No Fourth fireworks, indigenous people s.o.l.
It's Save The Frogs Day!
We’re back, after an unexpected, medically-induced hiatus. Sorry for the interruption.
KGB Report provides observations by and for the vaguely disenchanted. You’ll get a smile or two, maybe something outrageous, but always deep background about today’s date: information, essential and otherwise, for the day ahead.
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Knee Deep in the Hoopla
The Trump/Musk firehose of folly continues, and it’s impossible to review all but the most egregious outrages here. The Associated Press, NBC, Aljazeera, and The Guardian are my picks for keeping up to date. Check out one or two, take a look, and come back here when you’ve had enough.
Trump’s grand plans for the country’s semiquincentennial (250th birthday) on July 4, 2026 may be a bust. Chinese fireworks makers, who supplied 98% of the 120,000 metric tons of fireworks used by the US in 2023, should be mass producing their pyrotechnic goods right now. But a US industry spokesman reports, “Very little production is happening. They have halted it.” (Washington Post Gift Article)
Taking on Musk, New York considers move to close Tesla dealerships. State lawmakers are pushing to revoke a legislative waiver that has let Tesla directly operate five New York dealerships, rather than sell cars through dealer franchises, as other carmakers must do. (New York Times gift article)
The Telegraph: Trump’s attempt to upend the global order has already been defeated. America has emerged from the trade war as an international laughing stock.
Trump says Columbus Day will now just be Columbus Day. Trump made clear he would not follow his predecessor’s practice of recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day in October, accusing Democrats of denigrating the explorer’s legacy as he pressed his campaign to restore what he argues are traditional American icons. What about egg prices and tariff-induced supply chain collapses? He’ll get to it, eventually…
Oops. Website for MAGA-friendly businesses backfires as people use it for boycotts.
A Florida man slithered into the valet key room of a luxury hotel and stole $2 million worth of cars. Police caught it on surveillance video; they were sufficiently impressed to add a music score to the clip: The Pink Panther Theme.
In the 60s, things were even crazier than they are now: the Vietnam war, civil rights, assassinations… but at least we had good, relevant music. (Video) (See the shirt of the day below.)
Shirt of the day (click on image)
KGB Quote of the Day:
"The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box."
--Harper Lee (Wikipedia link)
(More Harper Lee quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Among other things, today is- in no particular order of importance-
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
KGB REPORT STUFF! (Click on link) On This Day:
1789 – Fletcher Christian led a mutiny on HMS Bounty against its captain William Bligh in the South Pacific.
1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of organized baseball in Independence, Kansas.
1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and the crew of the "Kon-Tiki" began their journey from Peru to Polynesia.
1958 – The 104th and final episode of "Adventures of Superman" was first aired on ABC-TV. (Video)
1965 – "My Name is Barbra", Barbra Streisand's first television special, premiered on CBS. (Video)
1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refused his induction into the United States Army and was subsequently stripped of his championship and license.
1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd reached number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run. (Video)
1975 – Ringo Starr appeared on "The Smothers Brothers Show", singing Hoyt Axton's "No No Song". (Video)
1975 – John Lennon was the guest on Tom Snyder's "The Tomorrow Show", in what would be Lennon’s final television interview. (Video)
1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster were detected at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing was blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and fell to her death when part of the plane's fuselage ripped open in mid-flight. (Video)
2020 – US Department of Defense released three declassified videos of possible UFOs from 2004 and 2015. (Video)
2020 – US confirmed cases of COVID-19 passed one million, while death toll of 58,365 surpasses that of US soldiers killed in Vietnam War.
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Check out the KGB Quotation Database: over 52,500 searchable quotations!
Quotes by or about persons born on this date (Click on link after name for quotes):
1948 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer (Video)
Other birthdays:
1758 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, fifth President of the United States (d. 1831)
1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (d. 1954) (Video)
1911 – Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (d. 1999)
1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, fifth President of Iraq (d. 2006)
1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (d. 1995) (Video)
1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer (Video)
1960 – Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
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