Desi Lydic dives into Trump’s newest claims about election fraud, his aggressive push to pass the SAVE Act, and why the GOP has been endorsing Olive Garden as the world's most secure place to eat. Plus, what in the world could be causing these wildfires in Canada? Whatever it is, Trump’s new Canadian tariffs will surely solve this HOT-button issue.
KGB Report is published Monday through Thursday, is assembled by an aging human, and contains no intentional A.I. generated material.
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
July 22 is the 203rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 162 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 912 days remain in Trump’s term of office. (AP)
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
Trump approves nuclear agreement that may allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium. But the deal, which is expected to be submitted to Congress for review, could face headwinds among lawmakers who fear that helping the Saudis fulfill their long-standing desire to enrich their own uranium would open new rounds of nuclear proliferation and competition. (AP)
The Trump administration is back at war. It just doesn’t want to admit it. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were on Capitol Hill this afternoon to plead for $67.1 billion for emergency military funding to replenish munitions and meet other needs, on top of the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion regular budget request. Neither uttered the word Iran in their opening statement. Hegseth, in his testimony, referred to the war as “an operation.” (The Atlantic gift article)
Intelligence leak reveals weakness of Trump’s Iran strategy. A new intelligence assessment has found that the latest rounds of U.S. strikes are not likely to significantly impact or soften the regime’s negotiating position. (The Daily Beast)
6,600 non-citizens were mistakenly added to NJ voter rolls, and nearly 400 cast ballots in New Jersey. Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, said this stemmed from a “serious” software glitch at the state Motor Vehicle Commission that began in 2023, which was before she took office. She said that even though these people indicated while applying for a driver’s license that they weren’t citizens, they were registered as voters “through no fault of their own.” Point out to those claiming this is evidence the SAVE act is needed that software glitches are legislation neutral. (CNN)
This sheer terror is driving Trump’s 2 a.m. rage tweeting. Last week, Donald Trump essentially told us exactly what he will do this November. When reports start coming in that the Democrats are winning, he will send in the troops. He’ll mobilize ICE and the National Guard’s “Rapid Reaction Force” that he’s assembled over the past six months to seize ballot boxes and crush the inevitable “insurrection” - protests in the streets against his seizing ballot boxes - by “left-wing communist radical domestic terrorists.” (Raw Story)
Trump demands E. Jean Carroll refund the $5.6 million he’s already paid her. The money was disbursed to Carroll from a court-controlled escrow account on July 9. But the president’s legal team is seeking an emergency injunction that would order Carroll to return the payment to the account in the hopes that the Supreme Court will grant him a legal Hail Mary and reverse the judgment, sending the money back to him.
How much wealth do you need to thrive? Here’s the breakdown, according to new research. About 34.5 million U.S. households fall short of what the group terms its "essential wealth" benchmark, which The Aspen Institute defines as having six weeks of take-home pay in savings combined with a high enough net worth to achieve both homeownership and retirement security.
Two OpenAI systems "escaped” and hacked a company in a cybersecurity test gone wrong. It’s the stuff of cybersecurity nightmares. On Tuesday, OpenAI said two artificial intelligence systems it was testing broke out of their test environment, hacked their way onto the internet and broke into another company. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Right-wing haters try to stop the steal as ‘woke’ Odyssey conquers global box office. It might be the dumbest culture war fight of the year. The problem? Right-wingers don’t like that the film has a few actors who aren’t white and one who’s trans. (Gizmodo)
Late Night with Seth Meyers: Seth addresses Trump saying soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo have an easier life than his and more in his monologue for Tuesday, July 21, before several members of Trump's cabinet hold an impromptu press briefing to answer burning questions. (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:
1893 – Katharine Lee Bates wrote “America the Beautiful“ after admiring the view from the top of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Quote of the day:
Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
--Tom Robbins (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,675 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)
Click here for more Tom Robbins quotes
Today’s holidays:
Lion’s Share Day, National BLT Sandwich Day, National Fragile X Awareness Day, National Hammock Day, National Mango Day, National Penuche Fudge Day, One Piece Day, Pi Approximation Day, Rat Catcher’s Day, Spoonerism Day, Summer Leisure Day, and World Brain Day.
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On This Day:
2003 – Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attacked a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein‘s sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay’s 14-year-old son, and a bodyguard.
1993 – Great Flood of 1993: Levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois ruptured, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
1992 – Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States.
1991 – Cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested.
1977 – Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was restored to power.
1942 – The United States government began compulsory civilian gasoline rationing due to the wartime demands.
1942 – Grossaktion Warsaw: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto began.
1937 – The United States Senate voted down President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
1933 – Aviator Wiley Post returned to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City, completing the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes.
1916 – Preparedness Day Bombing: In San Francisco, a bomb exploded on Market Street during a parade, killing ten and injuring 40.
1893 – Katharine Lee Bates wrote “America the Beautiful“ after admiring the view from the top of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1864 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Atlanta, Confederate General John Bell Hood led an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill outside Atlanta.
1862 – President Abraham Lincoln presented a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet.
1796 – Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company named an area in Ohio “Cleveland“ after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party.
1598 – William Shakespeare‘s play, The Merchant of Venice, was entered in the Register of the Stationers Company. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers’ Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material.
1587 – Roanoke Colony: A second group of English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
1342 – St. Mary Magdalene’s flood was the worst such event on record for central Europe.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
2013 – Prince George of Wales
2006 – Javon Walton, American actor and boxer
1996 – Skyler Gisondo, American actor
1992 – Selena Gomez, American singer and actress
1988 – George Santos, American politician
1978 – A.J. Cook, Canadian actress
1972 – Colin Ferguson, Canadian actor, director, and producer
1967 – Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
1964 – David Spade, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Bonnie Langford, English actress and dancer
1963 – Emily Saliers, American singer-songwriter and musician
1960 – John Leguizamo, Colombian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1955 – Willem Dafoe, American actor
1949 – Alan Menken, American pianist and composer
1948 – S. E. Hinton, American author
1947 – Don Henley, American singer-songwriter and drummer
1947 – Albert Brooks, American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter
1946 – Paul Schrader, American director and screenwriter
1946 – Danny Glover, American actor, director, and producer
1944 – Peter Jason, American actor (died 2025)
1943 – Kay Bailey Hutchison, American lawyer and politician
1943 – Bobby Sherman, American singer-songwriter and actor (died 2025)
1941 – George Clinton, American singer-songwriter and producer
1940 – Alex Trebek, Canadian-American game show host and producer (died 2020)
1938 – Terence Stamp, English actor (died 2025)
1934 – Louise Fletcher, American actress (died 2022)
1932 – Oscar de la Renta, Dominican-American fashion designer (died 2014)
1928 – Orson Bean, American actor (died 2020)
1925 – Joseph Sargent, American actor, director, and producer (died 2014)
1924 – Margaret Whiting, American singer (died 2011)
1923 – Bob Dole, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2021)
1908 – Amy Vanderbilt, American author (died 1974)
1898 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American poet, short story writer, and novelist (died 1943)
1893 – Karl Menninger, American psychiatrist and author (died 1990)
1890 – Rose Kennedy, American philanthropist and Kennedy family matriarch (died 1995)
1889 – James Whale, English director (died 1957)
1882 – Edward Hopper, American painter and etcher (died 1967)
1849 – Emma Lazarus, American poet and educator (died 1887)
1844 – William Archibald Spooner, English priest and scholar (died 1930)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2025 – Ozzy Osbourne, English musician and media personality (born 1948)
2025 – Chuck Mangione, American musician (born 1940)
2024 – Duke Fakir, American singer (The Four Tops) (born 1935)
2013 – Dennis Farina, American policeman and actor (born 1944)
2012 – Frank Pierson, American director and screenwriter (born 1925)
2008 – Estelle Getty, American actress (born 1923)
2007 – László Kovács, Hungarian-American director and cinematographer (born 1933)
2005 – Eugene Record, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1940)
2000 – Eric Christmas, English-born Canadian actor (born 1916)
1967 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (born 1878)
1934 – John Dillinger, American gangster (born 1903)
1932 – Flo Ziegfeld, American actor and producer (born 1867)
1916 – James Whitcomb Riley, American poet and author (born 1849)
1869 – John A. Roebling, German-American engineer, designed the Brooklyn Bridge (born 1806)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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