KGB Report

-----

Uvalde teacher who lost 11 kids in his classroom says 'there is no excuse' for officers' delay in taking down gunman. "You're supposed to protect and serve. ... There is no excuse for their actions. And I will never forgive them."

-----

Most Americans don't accept the mass slaughter of children. Why does the GOP? (Washington Post gift article.)

-----

Fox News Channel to skip live primetime broadcast of Jan. 6 committee hearings because of course. Fox News will be the only major news network not to air the entire Jan. 6 Committee hearings live, and instead will provide its own coverage "as warranted" through the filter of its regular prime-time programs and hosts.

-----

Nightclub needle attacks puzzle authorities across Europe. It's not just France: Britain's government is studying a spate of "needle spiking" there, and police in Belgium and the Netherlands are investigating scattered cases, too.

-----

The 'Benjamin Button' effect: Scientists can reverse aging in mice. The goal is to do the same for humans. Using proteins that can turn an adult cell into a stem cell, researchers have reset aging cells in mice to earlier versions of themselves. In the first breakthrough, published in late 2020, old mice with poor eyesight and damaged retinas could suddenly see again, with vision that at times rivaled their offspring's.

-----

World Bank warns global economy may suffer 1970s-style stagflation. The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast to 2.9% and warned that many countries could fall into recession as the economy slips into a period of stagflation reminiscent of the 1970s.

Domino's Pizza offering half off all online pizza orders until June 12. All regularly priced pizza items are part of the deal, including specialty pizza offerings like Brooklyn style or pan pizzas. The deal can be applied to pick-up or delivery orders.

Target is ramping up discounts. Here's why. Target is stuck with too much home decor and too many TVs. To clear out the glut, it will ramp up discounts.

-----

Five biggest Supreme Court cases to watch. The U.S. Supreme Court tends to issue its biggest decisions in June. With a conservative super majority of justices, the public is focused on what new precedents the court could set - or even overturn.

-----

The GOP drive to install thousands of poll workers sets off alarms. Raises alarms that Republican election deniers could infiltrate official election operations and undermine the process.

-----

They thought they bought Obamacare plans. What they got wasn't insurance.

-----

10 secrets snack companies don't want you to know. Well, this is depressing.

-----

Neural 'poisonous flowers' could be the source of Alzheimer's plaque, says study.

Neuroscience says this simple sleep habit literally cleans your brain. We're not sure why it works. But it seems to have a significant effect.

-----

Paramount sued over 'Top Gun' copyright as 'Maverick' soars at the box office.

-----

Miscellany:

Birthdays

• 1917 - Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995) (Video)
• 1940 - Tom Jones, Welsh singer and actor (Video-when you're over 80 and still the coolest dude in the room...)
• 1952 - Liam Neeson, Irish-American actor
• 1958 - Prince, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor (d. 2016) (Video)
• 1959 - Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States, 50th Governor of Indiana
• 1974 - Bear Grylls, English adventurer, author, and television host

-----

On this date in:

• 1776 - Richard Henry Lee presented the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress. The motion was seconded by John Adams and led to the United States Declaration of Independence. (Video)
• 1887 - The Monotype mechanical typesetting system was patented by Tolbert Lanston.
• 1892 - Homer Plessy was arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the "whites-only" car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in U.S. Supreme Court history.
• 1942 - the battle of Midway ended in American victory. (Video)
• 1953 - the first color network telecast in compatible color was transmitted in Boston, MA
• 1955 - Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first U.S. president to appear in a live telecast on color television.
• 1965 - Sony Corp announced its first home video tape recorder priced at $995.
• 1965 - the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
• 1968 - Sirhan Sirhan was indicted for the assassination of US Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
• 1969 - Tommy James and the Shondells released their single Crystal Blue Persuasion. (Video)
• 1972 - the musical "Grease" opened at the Broadhurst Theater in New York City, where it ran for 3,388 performances. (Video)
• 1975 - Sony launched Betamax, the first videocassette recorder format. (background)
• 1982 - Priscilla Presley opened Graceland to the public.
• 1991 - Mount Pinatubo began erupting, eventually generating an ash column over four miles high.

-----

Today is:

Daniel Boone Day, June Bug Day, National CAPHPACH Day, National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, Trial Technology Day, and VCR Day

---

Categories: Aging (Ageing), Alzheimer's Disease, Domino's Pizza, Economics, Elections, Fox News, Mass shootings, Needle spiking, Obamacare, Paramount Pictures, Republicans, Stagflation, Supreme Court, Target, Top Gun, Uvalde school shooting

---

Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB

---

Donate via PayPal

---

Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page

-----

We're late today for good reason....

So I get a certified letter from my local township claiming that I and my late first wife owe back wage taxes for several years beginning in the year 2000. 2000!? Even an inveterate packrat like myself doesn't have income tax returns from 22 years ago. For that matter, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast. Suffice it to say this could be painful. Interesting fact you should keep in mind: there's no time limit on collecting past-due taxes if you didn't file a tax return for the year(s) in question. So make certain you always file. I don't ever remember not filing, so it looks like I'm spending the weekend in the garage going through cartons of old files. I've scanned everything from about 2005 onward, and I can find just about any document from that time period in a maximum of an hour. I was going to scan the old stuff, but I thought "seven years is enough," as the experts tell us. Ugh.

-----

Rare monkeypox outbreak in U.K., Europe and U.S.: What is it and should we worry? Good news: Masking not required.

Speaking of icky things, The parasite that controls cat minds may infect billions of people. The clue is in their eyes. Toxoplasma gondii, is probably the most successful parasite in the world today. This microscopic creature is capable of infecting any mammal or bird, and people across all continents are infected. Once infected, a person carries Toxoplasma for life. So far, we don't have a drug that can eradicate the parasite from the body. And there is no vaccine approved for use in humans. Across the world, it's estimated 30-50% of people are infected with Toxoplasma.

-----

Disney+ releases new trailer for Marvel's 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'. Disney says, 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law' follows the main character as she "navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk." And unlike Cartoon Network's 'Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law,' it looks like they're serious, more or less. Disney destroyed Star Wars; looks like their ongoing implosion of Marvel is proceeding on schedule.

-----

May 31st could be the most powerful meteor storm in generations, or nothing at all. "Welcome to the wonderful world of meteor shower predictions and prognostications."

-----

Interesting history: George Wallace, the angry White populist who paved the way for Trump.

-----

Ukrainian medic is captured after documenting war. Harrowing and heartbreaking footage. No one has seen or heard from her since her capture.

-----

The long-term care dilemma: Who will take care of you? Medicare won't. My 95-year-old mother took out a long-term care policy 30 years ago, only to discover she's to "healthy" to get any benefits from it. I guess the solution is to not get old.

-----

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Yuri Borisov, has said that Russia cannot launch a first nuclear strike. "According to our doctrine, according to our strategy, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation would use a nuclear strike only in retaliation. According to the doctrine, we would not be the first to attack. Now, don't you feel better?

-----

TOKYO (AP) - The money was supposed to be COVID-19 assistance for low-income households in a small Japanese town, but it was mistakenly wired to a bank account of a resident who refused to return it and spent most of it on online gambling, police said.

-----

So what else is new? Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to baselessly suggest mail-in ballots were fraudulent in Pennsylvania, where his chosen Senate candidate Dr Mehmet Oz is locked in a tight battle with former hedge fund executive David McCormick.

-----

'Stuck with the bill': How Florida insurance companies going under leaves buyers out to dry.

-----

Egads.

-----

Tweets, observations, and diversions:

"The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine."
-Former President George W. Bush

Madison Cawthorn has just written that "the time for gentile politics as usual has come to an end."
-Michael Beschloss

The House has passed a bill to crack down on price gouging at gas stations by a vote of 217-207. Every single republican voted NO.
-Brian Tyler Cohen

-----

In case you didn't notice, KGB Report is now Monday-Thursday. Have a great weekend. See you on the 24th.

---

Categories: Aging (Ageing), Covid-19, Disney+, Donald Trump, Doug Mastriano, Florida, Gambling, George Wallace, Insurance, Mehmet Oz, Meteors, Monkeypox, Nuclear weapons, She-Hulk, Taxes, Toxoplasma gondii, Ukraine, Yuri Borisov

---

Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB

---

Donate via PayPal

---

Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page

It's 19 weeks into the year and America has already seen 198 mass shootings. "This is planned violence. There is, in every one of these cases, always a trail of ... behavioral warning signs."

A fringe conspiracy theory, fostered online, is refashioned by the G.O.P. (NY Times free story) Replacement theory, espoused by the suspect in the Buffalo massacre, has been embraced by some right-wing politicians and commentators.

-----

Potentially alive 830-million-year-old organisms found trapped in ancient rock. What could go wrong?

-----

Americans can expect to pay a lot more for medical care in retirement. No kidding. A 65-year-old couple retiring this year can expect to spend an average of $315,000 in health-care and medical expenses in their retirement, according to a new estimate by Fidelity Investments. That's 5% higher than last year's estimate.

And what do they get for it? One in four Medicare patients harmed in hospitals, nearly half preventable. Among the roughly 1 million Medicare patients who were discharged from hospitals in October 2018, a total of 258,323 experienced an adverse or temporary harm event during their stay. And 12% experienced events that led to longer stays, lifesaving interventions, permanent harm, or death. "This projects to 121,089 Medicare patients having experienced at least one adverse event during the 1-month study period," the report stated.

-----

Whiny space tourists say they were too busy on the space station. They wanted to look out the window.

-----

The other scary thing about Alito's draft ruling on abortion... The dissents Alito stakes his argument on don't have to do with only abortion. They suggest threats to other constitutional rights, such as contraception access or LGBTQ protections. (Washington Post free article.)

-----

"I cannot survive on $260 a week": US retail and fast-food workers strike. Workers who bore the brunt of the Covid pandemic at billion-dollar companies such as Dollar General, McDonald's and Wendy's are leading a surge in action.

-----

Pennsylvania US Senate candidate Fetterman suffers stroke but says he's 'well on my way to a full recovery'. Don't bet against anybody who looks like Thanos. Election Day is tomorrow. Don't miss it.

-----

Yale research identifies causes of cancer. TL;DR: Essentially, being a living being on Earth.

-----

Confirmed: Disney Officially Replaces Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. Though the Mouse House still uses Johnny Depp's likeness for new Jack Sparrow merchandise, as well as features the man in their famous Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disney Parks, Disney has officially dumped Depp forever.

-----

Pizza has a delivery problem. The difficulty finding and keeping employees has hampered businesses across multiple sectors, but the restaurant industry has been hit particularly hard, leading to shorter operating hours and longer wait times for customers.

-----

The strange post-Trump politics of the Pennsylvania republican primaries. A few theories for why the former President's endorsement of Mehmet Oz failed to clear the field.

-----

Before Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, only 20% of Finland's citizens were in favor of joining NATO. Now it's 75%.

And in response...

Russian state TV suggests deploying nuclear weapons against Finland, Sweden. "Their official reason [to join NATO] is fear. But they'll have more fear in NATO. When NATO bases appear in Sweden and Finland, Russia will have no choice but to neutralize the imbalance and new threat by deploying tactical nuclear weapons," presenter Dmitry Kiselyov reportedly said on the channel.

Remember the old truism that the United States was never involved in conflicts with countries that had McDonald's franchises? McDonald's to leave Russia for good after 30 years.

-----

Aging, and the chronic diseases that come with it, is considered just an inevitable part of life. But what if it wasn't? What if aging itself was a disease- a disease that can be treated? Many scientists are doing just that, and the results are nothing short of shocking. Just how close are we to a cure for aging?

-----

Tweets, observations, and diversions:

Things you discover looking up other things: Back when rat infestations were commonplace, people found that rats loved chewing on paper. In an effort to save your notes while also offering a bit of papery delicacy to disease-carrying rodents, companies added wide margins to all four sides of notebook paper.

Some clickbait just doesn't work. "Unsettling Don Knotts secrets you never knew." Don't think so.

Trump supporters are white people for whom being born white in America wasn't enough of an advantage.
-Middle Age Riot

Questions for the people who are scared of becoming a minority: Why is that? Are minorities treated differently?
-Padma Lakshmi

You don't really think the party that yawned while its public health policies killed over 1,000,000 Americans with COVID is ever going to care if its ahistorical Second Amendment fetish kills thousands of Americans with gun violence, do you?
-Mrs. Betty Bowers

---

Categories: Abortion, Aging (Ageing), Cancer, Disney, Elections, Finland, Joe Scott, John Fetterman, Johnny Depp, Mass shootings, McDonald's, Medicare, Medicine, Mehmet Oz, NATO, Pirates of the Carribean, Pizza, Replacement Theory, Republicans, Retirement, Russia, Science, Space, Supreme Court, Sweden, Ukraine, Unions

---

Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB

---

Donate via PayPal

---

Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page

Some system issues today, so things are a bit abbreviated.

-----

From Crazytown:

The former president held a rally in Ohio over the weekend. He didn't disappoint. (Video). Also (Video).

-----

KGB's daily agglomeration of stuff I find interesting:

Among other things, today is

• Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
• Hug Holiday Day
• National Almond Buttercrunch Day
• National Camera Day
• National Waffle Iron Day
• World Scleroderma Awareness Day

On this date:

• 1613 - Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, England, went up in flames during a performance of Henry VIII. A theatrical cannon, set off during the performance, misfired, igniting the wooden beams and thatching. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man whose burning breeches were put out with a bottle of ale. It was rebuilt in the following year
• 1863 - After the National Banking and Currency Act was passed by Congress and signed into law in 1863, First National Bank in Davenport was the first bank in the country to open under its provisions. It was the first First National Bank
• 1927 - The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completed the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii
• 1956 - The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System
• 1975 - Steve Wozniak tested his first prototype of the Apple I computer
• 2007 – Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone

Birthdays

• 1900 - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator, best remembered for his novella The Little Prince (d. 1944)
• 1910 – Frank Loesser, American composer and conductor (d. 1969)
• 1911 – Bernard Herrmann, American composer and conductor (d. 1975) (Video)
• 1919 – Slim Pickens, American actor and rodeo performer (d. 1983) (Video)
• 1920 – Ray Harryhausen, American animator and producer (d. 2013) (Video)
• 1941 – Stokely Carmichael, Trinidadian-American activist (d. 1998)
• 1944 – Gary Busey, American actor

-----

Miscellany

Ageing process is unstoppable, finds unprecedented study. Research suggests humans cannot slow the rate at which they get older because of biological constraints.

-----

KGB Merch

---

Categories: Aging (Ageing), Donald Trump

---

Home  

KGB Stuff   Commentwear   E-Mail KGB

---

Donate via PayPal

---

Older entries, Archives and Categories       Top of page