Vote to limit war powers; IRS shield stays put; WH UFC arena permanent; people coming out of manholes; college freshmen are dumb.
It's National Cheese Day!
Michael Kosta covers the primary elections in California and New Jersey: Spencer Pratt’s campaign for L.A. mayor gets picked up for a second season, California teases its first Latino governor since 1875, and New Jersey congressional candidate Tom Kean continues to be MIA. Plus, Trump floats the idea of keeping his UFC ring on the White House lawn, and Ronny Chieng explains why Tom Kean’s absence is what American voters are looking for.
KGB Report is assembled by an aging human and contains no intentional A.I. generated material.
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 210 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 960 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
GOP-led House votes to limit Trump’s Iran War powers. The measure passed 215-208, with four Republicans joining Democrats in support. The resolution, which is unlikely to become law, directs the president to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by Congress, other than to defend America, an ally or partner from “imminent attack.”
(Wall Street Journal gift article)Order shielding Trump family from IRS audits will remain, Blanche says.
(New York Times gift article)‘60 Minutes’ in turmoil after longtime correspondent Scott Pelley is fired. (NPR)
What Trump’s new plan for the 250th reveals. In one post, he called himself “the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime.” (The Atlantic gift article)
Trump says ‘maybe we’ll never ever’ take down UFC arena on White House lawn. (Reuters)
College professors say incoming students no longer understand middle school math and science. We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics.” (Futurism)
‘A fundamentally new threat’: Researchers develop new AI-powered worm that might be unstoppable. A team of cybersecurity experts have shown how a self-replicating AI agent can take over a computer network at almost no cost. (Gizmodo)
Priest removed as exorcist after his comments on UFOs and demons. Monsignor Stephen Rossetti had suggested that UFO sightings were the work of demons.
(NBC News)New York police investigate mysterious cases of people coming out of manholes. Investigation follows circulation of videos showing groups climbing out of sewer systems across the city at night. (The Guardian)
Late Night:
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Trump brags about his brain, crowd size and pool, CBS fires Scott Pelley and Don Jr.’s honeymoon video. (Video)
Late Night with Seth Meyers: Seth takes a closer look at the Trump administration backing down on their January 6 slush fund after national outrage and a revolt from Republican senators and voters. (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:
1896 – Henry Ford completed the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile.
Quote of the Day:
If you have not done things worthy of being written about, at least write things worthy of being read.
--Giacomo Casanova (Wikipedia link)
(More Giacomo Casanova quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Audacity to Hope Day, Hug your Cat Day, International Corgi Day, International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, National Cheese Day, National Clean Beauty Day, National Cognac Day, National Moonshine Day, National SAFE Day, Old Maid’s Day, and Shopping Cart Day.
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On This Day:
2010 – Falcon 9 Flight 1 was the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40.
2003 – Martha Stewart indicted for securities fraud and obstruction of justice.
1998 – Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
1989 – The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests were suppressed in Beijing by the People’s Liberation Army, with between 241 and 10,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).
1986 – Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
1977 – JVC introduced its VHS videotape at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.
1961 – Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparked the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
1944 – World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captured the German Kriegsmarine submarine U-505, the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway begsn. Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo ordered a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ended: the British Armed Forces completed evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.
1939 – The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 973 German Jewish refugees, was denied permission to land in Florida after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps.
1919 – Women’s rights: The U.S. Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed suffrage to women, and sent it to the U.S. states for ratification.
1912 – Massachusetts became the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
1896 – Henry Ford completed the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile.
1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco via the first transcontinental railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
2004 – Mackenzie Ziegler, American child actress, dancer, and recording artist
1981 – T.J. Miller, American actor and comedian
1976 – Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and politician (died 2024)
1975 – Angelina Jolie, American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and activist
1975 – Russell Brand, English comedian and actor
1971 – Noah Wyle, American actor and producer
1961 – El DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and producer
1956 – Keith David, American actor
1945 – Gordon Waller, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2009)
1944 – Michelle Phillips, American singer-songwriter and actress
1937 – Freddy Fender, American singer and guitarist (died 2006)
1936 – Bruce Dern, American actor
1932 – John Drew Barrymore, American actor (died 2004)
1928 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American sex therapist, talk show host, professor, author, and Holocaust survivor (died 2024)
1924 – Dennis Weaver, American actor and director (died 2006)
1917 – Robert Merrill, American actor and singer (died 2004)
1907 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (died 1976)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2021 – Clarence Williams III, American actor (born 1939)
1992 – Carl Stotz, American businessman, founded Little League Baseball (born 1910)
1989 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (born 1917)
1970 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (born 1911)
1968 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (born 1898)
1798 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and author (born 1725)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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