Tanker seized; Trump fading; Congressional pressure; $1 million doorstop; AI-enhanced "super-humans"; Trump's unhinged speech
It's National Have a Bagel Day!
Trump Accidentally Pardoned the Pipe Bomber?
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What we know about The Skipper, the oil tanker seized by the U.S. near Venezuela.
Trump has lost his political superpower. A foreign perspective: “…the politician who could once detect and shape the public zeitgeist now appears out of touch — cloistered, flanked by the elite and motivated by naked self-interest.
House advances annual defense policy bill, upping pressure on boat strike video release. The specific provision would withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget unless the Pentagon complies with various oversight requirements, including providing the House and Senate Armed Services committees “video of strikes conducted against designated terrorist organizations in the area of responsibility of the United States Southern Command.”
Fed cuts interest rates by a quarter point amid apparent split over US economy.
‘Be careful what you wish for’: Top economist warns any additional interest rate cuts after today would signal the economy is slipping into danger.
Trump’s redistricting push finds resistance in Indiana. Republican-led states have raced to redraw congressional lines to advantage their own party. But the effort hit unexpected pushback in Indiana.
Supreme Court declines to hear Texas book ban appeal in case watched by free speech groups. A lower federal appeals court had ruled that removing books did not violate Constitutional free speech protections. The Texas case has already been used to ban books in other areas of the country.
Rock used as doorstop for decades revealed to be worth over $1 million. Wonder how much I could get for a stubborn cat?
Bezos and Musk race to bring data centers to space. Deploying satellites as data centers, the thinking goes, would allow the AI industry to avoid Earthly headaches, such as securing the immense amounts of power needed to train AI models.
Gray hair may have evolved as a protection against cancer. TLDR: If you’re a mouse. They haven’t studied humans yet.
15-year-old earns PhD in quantum physics, now plans to build AI-enhanced ‘super-humans’. Gee, what could go wrong?
Jeff Garcia, stand-up comic and ‘Jimmy Neutron’ voice actor, dies at 50. According to TMZ, he had suffered a cerebral aneurysm in the spring and a stroke more recently and died at a Southern California hospital after being taken off life support.
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.
Fox News clarifies Trump loves “miners” and female reporters are on Trump’s s**t list | The Daily Show (Video)
Trump delivers crazy offensive racist speech, calls Jimmy Kimmel a moron and brags about his health.-Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
David Letterman on life after late-night, self-driving cars and being a bad hugger. (Video)
Trump voters blame him for the high cost of living | Farwell, Metaverse | Rubio vs. Calibri-Stephen Colbert (Video)
Trump gives himself an “A+++++” on economy amid job cuts and rising prices: A Closer Look-Seth Meyers (Video)
History highlight:
2008 – Bernie Madoff was arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
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:
Only a well-fed, well-housed, well-schooled people can enjoy the blessings of liberty.
--Fiorello LaGuardia (Wikipedia link)
(More Fiorello LaGuardia quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Holiday Food Drive for Needy Animals Day, International Mountain Day, National App Day, National Have a Bagel Day, National Indiana Day, National Noodle Ring Day, National Stretching Day, and UNICEF Birthday.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
2008 – Bernie Madoff was arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
2001 – China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).
1997 – The Kyoto Protocol opened for signature.
1994 – First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin ordered Russian troops into Chechnya.
1987 – The film “Wall Street” was released. (Video)
1980 – The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) was enacted by the U.S. Congress.
1980 – “Magnum, P.I.” premiered on CBS. (Video)
1978 – The Lufthansa heist was committed by a group led by Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time and became a major plot element in the 1990 film Goodfellas.
1972 – Apollo 17 became the sixth and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon.
1967 – The film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” premiered in New York. (Video)
1964 – Che Guevara spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
1963 – Frank Sinatra Jr. was released by kidnappers.
1962 – Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, was the last person to be executed in Canada.
1962 – The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” became the first Motown release to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (Video)
1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established.
1941 – World War II: Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, following the Americans’ declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declared war on them.
1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII‘s abdication as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India, became effective.
1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, took his last drink and entered treatment for the final time.
1913 – More than two years after it was stolen from the Louvre, Leonardo da Vinci‘s painting Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence, Italy. The thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, was immediately arrested.
1901 – Guglielmo Marconi transmitted the first transatlantic radio signal from Poldhu, Cornwall, England to Saint John’s, Newfoundland.
1816 – Indiana became the 19th U.S. state.
1792 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France was put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
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Some Birthdays:
1996 – Hailee Steinfeld, American actress, singer and songwriter
1954 – Jermaine Jackson, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1953 – Bess Armstrong, American actress
1949 – Christina Onassis, Greek-Argentine businesswoman, socialite, and heiress (died 1988)
1944 – Brenda Lee, American singer-songwriter (Video)
1944 – Lynda Day George, American actress
1944 – Teri Garr, American actress and comedian (died 2024)
1943 – John Kerry, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 68th United States Secretary of State
1940 – Donna Mills, American actress and producer
1939 – Tom Hayden, American activist and politician (died 2016)
1931 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress, singer, and dancer (Video)
1926 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer-songwriter (died 1984) (Video)
1918 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist, historian, and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2008)
1912 – Carlo Ponti, Italian-Swiss film producer (died 2007)
1882 – Fiorello H. La Guardia, American lawyer and politician, 99th Mayor of New York City (died 1947)
1863 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer and academic (died 1941)
1843 – Robert Koch, German microbiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1910)
1803 – Hector Berlioz, French composer, conductor, and critic (died 1869)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2023 – Andre Braugher, American actor (born 1962)
2021 – Anne Rice, American author (born 1941)
2012 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (born 1920)
2008 – Bettie Page, American model (born 1923)
1991 – Robert Q. Lewis, American actor, comedian, game show host/panelist, and television personality (born 1921)
1971 – Maurice McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald’s (born 1902)
1968 – Arthur Hays Sulzberger, American publisher (born 1891)
1964 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (born 1888)
1964 – Sam Cooke, American singer-songwriter (born 1931)
1880 – Oliver Winchester, American businessman, founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company (born 1810)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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[Substack is so freaking weird! I never know what topics will be in my feed (the stories of most authors I subscribe to don't appear)].. then there's something like this, a multi topic summary covering far to many issues to have a coherent comments discussion.]
-On the subject of the oil tanker, this is a lot less than "what we know". Your source is CBS news, which has been taken control of by right wing backstabber Bari Weiss. Anyone who trusts CBS these days might as well go watch Fox.