Alligators and tuberculosis in Florida, Musk on the way out at Tesla?
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KGB Report provides observations by and for the vaguely disenchanted. You’ll get a smile or two, maybe something outrageous, but always deep background about today’s date: information, essential and otherwise, for the day ahead.
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Knee Deep in the Hoopla
Wall Street Journal: Tesla’s board began the process to replace Elon Musk as CEO.
Elon Musk’s $2 trillion in miracle money forgotten as Trump administration rushes unfunded tax cuts. Republicans are moving forward with a plan to cut taxes that could prove costly for the federal government — without promised savings from DOGE.
“China disrupts Earth’s rotation”: NASA confirms massive project is slowing the planet with unprecedented global consequences. NASA confirms that China's monumental Three Gorges Dam project is subtly altering Earth's rotation, raising global environmental concerns.
Trump pressures journalist to accept doctored photo as real: ‘Why don’t you just say yes?’ Trump insisted García had MS-13 tattoos on his knuckles, while ABC’s Terry Moran – after several times gently disagreeing and trying to move to a new topic – eventually pointed out that the image Trump was referring to had obviously been digitally altered.
RFK Jr. will require shift in how new vaccines are tested, HHS says. The potential change outlined in a statement would require all new vaccines to undergo placebo testing, sparking concerns among medical experts. (Washington Post gift article)
Barefoot Florida man wrangles massive alligator along interstate. (Video)
AP FACT FOCUS: Trump touts his accomplishments at 100 days but at times falls short on the facts.
Trump blames Biden for shrinking economy as tariffs cause recession fears: Seth Meyer’s A Closer Look. (Video)
Stephen Miller: sucking the blood out of American Democracy | The Daily Show (Video)
Shirt of the day (click on image)
KGB Quote of the Day:
"Poor people have more fun than rich people, they say; and I notice it's the rich people who keep saying it."
--Jack Paar (Wikipedia link)
(More Jack Paar quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Among other things, today is- in no particular order of importance-
KGB REPORT STUFF! (Click on link) On This Day:
1006 – A supernova seen by observers across China, Japan, modern-day Iraq, Egypt, and Europe, in the constellation of Lupus.
1486 – Christopher Columbus proposed his plan to search for a western route to India in an audience with the Spanish monarch, Isabella I. Full support is granted three years later, in 1489.
1704 The Boston News-Letter published the first newspaper advertisement.
1707 – The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain took effect.
1718 – Spanish Catholic missionaries established Mission San Antonio de Valero (now known as Alamo Mission), the first of several settlements in what is now San Antonio, Texas.
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Carl Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1776 – Adam Weishaupt founded the secret society of the Bavarian Illuminati.
1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna with Mozart himself directing. (Video)
1840 – The Penny Black, the world’s first official adhesive postage stamp, was issued in the United Kingdom.
1851 – Queen Victoria opened The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London.
1866 – The Memphis Race Riots began. Over three days, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1886 – Rallies were held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.
1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrived in Washington, D.C.
1898 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroyed the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain lost all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors died. There were no American vessel losses or combat deaths.
1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster killed over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
1901 – Pan-American Exposition opened in Buffalo, New York
1915 – RMS Lusitania departed from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.
1920 – Longest major league baseball game by innings - Brooklyn Robins tie the Boston Braves, 1-1, in 26 innings
1926 – Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford’s office workers the following August.
1930 – "Pluto" was officially proposed for the name of the newly discovered dwarf planet by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory Observation Circular. The name quickly caught on.
1931 – The Empire State Building was dedicated in New York City.
1941 – Citizen Kane premiered at the Palace Theater in New York City. (Video)
1941 – General Mills introduced CheeriOats (renamed Cheerios in 1945).
1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was made available to the public.
1958 - First Law Day observed in the United States.
1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, was shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaimed Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections
1963 – Jim Whittaker became the first American to summit Mount Everest.
1964 – First BASIC program was run on a computer at Dartmouth College.
1969 – Children's educational television host Fred Rogers testified before the US Senate Subcommittee on Communications to secure funding for creation of PBS. (Video)
1970 – Vietnam War: Protests erupted in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.
1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) assumed operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacked the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.
1989 – Disney-MGM Studios theme park officially opened to the public.
1997 – Labour Party won the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair was elected as Prime Minister
1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.
1999 – Sneak peak of the animated series "SpongeBob SquarePants" debuts on Nickelodeon. (Video)
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
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Check out the KGB Quotation Database: over 52,500 searchable quotations!
Quotes by or about persons born on this date (Click on link after name for quotes):
1672 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1719)
1837 – Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones), teacher, dressmaker, organized labor representative, community organizer, and activist (d. 1930)
1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest, paleontologist, and philosopher (d. 1955)
1900 – Ignazio Silone, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1978)
1908 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist and author (d. 1968)
1908 – Morris Kline, American mathematician and academic (d. 1992)
1910 – J. Allen Hynek, American astronomer and ufologist (d. 1986)
1916 – Glenn Ford, Canadian-American actor and producer (d. 2006)
1918 – Jack Paar, American comedian, author and talk show host (d. 2004)
1923 – Joseph Heller, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1999)
1924 – Terry Southern, American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1939 – Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Rita Coolidge, American singer-songwriter
Other birthdays:
1852 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and professional scout (d. 1903)
1864 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)
1913 – Louis Nye, American actor (d. 2005)
1919 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (d. 2005)
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