"A sickening moral slum of an administration"; Arctic blast; GOP says cars are too safe; A.I. safety issues; Ritz crackers and Gmail warning
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—Kevin G. Barkes
Survivors of boat strike were actively continuing drug mission, Admiral to tell lawmakers. Commander of September attack to provide account of his role for the first time in closed briefing.
Hegseth says he wouldn’t trust Miller, Rubio to babysit his kids.
A sickening moral slum of an administration. Regarding Venezuela, Ukraine and much more, Trump and his acolytes are worse than simply incompetent.
Republicans complain that cars have become too safe, say it must be reversed. These include proven, low-cost systems like automatic emergency braking (AEB) — which isn’t even slated to become mandatory until 2029 — and alarms to remind drivers not to forget their kids in the back seat. It’s about “affordability.”
USDA to blue states: hand over personal data or lose SNAP funding. Democratic governors across the country are accusing the Trump administration of, once again, playing politics with people’s hunger.
Republicans are in trouble, but Democrats could blow it. The Tennessee special election gave both Democrats and Republicans something to worry about.
Trump announces plans to weaken fuel efficiency rules for cars and trucks. Executives from Ford, GM and Stellantis joined the president as he announced plans to roll back rules pushing automakers to sell more electric cars.
Trump’s excuse for getting random MRI has major issues, doctor says. Dick Cheney’s cardiologist dumped cold water on Donald Trump’s reasons for getting an MRI.
Think it’s cold now? Just wait for this week’s Arctic blast that’s poised to break records.
Leading AI companies’ safety practices are falling short, new report says. “The only reason that there are so many C’s and D’s and F’s in the report is because there are fewer regulations on AI than on making sandwiches.”
Researchers discover a shortcoming that makes A.I. LLMs less reliable. Large language models can learn to mistakenly link certain sentence patterns with specific topics — and may then repeat these patterns instead of reasoning.
Scientists identify first-ever single gene that can directly cause mental illness.
FBI issues warning to all 1.8bn Gmail users over email scam robbing users.
Urgent recall of Ritz cracker sandwiches issued over ‘life-threatening’ allergen risk. Peanut butter crackers accidentally labeled cheese crackers.
Late Night:
Why is there a Late Night section? Because late night comedians, unfettered by institutional journalistic and corporate inhibitions, often provide observations and analysis that are more thorough and comprehensive than network or cable news. And the humor helps.
Trump launches war on drug traffickers… unless they’re also Honduran ex-presidents | The Daily Show (Video)
Winter vomiting disease | Trump’s cocaine double standard | Melania En Español | Drunk raccoon-Stephen Colbert (Video)
Trump’s cabinet meeting naps get Republican spin and Hegseth’s “war crimes” problem gets worse.-Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
History highlight:
1991 – Pan American World Airways ceased operations after 64 years.
Bookmark KGB Report Notes and check periodically for cartoons, memes, news, commentary and other stuff that didn’t fit or broke between e-mail newsletter issues. It’s also a great place to comment and chat.
Keep scrolling down. Lots of interesting stuff in Quote of the Day, Holidays, On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll learn something new.
Quote of the Day:
Hanukkah is the most American holiday because it’s a celebration of burning oil that we don’t have.
-Andy Borowitz (Wikipedia link)
(More Andy Borowitz quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Cabernet Franc Day, Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day, International Cheetah Day, International Day Against Unilateral Coercive Measures, International Day of Banks, National Cookie Day, National Dice Day, National Sock Day, Pallister-Killian Syndrome Awareness Day, Santa’s List Day, Wear Brown Shoes Day, Wildlife Conservation Day, and World Tunnel Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
1992 – Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.
1991 – Pan American World Airways ceased operations after 64 years.
1982 – The People’s Republic of China adopted its current constitution.
1981 – “Falcon Crest” premiered on CBS-TV. (Video)
1978 – Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco‘s first female mayor.
1971 – During a concert by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention at the Montreux Casino, an audience member fired a flare gun into the ceiling, causing a fire that destroyed the venue. The incident served as the inspiration for Deep Purple‘s 1973 song Smoke on the Water.
1969 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were shot and killed during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
1964 – Police arrested over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building in protest of the UC Regents‘ decision to forbid protests on UC property.
1945 – By a vote of 65–7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations.
1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed down the Works Progress Administration because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.
1942 – Polish Christians aid Polish Jews.
1928 – “Irish Godfather” killed by car bomb in St. Paul, Minnesota.
1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sailed for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.
1909 – The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the oldest surviving professional hockey franchise in the world, was founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
1881 – The first edition of the Los Angeles Times was published.
1875 – Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escaped from prison; he is later recaptured in Spain.
1872 – The American brigantine Mary Celeste was discovered drifting in the Atlantic. Her crew was never found.
1867 – Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founded the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).
1865 – North Carolina ratified 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed two days later by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally freed within two weeks.
1861 – The 109 electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elected Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President.
1804 – The United States House of Representatives adopted articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase.
1791 – The first edition of The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, was published.
1783 – At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, U.S. General George Washington bade farewell to his officers.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
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Some Birthdays:
1991 – Reality Winner, American intelligence specialist convicted of espionage
1987 – Orlando Brown, American actor and rapper
1984 – Jelly Roll, American singer, songwriter, and actor
1973 – Tyra Banks, American model, actress, and producer
1970 – Kevin Sussman, American actor and comedian
1969 – Jay-Z, American rapper, producer, actor, and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records
1966 – Fred Armisen, American actor and musician
1964 – Marisa Tomei, American actress (Video)
1954 – Tony Todd, American actor (died 2024)
1949 – Jeff Bridges, American actor (Video)
1944 – Dennis Wilson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and drummer (died 1983)
1937 – Max Baer Jr., American actor, director, and producer (Video)
1936 – Freddy Cannon, American singer and guitarist
1934 – Victor French, American actor and director (died 1989)
1933 – Wink Martindale, American game show host and producer (died 2025) (Video)
1923 – Charles Keating, American lawyer and financier (died 2014)
1921 – Deanna Durbin, Canadian actress and singer (died 2013) (Video)
1914 – Claude Renoir, French cinematographer (died 1993)
1912 – Pappy Boyington, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1988)
1910 – Alex North, American composer and conductor (died 1991) (Video)
1892 – Francisco Franco, Spanish general and dictator, Prime Minister of Spain (died 1975)
1875 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian-Swiss poet and author (died 1926)
1865 – Edith Cavell, English nurse, humanitarian, and saint (Anglicanism) (died 1915)
1835 – Samuel Butler, English author and critic (died 1902)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2024 – Brian Thompson, CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, (born 1974)
2022 – Bob McGrath, American singer and actor (“Sesame Street“) (born 1932)
2015 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (born 1930) (Video)
1993 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1940) (Video)
1984 – Jack Mercer, American animator, screenwriter, voice actor (voice of Popeye) , and singer (born 1910) (Video)
1975 – Hannah Arendt, German-American historian, theorist, and academic (born 1906)
1902 – Charles Dow, American journalist and publisher, co-founded the Dow Jones & Company (born 1851)
1850 – William Sturgeon, English physicist, invented the electric motor (born 1783)
1642 – Cardinal Richelieu, French cardinal and politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (born 1585)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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