KGB Report is published Monday through Thursday, is assembled by an aging human, and contains no intentional A.I. generated material.
August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 127 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 877 days remain in Trump’s final term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
Even if you didn’t like country music, you loved Dolly Parton. News of her passing from The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Variety, People, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, USA Today
Trump threatens to demolish Kennedy Center if $250m renovation not done. “Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” Trump’s lawyers argued. (The Guardian)
Trump team refuses to explain imported beef origin as backlash grows. “I believe that this is a raw deal by the president. You know, here’s the president who keeps making the announcement that he loves farmers, he loves cattlemen, and then undermines us with that 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef that we don’t even know where it’s coming from.” (The New Republic)
How Trump’s crazed fury at Canada is already backfiring badly for him. Trump’s new trade war with Canada threatens fresh harms to local economies in the Midwest—and it’s handing Democrats a weapon in the homestretch of these contests to win over rural Americans and others who are experiencing all this endless derangement in very concrete ways. (The New Republic)
Melania Trump only shows up to events if she ‘gets paid,’ says former White House insider. Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews said “…It’s been reported- that Melania gets paid for showing up at events when they were on the campaign trail, which is crazy to think that you have to pay your own wife to show up somewhere.” (SheKnows)
Ex-Donald Trump staffer reveals what POTUS looks like without makeup – it’s brutal. “He looks like an open can of Spam without make-up.” (The Mirror)
CIA Director John Ratcliffe on secret trip in Russia. Ratcliffe's visit comes as recent U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that Putin's risk calculus may be shifting, with the Russian leader potentially increasingly willing to authorize provocative actions against NATO members… (CBS News)
At least 25% of former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had CTE. Of football players who appeared in at least one NFL game in their careers and who died between 2016 and 2021, the study found that a minimum of around 25% had CTE upon their death. (NPR)
90 percent of execs say oops, AI didn’t help productivity, so layoffs will continue. Analysts continue to find that AI is failing to boost productivity much at all, rendering the tools- at least so far- into a ludicrously expensive distraction. (Futurism)
AI agents are about to change finance, and Fidelity has a warning. AI agents could become an entirely new class of participants in financial markets, executing trades, arranging loans, managing portfolios, and processing payments with limited human direction. (The Street)
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:
1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution, giving women the right to vote, was certified.
Quote of the day:
Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive. That’s just a given. And good reporters always, repeat always, probe to find out what that motive is.
--Ben Bradlee (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,783 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)
Click here for more Ben Bradlee quotes.
Today’s holidays:
Make Your Own Luck Day, Musical Yoga Day, National Cherry Popsicle Day, National Dog Day, National Got Checked Day, National McChicken Day, National Toilet Paper Day, National WebMistress Day, Willing-To-Lend-A-Hand Wednesday, and Women’s Equality Day.
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—Kevin G. Barkes (KGB)
On This Day:
2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s all-new composite airliner, received certification from the EASA and the FAA.
2009 – Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard was discovered alive in California after being missing for over 18 years. Her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, were apprehended.
1999 – Russia began the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.
1980 – After John Birges planted a bomb at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, in the United States, the FBI inadvertently detonates the bomb during its disarming. (Video)
1978 – Papal conclave: Albino Luciani was elected as Pope John Paul I.
1972 – The Games of the XX Olympiad opened in Munich, West Germany.
1970 – The fiftieth anniversary of American women being able to vote is marked by a nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality.
1968 – The Beatles’ single “Hey Jude” was released in the U.S. (Video)
1968 – Democratic National Convention besieged by protesters.
1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson received Democratic nomination for president.
1957 – Russia tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.
1944 – World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
1939 – First televised Major League Baseball game.
1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution, giving women the right to vote, was certified.
1883 – The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa began its final, paroxysmal, stage.
1794 – President George Washington expressed his determination to subdue the Whiskey Rebellion.
1768 – Captain James Cook set sail from England on board HMS Endeavour.
1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia.
1346 – Hundred Years’ War: At the Battle of Crécy, an English army easily defeated a French force twice its size.
1791 – John Fitch was granted a United States patent for the steamboat.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1998 – Charlie Gillespie, Canadian actor and singer
1993 – Keke Palmer, American actress and singer
1991 – Dylan O’Brien, American actor
1988 – Danielle Savre, American actress
1988 – Evan Ross, American actor
1986 – Cassie Ventura, American singer, dancer, actress and model
1986 – Saint Jhn, Guyanese-American rapper, singer, and songwriter
1982 – John Mulaney, American comedian, actor, writer, and producer
1980 – Chris Pine, American actor
1980 – Macaulay Culkin, American actor
1976 – Mike Colter, American actor
1974 – Meredith Eaton, American actress
1970 – Melissa McCarthy, American actress, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Chris Burke, American actor
1963 – Stephen J. Dubner, American journalist and author
1960 – Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader
1960 – Ola Ray, American model and actress
1956 – Brett Cullen, American actor
1952 – Will Shortz, American journalist and puzzle creator
1952 – Michael Jeter, American actor (died 2003)
1951 – Bill Whitaker, American journalist
1949 – Leon Redbone, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2019)
1946 – Mark Snow, American composer for film and television (died 2025)
1946 – Valerie Simpson, American singer-songwriter
1945 – Tom Ridge, American sergeant and politician, 1st Secretary of Homeland Security
1942 – Vic Dana, American dancer and singer
1940 – Don LaFontaine, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2008) (Video)
1935 – Geraldine Ferraro, American lawyer and politician (died 2011)
1922 – Irving R. Levine, American journalist and author (died 2009)
1921 – Benjamin C. Bradlee, American journalist and author (died 2014)
1918 – Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician (died 2020)
1911 – Otto Binder, American author and screenwriter (died 1974)
1910 – Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, Catholic saint, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997)
1909 – Jim Davis, American actor (died 1981)
1906 – Albert Sabin, Polish-American physician and virologist, developed the polio vaccine (died 1993)
1898 – Peggy Guggenheim, American-Italian art collector and philanthropist (died 1979)
1873 – Lee de Forest, American engineer and academic, invented the Audion tube (died 1961)
1743 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist and biologist (died 1794)
1740 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French inventor, invented the hot air balloon (died 1810)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2023 – Bob Barker, American television game show host (born 1923)
2020 – Joe Ruby, American animator (born 1933)
2018 – Neil Simon, American playwright and author (born 1927)
2017 – Tobe Hooper, American film director (born 1943)
2009 – Dominick Dunne, American journalist and novelist (born 1925)
2004 – Laura Branigan, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1952) (Video)
1995 – John Brunner, English-Scottish author and poet (born 1934)
1989 – Irving Stone, American author (born 1903)
1986 – Ted Knight, American actor (born 1923)
1981 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (born 1914)
1980 – Tex Avery, American animator, director, and voice actor (born 1908)
1978 – Charles Boyer, French-American actor, singer, and producer (born 1899)
1977 – H. A. Rey, German-American author and illustrator, created Curious George (born 1898)
1976 – Lotte Lehmann, German-American soprano (born 1888)
1974 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (born 1902)
1945 – Franz Werfel, Austrian author and playwright (born 1890)
1930 – Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1883)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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