ICE mugs blind man; Trump's war on reality; East Wing demolition continues; Putin starts nuclear drills; US debt hits $38 trillion; MAGA shutdown pain; Late Night covers it all.
It's National Boston Cream Pie Day!
ICE agents drag blind man across pavement and drop him on his head.
“They call Portland a war zone? The only people that’s making it a war zone is ICE.”
Immigration
Man shot in ICE confrontation was a ‘respected and admired’ citizen journalist with TikTok following.
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—Kevin G. Barkes
Donald Trump’s war on reality. A deepfake president molds perception to serve his own interests.
‘It’s your house. And he’s destroying it’: Trump demolishes White House East Wing.
Trump is trying—and failing—to shield MAGA from the shutdown. The administration has tried to hurt only “Democrat things.” It’s not that easy.
After others departed, Pentagon announces ‘new’ press corps filled with conservative news outlets, including such journalistic icons as LindellTV, run by “MyPillow” CEO Mike Lindell.
The new Republican voice of sanity Is … Marjorie Taylor Greene? Well, no… What her slight bending toward reality indicates, rather, is that Trump’s second-term policy agenda has almost no constituency at all.
As national debt accelerates to $38 trillion, watchdog warns it’s ‘no way for a great nation like America to run its finances’.
Putin directs drills of Russian nuclear forces as his summit with Trump is put on hold.
OpenAI’s new browser raises ‘insurmountably high’ security concerns. By default, it remembers everything.
‘It wasn’t my kid’: Florida man stages photos of toddlers holding a Glock, Michelob Ultra and a pound of marijuana, cops say.
It can rain monkeys in Florida, and the reason why dates back to the 1930s. (includes video.)
A ‘Death Train’ is haunting South Florida. Someone is killed by the high speed Brightline train, on average, once every 13 days. TLDR: “I think the concept of Florida Man is real. Unfortunately, we are dealing with a lot of people that don’t understand self-preservation.”
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.
Trump extorts DOJ for $230 million while government workers scramble to make ends meet - The Daily Show (Video)
How low can Donald Trump go? | A dubious Peace Prize | Failing the ICE fitness test. - Stephen Colbert (Video)
Trump’s shocking White House demolition and DOJ Payout; GOP insists he’s “Not a King”: A Closer Look - Seth Meyers (Video)
Jimmy Kimmel is dark this week.
Keep scrolling down. Lots of interesting stuff in On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths.
Quote of the Day:
In the end, science offers us the only way out of politics. And if we allow science to become politicized, then we are lost. We will enter the Internet version of the dark ages, an era of shifting fears and wild prejudices, transmitted to people who don’t know any better.
--Michael Crichton, remarks during a 2003 speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. (Wikipedia link)
(More Michael Crichton quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Disabled Women’s Equal Pay Day, Event Organizers Day, International Snow Leopard Day, Kabuki Syndrome Awareness Day, Mole Day, National Boston Cream Pie Day, National Canning Day, National Croc Day, National Horror Movie Day, National iPod Day, National Paralegal Day, National Slap Your Irritating Co-Worker Day, PTEN Awareness Day, Swallows Depart from San Juan Capistrano Day, TV Talk Show Host Day, and Wear Purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
(Not currently updating due to government shutdown.)
On This Day:
2001 – Adele released her single “Hello,” becoming the first song with more than a million downloads in its first week. (Video)
2001 – Apple Computer released the iPod.
1998 – Clinic doctor was killed by anti-abortion radical.
1995 – Yolanda Saldívar was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena.
1989 – An explosion at the Phillips Petroleum Company’s Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, which registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale, killed 23 and injured 314. (Video)
1983 – Lebanese Civil War: The U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut was hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French Army barracks in Lebanon was also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
1963 – The play “Barefoot in the Park” premiered on Broadway. (Video)
1958 – Belgian artist Peyo‘s comic characters, the Smurfs, made their debut in Spirou magazine.
1958 – Boris Pasternak won Nobel Prize for “Dr. Zhivago,” but later forced to refuse the honor by the Soviet government.
1956 – First video recording on magnetic tape was broadcast on NBC.
1941 – Walt Disney’s animated film “Dumbo” premiered in New York City. (Video)
1911 – The Italo-Turkish War saw the first use of an airplane in combat when an Italian pilot made a reconnaissance flight.
1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flew an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe.
1850 – The first National Women’s Rights Convention began in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1707 – The First Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain convened.
42 BC – Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat an army under Brutus in the second part of the Battle of Philippi, with Brutus committing suicide and ending the civil war.
4004 BC – James Ussher‘s purported creation date of the world according to his interpretation of the Bible.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1984 – Meghan McCain, American journalist, author, and television personality
1976 – Ryan Reynolds, Canadian-American actor and producer
1970 – Grant Imahara, American television presenter and engineer (died 2020)
1959 – “Weird Al” Yankovic, American comedy musician, writer, and actor (Video)
1959 – Sam Raimi, American director, screenwriter and producer
1956 – Dwight Yoakam, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1954 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Michael Crichton, American author and screenwriter (died 2008)
1940 – Pelé, Brazilian footballer and actor (died 2022)
1940 – Ellie Greenwich, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2009)
1936 – Philip Kaufman, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1931 – Diana Dors, English actress (died 1984)
1925 – Johnny Carson, American television host (died 2005) (Video)
1923 – Frank Sutton, American actor (died 1974)
1920 – Ted Fujita, Japanese-American meteorologist and academic (died 1998)
1918 – James Daly, American actor (died 1978)
1910 – Hayden Rorke, American actor (died 1987)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2024 – Jack Jones, American singer and actor (born 1938)
2020 – Jerry Jeff Walker, American singer-songwriter, wrote “Mr. Bojangles” (born 1942)
2016 – Jack Chick, American cartoonist and publisher, produced fundamentalist Christian tracts in comic book form. (“Chick Tract”) The books were either terrifying or hysterically funny, depending upon one’s perspective. Here’s a free sample. (born 1924)
2009 – Lou Jacobi, Canadian-American actor (born 1913)
2004 – Robert Merrill, American actor and singer (born 1919)
1994 – Robert Lansing, American actor (born 1928) (Video)
1984 – Oskar Werner, Austrian-German actor (born 1922)
1969 – Tommy Edwards, American singer-songwriter (born 1922)
1950 – Al Jolson, Lithuanian-American actor and singer (born 1886)
1939 – Zane Grey, American dentist and author (born 1872)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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I hope someone takes a case *pro bono* for him. Sue them for whatever he can get.
trump needs to be done away with