We’re publishing Tuesday-Friday this week and next week as well. 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. Have a great weekend!
August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 139 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 889 days remain in Trump’s final term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
U.S. sending fresh aircraft carrier to Middle East amid Iran war strain. The U.S. military is preparing to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln with the USS George Washington as part of a scheduled Middle East deployment, U.S. officials said, amid growing concerns over living conditions aboard the Lincoln and the strain on troops during the Iran war. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Concerns grow over conditions on Navy carrier. “There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months.” (New York Times gift article)
Hegseth says reports about poor conditions aboard carrier are misrepresented. Two military-focused outlets, Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, reported suicide attempts and declining morale on the 5,000-person ship, which has been at sea since November 2025. (Reuters)
Trump orders Navy to abandon carrier launch system, return to steam catapults. Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the change which would require the removal of the electromagnetic catapult system used on Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers and is expected to cost billions of dollars. (Reuters)
Kennedy Center board votes to add Trump’s name below building’s sign. The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees voted to inscribe President Donald Trump’s name below the sign on the iconic institution’s building and once again temporarily close the bulk of the performing arts venue for renovations, testing the two key components of a federal judge’s order. (USA Today)
Trump’s inflation time bomb is about to go off: Nobel economist. “Trump is not a well man. He is, unfortunately, also President, which means that we all pay a price for his inability to accept reality.” (Alternet)
Aaron Sorkin wants America to quit Its ‘glamorization of dumbness’. "We need to get over our infatuation with the outsider, with the plainspoken person that you want to have a beer with.” (Amen, brother.) (Huffpost via Yahoo News)
Trump admin lets loose the cyber pirates. The White House plans to let private firms wage cyber war on foreign and transnational criminal groups. (Gizmodo)
College kids are using AI agents to “take” entire online classes for them by logging directly into the course management software. The New York Times unpacked the trend in a recent story (gift article link), and it’s a testament to how extreme AI-enabled cheating has become, but also of the perils of getting an education in a virtual environment instead of a physical one. Professors can’t rely on supervised exams and oral presentations in online courses like they’re starting to shift to in-person ones. (Futurism)
JWST spots a bizarre “black hole star” 100 billion times brighter than a star. Astronomers may have uncovered an entirely new cosmic object: a gigantic “black hole star” that could explain the mysterious red dots filling the early universe. (Science Daily)
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:
2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada. (Video)
Quote of the day:
Newspapers will run a headline: ‘Shark kills human.’ You never see a headline from the other perspective: ‘Man swims in shark-infested water, forgets he’s shark food.’.
--Gary Larson (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,783 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)
Click here for more Gary Larson quotes.
Today’s holidays:
Color Book Day, National Creamsicle Day, National Financial Awareness Day, National Navajo Code Talkers Day, National Tattoo Removal Day, National Wiffle Ball Day, Social Security Day, and World Lizard Day.
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—Kevin G. Barkes (KGB)
On This Day:
2023 – Former U.S. president Donald Trump was charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023.
2015 – The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opened after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off.
2013 – Egypt declared a state of emergency as security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.
2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada. (Video)
1994 – Terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as “Carlos the Jackal“, was captured.
1985 – Michael Jackson purchased control of the Beatles’ publishing rights.
1985 – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” premiered in the U.K. (Video)
1969 – The Troubles: British troops were deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence broke out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner.
1965 – Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
(Video: Their last performance of the song on David Letterman in 1987)1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
1948 – An Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers known as Beaver drop occurred. This program relocated beavers from Northwestern Idaho to Central Idaho by airplane and then parachuting the beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.
1945 – Japan’s surrender made public on V-J Day.
1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
1936 – Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States.
1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired.
1917 – China declared war on Germany.
1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
1893 – France became the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
1885 – Japan’s first patent was issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
1848 – The Oregon Territory was organized by an act of Congress.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
2004 – Marsai Martin, American actress and producer
1983 – Spencer Pratt, American television personality
1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress
1983 – Lamorne Morris, American actor and comedian
1974 – Christopher Gorham, American actor
1966 – Halle Berry, American model, actress, and producer
1961 – Susan Olsen, American actress and radio host
1960 – Sarah Brightman, English singer and actress (Video)
1959 – Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
1959 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player and coach
1956 – Jackée Harry, American actress and television personality
1953 – James Horner, American composer and conductor (died 2015)(Video)
1951 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist
1947 – Danielle Steel, American author
1946 – Susan Saint James, American actress
1946 – Antonio Fargas, American actor
1945 – Steve Martin, American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and screenwriter. (Video)
1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2023)
1928 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian director and screenwriter (died 2021)
1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist (died 2017)
1925 – Russell Baker, American critic and essayist (died 2019)
1923 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (died 2007)
1851 – Doc Holliday, American dentist and gambler (died 1887)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2024 – Gena Rowlands, American actress (born 1930)
2016 – Fyvush Finkel, American actor (born 1922)
2012 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (born 1919)
2006 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (born 1949)
1992 – John Sirica, American lawyer and judge (born 1904)
1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (born 1898)
1985 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (born 1899)
1980 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian-American model and actress (born 1960)
1972 – Oscar Levant, American actor, pianist, and composer (born 1906) (Video)
1963 – Clifford Odets, American director, playwright, and screenwriter (born 1906)
1956 – Bertolt Brecht, German poet, playwright, and director (born 1898)
1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (born 1863)
1941 – Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr and saint (born 1894)
1890 – Michael J. McGivney, American priest, founded the Knights of Columbus (born 1852)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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