We’re publishing Tuesday-Friday this week. Then things should be back to the regular schedule.
KGB Report is published Monday through Thursday (usually), is assembled by an aging human, and contains no intentional A.I. generated material.
August 20 is the 232nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 133 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 883 days remain in Trump’s final term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
U.S. debt just topped $40 trillion: how we got here. The country’s “total public debt outstanding” officially hit $40.047 trillion on Tuesday, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday, ticking up from $39.987 trillion a day earlier. The U.S. has hit a new borrowing milestone, while debt as a share of GDP nears levels last seen during World War II. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
U.S. national debt by year. (Investopedia)
Then-VP Dick Cheney told Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill in late 2002, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” He wasn’t speaking in terms of the monetary deficit itself, but rather that voters generally don’t penalize the incumbent party for running up the debt, especially if it shores up the economy (e.g., COVID-19 and American Rescue Plan Act, Inflation Reduction Act.) Of course, that doesn’t stop it from being a political issue, but in general Republicans are only worried about the national debt during Democratic administrations. (KGB)
White House dealing with sudden exodus as staffers flee. Seven of Trump’s 16 Senate-confirmed appointees have either been fired from or left the Treasury Department. Four of those seven left after specific disapproval of the Trump administration’s efforts to bend and/or break tax law. (The New Republic)
European Central Bank warns that AI crash is looming. An analysis published by the European Central Bank made the case that a “market correction” to AI investment euphoria is not only highly probable, but carries the potential for far-reaching consequences in Europe and beyond. (Futurism)
Diesel in California rises to $7 a gallon as wars in Europe and Middle East strain supply. Refiners are booking big profits as the margin to turn crude into diesel has surged to $100 per barrel. Diesel fuels the economy and higher prices will be felt by consumers. (CNBC)
Explainer: Why the real oil squeeze is happening in refineries. Disruptions across the Middle East and Russia have tightened refined-product markets, sending profits from converting crude into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel soaring. (Wall Steet Journal gift article)
Yet another explainer: The ‘crack spread’ is going to make your life unpleasant. It certainly sounds unpleasant. (It’s the difference between the cost of a barrel of crude and the prices of the refined products made from it.) (New York Times gift article)
Millions of Comcast WiFi routers can now tell when you’re moving around the house. Sounds neat, until you get to the fine print: “Comcast may disclose information generated by your WiFi Motion to third parties without further notice to you in connection with any law enforcement investigation or proceeding, any dispute to which Comcast is a party, or pursuant to a court order or subpoena.” (Gizmodo)
Amazon Prime Air drone delivery is expanding to nearly 500 cities and towns this year. It’s worth reading to learn how the durn things work. (Amazon News)
We may now know which neurons dictate when it is time to go to sleep. Ah heck, clickbait. The head should read: We may now know which neurons dictate when it is time to go to sleep… in mice. Interesting article, but check back in a couple years. (New Scientist)
Scientists discover a new organ hiding in the skull. What is it with these science writers? Scientists discover a new organ hiding in the skull… of freaking mice. “Researchers say there are signs that humans have them, too.” Signs? We need more than that, Skippy. Wonder if the editors are engaging is some kind of sick clickbait contest? (ScienceAlert)
Doctors explain how Moderna’s melanoma mRNA vaccine could fight deadliest form of skin cancer. And it’s for use in- drum roll- humans! (CBS News)
Florida man told ChatGPT he’d murder his ex. OpenAI alerted the FBI. OpenAI flagged a Florida man’s ChatGPT messages after he plotted to rape and murder his ex-girlfriend. Remember: chatbots are not your friend. (The Detroit News)
In A Closer Look Out of Office, a podcast filling in for Late Night with Seth Meyers extended hiatus, Seth and writer Sal Gentile take a closer look at Trump hiding in a catering truck to sneak off Air Force One, DOJ dropping their Reflecting Pool case against a former Olympian, and Jeanine Pirro folding like an umbrella. (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:
1911 – Blazingly fast around-the-world telegram sent, 66 years before Voyager II launch. It took 16.5 minutes, traveling more than 28,000 miles.
Quote of the day:
As for the Republicans- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical ‘American heritage’...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.
--H.P. Lovecraft (in a letter to C.L. Moore in August 1936) (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,783 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)
Click here for more H.P. Lovecraft quotes.
Today’s holidays:
International Day of Medical Transporters, International Hawaiian Pizza Day, National Accessible Air Travel Day, National Bacon Lover’s Day, National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day, National Hazy IPA Day, National Lemonade Day, National Radio Day, Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (SHAAD), Virtual Worlds Day, and World Mosquito Day.
Subscriptions are free. There are no paywalls hiding stuff and links to paywalled sources are provided via gift articles (just close the popups asking for emails or subscriptions). 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 don’t want to go the paid subscription route, please consider donating a buck or two.
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—Kevin G. Barkes (KGB)
On This Day:
1998 – U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launched cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec could not legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rallied outside the Soviet Union’s parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
1989 – The Menendez brothers murdered their parents.
1988 – “Black Saturday” of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park.
1988 – Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire was agreed after almost eight years of war.
1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill shot and killed 14 of his co-workers and then committed suicide.
1977 – Voyager program: NASA launched the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
1975 – Viking program: NASA launched the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
1974 – Gerald Ford selected Nelson Rockefeller as vice president.
1968 – Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation was limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refused to participate.
1962 – The NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarked on its maiden voyage.
1940 – In Mexico City, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He died the next day.
1938 – Lou Gehrig hit his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.
1920 – The National Football League was organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio.
1911 – Blazingly fast around-the-world telegram sent, 66 years before Voyager II launch. It took 16.5 minutes, traveling more than 28,000 miles.
1910 – Extreme fire weather in the Inland Northwest of the United States caused many small wildfires to coalesce into the Great Fire of 1910, burning approximately 3 million acres (12,000 km2) and killing 87 people.
1882 – Tchaikovsky‘s 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow, Russia. (Video)
1858 – Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace‘s same theory.
1794 – Northwest Indian War: United States troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
1707 – The first Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1995 – Liana Liberato, American actress
1992 – Alex Newell, American actor and singer
1992 – Demi Lovato, American singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Manny Jacinto, Canadian actor
1983 – Andrew Garfield, American-English actor
1981 – Ben Barnes, English actor
1974 – Amy Adams, American actress
1971 – Ke Huy Quan, Vietnamese-American actor
1969 – Billy Gardell, American comedian, actor, and producer
1966 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2004)
1962 – James Marsters, American actor
1958 – David O. Russell, American director and screenwriter
1956 – Joan Allen, American actress
1954 – Al Roker, American news anchor, television personality, and author
1953 – Peter Horton, American actor and director
1952 – Doug Fieger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2010)
1951 – Greg Bear, American author (died 2022)
1948 – Robert Plant, English singer-songwriter
1948 – John Noble, Australian actor and director
1947 – Ray Wise, American actor
1946 – Connie Chung, American journalist
1943 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (died 2008) (Video)
1937 – Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian director, producer, and screenwriter
1935 – Ron Paul, American captain, physician, and politician
1932 – Anthony Ainley, English actor (died 2004)
1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter
1923 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (died 1964)
1918 – Jacqueline Susann, American actress and author (died 1974)
1890 – H. P. Lovecraft, American short story writer, editor, novelist (died 1937)
1886 – Paul Tillich, German-American philosopher and theologian (died 1965)
1881 – Edgar Guest, English-American poet and author (died 1959)
1833 – Benjamin Harrison, American general, lawyer, and politician, 23rd President of the United States (died 1901)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2017 – Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (born 1926)
2013 – Ted Post, American director and screenwriter (born 1918)
2013 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter (born 1925)
2012 – Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedian (born 1917)
2009 – Larry Knechtel, American keyboardist and bass player (born 1940)
2007 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (born 1920)
2006 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer and journalist (born 1911)
2001 – Kim Stanley, American actress (born 1925)
2001 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (born 1915)
1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854)
1912 – William Booth, English preacher, co-founded The Salvation Army (born 1829)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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