SCOTUS tanks tariffs; everybody hates Elon; generational cognitive decline; axing Axe
It's International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day!
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—Kevin G. Barkes
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 311 days remain until the end of the year. Unfortunately, as of this writing, 1,061 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
How the Supreme Court spared America. The president is not a king, and is not entitled to practically unlimited power to impose tariffs.
EU says it won’t accept increase in US tariffs after Supreme Court ruling: ‘A deal is a deal’. Do they remember to whom they’re talking?
ICE Barbie orders MAGA makeover for Secret Service. New agents will get two tailored suits. The reported push came after Noem was displeased with how a protective detail was dressed in suits they had purchased themselves.
Dozens of jurors dismissed from Elon Musk Twitter takeover trial after his own lawyer admits so many ‘hate him’. Nearly 40 prospective jurors were quickly removed after they said they would not be able to put aside their biases.
Historians confirm: Tomorrow won’t be better than today. Things have gone too far too many times already. Case in point:
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents. Gen Z is less cognitively capable than previous generations, despite its unprecedented access to technology, and is the first generation in modern history to score lower on standardized tests than the previous one.
Why our brains can’t handle a modern economy. Insurance premiums and $50K SUVs blind Americans to the illnesses and accidents that never happen.
Trump’s FCC chair wants networks to run nationalistic content and pledge loyalty for America’s Big Birthday.
Why more lawmakers are quitting Congress, and what it means for the midterms. Ahead of the midterm elections, a wave of House and Senate members are retiring or running for other offices.
Only a fraction of House seats are competitive. Redistricting is driving that lower. More than 90% of congressional races will pretty much be decided during primary elections, which see far fewer voters participate than general elections.
AI is destroying grocery supply chains. The growing number of grocery store failures isn’t a coincidence, but the result of AI’s pernicious creep into the global food network.
What Trump’s UFO deep dive might reveal to Americans. TLDR: Probably not much.
Teens have doused themselves in Axe Body Spray for decades. Even Axe is over it. The brand is rolling out a new bottle with a more controlled sprayer; girlfriends, parents and teachers rejoice!
Keep scrolling… 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:
1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
Quote of the day:
There isn't any virtue where there has never been any temptation. Virtue is just temptation, overcome.
-Margaret Deland (Wikipedia link)
(More Margaret Deland quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Curling is Cool Day, Diesel Engine Day, International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day, MAND Awareness Day, National Banana Bread Day, National Hospitality Workers Appreciation Day, National Rationalization Day, National Tile Day, Play Tennis Day, and World Understanding and Peace Day.
On This Day:
2020 – Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, was shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.
2014 – Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete to play in the NBA, made U.S. sports history.
1998 – Tornadoes in central Florida destroyed or damaged 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.
1988 – Saddam Hussein began the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq.
1987 – Supernova 1987a was seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
1980 – Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stated that Iran’s parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
1958 – Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio was kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.
1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reached the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and were photographed raising the American flag.
1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fired artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.
1941 – Plutonium was first produced and isolated.
19410– Walt Disney’s animated movie “Pinocchio” was released. (Video)
1927 – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he described his uncertainty principle for the first time.
1927 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.
1903 – Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.
1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J’Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
1886 – Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminium from the electrolysis of aluminium oxide.
1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) began in San Antonio, Texas.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.
1455 – Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress (Video)
1983 – Emily Blunt, English actress
1983 – Aziz Ansari, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1981 – Josh Gad, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1976 – Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
1975 – Robert Lopez, American songwriter and playwright (Video)
1965 – Michael Dell, American businessman
1965 – Kristin Davis, American actress and producer
1951 – Patricia Richardson, American actress
1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2019) (Video)
1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (died 2008)
1915 – Paul Tibbets, American general and pilot (died 2007)
1899 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (died 1981)
1889 – Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (died 1949)
1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (died 1963)
1857 – Margaret Deland, American novelist, short story writer, and poet. (died 1945)
1685 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (died 1759)
1633 – Samuel Pepys, English diarist and politician (died 1703)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2019 – Katherine Helmond, American actress (born 1929)
1995 – James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (born 1916)
1965 – Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (born 1890)
1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer and academic (born 1857) (Video)
1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (born 1777)
1848 – John Quincy Adams, American politician, 6th President of the United States (born 1767)
1821 – John Keats, English poet (born 1795)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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