Rob Reiner, wife murdered; AI "adult mode" chat is near, as well as impending doom; nasty norovirus spreading; cockroach spies; What Fourth Amendment?; meat-eating 'death-ball' sponges.
It's National Cupcake Day!
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Rob Reiner, All in the Family star and When Harry Met Sally director, dead at 78 along with wife in apparent homicide. People says the murderer was their son.
Anti-ICE protesters disrupt Homeland Security hearing with exorcism oath: ‘The power of Christ compels you!’. (Video) Worth a try.
Trump hit with massive lawsuit over his tacky ballroom. In a 65-page complaint filed Friday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation argued that Trump did not have the constitutional authority to fast-track construction for a project of this scale, and has violated the Administrative Procedures Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
CBP agents held this U.S. Citizen for hours until he agreed to let them search his electronic devices. A federal lawsuit argues that the agency’s policy of perusing travelers’ personal data without a warrant or probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment.
Confirmed by the IRS and the Department of the Treasury – in 2026, cash withdrawals exceeding $1,000will trigger a thorough review of financial transactions. (This is inaccurate.)ChatGPT adult mode launch: controversial update promises unfiltered expression.
Anthropic’s chief scientist says we’re rapidly approaching the moment that could doom us all. Brace for impact.
Nasty norovirus is spreading, and it can’t be killed by hand sanitizer: ‘You’re miserable for 48 hours’.
Cockroaches, fitted with tiny backpacks, could be part of the future of spycraft, search-and-rescue missions. SWARM Biotactics, a German startup, is working to fit cockroaches with tiny backpacks that could carry cameras, microphones, and Doppler radar.
Meet the latest deep-sea horror: meat-eating ‘death-ball’ sponges.
Marijuana study reveals risks that could outweigh benefits amid warning on new side effect. TLDR: Abdominal pain and severe or prolonged vomiting (cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS)).
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 Air Force One press conference cold open - SNL (Video)
Weekend Update: Trump struggles to focus at rally, claims affordability is “new word” - SNL (Video)
SNL draws backlash over apparent AI-generated imagery.
Weekend Update: Long Island outspends nations on OnlyFans, Pantone’s controversial color of the year - SNL (Video)
History highlight:
2011 – U.S. declared an end to the War in Iraq.
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.
Quote of the Day:
If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.
--J. Paul Getty (Wikipedia link)
(More J. Paul Getty quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Bill of Rights Day, Cat Herders’ Day, Hanukkah begins, International Tea Day, National Cupcake Day, National Gingerbread Latte Day, National Lemon Cupcake Day, National Wear Your Pearls Day, World Turkic Language Family Day, and Zamenhof Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
2011 – U.S. declared an end to the War in Iraq.
2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.
2000 – The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was shut down.
1981 – A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, leveled the embassy and killed 61 people, including Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.
1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).
1973 – The American Psychiatric Association voted 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.
1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, was found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10
1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully landed on Venus. It was the first successful soft landing on another planet.
1961 – Eichmann trial: Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in an outlawed organization.
1945 – Occupation of Japan/Shinto Directive: General Douglas MacArthur ordered that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.
1944 – Legendary bandleader Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel.
1939 – Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) premiered at Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. (Video)
1917 – World War I: An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers was signed.
1903 – Italian American food cart vendor Italo Marchiony received a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that made ice cream cones.
1890 – Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull was killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.
1836 – The U.S. Patent Office building in Washington, D.C., nearly burned to the ground, destroying all 9,957 patents issued by the federal government to that date, as well as 7,000 related patent models.
1791 – The Bill of Rights was finally ratified.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
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Some Birthdays:
1982 – Charlie Cox, English actor (Daredevil)
1979 – Adam Brody, American actor
1970 – Michael Shanks, Canadian actor, screenwriter and director
1968 – Garrett Wang, American actor
1963 – Helen Slater, American actress
1952 – Julie Taymor, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Melanie Chartoff, American actress and comedian
1949 – Don Johnson, American actor
1948 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (died 1991)
1939 – Cindy Birdsong, American singer-songwriter
1939 – Dave Clark, English musician and songwriter
1933 – Tim Conway, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2019) (Video)
1923 – Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist and mathematician (died 2020)
1921 – Alan Freed, American radio host (died 1965)
1920 – Kurt Schaffenberger, German-American sergeant and illustrator (died 2002)
1919 – Max Yasgur, American dairy farmer and host of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (died 1973)
1918 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (died 1961)
1911 – Stan Kenton, American pianist and composer (died 1979)
1907 – Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and the Cathedral of Brasília (died 2012)
1907 – Gordon Douglas, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1993)
1892 – J. Paul Getty, American-English businessman and art collector, founded Getty Oil (died 1976)
1852 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1908)
1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French architect and engineer, co-designed the Eiffel Tower (died 1923)
AD 37 – Nero, Roman emperor (died 68)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2013 – Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (born 1917)
2011 – Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (born 1949)
2010 – Blake Edwards, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)
2009 – Oral Roberts, American evangelist (born 1918)
2005 – William Proxmire, American soldier, journalist, and politician (born 1915)
1984 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (born 1904)
1978 – Chill Wills, American actor (born 1903)
1966 – Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (born 1901)
1962 – Charles Laughton, English-American actor, director, and producer (born 1899)
1958 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900)
1944 – Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (born 1904)
1943 – Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1904)
1890 – Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota tribal chief (born 1831)
1878 – Alfred Bird, English chemist and businessman, invented baking powder (born 1811)
1819 – Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (born 1749)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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Wow, the part about the Fourth Amendment and CBP’s device searches really stood out to me. The constant tension between security measures and fundemental constitutional rights is a crucial area of legal discourse, and your piece illuminates these complexities effectively.
I guess no overseas tourists will bring the virus to their country because there won’t be any tourists.