Naked riders; "Stupid and slimy"; changing the past; coal miners shafted; fault threatens northwest; Florida man (with video!)
It's National Chocolate-Covered Insect Day!
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Naked bike riders demonstrate against federal troops in ‘quintessentially Portland’ protest.
“Does this malevolent clown actually get credit for this?” Has Trump brought peace to Gaza? “Probably a mix of his Gulf prince buddies want it bad and he thinks he’ll get a Nobel Prize. In other words, reasons that are stupid and slimy.”
‘Who was president in 2020?’ Trump and GOP want you to think it was Biden. Covid and the ensuing lockdowns. The recession that followed. Civil unrest. And an historic attack on the US Capitol that shook our democracy to its core. Nearly all of it happened on President Donald Trump’s watch. But Trump and his allies are increasingly pitching an alternate version of history, one in which this was all overseen by Joe Biden
Coal miners with black lung say they are ‘cast aside to die’ under Trump. Trump has been a cheerleader for coal miners. But these miners say his administration is failing to enforce limits on a lethal workplace hazard.
Nice little TV network you got there… How easily has Trump rolled corporate media? So much more easily than he probably expected.
No longer a movie: A plate fault in the Pacific Ocean has been discovered, really threatening the USA.
Airports are pushing back against Kristi Noem’s shutdown propaganda. Across the country, airports are refusing to air a video from the Homeland Security chief blaming Democrats for the shutdown.
Elderly woman thought Elon Musk loved her and sent him over $50,000, claims family member. The imposter persuaded her to send money via Apple Gift Cards and cryptocurrency. She had come to believe that Musk was secretly in love with her and planning to whisk her away to an island home in the not-too-distant future.
Florida man steals $7K Worth of scratch-offs — then returns to store to redeem them.
Florida man turns grocery aisle into WWE event (with video).
Late Night
A message from the frog resistance. (Colbert cold open) (Video)
A Doozy Of A Week | No Nobel Prize | Trump’s War On America | Disease Experts Fired (Colbert) - (Video)
Trump Celebrates Ceasefire, Blames Biden for January 6th & RFK Claims Circumcision Linked to Autism (Kimmel) - (Video)
Keep scrolling down. Lots of interesting stuff in On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths.
Quote of the Day:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
--Hannah Arendt (Wikipedia link)
(More Hannah Arendt quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Ada Lovelace Day, Be Bald and Be Free Day, Global FPIES Day, International Face Your Fears Day, International Prokupac Day, National Chocolate-Covered Insect Day, National Dessert Day, National FRUMP Day, national lowercase day, National Real Sugar Day, Own Business Day, World Cavity-Free Future Day, World Metropolitan Day, and World Standards Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA. (Not currently updating due to government shutdown.)
On This Day:
2012 – Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped to Earth from a balloon in the stratosphere.
2003 – The Steve Bartman Incident took place at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.
1998 – Eric Rudolph was charged with six bombings, including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.
1994 – The film “Pulp Fiction” was released in the US. (Video)
1982 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed a War on Drugs.
1979 – The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights drew approximately 100,000 people.
1968 – Apollo program: The first live television broadcast by American astronauts in orbit was performed by the Apollo 7 crew.
1964 – The Soviet Presidium and the Communist Party Central Committee each voted to accept Nikita Khrushchev‘s “voluntary” request to retire from his offices.
1964 – Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.
1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis began when an American reconnaissance aircraft takes photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles being installed in Cuba.
1947 – “Wake Up Little Susie” became the Everly Brothers first #1 hit. (Video)
1947 – Flying the Bell XS-1 over Muroc Army Air Field in California, Captain Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in level flight, reaching Mach 1.05.
1944 – German General Erwin Rommel—aka “The Desert Fox”—died by suicide.
1912 – Former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot and mildly wounded by John Flammang Schrank in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Roosevelt delivers his scheduled speech.
1908 – The Chicago Cubs defeated the Detroit Tigers, 2–0, clinching the 1908 World Series; this would be their last until winning the 2016 World Series.
1892 – “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” was published.
1888 – Louis Le Prince filmed the first motion picture, Roundhay Garden Scene. (Video)
1884 – George Eastman received a U.S. Government patent on his new paper-strip photographic film.
1774 – American Revolution: The First Continental Congress denounced the British Parliament‘s Intolerable Acts and demanded British concessions.
1586 – Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial for conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1322 – Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland’s independence.
1066 – The Norman conquest of England began with the Battle of Hastings.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1993 – Charlie Kirk, American media personality and political activist (died 2025)
1978 – Usher, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
1974 – Natalie Maines, American singer-songwriter
1973 – George Floyd, American police brutality victim (died 2020)
1963 – Lori Petty, American actress
1961 – Isaac Mizrahi, American fashion designer
1958 – Thomas Dolby, English singer-songwriter and producer
1953 – Greg Evigan, American actor
1952 – Harry Anderson, American actor and screenwriter (died 2018)
1940 – Cliff Richard, Indian-English singer-songwriter and actor
1939 – Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
1927 – Roger Moore, English actor and producer (died 2017)
1916 – C. Everett Koop, American admiral and surgeon, 13th United States Surgeon General (died 2013)
1909 – Dorothy Kingsley, American screenwriter and producer (died 1997)
1906 – Hannah Arendt, German-American philosopher and theorist (died 1975)
1900 – W. Edwards Deming, American statistician, author, and academic (died 1993)
1894 – E. E. Cummings, American poet and playwright (died 1962)
1893 – Lillian Gish, American actress (died 1993)
1890 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and politician, 34th President of the United States (died 1969)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2022 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor, comedian and writer (born 1950)
2012 – Arlen Specter, American lieutenant and politician (born 1930)
2010 – Benoit Mandelbrot, Polish-American mathematician and economist (born 1924)
2010 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor, director, and producer (born 1952)
2009 – Lou Albano, American professional wrestler (born 1933)
2006 – Freddy Fender, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1937)
1998 – Frankie Yankovic, American accordion player (born 1916)
1998 – Cleveland Amory, American author and activist (born 1917)
1997 – Harold Robbins, American author (born 1915)
1990 – Leonard Bernstein, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1918)
1986 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (born 1916)
1977 – Bing Crosby, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1903)
1976 – Edith Evans, English actress (born 1888)
1959 – Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor, singer, and producer (born 1909)
1944 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (born 1891)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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