Trump unhingement continues; Bernie's A.I. warning; allies have nowhere to turn; Waffle House folk debunk teleportation claim; ChatGPT can be hazardous to your health
It's National Beer Day!
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Trump’s totally unhinged Easter weekend, “ultimatum” for Iran and hospitalization rumors.
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The newsletter is published Monday through Thursday (holidays excepted).
—Kevin G. Barkes
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 268 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 1,018 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
The latest on the Iran war from the Associated Press.
Trump is putting America’s weaknesses on display. What China can learn about the limits of American military capacity. (The Atlantic gift article)
Bernie Sanders: AI is a threat to everything the American people hold dear. It kills jobs, equality, connection, democracy and maybe the human race. Congress must act. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Trump proposes to cut 9,400 TSA workers, $1.5 billion from budget. (Reuters)
Allies fear they are tied to an erratic U.S. and now have nowhere to turn. Friendly countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East are frustrated with President Trump but also reliant on the U.S. for their security. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Trump, 79, grips onto Melania for dear life down White House steps. Trump sparked fresh questions about his health on Monday after appearing unsteady while descending the steps at the White House Easter Egg Roll, clutching the First Lady, Melania, for support. (Daily Beast)
Waffle House employees didn’t see FEMA official who says he teleported to Georgia location. One longtime server said that she's "seen it all," but she's "never seen that," referring to Gregg Phillips' teleportation claim. (People)
Why is the New York Times laundering the reputation of a sleazy AI startup that’s selling GLP-1s via a dishonest dumpster fire of fake doctors, phony before-and-after pictures, and other glaring red flags? (Futurism)
Here’s how many Americans have ever thought about shooting someone else? A recent sobering study shows that a sizable amount of people in the U.S. have seriously considered shooting someone else at least once in their lives. (Gizmodo)
The ChatGPT symptom spiral. Be careful asking chatbots about your health. (The Atlantic gift article)
Late Night:
CBS Hands 11:35 to Byron Allen in post-Colbert overhaul. CBS has sold off its hour-long time period starting at 11:35 pm, which has for more than 30 years been occupied by two of the biggest stars in late-night history, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Company.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: President Trump boasted about plans to blow up civilian infrastructure in Iran, children attending a White House Easter event got an earful from the president, and the Artemis II crew has flown farther than any human has gone before. (Video)
Cold Open: The g**damn White House Easter mother****in’ egg roll. Fun for the whole family! (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:
1969 – The Internet‘s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
Quote of the day:
Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you wouldn’t have in your home.
--David Frost (Wikipedia link)
(More David Frost quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Empowered Women Entrepreneurs Day, International Beaver Day, International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, International Snailpapers Day, Metric System Day, National Beer Day, National Coffee Cake Day, National Making The First Move Day, National No Housework Day, National Pet Health Insurance Day, Public Television Day, SAAM Day of Action, World Health Day, and World Health Organization Day.
On This Day:
2022 – Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed for the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the first black female justice.
2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: China ended its lockdown in Wuhan.
2005 – First release of Git distributed version control system.
2003 – Iraq War: U.S. troops captured Baghdad; Saddam Hussein‘s Ba’athist regime falls two days later.
1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severed relations with Iran.
1978 – Development of the neutron bomb was canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
1969 – The Internet‘s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
1964 – IBM announced the System/360.
1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his “domino theory“ speech during a news conference.
1950 – President Truman received NSC-68 report, calling for “containing” Soviet expansion.
1949 – Tony-winning musical “South Pacific” opened on Broadway
1948 – The World Health Organization was established by the United Nations.
1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
1943 – The National Football League made helmets mandatory.
1940 – Booker T. Washington became the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
1933 – Prohibition in the United States was repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
1927 – AT&T engineer Herbert Ives transmits the first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupted and devastated Naples.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeated the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
1788 – Settlers establish Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent settlement created by U.S. citizens in the recently organized Northwest Territory.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1988 – Ed Speleers, English actor and producer
1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, director, producer, and screenwriter
1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects designer and makeup artist (died 2008)
1946 – Robert Metcalfe, American engineer and entrepreneur (co-invented Ethernet)
1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (died 2002)
1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (died 2013)
1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, investor, and producer (died 2015)
1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author (died 2023)
1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (died 1972)
1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (died 2014)
1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1998)
1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (died 2003)
1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (died 2012)
1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 1959)
1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (died 1977)
1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (died 1976)
1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (died 1972)
1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (died 1998)
1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (died 1951)
1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (died 1850)
1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (died 1552)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2020 – John Prine, American country folk singer-songwriter (born 1946)
2015 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (born 1926)
2012 – Mike Wallace, American television news journalist (born 1918)
2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (born 1947)
2007 – Johnny Hart, American author and illustrator (born 1931)
2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (born 1917)
2002 – John Agar, American actor (born 1921)
2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (born 1914)
1981 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (born 1899)
1972 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (born 1929)
1955 – Theda Bara, American actress (born 1885)
1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (born 1863)
1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman and politician, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (born 1810)
1663 – Francis Cooke, English-American settler (born 1583)
1614 – El Greco, Greek-Spanish painter and sculptor (born 1541)
AD 30 – Jesus Christ (possible date of the crucifixion) (born circa 4 BC)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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