Chief of staff's wild revelations; GOP's ACA debacle; massive VA cuts; ballroom blitz; AI dystopia deepens; PornHub data leak
It's National Maple Syrup Day!
Trump chief of staff makes disastrous miscalculation in talks with reporter
Here’s the link to the Vanity Fair article. Sorry I can’t provide a free link. Vanity Fair doesn’t offer them. Free links to other outlets below.
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—Kevin G. Barkes
December 17 is the 351st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 14 days remain until the end of the year.
Johnson rules out House vote to extend health insurance subsidies. Though Mr. Johnson had signaled openness to allowing debate on the proposal, he ultimately rejected a bid to do so by politically vulnerable Republicans who had hoped for a vote that would, at the very least, allow them to show voters they had tried to avoid rising premiums.
Taking care of veterans? VA plans to abruptly eliminate tens of thousands of health care jobs. The cuts come after a massive reorganization effort already resulted in the loss of almost 30,000 employees this year.
Takeaways: Susie Wiles pulls back the curtain on the Trump administration in revealing interviews.
Trump’s top aide acknowledges ‘score settling’ behind prosecutions.
Susie Wiles may have screwed Trump’s revenge quest on Letitia James.
Trump fully embraces his chief of staff’s bonkers description of him. Donald Trump said what Susie Wiles said in her explosive interview with Vanity Fair was actually right.
Trump administration says White House ballroom construction is a matter of national security.
Judge not inclined to halt White House ballroom construction for now, but warns the White House.
Hegseth says he won’t release full boat strike video. The Pentagon chief also sidestepped a request for the House and Senate to view the Sept. 2 “double-tap” attack.
Spooked by AI and layoffs, white-collar workers see their security slip away.
Bosses are firing people in their 40s left and right. If you’re in your 40s, you’re in that strange career middle ground: experienced enough to lead, but expensive enough to be on the chopping block.
AI is about to empty Madison Avenue. Smart advertisements from Google, Meta, and Amazon sideline agencies and creative workers.
AI industry insiders living in fear of what they’re creating. They may be responsible for creating the AI tech that many fear will wipe out jobs — if not the entire human race — but at least they feel just as paranoid and miserable about where this is all going as the rest of us.
Kash Patel defends private jet use, and his girlfriend slaps down bizarre conspiracies she’s Mossad.
Earthquake swarm strikes California for fourth day as officials warn of 72% chance of the ‘Big One’ hitting. TLDR: Not from this swarm, though. The non-clickbait part of the article says ‘There is a 72 percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake occurring anywhere in the Bay Area between now and 2043. So we should all be aware and be prepared.”
Scientists say San Ramon’s latest earthquake swarm is normal, but residents are on edge.
Hacking group says it’s extorting Pornhub after stealing premium users’ viewing data. Information hacked included registered email addresses and location; activity type, such as which videos and channels watched, including the video name and web address; keywords associated with the video; and the date and time that the event was recorded. Question: Who signs up to pay for PornHub?
Creepy, indeed: Emily Blunt stars in creepy trailer for ‘Disclosure Day’, Which Sees Steven Spielberg return to the sci-fi genre.
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.
Rob Reiner and a night that tested Late Night. (LateNighter)
Trump’s chief of staff gives DOOZY of an interview, Merry Christmas is BACK and the best clip of 2025!-Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
Susie Wiles dishes on Trump and top officials | The ballroom bunker | Cockroach spies-Stephen Colbert (Video)
Seth and Sabrina Carpenter go day drinking.-Seth Meyers (Video)
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.
History highlight:
1903 – The Wright brothers made the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Quote of the Day:
When ‘whom’ is correct, recast the sentence.
--William Safire (Wikipedia link)
(More William Safire quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, National Device Appreciation Day, National Maple Syrup Day, National Say It Now Day, Pan American Aviation Day, and Wright Brothers Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
1989 – The Simpsons premiered on television with the episode “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire“. (Video)
1991 – Boris Yeltsin announced the Soviet Union would cease to exist by New Year’s Eve.
1984 – Clive Donner’s “A Christmas Carol”, starring George C. Scott, premiered on CBS. (Video)
1975 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme sentenced to life for assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford.
1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closed its study of UFOs.
1967 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
1963 – Clean Air Act became law.
1957 – The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1953 – The FCC approved RCA’s compatible system as the color television standard.
1943 – U.S. approved end to internment of Japanese Americans.
1943 – All Chinese are again permitted to become citizens of the United States upon the repeal of the Act of 1882 and the introduction of the Magnuson Act.
1938 – Otto Hahn discovered the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3.
1933 – The first NFL Championship Game was played at Wrigley Field in Chicago between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. The Bears won 23–21.
1903 – The Wright brothers made the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1896 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, was destroyed in a fire.
1892 – First issue of Vogue iwas published.
1835 – The second Great Fire of New York destroysed 53,000 square metres (13 acres) of New York City’s Financial District.
1790 – The Aztec calendar stone was discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.
1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognized the United States.
1665 – The first account of a blood transfusion was published in the form of a letter from physician Richard Lower to chemist Robert Boyle, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
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Some Birthdays:
1987 – Chelsea Manning, American soldier and intelligence analyst
1978 – Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer and politician
1975 – Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-American actress
1974 – Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
1974 – Sarah Paulson, American actress
1973 – Rian Johnson, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Laurie Holden, American actress and model
1966 – Tracy Byrd, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – Peter Farrelly, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Bill Pullman, American actor
1946 – Eugene Levy, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
1945 – Chris Matthews, American journalist and author
1945 – Ernie Hudson, American actor
1939 – Eddie Kendricks, American R&B singer-songwriter (died 1992)
1937 – Art Neville, American singer and keyboard player (died 2019)
1936 – Pope Francis (died 2025)
1931 – Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (died 2014)
1931 – Gerald Finnerman, American director and cinematographer (died 2011)
1930 – Bob Guccione, American photographer and publisher, founded Penthouse (died 2010)
1929 – William Safire, American journalist and author (died 2009)
1928 – Marilyn Beck, American journalist (died 2014)
1927 – Richard Long, American actor and director (died 1974)
1920 – Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist, developed the APL programming language (died 2004)
1913 – Burt Baskin, American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (died 1967)
1903 – Erskine Caldwell, American novelist and short story writer (died 1987)
1894 – Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (died 1979)
1807 – John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and activist (died 1892)
1797 – Joseph Henry, American physicist and engineer (died 1878)
1778 – Humphry Davy, English chemist and physicist (died 1829)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2020 – Jeremy Bulloch, English actor (born 1945)
2016 – Henry Heimlich, American doctor (born 1920)
2014 – Richard C. Hottelet, American journalist (born 1917)
2012 – Daniel Inouye, American captain and politician (born 1924)
2011 – Kim Jong-il, North Korean commander and politician, second Supreme Leader of North Korea (born 1941)
2009 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (born 1919)
2005 – Jack Anderson, American journalist and author (born 1922)
1999 – Rex Allen, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1920)
1992 – Dana Andrews, American actor (born 1909)
1933 – 13th Dalai Lama (born 1876)
1907 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (Lord Kelvin) Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (born 1824)
1857 – Francis Beaufort, Irish hydrographer and officer in the Royal Navy (born 1774)
1830 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan general and politician, second President of Venezuela (born 1783)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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