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
A new trend in global elections: the Anti-Trump Bump. In voting in Canada and Australia, right-wing parties that borrowed from the MAGA playbook were punished. Elsewhere, President Trump is having a more complex impact. (New York Times gift article.)
Trump says ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he’s required to uphold Constitution. (Washington Post gift article)
Elon Musk’s ethical minefield, mapped. His companies rely on government contracts and are regulated by government agencies. They’ve been investigated, sued and fined by government investigators. Musk has gutted or replaced the heads of agencies that have vexed him.
Do not open this PDF on a Microsoft Windows PC. And do not open any of these PDFs on your phone.
Army pilot claims he distributed LSD for religious reasons. He “also believes Bitcoin to be sacred” because it allows him to distribute allegedly sacramental LSD to others who share his beliefs.
Shirt of the day (click on image)
KGB Quote of the Day:
"What's sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose."
--Karl Marx (Wikipedia link)
(More Karl Marx quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Among other things, today is- in no particular order of importance-
On This Day:
1260 – Kublai Khan became ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1494 – On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sighted Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declaring Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown.
1809 – Mary Kies became the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
1821 – Emperor Napoleon died in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
1821 – The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, was published.
1835 – The first railway in continental Europe opened between Brussels and Mechelen.
1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halted a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
1868 - Martha Jones became first black woman to receive a U.S. patent.
1886 – Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what became known as the Bay View Massacre.
1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) had its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
1893 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 24% in a single day, intensifying the Panic of 1893.
1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
1912 – The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda was published.
1920 – Authorities arrested Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.
1921 - Chanel No. 5 perfume was launched.
1925 - Tennessee authorities arrested John T. Scopes, for teaching evolution.
1936 - Edward Ravenscroft patented the screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip.
1942 - US began rationing sugar during World War II.
1945 – World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army killed six people near Bly, Oregon, the only fatalities of World War II in the contiguous U.S.
1952 - "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" (also known as "Vitameatavegamin") episode of "I Love Lucy" premiered. (The episode was directed by Marc Daniels, who would go on to direct 15 episodes of the original Star Trek series.) (Video)
1961 – Project Mercury: Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. (Video)
1962 – The "West Side Story" motion picture soundtrack album reached #1 on the Billboard LP chart, where it remained for 54 weeks, giving it the longest run at No. 1 of any album in history.
1973 - Columbia Records released "There Goes Rhymin' Simon", the third solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon; it featured songs "Loves Me Like a Rock", "Kodachrome", and "American Tune".
1973 – Secretariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record. (Video)
1989 - "Field of Dreams" was released. (Burt Lancaster’s final film role.) (Video)
2002 - “Spider-Man” became the first movie to top $100 million in its opening weekend. (Video)
2012 - Japan shut down its last working nuclear reactor, leaving the country with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since 1970.
2023 – The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.
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):
1813 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (d. 1855)
1818 – Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist, and journalist (d. 1883)
1890 – Christopher Morley, American journalist and author (d. 1957)
1943 – Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter (Video)
1980 – Hank Green, American entrepreneur, educator, and vlogger
Other birthdays:
1864 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (d. 1922)
1914 – Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958)
1927 – Pat Carroll, American actress (d. 2022) (Video)
1932 – Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (d. 2014)
1940 – Lance Henriksen, American actor
1942 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1944 – John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter
1944 – Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 2015) (Video)
1959 – Brian Williams, American journalist
1983 – Henry Cavill, English actor
1988 – Adele, English singer-songwriter
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