Random News: March 25, 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 March 25, 2025, and it’s a Tuesday. I usually enjoy being a human, but today I’d prefer to be a capybara. No job, few responsibilities, hanging out with my animal friends on a sunny river bank. Sounds nice, huh?

• But I still seem to be a Homo sapiens, so I guess let’s see what’s going on.
• If you’re one of the 15 million people who shared your DNA with 23andMe— like me — stop reading this Random News report right now and delete your DNA from the service immediately.
• Go on. I’ll wait here.
• Done? Good. 
• The genetic information company announced Sunday that it is headed to bankruptcy court to sell its assets. And 23andMe’s financial distress prompted California Attorney General Rob Bonta to issue an unusual privacy consumer alert about it.
• “I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company,” he said in a statement.
• The company said there will be “no changes” to the way it protects consumer data while in bankruptcy court. But unless you take action, there is a risk your genetic information could end up in someone else’s hands — and used in ways you had never considered.
• That data could be sold to the US government. To law enforcement agencies. To China. For God’s sake, Elon Musk might buy it.
• Here’s how to do it…
• Log into your 23andMe account. Go to your Profile, then to Settings.
• Scroll to the “23andMe Data” section at the bottom of the page and click View.
• If you want to download your data, select what data you want to save. I didn’t bother.
• Scroll to the “Delete Data” section and click Permanently Delete Data.
• Confirm your request: You’ll receive an email from 23andMe, and click the link in the email to confirm.
• I did this process yesterday and it seemed to have worked. And yet, how would I know for sure? I guess at least making the effort is worth something, and I documented the process of deleting my data in screen captures that I’ll save.
• I do want to add… both Kat and I got a lot out of 23andMe. Both of us found information about our respective backgrounds and family relationships that were meaningful to us.
• So it’s a shame that typical corporate bullshit caused us to have to eliminate it entirely, but we both did without hesitation under the circumstances, and I highly recommend you do as well.
• Immediately. This could get real bad.
• Let’s move on.
• Members of Congress in both parties exploded in anger yesterday after the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic revealed he was inadvertently included in a highly-sensitive Trump administration Signal chat on airstrikes in Yemen.
• How sensitive? Jeffrey Goldberg received a text from Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, with precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing. And he got it over two hours before the bombs started dropping.
• Goldberg was added to the chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal earlier this month by White House national security adviser Mike Waltz.
• But the plan for strikes in Yemen came directly from Hegseth.
• And now, some politicians are already calling for an investigation and potential repercussions against the national security officials involved in the lapse.
• I would hope so. Hegseth out here texting war plans to people like party invites.
• Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said it well. “This is an outrageous national security breach and heads should roll. We need a full investigation and hearing into this on the House Armed Services Committee, ASAP.”
• The Signal chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and Vice President Vance were among the 18 people in the Signal chat.
• Was the chat that Goldberg received even legit? Yup.
• "At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," said National Security Council Spokesman Brian Hughes.
• Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), another Armed Services Committee member and a former Air Force brigadier general, tried to downplay it, saying, "I've accidentally sent the wrong person a text. We all have."
• Except my wrong texts involve telling a coworker that I’m picking up bananas at the store… and don’t involve information that could cause thousands of people to die.
• Bacon added, "The unconscionable action was sending this info over non-secure networks. None of this should have been sent on non-secure systems. Russia and China are surely monitoring his unclassified phone.”
• What even is Signal, the messaging app that our top-level government officials were using to communicate classified war plans?
• Well, it’s available for anyone with a phone, and can be downloaded in the Apple and Android app stores. It has not been approved by the government for classified communications.
• Side note: the Presidential Records Act requires federal officials to use government-approved communications channels for all work-related matters, classified or not.
• You may recall in 2016, when Dumpy claimed that his rival Hillary Clinton was using a private email server for communications.
• This is a million times worse than that. Imagine using Facebook Messenger to send confidential war plans to a random group of people.
• This idiotic maneuver isn’t going to just fade away… at least not for a little while.
• This morning, Dump’s top intelligence officials are facing Congress to get questioned about the security breach. 
• FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are among the witnesses who are appearing today before the Senate Intelligence Committee and tomorrow before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings.
• I doubt they’ll offer any reasonable excuse for their absolute ineptitude.
• And before I wrap up this topic, a big thanks to Jeffrey Goldberg for making this public the moment it happened, and not waiting for two years to include in some tell-all book.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, Judge Patricia Millett noted that Nazis were treated better under the Alien Enemies Act than Venezuelan migrants removed from the U.S. and flown to El Salvador earlier this month. 
• Millett noted that during World War II, Nazis were put before hearing boards under Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, and Dumples the Evil Clown’s administration has conceded that immigrants deported to El Salvador and detained in a maximum security prison did not have the chance to appear in court. 
• Millett, ruled migrants may continue to be detained under the Alien Enemies Act, but they may not be deported until there is a decision on a preliminary injunction to stop the removals.
• And then, late last night, Dumpy invoked the state secrets privilege over its use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants, again refusing to provide more details about the flights to a judge.
• The invocation deems details about the flights a state secret — seeking to limit information to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who has vowed to “get to the bottom” of whether Dump violated his order to turn around or halt the flights. 
• I thought this guy was all about transparency in government, right?
• Now he can’t even follow one of the most important concepts in American freedoms and justice. And when he gets busted, it’s a “state secret.”
• Fuck you, Donnie.
• Moving on but still on the topic of immigration…
• Yesterday, another Columbia University student said that Dump has targeted her for deportation over her pro-Palestinian views, accusing immigration officials in a lawsuit of employing the same tactics used on Mahmoud Khalil and other college activists.
• Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old legal permanent resident who came to the U.S. as a 7-year-old child, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to deport her after she was arrested March 5 while protesting the Ivy League school’s disciplinary actions against student protesters.
• She was at a sit-in at a library.
• And then ICE officials signed an administrative arrest warrant and went to her parents’ residence seeking to detain her.
• Again, let’s note that Chung has lived in the U.S. since emigrating from South Korea with her parents at age 7. You know what we call a person like that?
• An American.
• Let’s do some SCOTUS news.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to take up a case brought by casino mogul and Dumpy donor Steve Wynn that would have challenged a landmark decision that established a higher standard for public figures to successfully sue for defamation. 
• The Court formally declined to consider 83-year-old Wynn's request to revisit their decision in a case known as New York Times Company v. Sullivan as a part of Wynn's legal battle against the Associated Press. 
• This was a unanimous 1964 Supreme Court decision that determined the First Amendment requires a public figure to prove a defendant acted with "actual malice" and knew a statement was false or recklessly disregarded the possibility that it was false to sustain a claim of defamation.
• The higher standard makes it more difficult for those in the public eye to win defamation cases. First Amendment advocates see it as a fundamental pillar on modern press freedoms.
• Why does Wynn give a shit? Because he sued the AP in 2018 over its reporting about sexual misconduct allegations against him from the 1970s that were filed with law enforcement. He had to step down from his position as chief executive of Wynn Resorts after the Wall Street Journal published sexual misconduct allegations.
• And the old douchebag also stepped down from his role as the finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. Ha ha.
• Anyway, this is good news, and yes: we don’t want public figures suing every time something they don’t like is published about them.
• Let’s move on with what might be not-bad news.
• Dump will nominate Susan Monarez, the acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a longtime federal staffer, to the permanent position.
• Monarez is a replacement for Dumpy’s original choice, David Weldon, a former Florida congressman, to lead the CDC.
• Weldon is a real piece of shit who even the worst members of Congress couldn’t get behind. He’s closely aligned with RFK Jr., who for years has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists.
• Conversely, Monarez has been serving as the CDC’s acting director since January and came from another federal government agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. She holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, and her postdoctoral training was in microbiology and immunology at Stanford University.
• In other words, an actual qualified person.
• And now, The Weather: “Talk” by Lucy Dacus
• Let’s do a chart. We’re going back to this date in 1988.
• At the time, I was… Lordy, what was I even doing? I was 19 and in a period of upheaval. I had an apartment in Studio City and was attending Musicians Institute in Hollywood. I was also working as a furniture salesman.
• But I had no idea how the rest of my life would go. It took another year and a half before I settled in and started working toward my bachelor’s degree again.
• Much like my life at the time, music was all over the place. Here was the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart… and yes, I’m Rickrolling you as a matter of factual circumstance.
• 1. Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley). 2. I Get Weak (Belinda Carlisle). 3. Father Figure (George Michael). 4. Man In The Mirror (Michael Jackson). 5. Endless Summer Nights (Richard Marx). 6. She's Like The Wind (Patrick Swayze Featuring Wendy Fraser). 7. Out Of The Blue (Debbie Gibson). 8. Just Like Paradise (David Lee Roth). 9. I Want Her (Keith Sweat). 10. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car (Billy Ocean). 11. Hysteria (Def Leppard). 12. Rocket 2 U (The Jets). 13. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (Michael Bolton). 14. Girlfriend (Pebbles). 15. Be Still My Beating Heart (Sting). 16. Devil Inside (INXS). 17. I Found Someone (Cher). 18. Some Kind Of Lover (Jody Watley). 19. Where Do Broken Hearts Go (Whitney Houston). 20. Wishing Well (Terence Trent D’Arby).
• From the Sports Desk… in 2018, one of the most decorated skiers in the world, Lindsay Vonn, was forced to step away from her sport due to a series of injuries to her left leg.
• Vonn holds numerous records, including the most World Cup victories by any skier — male or female — in both the downhill and the super-G events. She’s won World Cup events in all five disciplines: downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined.
• And now, six years later at age 40, she’s back. On Sunday, Vonn made headlines by becoming the oldest woman to earn a medal in a World Cup race, following her second-place performance in the Super-G race of the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, ID.
• Side note: I skied Sun Valley when I was a senior in high school. That place is awesome.
• Today in history… Italian city Venice is founded (421). Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (1306). Hernán Cortés, entering province of Tabasco, defeats Tabascan Indians (1519). Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia (1584). Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens (1655). Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet ‘The Necessity of Atheism’ (1811). Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, OH for Washington, D.C. (1894). The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape (1931). United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds (1957). Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, AL (1965). The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch (1979). The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (1996).
• March 25 is the birthday of mathematician/astronomer Christopher Clavius (1538), U.S. navy founder John Barry (1745), sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867), conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867), composer Béla Bartók (1881), director David Lean (1908), journalist Howard Cosell (1918), businesswomen Eileen Ford (1922), film critic Gene Shalit (1926), activist Gloria Steinem (1934), singer-songwriter Hoyt Axton (1938), screenwriter D. C. Fontana (1939), singer-songwriter/pianist Aretha Franklin (1942), singer-songwriter/pianist Elton John (1947), singer-songwriter/guitarist Buzz Osborne (1964), actress Sarah Jessica Parker (1965), MLB player Tom Glavine (1966), singer-songwriter/guitarist Jeff Healey (1966), WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes (1971), race car driver Danica Patrick (1982), and NBA player Kyle Lowry (1986).

Okay then. I’ll go do what I do now, which is to work out, have meetings, write and draw shit, and earn a living. Last reminder: get your DNA away from 23andMe right now. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 24, 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 March 24, 2025, and it’s a Monday. I slept so hard that my alarm clock was inordinately shocking at 6am. I guess that’s good? Anyway, now that I’m awake and showered and dressed and have coffee, let’s get rolling on our news.

• We’re now are the point where the Attorney General is publicly threatening a member of the House of Representatives.
• That didn’t take long.
• AG Pam Bondi warned Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on Sunday to “tread very carefully” following the lawmaker’s recent remarks in opposition to Elon Musk.
• “She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we’re going to fight to protect all of the Tesla owners throughout this country,” Bondi said during a televised interview.
• The warning comes days after the Democrat spoke at a virtual rally held for the The Tesla Takedown movement, a group rallying against Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to bulldoze the federal bureaucracy through boycotts and demonstrations at Tesla properties. The coalition is organizing 500 demonstrations March 29 at Tesla locations across the country.
• Crockett clarified during the rally that her calls for action were nonviolent.
• Bondi also doubled down on her determination to rein in the anti-Tesla protests. “We are looking at everything, especially if this is a concerted effort,” she said.
• So yes, in the USA in 2025, if you don’t like a car company and want to peacefully protest it, the White House is happy to call you a terrorist.
• In very much related news…
• Over the weekend, a man drove his car into protesters outside a Tesla dealership in Palm Beach County, FL but did not injure any of those who had gathered to demonstrate against Musk and his little sidekick Dumpy.
• The protest on Saturday was interrupted when Andrew Dutil drove his vehicle onto the sidewalk full of protesters, forcing people to scramble out of the way to avoid the being hit.
• Dutil was arrested and faces an assault charge. To be clear, the peaceful protesters are terrorists, according to the Dump administration. The guy who tried to run them over with his car isn’t.
• This is America.
• Let’s move on.
• If you have kids who require special education, Dump’s attempt to close of the Department of Education will be particularly difficult for you.
• Example: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA. It’s a federal law, enforced by the US Department of Education, that guarantees free public education for disabled children and protects Individualized Education Programs, which are tailored to their unique needs.
• With no DOE, that’s gone.
• This past Thursday, Stinky Dump signed an executive order kicking off the process of eliminating the Department of Education. While entirely shuttering the department would require an act of Congress, Dump directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.”
• The Department of Education provides more than $15 billion annually to help serve 7.4 million students through the IDEA. If the Department of Education closes, parents of disabled children will lose federal funds and protection and enforcement of their educational needs.
• The USA used to be a place where we cared for our children with special needs. Maybe it will be again someday.
• Moving over to the International Desk…
• Canada is jumping right into some snap elections, and the focus of theirs on April 28 will be Dumples the Colonizing Clown.
• Both new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Conservative opponent said Dumpy — who’s been making the ridiculous threat of annexing Canada into a new US state — must respect Canada’s sovereignty as they kicked off their election campaigns yesterday.
• Carney was clear and to the point.
• “We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty. President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen,” he stated.
• The governing Liberals had previously appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Donnie Doo Doo declared a trade war. He has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and has acknowledged he’s upended Canadian politics.
• Now, Canada has united via Dump’s almost daily attacks on the country’s sovereignty, and they are infuriated. A surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered Liberal poll numbers.
• Good.
• Moving on.
• A rest in peace going out to Mia Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants who became the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress. She died yesterday of cancer at age 49.
• Cancer crosses every race, every age, every nationality, and certainly every political affiliation. 
• Unfortunately, with the current effort to eliminate birthright citizenship, Love likely would not have been able to run for office (or possibly even vote) as the daughter of immigrants under the current administration, despite being a Republican.
• Let’s move on.
• Dumpy has announced that Boeing — not Lockheed Martin — will build the U.S. Air Force's next generation of fighter jets. In an extraordinarily ass-kissing maneuver, Boeing named the imaginary plane the F-47.
• "The generals picked a title, and it's a beautiful number," said Dumples the Easily-Influencable Clown."Nothing in the world comes even close to it."
• Nothing is known about its exact specifications, appearance or capabilities. Dump stated that the sixth-generation fighter aircraft would be "virtually unseeable" on radar, as if he knows anything at all about science.
• The price tag? Estimated somewhere in the hundreds of billions.
• ”We've given an order for a lot. We can't tell you the price," Dumpy said.
• Moving on.
• I thought we were done talking about Republican state senator Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids, MN, who — one day after introducing a bill to declare anyone who doesn’t love Dumpy legally insane a week ago — was arrested for trying to have sex with a child.
• He then resigned on Thursday under pressure from his party.
• Now, federal prosecutors are asking the court to keep him in jail until his trial after he lied to investigators and tried to conceal evidence.
• In a motion filed yesterday, prosecutors asked the court for a new detention hearing after a search of Eichorn's St. Paul apartment. Investigators found a handgun and ammunition while searching the apartment despite Eichorn’s claim of not owning a gun.
• But in an amazing moment of stupidity, while authorities searched the apartment, a woman showed up and asked to retrieve a laptop computer from inside. She was denied and left.
• Later, she declined to be interviewed by the FBI. But Eichorn and the mystery lady had communicated multiple times via jail phone calls. And they also found an iPhone that had recently been reset to factory default settings to erase all content on the phone.
• LOL. That guy’s been fucking all kinds of kids.
• In other news…
• Conan O’Brien received the received the 26th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor last night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
• I’m a longtime fan of the guy and all his work.
• O'Brien was announced as this year's Twain Prize winner in mid-January. A month later, Dump ousted the Kennedy Center's president, board chair, and appointed board members. In response, artists resigned from leadership roles and canceled gigs.
• While accepting the prize, Coco pointedly thanked former board chair David Rubenstein and former president Deborah Rutter. "They're the reason I'm here," he said. "Honestly, I don't know why they aren't here tonight."
• Hahahahaha!
• Toward the end of the evening, David Letterman — himself a Mark Twain Prize winner — called the evening "the most entertaining gathering of the resistance ever."
• And Conan made another pointed comment directed at El Dumpo: ”First and foremost, Twain hated bullies. He punched up, not down. And he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak."
• He’s not the only one to perform at Kennedy Center and make their sentiments known from the stage. Earlier this month, cellist Erin Murphy Snedecor ended her set with a performance of the Woody Guthrie protest anthem “All You Fascists Bound to Lose.”
• I do that song too.
• And now, The Weather: “Bolted Heart” by Dana Gavanski
• In celebrity gossip news, golfer Tiger Woods has confirmed his relationship with the former daughter-in-law of Dumpy.
• Woods is banging Vanessa Trump, who was formerly married to a human-sized 8-ball of cocaine named Donald Trump Jr.
• I mean, I guess that’s gotta be a step up for her?
• From the Sports Desk… under duress, I shall tell you the schedule of the next round of the NCAA Men’s basketball tourney, aka the Sweet 16.
• 1-seed Auburn v. 5-seed Michigan. 6-seed Ole Miss v. 2-seed Michigan State. 1-seed Florida v. 4-seed Maryland. 3-seed Texas Tech v. 10-seed Arkansas. 1-seed Duke v. 4-seed Arizona. 6-seed BYU v. 2-seed Alabama. 1-seed Houston v. 4-seed Purdue. 3-seed Kentucky v. 2-seed Tennessee.
• Today in history… King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France (1199). James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland upon the death of Elizabeth I (1603). The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne (1663). Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos (1721). Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops (1765). Japanese Chief Minister Ii Naosuke is assassinated by rōnin samurai outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle (1860). Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (1882). Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn (1900). Direct rule is imposed on Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom under Edward Heath (1972). In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period (1976). In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground (1989). Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 is discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy at the Palomar Observatory in California (1993). Students across the United States stage the March for Our Lives demanding gun control in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting (2018).
• March 24 is the birthday of clock maker John Harrison (1693), politician Rufus King (1755), poet/composer Fanny Crosby (1820), activist Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826), SCOTUS justice Horace Gray (1828), businessman/philanthropist Andrew W. Mellon (1855), magician Harry Houdini (1874), actor Roscoe Arbuckle (1887), MLB player George Sisler (1893), animator Ub Iwerks (1901), criminal Clyde Barrow (1909), animator Joseph Barbera (1911), poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919), actor Norman Fell (1924), actor Steve McQueen (1930), bass player Carol Kaye (1935), fashion designer Bob Mackie (1940), actor/drill instructor R. Lee Ermey (1944), harmonica player Lee Oskar (1948), singer-songwriter Nick Lowe (1949), fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger (1951), actor/comedian Louie Anderson (1953), businessman Steve Ballmer (1956), actress/model Kelly Le Brock (1960), actress Lara Flynn Boyle (1970), NFL player Mike Vanderjagt (1970), comedian/actor Tig Notaro (1971), actor Jim Parsons (1973), NFL player Peyton Manning (1976), actress Jessica Chastain (1977), NBA player Chris Bosh (1984), and NFL player Damar Hamlin (1998).

Alrighty, time for the less fun part of Monday to get rolling. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 23, 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 March 23, 2025, and it’s a Sunday. I was sort of hoping to sleep in some more on this weekend morning, but various biological processes determined that getting out of bed was a necessity, and then I just found myself in the kitchen making coffee, so that was that and here we are.

• You’ve probably seen a lot of the horrible examples of the removal of military heroes and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages after it purged online content that promoted women or minorities.
• This was all part of Dump’s “anti woke, anti-DEI” orders that attempted to erase the contributions to U.S. history of anyone other than white males.
• Every day over the past few weeks, the reports of erasure of women and minorities poured in, and the Pentagon has faced questions from angry lawmakers, local leaders, and citizens as a result.
• In response, the department has scrambled to restore a handful of those posts as their removals have come to light. While the pages of some well-known veterans, like baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson, are now back up on Pentagon websites, officials warn that many posts tagged for removal in error may be gone forever.
• Because they fucking suck. And that info never should have been removed in the first place, and was done clumsily and without any thought given to ever restoring them.
• The restoration process has been so hit or miss that even groups that the administration has said are protected, like the Tuskegee Airmen — the first Black military pilots who served in a segregated World War II unit — still have deleted pages that have not been restored.
• This past week chief, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video that mistaken removals will be quickly rectified. “History is not DEI,” he said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.
• But they can’t even agree on what to remove, what to keep, and how to obey the Pentagon directive to delete online content that promotes DEI.
• Officials from across the military services said they have asked for additional guidance from the Pentagon on what should be restored, but have yet to receive any.
• They can’t even get guidance on what should be easy cases to restore, like the first female Army Reserve graduate of Ranger School — Maj. Lisa Jaster — or the first female fighter pilot, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt,
• Both had their stories deleted because they are women and Dump does not want any respect given toward women outside the roles of childbearing and homemaking.
• In any case, officials said their understanding was it did not matter whether it was a historic first. If the first was based on what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth found to be a disqualifying characteristic, such as being a woman or not white, it had to go.
• That’s what you people voted for when you choose Dumpy. A country where if you’re not white or male, you’re a second class citizen with less rights and less respect, even for those who honorably served our nation.
• Let’s move on.
• One thing I can genuinely say about the Dump administration… just when you think it can’t be trashier and more low-class, they do seem to exceed even my lowest expectations.
• Case in point: the White House is now soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll, which is prompting major concerns from ethics experts and shock from former White House officials from both parties.
• I’m not kidding. The sponsorship offers range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the promise of logo and branding opportunities.
• Let’s back up a little. The Egg Roll, which began during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration in 1878, has long been privately funded without taxpayer dollars. The American Egg Board provides tens of thousands of eggs for the occasion.
• But now, under Dumples the Egg-Shaped Clown, the solicitation for sponsorships marks an unprecedented offering of corporate branding opportunities on White House grounds running counter to long-established regulations prohibiting the use of public office for private gain.
• Our fucking White House. Covered in logos for Walmart, Pepsi, Budweiser, Chevron. What the fucking fuck?
• “Sponsors of the White House Easter Egg Roll provide financial support, activities, and giveaways to enhance the event while gaining valuable brand visibility and national recognition,” reads the promotional sales document.
• Another offer brands can purchase is “mentions in official event communications and social media posts,” though it’s unclear what social media channels would be used and whether they would be sent from official White House accounts.
• “The United States of America… brought to you by ExxonMobil, Clorox,  and Amazon!”
• Disgusting.
• Let’s move on.
• In normal times, personal tax information — even an individual’s name and address — is considered confidential and closely guarded within the IRS. Unlawfully disclosing tax data carries civil and criminal penalties.
• Now? The Internal Revenue Service is nearing an agreement to allow immigration officials to use tax data to confirm the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally.
• Under this shady agreement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement could submit names and addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants to the IRS to cross-reference with confidential taxpayer databases.
• Wow. If they thought people were reluctant to file before, imagine how it will be moving ahead?
• Also, may I add… if they can open this door for alleged reasons of immigration enforcement, what’s stopping them from doing it for other reasons?
• The funny (not ha-ha funny) thing is that these privacy-invasive concepts were what typical conservative and MAGA-like folks were 100% against if they’d happened under any other president.
• Moving on.
• I genuinely try not to reference Fox News often here, if at all.
• But I will make an exception to mention the nation’s reaction to Dumples the Ignorant Clown’s order to shut down the Department of Education.
• Hours after Dump signed the agency’s death certificate, even Fox News was sharing polls indicating that the vast majority of the country is unlikely to support the president’s sweeping move.
• Fox also aired a full-screen of their own poll which revealed 65 percent of respondents opposed the agency’s end. That number included 92 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of independent voters, and 33 percent of Republicans.
• The same poll suggested that nearly seven in 10 Americans are concerned that Trump’s executive actions “may permanently alter the country’s system of checks and balances.”
• Well yes. That’s the idea. It’s not the side effect; it’s the intended result.
• In other news…
• People are dumping Tesla. Not just the stock; the cars.
• The number of Tesla owners trading in their cars surged to a record high in March, compounding the troubles of an automaker that has been embroiled in controversy since CEO Elon Musk became the shadow president of the USA and a central figure of Dump’s administration.
• Of all vehicles traded in at dealerships for new or used cars through March 16, 1.4 percent were Tesla cars from model year 2017 or newer — the highest share on record.
• A year ago, that number was 0.4 percent. The figure rose to 0.8 percent in January and 1.2 percent in February.
• The rise in trade-ins is for obvious reasons that have little to do with the cars themselves. Few people want to be associated with the brand after seeing what Musk has done to the federal government.
• Searches for used Teslas in February fell 16 percent from the previous month and 7 percent from the previous year, signaling that consumers are considering other electric vehicles.
• Protesters have vandalized cars and storefronts at Tesla facilities across the country and set Tesla charging stations ablaze, among other violent and destructive acts.
• People are angry. I’m angry. And it’s not going away, and the blame will be directed at the most obvious targets.
• On Friday, Dumpy the Car Salesman threatened vandals of Tesla cars (just Tesla, no other brands) with 20-year sentences in El Salvador’s infamous mega-prison.
• Interesting that he didn’t say anything about people who shoot children in elementary schools, or pharmaceutical and health insurance execs who cause the deaths of thousands. Just people who paint swastikas on certain electric cars. Huh.
• From the Health Desk… there’s a fungus among us.
• New cases of a dangerous, drug-resistant fungus have been identified in at least two states’ hospital systems.
• Candida auris was first identified in the U.S. in 2016. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year, jumping substantially in 2023 (the last year of data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
• Recently, cases have proliferated in Georgia as well as in Miami, where cases of the fungus have rapidly increased.
• The CDC has called Candida auris an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat because it’s resistant to anti-fungal drugs, making it hard to treat an infection once it occurs.
• Candida auris mainly spreads in health care settings, where people are sick and vulnerable. People with catheters, breathing tubes, feeding tubes and PICC lines are at the highest risk because the pathogen can enter the body through these types of devices.
• But now that RFK Jr. is making America healthy again, I’m sure he’ll come up with a cure. Perhaps direct sunlight on your taint, or eating lots of mint, or UV anal probes, or a crystal that you wave in figure-8 patterns over the affected fungal area.
• And now, The Weather: “Gethsemane” by Car Seat Headrest
• I fully blanked yesterday on sending a rest in peace note to legendary boxer George Foreman, who died Friday at 76.
• Foreman was a two-time world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist who is regarded as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history. In his prime, that man was scary as fuck.
• Perhaps his most famous fight was one he lost to Muhammad Ali in the aptly-named "Rumble in the Jungle" that took place in 1974 in Zaire.
• But even more amazing was his unlikely comeback, when he became the oldest-ever heavyweight champion in history at age 45.
• Some of you only know him as the friendly pitchman for his George Foreman Grill, which sold millions since it hit the market in 1994. But he was a serious man in the ring.
• Let’s do a chart. We’re winding the clock back to this week in March 1970. I am going on 10 months old.
• I had pretty good music compared to most babies. I might be biased. Here’s the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart at the time.
• 1. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel). 2. Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin). 3. Hey Jude (The Beatles). 4. Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe (The Doors). 5. Willy And The Poor Boys (Creedence Clearwater Revival). 6. Abbey Road (The Beatles). 7. Santana (Santana). 8. Chicago II (Chicago). 9. Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas (Tom Jones). 10. Hello, I'm Johnny Cash (Johnny Cash). 11. Grand Funk (Grand Funk Railroad). 12. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (B.J. Thomas). 13. Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (The Jackson 5). 14. Try A Little Kindness (Glen Campbell). 15. Engelbert Humperdinck (Engelbert Humperdinck). 16. Easy Rider (Soundtrack). 17. Was Captured Live At The Forum (Three Dog Night). 18. The Plastic Ono Band - Live Peace In Toronto 1969 (John Lennon). 19. Frijid Pink (Frijid Pink). 20. Let It Bleed (The Rolling Stones).
• From the Sports Desk… is March Madness done yet? No? Shit. Guess I’ll post some notes from yesterday.
• Houston beat Gonzaga. BYU beat Wisconsin. Auburn beat Creighton. Arkansas beat St. John’s. Texas Tech beat Drake. Michigan beat Texas A&M. Tennessee beat UCLA. Purdue beat McNeese.
• I’ve never even heard of like, three of these schools. The remaining second round matchups happen today.
• Today in history… Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty, or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA (1775). After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home (1806). Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City (1857). The University of California is founded in Oakland, CA (1868). In England, The Football League, the world's oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time (1888). In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement (1919). The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany (1933). NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight, crewed by Gus Grissom and John Young (1965). Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt (1982). The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States (2010). Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19 (2020). A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days (2021).
• March 23 is the birthday of writer/assassin Lorenzino de' Medici (1514), mathematician/astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749). US vice president Schuyler Colfax (1823), mathematician Susan Jane Cunningham (1842), outlaw Nathaniel Reed (1862), psychologist/sociologist Erich Fromm (1900), film director Akira Kurosawa (1910), physicist Wernher von Braun (1912), runner Roger Bannister (1929), race care driver Craig Breedlove (1937), singer-songwriter/producer Ric Ocasek (1944), mandolin player David Grisman (1945), NFL player Ron Jaworski (1951), singer-songwriter Chaka Khan (1953), fashion designer Kenneth Cole (1954), NBA player Moses Malone (1955), actress Amanda Plummer (1957), singer-songwriter Damon Albarn (1968), NBA player/coach Jason Kidd (1973), blogger Perez Hilton (1978), runner Mo Farah (1983), NFL player Maurice Jones-Drew (1985), and NBA player Kyrie Irving (1992).

That seems like enough for now. I’m going to get out of this bathrobe, into the shower, into some clothes, and then… I have no idea. Probably something involving housework. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 22, 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 March 22, 2025, and it’s a Saturday. I’m chilling in my blue bathrobe and am enjoying a cup of Seattle’s Best Portside Blend. It’s a medium roast and quite tasty, and was on sale for $6.99/pound. I’m never above a good deal as long as the product is acceptably good. This definitely is.

• Some news.
• The Dumpy administration is revoking the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
• They are being encouraged to “self deport.” I doubt that most of them have the financial means to just head back to their origin countries, and most of them escaped horrible conditions there and don’t want to go back regardless.
• In any case, those migrants have been warned to leave the country before their permits and deportation shield are cancelled on April 24.
• The 530,000 migrants were brought into the U.S. under a Biden-era sponsorship process known as CHNV that was designed to open legal pathways and slow down illegal migration. Dump, of course, suspended the program once he took office.
• Brown people are definitely no longer welcome in the USA.
• It is unclear how many of these migrants have been able to secure another status in the interim that would allow them to stay in the US legally, but it can’t be many.
• What about white Europeans? Doesn’t Dumpy like them?
• Well, he’s also considering whether to cancel the temporary legal status of some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the US during the conflict with Russia.
• And send them back to Ukraine.
• That’s Dump for ya’.
• In related news…
• In case you’re unfamiliar with the band U.K. Subs, I can tell you that they’re an iconic and highly influential leader in the world of hardcore punk. Formed in 1976, they are among the earliest in the first wave of British punk.
• And now members of the band were denied entry and detained in the U.S.
• Bassist Alvin Gibbs shared details of the incident this week, which comes amid widespread reports of people being denied entry to the country.
• Gibbs, along with bandmates Marc Carrey and Stefan Häublein, were deported back to merry Old following their detainment.
• Gibbs was told he was being flagged by immigration for having an incorrect visa, which was not true.
• “I can’t help but wonder whether my frequent, and less than flattering, public comments regarding their president and his administration played a role — or perhaps I’m simply succumbing to paranoia,” he said.
• His luggage, phone, and passport were confiscated, and he was questioned and held in detention for 25 hours before being sent straight back to England.
• A word of warning to even U.S. citizens who are leaving the country and returning. When a French researcher was denied entry to the U.S. earlier this month, it was because CBP agents searched his phone and found exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a negative personal opinion on the Dump administration’s research policy.
• So that’s where we’re at. Legally or otherwise, Dump will not hesitate to allow people who criticize him into the country, and soon enough that will expand to born-and-raised U.S. citizens.
• So I also send this note of caution to some of my friends attending the upcoming Second Life Jam in Toronto, or anyone else leaving the USA and planning to return… make sure your phone and other devices are squeaky clean.
• Delete all of your social apps. Trash all messages in any apps. Clear all browser cache. Go through your email and eliminate any references to Dumpy or President Musk and his minions. Same with photos.
• And then empty the trash or other storage of recently deleted files. And then power off and restart your phone/devices.
• I’m not at all kidding. Just having this very news report accessible on your Facebook or in your Google cache might be enough to get you sent to El Salvador or Guantánamo.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, Dumples the Paranoid Clown took away security clearances for former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other people who scare him.
• "I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information," said The Dumpster in a late Friday memorandum that also included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
• Dump had already revoked the security clearance for Biden, denying the former president to the traditional access to U.S. intelligence.
• Former U.S. presidents have traditionally received intelligence briefings so they can advise incumbent presidents on national security and foreign policy.
• So all that is pretty typical for a wanna-be fascist dictator. My level of shock is at 0%.
• Let’s move on.
• I want to bring your attention once again to the leading voice for voters opposed to Dump's rapid dismantling of the federal government — and who are frustrated with the Democratic Party's response.
• His name? Senator Bernie Sanders. Bernie's fiery form of economic populism attacking the growing influence of billionaires and corporations in politics are not new, but interest in both message and messenger has been renewed by Dump's second term and the outsized role Elon Musk has played in cutting federal spending and pushing agencies to fire workers.
• This week on Thursday, Sanders kicked off a western swing of his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour with rallies in Las Vegas and Tempe, AZ. joined by New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
• The pair spoke to an overflow crowd of thousands inside and outside the Mullett Arena at Arizona State University about the threat that Dump and his allies pose to American voters and the government.
• "We will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy," pledged our hero Bernie, speaking directly to Dumpy. "We're not going to allow you and your friend Mr. Musk and the other billionaires to wreak havoc on the working families of this country. No, you're not going to destroy Social Security. You're not going to destroy Medicaid. You're not going to destroy the Veterans administration."
• See? How hard is that?
• And then yesterday, more than 30,000 people showed up in Denver, CO to hear Bernie speak, a larger crowd than any event during his two presidential runs.
• As larger and larger crowds attend Sanders' events and more people call for a shakeup within the Democratic Party's strategy, a recurring question has popped up: why don't more Democrats sound like Bernie Sanders?
• (Raises hand) Because they’re giant fucking pussies who are still trying to maintain the status quo while the world is falling apart around them, maybe?
• Anyway, for his part, Sanders is not surprised his longstanding message seems to be resonating with people across the ideological spectrum.
• ”Because if you're a working class Republican, you don't think it makes a lot of sense to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the richest people in this country and then cut the [Department of Veterans Affairs], go after Social Security and make $800 billion cuts in Medicaid. Republican, independent, Democrat… very few people think that makes any sense at all."
• I agree. Let’s Go Bernie!
• Back in Dumpyworld…
• Dump’s acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek threatened Thursday evening to shut down the entire department by barring Social Security Administration employees from accessing its computer systems in response to a judge’s order blocking the U.S. DOGE Service from accessing sensitive taxpayer data.
• Dudek initially told news outlets, including in an interview yesterday with The Washington Post, that the judge’s decision to bar sensitive data access to “DOGE affiliates” was overly broad and that to comply, he might have to block virtually all SSA employees from accessing the agency’s computer systems.
• But Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, who issued the order, said in a letter that Dudek’s assertions “were inaccurate.”
• And then Dudek got his ass chewed off by Dumpy, who doesn’t want people being aware how easily the whole country’s Social Security could stop without warning.
• In response to Hollander’s letter, Dudek said in a statement that the court clarified its guidance and “therefore, I am not shutting down the agency.”
• He then thanked the judge he had threatened just hours before, and added, “[The White House] called me and let me know it’s important to reaffirm to the public that we’re open for business The White House did remind me that I was out of line and so did the judge. And I appreciate that.”
• Hahahahahahahahaha. Oh yes, Leland, I’m sure you appreciated having your ass handed to you and for you to publicly wear it as a hat.
• In less funny news about Social Security, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated this week that only "fraudsters" would complain about missing a Social Security check — but honest people would simply live with the fact that the government didn't mail their monthly payment.
• Uh huh. Sounds like they’re laying the tracks that lead to people not getting the money that they paid into their entire lives.
• Lutnick said, “Let's say social security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She’d think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.” 
• So to be clear, if the government steals your money and you complain, you’re a fraudster.
• Does that sound right to you? MAGA folks? Anyone?
• Let’s move back to some more comedy from the Comedian in Chief.
• Yesterday, Dumpy downplayed his involvement in invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan migrants, saying that he hadn’t signed the proclamation.
• “I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it,” whined Dump before leaving the White House last night.
• As you know, that order was the alleged legal justification for hurriedly throwing a bunch of migrants on planes, at least some of whom had no gang affiliation or any evidence of crimes that would justify their rapid expulsion.
• Dump continued to shift the blame. “I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it. Other people handled it, but Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.”
• But wait.
• The proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act currently appears in the Federal Register with Trump’s signature at the bottom.
• Hahahahahahahahahahaha. What a demented dipshit this guy is. If you’re going to lie, why do it on topics that are so easily disprovable? Any third-grader with an internet connection can see Dump’s signature on it literally right now.
• Moving on.
• Want to live for a long time?
• Not in America you don’t. The U.S. now ranks dead last in life expectancy compared to other developed countries, and it’s really not even close.
• Switzerland - 84.2. Japan - 84.1. Sweden - 83.4. France - 83.1. Australia - 83.1. Comparable Country Average - 82.5. Netherlands - 82.0. Canada - 81.7. United Kingdom - 81.1. Germany - 80.6. United States - 78.4.
• And now, for no reason… Fun Fact: I live on an entirely different continental plate than many of you other Americans reading this.
• All of us west of the San Andreas Fault live on the Pacific Plate, whereas the rest of you live on the North America plate. My plate is by far the largest on the planet at 39,900,000 sq mi, though most of it is underwater.
• Our plates hooked up about 30 million years ago. Had they not, the southwestern edge of the USA would look a lot different.
• I like my plate. Scenic, rugged. Watery.
• And now, The Weather: “We Who Are About To” by Wife Patrol
• Let’s do a chart.
• It was 44 years ago, in March 1981, that Billboard launched a separate Top Tracks (Rock) chart for some reason.
• Me? I was in 8th grade, in my final semester of middle school and ready to be in high school and do more adult-type things. I believe at the time, I was walking around margate Intermediate School and holding hands with a girl named Julie Stanton.
• 1. I Can't Stand It (Eric Clapton). 2. While You See A Chance (Steve Winwood). 3. Party’s Over (Journey). 4. Hold On Loosely (.38 Special). 5. You Better You Bet (The Who). 6. Turn Me Loose (Loverboy). 7. Limelight (Rush). 8. Rocking The Paradise (Styx). 9. Keep On Loving You (REO Speedwagon). 10. Tom Sawyer (Rush). 11. Don't Stand So Close To Me (The Police). 12. 96 Tears (Garland Jeffreys). 13. Don’t Let Him Go (REO Speedwagon). 14. Fade Away (Bruce Springsteen). 15. For You (Manfred Mann). 16. Best Of Times (Styx). 17. Take It On The Run (REO Speedwagon). 18. Rita Mae (Eric Clapton). 19. Hearts On Fire (Randy Meisner). 20. Ah Leah (Donnie Iris).
• From the Sports Desk… kiss your stupid bracket goodbye.
• Millions and millions people filled out brackets for the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament, known as March Madness.
• And through yesterday’s first round, the number of perfect brackets in the NCAA Tournament was down to 81. Out of 34 million. That’s 0.0000002% for those of you keeping track.
• ESPN’s tracker listed 121 perfect brackets remaining out of 24 million on its site. Yahoo Sports’ brackets are down a mathematic zero — just 30 perfect brackets remain. CBS Sports had a similar attrition rate, down to 0.0008% unblemished brackets by the end of yesterday.
• Ah well. I’ll tell you again: I don’t do college sports. I barely have the time to pay attention to professional sports.
• Today in history… Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century (235). The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags (1621). The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables (1631). The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies (1765). The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States, and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the purpose of importing slaves (1794). In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment (1871). The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada (1894). Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau (1933). The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia (1934). Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser (1960). The Beatles release their debut album ‘Please Please Me’ (1963). In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives (1972). NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3 (1982). The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path (1993). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19 (2020). Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19 (2020).
• March 22 is the birthday of astronomer/mathematician Ulugh Beg (1394), Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I (1459), actor Chico Marx (1887), novelist Louis L’Amour (1908), actor Karl Malden (1912), talent agent Lew Wasserman (1913), mime Marcel Marceau (1923), composer Stephen Sondheim (1930), actor William Shatner (1931), drag queen Foo Foo Lammar (1937), International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound (1942), singer-songwriter/guitarist George Benson (1943), singer-songwriter Keith Relf (1943), journalist Wolf Blitzer (1948), composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), sportscaster Bob Costas (1952), figure skater Elvis Stojko (1972), actress Reese Witherspoon (1976), NFL player J. J. Watt (1989), and MLB player Edwin Díaz (1994).

Well, that’s all for now. Keep resisting. We’re in this for the long term. I’m going to take a shower now. I like showers. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 21, 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 March 21, 2025, and if you can believe it, it’s a Friday once again! Seems like a pretty good morning thus far. It’s amazing how quickly things change in the Spring; daylight savings kicked in just 10 days ago but already it’s nice and bright as I sit down to check out the news. I feel pretty good so far.

• Are you happy? I’m mostly happy. More happy than not, anyway.
• And I know why I’m happy. I have reasonably good health (as does my immediate family), I am capable of earning a good living and living independently, and perhaps above all, I don’t have missiles being fired at me, I have food to eat and a roof over my head, and don’t face daily discrimination based on my race or gender or any other factor.
• I’m also happy because I have a rich social life, I use my creativity for both my profession and my personal enjoyment, and in a number of ways, I take positive steps to make the world around me a better place in which to live. Like writing this news for you every morning.
• Are the rest of my fellow citizens of the USA happy? Not so much.
• The United States this year fell to its lowest-ever place on the World Happiness Report, an annual survey that highlights the positive effects benevolence and social connections have on people's life satisfaction.
• Finland remained the happiest nation for the eighth year in a row, while Mexico and Costa Rico ranked among the top 10 for the first time since the report was first published in 2012. 
• This year's report ranks 147 countries by their happiness levels — based on a population's average assessment of their quality of life from 2022 to 2024.
• The USA — at No. 24 — earned its lowest ranking since the report began.
• Researchers found that the belief in the kindness of others, as well as actively caring about and sharing with others, has strong effects on happiness.
• ”Happiness isn't just about wealth or growth — it's about trust, connection and knowing people have your back," said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup, who conducted the survey.
• Okay, now the news.
• It’s turning out — unsurprisingly — that some of the men deported by the Dump administration to an El Salvador prison are not gang members or criminals at all. Example: a barber from Venezuela was among those on the list for the deportation flights even though documents show he has no criminal record.
• Franco José Caraballo Tiapa, 26, is from Venezuela and entered the U.S. in 2023, requesting asylum from persecution back home.
• In February, at a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, he was unexpectedly detained.
• A document from the Department of Homeland Security shows Caraballo is accused of being a member of the criminal gang Tren de Aragua but also specifies that he has no criminal history in the U.S. Venezuelan officials said he has no record there either.
• And he’s just one case where providing due process under law would have stopped his pointless prosecution. He had no chance to defend the allegation.
• Another is Jerce Reyes Barrios, 36. he fled his home country after he was tortured for taking part in anti-regime demonstrations last year.
• Reyes Barrios has no ties to Tren de Aragua. But his tattoo, which is similar to the logo for his favorite soccer team Real Madrid, was mistaken for gang membership.
• And they sent him to a brutal prison in El Salvador.
• You can bet there are more cases like these guys. Some simple investigation and the chance to defend one’s self in court would have cleared that up.
• It’s vile and un-American, and it’s exactly what Dump and President Musk want.
• Let’s move on.
• Actually, no, let’s not. This is too important.
• Lennon Tyler — a U.S. citizen — and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas.
• But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana last month.
• U.S. border agents handcuffed Tyler and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit. Then authorities handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded U.S. immigration detention center. 
• He spent 16 days locked up before being allowed to fly home to Germany.
• Another German tourist, Jessica Brösche, was stopped at the Tijuana crossing on January 25. She spent over six weeks locked up, including over a fucking week in solitary confinement.
• And on the Canadian border, a backpacker from Wales spent nearly three weeks at a detention center before flying home this week. And a Canadian woman on a work visa who was detained at the Tijuana border spent 12 days in detention before returning home last weekend.
• So now, countries with whom the USA has long considered allies — including Britain and Germany — have issued new warnings to their citizens about traveling to the U.S. in the wake of visitors’ horrifying experiences coming to the country in the shadow of Dump.
• You know, in addition to being disgusting in the aspect of xenophobia, businesses in the USA make a lot of money form tourism. I guess we can kiss that goodbye.
• Okay, now let’s move on.
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander temporarily blocked the White House's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing systems at the Social Security Administration containing the sensitive information of millions of Americans.
• Thank God for people like her. The ruling delivers another setback to Dump's and his boss Musk’s efforts to overhaul the federal government.
• Hollander wrote in a 137-page decision that a group of unions challenging DOGE's access to systems of records at the SSA was likely to succeed on its claims that the efforts violated the Privacy Act and a federal law that governs the agency rulemaking process.
• She granted a request for a temporary restraining order that was sought by the labor unions, which filed a lawsuit in February that challenged the legality of the SSA's decision to allow DOGE to get its hands on sensitive, personal, and confidential information pertaining to millions of Americans.
• The judge's order blocks officials at the SSA from granting DOGE access to systems containing Americans' personal information. It also requires Elon Musk, DOGE, and its team members at the agency to delete all non-anonymized personal information that they obtained from the SSA, and prevents them from accessing any agency computer or software code.
• I want you to keep in mind that Social Security is YOUR money that you’ve paid into your entire working life. Musk and Dump want to straight-up steal it from you.
• They’re working hard, night and day, to take your money… and you’re just going to sit back and let them, assuming you’re a giant pussy-ass bitch.
• Or a Republican. Same thing.
• Moving on.
• Yesterday, U.S. safety regulators recalled virtually all Tesla Cybertrucks on the road, the eighth recall of the ugly-ass vehicles since deliveries to customers began a year ago.
• The recall, which covers more than 46,000 Cybertrucks, warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right sight of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash.
• How can this happen? They stuck the piece on with some super cheap glue that dries up and stops functioning.
• Tesla will replace the panel free of charge, obviously. If they keep up this terrible performance, that entire brand could eventually disappear.
• Way before the attacks on the brand ramped up in recent weeks, Tesla had been struggling, facing increased competition from rival electric vehicles, particularly out of China.
• Though largely unaffected by yesterday’s recall announcement, Tesla shares have plummeted 42% in 2025 thus far, reflecting newfound pessimism as sales crater around the globe.
• And, I have to ask every person reading this right now…
• What in the name of fuck is Elon Musk doing at the Pentagon today?
• He’s meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Indo-Pacific commander Adm. Sam Paparo — who will attend virtually from Hawaii — and it goes beyond saying that the meeting shows the extraordinary level of access Musk, a defense contractor with billions of dollars in government contracts, holds over the administration.
• According to some officials, Musk’s visit will focus on the threat China presents to the region but won’t include classified war plans.
• However, the New York Times reported last night that Musk would be briefed on the U.S. military’s plans for any potential war with China.
• So to be clear here: we just told you that Tesla sales are tanking in part due to increased competition from China. And now Elon is getting briefed on war plans with the country.
• How fucking stupid do they think we are?
• Moving on to a quick followup from a story earlier this week.
• Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn resigned yesterday in the wake of a federal criminal charge accusing him of soliciting sex from someone he thought was 17, but turned out to be an undercover cop.
• The move comes after Eichorn's colleagues in the Republican caucus said they would vote to expel him from the chamber if he did not step down. Democrats were prepared to join them to clear the two-thirds majority hurdle needed for expulsion. 
• Eichorn, a Republican from Grand Rapids, is charged with attempted coercion or enticement of a minor.
• The day before his arrest for trying to fuck a child, Eichorn had tried to introduce legislation to proclaim that anyone who opposes Donnie Dump would be declared legally insane.
• Ladies and gentlemen, your Republican party (golf clap).
• And now, The Weather: “As Fast as I Can” by Yndling
• An RIP I missed earlier this week but should not go unnoticed…
• Jesse Colin Young, who sang one of the signature songs of the 1960s counterculture — the Youngbloods’ “Get Together”  — died at age 83.
• Young was a founding member of the Youngbloods, whose “Get Together” reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.
• Interesting side note: the song had appeared on the band’s self-titled debut album two years earlier in 1967. But they re-released it two years later when the time was right. Huge hit.
• And the Youngbloods never had another charting song. Hey, one hit is way more than most musicians ever have, and we still admire that song today, some 58 years after it was recorded.
• Well done.
• From the Sports Desk… Alex Ovechkin is one step closer to NHL history after the "Great 8" reached a fitting number in his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's career goals record.
• Ovi scored his 888th goal last night in a 3-2 victory by the Washington Capitals over the Philadelphia Flyers that helped them clinch a playoff berth, moving seven back of passing Gretzky's mark of 894 that long seemed unapproachable.
• Amazing.
• In other sports news, the Boston Celtics are being sold to William Chisholm for $6.1 billion, team ownership announced yesterday morning. The deal is pending NBA Board of Governors approval. 
• The $6.1 billion deal becomes the largest sale for a sports franchise in North America. It surpasses the $6.05 billion sale of the Washington Commanders in 2023.
• Today in history… The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis near Alexandria in Egypt (1801). Otto von Bismarck is appointed as the first Chancellor of the German Empire (1871). The Butler Act prohibits the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee (1925). Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran (1935). The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in professional American football since 1933 (1946). Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, OH (1952). Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes (1963). Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, AL (1965). The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (1970). San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop and culture festival in the world, hosts its inaugural event (1970). U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet–Afghan War (1980). Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule (1990). The social media site Twitter is founded (2006).
• March 21 is the birthday of composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), physicist Joseph Fourier (1768), Mexico president Benito Juárez (1806), composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839), actor Broncho Billy Anderson (1880), painter Hans Hofmann (1880), singer-songwriter Son House (1902), philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III (1906), scientist/inventor Walter Lincoln Hawkins (1911), singer/musician Rose Stone (1945), actor Timothy Dalton (1946), singer-songwriter Eddie Money (1949), singer-songwriter/keyboardist Roger Hodgson (1950), drummer Slim Jim Phantom (1961), actor Matthew Broderick (1962), actress Rosie O’Donnell (1962), political activist Cenk Uygur (1970), actor/comedian Rhys Darby (1974), soccer player Ronaldinho (1980), and NFL player Adrian Peterson (1985).

Alrighty. Got any plans for the weekend? I don’t… just how I like it. Enjoy your day.

Random News: March 20, 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 March 20, 2025, and it’s a Thursday for some reason. The moon has gone down, the sun has come up, and long ago somebody left with the cup, but I’m here to go the distance on today’s news.

• Happy equinox.
• In the northern hemisphere, where — I shit you not — almost 90% of all humans on Earth reside, we call it the spring (or vernal) equinox.
• So happy spring to most of you… and happy fall to our friends in Australia, Brazil, and other southern places.
• Spring began at 2:01am PT/5:01am ET here in the USA.
• In the Pagan/Wiccan realm, the spring equinox is celebrated as Ostara, The holiday— which sounds suspiciously similar to Easter — includes the coloring and decorating of eggs, planting of seeds, and performing rituals that honor the balance of light and dark.
• Both events’ names are in reference to Ēostre, a Germanic goddess of spring. that’s why traditions of both Pagan and Christian holidays share certain elements.
• Okay, let’s do some news.
• In one of the first instances of GOP lawmakers pushing back on Dumples the Clown in his second term, the Republican chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services committees issued a joint statement yesterday criticizing the idea of the U.S. drastically changing its military combatant command structure, saying they “will not accept” those changes without coordination with Congress and other agencies.
• That almost sounds like people with a backbone. I’m shocked.
• They were responding to a report on Tuesday that said the Pentagon is considering giving up its role as NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, or SAUCER, as part of restructuring of commands and headquarters.
• House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) made the following statement…
• “U.S. combatant commands are the tip of the American warfighting spear. Therefore, we are very concerned about reports that claim [the Defense Department] is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress.”
• They continued, “We will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress. Such moves risk undermining American deterrence around the globe and detracting from our negotiating positions with America’s adversaries.”
• Interesting. They are basically saying that Congress could use the power of the purse and other legislative tools to combat such a change, should Dumpy move forward with it.
• A bit of background: the U.S. has had a four-star general oversee NATO military operations in Europe for 75 years. The current SAUCER, Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, is also the head of U.S. European command and has overseen support to Ukraine.
• We’ll watch and see how that goes.
• Moving on.
• One of the biggest — frankly, the only — barriers stopping Donnie Dump and his gang from enacting a full-fledged fascist dictatorship as of yet has been the rulings of federal judges.
• And thankfully, for now, the Supreme Court seems to be in no hurry to address the ability of a single judge to block a nationwide policy.
• As we’ve reported here nearly every day since Dump took office again, federal judges responding to a flurry of lawsuits have stopped or slowed one Dump action after another, from efforts to restrict birthright citizenship to freezes on domestic and international spending.
• The latest plea to the SCOTUS comes in the form of an emergency appeal the Justice Department filed with the court last week, seeking to narrow orders issued by judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington that prohibit the nationwide enforcement of an executive order signed by Dumples the White Nationalist Clown to restrict birthright citizenship.
• The justices usually order the other side in an emergency appeal to respond in a few days or a week. But in this case, they have set a deadline of April 4, without offering any explanation for the delay.
• This question is not new to the SCOTUS. Presidential executive orders have been blocked by federal judges on both sides. In fact, these nationwide injunctions started increasing in frequency during the Obama administration and have only grown in number since.
• But it’s not a conservative/liberal or Republican/Democrat issue. It’s more about how we define our nation’s judicial system at the national level.
• Keep your eye on that.
• And in 100% related news…
• Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang found that Elon Musk and the White House's pseudo-Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violated the Constitution when they unilaterally acted to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.
• Chuang ruled in favor of a group of more than two dozen unnamed current and former USAID employees and contractors who had challenged the efforts to shutter USAID, which were mounted by DOGE and Musk.
• The judge granted in part their request for a preliminary injunction and said in a 68-page decision that DOGE and Musk likely violated the Constitution's Appointments Clause and separation of powers.
• He ordered Musk and task force employees to reinstate access to email, payment, and other electronic systems to all current USAID employees and personal services contractors.
• The judge also prevented DOGE and Musk from taking any action relating to the shutdown of USAID, including placing employees on administrative leave, firing USAID workers, closing its buildings, bureaus or offices, and deleting the contents of its websites or collections.
• The Dump administration is likely to appeal the decision, but fuck them and Musk and his little DOGE too.
• Let’s move on.
• Today is the day that Donnie Dump, the guy that many of you voted to be our president, will sign an executive order to shut down of the U.S. Education Department.
• Dump feels that education is polluted by liberal ideology. Better not to give people an education than have them turn out as damn liberals, right?
• Can Dumpy do this on his own? He thinks he can, but he… cannot. Finalizing its dismantling is likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.
• In other news…
• It’s becoming obvious at this point that — taking a page from Joseph Stalin’s playbook — Dump is going after the academics of our country.
• This week, federal immigration authorities detained a Georgetown University fellow in the United States legally on a student visa, who promptly filed a lawsuit petitioning for his immediate release.
• Indian national Badar Khan Suri was detained outside his home in Arlington, VA by Department of Homeland Security agents. Suri was then brought to a holding facility in central Virginia before being taken to Louisiana, where he is now awaiting a date in immigration court.
• DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin posted on social media that Suri was spreading “Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” She further alleged that Suri had connection to a senior adviser to Hamas. Ahmad said he is innocent.
• Suri’s detainment comes a week after Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian protest leader at Columbia University and green-card holder who also was held in Louisiana.
• Again, for those who don’t fucking get it: these people are LEGAL RESIDENTS of the USA, being targeted for their nationality and political outlook.
• And it won’t stop with brown people, if that’s what you were thinking. Real actual white people will be targeted soon for their resistance to Donnie the Dictator.
• People like me, and perhaps you.
• A follow-up on a story we mentioned last year.
• Yesterday, it took a federal jury just five hours to find Feeding Our Future leader Aimee Bock and her accomplice Salim Said guilty on all counts.
• A total of 70 people have been charged in the largest pandemic-related fraud in the country. 37 have pleaded guilty. The program was intended to provide food to children in need after school and during the summer. Instead, most funding was spent on luxury homes, cars, and other items.
• Bock was found guilty of seven crimes while Said was found guilty of 21 crimes, including wire fraud and federal programs bribery. Each of the counts of wire fraud carries a 20-year maximum sentence.
• Good. Fuck those people.
• Moving on.
• A note on how your politics affect your purchasing decisions.
• And yes, obviously, a great example is Tesla. It was a brand that was very popular among coastal liberals, with people feeling like they were doing something to lessen their carbon footprint and stop our reliance on fossil fuels.
• And then Elon Musk turned out to be a giant piece of shit who gets worse and worse every day. People who would have gladly been Tesla customers are looking to any other electric vehicle brand that better represents their values.
• But for today, I want to talk about Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream company that is renowned for its unapologetic progressive liberal views.
• Founded in 1978 in Burlington, VT, the company went from a single ice cream parlor to a multinational brand over the course of a few decades.
• You may not know this, but in 2000, the company was sold to the multinational conglomerate Unilever — but still operates as an independent subsidiary, at least in theory. 
• This week, Ben & Jerry's filed suit against Unilever, saying they unlawfully fired its CEO David Stever over disputes involving the brand's social mission and taking a stance on polarizing political issues. 
• In a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, the ice cream brand known for its outspoken views on human rights and the environment said that UK-based Unilever's dismissal of Stever violated a merger agreement which prevents the unilateral removal of Ben & Jerry's CEO.
• Ben & Jerry's independent board and Unilever have consistently clashed over the brand's public stance on social matters.
• ”For over four decades, the company has pursued its unique Social MIssion via its public, progressive stances on issues such as migrant justice, LGBTQ+ rights, Black Lives Matter, GMO labeling, and a variety of other economic and social causes affecting historically marginalized communities," the complaint states. "Unilever has repeatedly halted Ben & Jerry's social mission in direct contravention of the settlement agreement."
• So… what do you do in a case like that, where the company is committed to doing good things that align with your values, but their own parent company are complete assholes?
• Unilever is a huge company. Their revenue last year was over $65 billion. They own hundreds of brands, are the largest producer of soap in the world, and their products are available in over 190 countries. They’re giant assholes who will do anything for profit, like all massive conglomerates.
• But you can’t support Ben & Jerry’s without also supporting Unilever. It’s a conundrum.
• Let’s move on.
• Do you own an electric vehicle, perhaps like the aforementioned Tesla?
• Well, Republicans are now planning to scrap nearly all federal support for EVs, just when more Americans are considering buying one and car companies are planning big investments.
• Ending federal EV tax credits, weakening tailpipe pollution rules, and slashing funding for charging stations — as Dump and congressional Republicans have proposed — will drastically slow EV sales and trigger a wave of factory shutdowns and canceled investments.
• And, for those of us who give a shit about Earth are aware, It would also lead to higher planet-warming emissions.
• And now, The Weather: “Headless Hero” by Twin Shadow
• From the Sports Desk… you may not know this, but the NHL season is nearly identical to the NBA season in the time of year it’s played and the number of games in its regular season, which is 82.
• So that sport is also getting toward the end of the season and the playoff picture will grow more clear over the next few weeks. Let’s see which teams are in contention if the playoffs started now (listed by points which factor in wins, losses, and overtime losses).
• Eastern Conference: 1. Capitals (98). 2. Hurricanes (86). 3. Panthers (85). 4. Lightning (83). 5. Maple Leafs (83). 6. Devils (80). 7. Senators (77). 8. Canadiens (73).
• Western Conference: 1. Jets (98). 2. Stars (89). 3. Golden Knights (86). 4. Avalanche (85). 5. Oilers (84). 6. Kings (81). 7. Wild (81). 8. Canucks (75).
• Today in history… The Dutch East India Company is established (1602). The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings (1760). After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule (1815). Harriet Beecher Stowe's ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’ is published (1852). The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, WI (1854). Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity (1916). The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled ‘Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso’, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States (1923). With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC (1948). The first Provisional IRA car bombing in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland (1972). Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (1985). A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day (2015).
• March 20 is the birthday of poet Ovid (43 BC), Thai king Rama I (1737), poet/playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828), athlete/umpire Amanda Clement (1888), psychologist B. F. Skinner (1904), actor Ozzie Nelson (1906), singer-songwriter/guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915), singer-songwriter Vera Lynn (1917), actor/director Carl Reiner (1922), TV host/producer Fred Rogers (1928), actor Hal Linden (1931), singer-songwriter/producer Lee "Scratch" Perry (1936), singer-songwriter/guitarist/actor Jerry Reed (1937), Canada prime minister Brian Mulroney (1939), NBA player/coach Pat Riley (1945), actor John de Lancie (1948), NHL player Bobby Orr (1948), actor William Hurt (1950), drummer Carl Palmer (1950), actor/director Spike Lee (1957), actress Holly Hunter (1958), model Kathy Ireland (1963), NBA player Mookie Blaylock (1967), singer-songwriter Alex Kapranos (1972), and singer-songwriter Chester Bennington (1976).

I guess we’ll wrap up there, even though there are always tons of stories we don’t have time to cover here each day. My advice for you: stay alert and stay aware, and be prepared for those big changes that may be just over the horizon. You’re strong; I believe in you. Don’t take shit from anyone. Enjoy your day.