Trump DOJ grift; MAHA grift; Amazon ditching humans; mosquitos in Iceland; US 'religious' states have issues; the net will break again.
It's National Tavern-Style Pizza Day!
Trump said to demand Justice Dept. pay him $230 million for past cases. (NY Times free article.) Senior department officials who were defense lawyers for the president and those in his orbit are now in jobs that typically must approve any such payout, underscoring potential ethical conflicts.
Trump says he’d have final say on money he seeks over past federal investigations into his conduct.
Trump pick to lead federal watchdog agency withdraws after offensive text messages were revealed. …a text chat… showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.”
Not See: The app that cleans up your Fascist-loving messages. (Video)
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Study: Religious US states have higher rates of gun violence, illiteracy, obesity, incarceration and anti-depressant use.
Who benefits from the MAHA anti-science push? “It blows my mind that I’m going to watch the Republicans carry the supplement industry and the holistic health industry and chiropractors and the acupuncturists into the promised land…”
Anti-science bills hit statehouses, stripping away public health protections built over a century. More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year, part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law.
What to know about the $250 million ballroom Trump is adding to the White House. The 90,000-square-foot ballroom will dwarf the main White House itself, at nearly double the size, and Trump says it will accommodate 999 people.
Treasury clamps down on sharing of White House demolition. Treasury employees have a front-seat view to the construction, since the department’s headquarters are located by the East Wing. As images of the facade’s dismantling went viral Monday night, the Treasury Department warned its staff of “security” issues related to sharing the photos.
Leaked Amazon plans say robots will help it avoid hiring 600,000 workers. The e-commerce giant’s automation team reportedly plans to automate 75% of company operations.
The Internet is going to break again. Everything is in “the cloud” now, except the cloud is a real place, and it’s in Northern Virginia.
Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as temperatures in the region rise. Now, Antarctica is the only location on Earth without the vector-carrying insect, according to the World Population Review.
Ancient lead exposure may have helped humans evolve over Neanderthals, study finds.
Threat to eat the neighbor’s dog gets knife-wielding Florida man arrested.
Late Night:
Why is there a Late Night section? Because the comedians, unfettered by institutional journalistic inhibitions, often provide much more accurate observations and analysis.
Trump wrecks White House and new GOP Nazi group chat drops | The Daily Show (Video)
The White House is being demolished | The GOP’s “Nazi Streak” continues | Cops tackle giant penis- Stephen Colbert (Video)
Trump demolishes the East Wing of the White House for new ballroom.-Late Night with Seth Meyers (Video)
Jimmy Kimmel is dark this week.
Keep scrolling down. Lots of interesting stuff in On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths.
Quote of the Day:
Think for yourself and question authority.
--Timothy Leary (Wikipedia link)
(More Timothy Leary quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Birth of the Báb, Clean Up the Earth Day, Eat a Pretzel Day, Fechner Day, INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, International Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Day, International Stuttering Awareness Day, Lung Health Day, Medical Assistants Recognition Day, National Color Day, National Knee Day, National Make A Dog’s Day, National Nut Day, National Scar Appreciation Day, National Sparkling Water Day, National Tavern-Style Pizza Day, Smart is Cool Day, and Unity Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
(Not currently updating due to government shutdown.)
On This Day:
2012 – Cyclist Lance Armstrong was formally stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after being charged for doping.
2005 – Tropical Storm Alpha formed in the Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season the most active Atlantic hurricane season until surpassed by the 2020 season.
1981 – The US Federal Labor Relations Authority voted to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) for its strike the previous August.
1975 – The Soviet uncrewed space mission Venera 9 landed on Venus.
1972 – South Vietnamese President Thieu turned down peace proposal.
1965 – 173rd Airborne trooper dove onto live grenade, saving comrades.
1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signed the Highway Beautification Act.
1964 – Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he does not accept the prize.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announced that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he had ordered a naval “quarantine” of the Communist nation.
1957 – American forces suffered first casualties in Vietnam.
1939 – NBC became the first network to televise a pro football game; Brooklyn Dodgers beat Philadelphia Eagles, 23-14 at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field
1934 – In East Liverpool, Ohio, FBI agents shot and killed notorious bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd.
1926 – Boxer J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punched magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in his dressing room at the Princess Theater in Montreal. The attack started or helped cause the appendicitis that would take Houdini‘s life nine days later.
1910 – Hawley Harvey Crippen (the first felon to be arrested with the help of radio) was convicted of poisoning his wife.
1907 – A run on the stock of the Knickerbocker Trust Company set events in motion that sparked the Panic of 1907.
1884 – The International Meridian Conference designated the Royal Observatory, Greenwich as the world’s prime meridian.
1883 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City opened with a performance of Charles Gounod‘s Faust.
1879 – Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb; the bulb lasted 131⁄2 hours before burning out.
1844 – The Millerites (followers of Baptist preacher William Miller) anticipated the end of the world in conjunction with the Second Advent of Christ. The following day becomes known as the Great Disappointment.
1797 – André-Jacques Garnerin made the first recorded parachute jump, from 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above Paris.
1746 – The College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) received its charter.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1990 – Jonathan Lipnicki, American actor
1985 – Zac Hanson, American singer-songwriter and drummer
1981 – Michael Fishman, American actor and producer
1975 – Jesse Tyler Ferguson, American actor
1972 – Saffron Burrows, English-American actress
1965 – Valeria Golino, Italian actress
1963 – Brian Boitano, American figure skater
1962 – Bob Odenkirk, American actor and comedian
1959 – Marc Shaiman, American composer and songwriter
1952 – Jeff Goldblum, American actor and producer
1946 – Deepak Chopra, Indian-American physician and author
1943 – Catherine Deneuve, French actress and singer
1943 – Jan de Bont, Dutch director, producer, and cinematographer
1943 – Catherine E. Coulson, American actress (died 2015)
1942 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (died 2013)
1942 – Bobby Fuller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1966)
1939 – Tony Roberts, American actor and singer (died 2025)
1938 – Christopher Lloyd, American actor, comedian and producer (Video)
1937 – Alan Ladd Jr., American film producer and executive (died 2022)
1936 – Bobby Seale, American political activist and author, co-founder of the Black Panther Party
1920 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (died 1996)
1919 – Doris Lessing, British novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
1917 – Joan Fontaine, English-American actress (died 2013)
1913 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-American photographer and journalist (died 1954)
1903 – Curly Howard, American comedian and vaudevillian (died 1952) (Video)
1844 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress and manager (died 1923)
1811 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist and composer (died 1886)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2024 – Fernando Valenzuela, Mexican baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1960)
2024 – Lynda Obst, American film producer and author (born 1950)
2024 – Grizzly 399, American grizzly bear (born 1996)
2021 – Peter Scolari, American actor (born 1955)
2015 – Murphy Anderson, American illustrator (born 1926)
2009 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (born 1926)
2006 – Arthur Hill, Canadian-American actor (born 1922)
2002 – Richard Helms, American intelligence agent and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (born 1913)
1995 – Mary Wickes, American actress and singer (born 1910)
1995 – Kingsley Amis, English novelist, poet, critic (born 1922)
1992 – Cleavon Little, American actor (born 1939
1992 – Red Barber, American sportscaster (born 1908)
1989 – Ewan MacColl, English singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and playwright (born 1915)
1973 – Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (born 1876)
1934 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (born 1904)
1906 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (born 1839)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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This piece really made me think, especialy the bit about the anti-science push. It's like trying to debug a really messy algorithm when some people just push outright nonsense. You definitly nail the grift. So frustrating to watch these narratives spread when critical thinking is so vital!
👍