Ballroom blitz; Trump at SCOTUS hearing; mail voting order questioned; Lincoln Memorial's giant toilet.
It's National Soylent Green Day!
Desi Lydic dives into Lindsey Graham’s wartime day off at Disney World, Pete Hegseth's poetic take on the Iran War, Trump's flailing on the Strait of Hormuz as gas prices reach over $4 a gallon, and the leaked sexcapades of Kristi Noem’s husband that make her f**k plane look tame.
Subscriptions are free. There are no paywalls hiding stuff and links to paywalled sources are provided via gift articles (just close the popups asking for emails or subscriptions). That said, a paid subscription will help keep the lights on and, more importantly, keep the puppies and kitties in kibble and litter. If you don’t want to go the paid subscription route, please consider donating a buck or two.
The newsletter is published Monday through Thursday (holidays excepted).
—Kevin G. Barkes
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
April 1 is the 91st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 274 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 1,024 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
The latest on the Iran war from the Associated Press.
Judge halts construction of Trump’s White House ballroom. Decision says construction on the estimated $400 million project can’t proceed until Congress authorizes it. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Trump’s order ending funding for public media is unconstitutional, judge rules. The court sided with NPR and PBS and blocked the order, finding that it had punished them for coverage the president disliked. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Trump signs order seeking federal control of mail voting as he promotes false claims. Election experts and Democratic officials called the order legally invalid, and Arizona and Oregon pledged to immediately challenge it in court. (New York Times gift article)
Trump to make unprecedented Supreme Court visit for birthright citizenship. Trump is planning to make an unprecedented appearance at the Supreme Court as the justices weigh whether his administration can restrict birthright citizenship. No sitting president has attended a Supreme Court argument. (USA Today)
Hegseth exonerates helicopter crews over Kid Rock flyby, nullifying Army probe. “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, Patriots,” the Pentagon chief wrote on social media hours after military officials announced they had grounded the pilots involved. (Washington Post gift article)
Why there’s a giant golden toilet near the Lincoln Memorial. In an emailed statement to USA TODAY, The Secret Handshake said visitors are allowed to take photos by sitting on the golden throne. The installation is titled “A Throne Fit For a King.” (USA Today)
If you need a laptop, buy it now. Electronics are getting more expensive and worse. Blame the AI boom. (The Atlantic gift article)
Good news! You can finally change that ridiculous Gmail address. Google will let all U.S. users change usernames as of today. Here’s how. (Gizmodo)
Late Night:
Seth Meyers taking extended ‘Late Night’ leave, plus Kimmel out too. (TV Insider)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: President Trump appears willing to walk away from the disaster he created in the Middle East, Pope Leo XIV rejected the idea that Jesus would support America’s war, and a judge ruled that Trump must cease work on his White House ballroom. (Video)
Keep scrolling… 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.
History highlight:
2004 – Google launched its Email service Gmail.
Quote of the day:
Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring. It was peace.
--Milan Kundera (Wikipedia link)
(More Milan Kundera quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
April Fools’ Day, Assyrian New Year, Boomer Bonus Day, Fossil Fools Day, Global Day of the Engineer, Holy Wednesday, International Edible Book Festival, International Fun at Work Day, International Tatting Day, Lupus Alert Day, National Atheist’s Day, National Day of Hope, National Jump in Muddy Puddles Day, National Love for our Children Day, National One Cent Day, National Sourdough Bread Day, National Soylent Green Day, National Tom Foolerys Day, National Trombone Players Day, National Walking Day, Paraprofessional Appreciation Day, Poetry and the Creative Mind Day, Reading is Funny Day, Sorry Charlie Day, St. Stupid’s Day, US Air Force Academy Day, and Whole Grain Sampling Day.
On This Day:
2017 – In a private ceremony, Bob Dylan accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
2004 – Google launched its Email service Gmail.
2001 – Same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrendered to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
1985 – Nike released its Air Jordan shoes to the general public.
1984 – Singer Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father in his home in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, California.
1979 – Iran became an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1978 - The last episode of “The Bob Newhart Show” aired on CBS. (Video)
1976 – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, Inc.
1972 - The first major league baseball players’ strike began.
1970 – President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, which banned cigarette advertising on radio or television.
1969 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, entered service with the Royal Air Force.
1963 – The soap operas “General Hospital” and “The Doctors” premiered.
1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmitted the first television picture from space.
1954 – President Eisenhower authorized the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1954 – WQED-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first community-sponsored television station in the U.S. and the country's fifth public television station, began broadcasting.
1946 – The 8.6 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake struck the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.
1939 – Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announced the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered.
1924 – Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years fortress confinement for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch“ but spent only nine months in jail.
1873 – The White Star steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
1867 – Singapore became a British crown colony.
1789 – In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieved its first quorum and elected Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1973 – Rachel Maddow, American journalist and author
1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer (Video)
1953 – Barry Sonnenfeld, American cinematographer, director, and producer
1952 – Annette O’Toole, American actress
1950 – Samuel Alito, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1949 – Paul Manafort, American lobbyist, political consultant, and convicted felon
1942 – Samuel R. Delany, American author and critic
1939 – Ali MacGraw, American model and actress
1932 – Debbie Reynolds, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2016)
1930 – Grace Lee Whitney, American actress and singer (died 2015)
1929 – Jane Powell, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2021)
1929 – Milan Kundera, Czech-French novelist, poet, and playwright (died 2023)
1926 – Anne McCaffrey, American-Irish author (died 2011)
1920 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (died 1997)
1917 – Sydney Newman, Canadian screenwriter and producer, co-created Doctor Who (died 1997)
1917 – Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2007)
1908 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (died 1970)
1901 – Whittaker Chambers, American journalist and spy (died 1961)
1885 – Wallace Beery, American actor (died 1949)
1883 – Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1930)
1873 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1943)
1815 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (died 1898)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2025 – Val Kilmer, American actor (born 1959)[172]
2025 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter (born 1938)
2024 – Joe Flaherty, American actor, writer, and comedian (born 1941) (Video)
2019 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction author (born 1948)
2018 – Steven Bochco, American television writer and producer (born 1943)
2010 – John Forsythe, American actor (born 1918)
2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (born 1945)
1993 – Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (born 1954)
1991 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (born 1894)
1984 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (born 1939) (Video)
1965 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman (born 1870)
1917 – Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer (born 1868)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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.
Read for free with Kindle Unlimited!
If you like KGB Report, please share with a friend.
Subscribers get all content for free. If you sign up for a paid subscription, you get my eternal gratitude, and maybe some occasional photos of the dogs and cats here at the South Park Casa de Pelaje y Cajas de Arena.
Old KGBReport.com archives (not the stuff here on Substack), all the way back to the previous century.
Current weather in South Park, PA (Personal station on Weather Underground)
KGB Quotations Database Search (KGB Quote-A-Matic)
DCL Dialogue Online (an archive of my DCL Dialogue columns which appeared in DEC Professional (later renamed Digital Age) magazine from March, 1987 through December, 1995.)