson Welles (1915), physicist/astronomer Robert H. Dicke (1916), MLB player Willie Mays (1931), singer-songwriter Bob Seger (1945), UK prime minister Tony Blair (1953), actress Roma Downey (1960), actor George Clooney (1961), singer/keyboardist Lætitia Sadier (1968), singer-songwriter/guitarist Chris Shiflett (1971), NHL player Martin Brodeur (1972), actress Gabourey Sidibe (1983), NBA player Chris Paul (1985), rapper Meek Mill (1987), MLB player José Altuve (1990), murder suspect Luigi Mangione (1998), and WNBA player Angel Reese (2002).

That’s plenty of stuff to consider. Now I have to jump into hell, or at least my workday ahead. I’m probably overdramatizing it. Still, bleh. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 5, 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 May 5, 2025, and it’s a Monday. Definitely feels Mondayish so far, but I’m not letting that get me down. I do need to get some more coffee in me to be able to think well enough to write this shit, but I’m sipping and typing as well as I can for now.

• Mexican Independence Day — when they celebrate their separation from rule by Spain in 1810 — happens every year.
• On September 16.
• Today, Cinco de Mayo, is a US holiday that started in California when Mexican-American miners found out that the Mexican army was able to fight off a superior French army on the outskirts of the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
• Side note: they won that battle, but not the war. Mexico would live under French rule for years after.
• Now, if you want to use Cinco de Mayo to show true appreciation for Mexican culture and the tremendous contributions that people of Mexican origin have made on America, that’s something I support.
• If you want to eat tacos and drink margaritas and Mexican beer, go ahead. Throw up. Pass out. Do that every day. I don’t give a shit.
• But that’s not been my idea of fun after I, ya know, grew up.
• Let’s do some news.
• I was going to open things with a segment called “Dumpy Being Dumb” when I heard that El Dumpo had the brilliant idea of turning the island museum called Alcatraz back into a prison.
• It’s true. Alcatraz — which closed over 62 years ago on March 21, 1963 when it became too expensive to operate — has been a museum and tourist site on an island near San Francisco after it was abandoned as a prison.\
• A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said that the agency "will comply with all Presidential Orders." But they had no answers regarding the practicality and feasibility of reopening Alcatraz or the agency's role in the future of the former prison given the National Park Service's control of the island.
• Do you have any idea how many millions — or billions — of dollars it would take to turn the museum back into a functioning prison?
• Neither does Dump, who — by the time they’d finish the renovations and have it ready for use would be out of office and/or dead.
• And for what? The place only housed some 250 prisoners at any given time.
• So yes, I thought that was the most idiotic thing El Dumpo could come up with on a random Sunday.
• I was wrong.
• Later in the evening, The Dumpster said he has instructed the Commerce Department and US Trade Representative to place a 100% tariff on films that are produced outside the United States and imported into America.
• “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” he screamed into the universe for reasons that literally no one could possibly care about.
• How would such a tariff would be imposed? No one knows.
• Films are intellectual property, not goods, so they represent a kind of service that is not currently subject to tariffs.
• It is definitely true that many foreign cities have offered large tax breaks to film and televisions studios to shoot movies and shows outside of Hollywood. That has led to a large number of productions to shift operations to places like Toronto and Dublin.
• So the way to combat that is for US states to also offer similar incentives. For example, California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed a massive tax credit to bring back more production to Hollywood.
• So let’s start to explain what this is really all about: control of messaging. Dumpy himself let that slip during his screechy rant.
• “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
• First of all, a movie is not a fucking national security threat, okay?
• And second, while Dump can probably force American film production, in some way, to deliver messages of white nationalism and whatever else he wants to use as propaganda, he can’t do that for films made in other countries.
• Why are movie theater ticket sales down? Well, there was this pandemic, and then many people — like me — decided that the high costs and exposure to germs people wasn’t worth going out to the movies when I have great entertainment options here at home.
• And if they can’t work out how to make streaming networks turn a profit, that’s on them.
• Anyway, if this ridiculous decision of a desperate old man comes to fruition, it indeed would be the first tariff on a service.
• But don’t think Dump’s little game doesn’t have an impact. It does… a negative one on American entertainment companies.
• Netflix stock fell 4%. Disney (-2%), Max parent Warner Bros. Discovery (-3%), Paramount Global (-2%), and Universal Pictures parent Comcast (-1%) all dropped as well.
• But much worse his the market capitalization that Netflix lost today: $20.4 billion.
• So once again, merely by opening his fat orange yap, Donnie Dump is taking money out of the pockets of American companies and their workers.
• Let’s move on.
• Kinda.
• Yesterday, the heads of US public broadcasters National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) defended themselves against efforts by the Dump administration to cut off taxpayer funding.
• They are looking at legal options. Good.
• As you know, last week Dump issued an executive order blocking NPR and PBS from receiving taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
• PBS’s Paula Kerger warned that some stations in smaller communities across the US could lose 40 to 50% of their funding.
• NPR’s chief executive Katherine Maher warned that the impact to local radio stations was immediate, “especially in a time where we’re seeing an advance of news deserts across the nation, 20% of Americans don’t have access to another local source of news. The impact of this could really be devastating, particularly in rural communities.”
• I will promise you now: the people of the USA will not stand for this shit. And even if in the short term while Dump remains in power there’s an impact on PBS and NPR, we will bring them back to — and above — their current operational status eventually.
• Nothing that Dump does will matter in the long term. America is much bigger and stronger than he could ever hope to be.
• Moving on.
• Since we’re been covering media topics today, how about a fact check on Dumpy’s laughable appearance on “Meet the Press” yesterday?
• Dump said: “Did you see gasoline is now below, in many cases, in many states, below $2 a gallon? $1.98, $1.99, $1.97?”
• Please drive down the street today and take pics of your local gas station’s prices. Show me the ones that are below $2/gallon. I’ll wait here.
• Fact: no state has an average gasoline price below $2.66 a gallon, which was the average price listed in Mississippi. The national gasoline price average as of Friday was $3.18 a gallon.
• And in many places — like here in California — it’s more like $5.
• Dump said groceries are less expensive and even mortgage rates are going down.
• No. 
• Prices of groceries have not declined. Mortgage rates have fluctuated over the last year, but only by small margins.
• The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.76% for the week ending May 1 — roughly the same level it was during November and December when Biden was president.
• Dump said in regard to immigrants: “These are really some really bad, criminal people. And they’re here illegally. So, you know they talk about — your next question will be due process. But they talk about due process, but do you get due process when you’re here illegally?”
• Fortunately, his question got a correct answer by Kristen Welker.
• She responded, “This is the point, sir, about due process. The Constitution says every person, citizens and noncitizens, deserve due process. Why not push to have him come back, present all of that evidence in court, let a judge decide.”
• Legal scholars — as well as Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio — widely agree that the Fifth Amendment’s “due process” clause applies to all people in the U.S.
• Not just citizens. And covering immigrants, documented and otherwise.
• Moving on.
• The next target in the focus of Dump: musicians.
• At least those who perform in the regional Latin style of the narcocorrido: emotional ballads about the drug trafficking underworld.
• Last month, a group that performed the song “El del Palenque” (“He of the Cockfighting Arena”) was barred from the United States in an unprecedented move that critics say raises troubling questions about free speech in America.
• Their transgression, according to the State Department? “Glorifying (a) drug kingpin.” Umm, okay then.
• To be fair, even Mexican authorities aren’t happy about Los Alegres del Barranco, the band that wrote it. They landed in hot water Mexican authorities recently when they performed the tune in the Mexican city of Zapopan. They got a warning from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
• And then the US State Department revoked their visas.
• Many of you are old enough to remember other ridiculous cases where songwriters were criminally investigated and sued in civil cases over their music in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
• Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne were both sued by people claiming their songs drove people to violent actions.
• Bands like N.W.A. were given citations for the content of their songs, while bands like The Doors, 2 Live Crew, Madonna, GWAR, and others have been arrested, cited, or warned about alleged lewdness in their stage shows.
• Let’s move on.
• In today’s Happy Ending News…
• A woman missing for nearly 63 years has been found alive and well.
• Audrey Backeberg was 20 years old when she disappeared from her home in the small city of Reedsburg on July 7, 1962.
• Backeberg, now 82, had filed a criminal complaint against her husband, whom she had married at the age of 15, alleging he had beaten her and threatened to kill her.
• After finding her last week, Detective Hanson of the Sauk County Sheriff's Office spoke to her on the phone for 45 minutes.
• ”I think she just was removed and, you know, moved on from things and kind of did her own thing and led her life. She sounded happy. Confident in her decision. No regrets."
• And she lived happily ever after without having a lifetime of misery with some piece of shit. The end.
• And now, The Weather: “Figurines” by she's green
• From the Sports Desk… more playoff scores. We’re wrapping up the final Round One games while also starting the second round.
• In the NBA: game 7 saw the underdog 7-seed Warriors beat the 2-seed Rockets 103-89, punching their ticket to the semifinals. Meanwhile, The Pacers shocked the Cavaliers 121-112, taking a 1-0 lead in their semifinal series.
• So the Conference Semifinals have the Thunder facing the Nuggets, the Timberwolves facing the Warriors, the Cavaliers facing the Pacers per above, and the Knicks facing the Celtics.
• The NHL also had another game 7 yesterday, with the Blues and Jets going to a thrilling double-overtime finish. The Jets prevailed 4-3, which was also the final score of their series.
• Round 2 of the NHL playoffs, which starts tonight, has the Jets facing the Stars, the Golden Knights facing the Oilers, the Maple Leafs facing the Panthers, and the Capitals facing the Hurricanes.
• Today in history… Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire (1260). On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown (1494). Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread (1809). Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean (1821). The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published (1821). Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico (1862). Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, WI were shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what became known as the Bay View Massacre (1886). The Music Hall in New York City — later known as Carnegie Hall — has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor (1891). Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball (1904). Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder (1920). A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army during WWII kills six people near Bly, OR (1945). The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect (1955). Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight via Project Mercury (1961). Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59-2⁄5, an as-yet unbeaten record (1973). Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America with the Iran-Contra affair (1987). The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency (2023).
• May 5 is the birthday of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813), philosopher/sociologist Karl Marx (1818), businessman/hatter John Batterson Stetson (1830), geneticist Helen Redfield (1900), actor Tyrone Power (1914), musician/composer Delia Derbyshire (1937), actor Lance Henriksen (1940), singer-songwriter Tammy Wynette (1942), actor Michael Palin (1943), actor John Rhys-Davies (1944), journalist Kurt Loder (1945), drummer Bill Ward (1948), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jon Butcher (1955), singer-songwriter Ian McCulloch (1959), philanthropist/model Vanessa Bryant (1982), actor Henry Cavill (1983), singer-songwriter Adele (1988), and tennis player Carlos Alcaraz (2003).

Alrighty then. Let’s dive into the week and remain strong and committed to fighting for our country and the fairness and justice for all that we’ve developed here for nearly 250 years. Enjoy your day.

May Day Strong Protest/Rally - Torrance, CA (05.03.25)

I was looking forward to continuing my activism against — well, a whole lot of topics that relate to the Trump administration and their efforts to turn the USA into a fascist dictatorship. On Saturday May 3, I had another opportunity, once again rallying in front of city hall in Torrance, California, this time for the May Day Strong protest event.

Rolling In

We decided to head out toward the Torrance Civic Center a bit earlier than we did for the previous event we did there on April 5. No specific reason; we just wanted to get there and get it going.

As we arrived — still a good 40 minutes before the scheduled noon start — I was a bit concerned. It was slightly drizzling that morning, and the crowd that was starting to assemble looked pretty light. It would have been disappointing had the event been a wash-out, with few or no people attending. That's when my lady reminded me how we were very early, and she turned out to be right. Within a few minutes, dozens, then hundreds, and eventually thousands of people seemed to be arriving at once. I needn't have been worried. The South Bay is an active area where — while diverse in opinions — there's a very large liberal populace. Also, the event (like many in the area) was being organized by Indivisible South Bay LA, a group that has been successful many times in the past at putting together days of action.

We got parked and then trudged over to our spot, once again toward under some trees near the eastern end of the protest area, and making sure to keep the driveways and sidewalks clear... one of the few but necessary rules in place for a peaceful protest event. Holding and waving our signs, we spent awhile doing the usual street action stuff. I noted right away that the support of the community — both via the quickly accumulating crowd and the cars driving by with horns blaring and fist pumps/thumbs-up — felt super encouraging. I have yet to do any activism ever in my South Bay area that didn't feel inspiring and supportive.

Meeting Ted
So there I stood, chanting and being loud and enacting what we call "good trouble," when a man in a dark suit made his way down the sidewalk and appeared in front of me. It was none other than my congressional representative, Ted Lieu. I shook his hand and quite genuinely thanked him for everything he does for his constituents. It was only after this quick encounter did I realize that maybe this would have been a good time for a selfie with this political icon, but he'd moved on and I didn't want to be "that guy."

Man On The Street

We continued our protesting. I'd noticed, while arriving, that there was an ABC7 news van in the parking lot, and during the protest I saw a guy hoisting a TV camera around and capturing the protest/rally from various angles. And then, randomly, he walked up to me and asked if I could do an interview.

Why me? I have no idea. There were over 3,000 people there to talk to, but for some reason he set up his camera and threw me a few questions to get sound bytes for a literal man-on-the-street interview. As those of you who know me are well aware, I do live music shows and am a spokesperson for my business clients; I have done hundreds of on-camera appearances over three decades. I guess I'm saying that they picked the right guy, and I was happy with how it came out when I saw the spot.

Speakers You Could Actually Hear

I'm glad to say that the organizers of the May Day Strong event — primarily the hard-working people of Indivisible South Bay — heeded the one criticism of the previous event, which was that no one could hear the guest speakers who addressed the crowd. This time, they rectified that with a simple PA loudspeaker and a couple of mics. That's all it took.

The speakers of the day were great. No long, protracted, overly-dramatic monologues. Just focused and sometime humorous chats, each one lasting just a few minutes. It was perfect for the vibe of the day. In order, we heard from:

• Ted Lieu, US Congressional Rep.
• Scott Houston, Board of Directors, West Basin Municipal Water District
• Gary Holloway, United Steelworkers Local 675
• Carlos Andwater, Torrance Teacher Association
• Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, president of Social Security Works PAC and Singer for Sha Na Na
• Al Muratsuchi, California State Assembly member
• Ben Allen, California State Senator
• Tony Hale, California Democratic Party for the 66th Assembly District

Back to the Protest

We stayed for a good while after that, getting back to the street and getting more encouragement from passers by. Everyone we met there seemed in high spirits and were fired up for the continuing fight against Trump and the other fascist powers trying to wrest control of the country away from its people and our system of checks and balances. From what I saw Saturday, the evil forces have zero chance of winning.

What's Next?

More. More of everything. More organizing, more events, more rallies, more resistance. If you want to stay updated on ways you can lend a hand to help save our country and save ourselves in the process, please check out the following organizations:

Indivisible

50501

Move On

Our Revolution

There are many more, but by signing up for action updates from these organizations, you will definitely find yourself with some awareness and opportunities to resist in public with people who feel the same as you. It's a good feeling to do it together.

And A Little Video

Enjoy,

Random News: May 4, 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 May 4, 2025, and it’s a Sunday. It’s a much more relaxing morning than yesterday, when I was readying myself to go assert my people power. Today is just me chilling in the quiet of an overcast morning with my cup of Peet’s Sumatra and being ensconced in terrycloth.

• So yes, I went to another protest yesterday afternoon. It was absolutely great.
• I shook hands and spoke briefly with my congressman, Ted Lieu, and got interviewed on Los Angeles’ ABC7 news.
• But since I’ll write another whole-ass report on that, let’s get to some real news first.
• In every single swing state that Dumples the Inept Clown allegedly won in the 2024 election, his approval rating is underwater, as his approval rating has also plunged nationwide, new polling shows with registered voters.
• So?
• Well, heh heh… the president's approval ratings in swing states offer an early snapshot of how his unpopularity will affect the 2026 midterms.
• How bad is it for Dumpy?
• In Arizona, 49 percent of respondents disapprove of Dump. That’s about six points down from the margin of his election victory.
• In Georgia, 51 percent in the state disapprove of Dump. In Michigan, Dump is 4 points underwater in Michigan, with 50 percent of the state disapproving.
• Nevada has 49 percent disapproving with approval at 47 percent. Pennsylvania has Dumpy down 6 points, with 51 percent disapproving and 45 percent approving. Wisconsin shows 51 percent disapproving Dump.
• Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said it well: "Let me explain to you why Donald Trump's sinking approval ratings matter. His enablers and backers will get cold feet as they feel the country turning against him. And it's proof that our activism and our protest is working."
• Fuck yes. Let’s fucking go.
• Moving on.
• This morning, The Dumpster was asked on national TV whether he believes that he needs to uphold the Constitution during his presidency.
• And he responded, “I don’t know.”
• THAT IS LITERALLY THE JOB DESCRIPTION YOU FAT FUCK.
• The interview on “Meet the Press” with NBC’s Kristen Welker was taped Friday at his Mar-a-Lago golf motel, and aired this morning.
• She asked him directly whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens both deserve due process as laid out in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
• “I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” replied the guy whose entire job is to know exactly this.
• See if this sounds familiar to anyone…
• ”I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
• For Dumpy, or you, or your methed-out cousin, or your MAGA boss, or anyone the fuck else: the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides “due process of law,” meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime.
• Also, the 14th Amendment says no state can “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
• Nothing in these laws of our land are limited to a citizen or even a legal resident. They used — VERY PURPOSEFULLY — the words “any person.”
• Sigh. Let’s move on.
• And yes, there are better things to discuss here than Dumpy, but I’d be negligent for not mentioning these next items.
• Most of you have seen it already… the AI-generated image that Dump posted of himself dressed as pope.
• He did that within the period of official mourning following Pope Francis’ death, and just days before the conclave to elect his successor is set to begin. He and his people think it’s funny.
• They’re all laughing at the Pope’s death, but groups representing Catholic people aren’t finding their joke very funny.
• Beyond being offensive and in poor taste, the image is outright mocking the beliefs of Catholic people. 
• The New York State Catholic Conference correctly accused Dump of outright mockery.
• “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” they wrote. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”
• Let’s move on.
• I suppose this is no big shock, but Dump’s budget proposal would entirely eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• This comes after the NEH slashed its workforce and the NEA canceled grants in compliance with Dump’s idiot directives to reduce the federal workforce and shut down diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
• Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA serves as the largest funder of the arts and arts education for communities across the country, primarily through grantmaking. The NEH helps fund humanities programs by supporting museums, libraries, universities, and public television and radio stations.
• Dump’s horrid budget also targets the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
• Which is why the observant among you noticed me wearing my 1980s-vintage PBS shirt at the protest yesterday. See? I am not as random as I appear on the surface.
• Dump’s plan — like most evil assholes — is to control the kinds of information accessible to people, and that includes extinguishing efforts to extend the reach of the arts to diverse communities and shifting funding to causes he deems more in line with his white nationalist, Christo-fascist goals.
• And now, The Weather: “Birdhouse” by Colin Miller
• Today is Star Wars Day. I think I’ve mentioned this before… I don’t mind there be a day for fans of a franchise.
• In the Star Trek universe, for example, the day April 5 is celebrated because as part of that lore, humans make first contact with an intelligent alien race on April 5, 2063. Fair enough.
• But — I’m just gonna say it — “May the 4th be with you” has no actual connection to the franchise, and just sounds like someone pretending to be Obi-Wan Kenobi with a severe speech impediment.
• From the Sports Desk… a couple of game 7s in yesterday’s various playoffs.
• In the NBA: the Nuggets gave the Clippers a beatdown, winning 120-101 and winning the series 4-3.
• In the NHL: The Stars came from behind with four goals in the third period, beating the Avalanche 4-2 and taking the series 4-3.
• And in other Sports Desk news, a shout out to Gregg Popovich, who has been the coach of the San Antonio Spurs for 29 years.
• On Friday, the team announced that Pop will no longer coach the team and is transitioning to a full-time role as president of basketball operations.
• He ends his coaching tenure as the league's career wins leader with 1,422 regular-season victories, and has five championships and an NBA record-tying three Coach of the Year awards.
• But above and beyond his coaching prowess is that fact that Pop is an exemplary human being who never hesitated to fiercely defend equality and human rights.
• Today in history… Assassination of the Swedish rebel — later national hero — Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (1436). Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III (1776). The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, IN (1871). The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal (1904). Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan (1919). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated (1927). In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion (1932). Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ (1953). The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held (1959). The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others (1970). Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979). Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges, but the convictions are later overturned on appeal (1989). Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho (1994).
• May 4 is the birthday of abolitionist Horace Mann (1796), first lady Julia Gardiner Tyler (1820), biologist Eugenie Clark (1922), actress Audrey Hepburn (1929), bassist Ron Carter (1937), guitarist/songwriter Dick Dale (1937), journalist George Will (1941), actress Pia Zadora (1953), singer-songwriter Randy Travis (1959), actress Ana Gasteyer (1967), actor Will Arnett (1970), bass player Mike Dirnt (1972), sportscaster Erin Andrews (1978), singer Lance Bass (1979), golfer Rory McIlroy (1989), and NBA player Victor Oladipo (1992).

That’s enough for now. I’ll give you a full writeup of the May Day event from yesterday after I get showered and dressed and feel more like a functioning human being. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 3, 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 May 3, 2025, and it’s a Saturday. At the moment, it’s dark and overcast and quiet here, and I”m drinking coffee and wearing a bathrobe, which is my preferred state for a Saturday. It won’t last long, though.

• I have to kinda hurry through this news for now; I’m heading out to protest in the damn street to help save this country of ours.
• You can still head out to a local event. They usually start at noon. Head to maydaystrong.org to see if there’s one near you.
• And I’ll report back tomorrow on the event I’m attending in Torrance, CA, which features guest speakers including my congressional Rep. Ted Lieu and She Na Na singer Bowser (he’s now a union leader).
• Let’s do the news.
• Yesterday, the Democratic National Committee announced the Fight to Save Medicaid, a pressure campaign that aims to derail the passage of Dump’s bill in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold only a three-seat majority.
• The plan targets Nebraska’s Don Bacon, New York’s Mike Lawler, and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, who all represent districts that Kamala Harris carried in last November’s election. 
• Also in the cross-hairs is Tom Barrett, a freshman lawmaker whose district in Michigan went for Trump by only a slim margin.
• The DNC will organize “people’s town halls” in the four lawmakers’ districts this month, in partnership with its House campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
• The party will also encourage voters to call and email the lawmakers to share their views on the bill, hold in-person gatherings, and post on social media, all tactics to which Democrats nationwide have lately turned as they hope to claw back power in Washington.
• Good plan. More of this, please.
• Under a budget framework the House enacted last month, the bill would reduce government spending by at least $1.5 trillion and extend tax cuts to the wealthy at a cost of $4.5 trillion.
• Medicaid, which provides health insurance to poor people and those who are disabled, would lose more than $800 billion in funding under Dump’s plan. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, could also be cut by more than $200 billion.
• More on that topic in a moment.
• Let’s head to the International Desk for a moment.
• For the second time in a week, Donnie Dump managed to lose an election for a whole other country.
• Today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
• The losing opposition leader, Peter Dutton, had run on a platform that was similar to Dumpy and his boss Elon Musk.
• It didn’t go well. 
• The Australian Electoral Commission's projections gave Albanese's ruling center-left Labor Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. 
• Boom.
• Moving back to the USA…
• Yesterday, the Dump administration asked the Supreme Court to let the Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have access to the sensitive information kept by the Social Security Administration.
• The so-called emergency appeal to the Supreme Court stems from an injunction issued by a federal district court judge in Maryland who limited DOGE's access to Social Security Administration system of records containing the personal information of millions of Americans.
• U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander had concluded in her April decision that giving DOGE access to millions of Americans' confidential information violated the Privacy Act and a federal law governing the agency rulemaking process.
• Here’s a not-at-all Fun Fact: Elon Musk makes $8 million every day from his government subsidies. A senior citizen on Social Security makes $65 per day.
• And now DOGE wants to cut the amount of the elderly Social Security recipient. How can you possibly support that?
• And are you prepared to pay for your parents and grandparents to stay alive after Dump and Musk steal what little remains of their support?
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell struck down Dump's executive order targeting the prominent law firm of Perkins Coie, finding it unconstitutional and declaring it an attack on the foundational principles of the American legal system.
• The ruling is the first to permanently block an executive order issued by Dump punishing a law firm for representing clients or causes that he dislikes.
• ”No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies," Howell wrote.
• Dump has issued similar executive orders against several other prominent law firms that he views as political enemies.
• Three of those firms, in addition to Perkins Coie, have sued to challenge Trump's actions, and won court orders temporarily blocking enforcement of the orders. Perkins Coie's case is the first to be permanently blocked.
• Good. Fuck Dump. Fat piece of shit.
• Moving on.
• Let’s go back to Dumpy’s budget plan for a moment. It’s far too important for you not to understand what he’s trying to do.
• Yesterday, Dump released a budget proposal calling for a mix of cuts to domestic programs involving public health, education, and clean energy.
• Important side note, for those of you who didn’t pay attention in middle school: the president doesn’t make the budget. That’s what Congress does,
• White House budgets are purely symbolic and never become law as written. But they represent the president’s vision for spending and tend to influence the debate on Capitol Hill.
• Office of Management and Budget Director — and Project 2025 architect — Russell Vought said the proposal contains a 23% cut ($163 billion) in discretionary funding, and a 13% increase in military spending.
• How unlikely is it that Dump’s budget is worth more than toilet paper?
• This would affect funding legislation that happens after September 30, and is subject to the 60-vote filibuster rule in the Senate, meaning it would need significant Democratic support to become law in the Republican-controlled Congress.
• Hahahahahahaha… no.
• Think about it: Dump’s budget proposes a variety of steep cuts to well-known government programs, including cutting the National Institutes of Health by $18 billion, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by $4 billion, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by $3.6 billion.
• The budget also calls for various cuts to clean energy funding, education funding, scientific research and international aid.
• Let me think. Ah yes. The answer is, “Fuck off all the way back to Florida, Donnie.”
• Moving on.
• Dumpy’s support among one of his most loyal constituencies — rural Americans — is showing signs of significant erosion.
• Rural voters have long been a cornerstone of Dump's base, and any slippage in their support could have major implications for future Republican success. A weakening grip on rural America not only threatens GOP margins in key battleground states, but also signals broader cracks in the coalition Dump needs to push his second term agenda.
• He got 63 percent of rural voters in 2024. No surprise. I’d have assumed it was higher.
• But a new poll, conducted between April 21 and 23 among 1,439 adults, shows that Dump's support among rural voters is declining.
• Now just 46 percent of rural voters now approve of Trump's job performance, while 45 percent disapprove.
• The disapproval of Dump and his moronic policies is definitely going to increase as more and more Americans feel the pending effects of his horrific leadership.
• Let’s move on with some justice news.
• An Illinois man has been sentenced to 53 years in prison for the 2023 fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy.
• That poor little boy was stabbed 26 times and his mother more than a dozen in the October 14, 2023, attack inside their home in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield.
• Their landlord, 73-year-old Joseph Czuba, was convicted in February on multiple murder charges, as well as attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crime counts.
• Czuba will definitely die in prison, and I hope every day in there is miserable for him.
• Let’s move on.
• We should mention Dumpy’s birthday party. It kinda makes me sick to think about, but we don’t hide from shit we need to know about.
• Yesterday, the White House confirmed that he intends to host a military parade for his birthday on June 14, which coincides with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army.
• Dumpy wants 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 6,600 soldiers to roll through the streets of the National Mall.
• Dumpy’s birthday parade will also include re-enactors and equipment from conflicts including the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, both world wars, the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, and the “Global War on Terror.”
• Re-enactors? What the fuck?
• The full cost of Dumpy’s little birthday bash is unknown, but is estimated at over $100 million. Can you imagine if he instead spent that money on Americans in desperate need of food, housing, and medication?
• In other news…
• You already know that Dump and his gang of evil are sending Hispanic people to a notorious prison in El Salvador despite being from other countries — or even from the USA.
• And now he has a place to send Black people.
• Rwanda's government and the Dump administration are discussing details about a potential agreement to accept deportees from the U.S., including Africans and other non-Rwandan nationals.
• Decisions on potential financial compensation for taking in the deportees and other details would be discussed within the next two weeks. A U.S. official and a Rwandan official both confirmed the active talks about sending third-country deportees from U.S. soil to the east African nation.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was actively searching for other countries to take in people expelled from the U.S. 
• ”We are working with other countries to say, 'We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings,’ adding that the "further away from America, the better."
• And now they get to decide and define who is “despicable.” Think about it.
• And now, The Weather: “Tether You” by Pry
• A couple of recent noteworthy RIP’s.
• Starting with Jill Sobule, a terrific singer-songwriter whom I had the pleasure of interviewing about 30 years ago after she released her hit song "I Kissed a Girl.” She died in a horrible way, in a house fire. She was 66.
• Jill was beloved among the community of performing musicians, and was an icon for young LGBTQIA+ women.
• Additionally, rest in peace to Ruth Buzzi, the actress/comedienne best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973. She was 88.
• For that show, she won a Golden Globe Award and received five Emmy nominations.
• From the Sports Desk… it’s our daily roundup of playoff scores.
• In the NBA: the Rockets beat the Warriors 115-107, forcing a game 7 in the first round series.
• In the NHL: the Blues beat the Jets 5-2 in game 6, also forcing a game 7. Exciting!
• Today in history… Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV assumes the throne (752). A total solar eclipse is visible across northern Europe and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within four minutes accuracy (1715). Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District's founding government (1802). American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua (1855). Ireland is partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (1921). West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues (1921). The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to Blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable (1948). The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time (1952). Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles (1957). The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters (1963). The first unsolicited bulk commercial email, which would later become known as “spam", is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States (1978). Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election and becomes the first female British Prime Minister (1979). The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet (2000).
• May 3 is the birthday of historian/philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli (1469), Israel prime minister Golda Meir (1898), singer/actor Bing Crosby (1903), playwright William Inge (1913), singer-songwriter/activist Pete Seeger (1919), boxer Sugar Ray Robinson (1921), singer-songwriter James Brown (1933), singer/actor Frankie Valli (1934), businessman/philanthropist David Koch (1940), MLB player Davey Lopes (1945), sportscaster Greg Gumbel (1946), politician Ron Wyden (1949), singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (1951), NBA player/coach Tyronn Lue (1977), actress Pom Klementieff (1986), golfer Brooks Koepka (1990), and rapper Desiigner (1997).

Like I said up top, now that this news is finished, I’m going to shower and dress, and soon head out the door to make use of my First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble and use my free speech rights as well. If you don’t use your rights, you lose them. Throughout history, this is always true. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 2, 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 May 2, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! I like Fridays, or at least the concept of Fridays. My actual Fridays usually end up being horrendously busy and annoying in multiple ways. And yet, it is Friday, and I still appreciate it for the reasons that most of us do.

• A reminder: protests are happening across the USA. I’ll be heading to the streets tomorrow (Saturday May 3).
• Find a local event at maydaystrong.org.
• Let’s jump in.
• Someone eventually had to take the blame for Signalgate, the embarrassing series of events where a non-secure public communications platform was used for military planning in a group chat that included the editor of a magazine.
• And that person is now-former national security adviser Mike Waltz. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking over Waltz’s duties on an interim role.
• Waltz, a former Florida congressman, fell out of favor with Dump and his team with his shifting explanations for how the incident took place.
• At one point he said that the contact information from the journalist, Atlantic magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, got “sucked in” to his phone and that he never met or spoke with Goldberg before.
• To try and save face, Dumples has now named Waltz as the nominee for United Nations ambassador. He’d have to get confirmed by the Senate for this new role.
• And the Senate Dems are relishing the prospect.
• “I look forward to a thorough confirmation hearing,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) posted on social media, linking to a photograph that showed Waltz holding his phone  with the Signal messaging app open on his screen.
• Hahahahaha! Zing!
• Also departing with Waltz: his deputy Alex Wong. No word on whether Wong gets some other cushy job after fucking up this one like Waltz did.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez ruled that the Dump administration cannot rely on the wartime Alien Enemies Act to detain or remove from the U.S. a group of Venezuelan migrants who are being held at a facility in southern Texas.
• Good. This is a big deal.
• Although Dump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act has been litigated in multiple courts nationwide, including the Supreme Court, Rodriguez is the first judge to have reached a final decision on the merits.
• Rodriguez was appointed by Dumpy in his first term. Ha ha.
• He said the rarely-used law can only be invoked when an “organized, armed force” is entering the United States, rejecting Dump’s bullshit claims that he can use it against alleged members of a Venezuelan gang.
• The ruling is a massive legal victory for the ACLU, which has filed a wave of class action lawsuits in judicial districts across the country on behalf of detained migrants.
• In related news…
• Also yesterday, Dumpy asked the Supreme Court to strip temporary legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, exposing them to being deported immediately. A federal appeals court had earlier rejected Dump’s request.
• Dumpy and his Gang of Scum have been pushing hard to eliminate Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans. The status allows people already in the United States to live and work legally because their native countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife.
• Dump wants to end TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. Today.
• Let’s move on for now.
• Yesterday, Dumples the Uncultured Clown signed an executive order to kill PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.
• So yes, Sesame Street is an enemy of the people, according to Dumpy. They’re going to send Bert and Ernie to El Salvador, I assume.
• The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.
• Fucking piece of shit.
• Speaking of more good things Dump wants to end…
• That fucking idiot announced yesterday that he wants to rename Veterans Day, a federal holiday on November 11, to “Victory Day for World War I.”
• He also said he wants to celebrate May 8, which is not a federal holiday, as “Victory Day for World War II.”
• This guy is an insane old man who babbles moronic random thoughts with no concept of the consequences.
• Side note: all federal holidays have been created by acts of Congress. 
• Congress originally passed a law in 1938 that November 11 would be Armistice Day, “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.”
• Moving on.
• Some good news from the International Desk…
• Today, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency designated the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as an “extremist endeavor.”
• You may recall that Elon Musk is a strong supporter of AfD — a political faction focused on anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant platforms. He declared in December that “only the AfD can save Germany.”
• And Vice President JD Vance denounced the AfD’s exclusion from German politics at the Munich Security Conference in February.
• Let’s move on.
• From the Health Desk… don’t call it a comeback.
• Here’s something that’s probably not on your radar: tuberculosis.
• Many mistakenly believe this pathogen was eradicated decades ago. It not only still exists but is thriving, especially in some of the poorest countries around the world.
• The ability to monitor this disease, save lives, and protect the health of Americans grows weaker by the day as the U.S. deprioritizes international funding to combat it.
• And earlier this month, a high school student in Joliet, IL tested positive for it.
• Since its diagnosis in 1882, tuberculosis killed more than a billion people — more than malaria, HIV/AIDS, smallpox, influenza, cholera, and the plague combined.
• And over a million people worldwide died from TB in 2023. Ten million had active symptoms the same year, including nearly 10,000 Americans, a number that’s been climbing steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Who’s job is it to protect you from a mass TB outbreak in the USA? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
• And he’s too busy taking away fluoride from water supplies to give the potential outbreak any consideration.
• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly 13 million people in the U.S. have “latent TB infection.” Up to 10 percent will develop active TB if they aren’t treated.
• As cases of measles — which the U.S. eliminated back in 2000 — rise across America, we should be mindful that other diseases, like tuberculosis, are lurking around the corner.
• How to defeat this before it’s a problem here? Continue supporting measures to stop their transmission, both here at home and abroad.
• And now, The Weather: “hyperbole” by Adult Male Blondes
• From the Sports Desk… don’t worry, these daily reports on playoff scores for both the NBA and NHL will be done in just another… six fucking weeks??? Jesus.
• In the NBA: the Knicks beat the Pistons 116-113 in a tight game, and in the process win the series 4-2. The Clippers beat the Nuggets 111-105, forcing a game seven in that series.
• In the NHL: the Maple Leafs beat the Senators 4-2, simultaneously winning the series 4-2. The Golden Knights beat the Wild 3-2, winning their series 4-2. The Avalanche beat the Stars 7-4, tying the series at 3-3. And the Oilers have eliminated the Kings with a 6-4 win, taking the series 4-2.
• Lest we forget that other sports exist, here are the current leaders in MLB.
• American League: Tigers (20-12), Mariners (18-12), Yankees (18-13), Guardians (18-13), and Astros (16-14).
• National League: Dodgers (21-10), Mets (21-11), Padres (19-11), Cubs (19-13), and Giants (19-13).
• Today in history… Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason, and witchcraft (1536). The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker (1611). King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America (1670). Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion (1885). The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis (1920). The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin (1945). A De Havilland Comet makes the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers, from London to Johannesburg (1952). The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City (1969). The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano in the Falklands War (1982). President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military (2000). Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan (2011). A pastel version of ‘The Scream’ by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction (2012).
• May 2 is the birthday of composer Alessandro Scarlatti (1660), Russian empress Catherine the Great (1729), gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (1885), fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen (1892), actress Norma Talmadge (1894), playwright/lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895), pediatrician Benjamin Spock (1903), singer-songwriter/actor Theodore Bikel (1924), singer-songwriter/guitarist Link Wray (1929), singer Engelbert Humperdinck (1936), actor Lorenzo Music (1937), singer-songwriter Lesley Gore (1946), singer-songwriter Lou Gramm (1950), fashion designer Donatella Versace (1955), soccer player David Beckham (1975), race car driver Kyle Busch (1985), NFL player Pat McAfee (1987), NBA player Paul George (1990), singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus (1995), and British royal Princess Charlotte of Wales (2015).

That’s all for now. In addition to a ton of work and typical Friday stuff, I’ll be preparing for tomorrow’s day of social action. Feel free to ask me details. Enjoy your day.

Random News: May 1, 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 May 1, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. I'm your news man, bring you news as best I can, sometimes listen to Steely Dan, I have three cats — Grace, Dash, and Pan.

• Rabbit rabbit rabbit.
• Yes, we start each month with that nonsensical, superstitious saying. I’m not willing to find out what happens if we don’t.
• Today is May Day, also known as International Workers' Day. It celebrates laborers and the working classes… basically, anyone who actually works for a living, as do most of us.
• It’s not just a holiday for blue-collar workers, I should note. If you do a job and get a paycheck, it’s for you.
• Here in the USA, we have a separate Labor Day holiday toward the end of summertime. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan also do not celebrate May 1 as a holiday. pretty much everywhere else does.
• Fun fact: the actual OG May Day holiday is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on May 1, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.
• Ironic Fact: I can’t celebrate this day on May 1 because I am super busy working. Womp womp, sad trombone plays.
• But I am taking to the streets this coming Saturday May 3 for the national day of action. You can head over to maydaystrong.org to find a local event.
• Let’s do some news.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford released Mohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University.
• As you may recall, Mahdawi was arrested by immigration officials after being fooled into attending an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship.
• Mahdawi was detained in retaliation for his speech advocating for Palestinian human rights. He cofounded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who was detained by immigration authorities.
• We have the right to free speech and peaceful assembly in the USA. It’s literally written in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
• The judge has allowed Mahdawi to leave his home state of Vermont and attend graduation next month at the Ivy League school in Manhattan. Mahdawi recently completed his coursework at Columbia and planned to begin a master’s degree program there in the fall.
• Outside the courthouse yesterday, Mahdawi directly addressed Dump and his Cabinet, saying “I am not afraid of you.”
• Fuck yes.
• And speaking of another person who’s been wrongly persecuted due to immigration paranoia…
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have been directly in touch about the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the US mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s notorious mega prison.
• According to some reports, Dump administration has been working closely with El Salvador and asked for Abrego Garcia’s return, but insisted that Bukele has made clear that he’s not returning him to the US.
• It is unclear what the goal of the discussions was, since Dumpy himself openly admits that he is not seeking to return Abrego Garcia to the US or grant him any additional due process in either country.
• And that open admission also says that Dump is purposefully violating the Supreme Court order that the USA facilitate his return.
• No surprise from a wannabe dictator who has no respect for the rule of law.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, Ukrainian and U.S. officials signed a joint economic investment deal that includes granting the U.S. access to Ukrainian rare earths minerals.
• Can you imagine if WWII had gone that way? “We’ll send troops and save England and France, but we want all the valuable resources from your countries first.”
• Disgusting.
• Still, they seem cool with it. Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's economic development minister, described it as a 50/50 partnership between the U.S. and Ukraine that includes development of mineral, oil and gas projects.
• She also said the deal does not set up any Ukrainian debt obligations. 
• So this entire deal is largely symbolic. But that’s all Dumpy needs. He wants to say he was the mastermind of this great deal. And that’s fine — I don’t give a single shit about Dumpy and his ego, as long as Ukraine gets the help the need to fight Russia.
• A note from the Health Desk…
• Sometimes you hear about an outbreak of a disease you definitely don’t want, like measles. And you think, “Well, it’s super unlikely I’m going to cross paths with someone who has an active case, right?”
• Allow me to tell you about Denton County, Texas, where an adult — one with an unknown vaccination status, cough — went all over the fucking DFW area spreading their measles around from April 19-22.
• And that included to the Rangers/Dodgers game last week along with 39,244 other people.
• Oh, and they also went to a burrito restaurant, a bakery, a craft brewery, a pho place, and Walmart.
• This is how big outbreaks happen.
• Texas state health officials said as of Tuesday, the number of measles cases in the state has grown to 663 since January.
• Sigh.
• And in other Health Desk news…
• Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to shift the way vaccines are tested.
• He says all new vaccines will be required to undergo placebo testing.
• What the actual fuck? Why do we allow idiots to (waves hand around in all directions) do this shit?
• And speaking of idiots…
• Florida is poised to ban fluoride from its drinking water under new legislation passed by state lawmakers.
• The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk for a signature. If signed, Florida would become the second state after Utah to ban fluoride from its public water supply.
• As if Florida needs any extra help with bad teeth.
• Relevant note: Calgary, Canada, voted in 2011 to ban the mineral from its water supply, but after a notable spike in dental cavities in the city's children, the legislature reversed its decision.
• Let’s move on to the Economy Desk.
• Do you buy stuff from Temu or Shein, the Chinese e-commerce sites with crazy low prices and questionable business practices and products?
• As one consumer pointed out, “Everything here has come in from overseas anyway, so you’re just cutting out the middle man, like the Walmarts, the Amazons.”
• Valid point.
• But Dumpy’s tit-for-tat trade war is now impacting those who rely on these relatively cheap Chinese products. He slapped 145% tariffs on imports from China and a 10% minimum tax on all other countries.
• So what? Well, the “de minimis” exemption, which allowed goods less than $800 to pour in duty-free to the United States, is expiring tomorrow on May 2.
• That’s why last Friday, Temu and Shein raised their prices on a large number of items, from lawn chairs to swimsuits, ahead of new tariffs set to take effect this week.
• Lower-income households will suffer the most from the end of cheap Chinese e-commerce sites. About 48% of de minimis packages shipped to the poorest zip codes in the United States.
• Those are also the places most likely to have supported Dumpy. As usual, he screws over his supporters first.
• In other business news…
• U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has strongly rebuked Apple, finding they willfully violated a court injunction in an antitrust case filed by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games.
• She had previously ordered Apple to lower the barriers protecting its previously exclusive payment system for in-app digital transactions and allow developers to display links to alternative options.
• Yesterday, she found that Apple violated a 2021 injunction that sought to restrain and prohibit the iPhone maker's anticompetitive conduct and pricing.
• The judge referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California to investigate whether criminal contempt proceedings are appropriate.
• Yikes! Tim Apple better be careful.
• Let’s move on.
• I greatly enjoyed this rather salty message from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to the guy who calls himself the president.
• Bernie wrote, “Congratulations to President Trump for drawing 4,000 people last night to a rally in Warren, MI. Keep it up. You brought out almost half as many people as we did in the same city last month! Americans are fighting back against authoritarianism and attacks on the working class.”
• Ha! Fuck him up, Bernie.
• Moving on.
• Do you drive a big-ass truck or SUV? Is it made by General Motors?
• Better take a look at this.
• GM is recalling 597,630 of its full-size U.S. trucks and SUVs because the vehicles' V8 engines can fail without warning, raising the risk of a crash. 
• The recall includes the following V8-engine models: 2021-2024 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV; Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Suburban, and Tahoe; and GMC Sierra 1500, Yukon, and Yukon XL.
• To fix the problem, dealers will inspect the engine for repair or replacement free of charge. Owner notification letters will be mailed June 9, 2025. 
• And now, The Weather: “Skyline” by SLEEP CLUB
• Let’s do a chart.
• It’s 50 years ago in May 1975. I am about to turn six years old, and in a couple of months my family will move from Massachusetts to Southern California.
• Here’s the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at the time.
• 1. He Don't Love You (Like I Love You) (Tony Orlando & Dawn). 2. Before The Next Teardrop Falls (Freddy Fender). 3. Jackie Blue (Ozark Mountain Daredevils). 4. Shining Star (Earth, Wind & Fire). 5. Only Yesterday (Carpenters). 6. Walking In Rhythm (The Blackbyrds). 7. Thank God I'm A Country Boy (John Denver). 8. How Long (Ace). 9. I Don't Like To Sleep Alone (Paul Anka with Odia Coates). 10. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song (B.J. Thomas). 11. Philadelphia Freedom (The Elton John Band). 12. Killer Queen (Queen). 13. Sister Golden Hair (America). 14. Old Days (Chicago). 15. Bad Time (Grand Funk). 16. Love Won't Let Me Wait (Major Harris). 17. When Will I Be Loved (Linda Ronstadt). 18. Hijack (Herbie Mann). 19. Shoeshine Boy (Eddie Kendricks). 20. Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) (Leo Sayer).
• From the Sports Desk… don’t turn the dial; you’re listening to KZRN Sports Radio. Big Z here, bringing you the scores from yesterday’s basketball and hockey playoff games that you probably already saw elsewhere!
• In the NBA: the Rockets beat the Warriors 131-116, forcing a game six with Golden State still ahead 3-2. But the Lakers couldn’t do the same, losing 103-96 to the Timberwolves, who win the series 4-1 and move on to the conference semis.
• In the NHL: the Capitals beat the Canadiens 4-1, simultaneously winning their playoff series 4-1 and advancing to the 2nd Round. The Panthers beat the Lightning 6-3, also wrapping up the series 4-1 and going to Round 2. And the Jets beat the Blues 5-3, and now lead the series 3-2.
• Today in history… Wars of Scottish Independence end: England recognizes Scotland as an independent state (1328). Christopher Columbus presents his plans discovering a western route to the Indies to the Spanish Queen Isabella I of Castile (1486). The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect (1707). The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire (1807). The Memphis Race Riots begin (1866). Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries (1886). "Pluto" is officially proposed for the name of the newly discovered dwarf planet. (1930). The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public (1956). Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis (1960). Amtrak — the National Railroad Passenger Corporation — takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service (1971). In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended” (2003). Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden (2009).
• May 1 is the birthday of painter Jules Breton (1827), physician/activist Emily Stowe (1831), frontierswoman Calamity Jane (1852), singer Kate Smith (1907), comedian/TV host Jack Paar (1918), novelist Joseph Heller (1923), novelist Terry Southern (1924), NFL player Chuck Bednarik (1925), singer-songwriter Judy Collins (1939), singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge (1945), actress Joanna Lumley (1946), songwriter/producer Glen Ballard (1953), singer-songwriter/guitariist Ray Parker Jr. (1954), bass player D'arcy Wretzky (1968), director/film producer Wes Anderson (1969), NFL player Wes Welker (1981), and MLB player Marcus Stroman (1991).

As I mentioned, today being May Day, there will be plenty of protest actions happening around the world. Without these people fighting for you, children would be working in mines, there would be no limitations to how many hours your were forced to work, there would be no such thing as a weekend, you would be subject to abuse at work with no recourse, and you would never get any benefits from your employer. Be grateful for their efforts and support their continued fight. Enjoy your day.