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.
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
August 12 is the 224th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 141 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 891 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
Mission: Preposterous
Questions I have after learning that Trump was allegedly smuggled out of Air Force One in a catering box. Out of many Veep-like aspects to this story, perhaps the Veepiest is this: according to the New York Times, there were reporters and White House staffers on the older Air Force One plane that day, and they allegedly believed Trump was actually onboard when it took off. This, the Times says, was part of the “ruse,” and the people on the plane were there “to serve as unknowing decoys.” (Gizmodo)
Trump says Secret Service and the military wanted him off Air Force One in Turkey due to threat. Trump downplayed the extraordinary nature of the subterfuge involved in his flight, which saw him stow away in an airport catering container to sneak onto another plane while Air Force One was sent into the sky, essentially as a decoy. He also downplayed the risk to the people-White House officials, security and support staff, and reporters- he left on the plane. (AP)
A catering truck and a decoy plane: how Trump’s great escape unfolded. On the final day of the NATO summit in Turkey, Mr. Trump walked up the stairway to the plane that was supposed to carry him on the first leg of his journey home. He briefly waved to the cameras and disappeared inside one of the iconic, baby blue 747s that have served as Air Force One for decades. Then he secretly exited the aircraft, hidden inside a catering container. (New York Times gift article)
The Trump administration claims oil is flowing normally again. There’s just one problem. (Pesky reality?) (CNN)
Melania Trump lookalike Margo Martin spotted on Air Force One as first lady remains absent. Donald Trump was accompanied by a woman bearing a striking resemblance to his wife aboard Air Force One, as first lady Melania Trump continues to stay out of the public spotlight. (The Mirror)
Trump scrambles to fill seats at latest vanity event. Organizers of Donald Trump’s latest patriotic MAGA spectacle are scrambling to fill seats and avoid the empty crowds of the Great American State Fair. (Daily Beast)
Judge blocks US Postal Service from restricting mail-in voting. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing part of President Donald Trump’s executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November elections that will decide control of Congress. (Reuters)
Transportation Secretary touts 2,000 new air traffic controllers after gamer hiring push: ‘Game changer’. “We’re building the strongest, sharpest workforce in aviation history,” he said. Here’s hoping they never see a “Game Over” screen. (Bazinga)
Doctors warn that med students are surrendering their brains to medical AIs that are even worse than regular chatbots. Clinical AI tools performed worse at answering medical queries than general purpose chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude did... it performed about on par to Google’s AI Overviews, which are notorious for being wonky and inaccurate. (Futurism)
As if Flock cameras aren’t bad enough: New tech adds phone tracking to license plate readers, associating devices with identifiable cars. (The Conversation)
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:
1981 – The IBM Personal Computer was released.
Quote of the day:
True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops.
--William Goldman (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,783 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)
Click here for more William Goldman quotes
Today’s holidays:
Baseball Fans Day, IBM PC Day, International Youth Day, National Julienne Fries Day, National Middle Child Day, National Vinyl Record Day, National Sewing Machine Day, Truck Driver Day, World Calligraphy Day, and World Elephant Day.
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On This Day:
2017 – The Unite the Right rally occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, leading to three deaths and injuring nearly 50 more.
2015 – At least two massive explosions killed 173 people and injured nearly 800 more in Tianjin, China. (Video)
2000 – The Russian Navy submarine Kursk exploded and sank in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew.
1994 – Major League Baseball players went on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to date, was discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
1985 – Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashed into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, becoming the worst single-plane air disaster.
1981 – The IBM Personal Computer was released.
1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
1964 – South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games due to the country’s racist policies.
1960 – Echo 1A, NASA’s first successful communications satellite, was launched.
1914 – World War I: France, the United Kingdom and the British Empire declared war on Austria-Hungary.
1865 – Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performed the first antiseptic surgery.
1851 – Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.
1492 – Christopher Columbus arrived in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1992 – Cara Delevingne, English model and actress
1980 – Maggie Lawson, American actress
1975 – Casey Affleck, American actor
1971 – Yvette Nicole Brown, American actress, comedian, and talk show host
1971 – Michael Ian Black, American comedian, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Peter Krause, American actor
1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot, American rapper, producer, and actor
1956 – Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor and producer
1954 – Sam J. Jones, American actor
1954 – Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist and composer
1950 – Jim Beaver, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1949 – Mark Knopfler, Scottish-English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1941 – Dana Ivey, American actress
1941 – L. M. Kit Carson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2014)
1939 – George Hamilton, American actor
1935 – John Cazale, American actor (died 1978)
1931 – William Goldman, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2018)
1930 – George Soros, Hungarian-American businessman and investor, founded the Soros Fund Management
1929 – Buck Owens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2006)
1928 – Dan Curtis, American director and producer (died 2006)
1927 – Porter Wagoner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2007)
1926 – John Derek, American actor, director, and cinematographer (died 1998)
1925 – Ross McWhirter, Scottish publisher and activist, co-founded the Guinness World Records (died 1975)
1925 – Norris McWhirter, Scottish publisher and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (died 2004)
1919 – Margaret Burbidge, English-American astrophysicist and academic (died 2020)
1918 – Sid Bernstein, American record producer (died 2013)
1917 – Oliver Crawford, American screenwriter and author (died 2008)
1911 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, screenwriter, and producer (died 1993)
1910 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (died 2006)
1907 – Joe Besser, American actor (died 1988)
1906 – Tedd Pierce, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (died 1972)
1892 – Alfred Lunt, American actor and director (died 1977)
1887 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1961)
1883 – Marion Lorne, American actress (died 1968)
1881 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director and producer (died 1959)
1876 – Mary Roberts Rinehart, American author and playwright (died 1958)
1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet and author (died 1929)
1856 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1917)
1852 – Michael J. McGivney, American priest and founder of the Knights of Columbus (died 1890)
1591 – Louise de Marillac, co-founder of the Daughters of Charity (died 1660)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2014 – Lauren Bacall, American model, actress, and singer (born 1924)
2009 – Les Paul, American guitarist, songwriter, and inventor (born 1915)
2007 – Merv Griffin, American actor, singer, and producer, created Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune (born 1925) (Video)
2000 – Loretta Young, American actress (born 1913)
1989 – William Shockley, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910)
1982 – Henry Fonda, American actor (born 1905) (Video)
1964 – Ian Fleming, English spy, journalist, and author (born 1908)
1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., American lieutenant and pilot (born 1915)
30 BC – Cleopatra, Egyptian queen (born 69 BC)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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