Trump hits peak grift; Elon compares self to Jesus; Google Search is dead; bye bye Schlitz
It's National Quiche Lorraine Day!
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The newsletter is published Monday through Thursday, holidays and medical procedures excepted.
—Kevin G. Barkes
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 225 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 975 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
Trump’s deal with his administration also ends tax audits for him, his children, and his companies. An addendum to the agreement creating a $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization’ fund stipulates that government will cease tax inquiries into Trump and his businesses. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Leaked IRS memo proves how blatant Trump’s slush fund theft really is. The IRS knew Trump’s lawsuit could be easily thrown out in court. The Department of Justice didn’t listen. (New Republic)
Heads, Trump wins. Tails, he still wins—at taxpayers’ expense.
(The Atlantic gift article)The Commander in Thief. What would happen if you gave a criminal defendant and his attorney control of the most powerful government in the world? (Nextdraft)
Trump Mobile finally has a real phone, but it may also have a real data leak. A security exploit may have revealed sensitive customer data, and that isn't the only embarrassing aspect for the company. The alleged leak may also suggest Trump Mobile’s real order numbers are far lower than previously reported.
(Android Authority)Elon Musk compares his work to miracles performed by Jesus Christ. “They’re sort of what I might call Jesus-level technologies.” (Futurism)
Families caring for disabled relatives face unthinkable choices as Medicaid cuts loom. President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” state budget turmoil and new attacks on paid family caregiving have people fearing financial ruin as they fight to keep loved ones out of institutions. (NBC News)
Google Search is dead. Welcome to the era of the ‘Intelligent Search Box’. Google is turning Search into a fully AI-infused experience. (Gizmodo)
‘Brutal’: Growing tribe of jobless techies is stuck in Silicon Valley’s new reality. The class divide is widening in Silicon Valley as a tiny group of employees are landing unprecedented packages for their AI skills, while many others struggle to find work.
(Los Angeles Times via MSN)Book on truth in the age of A.I. contains quotes made up by A.I. Steven Rosenbaum, author of “The Future of Truth,” said he had started his own investigation after The New York Times asked about the fake quotes.
(New York Times gift article)Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk apparently used AI to help her write her latest novel. (Literary Hub)
Schlitz, “The beer that made Milwaukee famous,” to brew last batch after 177 years. Pabst bought the brand in 1999, and recently announced that it will be ending production, citing declining demand and rising storage costs. (CBS News)
Melatonin is linked to heart failure in recent study. (Earth.com)
Late Night:
People interview: Stephen Colbert on the end of ‘The Late Show,’ what’s next and why CBS might have “saved” his life. (Video)
The Daily Show: Trump taps his acting attorney general and former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to use his $1.8 billion IRS settlement as a slush fund for January 6ers, the president reportedly boosted his stock purchases by heaping praise on companies he invested in, the White House ballroom gets "complex" architecture and favor-hungry corporate donors, and Ronny Chieng uses his law degree to break down what this cascade of corruption means for Trump. (Video)
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Trump makes his most brazenly corrupt move ever, blabs about ballroom and backs off Iran deadline. (Video)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Insurrectionists hit the jackpot | A Middle East chill pill | How the ballroom ties together. (Video)
Cold Open: How President Trump negotiates with himself. (Video)
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:
2015 – The last episode of the Late Show with David Letterman aired on CBS. (Video)
Quote of the Day:
Did you ever get the feeling the world is a tuxedo, and you’re a pair of brown shoes?
--George Gobel (Wikipedia link)
(More George Gobel quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Be a Millionaire Day, Eliza Doolittle Day, Emergency Medical Services for Children Day, Flower Day, International Behçet’s Awareness Day, International Clinical Trials Day, International Red Sneakers Day, Josephine Baker Day, National Juice Slush Day, National Psychometrist Day, National Quiche Lorraine Day, National Rescue Dog Day, National Streaming Day, National SugarBee Apple Day, Pick Strawberries Day, Turn Beauty Inside Out Day, Weights and Measures Day, World Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Arthritis Day, World Bee Day, World Flour Day, World Metrology Day, and World Product Day.
On This Day:
2019 – The International System of Units (SI): The base units were redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.
2015 – The last episode of the Late Show with David Letterman aired on CBS. (Video)
2013 – An EF5 tornado struck the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others. (Video)
1996 – Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
1989 – The Chinese authorities declared martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.
1969 – The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ended.
1964 – Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
1956 – In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb was dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1932 – Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
1927 – Charles Lindbergh took off for Paris from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landing 331⁄2 hours later.
1902 – Cuba gained independence from the United States.
1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison‘s prototype kinetoscope.
1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano exploded three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers.
1609 – Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India when he arrived at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
325 – The First Council of Nicaea was formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
2012 – Doug the Pug, American celebrity dog (Video)
1990 – Josh O’Connor, British actor
1981 – Rachel Platten, American singer and songwriter
1972 – Busta Rhymes, American rapper, producer, and actor
1968 – Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer
1966 – Dan Abrams, American journalist and author
1960 – Tony Goldwyn, American actor and director
1959 – Susan Cowsill, American singer-songwriter (Video)
1958 – Ron Reagan, American journalist and radio host
1949 – Dave Thomas, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (Video)
1944 – Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (died 2014) (Video)
1927 – David Hedison, American actor (died 2019)
1919 – George Gobel, American comedian (died 1991)
1915 – Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1981)
1913 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (died 2001)
1911 – Gardner Fox, American author (died 1986)
1908 – James Stewart, American actor (died 1997)
1818 – William Fargo, American businessman and politician, co-founded Wells Fargo and American Express (died 1881)
1806 – John Stuart Mill, English economist, civil servant, and philosopher (died 1873)
1799 – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (died 1850)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2025 – George Wendt, American actor and comedian (born 1948) (Video)
2011 – Randy Savage, American wrestler and actor (born 1952)
1996 – Jon Pertwee, English actor, portrayed the Third Doctor (born 1919
1989 – Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (born 1946) (Video)
1956 – Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (born 1872)
1506 – Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (born 1451)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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