"Today's maniacal criminality distracts us from yesterday's maniac crimes, which reminds me, where are the Epstein files?"-Stephen Colbert
It's National New England Clam Chowder Day!
One hour, forty-two minutes and 39 seconds of a semi-coherent stream of blithering idiocy riddled with delusional claims and bald-faced lies.
If you’re not a masochist, I suggest instead watching the Late Night videos below, particularly Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. While delivering their comedy monologues, both hosts reflected upon the chaos of Trump’s first year in office in a manner conventional broadcast news formats cannot.
Colbert noted that in the past year alone, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, held a giant military parade on his birthday, said he wants Canada to be our 51st state, signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship, tore down the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom, covered the remaining parts of the White House in golden geegaws, forced Paramount to make Rush Hour 4, made himself of the Kennedy Center Board, then renamed it as the Trump Kennedy Center, and personally pocketed $1,408,500,00. And that’s not even a complete list.
“And guess what?” Colbert asked. “You didn’t remember most of that stuff, because every single day there’s some new Trump horror dominating the headlines. “
“Today’s maniacal criminality distracts us from yesterday’s maniac crimes, which reminds me, where are the Epstein files? Nothing yet? Really? It’s the law! You signed it! Just checking.”
But Colbert’s best observation: “He didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, so he’s going to ruin peace. The same way he didn’t an Emmy for his reality show, so he ruined reality.”
Some lawmakers are suggesting using section four of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office, but that procedure is onerous and even less likely to succeed than the impeachment process.
One of either of the following is necessary to eject the Embarrassment in Chief from office: a come to Jesus moment by Republicans in the Senate who would vote for impeachment; or a midterm rout that would flip both houses to the Democrats.
Tom Rogan of the Wall Street Journal published “How To Destroy Trump’s Presidency”, (gift article) in which he suggests an attack on Greenland would cause Trump and MAGA to immediately implode. “America is exceptional because, more than any other nation or political organization in history, it has defended democratic sovereignty simply because it is the right thing to do,” Rogan wrote. “If the U.S. invades Greenland, it’ll catapult us into a world in which might makes right” and push Europe into the arms of China.
Subscriptions are free. There are no paywalls hiding stuff. Everything is visible to all levels of subscribers. That said, a paid subscription will help keep the lights on and, more importantly, keep the puppies and kitties in kibble and litter.
If you like what we’re doing but don’t want to go the paid subscription route, please consider donating a buck or two. Every little bit helps. In this case, it’s not a cliché, but the truth.
—Kevin G. Barkes
January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 344 days remain until the end of the year. Unfortunately, as of this writing, 1,094 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
(Note: none of the links below are behind paywalls. They’re either on free sites or are gift articles. If you land on a page obscured by pop-ups asking for your email or showing a subscription offer, just look in the upper right corner of the pop-up for the close icon.)
Those of us who try to follow the news are nearing burnout from the events of the last three days. Rather than throw a bunch of links at you, here’s last night’s summary of Trump’s ongoing cloud of chaos from the Washington Post (free link)
The Posting Presidency has never felt more impotent. From Minnesota to Greenland, Trump knows that he’s losing the propaganda war.
Davos Man may burn the whole thing down. The president will speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, tomorrow, and he appears prepared to shatter the nearly 80-year-old NATO alliance in order to seize Greenland.
Renee Good was trapped in SUV, responders tried to revive her as partner Becca was taken to hospital.
Greenland’s prime minister tells his citizens he cannot rule out an American attack, as officials weigh stockpiling food after Trump threats.
Canada prepping response to hypothetical US military invasion for first time in a century.
Canada’s PM praised for speech marking end of ‘rules-based order’.
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.
It would appear the late night shows have concluded Trump is, in fact, insane.
Nobel prize snub fuels Trump’s Greenland threats and Macron pushes back at Davos | The Daily Show (Video)
Trump on verge of war over Nobel Peace Prize snub and he celebrates his first year in office-Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
One exhausting year | Americans pay for Trump’s tariffs | No obligation to make peace-Stephen Colbert (Video)
Trump takes home the world’s biggest prize. (Video)
Trump urges Congress to pass his “great health care plan;”-Leave Stephen Miller alone! -Seth Meyers (Video)
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.
History highlight:
1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War.
Quote of the day:
Even if I am a model of personal righteousness, that does not excuse my participation in social evil. The man who is faithful to his wife while he exercises bigotry toward his neighbor is no better than the adulterer who crusades for social justice.
-R.C. Sproul (Wikipedia link)
Today’s holidays:
International Playdate Day, International Sweatpants Day, Museum Selfie Day, National Granola Bar Day, National Hugging Day, National Hyaluronic Acid Day, National New England Clam Chowder Day, One-Liners Day, Own Your Own Home Day, and Squirrel Appreciation Day.
On This Day:
2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participated in a large-scale women’s march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump‘s first full day as President of the United States.
2009 – Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continued in the weeks to follow.
2009 – Toyota officially passed GM as planet’s biggest car maker
1999 – War on drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepted a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board
1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
1981 – Production of the DeLorean sports car began in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
1978 – The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and remained in that spot for 24 weeks. and stayed on Billboard's album charts for 120 weeks until March 1980.
1977 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War.
1976 – Commercial service of Concorde began with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
1968 – A B-52 bomber crashed near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptured. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
1968 – Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins
1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury.
1924 – Vladimir Lenin died.
1915 – Kiwanis International was founded in Detroit.
1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally took place.
1908 – New York City passed the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine.
1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, was printed in Boston.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Read for free with Kindle Unlimited!
Some Birthdays:
1994 – Booboo Stewart, American actor
1990 – Kelly Rohrbach, American model and actress
1984 – Luke Grimes, American actor
1981 – David F. Sandberg, Swedish filmmaker
1970 – Ken Leung, American actor
1956 – Robby Benson, American actor and director
1956 – Geena Davis, American actress and producer
1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian-English singer-songwriter
1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actres
1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (died 2003)
1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2020)
1941 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)
1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor and conductor
1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer and sportscaster
1938 – Wolfman Jack, radio personality (died 1995)
1926 – Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder and actor (died 2000)
1926 – Clive Donner, British director (died 2010)
1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (died 1992)
1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (died 1994)
1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (died 1957)
1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker, founded The Flying Wallendas (died 1978)
1889 – Edith Tolkien, wife and muse of J. R. R. Tolkien (died 1971)
1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (died 1863)
1815 – Horace Wells, American dentist who pioneered the use of nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) (died 1848)
1738 – Ethan Allen, American general (died 1789)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2022 – Louie Anderson, American actor and comedian (born 1953) (Video)
2020 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1942)
2019 – Kaye Ballard, American actress (born 1925)
1999 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (born 1938)
1998 – Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (born 1920)
1984 – Jackie Wilson, American singer (born 1934) (Video)
1967 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (born 1915)
1959 – Carl Switzer, American child actor (“Alfalfa”) and hunting guide (born 1927)
1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1881)
1950 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (born 1903)
1938 – Georges Méliès, French actor, director, and producer (born 1861)
1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (born 1870)
1901 – Elisha Gray, American engineer, co-founded Western Electric (born 1835)
1793 – Louis XVI of France (born 1754)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
If you like KGB Report, please share with a friend.
Subscribers get all content for free. If you sign up for a paid subscription, you get my eternal gratitude, and maybe some occasional photos of the dogs and cats here at the South Park Casa de Pelaje y Cajas de Arena.
Old KGBReport.com archives (not the stuff here on Substack), all the way back to the previous century.
Current weather in South Park, PA (Personal station on Weather Underground)
KGB Quotations Database Search (KGB Quote-A-Matic)
DCL Dialogue Online (an archive of my DCL Dialogue columns which appeared in DEC Professional (later renamed Digital Age) magazine from March, 1987 through December, 1995.)
Did the US really defend democratic sovereignty because it was the right thing to do? Or, did it defended its sovereignty by wrapping it in a propaganda made of democratic ideals it never lived up to and never really had the intention of doing?
There's a contradiction between the primacy of money, which is the US's first unspoken rule, and democratic ideals.