ICE: needless agression, electric gloves; testosterone debate; "demon creature" in Alabama's Area 51; human genome news; (hard to write this stuff without it sounding like clickbait).

We’re publishing Tuesday-Friday this week. I apologize for the inconvenience.

KGB Report is published Monday through Thursday (usually), is assembled by an aging human, and contains no intentional A.I. generated material.

August 13 is the 225th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 140 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 890 days remain in Trump’s term of office.

Good news first: the doctor says I’m in total remission; no drugs, just PET scans and blood tests every six months. Some iron supplements for fatigue, but otherwise, as my former late PCP of more than 40 years noted, I’m in good shape for someone in my shape.

Knee-deep in the hoopla:

• The flawed logic of Trump’s airplane escape. Trump and his people operated under the kind of paranoia and callous disregard for military and civilian lives that have characterized the president’s time in office. Had he brought a few reporters with him, they could have told the story of a clever evasion.
  (The Atlantic gift article)

• ICE’s plan to give officers electric shock gloves draws outrage and fears of misuse. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to give officers gloves that deliver painful electric shocks faced criticism Wednesday from Democratic elected officials and civil rights advocates, who called it unnecessary and cruel. Hey, it could have been light sabres.
  (AP)

• It ‘felt like a Renée Good situation,’ U.S. citizen says after ICE encounter. Video from the Virginia incident, which shows an agent with a gun, has reignited conversations about the aggressiveness of ICE enforcement.
  (Washington Post gift article)

• Pete Hegseth wants a testosterone-fueled military. The science doesn’t back the macho fantasy. As Hegseth pushes a “High-T” military, medical experts say testosterone therapy requires careful diagnosis and monitoring- not a masculinity mandate. (Advocate)

• Paramount considers moving CBS News out of NYC in battle with AGs Rob Bonta, Letitia James. Pulling CBS News from the city would mark a seismic change to the media landscape- and the idea comes as Paramount’s board has approved a plan to move the Hollywood studio out of California unless AG Rob Bonta drops his objection to the merger with Warner Bros.-Discovery.

  (New York Post)

• The human genome carries surprisingly little genetic diversity for a species of eight billion. New genomic research suggests one possible reason: hundreds of thousands of years ago, our ancestors may have dwindled to a population of only around 1,300 breeding individuals, leaving a genetic bottleneck whose effects can still be detected today. (This explains a great deal.) (Science Blog)

• Your McDonald’s file is probably bigger than your FBI file. There is a massive dossier of all of your activity and behaviors used to create a detailed profile that predicts your behavior. And it’s not the intelligence agencies or law enforcement collecting it: it’s McDonald’s. (Gizmodo)

• Internal Google document reveals that its HR AI has been throwing résumés from qualified applicants straight into the trash. The document, which contains the delicious disclaimer “PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THIS DOC WIDELY,” is ironically the product of Google DeepMind’s AGI Safety and Alignment Team. Taken at face value, it pretty blatantly admits that whatever AI-integrated hiring software the lab uses to review candidates has been dumping CVs straight into the garbage. (Futurism)

• Windows 11 PCs are about to get more expensive, and Windows 10 holdouts have one more reason to stay. As if memory and CPU price increases aren’t bad enough (thanks, AI data centers), Microsoft is hiking its price for Windows 11 OEM licenses to PC makers. (Windows Latest)

• As if Alabama isn’t scary enough… Mysterious ‘demon’ creature discovered lurking beneath Alabama’s ‘Area 51’. Demogorgonichthys arcanus, or 'demon cavefish,' has no eyes, no skin color, grows to just two inches in length and lives in one tiny pool in an underground cave below the US Army's Redstone Arsenal.

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:

• 1961 – Cold War: East Germany closed the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall was started. The day was known as Barbed Wire Sunday.

Quote of the day:

Never judge a country by its politicians.
--Alfred Hitchcock (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,783 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)

Click here for more Alfred Hitchcock quotes.

Today’s holidays:

Generalized Pustular Psoriasis (GPP) Awareness Day, International Lefthanders Day, National Filet Mignon Day, National Prosecco Day, and World Organ Donation Day.

Details here and here.

Astronomy Picture of the 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.
Please share the newsletter with a friend.
—Kevin G. Barkes (KGB)

On This Day:

• 1997 – The animated TV sitcom “South Park” premiered on Comedy Central.

• 1982 – The film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” was released. (Video)

• 1981 – Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA)

• 1967 – The film “Bonnie and Clyde” was released in the U.S. (Video)

• 1953 – The film “The War of the Worlds” premiered in New York. (Video)

• 1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts enjoyed a ticker-tape parade in New York City. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

• 1964 – Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans were hanged for the murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.

• 1961 – Cold War: East Germany closed the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall was started. The day was known as Barbed Wire Sunday.

• 1952 – “Hound Dog” was recorded for the first time by Big Mama Thornton. (Video)

• 1942 – Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the “Development of Substitute Materials” project, better known as the Manhattan Project.

• 1941 – Henry Ford displayed his soybean car.

• 1918 – Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) was established as a public company in Germany.

• 1918 – Women enlisted in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist.

• 1913 – First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.

• 1905 – Norwegians voted to end the union with Sweden.

• 1898 – Carl Gustav Witt discovered 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found.

• 1876 – A performance of Wagner’s Das Rheingold opened the first Ring cycle at the first Bayreuth Festival.

• 1792 – King Louis XVI of France was formally arrested by the National Tribunal, and declared an enemy of the people.

• 1624 – The French king Louis XIII appointed Cardinal Richelieu as prime minister.

• 1553 – Michael Servetus was arrested by John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland as a heretic.

• 1521 – After an extended siege, forces led by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés captured Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc and conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.

(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)

Some Birthdays:

• 1999 – Lennon Stella, Canadian singer and actress

• 1982 – Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Governor of Arkansas, American political consultant and press secretary

• 1967 – Quinn Cummings, American actress, author, and entrepreneur

• 1964 – Debi Mazar, American actress

• 1963 – Valerie Plame, American CIA agent and author

• 1963 – Steve Higgins, American talk show co-host and announcer, writer, producer, comedian and impressionist

• 1962 – John Slattery, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

• 1961 – Tom Perrotta, American novelist and screenwriter

• 1961 – Dawnn Lewis, American actress

• 1961 – Koji Kondo, Japanese composer and sound director

• 1959 – Danny Bonaduce, American actor and wrestler

• 1955 – Paul Greengrass, English director and screenwriter

• 1952 – Herb Ritts, American photographer and director (died 2002)

• 1952 – Dave Carter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2002)

• 1951 – Dan Fogelberg, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2007)

• 1950 – Jane Carr, English actress

• 1949 – Philippe Petit, French tightrope walker

• 1948 – Kathleen Battle, American operatic soprano

• 1947 – John Stocker, Canadian voice actor and director

• 1946 – Janet Yellen, American economist, 78th United States secretary of the treasury

• 1944 – Kevin Tighe, American actor

• 1935 – Mudcat Grant, American baseball player and sportscaster (died 2021)

• 1933 – Joycelyn Elders, American admiral and physician, 15th Surgeon General of the United States

• 1930 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (died 2007)

• 1929 – Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor (died 2016)

• 1926 – Fidel Castro, Cuban lawyer and politician, ex-President of Cuba (died 2016)

• 1920 – Neville Brand, American actor (died 1992)

• 1919 – Rex Humbard, American evangelist and television host (died 2007)

• 1919 – George Shearing, English jazz pianist and bandleader (died 2011)

• 1912 – Ben Hogan, American golfer and sportscaster (died 1997)

• 1911 – William Bernbach, American advertiser, co-founded DDB Worldwide (died 1982)

• 1902 – Felix Wankel, German engineer (died 1988)

• 1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (died 1980)

• 1898 – Regis Toomey, American actor (died 1991)

• 1895 – Bert Lahr, American actor (died 1967)

• 1888 – John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer, invented the television (died 1946)

• 1860 – Annie Oakley, American target shooter (died 1926)

• 1851 – Felix Adler, German-American religious leader and educator (died 1933)

(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)

Some Deaths:

• 2024 – Wally Amos, American entrepreneur, founder of Famous Amos (born 1936)

• 2021 – Nanci Griffith, American singer-songwriter (born 1953)

• 2016 – Kenny Baker, English actor and musician (born 1934)

• 2012 – Helen Gurley Brown, American journalist and author (born 1922)

• 2010 – Edwin Newman, American journalist and author (born 1919)

• 2007 – Phil Rizzuto, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1917)

• 2006 – Tony Jay, English actor and singer (born 1933)

• 2004 – Julia Child, American chef, author, and television host (born 1912)

• 2003 – Ed Townsend, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1929)

• 1995 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1931)

• 1971 – W. O. Bentley, English race car driver and engineer, founded Bentley Motors Limited (born 1888)

• 1946 – H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic (born 1866)
  (Video: 1940 Orson Welles and H.G. Welles radio interview.)

• 1910 – Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse and theologian (born 1820)

• 1865 – Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian physician and obstetrician (born 1818)

• 1826 – René Laennec, French physician, invented the stethoscope (born 1781)

(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)

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