Bizarro World takes over
February 13, 2025
Be sure to visit KGB Overset for all the memes, cartoons, humor, news, and miscellany that didn’t fit in today’s newsletter.
Knee Deep in the Hoopla
When ‘Just asking questions’ about science turns Into 300,000 dead. Robert F. Kennedy confirmed as health secretary.
Not hyperbole anymore: Musk is in charge of the US government. A DOGE operative, called a “DOGE Team Lead,” will be assigned to every agency, department, etc., of the federal government. That team lead, who will presumably report to Elon Musk since Musk is the head of DOGE, will be in charge of all hiring and firing decisions at their particular department. The EO lays out a government downsizing plan in which only one new government employee can be hired for every four who leave service. It adds various new reasons for termination. And it puts the overall plan for the downsizing in the hands of DOGE, which is to say, Musk.
Musk calls for the US to ‘delete entire agencies’ from the federal government.
Retired federal judge doesn't see much that courts can do to stop Trump's actions. She emphasized that a judge has many tools that could force an individual or company to comply, but not a president. She said the many enforcement tools afforded to the courts may not be effective against this administration.
I think they have it backwards: White House says judges balking at Trump’s actions are provoking a ‘constitutional crisis’.
House GOP releases budget calling for trillions in cuts to taxes and spending. It adds that the “goal of this concurrent resolution to reduce mandatory spending by $2 trillion” — referring to the part of the U.S. budget that includes Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits and more. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, dismissed the proposal. “This Republican plan isn’t just bad policy—it betrays the middle class. Their proposal slashes critical programs that millions of hardworking Americans rely on, all while adding trillions of dollars to the deficit to bankroll massive giveaways for giant corporations and billionaires like Elon Musk.”
NATO is in disarray after the US announces that its security priorities lie elsewhere. “The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must — and we are — focusing on security of our own borders,” Hegseth said. Mexico and Canada are invading?!
Shirt of the Day
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KGB Quote of the day: Thomas Robert Malthus
If a country can only be rich by running a successful race for low wages, I should be disposed to say at once, perish such riches!
--Thomas Robert Malthus (Wikipedia link)
(More Charles Darwin quotes on the KGB Quotations Database)
Among other things, today is- in no particular order of importance-
Dream Your Sweet Day, Employee Legal Awareness Day, Galentine's Day (also Palentine’s Day), Get a Different Name Day, Giving Hearts Day, International Day of Self Love (aka International Natural Day), Kiss Day, National Break Up With Your Carrier Day, National Cheddar Day, National Crab Rangoon Day, National Tortellini Day, and World Radio Day.
Some persons born on this date with quotable quotes (Click on link after name for quotes):
1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and scholar (d. 1834)
1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier (d. 2020)
1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati (d. 2023)
Other birthdays:
1885 – Bess Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)
1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991)
1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
1934 – George Segal, American actor (d. 2021)
1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (d. 2019)
1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (d. 2019)
1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress[
1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician
1951 – David Naughton, American actor and singer
On This Day:
1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
1972 – Film adaptation of "Cabaret" released.
1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
1996 – "Rent" by Jonathan Larson premieres off-Broadway
2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
2021 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his second impeachment trial.
2021 – A major winter storm causes blackouts and kills at least 82 people in Texas and northern Mexico.
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